Return to Love (4 page)

Kate kissed her dad’s cheek in thanks as he waved bye to the girls. Joanie watched him drive away; wishing wistfully that her dad was more like Kate’s. Forcing a smile, she turned away looking towards the Midway. You could smell the popcorn and cotton candy and Joanie inhaled deeply as the girls made their way to the entrance.

The fair wasn’t too crowded when they arrived; she expected more people would come out later in the evening. Joanie’s mom gave her what little money she could spare, and Joanie refused to ask for more. She looked around at the prices on the various activities. “I’ve gotta get a job.” She murmured to herself more than to Kate.

Are they cool or ugly? Joanie thought to herself as she faithfully followed Kate on another ride. Since it was fall, it turned dark faster than usual. And Kate was right, as usual, more guys did come, except most of them had dates. A couple of boys had come up to talk to Joanie, but she refused to leave Kate alone; plus, she was careful about whom she could trust. Having an older brother, she knew what most boys wanted in return for a night out, and she just wasn’t ready for that. She always imagined her first time would be with someone special, someone she loved, not for a bag of popcorn.

She heard someone calling their names, and they turned to see who it was. It turned out to be Jane and Sally. They decided to team up and hit the Zipper.

“What’s a zipper?” Joanie asked as her friends turned, and looked at her as if she had grown two heads. “The Zipper is a wild ride, kind of like a small Ferris Wheel, but your caged in to the seat which repeatedly turns upside down.” Kate explained. “My cousin rode the zipper last year, and the person in the car above her threw up! The vomit sprayed all over her! It was so nasty!” Great Joanie thought as she followed her friends on the ride glad she hadn’t eaten anything yet and hoping no one else had either.

The Zipper was a mistake.

Sally was feeling sick afterwards, so her friends quickly drug her down a dark alley between the tents. They needed to find a place to offer her some privacy to hurl.

Mistake number two.

When they reached the back of a hopefully empty, tent Sally retched as quietly as possible. Her friends tried to cover her by talking loudly.

“No sweat but if you ralph in my dad’s car your cleaning it. “Jane told her only half kidding. Jane turned to Kate and Joanie “Are you guys coming with us?”

“It’s pretty dark we’ll walk you to your car. I‘ll call my dad later and have him pick us up.” Kate said as the foursome headed towards the parking lot. The fair only comes once a year, and she wasn’t ready to see it pass yet.

They decided to take a shortcut through some woods incase Sally got sick again. Stumbling over sticks and roots in the almost black night they were led by the angry glare of the street lamp over the parking lot. The small group headed towards it, as if it were a beacon paving their way with light. When they reached the car, they said their goodbyes. Sally had her ashen face leaning against the cold window for comfort.

“She looks awful! I hope she feels better. Jane will kill her if she messes her car up.” Joanie said as they made their way back to the fair.

“Maybe we should go the long way. “Joanie said looking at the dark path from which they had come. It seemed much darker with the light behind them now. Plus, it was just the two of them left.

“Oh come on that’ll take ages! You already went past there once. We’ll just be careful.” Kate said practically.

Mistake number three.

Reluctantly following her fearless friend, Joanie scurried after her to catch up. Entering the woods, they paused for a minute, to let their eyes adjust to the dim light. Carefully they started walking back towards the fairgrounds. They were concentrating on the ground, to make sure they didn’t fall. They finally made it to the uneven grass behind the tents when Kate looked up, and stopped so suddenly that Joanie almost walked into her.

“Oh shit.” Kate whispered looking ahead of them.

Joanie looked up and saw that the end of their path was blocked by three tough looking guys each one bigger than the next. A small glow arched up, and then dropped to the ground, and was smashed out as Joanie realized it was a cigarette. The tallest one in the middle dropped his cigarette too, and stepped on it, to put it out. He stepped forward into the dim light. The girls held their ground, standing up straighter, to appear braver than they really were.

Squinting her eyes to focus better, Joanie relaxed slightly when she recognized Chad Phillips as the smallest one. Well, Chad wouldn’t let them be killed. Would he? She thought looking at the other two. As her eyes began to adjust to the lack of light, she realized that the tallest guy was Eric, his older brother. The other one was Marc Johnson, the boy Kate was infatuated with. They had changed a lot over the years.

“Eric?!” Joanie said a little too loudly. She heard the guy’s chuckle as they slapped Eric on the back and her face turned beet red. For once she was glad of the darkness.

“Unless you want Chad.” Kate offered generously.

“Eric it is.” Joanie said nervously.

She knew him when he was younger, and she heard he had been in trouble a lot. ‘Course she also knew not to trust everything she heard plus, she was low on cash. Her stomach growled and regretfully she followed Kate closer. She kept her arms crossed and regarded them coolly.

While the girls were having a discussion so were the boys. “Who is that in the denim; she sure is hot.” Marc said.

“Yeah she is; I get her and you can have the other one.” Eric said watching Joanie closely.

“Are you two nuts?” Chad groaned. “That’s just Joanie Caldwell, Brad’s little sister. I thought we were going to find some action tonight.” He complained. “If I knew you guys were gonna have a tea party I would have went with Jack.”

Eric gave him a thoughtful look. “Really? Joanie huh. Well Chad I think you should go catch-up with old Jack three’s a crowd.”

Chad laughed, “Don’t you mean five? ‘Sides you're wastin’ your time with those two. They’re good girls.” He said over his shoulder as he walked off kicking the dirt as he left.

They saw the girls walk back over, and Eric nodded for Marc to go first. He thought if Kate went for it that Joanie would follow.

“What did you guys have in mind?” Kate asked as she felt more than saw Joanie come up behind her.

“Well since you two seemed to be alone we thought you might want some company.” Marc said flashing his heart breaking smile at her.

Kate was practically drooling; it was as if her greatest fantasy had come true. Except, this was way better, this was REAL. Joanie was looking at Eric. She didn’t realize she was staring at him until he met her eyes and she looked away quickly. Eric, like his brother Chad, had brown hair, which was slightly longer in the back, curled under, and contrasted with his blue eyes. He grinned at Joanie and stepped forward.

“Guess that leaves me and you.” He said walking up beside her.

“Guess so.” Joanie shrugged. She tilted her head back, so she could look up at him easier. He seemed so much bigger than she remembered. The black leather jacket he wore gave him an even broader image. She smiled nervously. Kate had practically dragged Marc down the alley to show him off at the fair, leaving Joanie and Eric to follow at a slower pace.

Eric ran his hand down the back of her head where her silky locks stopped at the top of her back. Joanie’s eyes got large at the sensations it sent jolting throughout her body. He let his hand slide down to rest on the small of her back as he replied “Maybe.”

Joanie moved away slightly, and his hand dropped to his side. She looked away embarrassed. “Um. I guess we better catch up to Kate.” And she quickened her pace.

Eric sighed and followed. Maybe Chad was right, for once, he thought to himself. He had been with a lot of girls, but none that he cared about. He was enthralled by Joanie and intended to get to know her better. They saw Kate and Marc in line for the Ferris wheel and went over to join them.

Joanie tried not to look up at the tall wheel. She had never liked them. When she was younger, she had went on one with Brad, and he had kept swinging the chair to scare her. It had worked of course, but she didn’t let him know that. She had avoided them whenever possible since then. She would have begged off, but she knew that Kate would kill her for interrupting her date with Marc. Date? Joanie paused: if Kate was on a date with Marc, did that meant she was on a date with Eric? She heard the large wheel squeak to a halt and shivered.

“Cold?” Eric asked her.

Not wanting to admit the truth, that she was scared, she nodded, and then regretted it when he put his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer. She felt her face turn red and felt her whole body tingle from the contact. He was so close to her, she could feel his breath moving her hair, just the slightest bit every time he exhaled. She turned her attention forward as the carnie ushered people into and out of the tiny benches in the carts. Before she knew it, they were next.

When the man came to her for her ticket, she started to reach for her bag, when Eric handed him enough tickets for both of them. She glanced over quickly to Kate who was already seated. Kate winked at her as if to say I told you so. The carnie ushered her into the next seat which was in front of Kate and Marc. She took a deep breath and climbed carefully into the swaying seat. She scooted over and waited for Eric to join her. When Eric climbed in he sat so close that their legs were touching from the hip to the knee. Joanie would have moved over more, but there was nowhere else to go. She held tightly onto the safety bar as the wheel started to turn slowly. It abruptly stopped, to load up the next car, and Joanie closed her eyes as the cart swayed softly.

“Are you tired?” Eric asked, leaning in close, as he noticed her eyes were closed.

Joanie’s eyes sprang open surprised to see how close his face was to hers. Not daring to speak, she shook her head no. They sat at the top of the Ferris wheel while the ride continued to load, and Joanie tried desperately not to look down.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Eric asked, looking down at all the twinkling lights from the town below.

Joanie watched him curiously. She didn’t expect a boy like that to think things were pretty. Instead of looking down, she just nodded in agreement taking his word for it. She wanted to turn around to talk to Kate, but she didn’t dare least the car sway. She looked over at Eric, and found him watching her intently.

Mesmerized by his deep gaze, she looked over his face noticing for the first time a small scar near his left eye, she wondered how he got it. The mark, in no way, took away from the handsomeness of his face. It made him look tough, which was good especially around here. Marc called to them from behind breaking the spell.

“Hey Phillips! Watch this!” Marc yelled as he started to swing his and Kate’s seat.

Joanie shuddered as her seat swayed as he turned around to look. Kate was whooping with delight as they swung higher. Eric smiled turning around he glanced at Joanie who had been quiet the entire ride. Reading his thoughts, Joanie spoke up.

Eric moved his hand off the safety bar and instead put it around her shoulders again. He leaned over to kiss her and uncertain she turned her head away. Instead, he whispered softly in her ear.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Again he surprised her. This wasn't the Eric Phillips that she had heard about. She had never had a boy apologize to her. Never. Course she didn’t have that much experience with boys. She looked at him directly.

“You don’t scare me; I just don’t like Ferris wheels.” She told him honestly.

“Do you like me?” He asked still extremely close. Too close. The chilly wind blew a stray strand of hair across her face. Taking his right hand, he gently tucked it back behind her ear.

Joanie tingled as his hand brushed against her cheek barley touching it. Smiling coyly, she replied. “Too soon to tell.”

Surprised by her answer, he grinned. At least it wasn't a no. Before they knew it, the ride had grounded to a halt, and their door was unlatched. Eric hopped to the ground and held out his hand to help Joanie down. She hesitated briefly before placing her hand in his. His massive hand engulfed her smaller one as he closed his fingers around it and helped steady her as she too jumped down. When she was back on land, she tried to pull her hand away, and was startled when he held tight. She looked up at him and smiled leaving her hand in place.