Chapter 36: The bet and the painting

Rory smirked to herself as she walked away from Darien. Now, she had an open invitation to become Serena's friend. It wouldn't seem strange or peculiar to Darien if the two girls would start becoming close. Her plan was now set into full throttle. Of course there was going to be a few changes, especially since everyone had found out about her other plan. But that was not a problem. She'll soon make up a new scheme.

She had to admit that what Darien had told her, was heart-shattering for her to hear. But even so, she did not want to believe a single word.

Rory was the type of person who always accomplishes every single goal she set out for herself. And this time, her goal was none other then Darien.

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Darien inhaled in relief as he made his way into the elevator. It was finally done! No more problems. Things were going to go back to normal between him and Serena. He smiled to himself at the thought of it.

The elevator door chimed, and the doors slid open.

Darien walked to Serena's door, and knocked. He heard a loud gasp inside, and soon enough, Serena answered the door.

"How'd it go?" she asked immediately, her eyes wide with anticipation.

He smiled and stepped inside. "It went great. I think she got it now," Darien said happily.

Serena smiled, feeling as if the weight of the world has lifted off of her shoulders. "Good," she sighed. "She wasn't sad or anything… was she?"

"Well…. She did cry, but she was alright afterwards. I told her that if she ever needed anything, we're both here for her," Darien said as she settled himself on the couch.

Serena nodded, and plopped down beside him, and looked up at his handsome face.

Darien looked around the room for the first time since he got in, realizing that everyone was gone. "Where is Ami and them?" he asked curiously, looking down at Serena.

"Oh. They got tired of waiting so they went to go catch a movie," Serena answered, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

Serena peeked up at him from his shoulder," Well, because I was waiting for you," she simply replied.

"Serena, you don't have to do everything with me. It's fine if you want to go and hang out with your friends too," he said as he lifted his arm and wrapped it around her.

She grinned up at him as his strong arms wrapped around her. "I know. But I wanted to see how it went."

"Well, it looks like things are finally gonna start going a little smoother for us from now on," Darien said, smiling down at her.

Serena giggled, and shook her head," Things with us are never smooth. If it was, it wouldn't be any fun, would it?" she joked, snuggling closer to him.

Darien chuckled at her comment, tightening his arm around her. "I suppose not."

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Ami, Brett, Raye, and Andrew were all standing outside the movie theatre, looking at what movie they were all going to go watch.

Andrew's hands were jammed inside his pockets as he stood beside Raye, looking up at the marquee. "So… what movie do you guys wanna watch?" he asked, skimming up and down at the movie titles and time.

Brett frowned and glanced at his watch. "The next movie time closest to now is at 6… that's about 2 hours," Brett said, looking at Andrew.

Andrew sighed and looked down at his feet, thinking up of another plan to go do something. Then, he remembered. "The fair! They're having like a carnival and art fair downtown. We could go to that," he said, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Yeah! Let's go," Ami chimed in, clasping her hands together.

Brett smiled and nodded," Sounds like a plan," and took Ami's hand as they started to walk off in the direction of their car.

Raye looked after them, standing back for awhile as she envied the couple in front of her as they walked off together.

Andrew took a few steps and realized Raye wasn't beside him, and he stopped. He turned his head and looked towards her direction. "You coming?" he asked, a goofy grin on his face.

Raye nodded, and followed suit after him.

They trailed behind Brett and Ami in silence for awhile, before Raye asked," They're cute aren't they?"

Brett glanced at Raye, a look of puzzlement displayed across his face. "Yeah, I guess so," he shrugged, the corners of his lips tugging into a smile.

"Don't you miss that?" Raye pressed on, motioning towards the happy couple in front of them.

Andrew frowned slightly, confused. "You mean being in a relationship?"

"Not just that," Raye said, her eyes glistening," But the feeling you get when you're with that person. Liking someone, and knowing that they like you back. Holding hands…. Cuddling…. Dates….midnight conversations…. All of it," she reminisced.

Andrew thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah,. I suppose I do miss it," he said as he kept walking. "I probably haven't been in a relationship for two years though," he added.

"Why not?" Raye asked, suddenly looking sad.

"Well… I haven't found a girl I'm interested in enough.," he simply answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh."

They walked the rest of the way to Brett's car in silence, Raye contemplating on what Andrew had just said. Surely there were plenty of girls Andrew's been interested in… Raye thought as Andrew opened the door for her, smiling gleefully.

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The four friends arrived at the fair around 5. Lights and music dazzled and rang all around them. Gift Tents were left and right, as well as Food stands and carnival rides. Laughter and game bells mingled and mixed together, creating an exciting, chaotic and fun atmosphere.

Ami ran ahead of everyone, completely enthralled by the site before. "Oh! Brett! Look! There's an art display," she squealed, pointing to a nearby tent.

Brett laughed, and waved at Andrew and Raye. "Alright guys, I'm gonna go with Ami. I'll text you around 7 or 8 and we'll meet back up at my car," Brett told Andrew.

Andrew and Raye nodded, and waved to Brett as he ran off towards Ami.

Raye clasped her hands together, and put it in front of her as she looked at Andrew. "What do you want to do?" she asked as she looked into his entrancing blue eyes.

Andrew smiled and pointed to a game stand. "How about I win you something?"

Raye broke into a grin," You win me something?" she mocked," You mean I win YOU something."

Andrew's eyebrow went up as his smile grew wider. "What? You don't think I can win you a teddy bear or something?"

Raye laughed, her gray eyes lighting up. "I'll make a bet with you. I bet you that I'll win something before you do."

"Alright! You have a bet," Andrew said as he stuck out his hand to Raye.

Raye grinned, and shook his hand roughly.

"I'll let you pick a game, and I'll let you go first," Raye added snidely, walking ahead of him with her head held high.

Andrew watched her walk off as he smiled at her. "Well aren't we little miss confidence?" he joked as he followed after her. "Wait… what do I get if I win?"

Raye turned around and faced him again. "Whatever you want," she said, a sly smile playing across her lips.

"Alright, how about a kiss?" Andrew let out, grinning massively.

Raye made a funny looking face, not disgusted or flattered, but somewhere in between. "A kiss?" she asked, smiling slightly.

Andrew nodded his head. "To make things a little more difficult, how about the person who wins three prizes first, wins the bet?"

"Deal," Raye finalized. "And if I win, you have to kiss Darien," she laughed.

Andrew's face immediately fell, looking extremely sullen. "Darien? Now that is just completely unfair! That's just… morally wrong," he complained, throwing up his hands.

"What? Are you afraid?" she joked some more, making her way to the first game stand on her right.

"Afraid? To kiss Darien? Hell yes I'm afraid to kiss Darien!" Andrew yelled after her.

Raye grinned mischievously. "Well then I guess you're going to have to win if you don't want to kiss him, huh?" she stated as she put down a five to get three beanie sacks.

Andrew frowned," Yeah… I guess," he mumbled, obviously not happy about the bet. He pulled out a five dollar bill as well, and handed it to the guy behind the stand.

The object of the game seemed simple; you get three beanie sacks to knock down three floating beach balls that were hovering above a hidden fan vent. If you knock one down, you get a small prize. If you can gather six small prizes altogether, you can trade it in for a big prize.

The man handed each of them three beanie sacks. "Good luck," he growled.

Raye and Andrew concentrated on the floating beach balls, awaiting the perfect moment to throw the beanie sack at it.

Andrew raised his hands, holding the beanie sack like he would at a baseball game. His eyes zoned in on the beach ball, moving up and down above the vent. He waited… waited… and then BAM! He knocked one off the vent. He smiled cockily to himself and looked over towards Raye. To his surprise, she had already won two small prizes, her eyes focused on her third beach ball. Oh crap, he thought to himself as he got ready to throw off another ball.

Raye smiled to herself as she got her third small prize. She turned and looked at Andrew, who also, had just received his third small prize. "Very good," she teased.

Andrew grinned and held up three miniature teddy bears. "Do you want to put it together to get a big prize?" he asked, pointing up towards the ginormous bears above them.

She nodded, and handed him her three bears. Andrew smiled and took them from her and gave it to the man behind the stands.

"A big prize for this lady here, please," Andrew announced, bowing his head towards her.

Raye blushed as the man gave Andrew the big bear. Andrew walked over to her, and handed it to her. "Thank you," she said softly as she took the comforting toy in her arms.

"No problem," he said as he smiled flirtatiously at her.

They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, and then Raye remembered something.

"I win," she said, smiling widely.

"What?" Andrew asked, looking baffled.

"I won the bet! I won the three small prizes before you did! That means I win," she pointed out, jumping up and down with her big bear.

"No you didn't," Andrew defended, smiling at her. "I totally beat you!"

Raye shook her head profusely. "Nope! I remember looking at you when you got your third prize. And I had already gotten mine."

"The guy obviously handed your prize to you first, and then to me. We won at the same time."

"You're not getting out of this one, buddy," Raye teased, scrunching up her nose. "You have to kiss Darien when we get back! And I'm gonna watch you do it," she laughed.

Andrew gave a heavy sigh, but still smiling. How am I gonna explain this one to Darien?

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Ami and Brett were scouring from art tent to art tent. Impressive and beautiful amateur art displayed in each tent. Lively colors bursting through each canvas, making the piece draw you into it's majesty.

Ami walked from one painting to the next, looking intently at each one, admiring the artist's perfection. She would love to take one of these beautiful masterpieces home with her, but it was far too expensive for her. The average painting started off at 150 dollars. She needed to save every penny she could for college. She didn't have the money to throw away on paintings.

There was one that completely took her breathe away. It was a pointillism painting of a couple walking through a park, while leaves fell down all around them. The couple seemed so utterly in love, you could feel and sense it through the painting. She savored the painting with her eyes, taking in every detail and every color.

Brett stood aside and watched Ami as she looked at this painting. He could tell by her facial expression that she was completely in love with it. He liked that she could admire and look at art in the way that she did. Not taking any paintings for granted. Making sure she stopped by each one, and studying it like she would a book. But this painting seemed to catch her interest more then any of the other paintings she had looked at. She had probably been looking at this one now for about fifteen minutes, never once glancing anywhere else. He watched her further as a look of sadness washed over her face as she tore her eyes away from the painting and looked up at him, smiling.

"Let's go," she said softly, walking over to him. "I'm sorry I made you wait so long."

Brett smiled as he took her hand. "It's not a problem. You can take as long as you want too. This fair only comes around once a year," he stated.

She nodded knowingly, and began to walk out of the tent. "I'm starved!" she suddenly said excitedly. "I love fair food! Let's go!"

Brett grinned and nodded. "Hold on. Um… can you meet me at one of the food stands? I need to use the restroom."

"Okay. Why don't I just come with you and I'll wait?" she asked, her eyes glistening.

"The food lines are usually really long. It's better if one of us waits. That way we'll get our food faster," he pointed out.

"Good idea," she smiled, and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Alright. Well then… meet me at the gyro stand. I'll be in line."

"Will do," he said as he waved at her. He waited until he was out of her sight, before he went back into the tent. He walked over to the painting that Ami had stared at for so long, and studied it for awhile.

It was, indeed, completely breathtaking. The artist simply titled it," An Autumn's Walk." He smiled as he remembered when him and Ami had shared that moment on the school campus park while the leaves swirled around them. This could be one of the reasons why Ami was so intrigued with the painting. Without even thinking about the price, he picked it up, and went to the cashier.

"Good evening, sir," a lady in her middle thirties greeted him as she rang up the total. "It'll be 250 dollars, no tax."

He smiled politely and nodded at her. "Um, is it alright if you could keep it for me until around 8?" he asked as he paid her.

The lady smiled and nodded her head. "Of course! Can I have your name?"

"Brett Stanley," he answered obediently.

"Alright. You have hazel eyes and, and dirty blonde hair," she said out loud as she wrote down the information on a card. "Okay! It'll be right here when you come back."

"Thanks you," he said, and left.

Ami was in a long line of people at a gyro stand, patiently waiting. She saw Brett trotting over towards her, a big smile on his face. She smiled back lovingly. "All better?" she teased.

Brett chuckled," All better."