Girls

Chapter 7

"Nicki, you have to decide..." Shannon says softly to me. She rests her hand on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze.

"I know but it's hard..." I run my fingers through my hair frustratedly. "This decision is too much. I can't do it, I need more time."

Tyler places his hand on my other shoulder, his grey blue eyes looking deep into mine. "You need to think about how happy you will be with whichever decision you make. You can't keep putting this off, no matter how much you want to. It's time to decide."

Both of my best friends look at me, anticipating which one I choose. My heart is pounding. Should I just try something more outgoing and fun? Or should I try something more down to earth and mellow? Will I be happy if I go for the more outgoing one? Or will I be even happier with the more mellow one? I can't decide.

"Are you going to buy something or not, kid?" The grotesque, sweaty carnival food dude gawks at me.

I slam my money down on the counter, a triumphant grin spread across my face. "I'll have a large Pepsi and a funnel cake!" I say, choosing neither the mellow lemonade or the fun cotton candy Sprite.

"Good choice," Tyler says approvingly. We're at the yearly carnival right now, the only thing people look forward to in this town. All around us, people are laughing and having a good time, prizes and food under their arms. It's a great feeling to have everyone in town be happy together. It's an even greater feeling to walk away with a fresh warm funnel cake in your hands for you and your best friends to share on a nice cool night.

"Let's go on that one ride that makes us go upside down when we're done!" Shannon points, her face beaming with excitement.

Tyler spews out a little bit of the Pepsi and makes a troubled face at her. "Do you want us to puke??"

"Maybe you guys, but not me. Got a steal stomach," she says. We take a seat on a worn out bench and pick apart the cake with our hands. Forks? What are forks?

The breeze gently blows through, cooling off the heat from earlier today. Lights of all colors gleam off and onto our faces and upbeat pop music plays in the air. I couldn't be happier than I am right now with these two dweebs.

"This is heaven, holy shit," Shannon moans while eating a strawberry. Tyler and I mumble agreeing. In my peripheral vision, I see Shannon look up and stop chewing. She squints at something in the distant and then nudges me.

"Isn't that Sabrina and Jade?" She pats her mouth with a napkin.

I look around but I don't see her at all. "Where?"

"Right there."

"There's a lot of right there's, Shannon."

With her clean hand, she takes my head and directs me to the Ferris Wheel. Jade and Sabrina are laughing hard together. Suddenly I feel very shy and nervous even though she doesn't even know I'm here.

"You should go talk to her," Tyler suggests. I glance down at what I'm wearing. Oh hell no! There is no way I can talk to her in this! I have to look nice and this t-shirt does not look nice!!

 "Nahhh....."

"Yeahhhh." Shannon pulls me to my feet. "Go on, Tyler and I will talk to Jade for a little bit while you two do whatever." She winks, causing me to blush deeply.

"Okay..." We dump the cake and clean ourselves up. Shannon and Tyler look fine, but I feel like a bum next to them. Ugh someone help me...

For some weird ass reason, I get even more nervous when we approach them. I've never gotten this feeling when I'm around Sabrina so...I'll just blame my nervousness on Jade.

"Hey." I manage to flash the two girls with a friendly smile. Well, I hope it looks friendly.

Both Jade and Sabrina look surprised to see us here. I think I'm more surprised to see Jade expressing a different emotion other than boredom and annoyance for once. What's even more shocking is that Jade actually accepts Shannon's offer to go play one of the mini games with them.

I look over at Sabrina and smile awkwardly. "Want to go do the water shooter while they do their thing?"

"Um, sure." We hand over a few dollars and take a seat behind the guns.

"Get ready to have your butt whooped." I ready my hands over the buttons, a big smile spread across my face. Now that Jade is gone, I feel more comfortable. Still a little nervous, but not that much.

"We'll see about that," Sabrina snorts. It's the cutest thing I think I've ever heard.

The game starts and our buttons get pounded down. I move her gun so she's no longer aligned with the hole, the both of us laughing. She does the same except when she does it, my water flow stops. No matter what I do, the water won't start again. She beats me easily now that there's no competion.

"Oh yeah!" She's grins at me. The lights dance around on her glasses and in her eyes. I've never seen her this happy before. Well, at least not when she's with me. Something inside of my chest warms up knowing that I'm the reason she's smiling so big right now.

"Pick your prize," says the guy working the game. Sabrina chooses a Harry Styles plushie toy thing and turns to me with a broad smile.

I look at her and then at her plushie. "What?" She giggles.

"You like One Direction.; I press my lips together in a half grimace, half smile. Dear God and all His Glory, am I really crushing on a girl who is a One Direction FAN!?!?!?!?!? She lifts up her cute thin shoulders, shrugging, and confirming my worst fear. Internally, I'm shaking my head and groaning. Externally, I'm just staring into her eyes.

"You don't?" Her knowing smile makes me blush. It's the little things about her that I am starting to realize I like so much. Like when she smiles at me, for example, but she doesn't look me in the eyes, and how when gets she's nervous her arms hang at her sides and she's less animated. It's those types of things that get me so hooked on her, and it's those types of things that set her apart from Elizabeth.

"Sabrina!" Sabrina and I look over our shoulders at Jade. She has a bag of cotten candy and her phone up to her ear. "C'mon, we gotta go. My mom's waiting."

Sabrina nods, and then turns back to me. The smile on her lips is softer now, but no less pretty. "It was fun playing that with you," She says.

"Oh, yeah totally. I'll see you at school." I'm overcome by the urge to kiss her goodbye as she starts to walk away from me. The urge is so strong that I freeze where I'm standing so I don't actually do it. This is something that's never happened to me when I'm around Sabrina, and I'm really digging it.

"Soooo?" Tyler beams at me.

"Did you ask for her number or anything?" Shannon presses. The two of them have eagerness shining in their eyes. Now that I think about it, I probably should have....

I choke down my saliva and manage to give them a weak smile. "Er...no...but we had really fun. You won something?" I gesture to the stuffed cow she has resting limply on her head.

Her face radiates happiness as she holds the stuffed cow in front of my face. She announces to the world,  "HIS NAME IS SPUNKY!"

Some of the people around us cast her curious looks as they walk by.  Tyler puts his hands on his pockets, smiling at our best friend with amusement.

"You didn't win anything Tyler?" I nudge him.

"Oh, no I didn't play." He tells me. I frown at this. He probably let the girls play first before joining in. That's so Tyler, always being a gentleman.

"Well," I link my arms through my both of my best friends. "Let's go play some games!!"

That anxious feeling never leaves my stomach all night, and neither does Sabrina's smiling face.

-end-

Song: Ok Pal by M83