We Signed Our Life Away

I woke up with a sleepy smile on my face. I had dreamt about Oli. While I rubbed my eyes and stretched, I hoped to have many more of those pleasant dreams. I had dreamt about our ‘date’, today, at the carnival. It was the usual cliché story: Oli and I were on the Ferris wheel, and oh my lord, it stopped at the highest point. He turned to me, smiling before leaning in and –

“Parker!”

Trust my mother to ruin an excellent moment. A grimace replaced my dreamy smile as I came back to reality with a bump.

“What?” I screamed back, making sure she realised what she had interrupted.

“Can you feed Josie? I need to go into work early and your father isn’t up yet,” she yelled.

“Ugh. Whatever,” I frowned, getting out of bed, putting on my dressing gown and heading down stairs to my screaming sister.

“Hey Jo,” I yawned, taking my mothers seat at the dining table and supervising Josie getting food all over her face. No wonder she was hungry all the time seeing as majority of the food she ‘ate’ ended up on her face.

Just as I began to take over feeding Josie so I wouldn’t get blamed for starving her later, I heard my cell phone vibrating in my purse which was currently sitting on the kitchen bench where it had been for God knows how long.

“Just a second, Jo,” I said before getting up and answering. “’Lo?”

“Hey Parker! You still okay for today?” Oli asked, his voice cheering me up instantly.

“Of course! What time should we get going?”

“As soon as we can. The traffic can get pretty hectic. How long d’ you need?”

“Well, I have to feed Josie, shower and get dressed and that’s it.”

“Be right over,” he said before hanging up.

Shrugging, I went back to feeding Josie but as soon as I sat down, I heard a knock at the door. Bloody Oliver, I thought as I stood back up to answer it.

“Hey sexy,” he laughed before marching past me towards Josie.

“What?...” I muttered, following him through to the kitchen.

“Na-uh. Go have shower and shit. Oh fuck argh!” Oliver instructed before realising that young ears were in the room.

“Don’t worry,” I chuckled, “she’s heard it all before, trust me.”

“Ah well. If she starts swearing, I still blame me’ self, Now go have a shower, love. The sooner you get ready the sooner we can leave,” he winked, turning Josie’s spoon into an airplane like my mother used to do.

I saluted smartly at him before jogging up the stairs and into the bathroom where I had a rushed shower. I quickly towel-dried my hair before pulling on something suitable for a day at a cold carnival by the sea. Slipping on some Vans, I tiptoed into my father’s room so he could take over with Josie so I could see. He agreed but I could tell me wasn’t happy about it. I gave him a quick hug and a smile before racing downstairs, kissing Josie on the cheek and pulling Oli out of my house.

“Jacket?” Oli asked as I was closing the front door.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled, stepping inside and grabbing my red tartan jacket and slipping it on.

Smiling, I followed Oli across the road and into his garage where I jumped in his car, which was very close to falling apart, and turned the music up loud.

“To the carnival!” I beamed, pointing to where I thought the carnival was.

“Correction,” Oli said, moving my hand to point in the opposite direction.

“Smart ass,” I giggled, pulling my hand away and changing the song.

***

One hour later and we were trying to find a park in the already busy carnival car park.

“Dude, this is not funny,” I groaned as yet another park was taken just as we had noticed it.

“Agreed. We may as well just park really fuckin’ far away and walk,” Oli sighed.

“Hey, it’ll be your thirty minutes of exercise for the day, no?”

“Exercise isn’t in my vocab,” Oli said, driving out onto the street and searching for parks there.

I just shook my head, laughing. It was only after another fifteen minutes of driving around an unfamiliar town that we found a park. It was about ten minutes walk from the carnival and I highly doubted that we would be able to find our way back to the car afterwards but I didn’t care. Oli had grabbed his hands and laced his fingers in mine. I felt a dizzy smile reach my lips and shudder was sent down my spine.

On the way to the carnival I noticed a number of quaint antique shops that I simply knew my mother would love. Just like a teenager, she went through her phases, but unlike teenagers, her phases were expensive and short lasting ones. I took note of where they were so could tell her when I got home, just to piss dad off.

When we finally reached the carnival, we noticed that the entry line was rather short. Maybe our luck has taken a turn for the better, I thought hopefully as we joined the line.

“So, what d’ you wanna do first?” Oli asked, turning to me.

“Uh, well, as fucking retarded as it sounds, I’ve always wanted some full phoney to tell me future,” I said, stifling a laugh.

“Fortune teller it is,” Oli grinned, squeezing my hand.

It was only another twenty minutes before we were standing in front of a small purple velvet tent, figuring whether it was really worth it.

“Go on, love. It’ll be great fun,” Oli said, pushing me into the tent.

“Sheesh, fine.” I laughed, stepping into the tiny tent.

As soon as I walked in my mouth opened wide in shock. The tent, although small looking from the outside, was much bigger on the inside. Miniature fairy lights were stringed around the pointed roof, the strong yet sweet smell of inscents floated around me like a blanket and sitting in the corner was a young woman with long black hair and a solemn face.

Her eyes were closed but as soon as I looked at her they flew open to reveal dim brown eyes. I stood there for a while, transfixed by my surroundings until the lady spoke.

“Hello darling,” she spoke, her voice thick with a Russian accent.

How… stereotypical, I smiled to myself.

“Um, hi?” I replied, not really too sure what to do.

“You give off an aura of worry; yet I also see that you are changing,” she mumbled, barely louder than a whisper.

I stayed silent. The fortune-teller, who was very good at her job, note my sarcasm, was scaring the shit out of me. I don’t know if it was her accent, her dark eyes or just the whole situation, but it was creepy.

“I understand that you are worried about a certain person. An important figure in your life. Either you or they are not worthy. You worry about being neglected, forgotten. But you should not. You have a partner who is trustworthy, forgiving and loving. They treasure you and every decision you make. Trust them and you trust yourself,” she spoke, eyes shut, hands on her lap.

I took this as my chance to back out slowly, only mildly traumatized by the event. When I got outside, I instantly found Oli, sitting back on a wooden seat with a smirk on his face.

“Dude,” I said, sitting next to him. “That was brutal.”

“How cliché was it?” Oli asked, grinning at me.

“Oh tee tee. Russian, fairy lights. The whole shebang,” I laughed.

“Sweet. What did the old hag tell you?”

“Correction: young hag,” I smiled. “Only time will tell, Ol’s. You can wait.”

“How long?” he whined, jutting out his lower lip.

“When the time is right,” I said, misty eyed and waving my arms in his face.

“What if I kiss you? Will that help?”

“No. But feel free to kiss me,” I smiled.

“Only if you give a hint. A good one, yeah?”

“Okay then. I am not worthy. Good enough?”

“You’re not worthy? Christ. What did you do with her? Have fucking sex?”

“Sod off, Oliver,” I said, shoving him off the park bench.

“Sorry, sorry. Now, about that kiss…”

“Men,” I sighed, rolling my eyes but leaning in anyway.

His lips where a welcome after such a frightening encounter with the Russian fortune-teller. He massaged his lips softly against mine, while still clutching my hand, afraid to let go. I smiled at the gesture and I felt his lips do the same.

“You wanna go in?” I mumbled, my lips still pressed against his.

“Fuck no,” he smiled.