Between The Three

Chapter 3 - Fall Festival

"Here you are, little lady!", the jolly man smiled as he handed me my candy apple. He was dressed in rather colonial clothing and though I'm not sure it's culturally appropriate to do so, I couldn't deny the lengths everyone went through to throw such a fun and immersive festival.

"We'll take a bite at the same time!" Saya gleamed with excitement. "I cannot believe you've never had a candy apple before. You have not lived, my friend!"

"Haha, I know! But something about getting sugar stuck in my teeth for a week doesn't sound all that appetizing", I half-wittingly replied.

I'm actually enjoying myself! The weather is a crisp 68°, the lights are beautiful, and the vibes are immaculate. Oh, and I suppose the food ain't so bad either. Even with the stress I have from moving and trying to better myself, I am able to be fully present in this moment. So I let myself loose a little.

Saya grabs my forearm and pulls me into the 'fun and games' area. "Look! I do this with my dad every time we visit a new city! We have to do it together!", she blurts out as we stumble in front of a caricature tent.

An older couple is sitting, waiting patiently for their drawing to be finished. The artist's back is turned to us and it becomes instantly evident that she is very talented. Luckily, we are next in line so I'm okay waiting a couple more minutes.

"Haha! This is so cute. I've never done this before either!", I say as I take another bite of my apple. Holy cow, I'm almost done with it. Already? I guess I do like it. I smile to myself.

Saya dramatically turns around and gives me a stare.

"WHAT! You haven't?! Ohhhhh, nooooo.....it's ok, girl. I'll show you a WHOLE new world!" She raises her arm and paints the sky with her hand.

"Haha, okay, okay, Aladdin, relax!", We both laugh and 'cheers' with what's left of our candy apples together.

The artist is done and shows her work to the eager couple. The lady giggles and the man seems astonished. They take a moment to admire their new art piece, they both laugh, and thank the artist. Before you know it, we are up next.

We take a seat and wiggle around to try and figure out a cute pose we both agree on.

"HENDRIX! YOU'RE UP!", the artist yells as she gets up from her chair, heading to the back of her tent.

"Wait, where is she going?", I whisper to Saya. Saya shrugs her shoulders. 

"Maybe there's multiple artists. She probably saw us and said, 'aw, hell nah!', Saya laughed, trying not to be too loud this time. I laugh with her as another artist comes from behind us.

"Is it your break already?", the new artist jokingly exclaims.  It's a man and he walks around to sit comfortably in front of his easel, ready to get to work.

Oh....he's handsome.

Instinctively, I sit up straight and I feel my cheeks get warm. He looks to be around our age. Y/N, what're you doing? Relax.

"Hey, how are you ladies doing tonight?" He smiles and asks genuinely, as if he couldn't get any more handsome. 

"Gooood, how are you doing!", Saya and I say simultaneously, as if we have been practicing all day to do that. We all laugh.

"Haha, that's great! We hope you're enjoying yourselves well", he replies as he sweeps his hair from his cheek back behind his ear revealing a loop earring.

Oh, that's nice.

He begins going at the canvas with his marker. His hair is a chestnut brown, and long, but not too long. I think they call this hairstyle the wolf cut? His brown eyes are gentle, yet so fierce as I see them focused on the task at hand. His body is a lean build. His clothes are casual. A white t-shirt with random colorful smudges, no doubt from the art he's been hard at work with. The shirt looks like it's been in rotation for years and it fits loose, but tight in all the right places. Blue jeans with brown stylish boots. Nothing special, so then...why does it feel otherwise?

"Ahem!", Saya nudges me. "He asked you a question!"

I shake my head a little, "I'm sorry! What was your question?" Get a grip, Y/N!

"Oh, I just wanted to know where you moved from! And how are you liking it here?" He says, able to move his eyes from one target to the next with ease. 

"Oh, right! I'm from Illinois, actually. It's soooo different here, but I am loving every second of it!" I smile and look at Saya, too shy to look into his eyes for very long. This actually happened a few more times. He would look at Saya for a bit and then sketch some more. But when his gaze fell onto me, it lingered. I could have sworn he smirked at me one of those times.

Conversation continues to flow well between the three of us and it seems only a few minutes flew by before Hendrix was unclipping the caricature from his easel to show us his masterpiece.

"HAHA, OMG LOOK AT THIS!!", Saya takes the paper from his hand in excitement and leans into me so I can marvel at the drawing with her. 

"HAHA, IT'S GREAT, OMG!", We both laugh and are immediately relieved that he made us look adorable and silly and not ugly or funky looking like a lot of these caricatures are intended to look. 

Saya asks Hendrix to take our picture with the drawing, we exchange a few more courteous words, and then shake his hand in gratitude before we leave. I mean, there's so much more to the festival left to be experienced.

We walk away and I say goodbye one last time.

"Hope I see you around!", He hollered. And there it was. He did it again. His gaze lingered on me. He smiled sweetly as he lifted his hand up farewell, his other hand sweeping his hair from his face again.

I turn my head quickly, not wanting him to see me blush. Jeez, Y/N, never seen a good looking man before? I snap myself out of it. We walk on.

"Oh, shit! I forgot to pay him! Omg! I'll be right back!", Saya runs back embarassed, but not as embarrassed as I am. There's no way I'm showing my face again! He probably thought we did that on purpose. I walk a few steps more to not risk making eye contact with him again. 

Saya rushes back bumping into me and locks her right arm with my left. 

"Haha, woops! That guy is so kind, he said he didn't even notice we didn't pay because he was distracted", She giggled. "And I'll go ahead and guess that he wasn't the only one distracted, eitherrrr", she leans into me again, this time moving her eyebrows up and down fast, insinuating the obvious.

"Girl, stop! That's not truuuue," I said in denial. She can read me like a book! There's no point in lying to this girl. "Come on, let's go to the basketball hoops! I wanna try to win that Jack Skellington stuffy!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!", Saya sings. I know she's a joyful person, but she's especially joyful tonight. It's safe to assume this time of year is her favorite and means a lot to her. She truly is my saving grace here. It's only my duty to make sure I can make this night great in return. 

The night goes on and Saya and I are in line for some burgers now. 

I throw my phone up and smoosh my cheek onto hers. "Say fall leeeeeaves!", I shout. I take a selfie of us. I have to remember this moment! This is exactly. What. We. Needed.

Ok. I needed.

This was the perfect end to such a tough week. But taking these photos...having this memory...helps me look forward to the future. No more past thinking. There's more to life than what was.

We take like a billion photos and laugh, as we always go through all the emotions and poses we can think up when taking pictures together.

I look down and revise our photos while Saya makes her food order. I swipe right to scan each of them. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Omg, my face! I didn't even know it could do that! Swipe. Swipe. Oh, shit.

And just like that my heart skips. He's there. Hendrix is faintly in the background of one of our pictures. He's far, but looking away, and just walking in some other direction. But I spotted him instantly. How did I do that? I noticed him right away.

Y/N, relaaaaax. It's just some guy.

I zoom in the picture to get a better look. He's smiling. 

"Hope I see you around!" I remember him saying. 

Yea.....yea, I do, too.

TO BE CONTINUED....