One Offs: Random Rambles of a Crazed Fool

Caricature

After the customer service attendant told her she couldn't get a refund on the ticket, she gave the damned thing away - just to a random guy who she heard arguing with his friends about his ticket to the amusement park. She went back inside, thinking nothing of it, but her mind dwelled on herself. Why did she get stood up again?!

She had only come here for one – no, really [eye roll] two things. Since the date was a bust, that bastard, she would stuff herself with fried and overly sugary goodies! Tasty treats will always be her first love. But that wasn't why she was here, either. That was a decent plus!

As she walked the park with a fist of double deep-fried corndog with potatoes and cotton candy, she wondered what would make the guy drop out the date last minute. She wasn't ugly, but she wasn't too plain either. Though from the right angle, she could be a dog. The girl laughed at herself as she walked. She wasn't small either, had thick thighs, jiggly arms, and a soft middle. She wasn't model perfect – and didn't want to be. It has taken her a long time to get to this size from being larger and actually being comfortable at this smaller, larger than society normal, size. Though doubt crept in her mind, she pushed it aside.

'His loss – his absolute loss,' she muttered to herself, tossing her finished stick from the corndog and cotton candy in the trash.

This night might have been a bust for the date, but it wasn't a bust for what she came for. She found a booth of a free artist and took the red seat before him.

'Are you alone today?' he asked as he uncapped his marker.

She shrugged in reply with a smile. The artist didn't care either way. He did think the girl before him had a pretty smile – it lit up her face and even reached her eyes.

They didn't talk anymore as the artist added lines to the paper. Not long after, she felt someone next to her. When she looked, ready to shoo the person away, she saw a massive bear – the kind won playing some of the hard games. Standing behind the bear was the random guy she gave that ticket to. He gave her a gentle smile.

'I finally found you,' the guy said, looking from her to the artist and back. 'You were hard to tack down. I wanted to thank you for before, but you were gone.'

He frowned and ruffled the fur of the bear, kinda pushing it toward her more. She smiled at him, thanking the gesture was sweet but unnecessary. She just didn't want the ticket to go to waste. She waved him off. 'Don't worry about that. I hope you had a good time!'

The guy leaned toward the artist and had a hushed conversation with him. The artist smiled. She heard the artist say 'Got it.' The original picture was tossed away, while the artist began anew.

The bear stayed between them as the man sat down and chatted with her. He began to explain what happened with his friends – the misunderstanding. She nodded and offered her condolences at his best friend Mark's lack of tact. He laughed. His dark eyes shining brightly.

The artist still quietly worked as both parties poked fun at each other. The random guy asked her if she wanted to join him and his friends.

He was nervous and raked a hand through his short hair. 'We don't bite, really. You seem pretty cool.'

She put her hand to her chest in mock hurt. 'Only pretty cool? Well, damn. I guess I won't be whipping out my random knowledge of medieval torture methods – that's reserved for the coolest of the cool.'

Her face blushed at the weirdness of her remark. The guy before her was way, way out of her league and she was just grateful that he felt sorry enough to talk with her. He chuckled. 'My bad. You are the coolest. Come hang? Make my evening better, your highness?'

She blinked at him, swallowing hard. Before she could answer, rustling of paper caught her attention. The artist flipped around the drawing he was working on, and she stared at him wide-eyed before giggling.

The picture depicted the bear in her lap while the guy was in the bear's lap, like some sort of pile. The bear was blocking them from smooching. Lots of hearts and oversized lips. To her it was quite cute and more than she wanted.

'By the way, cutie,' the guy said as he paid the artist, 'my name is Stew.'