The Shadow Things Ch. 7

When I woke up it was 3:36 pm and Aimee was sitting at the foot of my bed, arms crossed. Man, just what I need, other than more sleep, Aimee, trying to quiz me about last night while I'm half asleep. Who ever invented best friends should burn, really.

"What the crap Erin?" she began, "You didn't keep me posted on what you were up to and now you're like Dracula or something," her eyes widened upon her realization of something, I hoped it wasn't what I was thinking, because it did not come near to happening. "I didn't leave you alone with Edward Cullen did I?" I couldn't differentiate whether that was a serious question or a sarcastic one, but man was that close, I was grateful I was wrong.

"Really? Are you serious? Are you obligated by some unwritten best friend code to do this right now?" I whined.

"Hey kin," she began reasoning, "you asked for this when you turned off your phone," I had no other response than to roll my eyes and pound my face hard down onto my pillow. "I don't know if you want to be doing that right now," she surreptitiously mimicked.

"Why?" I huffed.

"Because you only have like twenty minutes to tell me and eat breakfast before your ungodly soulmate returns, he just called."

"Crap!" I squealed, and then, between brushing my hair and teeth, dressing, and eating, I unraveled the previous night's events to a very eager Aimee.

"Whoa, you went to Sedona? Crazy, I figured you'd go to dinner and a movie then back to his place."

"Aimee! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Hey, I didn't say anything was going to happen, besides, it's not about what kind of girl you are, but what kind of guy he is. He is popular, rich, and good looking, and I've seen the way he looks at you, just stop being such a vagine and make a move, and I mean all that alone time and no lip lock? Seriously?" She had some good points that I couldn't argue, but he looked at me differently? I really hadn't noticed, but it was very apparent Aimee had.

It was 3:54 when a blue mustang pulled in my driveway; I was just finishing my cereal and sprinted to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out of its frosted flakiness. Breathless I ran to open the door; he was on the other side combing his fingers needlessly through his short thick bronzed hair, his jade eyes turning their attention to me.

"Hi," I began with the nerves of a Palsy stricken person, "Come in."

"Hey, thanks, but I was sort of hoping you'd want to come out..." he bashfully admitted, hands in pockets rocking on his heels. I turned back to Aimee, but soon felt that familiar movement in my pocket; it read: 'if u don't go...I will', I nodded and turned to him.

"Sure, let me get my shoes and a jacket."

And then we were on our way, this time in a midnight blue '67 500gt mustang, with white racing stripes, accented with silver lining, which I almost drooled over, now I'm not a car person per se, but, I do have a dream car, and this one was it. I eagerly waited to slide in on the passenger's side as he opened the door for me.

We headed North on Pinal, making a right onto the freeway heading South East, I figured we were on our way to Tucson, instead we exited fifteen minutes later.

"Have you ever been to the fair?" he responded to my inquisitive expression.

"Not here..." I trailed off remembering I had gone to the Pinal County fair the previous year, but I didn't feel that I'd lied, due to the technicality of the situation. I had gone to the fair for a concert-not the rides, face painting, or cotton candy, but to see the Jonas Brothers; very talented, and so worth the forty bucks and the fighting with prepubescent girls with raging hormones, I hadn't technically been to a fair in years.

We pulled into the parking lot of the fair grounds and began our trek to the entrance gate. He turned to me once we were at the gate and put on one of his many irresistible smirks, "Give me your hand please," he said, more as a command than a question.

"Should I be concerned?" I asked jokingly. As he held my hand between us, a current of warmth spread through the rest of me, he put a wristband on me, a red one with white and black checkers on it.

"Only if you're afraid of Carnival rides," he said with that smirk still pressed on his lips as he took back his hand, taking my blanket of warmth with it.

The excited screams and laughter of people clouding over the colorful and bright fair animated me, although something in the back of my mind told me something bad would happen, ending my good evening, it was a tradition for me.

"Are you hungry? We can get something to eat over there," he began.

"Oh no, I don't eat at fairs."

"Why?" by the time he'd asked this question, we had wandered to G Force, a ride that spun you in circles while swinging you in the air.

"That's why, come on they're just letting people on!" Literally dragging him to the ride before he could react, we got two seats on the right; I grabbed the one on the end. Soon we were gliding through the air in circular motions; I observed the sky as if for the first time, watching the sun as it emitted pink, orange, red, and purple rays behind the clouds as it set behind the sand colored mountains. I looked to my right to see J.J. smiling at me, almost as if everything were still, and I couldn't help but smile back, numbing the slight nausea building in the pit of my stomach.

After a few hours of g force, tilt a whirl, crazy train, the zipper, fire ball, fun houses, and cotton candy, I needed a break.

"So," breathless and nauseous, "Do you want to get something to eat now?"

"Oh I don't eat at fairs," he mimicked humorously, "no, not really."

"Wanna win something for your girlfriend buddy?" a game keeper called to him; thank goodness I was already red in the face from the last ride, if not, he would clearly be able to see me blushing. I looked at his expression, for the first time, I saw him caught off guard by what the game keeper had said, or rather the word he used: 'girlfriend', a term I thought I was slowly earning, but I guess I was flat out wrong.

My breathing became almost laborious, my arms and legs became noodles, as my heartbeat my chest, and the worn rope of rejection tied nasty knots within me, causing my face to lose all color. He looked back to me and saw my state and immediately began to apologize in an attempt to explain his reaction, which was ridiculous.

"I didn't mean anything bad by that, it's just-

"D-don't speak..." I stammered meekly, "I think I know what you're getting at," I struggled for air as redness reclaimed my cheeks, my nose beginning to sting and my eyes began to water as my chest became heavy, "please just stop explaining, it's just gonna hurt more by putting it into words." I felt so left out, like I had been the last to know about something important, and instead had been punched in the stomach. I was so confused, I thought that this was the prelude to us being more than just friends, I felt so bruised. "What was all this about then?" the moisture had formed tears which teetered from my eyes, "We were-I mean what you said- my eyes fell to the floor as did my tears, "If you just wanted to be friends why couldn't you have just treated it that way? And don't tell me that I won't understand, because we both know that I don't."

"I didn't mean to lead you on, I mean I, I don't know what I mean at all..."

"Neither do I," I felt like there was a hole in my heart, and everyone could see right through me, "but maybe you could figure it out before you mess with other people's heads."

I glanced over my shoulder to see what I was leaving behind; a badly bruised boy, a boy I felt no sympathy for as tears blurred my vision; I turned back to wipe them both as I walked away.