Wanderlust ✓

10. Joyous

"There's a pier close by, wanna walk with me?" I was surprised by Parker's casual tone, him seeming to forget about our 'moment' just a few minutes ago.

I slipped off my sunglasses to get a good look at him and see if he was serious. Sure enough, he stood in front of me, with only swim trunks on, and arms crossed in anticipation of my response.

I smiled up at him, putting my book and now sand filled towel into my bag. "Sure! Is this the one with the carnival games?"

He nodded as I stood up and joined him in walking down the shore to get there. "It even has a Ferris wheel at the end, overlooking the ocean. How'd you know?"

"I did my research. There's a lot of cool spots here in Miami."

He laughed, "You nerd. But yeah I agree, many more things to do here than in North Carolina."

I put my arms out and spun around in a circle, feeling the breeze. "Much better. We're gonna be able to enjoy the weather the next three days with the festival. You excited?"

"Hell yeah. I've been waiting for it ever since I called in."

I looked down and kicked the sand as we kept going, "Listen. I'm sorry if I ruined this for you. I know you won to go with your friend and we both didn't want to go with each other. So you can just go to the festival by yourself, then I won't be there to-"

I stopped talking when I felt a warm hand land on my wrist and I halted in place as did he. Parker gently lifted up my chin so I would look into his sincere eyes. "Hey, no! I will agree that we both didn't expect to be here together but don't feel guilty for being here. You actually turned out to be okay to be around."

Chuckling as he let go of me, I replied, "You love me already don't you? I can tell by how much you've been touching me recently," I teased, swinging my flip flops around in my hand.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder playfully, "I know you love it, don't lie," he whispered into my ear, making me shiver in an unknown feeling.

Damn, what is he doing to me?

•••

"Now I know why you play soccer and not baseball." I said to Parker as he groaned and gave the booth worker another five dollar bill. He ignored me and threw another ball against the milk bottles, only knocking down two yet again.

When we got to the pier, I pointed out a bright pink teddy bear that you could win at one of the many carnival game booths and ever since my casual comment about it, Parker was determined to win it for me. He wasn't doing so well though...

I placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, "You can stop now Parker. I really don't need it, why don't we just move on."

"I know you don't need it but you do want it. And now it's not about the stupid stuffed animal, it's about me beating this fucking game!" He yelled, throwing another one in anger but missing the pyramid completely.

"Buddy, there's kids around. I don't think you're going to win so why don't you stop trying now." The booth worker said from the corner, looking bored and annoyed at the situation.

Parker looked at the teenage kid angrily and as he reached towards him, I got in front of him to distract him and try to win the game.

"Chill. I'll do it," I said, looking into his eyes as he suddenly relaxed. I grabbed the ball from his tight fist and narrowed my eyes at the bottles.