Gosh, just thinking about the comparison between my relationship with Mick of six months and my relationship with Rush of one week, the differences were stark. With Mick it had always felt so forced, the silences awkward like I had to hurry to fill them, the chemistry nonexistent. Yes, he was cute, and at first it had been exciting to have him like me, but that had soon faded.
With Rush, I didn't feel any of that. I felt happy and content.
Our hands were still interlocked, and as I looked down at them, I couldn't help thinking they were the perfect fit.
"So," I smiled, gazing at his handsome profile. "Are you finally going to tell me where we're going?"
He glanced over at me and smiled. "Nope. I want it to be a surprise."
I pretended to pout. "Fine."
"You'll like it, I promise."
His answer only made me want to know even more, but I didn't push it.
"Should we play a car game, then?" I asked.
"A car game? Really?" He seemed surprised.
"Yeah," I exclaimed. "My dad and I would always play car games when we were driving to sporting events." The memory brought me joy and pain. He'd always made car rides so much fun.
"Okay, what game do you want to play?"
I smiled at how he didn't seem to care that it was weird or childish that I wanted to play a car game but went along with it because he knew it would make me happy.
"Have you ever played 'In My Suitcase'?" I asked.
"No." He shook his head. "How do you play it?"
"You start by saying, 'I'm going on vacation, and I packed...' and then you have to say something that starts with the letter A. Then the next person says the same thing, repeating what was said for letter A, but then adds something that starts with the letter B, and so forth," I explained.
"That sounds easy enough."
"You think that, but when you get down to the letter S it starts to get hard to remember them all," I said. "You start."
"I'm going on vacation, and I packed..." he started, pausing to think of what to say. "My AirPods."
"Nice," I said. "I'm going on vacation, and I packed my AirPods and a bra."
"I'm going on vacation, and I packed my AirPods, a bra, and a condom," he said, not missing a beat.
"A condom? Really?" I laughed. "Out of all the C words you could have chosen, that's the one you came up with?"
"What?" he said, feigning innocence. "It starts with a C, and it's a good thing to pack."
I shook my head and laughed again. "Fine. I'm going on vacation, and I packed my AirPods, a bra, a condom, and a dress."
We kept playing the game, and every time it was his turn, he'd say something weird or random or inappropriate to get me to laugh, and it worked every time. After we were done playing that game, we played "Name the Artist." I put a random song playlist on, and we raced to identify who was singing. He'd hurry to blurt out a name, but more times than not, he was wrong. At one point, he kept guessing Taylor Swift, hoping to eventually get one right, but he clearly didn’t know any Taylor Swift songs. By the time we turned off the main highway onto a gravel road, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much.
Up ahead in the dark shone bright lights displaying a huge Ferris wheel, booths, roller coasters, and food trailers. A huge sign read "Hillside Carnival."
"We're going to a carnival?" I yelled in excitement.
"Yep." He smiled at me as he put the car in park.
I hurried to open my door, the crisp air hitting my face, and I was grateful I had brought my jacket.
We walked toward the entrance and I threaded my arm through his, not able to take the smile off my face. "How did you find a carnival that was still open in November?"
