Page 92 of The Need to Know

“All work and no play,” I teased. “So, what first?”

It was still daylight, so the attractions and their lights weren’t the brightest, but the sight was all I really needed to get in the spirit. The smell of fried food, barbecue, and the sweet hint of dessert nearby made me want to dive on into the food. But perhaps it was best to work up an appetite.

“Come on, let’s play a game.” I tugged his hand with me as I moved with the flow of traffic.

For our first game of the day, we chose to throw three basketballs into a hoop to win a stuffed prize.

We stood side by side for our round. My first shot I made. Ezekiel wasn’t as graceful. He hit the rim his first attempt and shook his head as I laughed at him. He was so big and brawny, but sports clearly weren’t his thing.

I took my second shot and jumped for joy as it sank in. Ezekiel wasn’t so lucky. He hit the backboard and the ball fell to the side. I sank my third shot and did a little victory dance as I won a prize.

“Yass!” I cheered as I threw my arms in the air and rocked my shoulders.

Ezekiel waved me off. “Whatever.”

“Aw, what’s the matter, are we a wore woser?” I taunted in my best baby voice.

“I’ma get you. Just wait on it,” Ezekiel swore.

To further rub it in, I collected my prize and chose a white and pink unicorn and extended it to Ezekiel. “A prize for my guy.”

He snatched it from me, turning his head to hide his smile. “Come on, so I can kick that ass at something else.”

I followed his lead to a booth that challenged participants to knock over bottles of soda that were positioned into a pyramid. Up ahead of us at the counter, a little boy was being held up by his father as he gave the game a go. Watching the little boy throw with all his might and having his father cheer him on warmed me.

“Are you and your father close?” I turned and asked Ezekiel.

He was watching the father and son too. He smiled and came to me. “Yeah, sometimes I take it for granted how good I have it. Pops doesn’t hand me things, but he doesn’t make my life hard either.”

I really liked that he had a good relationship with his parents. My relationship with mine was rocky, but it was nice to see other people not have that type of stress.

When it was our turn to go, Ezekiel paid the ten bucks to cover us both and we once again stood side by side. He allowed me to go first and my first throw saw me unsuccessful, the ball barely brushing against one of the green soda bottles. My second and third attempt were the same.

“This game is rigged,” I said.

Ezekiel smirked. He stood back and tossed the ball up and down in his palm before clutching it fiercely. He leaned back and then threw the ball forward. And wouldn’t you know, all three bottles fell.

He was in my face, grinning. “You were saying?”

I folded my arms. “Whatever.”

He won me a Krusty the Clown and I happily accepted it since we were even.

We competed some more, with me winning the water gun game where you had to blow up a balloon faster than your opponent, and Ezekiel won the skee-ball game. I won the ring toss, and Ezekiel won the bust-a-balloon.

Even though we were at a tie, we let it go and got on the Ferris wheel. I kept my Krusty the Clown and handed off the second and third prize Ezekiel had won me, and Ezekiel kept the unicorn and handed off his second and third prize to a little girl and boy before we got on the wheel.

The sun was sinking and I was almost bummed, because that meant Ezekiel would have to go home soon to get ready for BLVCKJVCK. But I didn’t want to think about this day ending. Seeing Mr. Serious let loose and have fun with me was worth the time we had.

We weren’t a couple, but it was kinda cute how Paisley and Sloan were coming to the Saturday night event and Leslie and Cesar were going to the Sunday night one.

“Paisley seeing someone?” Ezekiel asked as the wheel rotated up slowly. The yellow glowing lights sparkled all around us, causing us both to illuminate in our cab next to each other.

“Yeah, she’s currently dealing with a blast from her past,” I said.

“Do you like him?” I didn’t miss the concern on Ezekiel’s face as he asked.

“I haven’t officially met him yet, but I’m happy for Pay because this sounds like the one who got away. Obviously second chances didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have hers,” I said.