Page 19

CHAPTER 19

Matt

T his isn’t even officially a date, so why the hell am I standing in my bathroom staring at my reflection as I change into my fourth shirt trying to figure out which one I should wear to the fair? I finally settle on a forest-green one and quickly slip on socks and shoes as I finish making sure I have everything we’ll need packed in Jayden’s bag. I make sure to bring the wearable baby carrier, because my son often prefers that over his stroller or car seat.

A knock at the front door has my heart racing, and I wipe my now clammy hands down the legs of my jeans.

Okay, Matt. It’s just Zoey. You’ve hung out hundreds of times, it’s nothing new. Except Zoey isn’t just Zoey. She’s Zoey. The girl you’ve decided to all of a sudden develop feelings for.

She knocks again, and I quickly move to open the door for her. I take her in. She’s wearing black converse and black leggings with a purple V-neck tee that gives just a tease of what she has underneath.

“You ready?” she asks, breaking me from my haze of gawking.

I clear my throat. “Yeah, just let me grab a few more things and we’re good to go.”

It’s been an unseasonably warm fall so far, with temps landing around fifteen degrees in the sun during the day. I pack jackets for Jayden and me just in case it cools down or we end up in the shade. Throwing everything into the diaper bag, I grab Jayden’s car seat and we leave the apartment.

The fair is a bit of a drive, so I decide to make a stop before we make our way out there. Zoey seems lost in her phone as I pull up to the drive through and order. It isn’t until I try to hand her a venti peppermint mocha that she looks up at me. I give it a small shake. Realizing it’s for her, she lights up with a smile, and I count that as a small win. She accepts the coffee and takes a quick sip, melting into her seat.

“Thank you,” she says.

I chuckle. “Of course. I know you need your morning sugar to function.”

She takes another sip and shakes her head. “I did have some before I left the house, but it’s always appreciated.”

I take a sip of my double-double, and we make our way out of downtown Vancouver and towards the fair. We’re lucky to find parking in the lot nearby. There are cars everywhere as families and couples mill about. I get Jayden settled in the stroller, and we make our way to the ticket booth. Zoey tries to buy a ticket, but I stop her. I invited her out, no way in hell am I making her pay. She tries again, and I pull her card from her hand and shove it in my back pocket before tapping my card. She grumbles about being able to pay for herself, but I just grin at her and we make our way inside.

Nostalgia hits me as we stand at the entrance. To the right there are lines and lines of food trucks. To the left is every carnival game you could imagine, and in the centre there are a variety of rides, mainly aimed at a younger demographic. When I was a kid, we made a few trips a year to Playland, the local amusement park that operates in the summer. Liv, Gi, and I would ride the rides until one or all of us got sick and we had to leave. We’d compete against each other in the carnival games, seeing who could win the biggest prize. By the time we left the park, we were so exhausted we’d all pass out in the car and would only make it inside so far as our beds before we’d pass right back out. The three of us went the summer before Gianna left for Stanford, but we haven’t been back as a group since.

Zoey makes a little noise of excitement beside me, and I look down at her as she stares wide-eyed at the food trucks. I can’t help but laugh.

“See something you like, Bug?”

She turns her excited eyes towards me as she raises up on her toes and does a little bounce. “Yes! How could you not tell me they’d have deep-fried Oreos?”

Of course, the first things she spots is something sweet.

“Okay, sounds like we’re getting those. We doing poutine first or those?”

She drops flat on her feet and lets out a little huff. “I guess I’ll be an adult and get poutine first.”

She leads the way down the row of food trucks, stopping every once in a while to read a menu board. I don’t think anything could wipe the excitement from her face right now. When we finally get to the poutine stall, she reaches out and grabs my arm, and I know she’s excited about what she sees.

“They have mac and cheese poutine,” she says under her breathe.

I lean down and whisper in her ear, “With bacon.”

She nods, decision made, and orders one. I step beside her and order a regular one, quickly tapping my card before she has a chance to ask for her card back or to pull out another one. She rolls her eyes at me as I hand her her food and drink, and we make our way towards some picnic tables set up in a patch of grass nearby.

The moan she makes when she takes her first bite goes straight to my dick, and I adjust myself awkwardly on the bench. Each bite she takes, her moans become more sinful, and it takes all my strength not to snap.

When she’s finished, she scoops every last drop of cheese sauce from the boat with her fork before she slowly licks it off. I have to look away to stop from thinking about what else I’d like to watch her lick with that much enthusiasm.

As soon as she puts the fork down, I’m up off the bench, taking our garbage to the nearest garbage can.

Get yourself together, man. You cannot be acting like a horny teenager in public. Especially not with Zoey.

When I join Zoey and Jayden again, I clap my hands and rub them together. “Okay. Now that we’ve eaten, what’s first? Rides or games?”

She ponders it for a few seconds before she finally settles on rides. We move through the crowd of people, seeing what they have before settling on the teacup ride, deciding not to spin the cup once inside. Jayden’s strapped to my chest and smiling like crazy. It’s no thrilling rollercoaster like I would go on by myself, but seeing him having fun is worth it.

Zoey spots the bumper cars, and Jayden and I watch as she dominates. As soon as she steps off, beaming from ear to ear, Jayden reaches for her. She immediately takes him from me, and we continue our way around the fair. We hit up a few more rides before Zoey says she’s ready for that deep-fried Oreo and leads the way to the stand. I grab one for her and a beaver tail for myself before we make our way towards the games. At the end of the row of stalls I see a giant stuffed animal I know I need to win for Zoey, no questions asked. As we slowly make our way through different games, my eyes keep finding that stall, making sure that prize is still there.

When we finally arrive, I hold back a groan as I see what the game is. I may be athletic enough and I know I’m good at hockey, but baseball was never my forte. Of course, this stupid game is knocking over glass bottles with a baseball.

I hand the attendant enough cash for three rounds. The first round, I only manage to knock off the top bottle, same with the second. The third time, I get two more bottles, but I still have three more to go to win. I hand them more cash and feel Zoey shaking her head beside me.

Three more rounds and three more fails.

“Matt, we can move on. Let’s find another one.”

I shake my head. I’ve got to win this for her.

I hand the attendant more cash, and this time I knock down all the bottles on the second round and instinctively punch the air in triumph.

“Which prize do you want?” the bored teenager asks.

I point directly to the prize I’ve been eyeing, and they pull it down for me. I hand it directly to Zoey, and her eyes bounce between the giant stuffed ladybug and me.

“It’s a ladybug,” she says, stating the obvious.

“It is.” I grin at her.

“You remembered.” Disbelief fills her voice.

“Of course, I remembered, Bug. How could I forget?”

Growing up, Liv and Zoey played in our yard a lot. Mom was a huge fan of gardening, and we had all types of flowers in both the front and backyard. One summer when the girls were probably seven or eight, we had several lovelinesses of ladybugs all over. Zoey was fascinated by them, and Mom told her about how they bring good luck. She became obsessed with them. She started wearing ladybug earrings and necklaces. Liv even got her a charm bracelet with a ladybug for Christmas one year when they were kids. As she’s grown up, she’s stopped wearing them. I’m not entirely sure as to why, but I’ll never forget the little girl who would lie in the grass and watch the ladybugs for hours.

She clutches the stuffed animal as if her life depends on it. The look in her eyes has me wanting to lean down and kiss her, but instead, I lead us towards the carousel. I make sure Jayden is secured properly, and we get on. I follow Zoey as she makes her way to a bright-blue horse, and I grab the pink one beside her. The music starts and the horses start moving around as they slowly move up and down. If I’m not checking on Jayden, my eyes are glued to Zoey. She sneaks a few peeks our way, too, and her soft smile means everything to me.

When the ride finishes, we make our way out, and Zoey comes to stand beside me. She leans into me, staring at Jayden, who stares right back at her. I can’t take my eyes off of her, though. My heart races as I take in the way her lashes flutter as she rests her head on my shoulder. I take a chance and link my fingers with hers, and when she accepts and smiles up at me, I swear my heart stops. We stand there for a few minutes, her at my side as she stares at Jayden and I stare at her, our fingers interlocked, and I soak in how perfect today has been so far. It’s more than I had hoped for.