I'm so sorry, I took ages with this. It has legit been years since I've started this story and updated, while I only took months to finish the first fic for this fandom, "Another Start". (I have to admit, my writing style was so cringy when I first started.)

Anyways, GUESS WHO'S 18? HEYYYY I'M LEGAL ;D

Not that I do anything worthy of being legal anyway, I don't smoke or party, and my boyfriend is younger than I am ;_;

I don't even have my driver's license yet, since I'm a terrible driver -_-

I decided to catch up on this because I'm so far behind, and I've finally found some free time...thanks to being the in stupid hospital. But hey, at least it's getting done, huh?

Also, if you guys haven't seen my note on "A Happy New Year", I decided to quit on that fic and to put in some of the events from that fic into this one.

I am going to do my best to start writing more often now that I'm a bit healthier than I was back then.

The chapter is short, but I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 19: Crushed

Normal POV

Peter knew it wasn't normal to hear voices in your head. But at the minute, part of his brain was screaming "DON'T DO IT FOOL!" while another part was screaming "DO IT! DO IT! JUST DO IT!". His head began to pound and he rubbed his palm against his forehead.

Mary looked over at him and tilted her head. "Are you okay Peter?"

Peter shrugged and said "Just a headache. I'm pretty sure it's just because I'm hungry. What do you want to eat?"

Mary looked at the many food booths, her eyes scanning the many signs. "Something sweet." she said.

Peter grinned. "I know just the thing," he said. He took Mary's hand and led her around the maze of booths and people straight to a large booth that had a big neon sign that read "MAKE YOUR OWN SUNDAE!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tag that read "All Access Member."

"I forgot to tell you that Wally, Caroline, you, and I get these passes so that we don't have to buy tickets for things, since we were involved in the show. I wasn't actually going to get one since I wasn't actually on stage or anything, but the crew said I was a big help since Wally had to fill in for the Scarecrow." Peter told Mary proudly. He handed her the pass. "I have mine in my other pocket and Wally said he'd give Caroline hers."

Mary smiled and took the pass. She shyly showed it to the man running the booth. The man nodded politely and handed them plastic bowls and spoons.

"Alright kids. You guys can choose your ice cream and add whatever you want into it. Just make sure to close the lid of the freezer, or else the ice cream will melt and I'll have to hunt you down and charge you for whatever gets wasted." he said. The freezer was about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide, and an outlet was connected to a power generator. Next to it, there was a smaller table with bowls filled with sprinkles, candies, bottles of syrups and creams, and fruits.

Peter chose chocolate ice cream and he tossed in every chocolate candy there was, topping it with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. He also tossed in a few cherries and several strawberries, then added some green sprinkles over all of it. Mary chose strawberry ice cream and added strawberries with several chocolate candies. She topped it with whipped cream, and since she was feeling a bit daring, she also topped it with both chocolate and strawberry syrup.

Mary took a spoonful of her treat and shoved the ice cream into her mouth. She allowed the ice cream to melt in her mouth while she chewed on the strawberries. Closing her eyes, she hummed happily.

"Is it sweet enough for you?" Peter asked, amused at her reaction.

Mary opened her eyes and grinned sheepishly. "I've been wanting strawberries for a while. They're my favorite, but Ruth is allergic, so we don't really get to have them much."

"I love strawberries too!" Peter said. "You're going to love the spring, when we have a strawberry festival. The whole thing is centered around them, and there's strawberry everything. There's even a strawberry parade, where there's a strawberry court. Actually, Caroline was the Strawberry Queen when she first moved here, even though she wasn't the required age, but she got lucky since the original queen fainted from heat exhaustion. But anyways, the best part is definitely the food."

Mary smiled as she listened to Peter ramble excitedly about strawberries. She didn't think she'd ever met anyone who talked so passionately about food, especially about something like strawberries. Peter's eyes were wide and sparkling, and he was grinning from ear to ear as he talked.

"He has a really nice smile." Mary couldn't help thinking. "Its nearly as nice as his eyes."

She suddenly realized that she was starting to stare at him, because he had stopped talking and was looking at her.

"You okay? Am I talking too much?" Peter asked. He hadn't meant to start rambling, and he didn't realize he was doing it until he noticed that she was looking straight at him.

"No, you're okay. Sorry." Mary replied quickly. She felt her cheeks grow warm, and she hoped her face wasn't as red as the strawberries in her ice cream. But then again, if they were, maybe Peter wouldn't mind since he liked them so much.

"Don't apologize, it's alright. I space out sometimes too." Peter shrugged. "It gets me in trouble sometimes. Wally does it more often that I do though."

As they made their way through the carnival Peter asked, "What do you want to do now?"

Mary looked around, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "Well, I don't really know much about this carnival. I know I probably should, but I was focused more on the show."

Peter grabbed her hand gently. "I know what we can do." He led her around several booths, until Mary realized they were heading straight for the ferris wheel.

He let her hand go when they reached the line.

"First the ice cream, now the ferris wheel. This is like a dream date from one of those romantic movies." Mary thought to herself. "Wait...but this isn't a date, we're only friends...although, I wouldn't mind if it was..."

Her thoughts trailed off as she pictured how the typical romantic movie dates go. She knew that the couple typically ended up on a ferris wheel, where they sometimes share their first kiss…

Mary's thoughts stopped short, when she realized what she had thought about.

Her.

And Peter.

Kissing.

Mary felt her face growing even warmer, and she started shoving spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth nervously, hoping the cold food would stop her face from blushing so much. She instantly regretted it when she felt a pain in her head. Mary winced and rubbed her forehead with her palm.

"Brain freeze?" Peter asked, taking her now empty cup. She had finished the whole thing.

Mary nodded, her mouth still full of strawberries and ice cream, but she wasn't sure if the headache was from brain freeze or from her inner screaming.

"WE'RE TOO YOUNG FOR THAT, STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT!" Mary kept screaming mentally at herself. "We're both just tiny children!"

"Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth, it helps," Peter suggested as he led them to the back of the line.

She shifted uncomfortably as they waited. They both were silent, and continued to be, even when they finally were able to enter the bench of the ride.

As they rode up to the top, Peter finally couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed onto Mary's hand and held onto it. Overjoyed that she didn't pull away, he tried his best to ignore his pounding heart and smiled at her.

As Mary held Peter's hand, she spoke, "You like me, don't you?"

Peter felt his heart stop and he didn't say anything.

"It's a little obvious." Mary said. "The pick up lines was the first clue."

Peter sighed. "Yeah. You caught me. I was going to do something extravagant to tell you, but you're too smart to be surprised. And I totally get it if you don't feel the same way."

Mary wrinkled her nose. "It's not that I don't like you."

Peter perked up. "So you do?"

"I..I think I do... I'm really confused. There's still so much that I've got to think about. And I'm still struggling to get a grip on everything that has happened. My parents are both gone, and we moved suddenly, and you're my only friend here, aside from your brothers. But I've also got to worry about Ruth getting better too. I know we've got Eddie, Beth, and Caroline, they've always been like sisters to us, and our aunt and uncle, but none of them really know how Ruth and I feel except for each other. Maybe Scott might, partially. " Mary explained. Peter remained silent and he looked out at the view of the town. As the ride began to descend again, Peter finally spoke up.

"I'll give you time."

Mary smiled slightly. "Thank you."

"You know, I was going to attempt to do something crazy, like my brothers did with the girls. But I don't mind waiting." Peter said.

"Crazy like what?" Mary couldn't help asking.

"Well, I was going to kiss you. Or rather, I was going to ask if I could." Peter muttered. "That's as crazy as I can get on purpose." He didn't look at her, and his cheeks were flushed.

Mary felt herself blushing again. "Oh. Aren't we a little too young?"

Peter shrugged. "I figured that's what would make it crazy. But I won't kiss you. Not yet. When you're ready, and when you are, I still won't unless I know you really want me to. Even if it takes years."

"Well...you know, instead of being my boyfriend, how about you be my best friend?" Mary asked.

He finally looked at her and grinned. "That sounds great."

She smiled fully this time and squeezed his hand.

They remained holding hands even after they got off of the ferris wheel.

Eddie and Jake watched as Peter and Mary walked away from the ferris wheel, hand in hand.

"How do you think that's going to play out?" Eddie asked.

"You mean a Hatford and a Malloy? With our family history, it'll be complicated. There might be some tears, some fake blood, a few false deaths and maybe some police intervention. But like always, things will probably work out." Jake said, handing her a hot dog. "I may not know Mary very well, but I do know Peter. He's grown up a lot since the prank war started. He's a lot more mature than I was when we were his age, that's for sure."

"They're still so young though. And with Mary and Ruth's situation, it's going to be difficult." Eddie said. "I don't really want to think about Caroline dating, let alone two 11 year olds."

Jake shook his head. "It's not unusual for kids to start dating early. It happens a lot more than one would think. Don't forget about Beth and Josh. Beth was like, 10 years old at the time."

Eddie groaned. "Don't remind me about that. That was awful. Beth would try to do her hair all fancy and once painted J's on her nails. But I guess you're right. Mary and Peter seem to have been made for each other."

"Just like you and me, right?" Jake grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "You're cheesier than this chili cheese hot dog."

"I bet I can eat more hot dogs than you." Jake responded before taking a large bite.

Eddie smirked. "And you're on."

Who do you guys think will win a hot dog eating contest? Jake or Eddie? Let me know in the reviews.

I kind of have my money on Eddie. I know guys can eat a lot, girls can eat even more at times, especially if she's an athlete. I'm a girl, and I'm a dancer, and even though I'm a lot smaller than my freakishly large brothers, I can eat more than all of them. Which is kind of amazing, because my brothers consist of one tennis player, two wrestlers, one ROTC member who is now in military training. I also eat a lot more than my drummer/marching band boyfriend, who was a late bloomer, so he's still in the growing stage. He bet that he could eat more pizza than I can, so that is where I got the last part of the chapter from. (I won by the way...two whole pizzas. I know that's super unhealthy, but I never back down from a challenge. I worked out extra too, it was awful.)

Anyway, thanks for reading my lovely Jolly Ranchers! Thank you guys so much for keeping up with this fic, even though it's been years *sweat drops*