retrograde.

;seven

"I'm — that was terrible. I'm sorry." I mumbled. "Let's pretend I never said anything."

She's laughing at me. Hard. And I don't know if it's because I'm awkward or the lamest pick up line in existence. I try to keep my composure and not seem like I just ruined my chances of being her friend but it probably doesn't work. And since we're spinning around in circles on this goddamn swing, I can't fight the nauseous feeling that's creeping on me. When she stops, she hits me on my shoulder in a joking way.

"You think I'm cute?" She asks.

I think about going to say something "witty", but seeing how last time turned out, that's immediately turned down. So I simply answer her question.

"Yes."

She only smiles at me and turns away to focus on the ride that I distracted her from. And I'm sort of relieved because that way I won't speak again and make a fool of myself. When I finally stop feeling sorry for myself and enjoy the ride, I realize how peaceful swings are. So I stop thinking and look at the other things in this place to do.

We get off, and like Ansley says, she wants to play a game. So we wordlessly walk to one of the games. She chooses one where you throw balls at cans and see if you can knock them over.

"Do you want to play together?" She asks as she pulls a five out of her pocket to pay.

"Sure." I say.

She tells the attender we're doing it at the same time, and he hands us both a small bucket with about five balls each in them.

"You have ten seconds to knock down as many of these cans as possible. The winner gets to choose a prize from here." He says, then motions to the shelf full of teddy bears and other cutesy stuffed animals that I make it my mission to win.

He sets the clock, and tells us to go.

An in those ten seconds, we're reeling balls at the cans, both wanting desperately to be the winner. We're laughing and trash talking each other like we've known each other all our lives instead of being perfect strangers. The rushing feeling of joy and happiness are the only thing going through my mind at the moment.

"Winner!" The guy announces, pointing at me.

I look at Ansley, a smirk on my face. She only rolled her eyes playfully, a faint smile on her lips. I looked up at the choice of stuffed animals that were an option, and asked Ansley. "Which one do you want?"

"You're getting one for me?" She asks.

"Well, what am I going to do with a stuffed animal?" I say with a grin. "Pick one."

She doesn't say anything else, and looks up at the choices. Her eyes settle on one, and she points at the white crane with a red beak. "That one."

It wasn't the cutest one, and it surely wasn't one that I thought a girl would usually go for when there were other, cuter options at her dispense. Like a teddy bear. But if the lady wants a crane, then the lady will get a crane. So I tell the guy, and he uses a stick thing and pulls it down.

He hands it to me, and I present it to her. She looks at it admiringly and smirks at me. "Thanks, Casper."

**

        Before we knew it, we've ridden all the rides in this park and it's five in the afternoon. We were sitting in her car with the radio on and stuffing our faces with fattening carnival food like deep fried oreos, french fries, and lemonade.

It then dawns on me that I spent an entire day with someone I just met, and I want to do this again but it'd be weird if she doesn't feel the same way. "Does this mean we're friends now?"