The Other One

Old Habits

Minnie and Christopher entered the carnival and the air between them was a bit tense.

Christopher tried to ask Minnie what she wanted to do first and where she wanted to go and she suggested that they would play some games. 

They found the game they had played so many times before, where you are supposed to knock "beavers" to score points. 

"Let's make a deal. Whoever wins has to buy the other one ice cream," Christopher suggested.

That brought back memories of the old days again. Minnie and Christopher had always competed at these games and whoever won, mostly him, had to do something or buy something for the other one. In the past, Minnie had to give Christopher massages after football games, buy him candy or ice cream and let him pick the movie for their annual movie night the weekend before his birthday. 

She had of course won a few times too, but not as many. When she had, he had to buy her ice cream or candy and let her pick the songs in the car for an entire month (she had been extra annoying to him when she won and had only played Taylor Swift's old albums for that entire month).

"Game on," she said and smirked at him. She had this.

The results were 302 to 304. 

Christopher and Minnie were breathing heavily when they were finished. They looked at each other and laughed.

"I probably should've warmed up before," Christopher's dad joke had Minnie laughing even harder. "I guess I owe you an ice cream now," he added.

"I'd rather get a stuffed animal," Minnie shrugged.

"Which means I have to win you one," he stated and Minnie gave him a confirming nod.

They walked over to another game where Christopher was supposed to, with the use of what looked like a giant club, hit a stick and send a shuttle as far up on the board as possible. Minnie could see Christopher's muscles tense underneath his shirt as he prepared himself. He lifted the club in the air and used all of his force and hit the stick. The shuttle flew up and rang the bell on the top.

Minnie screamed and the people beside her clapped their hands. Christopher was given a giant stuffed bear and on impulse, Minnie threw her arms around Christopher and hugged him. He tensed up at first, but then his arms snaked around her too. He had been right, this felt like the good old days.

"Should we go there next?" Minnie asked, when they let go of each other, and pointed to the Ferris wheel.

"Sure." Christopher said and followed her through the crowd.

They sat down in the Ferris wheel and it began to spin. 

"This is fun. Thank you for coming." Christopher smiled at Minnie.

"Yeah, this is fun." Minnie sighted when she saw the view. 

Suddenly the Ferris wheel came to a stop. 

"Did you do this?" Minnie gasped when memories of the promposal returned.

Christopher raised his hands. "I promise you, I didn't." That had Minnie giggling and soon Christopher did as well. "Just like when I asked you to prom," he added.

"Hey, everyone," a speaker voice said. "We've got some technical issues, but we are working on it as soon as we can. The wheel will be letting you off shortly. Don't panic."

There's not really much to do when you are stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel. Especially when the person you are stuck with is taken, so Minnie focused her attention to the lovely view. 

When they came back down to the ground Christopher needed to use the bathroom. Minnie didn't, so Christopher handed her his phone and wallet for her to guard, before he went. 

Suddenly his phone rang. Minnie glanced on the screen and a picture of a stunning red head woman was displayed on the screen.

Amanda.

She didn't pick up the phone. She just kept looking on the picture of the woman. Her red hair in a long flow, her brown eyes. Stunning. 

The phone stopped ringing just as Christopher returned. 

Just as Minnie was handing Christopher's stuff back to him, his phone rang again.

"I've gotta take this," he said and took a few steps away from Minnie. Minnie could still hear his end of the conversation.

"Hi honey...yeah I'm good...I decided to stay an extra few days. I met some friends that I haven't seen since high school and college...how are you?...good...love you...bye."

Christopher ended the call and returned to where Minnie stood.

"What do you want to do next?" he asked.

"I wanna go home," Minnie replied. She had had enough of the carnival and of the memories it came with.