Chapter Thirteen;
Alyssa was passed out comfortably on my floor. Gabi and I poked her a few times, laughing as she snorted whenever we poked her.
“Gosh, I don’t think I blame her, she got some shocking news today.” I said, propping my head up with my palm. I normally couldn’t hold my alcohol well, but the hit wasn’t as hard tonight. The effects of the 6 or 7 beers I had were starting to wear off, unfortunately.

“She wasn’t the only one,” Gabi said glumly. I looked at her curiously. She sighed.
“Kenny cheated.”
I gasped. “That bitch. With whom?”
“Some chick named Melody, or Melanie or something.” she glared at my carpet. I pouted sadly and moved to give her a one-armed hug.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Eh. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Let’s talk about you and John,” she gave me a sad smile. I frowned.
“What’s there to talk about?”
“Daisy.”
“Gabrielle.” She frowned at the use of her full name.
“You love him.” she said, looking at me sternly.
“That’s not the point.” I looked away.
“Then what is?”
“It’s just….you remember what it was like with Kyle?” I asked her.
“Oh God,” she shivered. “Okay, I get it, then. But John isn’t like Kyle. You really love John, and he really loves you back.”
I grimaced. “I dunno…”
“He does not love Mel.” Gabi looked me straight in the eyes as she said this. “Daisy, John’s loved you since the 6th grade.”
My eyes widened. “Really?”
She nodded. “And besides, Mel and Rex are together. They were making out at the party. You didn’t hear about that?”
I felt like a pressure had been lifted off of my chest. “No, I didn’t. Oh my gosh. Really?”
She laughed at my reaction and nodded. I felt so much happier now, knowing that Mel and Rex were together.
“So, are you good now?” she asked me with a small smile on her face. I laughed and nodded. “Good…’cuz, I’m exhausted.”
“Oh, God, same here. Goodnight.” I said to her, burying my smiling face into my pillow, drifting into a deep sleep.
—
I woke up to a ray of sunshine, streaming down on my face. I opened my eyes quickly and grabbed my phone, groaning at the time. I had a pounding headache. Great. Now, the pain starts to kick in.

It was already 1:00. I kicked Gabi and Alyssa, running into my room and grabbing my clothes to shower. I didn’t even bother to check if they were awake or not. I was late for work, again. When I got out of the shower, Gabi had already left, leaving me a warm cup of coffee on my counter, but Alyssa was still sleeping.

“ALYSSA! WAKE THE FUCK UP!” I screamed at her.
“Oh God, my head.” she groaned as I pulled her up. “Oh shit, what did we do last night?” she said, looking around the apartment. “Oh shit, it’s 1:30, don’t we have to go to work?”
“I do, but you start tomorrow. Now I have to get ready so either clean my house or beat it.” she stuck her tongue out at me and left my apartment.
“That heffer.” I rolled my eyes, looking at all the damage the three of us had done. I was almost about to start cleaning up when I realized how late for work I was.
—
“DeanI’msosorryI’mlatebutlastnightigotreallywastedwithmybestfriendsandyou’vegottoforgivemebecauseitwasmybirthdayand—”
“DAISY!” Dean screamed at me as I rushed into the store. I stopped talking. “It was your birthday, I get it. You’ve got a free pass…and besides, boy toy is sitting in the back, waiting for you,” he winked at me and I grimaced.
I walked into the backroom and John smiled at me. I blushed and tried my hardest not to look away.
“Good morning, kitten,” he smiled at me and held up an iced latté. I laughed nervously and took it from him.
“It’s 1:30 in the afternoon, John.” I smiled up at him. He blushed and hugged me.
“I heard what you said last night.” he said suddenly.   
“…about?”
“Mel.”
“Oh.”
“I just want you to know—”
“I know you don’t love her—”
“How did you know?” he asked me.
“Gabi caught them making out at the party last night,” I confessed.
“Either way, I just want you to know that I love you. You and only you.”
I smiled and blushed, pushing my face against his shirt and hugging him to me. “Ever since the 6th grade?”
“Ever since the—hey!” he said, looking down at me. I giggled. “I’m gonna kill Gabi.”
“Awh, don’t. I thought it was cute,” I smiled at him and he smiled back, leaning down to kiss me when someone cleared their throat behind us.
“Ahem,” Dean said with a smirk on his face. We both blushed. Dean laughed. “Awh, you two kids.” Dean walked away and John and I cracked up.
“I’ve gotta get back to the house and pack.”
“But the tour is still three weeks away!’
“Yeah, but you know me. If I don’t do it now, we’ll spend the entire night before the day I leave packing, and I plan to use that nights for other uses,” he winked suggestively. I blushed.
“What makes you think I’m gonna help you pack?”
“What makes you think I was talking about packing?”
We both laughed.
“I’ll see you tonight, kitten,” he smiled and kissed me. After he left, I walked through work in a haze, until I decided to check up on Alyssa.
“Hey, where are you?”
“In my apartment,” she said with an edge to her voice.
“What’s wrong?” she sounded concerned.
“Halvo invited me over to meet his mom and sister and I don’t know what to wear.”
I laughed. That’s all that she was worried about?
“This isn’t funny! What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Oh, Momma Halvorsen? She’s the sweetest person out there. She’s like a second mother to me. She’ll love you, regardless of what you wear, hun.” I could tell she was still nervous. “Look, I’ll be over in five minutes. I’ll help you pick out your outfit if it really means that much to you.”
“Thanks, Zee.”

I rolled my eyes at her and closed my phone. Eric’s mom really was a second mother to me. She took care of me when I first moved into my apartment. I pulled into the apartment complex and started pulling apart her closet. I spent the next hour and a half getting her ready for her date.

John finally came over and I pulled him into the apartment, giggling.
“Hey, kitten,” John smiled into my hair, kissing the top of my head.
“Hi,” I smiled into his shirt. He smelled like soap, and a tiny bit of cologne. I inhaled and felt like I was at peace with the world again. Why was I ever upset at him again? I couldn’t seem to remember for the life of me…
I pulled him over to the couch and snuggled up to his body, enjoying the warmth he was emitting. He turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, stopping on some random movie. I closed my eyes, not sleeping, but not watching the movie either. I wanted to enjoy being happy with him again.
I was close to falling asleep when my phone buzzed. Irritated, I pulled out my phone and flipped it open.

“She hates me.” It was Alyssa.
“what? no she doesn’t stop being a baby.” I quickly texted back.
“she hasn’t said a word to me. She stared at me like she wanted to kill me.”
“where r u guys?”
“olive garden.”

I sighed and got up from my comfortable position.

“What is it?” John asked.
“We’ve gotta go save ‘Lyss.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him up. I tossed his keys at him and he caught them.
“Where are we going?”
“Olive Garden.”

We got in the car and I immediately flipped over to the radio. Justin Bieber’s “One Time” was on and I turned it up, rolled down the windows, and started screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs.

“WHEN I MET YOU GIRL MY HEART WHEN KNOCK, KNOCK!”
“NOW THE BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH WON’T STOP, STOP!” I stopped singing, looked over at John, and cracked up.
“What? I enjoy a little Justin sometimes.”
“Pedophile.”
“What?”
“He’s like, 7 years old, man. That’s sick.”
“Bu—”
“SICK!”
Silence.
“THAT I LOVE, THAT I LOVE YOU!” I couldn’t contain myself. I just had to sing. This song was just too damn catchy. John joined in and we sang ridiculously loud until I realized that I was seriously in love with him. I suddenly felt scared and vulnerable; if I told him how I felt, then he’d have complete control over my heart, and that terrified me.

John noticed that I got quiet and turned down the radio. “Are you alright, kitten?”
“I’m fine,” I smiled, obviously unconvincingly.
John looked at me funny, but let it go. We pulled up into the parking lot and I got out as fast as I could, practically running to the door. Yanking it open, I expected to see Alyssa cowering in front of Dana and Momma Halvorsen. Instead, some bitch was terrorizing my best friend.
I was too stunned to move, at first. Until I saw her deliberately pour wine on my favorite shirt. My $36 shirt. I saw Alyssa run off angrily into the bathroom and stormed up to the waitress, who didn’t look sorry in the least.
“Look, heffer, that was my best friend you were just messing with. Who the fuck do you think you are? I am about to seriously fuck up your face. Do you know how expensive that shirt was? $36, bitch. It is also my favorite shirt, and now, I’m pretty sure you just fucking ruined it.” I said in a low, deadly voice. “Now, you better run off, before I shove my fist into your face.” The waitress whimpered and ran.
“Daisy, what are you doing here?” Eric asked me, laughing incredulously.
“Saving your girl’s ass, that’s what.” I stalked off angrily into the bathroom.
“Daisy is going to kill me,” I heard Alyssa mumble, staring at the shirt miserably.
“No, I’m not. I saw the whole thing.” She asked me what I was doing here and I told her I’d come to save her. I pouted at my ruined shirt and put an arm around her shoulder, leading her back to the table.
When we got back, I saw that John had ordered my ravioli for me I sent a grateful smile towards is way. He was sitting beside Momma Halvorsen, so I took a seat beside Alyssa. I suddenly realized how hungry I was and inhaled my ravioli. John offered Alyssa a different shirt to wear since she said it was itchy and after she changed into it, she finished her food and we got the bills.
I ripped up the bill that waitress had the nerve to writer her number on, and then we headed off to Rocket’s band practice. Alyssa, John, and I watched as they rehearsed a few songs. I sang along in the background to a few of their newer ones when Dana walked in with Tim on the phone. Eric put it on speaker and Tim informed us all that the boys would be going on tour with The Maine and This Century. Even if it was a shorter tour, I could see that Alyssa was crestfallen.
“Hey, let’s go take a walk.” I told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her outside. “You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just…I’ve never been in a relationship that’s so inconsistent.”
“Well, hey. I’ve been there a few times. It gets easier. There’s more technology these days. He could call you every night, or you could borrow my webcam and chat with him through that every night. Really, it’s not that hard, I swear. I mean, it’s a poor substitute for the real thing, but anything is better than nothing, right?”
“I guess so.” She still looked a little down.
The sun had begun to set and I saw lights flickering in the distance. That meant that the autumn fair was finally in Tempe. I got a brilliant idea and smiled. “I know the perfect thing to make you feel better.”
Alyssa gave me a questioning look, but I just grabbed her hand and pulled her back to Eric’s house.
“Guys, I have a brilliant idea.” I exclaimed. The guys stopped talking and turned to me. Eric looked a bit worried about Alyssa but I gave him a little reassuring look. “How about we go have a bit of fun tonight?”
“…don’t we have fun…every night?” Nick asked and I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, dumbo. But that’s with drinks. I meant innocent fun, like the kids we still are.”
“What did you have in mind?” John asked.
I smiled. “The fair is in town!” It was a tradition. Each year since the 5th grade, we’d all gone to the fair. There was this scavenger hunt, and we’d always pair up but Eric would never have anyone.
“This year Eric can go with—”
“You, John.” I laughed nervously. “I’ve got Alyssa this year. You always get too distracted with the games and we never win.”
“But—” Alyssa started.
“Nope. You’re my partner.” I said stubbornly. John looked crestfallen. We always partnered together.
“What time are we going?” Justin asked.
“Let’s all meet up there now.”
“Okay, I’ll text the other guys.” Andrew said, pulling out his phone as I turned to leave.
I had the idea that I was going to drive with Alyssa when instead, John walked out with.
Surprised, I got in the passenger seat and the awkward silence that filled the car was unbearable.
“Are you okay?” John asked me for the second time that night.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said in an air-y tone.
“No, you’re not. You’ve been acting weird ever since we got to the restaurant.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’m just tired?”
“That’s your excuse for everything, Daisy. If something’s wrong, you can always talk to me about it, y’know.”
“I know.”
Awkward silence.
“So who’s going to protect you from the clowns?”
My eyes widened ten-fold. Alyssa and I were both deathly afraid of clowns. “Maybe they won’t have them this year?”
“…Daisy, you say that every year, and every year, I have to rescue you from the funhouse.”
We pulled up at the fairgrounds and I blanched; there were clowns scattered everywhere. I looked over to the side and saw Alyssa clinging to Eric. We were so not doing this scavenger hunt together.
“…still want to be my partner?” I asked John in a quiet, squeaky voice.
He laughed and took my hand, kissing my fingertips and I melted. “Of course. C’mon.” We got out of the car and Alyssa looked at me understandingly.
The entire crew was there. Halvo was with Alyssa, I was with John, Nick was with Andrew, Garrett was with Rachael, Kennedy and Gabi stood apart, Jared was with Tessa, Pat was with Lauren, and Justin was alone.
I walked up to Justin questioningly. “Why are you alone?”
“Oh, I’m not…” he trailed off. I was still confused but John was always eager to get a headstart.
“No fraternizing with the enemy!” he exclaimed and I laughed.
“Wait, who are you going with, Gabi?” Alyssa asked her.
“Rachael and Garrett.”
“And Kenny?”
“Jared and Tessa.”
I sensed there was still a lot of tension between the two of them so I decided to break it.
“What’s the list this year?” I asked. We always made up our own scavenger hunt. The winners got a bunch of free tickets for the rides and games that the losers each chipped in to buy.  Every year, Nick and Justin won, but I was determined to win this year. The circumstances were different. Nick pulled a list out of his pocket. He always planned it and made it as difficult as he could. Since it was just things scattered around the fairgrounds, we had to take photographic proof with our phones and forward them to the other teams.
“A bunny, a carved vampire pumpkin, a crying kid, puke spots—”
“Eww,” Alyssa said.
“—a pair of cowboy boots, a kid dressed up in a costume, and…a clown.”
“Cheater!” I screamed, kicking him in the shins.
“Ouch!” he screamed.
“You know that Alyssa and I are both terrified of clowns. That’s not fair!”
“But you were watching IT perfectly fine,” Alyssa said.
“Yeah, because that was in the TV screen, not in real life! I vote that we look for something else.”
“How about…a black cat?” John suggested for my sake. He had no problems with clowns.
“Cliché, but good enough. Everyone okay with that?” Nick asked and Alyssa and I nodded. “It’s 6 o’ clock. The scavenger hunt is over at 8. When you find something, take a picture of it and forward it to all of us. Got it? Good. Go.” We all set off in our own directions and John lead me over to the cotton candy machine. I laughed.
“This is why we never win,” I poked him.
“What, we’ve got two hours! Plus, the list is shorter this year, and a lot easier. Look, there’s a kid crying right there!” John pointed and snapped a quick picture, sending it to the groups. I saw what looked like Justin, but the guy was walking with a girl so it couldn’t have been him.
I rolled my eyes at John as he bought a huge cone of cotton candy. I tore off a piece of his cotton candy and popped it in my mouth as we walked around the food stands for a while. I spotted a caramel apple coated with Oreo on the outside and immediately had to have it. I pulled John over and made him buy me it.
Before I even took a bite, I got a bit of Oreo on me and wiped it off while John laughed at me. He grabbed a bunch of napkins and bought me a water bottle, just in case. I started chomping my way through it and by the time I was done, I felt like I was on a sugar coma. John wiped the crumbs off of my mouth and we started our scavenger hunt again.
“Wanna go into the funhouse?” John asked. I nodded and slipped my hand through his. Despite the clowns, I loved funhouses. We walked by the fun mirrors and I laughed as John’s reflection didn’t change in the one that was supposed to make you look taller.
“That’s because you’re already a freaking giant. I mean, what the hell do you eat?” I said and he laughed. We walked through the next section and I was startled when a jet of air blew up my legs. I actually screamed and clung onto John.
“It’s just air, Daisy.” he said, rubbing my shoulders.
“It just surprised me.”
“Seven years and you still can’t remember the sections?” he laughed.
“Man, I can’t even remember last week.” He smiled at me and kissed my forehead. I blushed and continued walking.
Next, we had to walk through the section that shook the floor as you walked, making it hard for a clumsy person like me to walk through it. Everytime I fell, I pulled John down with me and we’d end up in a tangled heap of limbs on the ground. “You are so clumsy.” he said and I laughed. This was obvious. I had trouble walking with socks on.
When we got to the other side, the floor immediately dropped and I yelped. Once again, I clasped onto John and he picked me up, setting me straight. “We should go to fairs more often if this is your reaction to everything,” he winked cheekily, and I rolled my eyes. We reached the top of a huge platform and I looked down; it was a gigantic slide, leading into a giant ball pit. I squealed. This meant this it was the end. Just as I was about to step onto the slide, a clown popped out from my left and I screamed, jumping into John.
“Hi, kids!” the clown said. I screamed again and jumped down the slide with John right behind me. I scrambled through the ball pit and clawed my way towards the exit, not caring if John was behind me.
Once I got outside, I noticed that the sun had just sunk beneath the horizon, and it had gotten a bit chillier. I took a deep gulp of fresh air when I saw Eric and Alyssa come my way. Alyssa saw me and waved. “Where’s John?”
I pointed back to the funhouse. “A clown popped up out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me.” I said.
“You left John behind to get eaten by a clown?” Alyssa exclaimed and Eric cracked up. I looked behind me and the door opened, revealing a very disheveled John.
I giggled and held my arm out towards him. He took it and hugged me close. “I was almost killed in there, Dais. The clown chased after me with a bloody balloon sword and when I got to the ball pit, he threw balls at my face and suffocated me in cheesy jokes.”
“Har har har.” I said, unamused. He loved to tease me. Alyssa pulled me to the side.
“So, are you okay now?” she whispered in my ear. I shrugged. As I shrugged, I got a chill and shivered. John noticed this and walked over to me, placing his leather jacket on my shoulders. I smiled and kissed his shoulder in thanks. He walked back over to Eric and they started talking about who’d kick who’s ass at the carnival games.
Alyssa gave me a stern look. Suddenly, all of our phones bleeped. It was two pictures from Gabi, Rachael, and Garrett; a kid crying, standing next to puke.
“So gross,” I said and  deleted the texts. I saw a black cat and promptly snapped a picture and sent it to everyone as Alyssa did the same.
“Game on, bro.” I said to her, grabbed John’s hand, and took off, laughing at the shocked faces of all three of them. “We are going to win this year, John Cornelius O’Callaghan the 5th.” I said soberly. “Put your game face on.” He screwed up his face and I laughed.
For the next half hour, the hunt was intense. I kept getting texts from everyone, and with each picture, I got even more competitive. John and I scoured the place from head to toe, and within 15 till 8, I had added up the score to everyone having 6, with only one picture missing; the bunny. The last few minutes were even more fierce.
5 minutes till 8…
4 minutes till 8…
3 minutes till 8 and still, no texts.
“Where the fuck are you supposed to find a bunny at a fair?” I screamed in frustration, earning a few looks at passerby’s. I stuck my tongue out at them and John snickered.
“Right…there.” he said, snapping a picture at something behind me, and I quickly turned around to see a bunny hop away. I jumped up and squealed, tossing my arms around John’s neck and jumping into his arms.
“We won!” I laughed happily, tossing my head back to look at his face. He smiled and texted to the other guys where we were.
Everyone was sulking as they walked up to the ticket booth, but not as much as Nick. He had won every year since the 5th grade.
“We. Won.” I said, jabbing his shoulder twice. “Pay up, biznotch.”
That made him crack a smile. Everyone chipped in for the tickets and we then split up again to go play the games, only in bigger groups this time. Eric and John wanted to see who was stronger with the Ring the Bell game where you had to pound the mallet to see how far you could get it up.
Alyssa and I trailed behind, wearing our boyfriend’s jackets and discussing nothing in particular. John went first and got it up pretty high. He won a stuffed kitten for me and I happily took it. Eric went next, but ended up getting the same result as John, winning a stuffed panda for Alyssa.
“My muscle man,” Alyssa said to Eric and a stupid grin grew on his face as we laughed.
We walked around for a bit until I spotted the game with the milk bottles where you had to knock them all down to get the prize. Since John had won a kitten for me, I’d decided that I’d have to win a giraffe for him. I put all my muscle into it and ended up knocking over one on the first try. The second time, I knocked over a few more, and the third, I completely knocked them all down. I pointed at the giraffe and gave it to John. He laughed and kissed my forehead. Alyssa and Eric went to play some more games while John and I wandered over to the Ferris wheel.
“You never ride the Ferris wheel.” John said to me.
“That’s because I’ve never won the scavenger hunt before…..and I’ve never had a boyfriend to ride it with,” I smiled shyly. John smiled and took my hand, leading me over to one of the seats. I could hear music in the background and hummed to it quietly. As the wheel turned slowly, going higher and higher up, I closed my eyes and placed my head on John’s shoulder.
As we reached the top, I opened my eyes and looked at the breathtaking view. The lights looked all fuzzy from up top, and it hit me that this was the perfect opportunity.
“Hey, Jawny,” I said, looking up at him.
“Yeah, kitten?”
“I love you,”

Chapter by: Nickie.