Meet Me In The Umbrella Garden

Chapter 7: The Games

It was... odd indeed.

The feeling of careless joy was foreign to Ivy. It felt so strange even, and for the first several minutes that the two teenagers had spent in the amusement park, looking for activities that would be fun for both of them, she had trouble processing her emotions. Maybe she really just wasn't used to this feeling.

"Ack! I missed again. Why don't you try?" Holding the toy gun towards her, Luke pulled Ivy out of her trance for probably the hundredth time. He had noticed her not being in the moment, as well. But that only pushed him to try harder to make her enjoy her time here.

Ivy's eyes widened upon the boy's sudden actions. And she looked at the toy gun as if it were a strange contraption. That lasted for a few seconds, before she would take it and glance towards the boy standing beside her and watching her attentively. "... I don't think I'd actually be any better than you in this."

"That's what you think. But who knows? Exactly why we're trying to see if you can actually do it, aren't we?" Luke smiled as he spoke those words.

Ivy only looked back at him in uncertainty, before she turned and aimed the toy gun at the ballons hanging on the wall. She shoots. And she misses... All three shots.

"I told you I wouldn't be able to do it."

"But you were so close, though. Good job!" Luke responded enthusiastically, holding up his hand for a high-five as he looked towards Ivy. He waited, and his eyes showed a spark of determination to make the girl feel better.

It was then that Ivy finally noticed it. And she chuckled and smiled before she would give the boy the high-five he had been waiting for.

Luke cheered in response, before he proceeded to point towards another stall behind him. "Now let's try those tin cans over there, shall we?"

In the end, it didn't matter whether they won or lost. With how enthusiastic Luke was in leading Ivy through the amusement park, he was bound to pull her mood, too.

It was a good day, anyway. Ivy knew there's no point in wasting it away feeling bad about the fact that she cried last night. And, just as she had wished for that time, she was here with Luke. And he seemed willing to spend his time with her.

"So... how long do you plan for us to stay here?"

But, eventually, the day would soon come to an end. Yet, even as the sun was already setting, Luke didn't seem to have lost energy.

And Ivy was beginning to wonder if he had more plans than just to spend the afternoon here in the amusement park.

The boy turned to her, his fingers still holding the straw he hadn't poked into his soda cup just yet. And then he smiled at her, in a way that was just nothing but warm. "Until you feel better."

"... And what if I already do?"

"Then we'll stay long enough so you can fully enjoy your time here."

He was witty. Ivy had to admit as she observed the way he talked, the way he replied to her words, and the way he smiled at her, like he always had an answer ready to whatever she had to say.

She turned away from him to look up at the sky. "It's getting dark," she spoke softly, but Luke heard it, anyway.

He followed, his eyes turning from her to the sky already turning from a bright orange to a dark blue. The stars have even started coming out. Though, with how they were in the city, only a few could be seen. They could probably only see more if they looked through the cityscapes instead.

And then, Luke had an idea.

He placed his soda cup beside him on the bench they sat on, and then he turned to Ivy, his doe eyes sparkling all over again. "Hey. Do you wanna ride the ferris wheel?"