The Lilies In her Hair

2-Eddie Jackson

"So, Mary Ann, what's a girl like you doin' in a dump like this?" I laugh.

"Well Eddie, a girls gotta work for a livn' even if it's a dump."

He chuckles and he strokes his curly black army cut hair until he holds the back of his head. Eddie and I strolled slowly around the carnival dock talking about... well, everything. I explain that I moved from Texas for my dad's job at a big company and how unbelievable it might be, Texas is much hotter, it's like the devil's armpit. Eddie say he's from Brooklyn, New York but he's visiting his uncle for the summer.

We pass a dumpy stall game with a crooked sign, Eddie looks at me and says: "Do you wanna play a game?" I eagerly say yes.

The game was to shoot the most moving metal ducks with a pellet gun in a minute. Eddie slides the stall owner a 5 cent, Eddie looks at me and points at a huge chocolate colored teddy bear hanging over us and says: "I'm going to win that bear just for you, now... stand back and watch a pro do his thing." Eddie begins to shoot but misses by far. By the end of the game Eddie managed to shoot 3 ducks down, the stall owner gives him a smirk and says: "I think the pro is having a bad day... here's your prize." The odd man hands Eddie a tiny marmalade teddy bear with a blue ribbon around its neck. Eddie hands me the bear while rubbing his neck and saying: "I guess you call this beginners luck?" I take the bear and say: "Do you want to see how a real Texas girl does it?"

I slip the odd man a 5 cent and pick up the gun. One by one the metallic ducks are knocked off. By the end of the minute practically all the ducks were gone. The man gave me the huge chocolate colored teddy bear Eddie was referencing to before. I give Eddie the oversized bear and I say gesturing to the small marmalade bear:" I don't need it, I got this one."

After another hour of strolling I found myself falling, not literally, it was a warm and intense feeling, what could this be? The sun was slowly lowering itself in the ocean, disappearing piece by piece. Eddie and I found ourselves back were we had started by the edge of the dock staring out into the abyss. I turned to face Eddie to find him staring at me with his hazel eyes smiling gently, I smile back.

"I had the best day with you Mary Ann, even if it was hot."

"For the first day in California I thought I would be spending it arguing with my parents... It was way better than I thought it would be."

Eddie slowly moves in on me leaning close, I do the same, we were inches' way from our first kiss, hell, my first kiss. Until the last thing I wanted to see... my mother. She let out a ghastly gasp.

"Mary Ann Roberts! GET AWAY FROM THAT BOY RIGHT NOW!" I pull away and look at her with fury in my eyes and say: "OR WHAT?!" She walks angrily towards me and grabs my arm and pulls me with her. "Maybe next time Mary Ann." Eddie says total relaxed over the fact that my mother just made a scene. My mother looks at me at says while were walking: "There WON'T be a next time, if your father found out he would kill us BOTH."