Overlooked

by Lulu Pratt

  It’s actually a pretty nice town, I’ve seen a lot worse.

  “Steel! You think we’re going to stand around busting our asses while you have a chill out session?” Razor yells.

  “I’m doing a safety check,” I say, banging my fist against the metal car.

  The car jolts and the wheel flies into action, hurling me and the car forwards. I lean back into the corner of the seat, rest my arm across the back and put my feet up on the edge. I know these shitheads, this wheel ain’t stopping anytime soon.

  “I hope you assholes are having as much fun as I am,” I shout as my car passes the lowest point of the wheel.

  “Hold on,” Razor grins as he leans on the speed lever.

  The wheel speeds up to near its maximum. Any townie would be puking right now, but I’m used to it.

  For this town, the Ferris wheel is at the back corner of the lot. The carnival is set up so you enter and walk down the midway, then loop to the right for the rides, it’s pretty much a big circle. Little kiddie rides at the front, shakers at the back.

  The rides and midway are taking shape. Most of the big stuff is up, it’s just the little things left for tomorrow. The ticket booths, the matting, and we have to check every single damn light bulb. That’s a pain-in-the-ass job.

  It’s empty now, waiting for the crowds to fill it up. I always get a kick out of the happiness on the little kiddies’ faces, and I get a lot of joy out of the local girls who are happy to spread their legs for a carny.

  There’s nothing better than a rough fucker like me corrupting the local pastor’s daughter.

  “I’m enjoying my sunset ride, assholes!” I yell to no one in particular.

  The ride comes to an abrupt stop, my car wildly swings back and forth.

  “Get your ass down here and work,” Razor yells.

  “Papa Smurf said we’re finished at sundown tonight, woo hoo!” I holler at them.

  I’m at two o’clock on the wheel. The car’s still swinging, but I hop up and grab onto the wheel’s framework.

  “About time,” Razor says and starts the wheel moving again, although not at full tilt this time.

  I tighten my grip on the strut and get my feet ready to take the change in direction as we go over the apex of the wheel.

  With my feet nestled in the joint of the frame, I hold on with one hand and lean way out. As we come to the bottom of the arc, I hop off. Without breaking my stride, I walk towards the carny cafeteria.

  My stomach groans as I near the greasy goodness smell of burgers and fries. I normally heat up some ramen noodles in my bunkhouse cabin, but Wednesdays are rough work and I always treat myself to the mess tent for dinner. Somehow dollar store food isn’t enough when you’ve been chucking heavy pig irons around all day.

  “Evening, Cess,” I say as I reach the line-up for grub.

  Cess turns to me and smiles, she always did have a welcoming smile. Welcoming everyone and anyone to her pussy. Though she must be over thirty now, and her age is starting to show. The straggly blah brown hair doesn’t help her looks.

  “Hey Steel, feel like visiting tonight?”

  “I’m good.”

  “You sure didn’t think like that when you joined us as a little virgin teenager.”

  I roll my eyes. That was ten years ago, I’ve had hundreds of pussies since, and I’ll still never hear the end of being a virgin when I joined the carnival at seventeen. A guy doesn’t get much chance to lose his virginity while he’s in juvie, at least not to a female.

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Why don’t you come and see me tonight?” Because I don’t need to touch the lot lizard is why.

  “Fuck, Cess, you know I’m all about local pussy. I’m going to find myself a pretty blonde this week.”

  When I See You Smile (Emily)

  My best friends Courtney and Maddie pick me up to go to the carnival. The annual Lions Club Carnival is the most exciting thing that happens in the town of Colmar.

  I’m glad it’s a warm enough October evening to wear my new Burberry dress. I bought it last month, and haven’t had a chance to wear it yet.

  Courtney looks perfect, as always. Not a single piece of her chestnut hair is out of place. Unlike Maddie’s wild red hair.

  It’s Saturday evening. We’d planned to come last night too, but got distracted with a zombie movie marathon on tv and never made it.

  Well, I distracted them with the zombies.

  I didn’t feel like going last night, I was too busy stewing over the conversation with my father, right before my parents left for the airport on yet another of their vacations.

  “Have fun at the carnival. It should be a good one, they’re a new carnival company this year,” my mom said, her overnight bag clenched in her hand.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” my father said, “I have a reputation to uphold. And as my daughter, your actions reflect on me.”

  It was the same crap I hear all the time. I had to breathe deep, count to ten, and wish my father didn’t have the attitude of a man straight out of the fifties. I swear this entire town is stuck in the fifties.

  I am twenty years old. An adult. What does my father’s reputation have to do with me?

  Just because he’s president of the Lions Club, and has the largest car dealership network in North Carolina, doesn’t mean he has to have a daughter who never gets to have any fun.

  As Courtney, Maddie and I near the gates, the noise of the rides and people screaming, as well as the incredible smell of funnel cakes make me regret the zombie movies. I can watch those anytime, we missed all the fun here.

  The carnival is super busy. Half the young people in the town of Colmar are here, waiting in line to get in.

  “What are we doing first?” Maddie asks.

  “Let’s go on the rides before the lines get too long,” Courtney says.

  “Ooo, good idea,” I say.

  “Five bucks each admission,” the ticket man says. I recognize him as John from the Lions Club, this whole weekend is their biggest fundraising event. They keep the entrance price, the carnival takes everything else. My father helps organize it.

  We pay our money and bustle each other into the park.

  “Let’s go straight to the back and work our way forwards,” Maddie says.

  “The Ferris wheel first?”

  “Come on,” Courtney grabs our arms and we rush through the midway to get to the rides.

  “Hey pretty girls, come win yourself a SpongeBob,” a guy at a game stall calls.

  “First try is free,” another man at another stall says, spinning a basketball on his finger.

  “Don’t look at them, just ignore them all and hurry up,” I say. I hate the games, I don’t see the fun of them. They’re all rigged or impossible to win.

  “How is there already a crazy long line-up?” asks Maddie.

  “Ferris wheels always take forever to get on, since they have to put someone on, move the wheel and put someone else on,” Courtney says.

  “It’ll still be faster to get on now than it will later,” I say.

  “Okay, let’s do it,” Maddie says.

  We join the end of the line. There are dozens of people ahead of us.

  Two guys with tattoos poking out from their yellow carnival worker t-shirts walk from the Ferris wheel and along the line.

  “They’re cute,” Maddie says.

  “Definitely yummy. Too bad they’re carnies,” Courtney says.

  “All muscley hard coated-in-tattoos carnies,” Maddie says.

  “Stop it, we’re staring at them,” I say, trying to drag my eyes away from the taller one.

  Both their bodies are pure muscle, but his chest strains the seams of his shirt. He looks surprisingly clean, even though he’s covered in tattoos. Oh God, he even has a neck tattoo. A scorpion crawls across the right side of his neck, as if it’s crawling from the back of his neck. Its pincers reaching forward, and its tail curled and ready to strike
.

  His dark hair is cut short in a stylish way even my father would approve of. But most of all, his piercing blue eyes are looking straight at me, dazzling me.

  “Why, you three are the cutest girls I’ve seen in weeks. Especially you, Goldilocks,” the blue-eyed guy says without slowing down or breaking his stride.

  Courtney and Maddie laugh.

  “Do you use that line in every town?” Courtney asks.

  He chuckles, transforming his already attractive face into movie star quality. I try to look away, to let the lights of the moving Ferris wheel lure my gaze, but I can’t. Courtney’s right, of course, but I can’t help being flattered that he singled me out.

  His blue eyes rake up and down my body. My cheeks heat in a blush, and I look away before Courtney notices.

  “See you girls around,” he says, as the two of them walk by us.

  I turn my head to watch them, but recoil in shame when I find him looking back at me. Swallowing hard, I shuffle forward to keep up with the long line.

  My mind drifts back to the conversation with my father.

  “Funny how you don’t care who your sons hang out with, aren’t you worried about them ruining your reputation?” I said, trying not to sound angry.

  “My sons are both men now, their reputation is their own.” One of my brothers is eighteen, younger than me.

  “But I’m a woman, so my reputation isn’t my own?” I said, widening my eyes but actually wanting to slap him.

  “And my assistant business manager, who will one day be my full business manager.”

  “So what? You’re letting Max run one of your dealerships, and no doubt you’ll give one to Cody too. It’ll probably be a high school graduation present.” My brothers get everything.

  “That’s got nothing to do with you,” he snapped. Of course it has everything to do with me, he gives my brothers everything, and me nothing but a hard time.

  “Why don’t you give me one of your dealerships?” I say this a lot.

  “Because you’re better as an office manager.”

  “Why? So you can keep an eye on me there?” It’s really because he doesn’t think women can sell.

  “Emily,” my mother says, smoothing my hair, “Don’t get so upset, your father and I care about you very much.”

  “If you cared about me so much, you’d let me grow up and live my own life.”

  My father rolled his eyes, opened the front door and walked through it, as he said “Just don’t do anything stupid.”

  After putting up with it all the way through high school, I’ve finally had enough of them holding me responsible for my father’s reputation. Right now, I’d really like to do something to ‘hurt his reputation’.

  “You ladies still waiting?” the hot carny from before says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  Turning my head, I see the two guys returning to the Ferris wheel.

  “Looks like,” I say.

  He stops walking and offers me his hand.

  “Come with me,” he says.

  I look at Courtney and Maddie, and they raise their eyebrows and shrug.

  “You going to throw your weight around and get us all out of the line?” I ask.

  “For you, it’ll be VIP treatment all night long,” he says, flashing his killer smile.

  I bite my lip, wondering what to do. Then my father’s voice, harping on about his reputation pops into my head, and I take the offered hand.

  He leads the three of us past the line and straight onto the waiting car. It’s one of those ones that seats four, with the moulded plastic to look like an umbrella sticking up the center of it.

  “Hey, no butting!” someone shouts.

  Courtney and Maddie climb into one side of the Ferris wheel car, and I take a seat on the other side, looking back at them.

  “Enjoy the ride,” the guy says, latching the door shut. He looks at me as he says it, and once again I feel flattered for being singled out. I immediately chastise myself for being flattered, it’s just a ploy, he does it in every town.

  The wheel moves, stopping quickly again to load the next passengers. Courtney and Maddie chat animatedly, but I find myself unable to join in. I’m too busy thinking about what my father will say when he finds out his daughter let a carny take her hand and jump to the front of the line in front of everyone.

  He’s going to freak when he finds out, and he will, this is a small town. He probably already knows.

  When we get near the top, the wheel stops to load more passengers.

  “Look, Emily, I can see your house,” Maddie says, pointing.

  I move to turn my head to look for my house, when shouting and squealing floats up to me from below.

  My attention is drawn to the ground but a movement on the wheel itself catches my eye. The next thing I know, the blue-eyed guy appears and hops into our car.

  “Is this seat taken?” he says, sitting in the empty seat beside me.

  Caught in a Mosh (Steel)

  The look on their faces when I jumped into their car at the top of the wheel was priceless. Their chins hit their knees before they started giggling.

  Goldilocks especially.

  I found my blonde. Goldilocks is the girl I’m banging in this town. She’s tall, with legs a mile long. Her tits are small, but she’s slim all over so she looks mighty fine. Her long blonde hair is dead straight with bangs that reach her icy blue eyes.

  “How are you ladies enjoying the show?” I ask.

  “We just got here,” the redhead says.

  Then the ride starts, giving me about three minutes to make my move.

  “That’s cool, plenty of time to have fun,” I say.

  “How did you get here?” Goldilocks asks. Her voice is as enticing as her tits, and I can’t wait to hear her screaming when I pound into her.

  “I drove.”

  She laughs and throws her head back, exposing her long neck.

  “Not to town, into where you’re sitting,” she says.

  “How do you think?”

  “He climbed, obviously” the brunette says, snarling.

  I give her cut-eye.

  “You smell like diesel,” she says, returning my cut-eye.

  “I smell like a man.”

  The redhead bursts out laughing.

  “What, you don’t believe me? What do you think, Goldilocks? Do I smell like a man?” I say, putting my forearm to her nose.

  She inhales, and her eyelids flutter. That’s all the answer I need right there.

  “Don’t keep us hanging, Emily. Does he smell like a man?” the brunette asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Emily, eh? I think I prefer Goldie,” I say. I want to touch her hair, but hold off. I know how to play these situations, this one’s going to take some work. But it’s going to be worth it, I can tell already she’s a good girl. The kind I like best. Nothing makes for a good fuck like a girl who’s been sexually repressed her whole life. They’re always the ones who can never get enough.

  “Do we get to learn your name?” the redhead asks.

  “I’m Steel,” I say, not taking my eyes off Emily.

  “Steel? Why are you called that?” she asks.

  “Lots of reasons,” I say.

  The brunette rolls her eyes, “I thought you were going to say something lame, like it’s because you’re a strong as steel.”

  “That’s one of them,” I say, lifting my shirt to show them my ripped abs.

  Three sets of eyeballs pop out of their heads as they stare at my six pack. I lift my shirt a little higher, to give them an eyeful of my tattoo-covered pecs too. Best perk of this job is it gives you a body like mine. Gets a reaction like theirs every time. Even the brunette is silenced.

  “You can touch, Goldie,” I say.

  To my surprise, she reaches out her hand. Not what I expected from the good girl, but I sure like it. Emily hovers it over my abs, and I assume she’s going to chicken out.

  But after thinking
about it, she presses her hand against my belly. Her hand is soft and delicate while she runs it over my washboard stomach. My dick twitches in my pants, and I wish to fuck her two friends weren’t here. Unless, of course, they wanted to join in.

  I glance over at them. Nah, not a chance. Emily’s the only one I want in my bunkhouse cabin tonight.

  “What are the other reasons they call you Steel?” Emily asks, her voice breathy and her eyes still fixed on my stomach.

  “That’s something I have to show you in private,” I say, smirking.

  Our ride is over. Whiskey wisely unloaded our car last, but I still have to move my ass before Papa Smurf catches me.

  Before our car even stops, I hop out of the car and stand beside it, as if I’ve been standing here helping people get on and off the ride all day.

  I offer my hand for Emily to take, and she takes it. I support her as she climbs off, and Whiskey does the same for her friends.

  “Enjoy the rest of the carnival,” I say. This is when I play it cool. I want her gagging for me by the time I find her later.

  The three of them walk off without saying goodbye, but Emily can’t resist a quick glance at me over her shoulder. I pretend I didn’t notice, and help Whiskey load the next group of people onto the ride.

  I work for another hour, helping Whiskey and moving around the other rides to make sure everything’s running like it should. I’m the ride foreman, and am responsible for all the rides. If we don’t pull in the money, Papa Smurf busts my ass, plain and simple.

  But the whole time I’m moving between rides, I’m looking out for Emily. I can’t get the memory of her hand on my abs out of my mind.

  Already I’m thinking about what I’m going to do to her after the eleven o’clock closing. I have to find her before then to tell her to come find me at closing. I’m going to take her to our nightly party before I take her to my bunk.

  I’m checking up on Zombie at the bumper cars when Emily and her friends get on, each in their own cars. Fucking perfect.

  A bunch of other people get in cars, and Zombie starts the ride. Emily is behind the redhead and her car lurches forward and smacks into the back of her. The redhead flies forward, her head jerking in an unnatural way.

  Emily’s car zips near the edge of the course. I hop onto the bumpers on her car and grab onto the metal rod connecting the car to the ceiling. She looks up at me and smiles. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the prettiest smile anyone’s ever given me.