Awaiting the Festival
A note from the author: This will be a hard chapter to write. I know this story is like, dragging on for eternity, but please bear with me!
oOoOoOo
The air was tense at the vineyard.
Kai left on the nineteenth for a business trip that Dad was too stressed out to take. Local buyers were pressuring him for more wine for less money. Mother, a part of the Flowerbud Festival Committee, was away from the house for hours upon hours a day preparing for the upcoming Flower Festival.
Meanwhile, I was slaving in the tree grove, helping Mother with festival stuff (me being a goddess contestant), assisting Popuri with planning her sweet seventeen, trying to make Ann fall in love with Cliff, and struggling to keep Kai off my mind. That, and my usual agenda of avoiding Jack.
The latter proved to be one of the harder tasks of the lot. The farmer's popularity was growing to the point at which nobody could quit talking about him. Of course, many of the things said were complaints about his Bible study, comments about his "deceptive charisma," and gripes of his subtle flirtatious nature. But negative attention is still attention; all publicity is good publicity. It seemed that no matter where I went, Jack, or at least talk of Jack, was there. The florist, the bar, the Green Ranch, and especially the bakery. Even at my own house, my own mother seemed to be enamored by the boy's maturity and charm.
It was mid-afternoon on the twenty-second day of Spring when the ladies of the village rounded up the five goddess contestants and herded us to Florist Lillia. Mother, Anna, Lillia, Granny Ellen, and Anella the midwife followed us through the front door of the flower shop with excited expressions lighting up their faces. "Oh, goddess," Ann muttered, walking ahead of me as we entered the room, "It feels so good in here. It's so hot outside!"
"I know," Elli turned around to say. "I hope it's not this bad tomorrow. Our gowns will like, stick to us."
"Ew!" I cringed. Nasty.
"Nothing more attractive than a sweaty, stinky, sunburned goddess," laughed Ann funnily.
Popuri giggled, apparently having listened to the conversation, as we all followed the elders' instructions to look their way.
"Listen up, ladies!" Lillia called, her voice light and fluffy as a Three Musketeers bar. We looked up at her. "We've finally finished your goddess gowns!" The room was suddenly flooded with excitement as we all looked at each other with gaping smiles and wide eyes. As the mothers bustled into the back room to gather up the gowns, the rest of us immediately burst into conversation.
"I'm so excited!" I exclaimed to Ann and Elli, who sat on either side of me.
Ann grinned, "I am, too. I never really appreciated this festival before, but I'm actually really wound up about it this year."
Elli nodded in agreement, looking down at her belly and rubbing it with both hands. "Golly, they measured us for these dresses like, two and a half seasons ago...I just hope I haven't gained any weight since then."
I laughed and poked her with my bare elbow. "You're the one who's been dieting. And Ann gets a workout everyday. All I do is eat and clip grape vines."
"Well, you've got muscly arms," Ann said, jabbing my bicep with her index finger.
"Yeah, and they'll look just dandy in a flowy goddess gown," I said with a roll of the eyes.
The mothers began filing back in through the door. I immediately noticed that each of the gowns were of different colors, a welcome change from the plain white dresses of the past years. The vibrant colors seemed to be of purposeful resemblance to the beautiful spring flowers blossoming on the trees in the village and in the grass on the mountain.
Each mother brought a dress to their daughter, with the exception of Ann, who received her gown from Anella, and Elli, who accepted hers from Granny Ellen. Mother was approaching me with a gorgeous darker-than-lavender, lighter-than-purple masterpiece of silky cloth overlapped with a thin layer of tulle, veil-like material. It was sleeveless, with a V neckline that dropped down not too low, but lower than I would've expected my mother to make. About halfway down, slightly below the waist area, the dress fell into layers that cascaded to where my toes would be. "Mother," I gasped, instantly in love. I surprised myself with the level of affection in my tone. "It's beautiful. Oh, I can't wait to wear it."
As she humbly placed the gown into my hands, my mother sniffled and wiped a few tears from the corner of her eyes. "I'm glad you like it, Karen," she said modestly.
"Like it?" I said, unable to tear my eyes away from the thing. "I love it. Thank you, Mother."
"You're welcome...sweetheart."
When she used the endearment that Pappy had fondly used for me, my eyes instantaneously began to flood with tears. I knew she had used the nickname on purpose, and it was perfect that she did so. I actually liked being reminded of the old man now. How I wished he could be there to see me tomorrow, wearing the wonderful dress made just for me, in the arms of a boy who made me happier than I'd ever been. I whispered to Mother, "I wish he could be here now."
"We all do, Karen...We all do..." For the first time in a long time, Mother wrapped me in her arms and consolingly stroked my back with her hands. I pressed my face against her shoulder and restrained my tears. "Karen, do you know that I love you?"
I wasn't quite sure what to say. Unable to think of something quick enough, I was silent for a few seconds, until Mother spoke up again.
"I know I'm not a very good mother, but if there's one thing that's good about me, it's how much I love you." My mom sniffed slightly and leaned her head against mine as I squeezed her tightly.
"And I know I'm not at all a good daughter," I murmured, "but...I..." I stammered, "...I...I love you, too."
"Do you really, Karen?" Mother asked, leaning back to look me in the eye. Two teardrops were slowly trekking down her fair, unblemished face.
I looked into her bright eyes and answered, "Yes, I do."
Mother smiled and wiped at her eyes, releasing my shoulders. "Now, we'd, um...we'd better get you into that dress for a moment, and see if anything needs tailoring."
oOo
An hour later, I was marching down the cobblestone path, past the bakery, the church, and the tool shop, on my way to the bar to remind Duke I was taking the night off. Popuri's party would be over by ten, but the tradition was for all five of us girls to spend the night at her house afterwards and get ready for the Festival together the next morning.
It was a torrid, cloudless day, the baby blue sky bright and flawless in the light of the blazing sun. Despite my summer apparel, denim drawstring shorts and a flashy thin-strapped top, I felt as though my blood was boiling under melting skin. I stopped to sweep my chocolate-milk colored hair into a messy bun, wiping the sweat from the back of my neck. My flip- flops dragging on the porch, I flung the bar door open and hollered, "Duke! Duke! Anybody home?" as I stepped inside, pleased to find the air inside the room cool and refreshing.
The man poked his gray head out of the back room and looked at me as if to say, "WHAT?"
"I just wanted to remind you that I won't be here tonight," I said, steadily inching backward. "And I was wondering if I could grab a drink while I'm here. It's ninety-eight degrees outside."
"Oh, right," he said, "and sure. What'll it be?"
"Oh, it's all right, I can get it," I said, surprised at his compassion for a thirsty village-wanderer. For the past few days, Duke had been a snappy, grumpy, cruel dictator of a boss, contrary to the kind-voiced, look-of- understanding-on-his-face Duke I saw behind the counter today.
"So you're running for goddess again this year, Karen?" he asked, stepping out of my way as I scooped myself some ice into a Styrofoam cup.
"Yep," I answered with pride.
"Did you vote for yourself?"
I stood up straight. Vote? Oops. "Actually, I'd forgotten about the voting thing. I'm really just in it for the fun. But I suppose I should go vote. Not for myself, though...of course." I had intended to get water, but noticed that the soda machine was whirring. "Why is the soda machine on?"
"Oh, people been droppin' in all day for drinks. That's why I'm here. I guess they just didn't feel like tea and milk from the bakery. Help yourself, long as you got 5Gold on ya." Now there's the Duke I know and hate.
I chuckled and helped myself to a good amount of Dr Pepper. "Well, I've gotta get back to the vineyard," I said, managing to grab the five small coins from my pocket. "I have to do Kai's share, too, since he's away."
"Speakin' o' that one," Duke said just before I pushed completely through the door, "when do you suppose he'll be returning from...?"
"Mexico," I answered. "And he said he'd be back late tonight, so..."
"Okay, then...good bye, Karen."
I waved with my free hand and turned around to see Jack trying to enter the bar. I'd been doing such a good job avoiding him, I'd almost forgotten what he looked like.
Yeah...right.
With a charismatic smile of greeting and gentlemanly nod, he acknowledged me with: "Hey, there. It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Sorry there's no people to bother here," I told him with a clue of cruelty in my tone of voice. But then, "Do you know where Cliff is?"
"He's at Green Ranch."
I couldn't contain a grin. Maybe this Cliff/Ann pairing wouldn't take too long to compose. "What is he doing over there?" I had to ask, letting the door whisk shut behind me as I stepped fully onto the wooden porch.
"Oh, he's been hanging out at my place, y'know, so I gave him some money and told him to buy me some chicken feed...only in hopes that Ann might be there. And I'm guessing she was, 'cause that was about an hour and a half ago."
I smiled back at him. "So you, too, huh?"
"What?"
I was about to tell him I was trying to get them together too, but decided to drop such a silly, childish subject. I didn't want him to think I was some dumb twelve-year-old. Although, I did get most of the "dumb" part right. "Never mind."
"Why are you being so mean?" Jack asked before I could walk past him, though his knee-weakening smile was not lost.
I turned slowly around on my heel. I guess I thought I had an answer to that, but after looking at him in the face, I kind of...forgot? Sheepishly looking at the ground, I remained embarrassingly silent.
"You don't even know, do you?"
I looked up and cocked my head to the side so I could scratch it bashfully.
He looked away for a moment, perhaps at a nearby cherry tree, burying his hands in his blue jean pockets. He rock back and forth on his feet, his thick brown boots making a slight tapping noise on the wood.
I covered my top lip with my bottom one and made a couple of smacking sounds. "I guess..." I began, pulling words from the top of my head. "I guess I might just be...bitter?"
It was Jack's turn to scratch his head. "Bitter about what?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Maybe I'm just mean by nature."
He gave me a look but then bobbled his head from side to side, his mouth curved into a maybe-so frown. "Could be." He laughed wittily, removing his cap for a second so he could ruffle his length brown locks, probably shaking the sweat away.
I couldn't help but smile. It's just what you do when a guy this cute is talking to you.
"Whatever happened to that thing where we were gonna be friends?" Jack asked, removing his hands from his pockets so he could make an I-don't-know gesture.
"I don't know, Jack, I don't know."
"Would you like to give another shot at that?" I asked, a spark of hope in his deep eyes.
I looked at him quizzically. "Why do you wanna be my friend so bad?" I asked. "I'm not exactly a wonderful person. I'm not even very nice."
Jack clasped a hand to the top of his ball-capped head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
I arched my eyebrows, contemplating whether to just take his word for it.
NAH!
"Come on! I have to know if you're not some kinda stalker." I snickered.
"I'm afraid that if I tell you, you'll get offended."
"So you are a stalker!"
"No," he laughed in response. "Let's just say...No..."
"Jack, you are just a little strange," I said with a small smile.
"Ok, ok. God's been telling me I should get to know you."
I subconsciously snorted doubtingly and rolled my eyes in disrespect.
"I told you!"
"I'm sorry!"
I could tell Jack wanted to walk away from me. But for some reason...something was keeping him from leaving. "Are you?" he said as if to scold me.
"Yes! It just slipped out. Too much time spent with the Greens, I guess." And Duke, I thought to myself.
"Are they real...religious? I mean, to the 'goddess'?" Jack asked curiously.
I grew my eyes. "Yeah," I said with a tremendous nod. "It's them who would've been offended by your little reference to 'God'. It doesn't really matter all that much to me."
"Really? It doesn't?"
"Nah," I said, shaking my head. "My parents do. Cliff could tell you that."
Jack looked past me, at something in the near distance. "Speaking of Cliff, here comes the handsome bachelor now!"
I giggled and turned around to see my cousin jogging briskly up the cobblestone path. "Where've you been all day?" I called to him as he approached us on the porch.
"With Jack," Cliff answered, rolling his big brown eyes jokingly, "slaving at the farm!"
Jack chuckled and answered, "Yeah, buying chicken feed and flirting with Ann sure was a task, huh?"
As his thin, pale cheeks flushed pink, Cliff said, "Harder than you think. Her big brother actually tried to beat me up."
I began to laugh. "What stopped him, Cliff?" I said, poking his scrawny triceps. "Your amazing brute strength?"
"No," Cliff answered matter-of-factly. "Ann gave him a swollen lip."
Jack and I burst into snickers and giggles. "Aw, poor Gray!" I said. "I think he was planning on kissing Popuri tonight at her party!"
"Kissing her?" Jack said loudly. When I quickly shushed him, he hoarsely whispered, "They're not even like, together, are they? Definitely missed that one in the gossip loop."
"Oh, no, they're not together," I assured him. "But a kiss is typically a good move after you ask a girl out. Well, that is if you've known her for a long time."
"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said with a joking laugh, "As will Cliff, I imagine!"
The blond-ponytailed boy quickly switched subjects. "So what are you two guys doing here?"
"I was just about to invite Karen to the after-party tomorrow night," Jack answered.
I lifted my eyebrows. "After-party?" Cliff said with a questioning look. "You mean the Bible st – "
"No, the AFTER-PARTY!" Jack burst rapidly. "You know, at MY PLACE!"
I contained a grin and pretended like I didn't hear Cliff's little slip. I realized they were trying to trick me into attending a Bible study and surprised myself by not caring. The "after party" thing was just something I could tell my mother as I left the festival. "Sounds like fun," I said with hidden mischievousness. "So I'm invited?"
"Definitely!"
"Sure!"
"All right!" I said happily. "I gotta go vote for Flowerbud Goddess; I'll see you two dorks later."
Leaving the two on the porch, I exited the area and began the steep walk up the cement stairs to the square, where I knew I could find the single voting booth. I suddenly remembered the Dr Pepper in my hand and sucked half of it up before the top of the steps was reached.
I inhaled the fresh, flowery scent of the Square upon entrance. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Everything was clean and tidy: no trash between the old, worn cobblestones (or bird poo-poo on top of them), no rotten tree limbs rotting away in the corners, even no mold on the wooden benches that lined the border. I saw that several "sponsors" had set up their booths around the perimeter and would fill them with goods tomorrow morning. No decorations had been yet hung, for fear of spoiling the wondrous feeling of surprise.
As I suspected, the junky old ballot box was resting on a table in the very center of the square. I sipped my soda largely while pondering whom I should vote for.
It would be cool if Ann were to be Goddess, but I convinced myself it wouldn't be fair since she'd been victorious last year. She hadn't really enjoyed it all that much anyway.
Maria would've made a lovely goddess...as would Popuri...
But Elli would be wonderful! I could just see her, entering the square triumphantly, surrounded by the graceful losers (me, Ann, Popuri, and Maria), looking absolutely beautiful in her baby blue goddess gown, an enormous crown of many variations of flowers on her little head. Yes, I decided; it would be perfectly fabulous!
After grabbing a slip of paper from the stack to the left of the box, I neatly inscribed Elli's name in the center.
By this time, my Dr Pepper was gone and done, so I tossed it in a nearby wastebasket before turning around to exit the square. But the very first thing I saw, standing at the peak of the stairs with a welcoming smile on his handsome face, was...
"KAI!" I shrieked, running into his outstretched arms. Despite the heat of the afternoon sun, I still enjoyed the warmth of his embrace. With my arms slung tight around his neck and his wrapped around my back, I felt just as much at home as I had in the arms of my mother earlier that afternoon.
"Hey, Karen," he said, pressing his lips firmly against the side of my face. "I missed you."
"I missed you!" I said, my voice muffled against his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"
"Just dropped by to vote for the most beautiful girl in Flowerbud," Kai answered, gently, slightly parting, just far enough away so he could look me in the eyes.
"You're voting for Ann?"
Kai made a grunting noise. "I'm voting for you, you weirdo."
"You're the weirdo!" I said, resuming my position of melting into his chest. "How was Mexico? What are you doing here so soon?"
"It was okay. The ocean was beautiful...even better than here. Especially at sunset. And it rained for half an hour every day! It was actually pretty great. And I came back a couple of hours earlier because I missed you too bad."
"Psh," I blushed, leaning my head back so I could look up at him. "I think you just didn't wanna miss Popuri's sweet seventeen!"
"Well, no," he said, "that's just a bonus. It's really good to see you, Karen."
"It's good to see you, too."
He kissed my lips vibrantly. After an unknown amount of time, I pushed him away when his lips arced into a devious smile, flashing a mischievous grin myself. "You weirdo!" I shouted at him as he quickly wrote my name on a ballot card.
He whirled around to face me. "You're the weirdo!"
oOoOoOo
A/N: Well, that was hard, but undeniably fun! Now, review, you weirdos!
A note from the author: This will be a hard chapter to write. I know this story is like, dragging on for eternity, but please bear with me!
oOoOoOo
The air was tense at the vineyard.
Kai left on the nineteenth for a business trip that Dad was too stressed out to take. Local buyers were pressuring him for more wine for less money. Mother, a part of the Flowerbud Festival Committee, was away from the house for hours upon hours a day preparing for the upcoming Flower Festival.
Meanwhile, I was slaving in the tree grove, helping Mother with festival stuff (me being a goddess contestant), assisting Popuri with planning her sweet seventeen, trying to make Ann fall in love with Cliff, and struggling to keep Kai off my mind. That, and my usual agenda of avoiding Jack.
The latter proved to be one of the harder tasks of the lot. The farmer's popularity was growing to the point at which nobody could quit talking about him. Of course, many of the things said were complaints about his Bible study, comments about his "deceptive charisma," and gripes of his subtle flirtatious nature. But negative attention is still attention; all publicity is good publicity. It seemed that no matter where I went, Jack, or at least talk of Jack, was there. The florist, the bar, the Green Ranch, and especially the bakery. Even at my own house, my own mother seemed to be enamored by the boy's maturity and charm.
It was mid-afternoon on the twenty-second day of Spring when the ladies of the village rounded up the five goddess contestants and herded us to Florist Lillia. Mother, Anna, Lillia, Granny Ellen, and Anella the midwife followed us through the front door of the flower shop with excited expressions lighting up their faces. "Oh, goddess," Ann muttered, walking ahead of me as we entered the room, "It feels so good in here. It's so hot outside!"
"I know," Elli turned around to say. "I hope it's not this bad tomorrow. Our gowns will like, stick to us."
"Ew!" I cringed. Nasty.
"Nothing more attractive than a sweaty, stinky, sunburned goddess," laughed Ann funnily.
Popuri giggled, apparently having listened to the conversation, as we all followed the elders' instructions to look their way.
"Listen up, ladies!" Lillia called, her voice light and fluffy as a Three Musketeers bar. We looked up at her. "We've finally finished your goddess gowns!" The room was suddenly flooded with excitement as we all looked at each other with gaping smiles and wide eyes. As the mothers bustled into the back room to gather up the gowns, the rest of us immediately burst into conversation.
"I'm so excited!" I exclaimed to Ann and Elli, who sat on either side of me.
Ann grinned, "I am, too. I never really appreciated this festival before, but I'm actually really wound up about it this year."
Elli nodded in agreement, looking down at her belly and rubbing it with both hands. "Golly, they measured us for these dresses like, two and a half seasons ago...I just hope I haven't gained any weight since then."
I laughed and poked her with my bare elbow. "You're the one who's been dieting. And Ann gets a workout everyday. All I do is eat and clip grape vines."
"Well, you've got muscly arms," Ann said, jabbing my bicep with her index finger.
"Yeah, and they'll look just dandy in a flowy goddess gown," I said with a roll of the eyes.
The mothers began filing back in through the door. I immediately noticed that each of the gowns were of different colors, a welcome change from the plain white dresses of the past years. The vibrant colors seemed to be of purposeful resemblance to the beautiful spring flowers blossoming on the trees in the village and in the grass on the mountain.
Each mother brought a dress to their daughter, with the exception of Ann, who received her gown from Anella, and Elli, who accepted hers from Granny Ellen. Mother was approaching me with a gorgeous darker-than-lavender, lighter-than-purple masterpiece of silky cloth overlapped with a thin layer of tulle, veil-like material. It was sleeveless, with a V neckline that dropped down not too low, but lower than I would've expected my mother to make. About halfway down, slightly below the waist area, the dress fell into layers that cascaded to where my toes would be. "Mother," I gasped, instantly in love. I surprised myself with the level of affection in my tone. "It's beautiful. Oh, I can't wait to wear it."
As she humbly placed the gown into my hands, my mother sniffled and wiped a few tears from the corner of her eyes. "I'm glad you like it, Karen," she said modestly.
"Like it?" I said, unable to tear my eyes away from the thing. "I love it. Thank you, Mother."
"You're welcome...sweetheart."
When she used the endearment that Pappy had fondly used for me, my eyes instantaneously began to flood with tears. I knew she had used the nickname on purpose, and it was perfect that she did so. I actually liked being reminded of the old man now. How I wished he could be there to see me tomorrow, wearing the wonderful dress made just for me, in the arms of a boy who made me happier than I'd ever been. I whispered to Mother, "I wish he could be here now."
"We all do, Karen...We all do..." For the first time in a long time, Mother wrapped me in her arms and consolingly stroked my back with her hands. I pressed my face against her shoulder and restrained my tears. "Karen, do you know that I love you?"
I wasn't quite sure what to say. Unable to think of something quick enough, I was silent for a few seconds, until Mother spoke up again.
"I know I'm not a very good mother, but if there's one thing that's good about me, it's how much I love you." My mom sniffed slightly and leaned her head against mine as I squeezed her tightly.
"And I know I'm not at all a good daughter," I murmured, "but...I..." I stammered, "...I...I love you, too."
"Do you really, Karen?" Mother asked, leaning back to look me in the eye. Two teardrops were slowly trekking down her fair, unblemished face.
I looked into her bright eyes and answered, "Yes, I do."
Mother smiled and wiped at her eyes, releasing my shoulders. "Now, we'd, um...we'd better get you into that dress for a moment, and see if anything needs tailoring."
oOo
An hour later, I was marching down the cobblestone path, past the bakery, the church, and the tool shop, on my way to the bar to remind Duke I was taking the night off. Popuri's party would be over by ten, but the tradition was for all five of us girls to spend the night at her house afterwards and get ready for the Festival together the next morning.
It was a torrid, cloudless day, the baby blue sky bright and flawless in the light of the blazing sun. Despite my summer apparel, denim drawstring shorts and a flashy thin-strapped top, I felt as though my blood was boiling under melting skin. I stopped to sweep my chocolate-milk colored hair into a messy bun, wiping the sweat from the back of my neck. My flip- flops dragging on the porch, I flung the bar door open and hollered, "Duke! Duke! Anybody home?" as I stepped inside, pleased to find the air inside the room cool and refreshing.
The man poked his gray head out of the back room and looked at me as if to say, "WHAT?"
"I just wanted to remind you that I won't be here tonight," I said, steadily inching backward. "And I was wondering if I could grab a drink while I'm here. It's ninety-eight degrees outside."
"Oh, right," he said, "and sure. What'll it be?"
"Oh, it's all right, I can get it," I said, surprised at his compassion for a thirsty village-wanderer. For the past few days, Duke had been a snappy, grumpy, cruel dictator of a boss, contrary to the kind-voiced, look-of- understanding-on-his-face Duke I saw behind the counter today.
"So you're running for goddess again this year, Karen?" he asked, stepping out of my way as I scooped myself some ice into a Styrofoam cup.
"Yep," I answered with pride.
"Did you vote for yourself?"
I stood up straight. Vote? Oops. "Actually, I'd forgotten about the voting thing. I'm really just in it for the fun. But I suppose I should go vote. Not for myself, though...of course." I had intended to get water, but noticed that the soda machine was whirring. "Why is the soda machine on?"
"Oh, people been droppin' in all day for drinks. That's why I'm here. I guess they just didn't feel like tea and milk from the bakery. Help yourself, long as you got 5Gold on ya." Now there's the Duke I know and hate.
I chuckled and helped myself to a good amount of Dr Pepper. "Well, I've gotta get back to the vineyard," I said, managing to grab the five small coins from my pocket. "I have to do Kai's share, too, since he's away."
"Speakin' o' that one," Duke said just before I pushed completely through the door, "when do you suppose he'll be returning from...?"
"Mexico," I answered. "And he said he'd be back late tonight, so..."
"Okay, then...good bye, Karen."
I waved with my free hand and turned around to see Jack trying to enter the bar. I'd been doing such a good job avoiding him, I'd almost forgotten what he looked like.
Yeah...right.
With a charismatic smile of greeting and gentlemanly nod, he acknowledged me with: "Hey, there. It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Sorry there's no people to bother here," I told him with a clue of cruelty in my tone of voice. But then, "Do you know where Cliff is?"
"He's at Green Ranch."
I couldn't contain a grin. Maybe this Cliff/Ann pairing wouldn't take too long to compose. "What is he doing over there?" I had to ask, letting the door whisk shut behind me as I stepped fully onto the wooden porch.
"Oh, he's been hanging out at my place, y'know, so I gave him some money and told him to buy me some chicken feed...only in hopes that Ann might be there. And I'm guessing she was, 'cause that was about an hour and a half ago."
I smiled back at him. "So you, too, huh?"
"What?"
I was about to tell him I was trying to get them together too, but decided to drop such a silly, childish subject. I didn't want him to think I was some dumb twelve-year-old. Although, I did get most of the "dumb" part right. "Never mind."
"Why are you being so mean?" Jack asked before I could walk past him, though his knee-weakening smile was not lost.
I turned slowly around on my heel. I guess I thought I had an answer to that, but after looking at him in the face, I kind of...forgot? Sheepishly looking at the ground, I remained embarrassingly silent.
"You don't even know, do you?"
I looked up and cocked my head to the side so I could scratch it bashfully.
He looked away for a moment, perhaps at a nearby cherry tree, burying his hands in his blue jean pockets. He rock back and forth on his feet, his thick brown boots making a slight tapping noise on the wood.
I covered my top lip with my bottom one and made a couple of smacking sounds. "I guess..." I began, pulling words from the top of my head. "I guess I might just be...bitter?"
It was Jack's turn to scratch his head. "Bitter about what?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Maybe I'm just mean by nature."
He gave me a look but then bobbled his head from side to side, his mouth curved into a maybe-so frown. "Could be." He laughed wittily, removing his cap for a second so he could ruffle his length brown locks, probably shaking the sweat away.
I couldn't help but smile. It's just what you do when a guy this cute is talking to you.
"Whatever happened to that thing where we were gonna be friends?" Jack asked, removing his hands from his pockets so he could make an I-don't-know gesture.
"I don't know, Jack, I don't know."
"Would you like to give another shot at that?" I asked, a spark of hope in his deep eyes.
I looked at him quizzically. "Why do you wanna be my friend so bad?" I asked. "I'm not exactly a wonderful person. I'm not even very nice."
Jack clasped a hand to the top of his ball-capped head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
I arched my eyebrows, contemplating whether to just take his word for it.
NAH!
"Come on! I have to know if you're not some kinda stalker." I snickered.
"I'm afraid that if I tell you, you'll get offended."
"So you are a stalker!"
"No," he laughed in response. "Let's just say...No..."
"Jack, you are just a little strange," I said with a small smile.
"Ok, ok. God's been telling me I should get to know you."
I subconsciously snorted doubtingly and rolled my eyes in disrespect.
"I told you!"
"I'm sorry!"
I could tell Jack wanted to walk away from me. But for some reason...something was keeping him from leaving. "Are you?" he said as if to scold me.
"Yes! It just slipped out. Too much time spent with the Greens, I guess." And Duke, I thought to myself.
"Are they real...religious? I mean, to the 'goddess'?" Jack asked curiously.
I grew my eyes. "Yeah," I said with a tremendous nod. "It's them who would've been offended by your little reference to 'God'. It doesn't really matter all that much to me."
"Really? It doesn't?"
"Nah," I said, shaking my head. "My parents do. Cliff could tell you that."
Jack looked past me, at something in the near distance. "Speaking of Cliff, here comes the handsome bachelor now!"
I giggled and turned around to see my cousin jogging briskly up the cobblestone path. "Where've you been all day?" I called to him as he approached us on the porch.
"With Jack," Cliff answered, rolling his big brown eyes jokingly, "slaving at the farm!"
Jack chuckled and answered, "Yeah, buying chicken feed and flirting with Ann sure was a task, huh?"
As his thin, pale cheeks flushed pink, Cliff said, "Harder than you think. Her big brother actually tried to beat me up."
I began to laugh. "What stopped him, Cliff?" I said, poking his scrawny triceps. "Your amazing brute strength?"
"No," Cliff answered matter-of-factly. "Ann gave him a swollen lip."
Jack and I burst into snickers and giggles. "Aw, poor Gray!" I said. "I think he was planning on kissing Popuri tonight at her party!"
"Kissing her?" Jack said loudly. When I quickly shushed him, he hoarsely whispered, "They're not even like, together, are they? Definitely missed that one in the gossip loop."
"Oh, no, they're not together," I assured him. "But a kiss is typically a good move after you ask a girl out. Well, that is if you've known her for a long time."
"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said with a joking laugh, "As will Cliff, I imagine!"
The blond-ponytailed boy quickly switched subjects. "So what are you two guys doing here?"
"I was just about to invite Karen to the after-party tomorrow night," Jack answered.
I lifted my eyebrows. "After-party?" Cliff said with a questioning look. "You mean the Bible st – "
"No, the AFTER-PARTY!" Jack burst rapidly. "You know, at MY PLACE!"
I contained a grin and pretended like I didn't hear Cliff's little slip. I realized they were trying to trick me into attending a Bible study and surprised myself by not caring. The "after party" thing was just something I could tell my mother as I left the festival. "Sounds like fun," I said with hidden mischievousness. "So I'm invited?"
"Definitely!"
"Sure!"
"All right!" I said happily. "I gotta go vote for Flowerbud Goddess; I'll see you two dorks later."
Leaving the two on the porch, I exited the area and began the steep walk up the cement stairs to the square, where I knew I could find the single voting booth. I suddenly remembered the Dr Pepper in my hand and sucked half of it up before the top of the steps was reached.
I inhaled the fresh, flowery scent of the Square upon entrance. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Everything was clean and tidy: no trash between the old, worn cobblestones (or bird poo-poo on top of them), no rotten tree limbs rotting away in the corners, even no mold on the wooden benches that lined the border. I saw that several "sponsors" had set up their booths around the perimeter and would fill them with goods tomorrow morning. No decorations had been yet hung, for fear of spoiling the wondrous feeling of surprise.
As I suspected, the junky old ballot box was resting on a table in the very center of the square. I sipped my soda largely while pondering whom I should vote for.
It would be cool if Ann were to be Goddess, but I convinced myself it wouldn't be fair since she'd been victorious last year. She hadn't really enjoyed it all that much anyway.
Maria would've made a lovely goddess...as would Popuri...
But Elli would be wonderful! I could just see her, entering the square triumphantly, surrounded by the graceful losers (me, Ann, Popuri, and Maria), looking absolutely beautiful in her baby blue goddess gown, an enormous crown of many variations of flowers on her little head. Yes, I decided; it would be perfectly fabulous!
After grabbing a slip of paper from the stack to the left of the box, I neatly inscribed Elli's name in the center.
By this time, my Dr Pepper was gone and done, so I tossed it in a nearby wastebasket before turning around to exit the square. But the very first thing I saw, standing at the peak of the stairs with a welcoming smile on his handsome face, was...
"KAI!" I shrieked, running into his outstretched arms. Despite the heat of the afternoon sun, I still enjoyed the warmth of his embrace. With my arms slung tight around his neck and his wrapped around my back, I felt just as much at home as I had in the arms of my mother earlier that afternoon.
"Hey, Karen," he said, pressing his lips firmly against the side of my face. "I missed you."
"I missed you!" I said, my voice muffled against his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"
"Just dropped by to vote for the most beautiful girl in Flowerbud," Kai answered, gently, slightly parting, just far enough away so he could look me in the eyes.
"You're voting for Ann?"
Kai made a grunting noise. "I'm voting for you, you weirdo."
"You're the weirdo!" I said, resuming my position of melting into his chest. "How was Mexico? What are you doing here so soon?"
"It was okay. The ocean was beautiful...even better than here. Especially at sunset. And it rained for half an hour every day! It was actually pretty great. And I came back a couple of hours earlier because I missed you too bad."
"Psh," I blushed, leaning my head back so I could look up at him. "I think you just didn't wanna miss Popuri's sweet seventeen!"
"Well, no," he said, "that's just a bonus. It's really good to see you, Karen."
"It's good to see you, too."
He kissed my lips vibrantly. After an unknown amount of time, I pushed him away when his lips arced into a devious smile, flashing a mischievous grin myself. "You weirdo!" I shouted at him as he quickly wrote my name on a ballot card.
He whirled around to face me. "You're the weirdo!"
oOoOoOo
A/N: Well, that was hard, but undeniably fun! Now, review, you weirdos!