“Just what I’ve always wanted.”
Elliot leads the way to a booth with hundreds of colorful balloons pinned to the wall, inflatable prizes dangling from above. He asks for three darts and hands the guy in charge a five-dollar bill. “The secret is to aim for the full ones,” he whispers, leaning in close as he places the darts in my palm. “The deflated ones are impossible to pop. Bounce right off.”
“Don’t go giving away trade secrets to townies now,” the guy behind the booth says with a wink tossed in my direction as if to let me know he’s mostly kidding. I think.
“Sorry, Pete. Can you blame me? Pretty girls give me loose lips.”
I laugh off the corny compliment.
“Yeah, well. Loose lips sink ships,” Pete mutters.
“My lips are sealed.” I pick out the biggest balloon in sight and aim right for it. It hits the less-full balloon beneath it and bounces off, hitting the ground. I try twice more, missing both times. “Dammit.”
Elliot slaps another five onto the counter to try his luck, and to my surprise, he pops three balloons in a row.
“Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” Pete proclaims. “Three-shot prizes are to the right of this line,” he explains, pointing at three columns of prizes separated by size.
“What do you say? Alien, unicorn, mermaid, or guitar?” Elliot asks, pointing them out one by one.
“Easy. Mermaid.”
“One mermaid for the lady, please.”
Pete unhooks an inflatable blonde mermaid with questionable taste in makeup before handing it to Elliot. Elliot turns toward me, mermaid held out in offering. “Here you go.”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was shyness I detect in both his voice and mannerisms.
“Well, isn’t this romantic?”
My spine straightens, as if I’ve just been caught doing something wrong, as I turn toward Sebastian, but Elliot seems unfazed.
“Hey, man. I was just keeping her company until you were done.”
“I’m sure that’s all you were doing.”
“Don’t be an ass. He was just being nice.”
“Your services are no longer needed.”
Elliot nods, like he expected nothing else from Sebastian. “See you later, Evan.”
“Thanks for hanging out with me,” I say as my guilty conscience creeps in. Elliot smiles before turning to leave. “Why are you so mean to him?” I ask, not
bothering to tamp down the anger in my voice.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, watching Elliot’s retreating back. “Stay out of it.”
Okay, so apparently, Asshole Sebastian is back. “Gladly.” I turn to leave, but Sebastian hooks his hand around my waist, roughly pulling me into him. I drop the inflatable mermaid, my chest pressed up against his torso. I don’t speak. I don’t breathe. I don’t even think my heart is beating.
“Don’t go.” His voice is full of gravel and reluctance.
“Why should I stay?”
“Because I don’t feel like waiting another year to see you again.”
I swallow hard, dropping my forehead to his chest to hide my face. I hate showing any emotion. Any vulnerability. But Sebastian catches me off guard, not giving me a chance to school my reaction. I’d be less surprised if he told me the Earth was flat.
“There you guys are,” Eros says with the other elusive half of their group. Sebastian drops his hand, and we both break apart. “Jailbait, you remember Tres and Lathan. Guys, you remember our favorite rich girl.”