I reluctantly hunkered down in my seat for what I was fairly certain was about to be a mildly long drive. I tried paying attention to the signs passing by but, still being fairly new to the area, within a few minutes I had no idea where we were.
"I still don't understand why no one will tell me where we're going." I grumbled to anyone that was listening.
"Now, now, Courtney..." Nate drawled, trailing off. "You'll ruin the surprise." His voice was apathetic and I could feel him growing slightly hesitant with his choice of destinations. He seemed to shrug it off quickly though, because the expression didn't linger and he turned to me with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I rolled my own eyes and scowled at him, then pivoted in my seat to face Grace.
"Gacie..." I started, my voice taking on the tone of importunate aforethought.
She playfully narrowed her icy blue eyes while wagging her finger at me. "You know better than that; calling me Gracie isn't going to get you anywhere."
I scowled at my mistake, hurrying to backtrack. "Grace! My beautiful, cunning, and loveable long-lost sister-"
"Oh, shut up, Courtney. I'm not telling you anything." She stuck her tongue out at me while Mark chuckled and Nate shook his head disapprovingly. After sending Grace and her better half a heart-felt glare, I whipped around to face Nate with a huff.
"I dislike you." I declared, crossing my arms across my chest childishly; despite myself, I was coming severely close to pouting.
"No, you don't." He countered with an overly-confident tone.
"A minor technicality," I mumbled bitterly. Without taking his eyes off the road, he smirked.
We rode in silence for a while, the only noise being the quiet chattering between Mark and Grace. I was nearly convinced to give up the whining and to wait the ride out, but out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Nate. With his forehead creased, Nate's lips unhappily set into a deep frown. I felt my brow furrow in confusion when a thought occurred to me.
"Where are we going!?" I barked loudly, testing my theory; I thoroughly believed that Nate was secretly pleased with my pestering.
As soon as the words left my mouth, Nate's expression brightened considerably. "Why don't you stop the whining and do something productive?" He asked. His face shown with annoyance, but the corners of his mouth were struggling to stay in a frown. He was actually enjoying my incessant nagging.
Apparently, I attract boys with my bickering... Who knew?
"And just what do you suggest, huh? If you haven't noticed, I'm sort of trapped in a car with a chainsaw-packing psycho." I smirked, satisfied with my response.
"Here," he said, tossing a case of CD's at me. "Pick something." I scoffed but rummaged through the case anyway.
As I was diligently going through Nate's CD's, I vaguely noticed that not only had everyone gone completely silent, but the car was now immobile. My head snapped up automatically as I searched frantically for a clue as to what the rest of the day would bring.
My eyes went wide when I realized that Nate had driven me to a fair. Half of me was annoyed with how anticlimactic the whole situation had turned out to be, but I found myself becoming more and more fueled with excitement as the idea of a fair settled within my head.
A whole day of silliness awaited me right outside Nate's car. Just think about it! A whole day of making Nate win me cute cotton-filled things; I was bursting with excitement just thinking about it. I felt a wide grin spread across my face as I ambled out of the car along with the others.
Nate smiled down at me as I bounced on the balls of my feet along side of him, Grace, and Mark while we made our way through the parking lot. I was so ready for a day of good, clean, Hellen-free, fun...
Or so I thought.
