Part 24 - The festival

Pugsley

This.

Place.

Looks.

Awesome.

I mean, truly, it was beautiful.

There were lights and bright colors everywhere I looked, along with stalls of food and activities as far as the eye can see.

There was even a giant Ferris wheel spinning around on the other half of the area.

The amount of fairy lights hanging from every post and rooftop edge, reminded me a lot of the lookout tower back at camp when it lit up at night.

And that resemblance only backed up the fact that I knew Y/n was missing out right now.

Because if she thought that tower looked magical, just wait until she sees this.

It seemed as though every one in town was gathered here to celebrate tonight, and I could see why.

I just wish Y/n hadn't had to rush off. 

She didn't any anything about what it was that she was so quick to leave for, nor did she tell me beforehand that she'd have to go.

But I wasn't going to pry, if she wanted to tell me, she would have. I was just happy that I got to spend some time with her this evening after having basically not seen her for the past few days.

And I didn't mind if the last part of that time was spent carrying her on my back, it was like walking around with a weighted blanket, it felt nice.

Also my respect for Ajax, if there really ever was any to begin with, definitely dropped.

When he carried Y/n out of the woods after she got hurt, he seemed like he was struggling a bit, but I didn't understand why. 

I could carry her just fine for hours if I had to.

Maybe he was just a wimp.

I mean, can you really call yourself a man if you can't even carry a woman without faltering?

Oh well, more of her for me I guess.

I wonder if she had noticed that I occasionally was tracing the scar on her leg with my thumb.

To her it might have just been another scar, but to me it was a reminder that I wasn't able to fully take her pain away, and sometimes I felt like I failed because of it. 

I know she didn't care that she had a scar from what happened, but every time I saw it, I just wished I could make it disappear, and make her forget the pain it caused her.

The revenge I got on the cadet who did it was nice, yes. But it didn't change the fact that she walked around every day with a scar that she never asked for.

But I can't change the past, I did what I could for her, and she seemed like she had forgotten about it anyway, so I should too.

I look around at all of the decorated buildings and signs, covered with colorful garlands and skulls. And there were even giant ones wearing pilgrim hats attached to the front of the main church like shacks in the center of all the festivities.

I didn't know what I wanted to do first.

Actually, no, I do know. I have to find a souvenir for Y/n.

But what would she like...

We walked for a little longer through the crowds, and I kept an eye out for anything that I thought she'd want, but so far nothing was sticking out to me.

But my strides were halted to a stop, as were my dads, when a lady dressed up as a pilgrim came into view, and unfortunately her and I made eye contact, so she spoke.

"Señores? Hola, and welcome!"

Oh good god, I think I know where this is going...

"I am señorita Arlene."

My dad and I shared a look between the two of us, and I try not to laugh.

This woman was basically as non-mexican as they come, there was truly no reason for the accent, especially when it was only on certain words.

Though honestly it was more humorous than insulting.

"Tonight you're not visiting Pilgrim World."

Oh yeah that's right I forgot, we're in Narnia right now. How could I not clearly see that.

I think her tone was annoying me more than anything, she sounds how I imagine know it all's would talk like.

"We are transporting you back to ye olde Meh-ee-co."

I hear a small hum from my dad as he looks around, taking everything in.

"I commend you on your ability to appropriate with such...panache."

The lady just smiles, not seeming to pick up on the judgmental undertone of his comment, or at least if she did, she was choosing to ignore it.

"Pilgrim World is all about authenticity."

I gave her one of those nods that said 'I'm like half listening, but I don't really care'.

"Oh, and don't forget to visit our Haunted Hacienda."

It was at that point that she made the hand gesture people do when they're doing an accent that is really just too much, and I think my dad had had enough of it to.

"Una pregunta, señorita. ¿Podría decirme dónde puedo encontrar los churros?"

I bit back a grin at his words, and she just stood there looking stunned, unsure of what to say.

I know full well she did not understand a single thing he just said, and it was fun to watch her panic.

After she didn't say anything in return, dad gave her a smug look.

"Mm-hmm. A-di-os."

She just smiles awkwardly, knowing that he caught her in a weird position, and he makes a move to walk past her.

"Vamos."

I quickly follow after him, leaving the lady behind standing there, totally embarrassed.

You know, when he wasn't embarrassing me in front of my friends, or being overly affectionate and wanting to be around me all the time, my dad was actually pretty cool.

After we explored for a little longer, and eventually found where the churros were at, we took a stroll down the games side of the stalls, just checking them out,

And I almost didn't see it.

Behind the ring toss game.

It reflected under the lights set up outside the stall, and it caught my eye.

I stop my strides, backing up a bit and moving closer to see if it actually is what I thought it was.

Even though I wasn't entirely sure why it was a prize at a festival like this,

I had to get it for her.

It was perfect.

When the vendor saw me looking at the prizes behind him, he walked over with a smile, the kind you definitely only use when working in a place like this.

"Hello young man, got your eye on something you just have to have?"

I nod slightly as I keep my gaze on the thing hanging against the back wall, and I point to it.

"Yeah, how much for that?"

He follows my gaze, seeing what I was referring to, and he looks back at me with a bit of confusion in his eyes.

"Uh, ten points for that little thing. But are you sure that's what you want? We've got plenty of bigger prizes."

I shake my head.

"No, that's the one I want."

I see my dad coming up to stand next to me, and the guy behind the counter shrugs and moves to show the game.

"Alright, ten points. Toss these rings onto the bottle necks, each clear bottle is worth 1 point, the green ones get ya 5 points, and the red ones are 20. How many rings can I put you down for sir?"

"He'll do ten."

I hear my dad pipe up as he reached into his pocket to pay the man, and he hands me the rings before going over to another side of the stall to talk to another customer.

I pick up the first ring, deciding to aim for the clear ones, because I know my aim still wasn't that great even now.

When it lands on the top of the bottles, it bounces for a second before settling itself on the neck of a clear one, making me one point so far.

The sound of my dad clearing his throat catches my attention, and it becomes equally divided between listening to him and focusing in the game as he spoke.

"What made you want that thing, I didn't think you really liked those sorts of trinkets."

I shrug.

"I don't, but Y/n does. And I'm getting her a souvenir like she asked me to, and she just happens to like those exact kind of things."

He makes a quiet 'ah' sound as I toss the next ring, and he continues.

"So, mijo, speaking of Y/n, since it's just the two of us now, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Well shit, those are words you never want to hear come out of your parents mouth, ever.

"...Yeah?"

"I want to give you my apologies for this morning, I realize I may have caused something weird with you two, and that was not my intention."

Oh, that's not what I thought he was going to say.

I sigh as my third ring falls onto a bottle.

"It's fine, dad. Believe or not, that's not the first time it's happened."

I turn my head to look at him.

"So don't worry about it, her and I are fine, it's not weird. I think.."

He nods as he looks over at the bottles, and he doesn't say anything for a few moments.

"Well, if that is the case, then there is something else I feel I should say."

Oh god there's more.

"Like I said earlier, I may be reading it wrong, but I like to think I know a thing or two about relationships and love. And what you and Y/n have is...well, it's not your average friendship."

And there it was. That's what I thought he'd say the first time, and I really thought I'd get out of having this conversation with him, but I guess not.

I sigh.

"We're friends, nothing more than that."

I think it was close to being my last ring, there were only a couple left in front of me, and I hadn't missed so far.

He doesn't say anything after that, I'm assuming he didn't want to make it a bigger deal than it was, but if I was being honest, I felt like I should tell him the other thing.

It took a few seconds to build up the courage, but I admitted it.

"And even if there was something there, she likes someone else. It would never work."

With that, the final ring landed, indicating my ten points had been won, and the guy comes back over with a smile.

"Well would ya look at that! Great job young man, you still want this thing up here?"

He reaches for the prize I'd picked at the start, and I nod.

"Yup, still sure."

He grabs it off the wall, and hand it over the counter top to me.

"There ya go, have a wonderful evening gentleman!"

I hold the trinket in the palm of my hand as me and my dad start to walk away, and he looks over at it as we walk, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"She'll love it, mijo. I'm sure of it."

Yeah, I hope so. 

The trinket I had won her was a small keychain that had a stained glass shark attached to it.

Specifically those sharks that had the little white dots all over their backs with the really wide heads.

I wasn't sure what they were called, but I remember the day that we met, I saw a bunch of drawings of them pinned to the corkboard above Y/n's desk when I first walked in, so I figured they were probably her favorite.

I'd also seen a strip of photo's of her and someone else I didn't recognize, but it was a guy that looked quite similar to Y/n, so maybe it was a sibling or close loved one? She hadn't mentioned having any siblings before, or anything about her family at all really, but perhaps it just wasn't a topic of conversation she liked talking about with people.

It really had been a miracle when I saw the keychain up on that wall, it wasn't exactly on theme to this place right now, but it was perfect for her.

I feel a hand on my back, belonging to my father as he led me along the path further into the festival.

"Come on, let's check out that 'Haunted Hacienda' that white lady was talking about, sound like it could be pretty spooky."

I nod a shove the keychain into my pocket, keeping it safe until I saw her next so I could give it to her.

He hadn't said a word about the fact that Y/n liked someone else, but I didn't care, it wasn't my favorite topic of conversation anyway.

I hope she was able to join up with us later, I really wanted her to see how pretty this place looked.

Though nothing could ever be as pretty as she was...