Jaded

[48] How Hungry?

"What was that all about?" Atty asks, scrambling to close the distance between us as the Senator and his goons clear away in near-unison. I'm angry enough to be fighting back the urge to smack the Senator's bald head with all my might (I can just imagine the satisfying 'thwack').

Of course Atty has questions. I would too, if I saw him chatting with a politician and I wasn't allowed to get close enough to listen, or even eavesdrop.

The problem is, I don't know if I should tell him. On one hand, he's Atty. I care about him, a lot, and keeping a not-so-stupid secret from him makes my skin crawl. But on the other hand, he's Atty. He'll worry and try to fix it and protect me, even if the cost is too high.

Hmm.

I furrow my eyebrows and grab the slightly melted ice-cream Atty is offering. Tell or not?

For the second time today, Atty lightly pokes the middle of my forehead. "You really are going to give yourself a headache. How about you forget my question for now and leave the mental gymnastics for later?"

Oh god, how did I ever get so lucky? I want to jump on this idiot right now and kiss him so much he forgets his own name.

Instead, I opt for a grin, "brilliant idea, simply genius. I am also a fan of procrastination so that suggestion is ideal."

"I'm well aware," Atty says as he sits on the newly empty bench, gesturing for me to join. When I do, he points to a spot to our right, between the darts booth and a purple booth I'm presuming has something to do with fortune telling, considering there's a badly painted highlighter blue eye where a written sign should be. In the relatively small space in between, there are 3 carnival workers shuffling around. 

So pretty, they look like a trio of katydids with those soft pink uniform shirts of theirs. Gorgeous Katydids, a solid entry on my 'top 5 bugs' list.

"That," Atty explains, "is where I saw a little boy throw up a while ago."

That explains the workers.

"Are you just telling me this for fun, or...?"

"I'm just sharing, no ulterior motives. Just thought he reminded me of you."

I immediately whip my head around to him, lips pulled into a thin line. I turn Atty's face towards me, squishing his cheeks.  "A small puking child reminded you of me?"

Atty pulls my hands into his and smirks in a way I can only describe as a Martin-esque sort of obnoxious. "Of course, before he barfed all over the place, he was chowing down on both cotton candy and ice-cream. No doubt that's what led to his demise."

I match his smirk and visibly move my cotton candy out of his reach. "So that's what this is, you've changed your mind and now you want some as well."

He slouches in his spot, tilts his head back, and leans it against the curved top of the bench, groaning. "Please, I'm so, so hungry."

There's truly no good way to split cotton candy, not without getting your hands sticky enough to pass as a kindergartener during art time. I shuffle closer to him, ignoring the way the hot metal painfully rubs against my thighs, and nudge his knee with mine. "Come on Oliver Twist, let's go get actual lunch instead."

Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea why Atty would try to scam me out of my cotton candy when he doesn't even like it in the first place.

He groans again, this time turning his head towards me and pouting. "Not an option, I checked out some of the food places and the prices are insane."