Let's Fall in Love at 17

Let's go to the carnival

I do not know what you see in my eyes.
Cracks on dry land,
The ocean a few miles,
Out of reach,
A plight.

***

That day mom herself told me not to go back to school. So I spent the rest of my day at home. Which I did sulking in my bedroom. When Danny and Cathy came back they complained about how I had gotten a half day off but I still didn't move from the comfortable confines of my pillows.

I didn't even know when day turned to night. There was one thing I was looking forward to the whole day and that was spending a few hours with Ashton at the carnival, so when the clock struck nine, I summoned a change of clothes and with a hope that this would cheer me up I left an angry Captain and Cathy glaring after me at the porch.

Ashton was there, standing in front of the carnival entrance, hands in his pant pockets, waiting for me. When I arrived, he looked sideways at me, "You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good either." I retorted, rolling my eyes.

"Well then that's what I'm here for." He gave me a toothy grin, grabbing my hand and leading me inside through the mass of people filing in. He paid for the tickets and I let him, because a guy who lived in the elite neighborhood would surely be loaded.

Surprisingly, he neither had a cigarette nor the usual bottle of whiskey in his hand, though the distinct smell of weed still lingered in the air around him.

"First stop, merry-go-round." He announced, rubbing his hands together in a childish manner.

"Dude! Don't get high before going to a carnival. I can't deal with high-you!" I whined.

"Ella..." He drawled, "What have we learned? Let loose!"

"Whatever..."  I dryly commented as he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the ride, making me sit in the largest horse and himself taking a seat on the smallest one, three horses down from mine.

When someone came to sit in the horses between us, he waved a hand at them. "Hey! La! Al hosona la elee." The poor people looked at him with incredulity before scrambling away, the guy had the gaze of a hawk that anyone would get scared with. On top of that his eyes were still red so I didn't blame the woman whose lip quivered at his comment, that too in a language neither she knew nor I.

"Hey, Ella, do me a favor? Shout 'Yala! Bsora'a!' to that man right there." He pointed to the man standing near the buttons to start the ride. For some reason when I said this, Ashton let out loud cackles as if I had said something funny.

"What did that mean?" I asked, eyeing his laughing form speculatively.

"It meant let's go. Hurry up." He translated, holding onto his stomach.

"Why is that funny?" I asked. Seeing him be so careless, bubbles of giggles escaped my throat until it turned into full blown laughter with actual tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

"It isn't but it is!" He snorted as the ride started and the horses began to move up and down. All throughout the ride, Ashton made weird sounds, one of them being a rendition of Oh la la except that in his case it sounded comical.

"Next stop's the roller coaster." He announced, deepening his voice he continued, "Buckle up, kiddos!"

"If smoking weed makes me behave like you, I want to do it." I remarked, moving ahead of him to reach the roller coaster and claim the best cart, which of course was the last one.

"How can you say that?" Ashton asked when I told him just that, "The first one's always the best."

"No... the last one is. See because the last one, when it falls, has weight of the other carts pulling it forward, making it go faster. The first one has to pull all that weight so it isn't as fast." I explained, getting in the last cart and motioning for Ashton to get in too.