24 April 2012
Chapter 2: Past Starts (Part 2) Denny
The photo showed me about fifteen years ago when I was only sweet sixteen. My family had come here to this small seaside town for a summer vacation and I had had my first holiday romance with Dean. It had been Easter break and the fair had been in town.
Mum had given my brother Greg and I some money to go ‘treat ourselves’.
“What ride do you want to go on first?” Greg asked as we walked along the road that was no longer accessible to traffic due to the fair being located there.
It was dark and the rides were lit up by brightly with coloured bulbs and painted with images of seductive looking women with large breasts and glossy lips. It made me feel ordinary with my plain black jacket, jeans and trainers. My hair was long and brown, with a light wave as I hadn’t bothered to straighten it at the caravan.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “They all look pretty lame to me.”
There was the familiar crashing of bumper cars and the rotation of horses on the carousel. Then there were the more dangerous rides for the older kids like Rock City where a row of chains rotated up and down getting faster and faster, Metropolis where everyone put their faith in centrifugal force as they stood in a cage making up the mechanical wheel that spun around until you stuck to the wall before turning on its side. There was also a ride called Niagara Falls that I had been on before which was two carpeted tubes that spun in different direction causing you to fall to the grown and last time I got carpet burn. All of them looked like they would either make me sick or cover me in bruises.
“I’m gonna get some candy floss.” My brother said irritated by my lack of adventure. He had been bored at the caravan and the trip to the fair had been what had kept him going.
I begrudgingly followed him whilst he flirted with two young girls standing at the front. He was allowing them to steal a bit of the blue fluffy cloudy of sweetness that he had just purchased. My brother was terrible with his cheesy lines ‘are all the girls around here as gorgeous as you?’
One of the girls, who had slicked her hair back into a ponytail with two stands pulled down at the front, suddenly acknowledged me. She eyed me with her dark lined eyes, “Your girlfriend?”
“Sister.” My brother quickly corrected her but his grin clearly read ‘I’m in there!’
The girl rubbed her arms to brush off the cold. I wasn’t surprised she was chilly as neither of them was wearing very much. “Wanna game of pool?”
Obviously my brother said yes. He had lost all interest in the rides and his sole attention was on this girl, who to me looked like a slapper. Her friend was chewing gum and seemed to be eyeing everyone up for a fight. Even when she smiled at my brother her eyes were half closed and she almost looked as if she was snarling. I didn’t have anyone else to hang out with so with a sigh I followed them into the pier and warmth for a game of pool.
“You want to play?” The slapper asked me.
I shook my head. “I’ll just watch.”
She gave me this smile that literally said ‘thank you so much’ and I decided that under the make-up she could possibly be a sweet girl. I still wasn’t shining towards her friend who thankfully decided to go on a ‘wander’ once the balls had been set up. I felt a little like a gooseberry standing on the sidelines watching my brother tickle this girl every time she tried to take a shot. She giggled and blushed, “Stop cheating!”
Drift 2.2: Past Starts • Opuss № I