Every Which Way

Chapter 26- Fairs & Fried Oreos

He reached over and I only teased him a little bit by moving the container out of the way. Once, and then again another time, and then again one more time until I finally gave in and let him have one.

"Huh," He said after his first bite.

"Good right?"

"They taste like Oreos dipped in milk," He said in thought.

"But that's the best way to have an Oreo."

"Guess I can't argue with that," He said before taking another bite. He wasn't as enthusiastic as I hoped he would be, but at least he finished the whole thing and didn't have a single complaint.

The kids were too focused on their snacks to speak to either of us. I looked at them then and noticed something funny.

"Is it too salty for you, Parker?" I asked him, noticing that he was rubbing little salt flakes into the dirt beneath our feet.

"No, this is where I want to plant my pretzel tree." He stuck the tip of his tongue out to the side as he concentrated to land all the flakes in one spot. I held myself back from bursting his bubble, he just looked so hard at work.

Declan kind of snorted at him, but he didn't say anything either.

Declan said that Julie had a busy afternoon and that she needed the kids off of her hands until she could get some free time. She would meet us here to take over so that when the rest of our friends got here, we could actually have some time to enjoy ourselves. I was already looking at all the rides I wanted to try out later.

This weekend had already been off to a good start. The boys won their fourth game of the season and Declan aced the math test we had been spent all this time preparing for. He didn't need my help anymore.

I was confident that our bond was strong enough at this point not to rely on tutoring as a way to see him regularly. These past couple of sessions were mainly just the two of us hanging out anyway instead of focusing on math curriculum. It was a lucky thing that Declan had gotten the hang of it before his exam.

We spent the rest of the time following his siblings around to rides that they wanted to go on before Julie came for them.

I noticed the exchange between Declan and his step-mom. It wasn't exactly tense, but there was something negative to it. I struggled to figure out where that energy was coming from between the two. Julie seemed nice enough to me, but then what reason would Declan have for not liking her?

Maybe he was sensitive about Julie for filling in for his own mother. I wondered if that was the reason. I wasn't going to bring it up though, at least not now.

When Natalie showed up shortly after the boys, the two of us stuck closer together than the rest. It kind of sucked that we were an odd-numbered group for most of the rides that were two to a cart. Instead of leaving someone behind though, one of us would ride twice instead, so we made it work.

"So where's the fried Oreo stand?" Adam asked after a few rides.

"Adam, you're going to be my best friend for the night," I said simply, resulting in both Declan and Cyrus giving me silent frowns. I Ignored the two of them as I took Adam to the stand.

I left the group at one point to throw some trash away when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around and was a little thrown off to see Elizabeth standing there, her blonde hair curled, and her makeup done just as she always had it. This was the Elizabeth that was the closest thing I had to a girl-friend before Natalie. The one Cyrus had a crush on.