Walk in the Sun

It had been three days since Sidney brought me back to the Chi. The last two days, I spent my time daydreaming about Halifax, and my time with Sidney. Sitting at the dinner table, the twins, Carmel and Gary all noticed my “odd behavior.” I didn’t think it was odd to miss someone. I did, however, think it was odd to miss someone you just met this much. I would hold my cellphone in my hand waiting for it to go off with a text from Sidney. The twins picked up on that real quick and started texting me randomly throughout the day. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly it was about him, but I found myself in a funk without Sidney. I nervously chuckled to myself, asking myself if I was really in a funk like this over some boy. Apparently, I was.

I felt guilty for not wanting to go anywhere. I knew that the twins, Carmel and Gary had a bunch of things planned for me and I was stuck in this funk. I would only leave my room for meals or to use the bathroom. On the rare occasion that I was just too bored sitting in my room, I would go into the main living room. Of course, I would stay to myself clutching my phone, but I would at least leave my room.

I was sitting on my bed, staring up at the ceiling remembering how easy it was to talk to Sidney and how I would give anything to go back to that arena in Cole Harbour. I found myself attached to that place. Thinking about it a little more, I wasn’t what I was attached to more: the arena itself, or the boy who brought me there. Before my thoughts could indulge in a debate, there was a knock on my door. I didn’t get a chance to say it was open before Jess came barreling in. She pounced on my bed and gave me her best smile.

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this funk. Get up!”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She sighed. “What if I told you there was a possibility you’d get to see ‘lover boy’, would you get up?”

My ears perked up at the thought of seeing Sidney, but I still didn’t get off my bed.

“First of all, he has a name. Secondly, he’s not my ‘lover boy’, and lastly, I’ll consider it. What did you have in mind?”

She squealed lightly, happy that she got me to think about leaving the house.

“Well, we were thinking of going to Timmie’s.”

I scoffed.

“Timmie’s? You big scheme to get me about of bed it to tell me we’d go to a coffee joint?”

She sighed.

“Well, Sidney’s face is all over it. He’s like the spokesmodel for them or something.”

I chuckled lightly at the thought of Sid being a model.

“It’s spokesperson and I think I’ll pass.”

I grabbed my tv remote off of the bedside table before snuggling into my covers a little more. I was trying to see the tv, but from the way I was laying, Jess was blocking my view. I raised my eyebrow at her.

“You know, you make a better door than a window.”

She sighed and got off the bed. She walked over to my door and opened it. As she walked out I heard her say to someone that she tried. I was partially curious as to who she was talking to, but then figured it was probably Jenn. My door opened again and I didn’t even look at the door, I just huffed.

“You know, Jess already tried, so there’s no use for you to do the same.”

“Well, I don’t think Jess tried hard enough.”

A smile instantly appeared on my face as I leapt out of bed.

“SIDNEY!!” I jumped on him, engulfing him a huge hug. “What are you doing here?!?”

He chuckled and set me on the ground.

“Well, clearly the funk that you’ve been in as of late spread a little bit.”

I smirked as he continued.

“I came by yesterday while you were taking a nap and your cousins and I made a plan.”

I raised my eyebrow at him then looked past him at the twins, who looked like they were holding on to each other for dear life. I shook my head then looked back at Sidney.

“What kind of plan?”

“Well, first of all, it would involve you getting out of those pajamas and into some real clothes. The rest of the plan, as you could probably expect, is a surprise.”

I rolled my eyes.

“And what if I don’t agree to said plan?”

Sidney grabbed my hands and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Steph, come on. You’re here to experience the Maritimes and spend time with your cousins. I admit, the day that we had was great, and I’d love to have more of days like those before you go back home, but you can’t coop yourself up here all summer.”

My heart melted as I looked into his eyes. I still couldn’t figure out what it was about this boy, but he could always see right through me.

“Okay, okay. I’ll get dressed and be downstairs in a couple minutes.”

Sidney smiled and left my room. I chuckled lightly to myself as I picked out an outfit to wear for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night

After the day that the twins and Sidney had planned, I was glad that I left my room that day.

Flashback

I came downstairs and saw that the twins were sitting on the couches with their boyfriends and Sidney was sitting on his own on one of the chairs.

“So, what’s the plan?”

The twins stood up and walked over to me. Jess put her arm around my shoulder.

“Well, since you missed Sidney so bad and we missed spending time with you, we decided to make the best of both worlds.”

I raised my eyebrow, not having a clue as to what she was talking about.

“Okay, and how exactly are we going to do that?”

Jenn smiled at me then shared a smirk with Jess.

“We’re going to the fair!”

I finally cracked a genuine smile. I loved going to fairs. Cotton candy, going on rides, playing games to win stuffed animals; I loved it all. I looked at Sidney and he had a HUGE grin on his face. I walked up to him.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this? The last time us three girls went to a fair, we pretty much tore the roof of the place…well, the tents..and the rides..and well… oh, you know what I mean!”

Sidney stuck his tongue out at me.

“I think I can handle it.” He looked around the room. “We ready to go?”

Everyone responded with a unanimous “YES!” and we were out of the door.

When we got to the fair, we all split up, but agreed to meet at the Tilt-a-Whirl. The Tilt-a-Whirl was the one ride that made everyone feel like they were going to be sick, but you had the most fun on all the same.

We separated into “couples”, leaving me with Sidney. Not that I was complaining. I wanted to have Sidney’s company. The first place we went to was a shooting game. It was my favourite. I wasn’t one to shoot living things, or hunt, but I loved that game. I gave the man at the booth my tickets and got into position. Sidney started to laugh at me. I turned my head and raised my eyebrow at him.

“You’re really intense about this one, aren’t you?”

I smirked. “This... this is my game. Just watch and learn.”

I got myself back into position. I hit the all three targets and got to choose a prize. I had my eye on this oversized penguin. It was so adorable. I pointed to it and when I got in my arms, it was so incredibly soft. I snuggled into it as Sidney and I walked to the next game.

The next game we came to, we noticed that Jess and her boyfriend, Scott we also there. I walked up to Jess and whispered in her ear.

“You sure you wanna try this one again?”

She turned around and smirked at me.

“Oh, it’s on. Hey Scott, will you hold this. This one and I have a score to settle.”

I smirked and walked back to Sidney.

“I know it might be embarrassing for you to hold this, but could you? Jess and I have a score to settle on these bumper cars.”

He laughed and shook his head.

“It’s no problem. Go settle your score and I’ll be waiting with Scott.”

I smiled and ran over get in line with Jess. While we were waiting in line, Jess decided to put a bet on the table.

“Okay, so if my bumper car gets stuck first, I’ll let you drive my car for the rest of the summer. If yours gets stuck first, you can’t complain if you don’t see Sidney for a whole day.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Well, I’m down for a bet, but not that one.”

She put her hands on her hips.

“Okay, what do you propose?”

I thought for a few seconds, then finally it came to me.

“I’ll let you keep your side. If my car gets stuck first, I won’t be able to complain about not being able to see Sidney. However, I’ll change my side. If your car gets stuck first, you have to drive me to Halifax whenever I ask.”

She scoffed then smirked at me.

“I should’ve known you would pick something that would involve a certain hockey player.”

I put on my best “innocent” smile.

We shook on the bet and waited in line.

End Flashback

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat cross-legged on the floor and smiled at the memory. I had so much fun on the bumper cars with Jess. It made me feel like a little kid again. The best part of my day came just before we were scheduled to meet for the Tilt-a-Whirl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flashback

Jumping out of my bumper car, I walked over to Sidney. He handed me back my penguin and gave me a small pouty face.

“What’s with the sad face, lost puppy?”

“Scott mentioned there might have been a bet placed between you and Jess. You lost.”

I tried to control it, but I ended up bursting into giggles.

“Oh, it’s nothing major. I just can’t complain about not seeing a certain someone after he goes back to Halifax.”

Sidney smiled.

“You complain when you can’t see me?”

I looked at the ground suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“Ummm…it’s not that I complained exactly. It was more like I moped around the house.”

Sidney put his hand under my chin and lifted my head so my gaze met his.

“Believe me, the feeling is mutual.”

I smiled and we walked away from the bumper car tent.

End Flashback

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was laying down clutching my penguin to my chest as I watched TV. I wasn’t really paying all that attention to the show that was on. My mind kept drifting to the fair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flashback

Sidney had decided to joining on the “family gambling”. He bet me that I couldn’t win the other oversized stuffed animal that was hanging at the shooting game. It was a red cat. I could only image it would be as soft as my penguin. I listened to his terms before I took him up on the bet.

“If you miss one target, I get to take you out for ice cream after….”

I cut him off before he even said what would happen if I hit all three targets. I smiled at his sly way of asking me out on a date without actually asking me. Now, I just had to try to miss a target.

“Okay, Crosby. You got yourself a deal.”

We shook hands and walked over to the shooting game. The man running the booth wasn’t surprised to see me come back. I gave him my tickets and got in position. I smirked over at Sidney and shot the first target. Hit. I silently cursed myself. The first one was always the hardest of the three. Regardless, I went on to the next target. I tried to switch up my position, but I still managed to hit the target. I looked over at Sid with a hint of a sad face. He just smirked at me and I didn’t know what was going on.

Next thing I knew, I saw that the penguin I had previously won was placed in front of the third target. Then I felt a pair of strong hands place themselves on top of mine. Before I could turn my head, a voice whispered in my ear.

“Now, do you really wanna shoot your innocent penguin?”

The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. Goosebumps began to form all over me. I turned my head and met Sidney’s gaze. He was smirking at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I didn’t look back at the targets, but I felt my thumb press the button. Sidney’s gaze left mine and looked forward. I missed the target. Sidney backed away from me and took the penguin back from the man behind the counter. I turned to him with a smirk.

“You did that on purpose.”

He shrugged off my comment.

“I believe you missed a target. I now get to take you out for ice cream.”

I smiled, but then remembered the Tilt-a-Whirl.

“What about the Tilt-a-Whirl?”

Sidney pointed behind me.

“The ride is closed. It closed about an hour ago.”

I looked over at the ride then back to Sidney. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, off to the ice cream parlour?”

Sidney nodded and led me over to his car.

End Flashback

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shit! Do my cousins know we’re here?”

Sid chuckled from beside me.

“Relax, this was their idea.”

I snuggled back into him on the couch. Sam was curled up on the couch by my feet. I looked out the window as the sun set on Halifax, and smiled thinking of what the summer could bring.