I am twenty years old. An adult. What does my father’s reputation have to do with me?
Just because he’s president of the Lions Club, and has the largest car dealership network in North Carolina, doesn’t mean he has to have a daughter who never gets to have any fun.
As Courtney, Maddie and I near the gates, the noise of the rides and people screaming, as well as the incredible smell of funnel cakes make me regret the zombie movies. I can watch those anytime, we missed all the fun here.
The carnival is super busy. Half the young people in the town of Colmar are here, waiting in line to get in.
“What are we doing first?” Maddie asks.
“Let’s go on the rides before the lines get too long,” Courtney says.
“Ooo, good idea,” I say.
“Five bucks each admission,” the ticket man says. I recognize him as John from the Lions Club, this whole weekend is their biggest fundraising event. They keep the entrance price, the carnival takes everything else. My father helps organize it.
We pay our money and bustle each other into the park.
“Let’s go straight to the back and work our way forwards,” Maddie says.
“The Ferris wheel first?”
“Come on,” Courtney grabs our arms and we rush through the midway to get to the rides.
“Hey pretty girls, come win yourself a SpongeBob,” a guy at a game stall calls.
“First try is free,” another man at another stall says, spinning a basketball on his finger.
“Don’t look at them, just ignore them all and hurry up,” I say. I hate the games, I don’t see the fun of them. They’re all rigged or impossible to win.
“How is there already a crazy long line-up?” asks Maddie.
“Ferris wheels always take forever to get on, since they have to put someone on, move the wheel and put someone else on,” Courtney says.
“It’ll still be faster to get on now than it will later,” I say.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Maddie says.
We join the end of the line. There are dozens of people ahead of us.
Two guys with tattoos poking out from their yellow carnival worker t-shirts walk from the Ferris wheel and along the line.
“They’re cute,” Maddie says.
“Definitely yummy. Too bad they’re carnies,” Courtney says.
“All muscley hard coated-in-tattoos carnies,” Maddie says.
“Stop it, we’re staring at them,” I say, trying to drag my eyes away from the taller one.
Both their bodies are pure muscle, but his chest strains the seams of his shirt. He looks surprisingly clean, even though he’s covered in tattoos. Oh God, he even has a neck tattoo. A scorpion crawls across the right side of his neck, as if it’s crawling from the back of his neck. Its pincers reaching forward, and its tail curled and ready to strike.
His dark hair is cut short in a stylish way even my father would approve of. But most of all, his piercing blue eyes are looking straight at me, dazzling me.
“Why, you three are the cutest girls I’ve seen in weeks. Especially you, Goldilocks,” the blue-eyed guy says without slowing down or breaking his stride.
Courtney and Maddie laugh.
“Do you use that line in every town?” Courtney asks.
He chuckles, transforming his already attractive face into movie star quality. I try to look away, to let the lights of the moving Ferris wheel lure my gaze, but I can’t. Courtney’s right, of course, but I can’t help being flattered that he singled me out.
His blue eyes rake up and down my body. My cheeks heat in a blush, and I look away before Courtney notices.
“See you girls around,” he says, as the two of them walk by us.
I turn my head to watch them, but recoil in shame when I find him looking back at me. Swallowing hard, I shuffle forward to keep up with the long line.
My mind drifts back to the conversation with my father.
“Funny how you don’t care who your sons hang out with, aren’t you worried about them ruining your reputation?” I said, trying not to sound angry.
“My sons are both men now, their reputation is their own.” One of my brothers is eighteen, younger than me.
“But I’m a woman, so my reputation isn’t my own?” I said, widening my eyes but actually wanting to slap him.
“And my assistant business manager, who will one day be my full business manager.”
“So what? You’re letting Max run one of your dealerships, and no doubt you’ll give one to Cody too. It’ll probably be a high school graduation present.” My brothers get everything.
“That’s got nothing to do with you,” he snapped. Of course it has everything to do with me, he gives my brothers everything, and me nothing but a hard time.