5. Gemini Black #3
“My dad pledged Omega too,” she said, and when she said that, the smile was quickly wiped off my face.
Not because she said something out of pocket, but because I knew the story about her father. I didn’t know all the details, but I knew he was no longer here. I’m sure she probably still felt pain behind that, and I didn’t want to continue sitting here smiling, as if it was funny.
“Yeah? I didn’t know that,” I responded.
“Yeah. He did. He wasn’t loud, and in your face with it, but he definitely repped it,” she said, and hearing that, he sounded like me. I repped my fraternity but just didn’t do the most about it.
I took a few moments before I responded. I didn’t want to make her sad with what I was getting ready to say, but at the same time, I also didn’t want to choose to ignore it.
“I never got the chance to tell you that I’m sorry about what happened to your dad,” I kept it simple, not wanting to dig too deep with it.
“It’s okay. Thank you though. I appreciate it,” she said, and I dropped it after that.
I finished my food, and Amina finished hers. There was a trash can next to us, so I grabbed our plates, and tossed them in the trash. Next, we stood, and Amina unwrapped her candy apple, eating it while we walked.
“You get on rides?” I asked her.
As if I was speaking a foreign language to her, she tilted her head to the side, staring at me for a second, as if she was trying to figure out if I was serious or not.
“Me? Get on a ride that they fold up, put on the back of a trailer, and drag it from city to city? Hell no,” she said to me, and hearing that, I shook my head.
That sounded like some shit that my sister would say. Gianna was scary as hell and never wanted to get on the rides. When we were kids, she would only get on rides that stayed on the ground, and that didn’t go too fast.
“You wouldn’t even get on the Ferris wheel?” I asked, knowing that the Ferris wheel was my favorite ride of all time.
“Hell no. Especially not the Ferris wheel,” she said.
“Why though?” I wanted to know.
“It’s too high,” she was quick. She had a fuckin response for everything.
“That’s the point of the Ferris wheel. That’s a good feeling being up there, rocking back and forth, looking down at what’s beneath you,” I tried to convince her, but you could see it in her eyes that she wasn’t going for it.
“Aight, let’s make a bet. What’s something you’re confident you can beat me at?” I wanted to know.
She looked around until her eyes landed on one of the carnival games. She pointed at the water race game. I remember playing that game as a kid too. I knew I could beat her ass in that game, so I had no idea why she even picked it.
“That game over there. I’m good at it. I know I’ll beat you in it,” she went on to say.
“Aight. Come on. I never played it before,” I lied, knowing damn well that I’ve played it multiple times, and I’ve never lost.
“If I win, you gotta get on the Ferris wheel with me. If you win, you don’t have to. That’s cool?” I asked.
“You’re not beating me in that game, Gemini. I’m telling you, you’re not. I’m competitive as hell. I don’t like to lose,” she said, sounding like me because I was competitive my damn self, not liking to lose, either.
“Aight. Come on. Let’s see,” I said, leading the way.
Man, we made it over to the game, and I really was putting on that role, acting like I didn’t know shit about the game. I had the worker explain to me how it worked and everything.
It was just the two of us. She took a seat down in one of the chairs, and I went right next to her, after handing the worker the money.
“Okay, folks. First one to make it to the top wins. On your mark… get set… go!” he stated, and I let Amina get a head start, thinking that she was going to win, but seconds later, I came at her ass hard, letting the water shoot out exactly on the black dot that was in the middle, and my clown shot up, bypassing hers.
Within seconds, the bell started ringing, letting me know that I’d won.
“We have a winner. We have a winner,” the worker yelled out.
I wished I had my phone in my hands to pull out and record the look on Amina’s face. She looked sick to her stomach, knowing that she’d just lost this race.
“You cheated! You said that you never played before,” she fussed, while I laughed.
“I ain’t cheat. I lied, love. It’s a difference. Choose the prize you want. Which one you going to get?” I asked, standing up from the chair.
“I’ll take that brown teddy bear right there,” she said, pointing with her finger.
She picked the one that I wanted her to have. It was the biggest teddy bear that was hanging. It had dark brown fur. Big round ears, with a cream- colored snout.
The worker reached up for it, and with a smile on his face, he handed it to Amina.
That big ass bear swallowed her once she held it in her arms. She wrapped her arms around it and laughed.
Her laugh was contagious, so I stood next to her, legs spread a little, with my arms crossed, looking down at her, as I smiled.
Something about this moment made my chest tighten a little bit.
This felt familiar. Nostalgic in a sense.
Made me feel like a teenaged boy all over again.
The teenaged boy that used to get dropped off to the fair, chasing behind the girls.
Blowing my money that my mama, and my step- dad had given me, trying to impress the girls with the carnival games, winning them teddy bears and shit.
I remember back in the days, if you could win your girl a teddy bear, you were the shit, especially if you won her something in one of those basketball games.
Standing here, watching Amina laugh and smile, while carrying this giant ass teddy bear in her arms, made me realize that I hadn’t felt something like this in years.
It doesn’t even have much to do with me finding her attractive.
That wasn’t the feeling. It just made me think about my youth, compared to where I was now.
Life had gotten so serious with bills, running a business, and all the responsibilities that I had.
In this moment, none of that shit mattered to me though.
Seeing Amina smile and laugh about this goofy ass teddy bear, had the ability to make me feel as if I was a teenager all over again.
“What you going to name him?” I was curious to know.
“You like Bruno?” she asked me after a few seconds.
“Yeah. I fuck with it. Come on. You lost the bet, so you gotta get on the Ferris wheel with me,” I said.
I just knew that she was going to have some kind of rebuttal.
I knew she would be a sore loser, and not get on the Ferris wheel with me, but she didn’t.
She walked over to the ride with me, and she was able to get on with Bruno.
Like he was a real person, she sat him next to her once she sat.
I sat on the opposite side of her. The worker gave us a quick set of rules, made sure that we were secured, and he walked away.
I could see it all over Amina’s face that she was scared out of her mind.
“You scared because you’re thinking about it. Don’t think about it. Just chill. Look at Bruno. Bruno chilling. That’s how you gotta be,” I joked.
I could tell that her fear subsided just a little bit.
She relaxed a little. When we made it to the top, she did let out a little scream, but once she realized that her ass wasn’t going anywhere, and that she was safe, she calmed down and took it for what it was.
Once she saw that we had the perfect view of the carnival and was able to look down and see the entire thing, she relaxed and wasn’t freaking out anymore.
She did that for a little while, and then she turned her head, so that she could look at me.
I was looking at her as well. Because we were so high up, every few seconds, a different color from the carnival lights flashed over her.
The lights caused the brown in her eyes to really stand out.
Big, beautiful brown eyes. Her eyes is how I would know the kind of mood that she was in.
Since they were so big, it’s almost like they spoke for her.
I’ve been seeing sadness in them since she’d got on the truck with me.
I saw something different in them tonight though.
Her eyes showed that she was relaxed. She wasn’t thinking about the problems that she ran away from back home in London.
Instead, she was caught up in living in the present.
“I don’t know if I’m losing my mind behind everything that I’m going through, but I’ve never been the type that’s easily persuaded.
Once my mind is made up about something, I stand on it.
I got on a truck with you. Mind you, getting in the car with other people isn’t something that I do often.
Everyone doesn’t drive like they have sense, so I’m very cautious about who’s passenger’s seat that I sit on.
Not only that, but I showered at a damn truck station.
Not once, but twice, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other times to do it too.
I slept on a bunk bed inside of a truck.
I’ve never in my life been on a Ferris wheel.
I don’t get on carnival rides. I’ve always been too afraid of doing it.
What is it? How do you keep getting me to do things that I would never in a million years agree to? ” she inquired.
“Shit. I’m him,” my answer was simple. She rolled her eyes at me, waving me off like I was talking straight bullshit to her.