Oh, Sweet Rhythm

I grip the edge of the sink until the knuckles on both hands turn white. My hair drips water into the drain, my body dripping water onto the floor. I'm clad only in the towel wrapped around my waist and the door is locked. I look into the mirror, my short brown hair looks almost black when it's wet. I smile at this- I've always wanted black hair. I wash my face and start drying off, quickly and efficiently. Once I pull on some boxers, I step out of the bathroom and into my room to get dressed for tonight. It's Friday.

It's about five o'clock, so I only have an hour or so to get ready and pick up my date. I decide I don't need to be dressed up, but I do need to look somewhat dignified. I pull on some jeans, ones that are faded in the knees. Then I wear a light blue and teal plaid button up, left unbuttoned to expose the white undershirt. I comb my hair down, which is a little harder than usual since I need a haircut. When my hair gets just a little to long, the curls appear and I know it's time for a trim. I hate the curls.

I'm ready in twenty minutes or less. Once I make sure I have my phone, keys, and wallet, I head downstairs. I'm only fifteen and all I have is a learner's and a school permit, but it's a small town and I doubt I'll be pulled over. The carnival starts in the town square, which is maybe seven or eight miles from where I live. I sit at the kitchen table and waste time for awhile. It's weird knowing that my date is only across the street and I don't really have to rush. I check my phone- twenty minutes until showtime.

Dad comes in and sits down next to me. This causes me to smile and immediately makes my mood one hundred percent better. He places both hands on the table, one drumming his fingers and the other in a fist, avoiding whatever he thinks he has to say. He opens his mouth and then shakes his head. Suddenly, he opens his fist, letting a little blue squared drop onto the table. It's a tiny square, a circle shaped thing contained inside. I know it's a condom even before I read the Trojan logo.

"Oh, Dad-"

"Listen, I'm not having the safe sex talk with you. You're fifteen. I'm pretty sure you've learned about sex in Health class, and if not, you've heard enough from your friends, the Internet, and TV."

"I'm not going to sleep with her, Dad." I groan. Dad was usually so cool about things, but this was the first time I ever felt embarrassed by him. Something flickered in the man's eyes. He half smiled.

"You say that, but I know how teenagers are. It may not be tonight, or for a month, but if you're going to have sex- I want you to use a condom. You're mother and I aren't ready to be grandparents quite yet." He cocks his head and gives me a serious look. I sigh, nod, and drag the condom across the table. I pull out my wallet and put it inside. Once I put it in the coin department, I put it back and look at my dad. He loves me. I know it.

"I'm not ready to be a father. I'm not even ready for sex yet!" I admit. I mean, I'm practically a child. There's no way I'd be ready to make a move that big. I don't know why, but when I picture me having sex, I picture my life changing drastically. I picture me immediately becoming mature and buying a suit and going to business school. Crazy, I know.

"Good, but keep it just in case." Dad takes my hand in his for a minute and looks at me. "I love you, son."

"I love you too, Dad." I blush and he lets my hand go. We fill the next ten minutes with awkward chit chat and then I'm out the door and heading across the street. When I get there, I tap my knuckles against the door once, but with force. In a matter of seconds, her mother answers the door. Seeing her after all these years makes me see that Josette looks nothing like her mother. He mother has long black hair and unwelcoming green eyes. The bags under her eyes makes her look like she hasn't slept in years- or a zombie. I want to scream, but she calls out her daughter's name, so I wait.

Josette comes to the doorway and her mother leaves. Josette steps out onto the path to her house, pulling the door shut behind her. It's nearing sunset so the light is perfect to view her in. She wears a short, light yellow sundress with tiny blue flowers lining the frilly bottom edge. Toward her middle, the dress gets a little tighter, and the middle is also frilly. Then it comes up to her chest, it's strapless, but her body holds it up perfectly. Her hair has been curled and is hanging down on both of her shoulders, a barrette holding the bangs out of her beautiful brown eyes. I draw in a breath and she blushes.

"You look amazing," I smile and feel under dressed for once. Oh well.

"And I like your little country boy look," She giggles. I blush and lock arms with her.

"May I walk ya to the automobile, little missy?" I ask, my voice faking a deep Southern accent. She bursts out laugh, but nods and lets me help her across the street and over to my dad's car. I'm not a big car person, so the only thing I can tell you about it is it's gray. Though, I'm pretty sure it's a Intrepid. I think. I open the passenger door and let her slide into the seat before shutting the door and then getting in the car myself. I start the car and we start driving. There's a silence while I drive, but in five minute we're there, so it doesn't really matter. I get out of the car and open the door. Once she gets out, we start walking.

I look ahead of us. It's not exactly sunset yet, but tonight looks promising. The carnival will go on all weekend, but the first night is always the best. Not only because it's bracelet night, but also because there's more people. I usually don't like people, but it's nice to see a whole town come together for one event. The carnival is set up in a specific way this year; in the far back, there's a horizontal row of games and stuff. In center of that, a vertical row runs down towards me and Josette- all food stuffs. Rides are on either side of the food row. It is a little odd, but I don't care.

So far, there's hardly anyone here. A handful of kids from school, a few adults, and some children. We walk over to the ticket stand and I buy both of us bracelets. I really don't like rides and stuff, but Josette seems eager, so tonight I'll make an exception. As we're walking, I start drifting closer to her and in a moment, my hand finds hers and I intertwine our fingers. Her hands are so small, compared to mine, and her skin is so soft. She doesn't look at me, but I see her smile.

There's a picnic table near one of the food stands, so we sit down as more people arrive. I sit opposite of my date and I admire her beauty for as long as I can. She's a very pretty girl. I don't know why, but it occurs to me that she doesn't have her camera or a notebook. "Why isn't the leader of the journalism club covering the carnival?"

"Oh, that? For one, I wanted to enjoy this date," she smiles. "Second, we have a bunch of freshman who joined, so i gave the job to one of them- just for the experience."

I nod. That seems understandable, I guess. Josette pulls out her phone and starts texting, her eyes on the screen as her thumbs move quicker than I had ever thought someone's thumbs could ever move. If she played video games, she's never fail the 'Tap X Repeatedly' parts! I almost slap myself at the thought.

"So, did you ever find out what was up with Mr. Rill the other day?" She asks, still texting. Actually, I hadn't. He didn't show for school today. I would have never noticed accept for the lack of new car smell. It's a little worrying, but I've decided that I'll have to wait and see what happens when I get back to school on Monday.

"No." She bites her lip and I feel a sudden surge of disappointment. I spent nearly three days all hyped up about this date, and this is all it turned out to be? I tried to remind myself that it isn't even sunset yet, but I was starting to panic. I sucked in a few deep breathes and waited in awkward silence for more people to get here.

We'd been sitting at this God forsaken picnic table for nearly an hour before we even considered getting up and walking around. The sun had just sunk below the horizon and the lights were light up on all the rides, the music blasting in our ears. We stalk over to a ride that looks slightly scary to me. It's basically a large bar that hangs down from it's base in the sky, four seats on each side and it swings to each side, raising every now and again, spinning itself as it gets higher. I gulp when Josette asks if we can ride it. I nod and squeeze her hand, letting her lead the way.

The ride is over a lot faster than I expected. It made me queasy, but in a good way. I'm not even sure why I was so scared! After that, we started riding more and more of the attractions, pairing up with some her friends now and again. It was fun and I talked to some of the popular kids that would never have even talked to me if I hadn't been with Josette. About nine o'clock, we break for a couple of corn dogs.

"So, what are your plans for college?" She asks as I hand her a corn dog. I had actually put a lot of thought into this since I was in seventh grade. I'm going to design video games, perhaps work for Square Enix. I'm going to be very successful, more so than the children I go to school with. I know that my life will be good and I'll make much more money than the people in this town could ever dream of- or at least, that's my dream,

"I'm going to design video games." I tell her. She bites her lip and takes this into consideration. She shrugs.

"You'll make great money." She laughs and takes a bite of her corn dog. I do the same.

"What about you?" She swallows another bite of corn dog before answering.

"Me? Oh, I'm going to photograph models. Or animals." She smiles at the thought, staring lazily at something I can't see. "It's a dream of mine, right before professional dancer. I tell my mom I'll be a photographer and she always replies with,'Why? You're beautiful enough to be one of the models!' I guess that's a problem for me. I don't want to be the center of attention. I want to capture that moment." She stops and takes another bite. By now, I'm already finished. "Is that stupid of me?"

"Not at all! It's a lot better than what I want to do! For me, I'm only in it for the money. You actually consider what makes you happy." She smiles and throws our corn dog sticks as we approach a trash can. I grab her hand and intertwine our fingers again. I know this is the part where I kiss her. The part where my childhood ends and my teenage years begin, but I don't. I don't kiss her, not yet.

"Hey, you wanna ride the Ferris wheel?" Josette smiles at me. "I mean, it'll be good because we just ate and it doesn't really spin or make you uneasy. I really wanna see the whole town." She blushes and I nod, walking over to the line and waiting. Once we get in our little section, we sit on opposite sides. I take both her hands and look around as as we make the steady inclination upward.

That's when I see her.

She's walking the carnival grounds alone. Her blond hair is so blond it's white and her tan suits her white dress well. I can't see her well from here, but something about her makes me want to jump off this damn thing and fly to her. If it were possible, I might try it. Josette keeps talking and I answer in short uh-huh or a grunt of some kind. I keep looking around, but eventually I lose the girl. I feel as if my life amounts to nothing.

"Christopher?" Josette's voice turns my attention to her. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just don't like heights." I lie. I feel bad, but the lie is exactly the type of thing Josette had been waiting for. A way to comfort me or get close to me in some way. She leans forward.

"Does this help?" She grabs the back of my neck and pulls my face toward hers, my mouth crushing against hers. Her lips are soft and taste faintly of strawberries. I let my eyes flutter closed to enjoy the kiss. The kiss is quite enjoyable, but somethings off. There's no spark. My stomach didn't turn.

When we finally get off the Ferris wheel, I'm holding Josette's hand and her head's resting on my shoulder. We take a step forward when the girl with white hair crosses our path. It's curled and has serious volume which must have taken a gallon of hairspray. It's beautiful, though, and she wears a tan head band around her forehead. Three freckles outline the outside curve of her left eye. The dress she's wearing is almost the same as Josette's, though it's white and in the middle is a sewn on cowboy. It would have been comical on someone else, but on her it was...incredible. I breathe out and my eyes lock with hers for a few brief seconds. I'll never forget those gray eyes as long as I live.

"Who's that?" I let the words fall out of my mouth. They weren't intentional, but Josette didn't seem like she cared.

"That's the new girl. She'll be in our grade on Monday." So this was the girl Marcus had talked about. There were so many questions I had about her, but none I could speak aloud right now. Where does she live? Will she have any classes with me? Is she single? What's her name? Would she ever consider dating me? I had so many questions, but I knew one thing was for sure. Dad's words from the ice cream shop rang loud in my mind.

Oh God, that girl made my stomach turn.