Saving Brownie

Chapter Sixteen : Head Spinning Rides

"Aw, Ian! You're so sweet," I cooed as I looked at the bowl from which candies were spilling out. I playfully pecked Ian's cheek in delight and giggled. Clark scoffed as I unwrapped one of the fruity flavoured candy and relished it's tangy taste.

"I need to wash my hands and face. I'm getting sweaty," I said to Clark and Ian and headed to the open stands where wash basins were located.

I hummed some random song and washed my dirty hands when an old man, probably in his late seventies came to wash his hands too. He gurgled and the noise made me gag. I narrowed my eyes at him when suddenly he removed his teeth set and I gasped.

I didn't realize it was fake for a few seconds. I blinked rapidly as he coolly washed the fake teeth set. I laughed loudly when realization hit me and all the people nearby looked at us amusingly. I explained to the people in between my laughs and they didn't really get much of the joke. They looked at me as if I just stole their mother and quietly walked away.

I sighed and approached Clark and Ian who were chatting with each other. I intervened their conversation, "Did I miss anything?"

"Nothing, we're just talking about business," Ian replied.

I pinched Ian and Clark's cheeks using both my hands and teased, "Look at you two all grown up. Now let's do some stuff that kids do!"

"Like what?" they both asked.

"We're in a carnival, dimwits! We can sit on the overrated Ferris wheel or take the underrated plastic pony ride. We can eat candy floss or tasty kebabs---"

"We got the idea, George. But where to start from?"

"We'll walk and see . . . Oh wait! Do you boys want to play the archery game or the shooting game? If you take the right aim, we'll win a teddy bear. That's not the point though. The point is winning this game because nobody has ever won. It's very difficult since the target is too far," I explained enthusiastically and they both shrugged.

All three of us proceeded towards the game which had a very long queue. I was drawn to the stalls nearby and said, "Listen, if you both don't mind, can I go and eat? I can grab something if you both want any."

"No, we're fine. You go," Ian replied and I glanced at Clark who just nodded. I grinned and went to the stall where they were selling kebabs. My stomach was still full because of the eating competition from earlier, but I could still manage to stuff some food.

I got my kebabs late because there were already many orders. I quickly ate the delicious kebabs and grabbed a lemonade on my way to relieve my mouth of all the spice. I drank it and then grabbed a scoop of hazelnut icecream because the lemonade left a sour taste. They hadn't put much sugar in the lemonade after all. After licking the ice cream, my mouth became too chocolatey. Then, I was compelled to eat watermelon sorbet to get rid of the excess chocolate. Finally satisfied with how my mouth felt, I dragged myself to the game where Ian and Clark were busily playing.

I heard people applauding as I pushed myself through the crowd where Clark and Ian stood. Turned out, they had both won.

"Oh shoot, I missed the game!" I said in not so regretting tone as Ian handed me the teddy bear he had won. "How did you both manage to win? How?"

"It was nothing, really," Ian said dismissively and I saw the shopkeeper scowl. He was always proud that nobody could win the game he held at the carnival each year. Unfortunately for him, two people won. The crowd was going wild at Clark and Ian. Ian smiled at them while Clark didn't spare them even one glance. We somehow got out of the crowd alive.

"Thank you for this teddy. It'll be my new punching bag," I said to Ian who just laughed.

"Here," I heard Clark's voice and I whirled around. At that very moment, he chucked the pink teddy bear he had won and that fluffy substance hit my face with so much force as if it was made of stone.

I clutched the pink teddy and glowered at Clark. My face was throbbing like a b***h.

"What? No thank you?" he asked innocently but I didn't fail to notice his faint smirk.

"Well, you'll thank me now bitchy Brownie!" I leered and hurled the pink teddy towards him. He dodged it with ease and the teddy, unfortunately, hit a seven year old kid, Roxy.

Roxy was a brat and when the teddy hit her, she was about to cry. But then, she looked around to find out who threw that at her. I was pretending to look somewhere else while whistling coolly. Clark looked like he was genuinely texting someone while Ian was about to apologise to Roxy. I quickly signalled him not to and he unwillingly stepped back.

There was nobody accompanying Roxy as she closely looked around who threw. I thought she would cry to gain attention but she quickly stuffed the giant teddy in her small bag and slyly fled.

"Kids these days," I muttered as all three of us silently stalked towards the various rides when I suddenly noticed the cup and saucer ride.

"Let's sit there!" I pointed excitedly to the ride and Clark snorted.

"Open your eyes wide open and look, even the kids aren't going to that ride," Clark said and I knew why the kids weren't sitting because this was no ordinary cup and saucer. It spinned quickly and fast enough that made people feel queasy and nauseous after the ride. It would be awesome to take revenge on that arrogant Clark.

"Come on, there's nobody there. We can ride on it quickly and it won't waste our time," I said and dragged Clark. Ian followed us but I sent him to buy tickets for the short seven dimensional film. I didn't want kind Ian to get all dizzy.

This ride was deserted and nobody even considered sitting in that nasty cup. I was not going to plan on sitting in this ride either. I was going to back out at the last second after making sure that Clark was firmly strapped to the seat.

"Here we go," I said as I sat and the man who was in charge of this ride, strapped me to the seat. He proceeded to do the same to Clark when suddenly Clark's phone rang and he got up.

"I have to attend to this call," he said, immersed in his phone already and walked away.

"No, no, no, no! You can't go! I was going to pull this important phone call trick on you, not the other way round!" I shouted and tried to unbuckle the straps.

"Are you ready, miss?" the man asked and I clearly shouted 'no' but he started the ride anyway.

My head was spinning and I felt giddy. My vision turned obscure, tears stinging my eyes as the contents in my stomach threatened to spill out of my mouth. The ride ended after some time which felt like eternity. The man unbuckled the straps and I slowly got down. I stumbled as my feet went in different directions. The world was still spinning and I was just about to fall when two strong arms held my waist firmly. I looked up and saw Clark's lips curve upwards.