LET ME, mattia polibio (1) ✓

18

NARRATIVE

I was almost finished getting ready when Vic burst into the bathroom in the basement where I was putting away my mascara. After I'd put it away, I stuck on my lashes and finished up before turning to Vic and asking her how I looked.

"Really pretty," is her response and I only grin and links our arms together as we leave the basement and wave to Vic's parents before walking through the front door and getting into Vic's car.

I glance down at my phone, checking the time as it lit up in my hand. The time read 7:02pm. Vic had told the others that we'd meet them at the carnival at seven and we were barely just leaving. It was typical of her though, because Vic was never early for anything.

"We are late" I huff, "as always"

Vic does nothing but grin. As always.

The ride there is only half an hour and to my surprise, they're all standing in the parking lot just outside the carnival waiting for us. Mattia's tall frame catches my eye almost immediately. He looks even better in person, is the first thing that pops into my mind.

I greet everyone but him, which upsets him a little bit, I can tell. Robert drags me through the carnival towards the mini basketball game. He remembered that it was my favourite thing to play at the carnival.

The others had scattered across the carnival while Robert and I had a few games of basketball. We collected countless tickets, but we decided we weren't going to spend them today because we wanted to save them. I chuckled at the thought, I already had thousands of carnival tickets back home.

"Can we go find the others? I want to go on the dodgems" I groan. I was slowly growing bored of the basketball game.

"Sure, let's go" he grins and drags me over to where we saw Vic last, who was standing with Mattia and Taylor. "Guys, we're going on the dodgems. Who's coming?"

They all agreed and I texted Kairi and Ale to let them know that we were going to the dodgems but to my surprise, they were already there, waiting in line.

I loved carnivals. It was a scorching hot summers day, but got colder as it got darker. Still perfect for a day at the fair, however. The sky was dotted with a few light clouds, the lights from the carnival stalls were really pretty. I waited in the queue with Robert and the others as customers were becoming increasingly excited and impatient as they took a few steps closer the the booth every so often. Loud music could be heard from the speakers with the occasional happy scream suddenly piercing the air.

I glanced around the massive structures of the rides that could be seen: a rollercoaster, a big Ferris wheel, a helter skelter. Below, younger children stood watching, eating their sweets and snacks. Ice creams wobbled perilously over the cones and dripped down their small fingers as they melted; some munched on brightly coloured balls soft sugar strands that dissolved on the tongue - sweeter than sweet and sticking to the teeth better than glue.

After a while, I noticed that my eyes were glued to the ice cream cart. I turned back to Robert and told him that I no longer wanted to go on the dodgems, and that I wanted to get ice cream and then go on the Ferris wheel instead. He offered to go with me but I declined and told him to stay in line and wait for his turn on the dodgems which he agreed to.

I sauntered off towards the ice cream cart. The old man standing behind the counter smiled sweetly at me as I approached and asked me what I wanted once I got close enough to hear.

I asked for a small tub of chocolate ice cream and pulled a few notes of cash out of my back pocket before thanking the man and swapping the money for the tub of ice cream I'd just bought.