️♥𝕾𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊♥

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 9 : 𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝕱𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝕯𝖎𝖘𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖘

Gideon's POV

There's a carnival in Brattleboro today, and I am freaking out cause I have absolutely nothing to wear. Tadj set me up with a girl who works in his sister's bakery and told me to "try it out and see where it goes" she is really pretty, but I can't even figure out whether i'm straight or not so putting this entire thing on me is a huge headache. I throw my clothes all over my room and end up settling on a plaid shirt, harrington jacket and jeans (which was my first choice, how annoying).

I hear the doorbell ring and I smooth my shirt out as i open the door. I see the girl (Bridget) standing outside waiting for me. She's in a cute shift dress and a pillbox hat, she smiles at me and waves "Hey, you ready to go"? she asks as I grab my keys and follow her out the apartment.

*****

The hum of carnival music drifts through the air, mixing with the occasional scream from the roller coasters. Bridget and I chat easily, finding out we both love the same obscure bands and have a surprisingly similar taste in movies. When we reach we end up saying at the same time "Let's go on the ferris wheel" I laugh while we walk towards it. I follow behind while Bridget hops onto the seat of the ferris wheel. "Come quick"! she smiles. I sit beside her as I feel the gears of the ride turning, we slowly move up and I see couples on the seats either hugging or kissing each other.

"So... you want to eat hotdogs once we get off"? I ask awkwardly trying to fill the uncomfortable silence. "I love hot dogs, they are real gutt waddin' though aren't they" she says laughing. We get to the top of the ferris wheel and she kisses me on the cheek. I smile at her all giddy. I did drink a bit of brew today, that must be why i'm so dizzy right now. Once we get down from the ride we fill our stomachs with hotdogs and we try to go on a few more rides.

"So, do you like cotton candy"? she asks eyeing me. "Not really, it's wayyy too sweet for me but I don't hate it either" I reply. Mid conversation, I spot Julian walking with his friend, and a grin immediately spreads across my face. "Julian!" I call out, raising a hand in greeting, not bothering to be subtle about it. He turns, his face lighting up when he sees me. "Hey, Gideon! What's up?" He waves walking towards us. His friend walks behind him eyeing me up and down, wait wasn't he the friend that Julian ran over to when I was having a mid-life crisis? I think i remember his name, it's Ashley or something. 

"Bridget"?! Julian says surprised turning to face her. "Hey Julian"! she replies. "You two know each other"? I say shocked looking between the both of them. "Yeah! I see her often whenever I go to Tarini's bakery and we talk sometimes" he says to me. Wow, even i go to the bakery almost all the time but maybe I just don't notice people. Maybe it's because it's pretty hip and really crowded. "This is Ashby, but i'm pretty sure you remember him" Julian says introducing him to me. "Hi" I say nervously, he just glares back at me. I get the feeling that he really doesn't like me. We stand for a while, none of us talking so we just say our goodbyes.

We part ways, and I turn to Bridget. "So, what do you want to do next?" She hesitates, her gaze flickering over to Julian, and a faint blush spreads across her face. "Oh, sorry," she says quickly, looking back at me. I tilt my head, feeling a strange tug in my chest. "Do you like him or something?" Her eyes widen, and she stammers, "What? No! Where did you get that idea?" I don't know why, but her reaction stirs something in me, a weird feeling I can't quite place. It's not like I have feelings for Julian... right? But seeing Bridget act like this, it makes me uncomfortable, like I'm not sure if I should feel jealous or something. Why does it matter?

I give her a pointed look, the words slipping out before I can stop them, "Come on, even if you do it's really fine, just tell me". "I'm really sorry" she says embarrassed. I leave the conversation alone and we go on this HUGE scary looking ride and i'm pretty sure my throat died after screaming my lungs out. It was super petrifying. "Can we go to an expensive restaurant? I'm sick of eating at bean wagons" she says once we get off the ride. "Wanna crash over at my pad? I have beef wellington" I say hoping that she would agree because I really don't want to spend anymore money on food.

"Sure! I love beef" she says following behind me. "Wait do you see that"? I say pointing towards the police cars. "Oh shoot the fuzz is here, I wonder what happened" she thinks. "Maybe someone took a five finger discount, it is a carnival so there might be a lot of thefts here" I say looking over at the commotion to see what's going on.

I find the police running after two men with huge bags filled with god knows what. "Damn they sure did steal a lot" I say looking pointingly at the bags. "Hey, they remind me of Tom and Jerry" she says laughing. "Wait you're right" I say chuckling along with her. We walk all the way to my apartment soon after, and eat our dinner. "Hey I should probably leave" she says after putting her plate in the dishwasher. "Really? I thought you wanted to crash over"? I ask her. "Nah it's fine, but I had lots of fun with you"! she says smiling as she picks up her coat from the hanger as if she was rushing to go home.

As I watch Bridget leave, I can't shake the weird feeling gnawing at me. My first proper date, and somehow, it's Julian who's on my mind. Why does it bother me so much? I've never thought of him like that, but seeing Bridget react to him... it makes something inside me twist. Am I jealous? Or just confused? Either way, I don't know what to do with this feeling.

Right... So my first ever date ended up liking Julian, of course. What a weird day.

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