Endeverafter: The Series Presents The Cursed One

Chapter Twelve

After they finished eating, Drue and Lex walked around the rest of the festival. They stopped at several different tents, admiring everything from the tent selling handmade jewelry to the tent painting animal faces on kids. There was a tent selling handmade candles in memory of Mildred Grant caught Drue's attention. She felt compelled to stop and look around. The woman, a thick woman with animal print glasses, greeted her with a smile.

"Do you have a favorite scent?" she asked.

"Hm, not really," Drue replied. "I do like the smell of vanilla though."

The woman walked over to one of the small tables and picked up a small glass jar. "If you like vanilla, you should try this," she said. She held the candle up to Drue's nose and the aroma of cream and sugarcane filled her nose. "What do you think?"

"That smells really good. What's it called?"

"Paradise," the woman replied. "It has two wicks instead of one, which makes it last longer than most candles. It's made out of recycled glass."

"How much is it?" Drue asked, digging into her jacket pocket.

The woman gently placed her hand on Drue's arm, stopping her. "Usually, I'd sell this for fifteen dollars but I'm gonna give it to you for free."

"Oh, no, no. I-I couldn't let you do that."

"No, I insist," the woman said. "Think of it as a gift. You were drawn to this tent for a reason." Drue's eyes immediately looked up at the blown up picture of Mildred Grant. It was sitting on a poster stand. The woman was right. She did stop for a reason. Mildred. "I'm gonna wrap it up for you."

"Thank you," Drue said, as the woman handed her a small gift bag. "I really appreciate it."

"As I'm sure Mildred Grant appreciates your presence. Have a good night."

"You too." Drue walked away from the tent with mixed emotions. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry, smile or both. The brief interaction she had with the woman in the glasses did make her feel a lot better than she did an hour ago. She had a good vibe about her that was infectious.

Drue finally spotted Lex standing in front of a tent selling hand painted portraits. "See anything you like?" she asked, appearing beside Lex.

"Yeah, this one." Lex was standing in front of a painting of a white stone sitting in front of a rainy window.

Drue looked at the painting and tried to picture what Lex was seeing. It didn't look like something Basquiat would paint but she wasn't an artist, so she couldn't judge.

As Lex kneeled down to get a closer look, a shadow appeared over her. When she looked up, she was staring into a cloud of cigarette smoke. Once the smoke cleared, she found herself looking into the reflection of dark sunglasses. She quickly stood up.

The guy, dressed in a backwards baseball cap that pushed down his dark hair, brown vintage and worn leather boots, dark slim jeans that were rolled up at the ankle, an ethnic pattern fleece shirt jacket and a black varsity t-shirt with the number twenty three on it, said, "You buyin or what?" He took a pull of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke directly into Drue's direction.

Drue quickly covered her mouth and nose to mute her coughs. "Thanks for that," she said, in a muffled voice.

"I was thinking about it," Lex replied.

Drue turned and looked at Lex and she couldn't believe it. She had that look on her face, a look Drue was very familiar with. Lex found this guy attractive.

The guy tossed his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. "Well, don't think too hard. I don't have all night."

Who spit in this guy's coffee this morning? What was with the attitude? Drue started to say something until Lex stamped her foot on the ground. "How much?"