Freaks and Fortune

"Get outta here!"
"No fair, I paid my tickets!"
"I don't care!" I shouted. "You've been up here at least ten times this morning!"
"But I paid already!"

A pudgy boy of about eleven had been bothering me all morning. He clutched the slobbery remnants of a bundle of blue cotton candy in his thick hand and a fat wad of yellow tickets in the other. He had just dropped the necessary five in the large glass jar on the table in front of me.

"Go away!" I shouted again.

He'd been back again and again, each time trying unsuccessfully to get me to kiss him on the mouth. The last time, he'd turned his head at the last second. I pulled back in time, though, evading his trick. I was not about to let him try again, no matter how many tickets he crammed into the jar.

The boy screwed his face up in anger and stormed away. I could see him cut in front of someone about halfway down the line. I sighed and mentally prepared myself to turn him down for the eleventh time that day.

I didn't run into him until about twenty minutes later when his turn came up again. He was fighting with another kid in line, trying to be the first to get up to me.

Oh. Wait.

That wasn't a kid.

It was Cal.

"You cut me!" Cal whined. "You didn't think I saw, but you totally got in line right in front of me!"
"Did not, did not!" the round boy shouted, attempting to punch Cal in the gut. Cal was too strong and didn't take any notice of the blows.
"Ivy," Cal pleaded. "Ivy, tell this kid to go away!"
"I already did!" I shouted over the two of them.

They stopped fighting and stared at me, surprised at my outburst.

"The both of you," I hissed. "Get!"

The little boy took off running like a scared animal. He stumbled over his own feet in his haste to get away. But Cal, on the other hand, stayed.

"Good!" he shouted to the boy over his shoulder. "Keep running!"
"Cal, you have to go," I told him through my teeth. "Now."
"Good thing you got rid of him," he laughed. "He was so annoying."

"Cal!" I shouted.

He stopped abruptly.

"What?"
"Go away."
"What?"
"Cal!"
"What? What?"
"There are people behind you," I hissed.
"So?"
"So... Go."

He looked over his shoulder to check if I was talking to someone behind him. He turned back to me, confused.

"No... No, I was in line," he said.
I scowled.
"I paid my tickets!" he insisted, smiling.
"I don't care," I told him. "I'm not... I won't... Go away!"

Cal's face fell. He became serious.

"I paid!"
"Leave!"

He looked troubled for a split second. His eyebrows knitted together and his jaw was tense. Then I blinked and it was gone. The light was back in his eyes and a smile teased his lips.

He banged his hands down on the table, lowering his face inches from mine. He was smiling wide now, trying very hard not to laugh.

"You're not being a very good sport, babe."
"Cal..." I warned.

But it was useless. He hoisted himself over the table that was supposed to separate me from the customers and grabbed my hand. I opened my mouth to protest but was cut short when I was ripped roughly from my chair.

"She's taking five, folks!" Cal shouted over his shoulder as he pulled me out and around to the back of the booth. I struggled, trying to get back to work, but Cal didn't even give me a second glance. He was able to tug me to a small alley-like clearing between the back of the Kissing Booth and the Cotton Candy stand.

An odd mixture of anger and the sugary smell of the cotton candy made my stomach churn. I scowled at Cal, who finally let go of my hand.

"What do you want?" I asked him hotly.
He smiled, showing all of his teeth. "How much do you want to bet that, in less than one minue, I can get you to kiss me?"
I snorted. "I'll take that bet. You seem to have grossly overestimated your charm... Or grossly underestimated my will because if you think that you're-"

He grasped the back of my neck and pulled me sharply to him. I turned my lips away at exactly the last moment and he nearly cracked my skull on his forehead.

"Ouch!" he yelled, clutching his stupid stubborn head.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"It's Ravi, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Ravi. He's the reason you won't kiss me."
"Cal, you like Savannah!" I reminded him. "Not me."
"I see how you're always hanging around with him. And Nina told me-"
"Whatever Nina says, it's not true!"
"So you and Ravi aren't-"
"No!"
"Then it's Anthony, isn't it?"

Without thinking, I took my frustration out on him, slapping his face hard. Of course, that didn't stop him for long.

"Ivy, babe," he said slowly, smiling. "How many times do you have to slap me to get that I like it?"
"You're a pig. I've got to get back to work."
"Love it, even. Turns me on, you know?"
"A pig and a masochist. You're a real catch."

He just laughed.

"I shouldn't be back here. You shouldn't be back here. Don't you have a show or something?"
He shook his head, his eyes coming to life.
"Well, fine. Whatever. Go... somewhere else. You're going to miss SpongeBob Squarepants on T.V. or something. You're going to miss... What are you doing?"

I interrupted myself. Cal was acting strange. Well, stranger. He'd angled his head down so that he was looking at me through his long eyelashes. A coy smile worked it's way into his mouth. He started walking toward me.

"How much do you want to be that, in less than one minute, I can get you to kiss me?" he asked, impossibly quiet.
"S-Stop," I uttered. It sounded like a statement instead of an order.

He kept coming.

"Cut it out," I pleaded, genuinely getting freaked and backing up into the solid wooden backing of the Cotton Candy stand.

He stopped short, his nose about a hair's breadth away from mine. I could feel my chest heaving but I couldn't stop my shaky breath. Slowly he raised his hand up in front of my face. Without breaking eye contact, he gripped the strap of the glove on his right hand in his teeth and pulled. It snapped off. He removed the glove with his left hand, pulling up on each finger delicately. He repeated the process with the opposite hand.

"Hold my gloves..." he said slowly, dropping the gloves into my palms. I was so transfixed, I hadn't realized that I was holding them out.

Cal stepped back. My heart leapt up into my mouth and started to beat inside my tongue. He raised his fists up to his sides and bent his head forward. His hair shook down into his face.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but stopped short. Cal gritted his teeth, flicked his fingers out and turned his open palms to the clouds. A jagged stream of bright orange fire climbed through the air. It twisted impossibly high, yellows blending with oranges and red... but blue at the base, the center of his palms.

I couldn't move, couldn't say anything. I crushed Cal's gloves in my hands, digging my fingernails into the flesh of my palms.

Cal contorted his face, concentrating. The flames started growing hotter... The blue base spreading up into the middle of the column. Soon, I could feel the heat crackling through the air, stinging my arms and face. The blue kept going and going, then the base became green.

I panicked. The heat was making waves... I could hardly see Cal, even though he was right in front of me. The flame became green, green, green. Bright green. I pressed my back up against the wall of the Cotton Candy stand and screamed,

"Cal!

All at once, he stopped. He clenched his hands into fists and the stream of flames evaporated into the air. I couldn't move.

Cal calmly took a packet of cigarettes from the inside of his jacket pocket. He slipped one between his lips and snapped. A small, delicate flame appeared, hovering over his thumb. He lit the cigarette, and took a long luxurious drag.

He exhaled, letting out a mixture of smoke and fire. He casually strolled towards me and took his gloves from my hands. He had to tug a bit because they were still clenched into tight fists.

I tried to talk, but only made a small squeaking sound.

Cal laughed around his cigarette and pulled his gloves on. He leaned forward, took his smoke out and held it between his first two fingers. Then, he pecked me on my motionless lips. I could taste the tobacco and diesel on his breath.

I made another squeak.

"Told you so," Cal teased.

He waltzed back into the open, humming "I Kissed A Girl And I Liked It" by Katy Perry.