candy apples [rewriting]

two: bumper cars and ballpoint pens

8th December
-
"OH MY god! you said yes right?"

"yes, lacey. i said yes."

"ahmygod! when is the first fair?"

"tomorrow," i answer. lacey had been peppering me with questions from the moment i agreed to go to all those fairs with drew. he was hot, lacey had said i wish it was me who got put on the ride with him. some of the answers to her questions i didn't even know myself.

the only details about tomorrow i know are is that we are going to a

1) christmas themed fete that starts at
2) 10:30, held at the local
3) elementary school, with
4) live music [from mediocre local bands] and, of course,
5) plenty of candy apples for sale.

the idea is that at 9:30 drew meets me at a park about a five minute walk away from my house (since drew is a kind of a stranger, i didn't feel comfortable telling where i live), and then we drive to the fair.

(the plan sounded a lot less dodgy when drew was explaining it to me.)

• • •

when i get home from the fair i shower then check my email. i have six new messages in my inbox.

three emails from lacey

an ad for a bookshop deal (50% off!)

an email from drew double checking where to meet me

and another ad

i reply to drews email and drag the rest into a folder titled 'read later'. it currently contains 2117 unread emails.

i switch off the computer and climb into bed. i reach over and grab my book off my bedside table. looking for alaska by john green. my favourite. the spine is cracked in various places from rereading countless times.
-
9th December
-
MY EYES are dangerously close to shutting, and my brain is also dangerously close to switching off. i knew i shouldn't have stayed up all night reading, but even when i decided to turn off my light and go to sleep i couldn't stop myself from staring at the reflection of other peoples christmas lights on my wall.

i am late. late by ten minutes and thirty seven seconds, or so drew tells me while staring at his digital watch.

we walk to his car and get in. his car is not the newest car in the world and the baggy seat covers on the passenger side reveal cracked leather. still, i think, at least he has a car. or a license.

• • •

thedrive to the fair isn't quite as long as i'd expected.

"so, what did you say this was, again?" i ask, as we pull up at the elementary school.

"this, my friend, is the christmas themed elementary school fete. a place of joy," he adds, seeing the look on my face. "come on."

we walk on to a big oval filled with stalls selling things ranging from homemade jams to showbags to second hand books to temporary tattoos. there is live music. a mr. whippy ice cream truck. showrides, and absolutely no shortage of festival food.

drew escorts me to the bumper cars and we each get into one. i ram him. he rams me back.

• • •

"do you have any siblings?" drew asks me between mouthfuls of cotton candy. i study his face. he has eyelashes anna would kill for.

"i have a little sister. anna. the thinks she is, like beyoncé or something. shes a total girly girl. we are total opposites and have never got along." i reply.

"never?" drew raises his eyebrows at me. "even when you were young?"

"let me tell you a story about the relationship anna and i have. when i was six anna was 18 months old. one day mum realised she forgot to get milk or something from the supermarket so she rushed up to the deli and told me to watch anna in the three minutes she was gone. i watched her. and i watched her. and i watched her crawl right off the couch and land on the floor. that is pretty much how our relationship has stayed to this day."

"yikes."

"what about you?" i ask him.

"i'm in the middle. james left home three years ago and felix turned twelve five days ago."

"cool. you get along well?"

"nope. but we love each other." i raise my eyebrows and he adds "in a manly way that never really shows itself." which makes me laugh.

he decides to show me around the school.

• • •

"this," he tells me, during the grand tour of his old elementary school. "was the classroom in which i completed fifth grade. my teacher was satan." i laugh. "seriously though, it was terrible. once my pen broke and ink went all over my desk and she made me
spend my lunch times for the next two weeks scrubbing at the black stains and redoing all the damaged work."

"wow." i press my forehead against the window and look at the grey room filled with colouring-ins of santa claus and identical grey desks. it wasn't very colourful. it was actually quite depressing to look at.

"drew," i start.

"yeah."

"what movies do you like?"

"why?"

"just curious."

he grins and takes a deep breath. "imobsessedwithdisneymoviesdontevenjudge." he exhales and i laugh.

"which ones?"

"any. frozen. bambi. tangled. cinderella. peter pan. the aristocats. the lady and the tramp. big hero si-"

"woah. stop. i just wanted to know a few." i can't suppress my laughter.

"how about you?"

"ummm... i like the hunger games and movies directed by tim burton."

"yeah, i like them too. the animated ones, that is. c'mon, its nearly four, this'll be over soon."

• • •

the drive home wasn't hardly as awkward as the way up, and it actually seemed shorter.

drew drops me back off at the park and i walk home alone.

when i get home, dad is on the couch watching football and anna is painting her toenails with her earphones in. mum is unloading the groceries into the kitchen.

i walk upstairs and collapse on my bed in a heap. the next fair is in two days. i cross today off my calendar and turn up my music as loud as it can go.
i sing along.

i'm so west coast

(its a goddamn shame)

i'm so west coast

(its a goddamn shame)

-
i feel like a total ass for not uploading for so long but here it is, the new chapter, there for you to read. comment what you think and if you died when you read about drews disney fetish. (i think i died a little too.) has anyone on here read the secret history by donna tartt? im reading at the moment and its a++. apparently theres like a whole fandom on tumblr but idek. dedication to @affection becuase her stories are aMAZING.

goodbai have a nice life