"Uh, Steven? Where are we? It doesn't feel like we are on the beach anymore. Can I take my blindfold off yet?" Connie asked no longer feeling the warmth of the sand being kicked up by her sandals.
"Not yet Connie. Just hang on we're almost there."
Steven held his arm out and brought Connie to a halt. "Trust me you are going to love this." Excitement evident in his voice as he peeled the blindfold off Connie's head.
"Ta-da" Steven said, taking a step back to reveal that the pair was standing outside the entrance to Beach City Funland. "Well? What do you think?"
Connie was at a loss. "Well, I think that when you asked me to come to your house and then blindfolded me this was definitely not what I was expecting. But this is nice too, this…. uh, this… Steven, what is this exactly?"
"I-it's funland, you know one of your favorite places in Beach City. I just figured that since you're moving away we could do like a whole day of all your favorite things. Kind of like a greatest hits of Beach City day. Come on, it'll be great."
Connie blushed as she swept a few stray hairs out of her eye. "Oh, Steven. That's so...*haha* that's so cheesy." Steven's smile faltered at that. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.
"…But, seriously though thank you so, so much for doing this for me. I've never really known anyone who would give me a sendoff like this."
"My pleasure m'lady." Steven bowed.
000
Steven could feel his stomach drop for the umpteenth time that day as their car plummeted down the track skirting a deep curve before passing through a loop. As the train came to a halt inside the station Steven threw up the metal bar fastening him to the car and hopped off the rollercoaster. He looked back at Connie and almost burst out laughing.
"Oh man, Connie you should see yourself right now." Steven extended his hand to help Connie off the coaster.
"W-what? Why what's wrong?" Connie said as she took his hand and lifted herself out of the car.
"Nothing it's just your hair is all like whoosh right now." Steven made a sweeping gesture to show that Connie's hair had gone full anime in the rushing winds of the ride.
*pft* "Whatever, you should see your hair it's all like whoosh too." Connie shot back.
"Yeah, whoosh." Connie seems to be enjoying herself. Good. I can't believe that by tomorrow she'll in another state. Steven realized that, standing there on the platform, just how close he was to Connie. Strangely, he felt as if he were dancing with her, fusing into one being again. He could feel butterflies in his stomach tracing electric fire as they rose up within him as a disjointed thought came to him. That's weird. I'm not on the rollercoaster so why am I feeling-
*ahem* "Uh, earth to Steven. Sorry but could I have my hand back? I still kind of need it."
"Wha-" Steven's dazed train of thought was broken as he let go of her hand. Connie was staring at him expectantly.
"Talk about being all whoosh and stuff. You just had the weirdest look on your face a second ago."
"Uh, yeah I-"
"Come on doofus let's head over to the arcade next." Connie shouted as she sprinted towards the building marked Funland Arcade in big glowing orange letters.
W-what was that? Steven shook his head to clear away the butterflies. "Hey, I'm coming! Wait for me."
000
"Steven, watch out! He's going to crush you."
"Wha- Oh, no! I'm out of ammo. Save me Connie!"
Connie cycled through her weapons and selected the rpg. "Hope you're dentist doesn't get too mad." She took aim and fired. Direct hit. The monster exploded in a shower of sparks and flashing neon. The ending cut scene played out while the words "Game Over" flashed on the screen. "Player two, new high score!" The gaming cabinet announced.
Connie holstered the plastic light gun into its allotted space for Super Seizer Shooter 9000: This time it's over 9000. *Hehe* "That's right, you don't mess with these Meheswaran skills."
"Nice job" Steven said holstering his own weapon. "I'd give you an B+"
"What? B+? But I saved your butt from getting totally flattened."
Steven shrugged "You lost points for the terrible one liner."
*pft* "Whatever that was a great one liner. Sooo, what did you want to play next?" Connie said gesturing to the rest of Funland arcade.
"I don't know, it's supposed to be your day today. Pick whatever you want, I'm game for anything." Steven said "and yes, pun intended."
Connie laughed. "Alright you said you like skee ball and I want at least enough tickets for the scooter so let's start there and see where we end up."
000
45 minutes and $50 of Steven's rainy day fund later the pair had earned a combined total of 5,000 tickets. In arcade terms: a handful of candy, silly putty, and a strange plastic, silver ball game from the 90's. It was no scooter but still totally worth it. They were just about to leave when Steven felt a certain pressure building within.
"Uh, sorry Connie but could you hold my stuff I really need to go to the bathroom." Steven said as he shoved a handful of pixie stixs and gummie bear packets into Connie's open hands before running off to find the nearest restroom.
Ten minutes later and Connie found herself leaning against an old carnie style waka-mole game.
*sigh* "Steven where are you?" Connie huffed as she began tapping her foot in rhythm with the dudstep beat playing in the background of the arcade. "I told him to get the small icee, but he just had to the 64oz cup."
"Wow, leaving already? You still have a lot of tickets left."
Connie froze. She had been too focused on Steven's icee problem to notice the boy approaching from behind. Had he heard her talking to herself?
"Uh, I-I wasn't really talking to myself or anything I was just-oh, my…" Connie spun around to meet the boy expecting to find a small, eight year old kid considering the speaker's high pitched voice. What stood before her, however, was two feet taller than her and full of muscle. "Oh, um sorry it's just I was expecting-"
"Whatever" The mountain said as he brushed a lock of coal black hair off of his face. He placed one hand on the wall and leaned in front of Connie barring her path. "So, about those ticket? It's not like you're going to be spending them. I saw you in line earlier. So why don't you share?" He punctuated the word share by placing his other hand on the waka-mole machine effectively caging Connie in.
"Uh, sorry but could you back off a little, please?"
"No."
The thoughts were racing through Connie's head. I could duck under his arms but he'd catch me almost immediately and Steven still isn't back yet…Wait! I know. Connie positioned herself to have as much room as possible before bringing her leg back as far as she could and then launched it forward full force between the bully's knees. He gave a startled *yip* before doing an odd sort of hop. He instinctively grabbed the bruised area leaving Connie to run for it.
She got two steps before an iron grip closed around her forearm and yanked her back. The tower was barely even fazed it would seem. At least I know why his voice is so high Connie mused to herself So many people have kicked him that he doesn't feel it anymore.
She could see his eyes practically glowing red with anger. It was never about the tickets with this guy he just wanted to hurt someone. "You know that wasn't very nice, telemundo."
Connie writhed in his grip. "First off. I'm Indian not Latino, ass. And second, when my friend gets back you are going to be in so much trouble."
Steven WOULD come, she knew it. He had a knack for showing up when she needed him most almost like her own personal superhero. But this time Steven wasn't there. How long does it take to pee out 64 oz of icee? Connie thought before the first blow caught her under the eye, throwing her off balance. She stumbled backwards before falling over. Oh man this is happening she thought this is really happening. My last day in Beach City and I am going to be beaten up by some high pitched monster.
The bully towered over her winding up to rain another punch down on her. *crunch* A high pitched scream of pain. Connie looked up to see that her world had taken on a pinkish hue. For a moment she wondered if she was experiencing brain damage. Then she recognized the orb encasing her. She had been bubbled which meant… "Steven!"
"C-Connie, what's going on here?" Steven had come back to find Connie crumpled on the ground while a massive kid stood over her. It was almost reflex when he threw up a bubble around her but very satisfying to hear the bully's hand bounce off of it with a loud smack.
The dark haired kid held his injured hand as he retreated from this freak of nature and his pink sphere. "W-what the hell is that?"
Steven took a step forward placing himself in between the bully and Connie. Looking down at his friend he couldn't help but feel the anger rising to the surface. "What's the matter you don't like that?" Steven gestured to the bubble. "Because I can and will do that INSIDE of you if you don't leave, NOW!" The last word, screamed for emphases, sent the kid running.
Steven remained still holding his breath as the kid ran off. Neither he nor Connie spoke as they waited. Waited for the bully to come back with friends, with security, anything really.
"Uh, Steven?"
"Yeah"
"D-do you mind?"
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Steven released the pink shield that surrounded Connie. He held out his hand to help her up for the second time that day. "Connie I'm so, so sorry. I just wanted you to have some good memories before leaving…and I wasn't there and, and I- I should have been there to protect you."
Connie took Steven's hand and lifted herself up. Her heart was racing as she felt the skin just beneath her eye and pulled back at the sudden sting. It was already beginning to swell up. She wasn't even thinking of the conversation she was going to have with her parents that night when they would see the welt. It was just something that happened, one moment she was feeling the lump forming under her eye and the next her arms were wrapped tight around Steven. "T-thank you Steven."
"Connie?"
"I knew you'd show up. It's not like I really needed saving or anything, but still I knew you would come and go all hero on him. Thank you."
Steven could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he began to blush. "C-Connie I-I was just-"
"Come on Steven there's one more thing I still want to do." Connie suddenly shouted throwing Steven for a loop.
"W-What? I mean, yeah sure anything you want just name it."
"I need a photo to commemorate my hero's rescue." Connie shouted back to him as she ran off to the nearest photo booth along the Funland boardwalk.
Steven caught up to her just as she was entering the booth. "B-but your eye. It's already starting to swell shut. I mean, do you really want a picture of that?"
"Meh, proof that it happened." Connie grimaced internally as she said this. She knew her mom would have thrown a fit if she had heard that her daughter had done something as irresponsible as not immediately putting ice on a swollen eye. "Now get in here and take some pictures with me, hero."
000
Connie and Steven sat on the edge of the Funland pier watching the reddish orange glow of the sun as it began to dip below the horizon.
*haha* "Oh man, Steven you should see this one. My eye looks super bad." Connie held out the strip of pictures taken by the photo booth to Steven with her finger indicating which one she was talking about.
"Yup that is a good picture of a bad eye." Steven confirmed trying to suppress a grin. In the picture he and Connie had been acting like zombies. Both of them had their arms thrown out in front of them with the customary slack jawed vacant expression of the undead. Unfortunately for Connie only the bruised side of her face was visible and this was not helped by the camera flash highlighting every bump and wrinkle.
"I think it's my favorite one of the bunch." Connie said withdrawing the line of photographs.
"Hm, mine too. So how's the snow cone treating you?"
"It's cold and sticky, but very thoughtful Steven."
After they had messed around at the photo booth Steven had used the last of his money to buy three snow cones: cherry for himself, grape for Connie, and lime for Connie's eye which now looked twice as bad being black, swollen, and covered in neon green shaved ice.
Steven scratched at the back of his head. "Uh, listen, Connie about that bully from earlier. Look, I'm really sorry I wasn't there to protect you I mean I know there wasn't much more I could've done but I still feel responsible. Like it was my fault for not being there you know." Connie had her head down watching the coming waves crash into pilings of the pier. "I don't know I guess I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. It's not really fair that your last day in Beach City has to end with a black eye."
Connie looked up and turned towards Steven. "Yeah you're right it isn't fair, but you know what? I don't care. All that really matters is that you had fun even for a part of today. I mean, you did have fun right?"
Steven was beginning to feel confused. "Well, yeah of course I had fun. I mean I love this place but the whole reason we came here was because you like it too."
Connie snorted. *haha* "I know that was the point but in reality Steven all these games, rides, and flashing lights kind of give me a headache. I would have been just fine reading a book."
Suddenly Steven felt like the biggest idiot in the world. "Wha…b-but I had this whole day planned out because I thought you liked this place. O-oh man I've ruined this whole day for you!? Connie I swear I didn't know."
Connie flashed Steven a smile as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Steven, you're forgetting that I could have left anytime I wanted to. The reason why I stayed was because this was YOU'RE favorite place in Beach City and I wanted you to have a good time, to have good memories of me when…when I'm not there." A red blush slowly crept across Connie's face. "I mean when you're happy, I'm happy. It's not just that you have this amazing life you see life in an amazing new way. I-I mean I guess what I'm trying to say is you're not just my friend, you're more than that. You're like…like…like my-" Connie's face was now a deep shade of crimson as she stuttered trying to choke her words out.
"C-Connie? Are you alright?" Steven was beginning to panic, his friend looked like she might pass out at any second. "D-do you need CPR or…or maybe…" *mmmph*
It had happened too fast for either of them to really process what was happening. One moment Steven was panicking afraid he might have to preform CPR while his friend sat red faced and sputtering on the edge of the pier. In the next moment her lips gently brushed against his. It was a small, short sophomore kiss that tasted of grape and cherry. When Connie drew back she looked worried almost as if she had done some terrible, irreparable thing that she should be ashamed of. Steven on the other hand could feel the electric butterflies filling him up again only with a hundred times the intensity.
"C-Connie?"
"S-Steven, I-I'm so sorry. I didn't…I mean with the sunset and, and you, and…I"
"No, no Connie that was…it was just so…so… so whoosh."
Connie's face lit up at that. She had been terrified that Steven might reject her, that their whole relationship would be forever destroyed that…
*zzzt, zzzt*
"Uh, sorry" Connie said standing up. "It's my mom I've got to take this."
She took out her phone and put the receiver to her ear. "Yeah I'm at Funland right now. Yes and his name is Steven mom not that kid. Well no but…*sigh* I know but right now? Can't I just have…alright fine I'll be there."
Connie tapped the end call button with such force she was afraid she may have cracked the screen. Without checking she slid the phone into her back pocket.
Steven stood up, still dazed from the kiss. "Sooo, you have to go now, huh?"
"Yeah."
"So, where do we go from here? With the, uh, you know...and everything?"
"I don't know."
They both stood in silence for a long time as the sun finally set and the pier lights began to go on one by one. A message over the loud speaker announced that Funland was closing for the night. It was time to go home.
Suddenly Steven's arms where around Connie embracing her in a tight hug. "I don't know how but I swear I am going to fix this somehow."
He could feel her shaking as she quietly sobbed into his shoulder. "Steven?"
"Y-yeah?"
"I'm really going to miss you."