Free Wrecked by Priscilla West

kind of prize would that be?”
    “Anything
you like. How about that beat-up looking doll over there.” He pointed to the
corner of the booth. There was a dirty-blonde doll—emphasis on ‘dirty’—with a
pink dress and a dimpled smile on its face as well as various dark stains.
    “Eww.
That’s gross.” I made a disgusted face but laughed as well.
    “Okay, no
doll then.” He looked around. “How about some cotton candy from that machine
over there?”
    I looked
at the decrepit cotton candy machine stand with cobwebs inside the glass and a
bird nest sitting on top of it. I chuckled. “Why don’t I just scoop up a bunch
of dirt and dump it in my mouth?”
    He
grinned. “Alright, alright. How about the reward for knocking down the bottle
is the satisfaction in itself for having done it.”
    “Wow, that
sounds lame. I’d even take a gold sticker over that.”
    He
laughed. “Just throw the stick already, Lorrie. We both know the bottle ain’t
gonna knock itself over.”
    Feeling in
a better mood, but still kind of annoyed that Hunter was making me play this
game, I wound up my arm and chucked the damn stick as hard as I could. I missed
and hit the back flap of the tent, tearing a hole in it.
    “Wow, you
didn’t win but man that was quite a throw.”
    I held my
arm up and squeezed my spongy bicep through the jacket sleeve. “I hope you
bought tickets to the gun show.”
    Hunter
smiled at me with his dark eyes then lifted both his arms up and flexed. Thick
bulges peaked through the gray cotton. “I didn’t need to bring tickets. I’m a
vendor.”
    We both
laughed before  the tent housing the game booth suddenly started
collapsing. I jumped into Hunter’s arms and he pulled me back until we were
both out of the way.
    “Holy
shit!” I cried.
    “I take it
back,” he said, flabbergasted. “You won. Definitely won. Feeling satisfied?”
    Still
tight against his body, I thought about it for a moment. “You know what, that
was satisfying. Really satisfying actually.”
    “Good. It
sure looked like it.”
    We both
looked into each other’s eyes. I felt like Hunter was the first person at this
school besides Daniela to treat me like a real person—not a victim, object of
pity, or some freak in a circus show. I hadn’t really felt much of anything
recently but ever since I met Hunter, I’ve felt so many emotions. Annoyance,
desire, embarrassment, anxiousness, fun—anything but numb.
    A heavy
silence passed between us. Being this close to him, I could feel his heart
beating. Or was that my own? He was so good-looking it was painful. But I
couldn’t tear my eyes away from his dark irises. He tilted his head down
slowly. My breath hitched. His eyes became heavy-lidded. I tilted my chin up to
meet him, closing my eyes along with him. Just before our lips made contact, I snapped
to my senses, panicked, and pushed him away.
    “Is there
something wrong? What’s going on, Lorrie?”
    Flustered,
I blurted my unfiltered thoughts. “I’m not going to sleep with you. I know what
guys like you are like.”
    His eyes
widened. “Whoa, whoa. What? Did I miss something? Where did you get the idea
that we were going to sleep together?”
    “You were
going to kiss me.”
    “Yeah so?
Did you think we were going to then roll around naked on the ground, crushing
styrofoam cups and getting dirty as hell?”
    “No, but
I’m sure you were thinking about a place. Maybe you weren’t thinking we’d do it
now, but you were definitely thinking about it sometime.”
    He sighed.
“One, it looked like you were just as into kissing as I was. Two, kissing is a
far cry from sex.”
    “I was
just caught off guard, that’s all. I wasn’t into it like you’re
suggesting.”
    “What’s
going on? I don’t get you, Lorrie. Why are you freaking out over a kiss? You
can’t get pregnant from a kiss ya know.”
    “Hurr,
hurr. Gee, thanks for the bio lesson.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Are we done
with this walk yet? Can we