Hang In There, Jolene

carnival and newspaper clippings

  Nothing could get the town of Carmel and Elliot more excited than the annual carnival.

   Allison always teased him for his "ardor" for the carnival. Perhaps in a more metaphorical sense, it was the only place that he could truly escape from the looming presence of his ever - present mother. And before everyone left for college, he wanted to savour the little time he had left with his friends.  

    It was a perfect, scorching summer night, as he strolled along with Allison and Jacob, relishing the fair backdrop. Everything was helter skelter — the faint music that played, the few kids that skittered past their legs yelling their lungs out, the lights of the ferris wheel, the air occasionally being punctuated by screams of merriment, and the winning cheers from the booths and the stalls. 

   Allison nibbled happily on her candy floss, as Jacob looked at her with admiration, as if she had just found out the cure for cancer. Elliot knew of Jacob's crush on Allison, but was afraid to tell her so, as the three of them had been pretty tight since Elliot had met her in the forest as a kid. 

    "Do you want me to win you a teddy-bear or something at the stall?" he enthusiastically asked, almost in spitting in her face. 

    "No, thank you for offering though. Do you want to go on the ferris wheel, Elli?" she turned to Elliot, the bright multi - colored lights of the fair reflecting in her eyes. Her hair was loose and in waves, and her smile was exceptionally bright. 

   If there was one thing that he was certain about, that he loved Allison with all his heart. 

   Jacob rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, which Allison didn't notice, who was too busy staring starry - eyed at Elliot. It was a sort of a love triangle, straight out of a film made for teenagers. Jacob had been crushing on Elliot since fifth grade, and Allison was supposedly in love with Elliot, as he heard from the rumours at school. 

   "Sure," he shrugged, feeling the burn of his friend's stare. He didn't think that Jacob would be hurt, since he himself harboured no feelings of love for Allison. 

   As they paid for the tickets and comfortably sat in the passenger seat, Allison wiggled towards Elliot, sighing contentedly. 

   "I wanted to tell you something," she mumbled, her voice muffled as her face was snuggled in the crook of his neck. It was pretty usual for them to behave so affectionately, even if people mistook them for a couple. 

   Allison would go tomato - red in the face, and Elliott would brush it off. Little did he know, that she was head over heels in love with him, even if she didn't show it openly. 

   "What?" he said, distracted.

   Whenever they glided to the top, he was mesmerized by the entire town, compact and peaceful, as the cold wind provided him some relief from the hot night. It was almost humbling, him being tiny underneath the astronomical sky, the silence at the top and the delirium of the people on the fair ground, with its fried food smell. 

  He sometimes felt so Lilliputian, that he could vanish into the forests and no one would notice. Like become a wood nymph or something of that sort. 

  "I like you," she simply said, burying her face deeper in his neck. 

   "Oh," Elliot said, blushing. It was something — being liked by the prettiest girl in the school. "I — I don't know, Allison."