"Hey, don't let this girl get to you. You've got this." Mitch gestures towards the carnival entrance.
I gave him a small smile and could feel some courage sweep into my heart. I was so grateful that I had caught Mitch in the act of a crime and that I forced him to help me cope with my hectic situation. I linked my arm in his and we headed into the hustle and bustle of the Autumn Carnival.
As we walked, a fear crept into my mind. How was I going to face Bea?
But as we approached the bathrooms and I saw her long black hair, all of my fear vanished and was replaced with pure pettiness. I was going to make this torture for her.
She turned around and I made sure I had the most artificial smile plastered onto my face.
Her expression was like priceless gold.
"V-Valerie?" Her blue eyes grew wide and her fair skin seemed to sink in color.
I let go of Mitch's arm and wrapped Bea in my arms. "Oh Beatrice it's so good to see you!" I gave her arm a little squeeze after ending the hug and mustered up the most energetic voice that I possibly could. "This is going to be so much fun." I returned to Mitch and pretended that I didn't notice Bea's complete shock and Gabe's longing stare. I turned to Mitch and he gave me a little wink as I tried to prevent myself from laughing at how awkward this situation was.
"So what do you want to do first?" asked Mitch. I turned and observed the carnival. When Alex was young, I used to take him here and we'd play all of the carnival games. One year, he wanted so badly to win one of the stuffed animal panda's at the "Shoot 2 Hoop" stand, so I spent all of my tokens attempting to get him the panda. I still remember how his eyes sparkled when I presented it to him.
"Let's go play some carnival games. I'm pretty good at the ring toss," Gabe smiled and gestured over to the game tent. He led the way and we followed him. I could feel Beatrice looking at me, but I chose to ignore her stare. We entered the tent and I pulled Mitch over to the ring toss station. Gabe and Bea joined us. Mitch went first and completely failed. I made sure to throw in some flirty and teasing comments and he fake-pouted.
"Why don't you try then?" He held the rings out to me.
"Watch and learn," I said, as I accepted the challenge. I passed by Gabe and made sure to give him an extra-long glance as my shoulder brushed his. I could see him tense out of the corner of my eye. Anyone in the room could basically smell the jealousy floating off of him. He was bathing in it.
On my second try I got a ring on a bottle and turned to gloat to Mitch.
"Okay, your Highness," he took a step back and dramatically bowed. This brought up a giggle that I tried to swallow and ended up snorting a little bit. It wasn't even a fake giggle. That was real. Mitch smiled at me, and I felt myself start to blush a little bit, but I quickly turned away and tried to hide it. That was really weird.
Gabe then used his tokens to take a go at the ring toss. Apparently he was exemplary at it, and Mitch was intrigued. Gabe started to try and show him his secret technique and I was listening in, but I felt Bea tap on my arm.
"Val, can I talk to you?" She looked around nervously and tried to avoid eye contact.
"Yeah, of course! What's up?" I said in a sweet and sappy voice.
"In private," she added.
"No," I stated firmly with a smile still attached to my lips.
"Why no-"
"Hey guys, I have an idea! It's pretty dark outside now. We should go on the Ferris Wheel." I abandoned Bea and went over to the boys.
"Yeah that sounds like a pretty good idea," said Gabe. He put his arm around Bea and I felt my stomach start to churn again. She looked at me with an uncomfortable expression. We left the tent and headed for the Ferris Wheel. As we waited in line, I watched as the shimmering lights slowly went round and round and I could feel the chill of winter trying to poke its way into the world as the cold wind bit at my skin. I shivered a little and Mitch was suddenly by my side. "Do you want my jacket?" I looked up at his face, noticing a few stray freckles on his nose. This sweet gesture had me in awe of how kind he had been tonight.
"No it's oka-"
"Here, take it," he said loudly enough for Gabe to hear. He removed his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. I instantly felt warmer and I shared a soft smile with him. Instead of returning it, he drew in closer and his face got serious as he whispered, "I swear, if you get it dirty, I'll tell Jacob that you keyed his car." He then reopened the distance between us and I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. Just when I thought he genuinely cared about my well-being.
Finally, we got a spot on the ride and we sat down. Gabe and Bea sat on one side, and Mitch and I on the other. The ride started to move and I looked out at the lights growing smaller and smaller beneath us. It was quiet except for the sound of the rides and laughter. I looked across at Gabe and Bea cuddled close together. His arm rested around her and my heart sank a little bit as I felt a few tears start to well up in my eyes. I turned back to the view of our town. Beatrice and I had so many memories together, and I still couldn't believe the selfishness of what she was doing to me. Just as a silent tear started to fall, I felt Mitch reach for my hand and intertwine his fingers in mine. His hand was warm against my cold skin and I could read the comfort coming from his green eyes when I turned to face him. I tried to keep from smiling at the feeling of his hand holding onto mine. It was such an amazing thing for him to do this for me. Sure, i blackmailed him, but Mitch was trying to help me and that's what mattered.
I looked up, and sure enough, Gabe was staring. He was staring at our hands locked together. And let me tell you, I had never felt so accomplished in my life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As we got back to the bottom of the wheel, the guy operating the ride opened the door for us to exit. "How was the ride?" he asked.
"It was great," said Mitch as we stepped out of the ride together.
"I hope you didn't have too much fun," said the guy as he eyed our interlocked hands. He winked. Mitch and I quickly dropped our hands and he shoved them in his pockets as I crossed my arms. Mitch looked at the ground awkwardly and mumbled something about kettle corn as he headed off towards the food. I turned to see Gabe with his arm still around Bea. She looked at her phone and said she had to make a call. She walked away and left Gabe and I alone. Finally.
"So, can we just cut the crap?"
What..??? I turned to look at Gabe who was coming in closer.
"I know you're just using him to make me jealous Valerie. He might have feelings for you, but there's no way you can feel the same way about him with the way you've been looking at me all night. It's clearer than day," Gabe was now inches away, but I didn't feel intimidated at all.
"So what if I am?" I asked, pushing my face even closer to his. We were standing sort of in the shadows by the side of the ride where no one could see us. "Is it working?" I whispered.
"Damn right it is." He put his hands behind my shoulders and suddenly I was up against him as his lips crashed onto mine. His hand traveled up to the back of my head as he kissed me deeply and I was absolutely lost. Our lips moved together and my hands felt the muscles through his shirt. After a moment, we both pulled back for air.
"Woah," I whispered. He grinned at me and wiped my lip gloss from his mouth.
"I've been wanting to do that for awhile now," he said. I blushed and tucked my hair behind my ear. That was amazing.
But then I remembered Bea.
"So, I just gotta say, I'm not really into this whole 'openly' dating thing." I leaned against the fence nearby and he ran his fingers through his dark hair.
"I'm going to end things with Beatrice." He came close to me again. "She's sweet, but you," he placed another soft kiss on my lips, "you are something else, Val." His eyes shined as he said this and my heart began to race. I had fantasized about kissing those lips countless times, and I couldn't believe that it was finally happening. Gabriel Barnes liked me.
He took a step back just as Bea returned. "Hey, sorry about that. that was my dad. He wants me to come home now. Do you mind going to get the car started, Gabe?" she asked politely.
"Of course. I'll go get it and pull around to the entrance. Bye Valerie," he turned to me and smiled with those beautiful lips I had just been kissing before he headed towards the parking lot. I gave him a smile in return.
And that's when Beatrice let it all out.
"I didn't mean for this to happen Valerie, I promise. One of the cheerleaders who asked me to come take a photo of the squad for yearbook set me up on this blind date and I agreed because I've been lonely and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. She was so excited and said that we would be perfect for each other." Bea paused and looked to see if I was still listening. I stared at her blankly as she continued. "I showed up at the diner, and there was Gabe. Of course, I instantly thought of you, and I was going to leave, but he saw me and I couldn't just walk out on him. I tried to just play it cool, but we really hit it off Val. And I know that's not what you want to hear, but I really like him and with everything going on in my life, I really need someone right now."
This set me over the edge. "You really need someone right now? You could have chosen anyone, Bea! Literally anyone. But you just had to choose the one I have wanted for three years, didn't you? Just because your parents are getting a divorce you think you're somehow allowed to need someone that I've wanted?" I knew I shouldn't have said it, but I was angry and the words rolled off of my tongue like fire.
"Oh don't even start on getting things that you want, Valerie," she spat at me. "You get everything you want. Not everyone has parents that treat them like a princess."
"You think you know everything about me Bea, but you don't kno-"
"Oh, but I do!" she exclaimed as she threw up her hands. "You're Little Miss Perfect. And you know what? I'm sick of it. I deserve to be happy and Gabe makes me happy. So please, stay out of my damn way." She stormed off toward the car and left me by the Ferris Wheel steaming. I was in complete disbelief that she had tried to turn this around on me.
"Hey, you okay?" I turned to see Mitch with a mustard-covered hot dog in one hand, and a large bag of kettle corn in the other.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Why do you have so much food?"
He smirked. "Well I did just get kettle corn, but I went to get a hot dog as well because I came back and saw you sucking Gabe's face."
My stomach dropped. "Oh my gosh, you did NOT."
"Actually, I did see that and I'm glad I did because if that wasn't happening, I wouldn't be eating this hot dog right now. And this hot dog is freaking incredible," he said as he took a large bite.
I could feel my face turning red as I thought of Mitch seeing me kiss Gabe. I don't know why I felt somewhat guilty. I guess because we were on a date...but it wasn't even real.
"Are you ready to go home?" I asked.
"Valerie, I've been ready to go home since we first got here." He headed towards the parking lot without waiting for me.
When we got in the car, it was freezing. "Could you turn the heat on please?"
He glared at me. "Could you like, wait a minute? I haven't even started the engine yet."
"Well then what are you waiting for?" I whined impatiently.
He shoved his hotdog and kettle corn at me. "Hold this then."
"I'm not holding your dog and corn."
"Oh yes you are." He forced the food into my hands and turned the ignition. I rolled my eyes at how I was just holding his food for him like a butler or something. As we drove off, the car began to warm up and I began to think about the kiss. I could still feel Gabe's lips like a ghost on mine. If I wanted to be dramatic, I would reach up and touch my lips in deep thought, but I couldn't do that because I was holding Mitch's junk food.
My phone began to ring and I felt it vibrate in my cardigan pocket. I had no hands to grab it so I tried to get Mitch to hold the hotdog.
"I can't hold that, I'm driving," he responded snarkily.
"Fine then," I said as I shoved his hotdog deep into his kettle corn.
"Valerie!"
I ignored him as I reached for my phone and saw Alex's name on the screen. I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Valliiiee," said a croaky voice on the other end.
"Alex? Why are you talking like that?"
"I need wou to come I can't talk."
"Alex, what is wrong with you? If you are trying to annoy me, knock it off." Mitch looked at me quizzically and I shrugged.
"Walk," he paused to hiccup, "Not 'talk'. Myyyy bad."
"You can't walk? Alex are you drunk?" I asked. The only response I heard was a low groan. I couldn't believe him. "Are you okay?"
What he said next scared me. "They hurt me Valll. I need you now." I could hear him start to cry and that's when I began to panic.
"Oh my gosh, Alex where are you?" I asked, my heart racing. I heard the phone beep at the sound of the ended call.
"Valerie, what's wrong?" Mitch slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. "Is your brother in trouble?"
"He said someone hurt him. I need to find him right now," I said as I tried to find his location on my phone. I waited frantically as the map glowed with a dot in a park. "He's at Wellington Park." I turned to Mitch, "Take me to my house please, I need to get my car so I can go find him."
"No, that'll take longer. I'll take you there now." He pulled back onto the road and picked up his speed towards the park. I looked out the window eagerly, my head racing. Something was very wrong. I could feel it.