The Alien Inside Me

Chapter 4: The Festival

It was the day of the parade and I was dressed up in the outfit I bought the day before and Becca was straightening the stray curls out of my hair in her bathroom. We had both decided to do our own makeup though, because I didn't want to look like a pinup girl and she didn't want to not look like a pinup girl.

"Man, you're hair is so soft! I hate how wirey my hair is." Becca said, raking her fingers through my loose strands.

"If you stopped soaking your hair in Aqua Net you might find your hair to be a lot softer than you think it is." I quipped back.

"Shush, or I might just do your hair like mine!" She huffed.

I laughed, but kept quiet because as cute as her vintage hairstyles looked on her, I wasn't so sure I could pull them off.

"And viola!" Becca spun me around to look in the mirror.

I shook out my hair a bit and grinned, "Thanks, Becca, it looks beautiful!"

My hair was cascading down my back and over my shoulders elegantly, shinning like spun gold in the light from the bulbs above the sink.

"No problem!" Becca grinned, "Now, it's time to get to the festival!"

Both of us loaded up into an Uber and made it to the town square as most of the tents began opening.

The town square was just an open area in the middle of a bunch of popular shops, it wasn't usually much to look at and it was usually a place you would find high school students hanging around. Today, however, every streetlight had blinking lights strung around and between them. The space that was normally wide open looked like a maze with all of the canvas canopies and bright stands pushing up against each other.

The square was bustling with energy already and I found myself wishing I was raised in an environment like this. My parents were loving and as smothering as parents should be (if not a bit more), but I wanted this sense of community. Every child seemed to know each other and the parents simply let them run around to different booths to play together. I always figured that it was my lack of socialization as a child which made me so withdrawn and awkward as an adult.

"Daisy, look!" Becca exclaimed, pointing to a giant honey colored teddy bear hung from the roof of a stand, "Let's go win that game and get my bear!"

I laughed as Becca dragged me into the thick of the festival to win her stuffed bear. It was going to be a fun night, I could tell already.

It was only 10 pm and Becca had run out of arm space. Apparently, Becca had nearly impeccable aim and was able to win almost any game whose prize she deemed worth her time. She was nearly tipping over with the giant teddy bear from earlier held in one arm and several other stuffed animals clutched in her other.

Of course I couldn't be too critical, because she had won me a cat balloon animal, two sticks of cotton candy and a voucher to a cute looking restaurant down the road.

"I'm starting to think that we should have gotten dates and forced them to carry all our prizes for us!" Becca groaned, struggling under the weight of her animals.