Just Drive [old version]

[ chapter twenty-one ]

Chapter Twenty-One

            After the pancake eating contest ends, I do my best to convince Austin to come play some cheesy, stupid carnival games with me, but even after eating enough breakfast for the next week, he still wanted to go on the rides. “You can go if you want,” I tell him, “but I’m not going to clean up your puke.”

            “But I promise I won’t puke on you.”

            I roll my eyes. “I’m not going on the rides, period.” As much as I wanted to see him smile with appreciation, I wanted to be clean and puke-free more.

            “Just one?”

            I shake my head. “Not even one.”

            He bites his lip and gives me a halfway frown, but before he could say anything I interject. “Look, we’re sweaty, gross, and God knows when our next shower will be. I don’t know about you, but I seriously don’t want to add the words ‘covered in puke’ to that list. If you want to, by all means, go ahead, but I think the carnival games will be fun.” I make sure to end my speech with a small smile.

            Austin rolls his shoulders back. I think at this point he has accepted that he wasn’t going to win this argument. He shrugs and makes some sort of noncommittal sound to confirm this.

            Without another word, we start to walk around with no sense of direction. Every now and then, Austin would start miraculously gravitating towards the nearest rollercoaster, but life is a battle of wills, and I figured if I just kept walking forward and away from the rollercoasters, he’d follow. He owes it to me to do at least that much.

            Eventually, a carnival barker, one of the really loud ones wearing cheesy pinstripes and holding a big red microphone, catches my attention. “Three chances to hit the bell at the top to win the ultimate prize!”

            He’s standing in front of one of those tall games with the bell and mallet. Most of the people who came up and tried the game could barely get it past the first mark, which was a little more than a foot off the ground. The bell, which was placed nicely beside the bevy of grand prizes, looked like it could be ten feet off the ground. I almost pass off the game as unreasonable and unlikely when I spot a ridiculous, blue, spotted stuffed animal mixed in among the other stuffed animals. I couldn’t even tell what it was, but the moment I saw it, I knew that was the one I wanted.

            “Austin!” I squeal. He was about an arm’s length away and glancing at some rollercoaster off in the distance. “Look! A spotted blue stuffed animal!” I point excitedly at the whimsical plush prize.

            He squints at the prize rack for a minute before asking me, “Want it?”

            “Oh my God. Hell yes.” I grab his arm and drag him towards the game before either of us could figure out what we were doing.

            “You lovely couple!” the carnival barker shouts. “Why don’t you try your hand at my little game?” He twirls his curly black mustache for extra effect.

            I beam at the man. “Oh my God, yes.”

            “You get three tries to get that little marker up as high as you can get it to go,” he says. His voice is heavily laden with a New York accent. “Hit the bell at the top, and you can choose from any of those big ol’ prizes up there.”

            I point at the blue animal at the top. “That one too?”

            He nods. “So are you in?”