"What is it this time?" Mariah sighed and followed my eyes. "Another one?!", her voice outraged.

"Hi, Angela.", Lucas said once he had reached the counter of her food truck. I correct myself. Nothing but him could ruin this night for me.

"Hi.", I replied and looked to Mariah for help. We shared a moment of eye contact before she threw her arms into the air.

"No, that is your problem." She turned to wipe down the surfaces on the other side of the kitchen space. She clearly set her mind to ignoring everything that was going down behind her back.

"Can we talk somewhere else?", Lucas asked slightly bothered, but not bothered enough to leave me be.

Nervously I got up from my stool and went out the door. He met me there and wanted to go elsewhere but I stayed. "Can't we talk here?" My voice was shy. Honestly it wasn't shy but scared because I didn't know how he'd react when I blasted his hopes out of nowhere after raising them for days now. I felt so bad that I couldn't get a word out of my mouth.

"Fine." He was obviously not in the best mood. "Now that you're out of the hospital again, I was wondering if you'd want to meet some of my friends. There's a party tomorrow night down by the pond." He tried to get ahold of my hand but I crossed my arms, pretending to be cold.

My hesitation lowered his mood even more so I figured lingering in this moment of uncertainty would only make things worse.

"Listen, Lucas. I'm sorry but I think we should stop seeing each other. We will break camp in a few days anyway and I will never come here again."

He stared at me dumbstruck. Somehow it appeared to be the only reaction he was capable of having.

Then he fell back into a sort of flirty, grinning persona that had seemed appealing to me a few days ago but didn't anymore. "I know. I don't mind. We could just enjoy ourselves while we can, right?"

I arched my eyebrow. "Enjoy ourselves.", I repeated incapapable of immediately grasping the whole concept of what he was proposing.

He grinned at me like I was slow and finally getting where he was coming from.

"Oh my god. You just want to get into my pants." I exclamated like I just had the most genious idea.

"Well I wouldn't word it like that..." Lucas looked at his feet and around us, nervous that someone might have heard my tantrum.

"So you even confess?" Now I was really getting upset at his impudence. He was not even trying to deny.

"Oh come on. It's not like you are that chaste. You even had another guy kiss you in front of me. You carny folks have loose morals."

In a second of weakness I stared at him open-mouthed, not knowing what to reply to that.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!", I said and turned to get back into the truck again.

"No you should be ashamed! I'm not the one having a new man in every city I go to."

I turned to him again only because I debated if it was worth it to hit him in his damn self-assured, grinning face or if that that would lose us some costumers.

"That's right. I heard all about you carny girls. How much will it cost if you don't want to give it for free. All about the money, right?" His provocative grin begged me to slap his arrogant face. I didn't.

"Fuck you, Lucas.", was all I could utter and I closed the truck door behind me as fast as I could.

Mariah looked at me worried.

"What was that all about?"

I slumped against to door. It probably looked a lot cooler than what I actually intended with this. Who knows what he was capable of in his state of mind right now.

"Just an idiot.", was my glib explanation.

"For only an idiot, you very much seem to need to block the door.", she said and grabbed the nearest grillfork.

"Don't worry. It's not that..." I was about to say bad when someone slapped the counter. Mariah and I both flinched and stared at Lucas wearing his hood again.

He pointed at me and hissed. "I will come for you."

We didn't exhale until we saw him disappear into the dark of the fairground surroundings.

"Did he hurt you?", was the first thing Mariah asked me and I've never seen her that serious.

"No." He had tried only with words.

"Don't let him find you alone. Boys like him are dangerous." She started searching her cupboards frantically.

"We are gone in a few days anyway." I tried to reassure myself.

"There, found it!", Mariah exclaimed and pulled a bundle of herbs out of a small glass in the back of the highest cupboard. She ignited it with a lighter that I hadn't seen her pick up before.

"What is that?"

"Thyme. For courage and protection in difficult situations." She explained it like one would explain a cooking recipe and fanned the smoke in my direction. "And for love."