A few days later…
Fionna stuffed her feet into old candy wrappers. They made for terrible shoes.
"Cake, are you sure we are supposed to dress up in garbage?" She asked.
"Yeah, Fionna. It's a trash can party. Everyone is going to dress trashy and get trashed. Here, slip on this plastic bag…" Cake pulled a plastic bag onto Fionna, and Fionna grimaced.
"I'm going to bring some extra clothes in my pack…" she said.
"Oh! I can't believe you don't trust me. You know that I am a party ANIMAL, Fionna…" Cake replied, wrapping herself in foil. "Perfect, all right let's go rubbish bud!"
Cake and Fionna crinkled their way to the clearing the woods. LSP always threw some sick summer time gigs, and Fionna had attended most of them, but tonight felt different.
After her crazy convo with Marshall Lee, she hadn't heard from the Vampire King and was kind of bummed that he hadn't asked her to join him at LSP's jam like he usually would. She had bugs in her tum all day. For some reason she was nervous to see if Marshall would be at the forest clearing tonight, and if he was, how would he act towards her? Worst still, how would she act towards him? Fionna groaned inwardly.
"You got a tummy ache, baby?" Cake asked.
"No, I'm just… nervous." She said.
"Whatchu nervous for? We are going to be the sickest dressed people-" Cake froze in her tracks as she they walked into the clearing. Everyone had brought their own trash cans, and no one was dressed in trash. "Oh Glob!" She shrieked. "I gotta get changed! See you later, baby." She said rushing back home.
Fionna was left in her candy wrapper shoes, but she peeled off the plastic bag to reveal her extra clothes underneath. She walked further into the crowd, and searched the faces. Fionna would not admit that she was searching for a particular face, but when she saw Marshall Lee, her guts crinkled and she hid behind Muscle Prince. So, he had come to the party and he hadn't asked her to come along.
"Hey, Fionna." Marshall's voice said from behind her. She gasped and turned to see him. "Why are you wearing candy wrappers on your feet?" He asked.
"Long story. Cake thought we were supposed to dress trashy…" She responded and wiggled her toes in the wrinkly packages. They were kind of nice, once one got used to them. Marshall chuckled.
"Anyways… how are you doing?" He asked awkwardly.
"Fine I guess… You?"
"Fantastic." He responded. They looked at each other awkwardly for a while before Marshall caught sight of Cake coming back towards them. "Anyways, see you later." He said floating away.
Cake came back with a trashcan and a dustbin in hand, watching Marshall Lee float away.
"Oh, is that boy trying to kiss you again?" She said hissing.
"No! He was just saying hello… Get a grip." Fionna said blushing, and she glanced at him chatting it up to someone across the clearing. He felt her eyes on him and he turned to offer her a small wave.
"Anyway, Fi. I got us some trashcans, although we only own one so this other one is just a dustbin…"
LSP floated up the makeshift stage and the conversations began to die down.
"Everyone, it's time for… the trash can race! Jump inside your cans like the pieces of garbage you are and hop the heck over to the finish as fast as you can. The winner gets… to sing with Marshall Lee the Vampire King! Hooray!" He cheered.
"I call trashcan!" Cake screeched, as she tossed the dustbin towards Fionna.
"What? Not fair! Just shrink yourself dustbin size!" She protested.
"Nuh uh! That dustbin will have little 'bin hops I need CAN hops to win. I've been working on my vocals…" Cake argued. Fionna sighed and tried to squeeze her two feet into the little box.
"Ready…? Set…? Go!" Screamed LSP, and all the guests hopped furiously to the finish line. Fionna couldn't even manage more than 3 feet before Cake hurled herself over the finish line in front of Lady Candy Cane.
"Cake wins!" LSP cheered. The defeat stung Fionna more than it should have. Again, Fionna searched the crowd for Marshall, and again he felt her watching him. She just couldn't get away with staring at a dude. He gave her a quaint 'rock on' sign and floated over to the stage, where Cake had draped herself gloriously across the floor.
"I have a request, Vampire boy!" Cake said winking, and whispered a song in his ear. He chuckled.
"Yeah I know it. Alright, let's rock…" he said strumming the first chord.
Once I was afraid, I was petrified… began Cake. Despite losing, Fionna was glad to watch Cake on stage. She rocked it out, and it was a stellar performance, but Fionna2 could not focus completely on Cake as the guy playing the guitar kept captivating her attention.
Oh crud, she thought. Could she possibly be crushing on… Marshall Lee? No, she was only feeling this way because he always played with her heart guts. She felt all twisted up inside.
At the conclusion of the show, Fionna sought to speak to Marshall again. She had to have at least one normal conversation with him tonight. She followed his red stripy shirt across the crowd and pulled on his sleeve. He turned to look at her.
"Oh, hey Fionna." He said.
"Great job up there… Cake said she practiced a lot." Fionna said awkwardly.
"Yeah, thanks. We jam pretty well." He said shrugging. Fionna couldn't take the shallow conversation any longer, and turned red in the cheeks.
"Marshall… why have you not spoken to me since that time? I still want to be friends!" She began, embarrassed.
"Guess I just needed some time to cool off… we are being friendly right now, aren't we?"
"Yeah but you're acting like-"
"Like you're any other person here? Like you're no one special?" He asked. Fionna's eyes widened. The remark stung. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that." He said apologetically. "Look, let's hang. You and I. Hash this out? Come over and jam with me tomorrow."
Fionna nodded, feeling her throat clamping from getting all emotional. He ruffled her hair.
"See you later, Fionna." And he floated away. She stood there, dumbly waving him goodbye.