The food couldn’t have come any slower. The hostess and most of the waitress were fully concentrated on Edan’s table, making it more difficult for Gaia and Priyam to get their orders taken or food delivered. That, plus it looked like the mostly female staff was on a mission to keep them there until their shifts were over.
When Gaia finally received her beloved meal, it took her no time to devour her waffles with bacon and a side of fries. She loved the healthy and fresh cut food they served every day at the camp, but the greasy, fattening food that had been on her plate was glorious. The mix of sweet and salty was extraordinary. The moment Gaia got tired of the sweetness of the maple syrup, she took a few bites of her french-fries and she was back in heaven. “You found something in this town?” she asked between fries.
“No.” Priyam typed a few more codes on her computer and then gave up. “This town is cleaner than Edan’s bungalow.”
“Is such a thing possible?” Gaia shook her head at the possibility.
“Yeah, I guess I went a little overboard,” said Priyam taking off her glasses. “Take a look.” Priyam turned her computer so Gaia could see the screen. Priyam pointed at a bunch of coordinates written on a map from the camp area. “I’ve been joining Hunter on his perimeter check-ups so I programmed a security border to help him keep his tracking and the camp’s security to the top and lower the times he goes around the camp.” She smirked like the little genius she was. “Pretty rad, I would say.”
“Very cool. Hunter will love it.”
“Can I?” Priyam asked Gaia while pointing to her third side of fries, but Gaia didn’t answer, she had already closed the laptop and was so busy staring at Edan’s table that she just pushed the plate closer to her friend.
Gaia noticed the mass of unnecessary waitresses surrounding the table. Since Veter only had Shui on his mind, he ignored the women and kept goofing around with the twins. Donovan, however, kept them enchanted and giggling with his flirty comments, while Edan did his best to turn them away with his unfriendly stare.
One of the brunette waitresses bent over next to Edan making her best effort to get his attention away from the notes he was making, “Excuse me, would you-”
“Not interested,” he said without even looking at her.
The brunette waitress stood still, as if that was the first time a guy had rejected her and she had no idea what to do. She glared at Willow who decided to lean against Edan in a way that made her think he was already taken.
Knowing her defeat, the waitress stood up and walked away towards Gaia’s table. She took a napkin and wiped off the red lipstick she had probably applied just to talk to Edan. “Too bad, that hot guy doesn’t care about anyone but his girlfriend,” she said to what appeared to be a group of regular customers. Both she and the teens made pouty faces and moved their hands to their heart. “Awwwww!” they all said in unison.
“More like ugh.” Gaia cringed at the sound they made. Only cares for his girlfriend? Please, more like he has a terrible attitude.
“Would you like to go there?” asked Priyam interrupting her thoughts.
“Where?”
“Edan’s table.” Priyam moved the fries closer to her and poured some ketchup on them. “You know, the one you keep staring at.”
“I’m not- ” Gaia was about to deny the obvious when Priyam flashed her omniscient glare. “Ok, I was,” she admitted. Not being able to control it, she looked at the table one more time and saw Willow fixing Edan’s hair. “Why does she have to try so hard to look like his girlfriend?”
“Why do you care?”
I just freaking do! she wanted to scream but she went for- “I don’t. I think it’s ridiculous. Especially pretending to be the girlfriend of someone like him.”
“You mean gorgeous, strong and educated?” Priyam pointed out the obvious. “Yes, how could she?”
Gaia took some fries and gave Edan a quick last glance. He was completely ignoring Willow. His green eyes were reading his notes while he unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck in a way that looked incredibly appealing. “He’s not… that gorgeous.”
Priyam laughed, almost choking on her food. She patted her chest and took a big breath. “You, my friend, sounded like a girl on a diet saying that… you know, chocolate isn’t that good.”
“Well…” Gaia felt vulnerable for reasons she couldn’t understand. “I don’t want that chocolate.”
“You sure? It comes with a cup of tea,” she joked around. “How about some hazelnut chocolate?”
“Donovan?” Gaia’s lip lowered in disapproval.
“Oh, shut up! Look at those eyes.” She stared at Donovan the same way Gaia was staring at her fries a few minutes ago.
Gaia leaned closer and smiled at her friend. “I think you’re the one who needs some chocolate.”
“I do,” Priyam cried. “Every single day surrounded by a race that looks like they designed themselves, who wouldn’t?”
Out of the corner, the brunette waitress walked towards them and picked up their empty plates. “Anything else you would like to order?”
Gaia looked at Edan and noticed he was staring back at her. His gaze was strong, just like everything about him. He was a magnet pulling her towards him. He had a way of making her feel powerful and weak at the same time. It drove her mad. By pure willpower, she managed to break eye contact and smile at the waitress. “By any chance, do you have chocolate?”
* * *
Gaia and the rest were strolling around the town when she stopped in front of a colorful sign. “We are going!” she clapped in excitement.
“Going where?” asked Edan.
Gaia pointed to the place behind the sign. It was a small carnival with rollercoasters and a bunch of games and cotton candy stands. The place was brimming with music, happiness and all types of people. “There, the theme park.”
“Yes!” Priyam and Donovan cheered.
“No,” Edan refused and kept walking. “We are here for provisions and information, not this.”
“Boring.”
“I don’t care. Besides we didn’t bring any extra money for that.”
Floyd tapped Pink’s shoulder, “Trick or two?”
“Right!” she cheered back.
“No bloody way.” Edan returned back to the group. Gaia had no idea what ‘trick or two’ meant but, judging by Edan’s reaction, she could tell it was either something crazy or something extremely fun. “We’re not supposed to attract attention.”
“No one is here,” said Pink. “Give the plan a fair go.”
“No, it’s dangerous.” Edan refused. “Besides, we’ve been out for too long.”
“Come on, Edan!” Donovan smacked his shoulder. “Lighten up. It’s not going to get dark soon and there are no signs of dark beasts.”
Edan looked at Gaia’s pleading face. “One round,” he gave in.
“Yay! What’s trick or two?” Gaia asked Pink.
“A way to get you your park tickets and more.” Pink took off her leather jacket and placed it on the ground while Floyd emptied his duffle bag taking out a bunch of knives and swords. Just when Gaia thought they couldn’t get more pointy things from that bag, they did.
Edan cringed at the site of all those weapons. He looked around to see if people were alarmed: luckily they weren’t.
“Relax,” Willow held his arm. “They think they are street performers.”
“They better.”
“G’day everyone!” Pink climbed to the ledge of a street lamp getting everyone’s attention. “My name is Pink and this offsider here is my twin brother, Floyd,” she said with a louder than usual voice as people gathered. “We will both be performing some pretty damn good tricks.”
Floyd pushed his arms forward as he guided people to stay back in a circle. “Please make some space so we don’t accidentally stab you with our knives,” he said causing everyone around to gasp. Veter laughed and elbowed Edan who was shaking his head in disapproval. “Just kidding, peo
ple!” Floyd grinned wide open. “No one will get stabbed.”
Floyd took a large knife from his belt. He showed it to the crowd and threw it at the sky. The knife spun in the air and landed, its blade stuck in the ground leaving the handle pointing up. Pink did front flips, she grabbed the knife with her feet and on one flip, she threw the knife towards Floyd, who caught it before it stabbed his head. The crowd went wild. Gaia and Priyam couldn’t stop smiling from the excitement.
Pink and Floyd juggled switch blades between them by throwing them up high.
“You, Sir, the handsome one with an intense frown.” Floyd walked towards Edan who was staring at him with killing eyes. “Would you be so kind and light this blade for me?” he asked. Edan’s face turned white and his body tensed. “With your lighter of course.”
Suffering every minute of it, Edan pretended to take out a lighter from his pocket and light up the blade.
“It’s blue!” a little girl with curly hair screamed from the crowd.
“Part of the show people! Part of the show,” Pink explained to the clapping crowd. “Do we have a volunteer?”
Floyd walked to Gaia and took her hand but Edan pulled her against him. “Not this one,” he warned him. Smiling, Floyd took Priyam instead.
He guided Priyam to the middle of the circle. “Stay there, lovely,” he said and, with the already lit dagger, he lit up three more.
Floyd threw them around Priyam’s body toward Pink. When she caught them she threw them back at him catching the new ones he had thrown. Floyd and Pink were juggling the daggers so fast the fire looked like it was forming a blue circle around Priyam, who, by now, was ecstatic. Not being crazy enough for the twins, they squatted and jumped, the circle of burning daggers following the two bold performers.
After a few rounds of performances, Pink and Floyd thanked the crowd and collected all the bills and coins they had left on Pink’s jacket.
“That was amazing,” Gaia congratulated the twins for the incredible show.
“Reckon!” they both said. Pink gave Gaia the bag of money.
“Thanks. Come on, we have money now.” Gaia placed her hands on Edan’s back, pushed him. The rest followed cheering.
“Stop,” Edan commanded. “Pick one of the rides. We’ve been out for too long.”
Pink and Floyd ran towards a rollercoaster and stopped right in front of it. “What a beauty!” they said in unison.
“It’s perfect!” Gaia pushed Edan harder towards the line.
Edan looked up and saw the huge red rollercoaster with wild loops and a drop the size of a building. His eyes opened wide as he watched a car with screaming people go through the fall. “Why?” he choked.
Gaia giggled at this new side of Edan. “Because it’s fun.”
“Says who?”
“Humans,” she said with a smile and kept pushing him through the ropes.
“Yes… because they are so reliable.”
“Hey!” Gaia stopped pushing him and crossed her arms. “I grew up with them and, despite everything you may think, humans rock.” She pushed him again. “Besides, what do you do for fun, Mr. I-complain-about-everything?” she said as they took their place at the back of the line.
Edan faced Gaia and leaned against the line’s rail. “I…” he mumbled but couldn’t think of anything to say.
“All that?” she sat on the metal bar. “Incredible. Such passion for life,” she mocked him while the line of people walked, moving them closer to the ride’s cars.
“Unlike you, I don’t have time to waste,” he said and double checked his surroundings, still uneasy with the idea of staying out of the camp for that long.
Gaia stood up, fixed her red hair and walked side by side with Edan. “Who says it’s a waste?”
“You are paying your hard earned money to get into a monstrous machine that only Nature knows if it’s stable enough to carry itself-” he said making a few people in front of them shiver with fear and try to find their way out of the ride.
“It is stable people,” the skinny ride worker lifted his hands to make sure he had the attention of everyone who heard Edan’s comment. “It is stable!”
“-Just to be pushed, dropped, spun and basically feel like you are dying. Who does that?” he continued. Gaia gave him a small push to the end of the line.
Willow walked pass Gaia and stood next to Edan while Donovan, Veter and the rest enjoyed Gaia and Edan’s argument.
The skinny ride worker switched the position of his baseball cap. “Welcome to Fun Town! And thank you for choosing this ride,” he said with one of those overly cartoonish voices.
“I didn’t choose it,” Edan hissed sending chills to anyone who didn’t know he was actually harmless.
“Sorry, he’s chronically unhappy,” said Gaia. Edan glared at her. She took a small step closer to the ride worker and whispered, “Maybe if he gets the front that will change.”
Scared of Edan, the ride worker unchained the rope and guided them to their seat. “This way, Sir.”
Willow stepped closer towards Edan but he grabbed Gaia by the wrist and pulled her with him. “Why me?” she complained as she tried to shake her hand free.
“For your protection,” he said without looking back.
A glimpse of Willow let Gaia know she wasn’t happy about Edan’s decision, something that made Gaia feel like she won something. If only she knew what. “Sure.” Gaia couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t know why, but Edan was adorable and strangely fun to be around. Edan took Gaia’s hand and helped her get inside the car. She sat down and Edan sank himself into the seat before he could change his mind.
“Picking the front row!” Donovan clapped excited and jumped with Priyam on the row behind Gaia and Edan. “Bold move, Edan,” he teased.
White as a ghost, Edan turned to Gaia. “What is Donovan talking about?” he asked.
“The front is where it feels… best.” She tried not to put much emphasis on the last word but Edan knew better.
He let go a big sigh and ruffled his hair trying to mask his anxiety. “You mean worse.”
Gaia lifted her shoulders, making her look completely relax about this matter. “Yeah, sort off,” she said.
In a subtle panic mode, Edan tried to get out of the car when the safety bars went down to hold him in his seat. “What is happening?” he asked between his teeth.
“It’s so you don’t fall out.”
“Why would I fall out?” yelled Edan as his subtle panic mode came to an end.
“You won’t!” Gaia bit her lower lip to prevent herself from laughing. “This is for your security,” she assured him.
Edan’s knuckles went white from holding the bar as if his life depended on it. His left leg shook and his lips pressed into one thin line. “Are you scared?” Gaia asked. Edan scoffed as if the mere thought was ridiculous.
“Please…” he said with his snobby attitude. “I kill dark beasts with my bare hands and you think this toy scares me?”
Gaia smiled at how childish Edan was being. “Just checking,” she said and the ride started to move. Edan grabbed Gaia’s hand, locking his fingers with hers and squeezed it hard. She turned to him with a surprised expression. “It’s only to keep you from falling,” he lied.
“I know.” She let him be, though she couldn’t tell if it was because she really wanted to enjoy the ride or because she didn’t want him to move his hand away. This last thought made her more nervous than the ten-foot drop they were heading for.
The ride was intense. The mix of the adrenaline, the air hitting her face and Edan’s hand holding her tight was intoxicating. Each turn, each fall and each loop made Gaia feel weightless. She was floating in the sky and she was in no rush to get down, unlike Edan, who was freaking out.
One of his hands clung onto Gaia while the other one held the security bar with more strength than he’d ever used. Each turn, each fall and each loop, made Edan feel like he was about to die. He closed his eyes and focused on Ga
ia’s laugh.
* * *
A few feet away from the camp’s barrier, Gaia and the rest hiked back home carrying all the supplies and groceries they needed. They took turns staring at a piece of paper. “It’s… bloody perfect,” said Floyd with tears in his eyes.
“I know.” Gaia hugged him from one side.
“I’ve never seen anything this incredible,” added Donovan, who couldn’t keep his eyes off the picture Gaia was showing them of her and a terrified Edan on the ride.
“I had no idea he was so afraid of heights,” said Gaia.
“He’s not, he just has trust issues,” Veter whispered.
As they all passed around and admired the picture, it suddenly burned by itself. “Keep talking and I swear you guys are next,” Edan threatened them.
“What! No! Why?” they all cried and whined as the majestic picture’s ashes blew away in the wind.
“Nobody panic.” Gaia took out at least ten more duplicates of the picture. “I bought more.” She smiled and everyone except Edan cheered.
One by one, they crossed the golden tree. Gaia was switching the bag of supplies she was carrying to her other shoulder when Edan stopped her. “Wait…” he said and she looked back.
“Is it about the pictures?” she gave him a friendly defiant look.
“Forget the stupid pictures,” he blushed. “Here.” He took a box from his pocket and gave it to her.
Gaia took it and shook it next to her ear like a maraca. “What is this?” she asked as he stopped her hand from shaking the box.
“Who bloody shakes a gift like that?” He took the box and she tried to snatch it back. “What if it breaks?”
“Is it breakable?”
“No.”
“Then? I don’t see the problem,” she said.
“Just open it,” he ordered throwing the gift back at her and nervously lowering his face.
Gaia opened the box and saw a gorgeous silver locket with a turquoise lotus flower in the middle of it. Wow… Gaia thought. “It’s beautiful.”
Seasons Within Box Set Page 18