My Professor

15. Fair

By the time Saturday morning arrived, I could barely keep still. The prospect of spending a full day with Theodore without interruptions was so enticing. I could hardly contain my excitement.

I got up early that morning and pulled myself together for the day. I waited impatiently for an appropriate time to climb into my car and start the drive out to Rummington. I was ready to get the drive over with before it even started, but at least the view as I wove through the hills and past all of the turning leaves as I made my way down the highway was nice.

After a few hours I finally pulled into a dirt parking lot that was stationed near the carnival park. The festival consisted of a county fair, live music on a modest sized stage at the middle of the park, and a large pumpkin patch of the far west side of the property.

I got out of my car and looked for Theodore's. Sure enough, I spotted him across the parking lot and quickly went over to talk to him.

"I'm not typically one for crowds," I said after we'd greeted each other, "but this is actually pretty exciting."

"I can always enjoy a good county fair," Theodore agreed.

We walked through the fairgrounds, observing all of the zany rides and the colorful assortment of people. After a few minutes of this I spotted something amazing.

"Spinning tea cups!" I exclaimed, a bit out of character.

Theodore looked over to see what I was pointing at with such excitement. The spinning teacup ride was whirling in circles, the faded pastel colors were a blur in the sunlight.

He laughed. "You like the teacup ride?"

"I love that ride! It's my favorite one," I shared.

"I have to hand it to you, you never cease to surprise me," he said fondly.

"Come on! Let's go," I said, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the line.

The line was relatively short since it was still early in the day. It wasn't long before Theodore and I clambered into an oversized teacup. We snapped on the useless seat belts and I grabbed the center wheel with excitement. Soon the ride began to slide in circles and Theodore and I threw our weight into spinning the middle wheel, making our individual teacup spin. I couldn't contain my giddy giggles and screams as my hair whipped around me. Theodore had a wide grin spread across his face, clearly enjoying the ride almost as much as I was.

As we staggered on the ride, a bit dizzy, we were still filled with laughs. Any tension from our previous argument had been dissolved. The bright colors and wacky sounds of the fair solved all problems. We found a bench nearby and sat while we waited for the dizziness to subside before venturing out to get something to eat. We ended up finding a funnel cake stand and picked up a few.

"Funnel cakes are much messier than I remembered," I said as I attempted to dust powdered sugar off of my chin.

"Yeah but you have to have one for the full fair experience," Theodore said, reaching down with a napkin and dusting the rest of the powdered sugar off of my face.

"Thanks," I said, blushing lightly.

"Do you want to go check out the pumpkin patch next?" he asked.

"Sure," I agreed readily. I loved pumpkins.

We made our way to the pumpkin patch and slowly walked amongst the field, enjoying the crisp autumn air and each other's company as we went.

"Will you be going home for Thanksgiving break?" Theodore asked me.

"No. I wish. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. My family always does it right. I'll be going back for winter break, though, so I'll be there for Christmas."

"That's good," he said, though I could tell he was slightly disappointed by the news. "So, are you doing anything for Thanksgiving while you're in town?"

"No. All of my roommates will be out of town so I'll be enjoying some peace and quiet for once, so that will have to do."

"If you'd like, you can join me," he offered. "I don't have anything planned yet, but I could make dinner if you'd like to come over."

"Oh." I was surprised. "You don't think it's too risky?"

"Well, I'm confident that we can behave ourselves."

"You're risking a lot inviting me," I reminded him.

"What can I say? I really like you, Indigo," he smiled.

"Just like me?" I teased, not thinking before the words left my mouth.

"Well, it might be too soon for me to confront to the true depth of the matter," he replied playfully. "I just hate to imagine you alone for Thanksgiving."

"You're very sweet," I said, kissing his cheek. "Thank you for inviting me. I'm looking forward to it."

"You bring it out of me," he smiled before leaning in to kiss me on the lips.

My eyes fluttered shut as I enjoyed the feeling of his lips on mine.

"I like you, too, if that helps," I said, opening my eyes after he pulled away.

"It does," he chuckled, taking my hand in his and continuing our walk.

"Still too soon?"

"We have plenty of time," he said. "More time than we would like, in fact."

"At least it's November now," I said even though it still felt like time was crawling by.

"This hasn't been so bad, though," Theodore said.

"Speak for yourself," I sighed.

"Six more months," he exhaled. "We'll get there."