Finding Bridgewater

Chapter 19-County Fair

"Elle," I hear a squeal from behind me before I'm wrapped in a bear hug.

"Lola!" I spin around to hug her back, excited to finally see her again. Texting is fun and all, but I really appreciate seeing people face to face.

"I have someone for you to meet," she spins around and take the baby out of her husband's hands before turning back to me.

"Oh my god. Hi, Sierra," I say in a quiet voice, as sweetly as possible. Her face lights up and she giggles, making me giggle in return. I mean what's cuter than a baby's laugh?

"This is your Auntie Elle," Lola introduces me to her, my heart melting at the title. "Can you wave high," Lola instructs, using her hand to demonstrate a wave. Sierra claps instead, giggling to herself as if she just said a funny joke.

"Hey, why does the baby get all of the attention," Julian pouts, popping up behind his sister.

I roll my eyes, "because she," I motion to Sierra, "is cute. You," I motion to him, "are not," I say with a smile. He playfully shoves me, pushing me right into James's arms, who wraps his arms protectively around my waist.

"I thought we were friends," he fake pouts, protruding his bottom lip to make it more dramatic.

I laugh, "we are friends. If we weren't, I would have said a lot worse about your appearance." He sticks out his tongue. I mimic the action, getting a laugh out of Sierra which gets everyone else to laugh with her.

"Where's Preston?" I look around, noting the missing member to the group.

"Caught the flu," Julian explains. "Now come on. I'll lead the way to the games," Julian charges ahead, Seth, Lola, and Sierra trailing closely behind.

I spin around to face James. "Did you hear that! I'm an aunt," I say, tears welling in my eyes.

James's eyes sparkle with emotion, "yeah, I did," he says softly as his thumb traces my bottom lip.

"Come on, love birds," Seth calls, drawing us out of our moment. We both spin to see all three adults laughing at our puzzled faces. We look at each other once more, still confused as to the name they called us, before turning and marching toward the group.

First, we stop at the sand station. It's one of those booths where you fill up a glass container full of different colored sand. We all say it's for Sierra's sake but in reality, we are all having just as much fun as her. Seth, Lola, and Sierra get a heart shaped glass to fill together. Julian gets a little circle one and James and I get a thin rectangle glass. We peruse the colors choices, which happen to be a lot. I pour in sand first, a pale pink color.

"My favorite color and for the roses you got me," I explain to James. He picks the next color, a light blue.

"My new favorite color and it matches this," he holds up his ring finger, showing off the painted nail. I smile at him, moving on to add more colors.

Once all of our jars are filled up we head over to the goldfish toss. The point of the game is to throw a golf ball into fish bowls. If the ball lands in one with a fish, you win the fish. We play a single round, only one of us winning.

Just as the booth worker hands James the goldfish he won, Sierra bursts into tears. "Ope, looks like someone is up past their bedtime," Seth coos, saying quick goodbyes to us before rushing off toward the car.

"Guess this is goodnight for us," Lola hugs all of us goodbye. "Don't forget about lunch on Wednesday," Lola reminds me and James, spinning on her heel and walking toward where her car is parked.

"How could I forget," I shout to her. She looks at me over her shoulder and blows a kiss in my direction. I blow one back before turning to the guys."Alright, what next?"

We spend the next hour and a half playing random games, winning a few here and there, earning us tons of random prizes, most of which are stuffed animals. We can never seem to stop laughing, especially me and Julian, who have become quick besties. James seems to enjoy our newfound friendship, always smiling in our direction as we laugh over something stupid.

We shared like 5 funnel cakes and 8 giant cups of lemonade between the three of us. James had a point about the funnel cakes. They were GOOD. Definitely worth mentioning three times on the way here. He never needs to know that though.

"Alright, I better turn in for the night," Julian sighs, holding his stomach from the constant laughter and food that we scarfed down. "Since Preston is sick I have to pull an extra shift at the shop," he explains.

"Night," I hug him. "It was good seeing you," I smile. "We need to hang out more often," he ruffles my hair before patting James on the back, offering him a wink, and heading to the exit.

I look at James, suddenly feeling left out of something important. He just shrugs and grabs my hand, pulling me to the ferris wheel. I follow, trying not to look too much into it.