Crashing Into Blue

Chapter 18

When we get to the booth Jasmine immediately grabs my hand and pulls me to the side.

"If you want to sneak off with Samson for a little while, don't even worry about it," she says softly while giving me a small hip bump. I muster up what I hope looks like some equivalent of a smile and not a terrified grimace at the prospect.

"Uh it's okay, we just needed a second." I pull us back into the group before Jasmine can question me further, Samson calling us over.

"So how you do you guys want to do this?"

Jasmine immediately perks up, as if she has been waiting for this moment. "I don't know about Lia, but I seriously want one of those teddy bears," she says while pointing to all the hanging stuffed animals above us, which I have to admit are quite cute in their own clichéd carnival existence.

The man behind the stand takes one look at Jasmine and I swear dollar signs flash in his eyes. Damn these game attendants, they can sense a target a mile away.

"Well young lady, I'm sure your boyfriend would be more than happy to win you one."

Jasmine looks to Patrick expectantly, and he makes a conscious choice to ignore it. I can feel Jasmine wither a bit beside me. And that, I think to myself, is why I didn't want to start here. I'm about to suggest we go to a different booth, and I spot one that has unicorn stuffed animals hanging above it, but Samson drops himself onto the stool, handing the attendant a dollar.

"Fire it up," he says with a twirling of his fingers.

With a huff (seriously, everyone remembers Samson's glory days) the attendant starts the countdown. Samson shuts his eyes (showoff) and the moment the buzzer goes off he hits the pinhole exactly. He easily beats the other people sitting farther down the row by a mile, and when his plastic horse crosses the finish line, Jasmine cheers and I clap. Samson at his best is infectious. He spins on the stool so that he's facing Jasmine and waves up to the prizes.

"Take your pick," he says while getting up from the stool. Jasmine immediately points to a brown bear wearing a seventies disco suit, and the attendant hauls it down with a giant little bo' peep type staff. He hands it to Samson, and Samson holds it out to Jasmine. She launches herself at the bear, giving Samson a hug while excitedly jumping up and down.

"That was insane! You did it with your eyes closed! Patrick, did you see that?" she says while clutching the bear against her chest.

"Yeah, I did. You still spending all your free time playing a kid's game, Samson?"

The smile drops off Samson's face, and Jasmine looks disappointed, as if she was hoping for a different outcome, but she covers it up as quickly as it appeared.

"Well between acing the SATs and getting into NYU, I would say a little free time is allowed," I hear myself say. All their eyes turn towards me, including the game attendant's, and I step up next to Samson and grab his hand confidently.

"You're going to win me one next, aren't you?"