Authors: Sable Sylvan
“Fluff pieces?” asked Damien.
“That’s exactly right,” said Crystal. She looked out the window: they were leaving the Seattle city limits. “This place is out of the city limits?”
“That’s right,” said Damien. “It’s actually at a carnival that just arrived in the area.”
Crystal frowned. She hadn’t heard of any carnival. “I guess I didn’t hear about that,” said Crystal. “But that sounds like a lot of fun. Think they’ll have food?”
“You really wanna spoil your appetite?” asked Damien.
“Hey, what’s the point of going to the fair if you can’t get a hot dog and a funnel cake?” asked Crystal.
“If you’d rather have that than go to a nice restaurant, I’m not about to stop you,” said Damien. “I’ll take you to the place I had in mind next time.”
“Ooh, somebody’s confident that there’ll even be a next time,” said Crystal. “You’re lucky I owe you these dates for that invite, Mr. Bear, so you better show me a good time, or else I’ll just call Delaina up myself and get another invite.”
“What, I haven’t impressed you yet?” asked Damien. “Well, give me until the end of the night and I’m sure I’ll have you begging for more...but after all, Crystal, you do owe me two more dates.”
“Fine, fine, we’ll go to the fancy place next time,” said Crystal. She looked out the window. There were glowing lights in the distance, and as the car approached the lights, they became clearer. There was indeed a large carnival in the middle of practically nowhere, with cars parked in a large lot, and a large Ferris wheel next to a few thrill rides, like the one that brings couples up into the air before dropping them down, hard, as well as some carnival games.
Damien saw Crystal’s face light up and his heart melted. “You psyched?” asked Damien.
“Absolutely,” said Crystal, not taking her eyes off of the many glowing attractions.
They parked and Damien opened the door for Crystal before taking her hand. Crystal looked down: she hadn’t expected Damien to touch her, but she also didn’t pull her hand away. She entwined her fingers in his as they walked to the gate. Damien had two tickets already ready, and gave them to the woman taking tickets. “Here you go, Damien,” said the woman.
“How did that woman know your name?” asked Crystal as they walked into the fair.
“Oh, we...worked together, once,” said Damien. “It’s a long story. Come on, do you wanna explore the fair? Have some real fun?”
“Sure, but...hey, you were the one that wanted to come here in the first place, for mini golf. Shouldn’t we do that first?” asked Crystal.
Damien was surprised. Crystal was impressing him more and more by the minute. No other woman he’d ever been on a date with had cared what he wanted to do...and here was Crystal, putting his desires before her own. “Yeah, let’s work up an appetite,” said Damien, walking with Crystal, through the center of the carnival, which was full of food vendors. “See anything delicious?”
“Where to begin,” asked Crystal, looking around. “Of course, cotton candy would really be a sweet treat that’s good to eat. Frozen lemonade...that’s delicious too. But I think what I really need is one of those sausages.”
Damien’s pants sausage twitched at the suggestion of hot meat entering Crystal’s mouth. “Hot sausage?” asked Damien.
“Yeah, in a bun or out of a bun, I do love sausage,” said Crystal.
“Big, meaty sausages?” asked Damien. “With lots of...toppings?”
“Oh, of course, and I really like the Polish and Italian ones,” said Crystal.
“Well...if it’s sausage you’re into...” said Damien slyly, before brushing Crystal’s hand over his pants so she could feel his bulge.
“Oh my God, really?” asked Crystal, pulling her hand away. The last thing she’d expected was that she’d feel Damien’s cock that night...but even through his pants, she could tell that he was really hung down there, and what was worse, it actually turned her on. “Damien, gross! This is a first date!”
“Hey, you had to know how dirty that sounded,” said Damien, taking Crystal’s hand again. “Sausages...buns...” The very thought of Crystal’s ample buns in his hands set Damien’s cock a-twitching.
“Okay, whatever mister, I guess I’m going to have to eat tofu and salads from now on, because I can’t imagine ever being able to look at a sausage the same way again,” said Crystal as they approached the mini-golf course. The mini-golf course was large and took up about half the carnival, but was pretty empty. Now that Crystal thought about it, the whole park was pretty empty, except for employees and some families playing games and eating food. It was also very clean. “Why’s the place so quiet tonight?”
“The carnival? No clue,” said Damien. Damien’s bear roared, telling him to just frikkin’ tell Crystal the truth, that the truth could win her over easily, and that before the night was over, he could have that curvy goddess in his bed...but Damien ignored the bear as frikkin’ usual. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You know, I bet my editor would love for me to write an article about this place,” said Crystal. “It’d be super popular with our readership.”
“Uh...sure,” said Damien. “But wouldn’t you rather write about something more important?”
“Yeah, but that’ll happen when pigs fly,” said Crystal. “Let’s get our clubs and balls.”
Damien resisted making a joke about how Crystal could have his club and balls. The pair got their putters and a set of three golf balls each, Crystal picking out a pink club and pink balls and Damien picking out a green club and balls.
“Didn’t take you for the type of girl that would like pink,” said Damien as they walked to the first hole.
“Really?” asked Crystal. “Why’s that?”
“You were wearing that goth ensemble when we first met,” said Damien.
“Goth? It’s called looking professional,” said Crystal. “Members of the press have to dress in all black so they don’t stand out too much.”
“Ah, like spies or ninjas,” said Damien.
“Well, if you hadn’t noticed, I’m dressed a lot differently tonight,” said Crystal, motioning to her outfit.”
“Okay, okay, so I guess I can’t judge a book by its cover,” said Damien. “Lesson learned. When was the last time you played mini-golf?”
“Oh, gosh, it was years ago,” started Crystal. She told Damien stories about her youth, and they learned more and more about each other as they played through the eighteen miniature golf holes. As they reached the sixteenth hole, it had started to sprinkle, and by the time they turned in their clubs (Crystal narrowly beating Damien by three strokes), there was a light rain.
Crystal and Damien high-tailed it to the food court area, which had canopies over the various vendor’s stands. “What do you want?” asked Crystal, pulling out her wallet.
“Hey, it’s a date, I’m supposed to be the one to treat you,” said Damien. He had to admit, he was impressed that Crystal was offering to pay. Never had a girl ever offered to pay before.
“Come on, you already lost at golf, you really wanna lose twenty bucks on food too?” asked Crystal. “What do you want?”
“Hey...I actually have these tickets for food,” said Damien, pulling out another string of tickets. “They work for the rides and for the snacks. After tonight, they’ll be worthless. So, we’ve got to spend them all tonight. What do you want?”
“Let’s see,” said Crystal. “A loaded sausage on a bun would really hit the spot...and a diet cola, because I worked up a real thirst playing mini-golf. Oh, and can we get fries and onion rings?”
“Of course,” said Damien. “And that cotton candy you wanted, did you want pink or blue or yellow?”
“Can I get all three, mixed together?” asked Crystal.
“Your wish is my command,” said Damien. “Go nab us those seats over there, under the canopy.”
Crystal walked over to a large wooden picnic bench which was situated on top of a large fake grass rug over the dirt. Above the table was a canopy, made of plastic to block out the rain, but underneath that top layer of canopy was another layer, in creamy white tulle fabric that, even thin, looked as warm and bright as a freshly baked sugar cookie. There were little amber glass light bulbs on a string, with glowing orange filaments. As Crystal looked through the curtains, she found herself getting lost in her imagination, before the smell of delicious food pulled her out of one fantasy and into another.
Crystal turned. Yes, the sausage in a bun was on the tray, as well as a drink she presumed was hers, but in addition to the fries and onion rings, there was every last dang thing she’d seen on the menu. There were jalapeño poppers, breaded, full of delicious ricotta and mozzarella cheese she would’ve been able to smell a mile away. There were broccoli cheese bites, the broccoli crowns peeking through the crispy golden batter. There were the regular fries, golden and straight and long as straws, but there were also salted and peppered potato wedges, as well as bright orange curly fries dusted with brown fragrant spices that almost transported her to an exotic land. There was a pair of corn dogs, with little zig-zags in yellow and red of mustard and ketchup, as well as a large pretzel with big grains of Kosher salt and dipping pots of cheese, mustard made with real mustard kernels.
“Whoa, you leave any food for the other people?” asked Crystal. “This is really quite the spread.”
“I’m glad you think so,” said Damien.
“Where’s the cotton candy?” asked Crystal.
“Trust me, you’ll wanna wait until after to see it made, up-close,” said Damien.
Crystal and Damien made short work of the food. Although Crystal was hungry from a long day running around Seattle chasing the hottest scoop, Damien actually ate way more than her. “Where is all that food going?” asked Crystal.
“I’m a bear,” said Damien. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”
“Okay, but what’s being a bear got to do with it?” asked Crystal.
Damien grabbed Crystal’s hand, and then, turned it over so that his hand was beneath hers. “Feel that?” asked Damien, gripping her hand tightly. “That heat? Mammal shifters are hot-blooded, and we bears burn energy like nobody’s business. You think this dinner’s big, you should see what I had for lunch.” Damien let go of Crystal’s hand, exposing his large palm to Crystal. The palm, and the undersides of his fingers, were marked with what looked at first like dark brown tattoos, but which, on closer inspection, were natural dark callus-like marks, forming the shape of a bear’s paw.
“I guess I don’t know that much about shifters,” said Crystal. “They didn’t have a lot of them in the town I grew up in.”
“Where did you grow up?” asked Damien.
“Some small town in the middle of nowhere,” said Crystal. “Well, to be more specific, in the middle of Idaho. I visited Seattle when I was little, with my parents, to see the Space Needle...and now, I visit Idaho to see the stars.” Crystal looked up, past the sheer canopy and lights. Even though they were a few miles outside the city limits, the sky wasn’t clear enough to see any of the stars in the night sky. The closest thing to glistening stars were the blinking lights of planes passing overhead.
“You know, I’m not from around here either,” said Damien.
“Really?” asked Crystal.
“Really,” said Damien. “But my town...well, it’s kind of the opposite. Ever heard of Port Jameson?”
“I can’t say I have” said Crystal.
“It’s a shifter town, down in Oregon, on the Willamette River,” said Damien. “And trust me...you can see the stars from there.”
“I’ll have to visit it sometime,” said Crystal with a smile. “Now...you
did
promise me some cotton candy, Mr. Michaels.”
For a second, Damien was confused. Who the heck was ‘Mr. Michaels’? Oh, wait. It was that pesky identity he had half-made up. He could tell her the truth later, but for now, he had to satisfy her sweet tooth.
Damien led Crystal over to a cart where an elderly Chinese man had a variety of flavors listed on a board. Damien asked the man for the ‘special’, and Crystal watched as the man worked his magic.
The cotton candy machine was like the one seen at most fairs, but, this man didn’t wrap the candy around a paper cone into a beehive shape. No, instead, he made an upside down circular-based cone, in yellow. He added pink sugar slowly, but then, that’s where the magic started. The man used a metal stick and poked the fluffy candy so that it was forming some shape. Crystal couldn’t tell what it was going to be quite yet. The man added more layers: white, pink again, and finally, a layer of green, and a layer of blue that was smooth. He passed the treat to Crystal and Crystal marveled at the giant cotton candy while Damien paid the man.
“This thing is frikkin’ huge!” said Crystal. “It’s a flower of some kind...but what kind of flower?”
“I think it looks like a lotus, floating on the water,” said Damien. “The blue is the water, the green is the lily pad, and the flower, well, there’s a yellow center, with white and pink petals.”
“It’s almost too beautiful to eat,” said Crystal. “But...the key word is
almost
.” She ripped a big hunk of the blue raspberry cotton candy and tried it. It was still hot and it melted in her mouth. Damien helped her make short work of the layers of green lime, yellow lemon, pink raspberry, and white cherry confection before they cleaned their hands off and walked around the fair some more to see what activities interested them.
It was still raining, but for the most part, the carnival wasn’t messy...except Crystal found the perfect activity for them to do. There was a section of the carnival away from the main drag with a large grassy area enclosed by a very tall chain link fence that covered the sides and the top of what consisted of a flat area, leading down to a small valley, with giant glowing bowling pins the size of three people, and large transparent rubber balls to launch at the pins inflated and ready by a carnie. There was no line for the attraction.
“Let’s do that,” said Crystal, taking Damien by the hand and leading him to the carnie. “Excuse me, how does this game work?”
“This is human bowling,” explained the carnie. “We put you in the giant rubber ball, your partner helps launch you at the pins, and if you two get a strike, you win a stuffed animal of your choice.” Crystal looked over the stuffed animals. There was one stuffed animal she really wanted: a giant bear with goofy eyes and paws.