I woke up around 8:00 am feeling much better. I got out of my bed not feeling tired anymore from sleeping almost all day yesterday. I peeked over my bed to see Eric still asleep on the small mattress on the floor, he looked so peaceful. My mom peeked in my room, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m much better thanks, mom.” She smiled and walked down the hallway. I tiptoed to my closet not wanting to wake Eric up. I opened the door happy to finally wear something other than flannel pajamas. I threw on my favorite pair of Delia’s Jeans and a hooded white long sleeve shirt. I wanted to look pretty today not sick so I put on hoop earrings and a necklace. I looked at myself in the mirror before going downstairs for breakfast. I looked good and not sick… finally. I walked down the stairs and opened the fridge trying to decide what I was going to have for breakfast today. Hmm… I thought cereal? No… granola bar? Not this morning. Toast, perfect! I closed the fridge and opened the closet to get a piece of bread. I shut the closet door, popped it in the toaster, and got the butter out of the fridge. I grabbed a plate and sat down waiting for the bread to pop out of the toaster and become toast. While I was waiting for my toast I got a glass of water wanting to stay as hydrated as I possibly could, I did not want to pass out again. After the toast popped I spread butter on it and ate it. It was nice to finally eat something that wasn’t soup or saltine crackers. It was wonderful not to be sick anymore I felt as sharp as a tack. When I was cleaning my dish and cup Eric walked down the stairs. He grinned at me “So how is our patient today?”

“Your patient is much better.” I said while walking close to him and pressing myself up against him. He laughed a little before bending down to kiss me softly, instead of kissing me on the lips like I wanted him to he kissed me on my cheek. I put my hands on his face and kissed him on the lips. While I kissed Eric my stomach did a quick flip which made me smile; I had missed that feeling. Eric pulled back first giving me a look of curiosity “Are you sure that you are okay? You seem very needy today.”

“Oh shut up.” I said giggling. Just then my Dad walked inside making me take a couple steps away from Eric not wanting him to see how close we were. My Dad tossed the news paper on the counter “Here is this morning’s mail and newspaper if any of you are interested. Well otherwise I am going to be headed off to work.” I walked over to my dad and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodbye Daddy I love you.”

“I love you to darling, goodbye Eric.” My Dad waved a little to Eric, grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door. Once my Dad was out of the driveway Eric crossed the room to stand next to me. “I wonder if…..” he said picking up the newspaper. He flipped threw it until he found the certain page he was looking for. He pointed to a little paragraph at the bottom. I read the headline it said Wanted. My stomach twisted as I read the paragraph. One of the names under the Wanted section was John. I looked up at Eric he was looking at me with a worried look on his face. “They haven’t caught him yet.” I said trying to break the tension.

“But that doesn’t mean they won’t catch him.” Eric said trying to convince me that everything will be okay or maybe he wasn’t just trying to convince me maybe he was also trying to calm himself down. As I looked into his eyes I could see how much he was hurt by John, how bad of a mark John made in his life. I grabbed the newspaper and tossed it to the side wanting to change the subject. “So... What do you want to do today?” I said smiling.

“Hmm… I’m thinking we should stay home and rest since one of us is just getting over her sickness.” Eric told me.

“Well I was thinking we could do something more fun than just sitting around in my boring old house. How about we go to the fair?” I asked him with pleading eyes. “Please Eric, please…. It will be fun!” I begged. “We can go once my mom goes to work and we will come back before she even notices we were gone because it‘s not like she would ever let me go anyways.” I said trying to persuade him. After a long pause Eric finally budged “Fine but on one condition, you have to rest a little before we go okay?”

“Fine.” I said not very happy with his condition but it was do able; for now anyway….

I obeyed Eric not wanting to but it was the only way to get my mother out of the house without knowing we were planning to go to the fair. Eric was sitting on the other end of the couch and we were just talking, mostly about what we were going to do once we got to the fair. My mom peeked in and we hushed our voices so she wouldn’t catch what we were saying. “Okay now will you two be alright?” she asked us.

“Yes mom we will I promise.” I said with a grin.

“Be good then and please don’t set the house on fire.” she said with a smile spreading across her face; she always says stuff like that.

“I will.” I said getting up and walking over to her. I kissed her and hugged her before she left to go to work. I saw Eric head upstairs as I watched my mom pull out of the drive way, drive down the street and around the corner. I went upstairs to get Eric and grab some money so we could head out soon. “Eric? Did you see my mom leave? She’s gone, we can go!” I yelled up to him, “Eric?“ I asked not knowing where he was. I walked into my room. “Oh there you are, are you ready to go?” I asked grabbing a sweatshirt, a purse, and $50.

“Um…. Skylar I don’t have money with me.” Eric said pushing his arms through his sweatshirt sleeves. I pulled on my converse shoes and laced them up. “But I do have some money at my house. It might not be- oh never mind.” Eric said.

“Okay then we will go get money from your house and go to the fair.” I told him perking up. “I am so excited! This is going to be so much fun!” I grabbed his hand, pulled him down the stairs and out the door behind me.





After Eric drove us to his house and got his money we were on the road to the Topsfield Fair. I turned the radio up high and started singing along with Taylor Swift to her song Change. Eric glanced over at me and smiled “You never told me that you sing.”

“Everyone sings to the radio.” I said blushing and then I kept on singing. I rolled down the window and let the wind blow my hair back. I felt awesome as the music surrounded me and I looked over at Eric, he was still smiling at me which made me laugh. When the song “She’s got a Boyfriend Now” by Boys like Girls came on Eric joined me and started singing which surprised me. I grinned and turned up the music louder. The ride to the fair was fun; I was glad that Eric and I were sharing it together.





Eric opened the car door and helped me out of his car. I jumped out and Eric slammed the door shut behind me. “Let’s go.” I said grabbing his hand and swinging it. “You love the fair don’t you?” Eric asked.

“I’ve always loved the fair, the smell of kettle corn, pizza and cotton candy. Everyone screaming and laughing, all of the fun rides! Don’t you like the fair?”
I wondered looking up at him. “Yes I like the fair and I am very excited to be here with you.” Eric said bending down to kiss me on the forehead. Once we got to the ticket booth I took my phone out of my pocket to tell my mom that Eric and I got here safely, it was 12 o‘clock by the time we got there. While I was talking to my mom Eric handed the girl our tickets and we both went inside. I closed the phone once I was finished talking to my mom, Eric took my hand and pulled me along with him. “Let’s buy us some tickets for rides and games.”

“That’s just what I was thinking.” I said smiling up at him. We raced to the ticket stand giggling and laughing the whole way there. We got there hoping that the line wouldn’t be too long; to our luck there were only two or three people in front of us. We bought 20 tickets for each of us that cost us a big $30. We decided to go on a rollercoaster first, we picked the biggest one we could find, I was a little worried but it wouldn’t matter as long as I had Eric with me I would be perfectly fine. The line was pretty long but that gave Eric and I some time to talk and hold hands. Anyway waiting in the long line was totally worth it. I focused on the lyrics of the song Paranoid by Kanye West while we slowly climbed up the tracks getting ready to go down a huge hill. I saw the front of the rollercoaster start to go down the hill and I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt my stomach drop as we descended down the hill, I clutched onto the safety bar in front of me loving and hating the feeling at the same time. My head was still spinning once we got off of that roller coaster ride; it was a fun ride but probably not one that I would do again. I picked the next ride; we went on a spooky rollercoaster in the dark then after we went to the room that was filled with mirrors. I held Eric’s hand as we walked through the mirror filled room and I looked at our reflection in every mirror I could see; I found the room full of mirrors beautiful. We got some food, the traditional caramel apples, cotton candy, fried dough, that fun fair food. After we filled our stomachs I took Eric’s hand and pulled him with me to the ring toss. “Three rings please.” I told the lady at the counter. She handed me the rings and stepped aside waiting for me to toss them. I tossed the first ring and I missed, poorly. I grabbed the next ring, placed my hand behind my back ready to toss it and in my mid swing Eric grabbed my wrist. I held my hand still and looked at him with suspicion. “Like this.” he said while moving my wrist slowly back and forth. “It’s all in the wrist.” he advised me. I clutched the ring and he also held it our arms touching. I tried tossing the ring again and this time with help from Eric the toss was perfect; the ring resting on the stick. Eric took the last ring and held it out to me. “Here now you try.” he carefully placed the ring in my hand. Before I tossed it I glanced at him and he looked at me with confidence. I tossed the ring just like Eric had showed me, with a flick of the wrist. The ring just barely made it on the stick but to my astonishment there it was perched on top of the other one. Eric clapped softly and I did a little curtsy while giggling. We slowly moved on and I slipped my hand in his. “How did you know that?” I asked Eric.

“I used to play ring toss with my dad when I was a kid; he taught me a few things.” he admitted with a shrug. I let what he said settle in, Eric never mentions his parents; I have also never seen them. I didn’t want to pressure him too much by asking him questions about his parents but my curious mind got the best of me. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are your parents?” Eric hesitated and that was when I figured out that I shouldn’t have asked. Before I could tell him that I was sorry and take it all back he answered. “They um… don’t live with me.” that was all he told me and I knew better than to ask him anything else so I kept my mouth shut. We walked hand in hand in silence for a while, soon the silence started to eat away at me and I had to say something, anything to melt the awkwardness. “So, what time is it? It’s getting dark.” I exhaled heavily and leaned into Eric. He cleared his throat before answering me. “It is.. 4:45pm.” he said taking his hand from mine and placing his arm over my shoulders. It felt good, it felt right, I wrapped my arm around his waist hoping he was feeling the same…





Eric and I went on a couple more rides and soon after that the sun set with a tangerine colored glow. “We should probably go soon so that we are home before my mom.” I suggested.

“You’re right let’s go.” he said looping his arm around my waist and pulling me close to him. We walked out of the fair waving goodbye to the nice lady who gave us tickets, she smiled at us and she had a look of envy when she saw Eric’s arm wrapped around my waist. We got into the warm car and I prepared myself for a long drive home.