The weekend—my birthday—wasn’t coming fast enough. Since Casersis had agreed to go to the fair, it was all I could think about. He thought I was climbing the walls before? I was all-but chewing on them from the time Casersis said yes until the weekend finally arrived.
The really strange thing was that for the four days leading up to the fair, Casersis seemed sad, forlorn as if someone had kicked his favorite puppy or he got dumped by his boyfriend. No matter how many times I tried to bring it up and get the problem out of him so we could solve it, he would always shut me down with a smile and a few words, then change the subject. It pissed me off, but I let him because I knew I could wear him down if I had enough time, and now that he was no longer working away from home, I had all the time in the world to pester the ever-loving shit out of him until he spilled his problem.
But for now, I just wanted to have fun. We passed the scanning booth where I scanned my CommLink at the sensor to let me, Casersis, and our five bodyguards, including Don and Kevin, past the gates. Now, we were faced with food vendors everywhere, rides galore, games and attractions by the dozen, and I had no idea where to start.
“So,” I said as I looped my arm around Casersis’s, “are you going to ride any of the rides with me?”
Casersis looked a little uneasy as he looked at the different rides. The Ferris wheel caught his attention, and he smiled. But then he looked at the Zipper, a ride that not only spun on a central axis like a fan blade, but the cars rotated around the arms on what looked like conveyor belts that never stopped, and it spun on each car’s individual axis depending on how the occupants rocked inside the cage. He turned a little green and gave me a horrified look, but said, “Perhaps some… but please do not make me get on that thing,” he begged as he pointed to the Zipper.
I laughed. “Aw, come on! You can’t come to a fair and not ride all the rides, Cass!”
Though, if he asked nicely, I wouldn’t make him go on the ones he didn’t like. I just needed to get him out of whatever maudlin thoughts kept him hostage. Getting his mind off them would be easy if he were spinning in several directions at once, but I feared for his finicky stomach.
Casersis turned his head and groaned into my hair. “Because it is your birthday, I will try that one. Once. If I dislike it, I will go on no others except perhaps the Ferris wheel. I rather enjoyed that ride the last time I was on it.”
“And the roller coaster?” I teased with a bright grin.
He made a finicky cat face, his nose all scrunched up, his lips pursed, and his eyes narrowed. “We shall see.”
The fair was being held at an amusement park’s grounds, so we had access to the park’s regular rides, plus the different rides from the fair. All in all, it was a cheap way to enjoy two different parks at the same time, and I wondered if we would have time to see everything. Then I wondered if I could convince Casersis and our security detail to come again the next day. I doubted they would agree, but again, I could wear them down given enough time. I had a plan.
My grin grew as I drew Casersis through the thick crowds of people to the Zipper. “Pull your hair back, kitten. We’re about to defy gravity.”
Casersis tightened his grip on my arm and mumbled, “This is a terrible idea.”
I had to agree, but Casersis would never know if he liked it if he didn’t try it.
We waited in line, and the entire time I thought Casersis would be nervous. But instead, he seemed to have gone back into his maudlin thoughts. I tugged on his arm and nudged his shoulder with mine until he looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
Like he had done all week, he smiled softly and said, “Do not worry, beauty. I am fine. I promise you.”
“Then why do you look like someone kicked your favorite pup?”
He wrinkled his nose. “That is an unfortunate analogy. I was just thinking. Worry not.”
I wasn’t about to give up. “What were you thinking about?”
It was our turn to get into one of the cars, so Casersis had a moment of reprieve. The cars were shaped like a sitting human, and once we sat, we were strapped in with a harness and then had a bar secured over our laps that locked into place. Then the carnie closed and locked the cage that nearly pressed against our knees, and Casersis gasped as we rotated up for the next couple to get in a car.
Now that we were alone again, I prodded him. “Well?”
He shook his head, his face pale. “This was a terrible idea.”
Oh, he thought so? I started rocking back and forth until the cage flipped. “It’s great, Cass!” When I stopped rocking and the car’s movement slowed to a gentle sway, I grinned at him. “Come on! The flipping is half the fun!”
My persnickety kitten grumbled. “I would rather speak about what you wished to know regarding what I was thinkiiiiiiing!”
The last word came out as a high-pitched squeal as the cars started rotating around the ride’s arms, and the arms started spinning like fan blades. I let out a loud whoop and started rocking. “Too late, Cass! Think about that for the next ride!”
If I was going to torture him, I might as well get the most enjoyment out of it as possible. Or, at least, that was my thought process as I continued to spin us around while the ride did its thing.
By the time the ride stopped and it was our turn to get out, Casersis was shaking like a leaf. He got out on unsteady legs, and I guided him back to the gate where our security team waited for us. “So. Are you still going to avoid me when I ask you what’s wrong?”
He gave me the stink-eye. “Are you telling me you made me go on that heinous ride just to get me to talk?”
“Are my interrogation tactics lacking, kitten?” I gave him another sunny grin and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay. No more of the scary rides. Just games and the Ferris wheel. My poor kitten is mussed.”
The poor elf visibly relaxed and kissed my temple as if I had given him the greatest gift ever. “Thank you, my beauty.”
And I had to admit, I melted a little. Then a thought hit me, and I pulled Casersis to a stop amid the sea of moving bodies, making a few people who were walking behind us call us some not-so-nice names before walking around us. I pressed myself against Casersis’s front and smiled at him. “You do realize this is our first real date. The restaurant fiasco didn’t count because Erastus ruined it, so this is our first. We should have as much fun as possible.”
Casersis gave me a tender smile, his eyes lighting up and making them look even bluer than normal, which contrasted nicely with his reddened cheeks and nose from the chilly fall air. With the sun setting, it was even colder, and Casersis wrapped me warmly in his arms. “I had not realized. You are right. This is technically our first date. So, what would you like to do first?”
Now was the perfect time. I leaned in and kissed him right there in front of everyone, not a care in the world. And when I pulled back, I rested my forehead against his cheek. “Tell me what’s bothering you?”
His arms tightened around me, and he sighed. “Let it wait until we are back home. Let us enjoy the evening.”
“But you are going to tell me, right?”
He nodded. “I will. I—Damn.”
I pulled back. “What is it?”
Casersis nodded his head to indicate someone behind me, and I looked to find Erastus staring at us, a wolfish grin on his face. Shit. But to my surprise, Erastus just waved and turned around to go elsewhere, disappearing into the crowd.
“Do you think he’ll cause us any trouble?”
“I hope not,” Casersis said. “I sincerely hope not.”
“Then let’s enjoy our time. We’ll deal with Erastus if he makes trouble. Until then, put him out of your mind, and let’s find something fun to do.”
That got a sincere smile from Casersis, and to reward him, I kissed him again before dragging him to one of the games that lined the main thoroughfare of the amusement park. The first one we came to was a ring toss. I smirked up at Casersis and shook my head. Neither of us needed a goldfish, and even the thought of all those fish sitting in baggies made Casersis look a little sad, so I dragged him away to a dart game that had a ton of stuffed animals, toys, framed art, and other odds and ends as prizes.
The object of the game was to hit a balloon with a dart, and the more balloons you hit, the bigger your prize. If you popped a balloon with all five darts, you could get one of the biggest prizes, but the balloons were stapled onto rotating boards, so you couldn’t just aim and throw.
“Competition time!” I crowed. “What do you think, Cass? Can you win against me at darts?”
Casersis eyed the rotating balloons with a wary eye. Then he eyed the darts with the rubber tips. Of course, the purpose of the rubber tips was to up the difficulty of the game and prevent injury if someone accidentally hit the carnie in charge of the game booth. When Casersis looked at the balloons again, he activated his CommLink and sent the payment to the carnie for both of us. “We can do this.”
I already knew we could. But when Casersis threw his first dart, I busted up laughing. I cackled so hard, I doubled over onto myself, and Casersis pulled me against him. “Beauty… what is wrong?”
I wheezed and said between gasps of air, “You… used… magic… You cheater!” I kept my words quiet so only he would hear, but I could still see the faint trail of gold that led from his hand to where the dart stuck in the board. It had popped the bright red balloon, and now only a deflated, sad-looking flap of rubber remained. “I can’t believe you cheated!”
He chuckled and winked at me. “There is nothing on the rule board posted over there that rules against magic.”
“True.”
Still chuckling, I watched as he hit four more balloons and waited for me to hit mine. I had only managed two balloons since I didn’t have any magic, but I still felt proud because I did it without cheating.
“Pick your prize, Dustin.”
I looked over what the carnie had on offer and pointed to a small, braided leather bracelet in the “two balloons” section. When Casersis grinned and shook his head, I gave him a confused look until he pointed to the “five balloons” section. “You choose your prize. I played for you.”
Blushing, I gazed over at the “five balloons” section and frowned. Giant stuffed animals hung from the booth’s rafters. Below were some beautiful handcrafted jewelry, large, framed canvasses of what looked like original art, probably painted by one of the carnies to save money. But they were still lovely.
One caught my eye because the colors reminded me of Casersis. The blue paint matched Casersis eyes when he was happy. The green almost matched the colors of his parlor. Though, the leaf designs were what sold it for me because they reminded me of how much Casersis loved the forest. The painting made me think of spring, with leaves blowing in a gentle breeze against a cobalt sky filled with sunshine and puffy clouds. Yes, it was mostly abstract, but it just… fit.
I pointed it out to the carnie, and when he handed it over, I passed it to Cass. “It reminds me of you.”
I swear, if he started crying, I was going to go insane. Already, telltale signs appeared. His eyes became extra shiny, tears formed in the corners of his eyes. But he blinked them away and kissed me softly. “Thank you.”
“And now your turn,” I said after kissing him back. “Pick your prize.”
Instead, Casersis sent another payment through his CommLink to the carnie, pointed to the braided bracelet that I had originally picked out, and held up two fingers. When the carnie passed them over, Casersis wrapped one around my wrist and fastened it, then held the other out to me with his wrist.
“Matching bracelets?” I grinned. “Okay, my cute-o-meter just got destroyed.”
I fastened it around his wrist, though, and kissed him again. “Thank you, Cass.”
We turned away to go to the next game, and we both froze. Erastus stood a few yards away, staring at us with a grim smile. I thought he would come to talk to us, but again, just like the first time, he turned around and got swallowed up by the crowd.
Suddenly, I wanted to go after him, but I knew my kitten would have kittens. Now wasn’t the time, not when Casersis and I were finally starting to have fun.
But I somehow knew tonight wouldn’t be all fun and games.
