Chapter 201: Car-Nage-I-Val (1)

Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Car-Nage-I-Val (1)

[Edward POV]

Selena's eyes widened in realization of what had just happened, and she swiftly pulled her lips away from mine. Her eyes become dazed and her hands become clammy.

Anxiousness flickered across her expression as she awaited my reaction, but to her surprise, I remained relatively unfazed, which left her feeling somewhat surreal.

"Well, that was interesting," I muttered in a casual tone, attempting to ease the tension.

Blushing, Selena anxiously interjected, "I-I- That kiss doesn't mean anything. Y-You should leave. And seriously, it DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"

Shaking my head, I offered reassurance, "Don't worry. I understand. I won't bring it up. It seems like you were just feeling vulnerable at the moment." As her expression began to calm, I playfully added, "Besides, let's be honest, it wasn't exactly a great kiss. It was a bit salty and snotty."

"WHAT!?" Selena exclaimed in disbelief, suddenly realizing that she had been crying. Embarrassment flushed across her face, and she rushed to the bathroom to check her appearance.

I heard stifled screams coming from the direction after she left. I chuckled and then stood up from the sofa to check up on her.

My thoughts about the kiss? Yeah, it was great. But I knew better than to bring it up or make something more out of it, given that I was currently in a 'situationship' with her best friend, and the fact that she was just doing it to make herself feel better after getting pretty bad news.

"Selena, you want me to call your 'manager' for you?" I asked as I stood in front of the locked door. I heard the sound of water running, presumably from her washing her face at the sink. Selena's manager is currently her mother and her step-father. Selena's manager happened to be her mother and step-father, and while I didn't know all the details of their relationship, it seemed to be more professional than a typical mother-daughter dynamic.

Selena hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "No. I'd already called her this morning."

"Oh. Have you told her about your condition too?" I asked with some concern.

Selena slowly opened the door, and her eyes became teary again. With a shaky voice, she said, "I did."

"And, what did your mother say?"

"She said that; it won't be bad until far in the future, so I can go to work today." A mix of frustration and resignation flickered in Selena's eyes as she replied.

After a moment of silence, I maintained a composed expression despite feeling a surge of anger within me.

Finally, I spoke up, my tone laced with sarcasm, "Well, since you're clearly having a rough day and can't get out of bed, I suppose I can take it upon myself to contact the studio on your 'manager's behalf. Then, let's play hooky at the pier. There's a festival there, so there's a lot of stuff to do."

Selena paused for a moment, her face turning slightly flushed as she stammered, "You're taking me on a date?"

I rolled my eyes in response and clarified, "No, it's not a date. Just because you kissed me doesn't mean I want to go out with you."

As Selena's relief washed over her, a hint of regret flickered in her eyes. Taking note of her mixed emotions, I added,""I thought it would be a good distraction and stress relief for both of us. I'm planning to invite my friends too. By the way, I haven't shared this with anyone yet, but my dad had a cancer scare yesterday and was diagnosed with cirrhosis. His liver isn't functioning well."

By revealing this personal information to Selena, I wanted to ensure that she understood my intentions were not rooted in pity or a desire to take advantage of her vulnerability.

Selena widened her eyes in surprise and then said, "Oh, Ed, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. It's not my liver. And I will make sure he stays alive whether he wants it or not. Alright, we should forget about these depressing topics. So, what do you say? Should we go outside? Because unless you're going to 'accidentally' do hand stuff with me next, I think we should go to the pier."

Selena's face froze, "I-I...I'M NOT GOING TO DO HAND STUFF–"

"Oh, so straight to the bed? You're kinda kinky." I said with a slimy look.

"SHUT UP! GET OUT!" She chased me out of the house by pushing my back.

I laughed and said, "I'll bring the car upfront. Go and get dressed. And oh, wear a large sunhat. You need to lessen your time in the sun."

"I WILL!" Selena shouted angrily, but in agreement to what I was saying. She slammed the door in front of me, and I laughed at her reaction. Then, I walked back to my house.

I didn't go to the Dunphys as I knew that Phil wanted to take his family out to the same festival. I called Alex first, as it was still early in the morning and I wasn't sure if Haley was awake.

The phone rang for a short while before Alex answered, "Hey. Good morning."

"Morning. Has your family gone out yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're already on the road." Alex replied. I heard Haley's voice from the other line saying to put the call on speaker. Then, I was greeted by a highly cheerful family. The greetings made me grimace a bit from their overenthusiastic energy, but also made me smile at the same time.

"Why did you call?" Alex asked. Then Haley added poutingly, "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?!"

I laughed a bit and said, "You're usually the last one to wake up, so, you know..."

Haley shouted in embarrassment, "No I didn't! I woke up very early today!"

Claire snided, "Still the last one of us to wake up, so Ed's not wrong."

"MOM!" Haley protested, clearly offended. I could imagine her widening her eyes and stared at her mother in disbelief.

Phil, unable to contain his excitement, interjected, "Ed, you should come with us! I heard that there are horses there."

"Pony." Claire corrected Phil.

"Horses? What kind of festival is this?" I asked with disbelief.

"Wait. Can you repeat that?" Alex caught something and her tone turned mischievous.

"Hmm? What kind... of festival is this?" I repeated my sentence slowly with some confusion.

"Yeah. You call it 'FESTIVAL'. It is a 'CARNIVAL'."

I shuddered at Alex's condescending tone, "WAIT- NO!"

"So I need to pretend to want something, even if what I really want is something else, but make people think that the first thing that I want is important."

(Can't really make Luke use big words. He's 10)

[Commentary ends]

The rest of the family in the car was baffled, and they felt a bit guilty about rejecting Luke's request for help. Then, they finally arrived at the carnival. Claire, Luke and Phil grouped together while Alex paired off with Haley and walked around together.

[Claire's commentary]

"Well, it won't be the worst thing in the world if Luke won." Claire said.

At the festival, Claire separated from her family while making sure that they wouldn't notice her and went to a Whac-A-Mole machine. She paid for a chance to play and went on to get a high score.

Then, she slowly returned to her family and then said to Luke in private while handing him the ticket, "You dropped this. You need a way to hold your tickets better."

And Claire really thought of that, because she also needed a way to sneak more tickets to Luke without him noticing.

[Phil's commentary]

"It'll be fun if Luke asks Edward to go to Trampoline world with us." Phil said.

At the festival, Phil pretended to have a stomach ache and went to a keep your balance game where he has to walk across a straight narrow beam 6 inches from the ground.

He won 5 tickets for that and went back to his family. Then, he snuck the ticket into Luke's ticket bag that Claire bought while Phil was away.

[Alex's commentary]

"I don't condone cheating behavior. But it'll be fun to see Edward lose." She said, hiding her true intention.

Alex participated in a quiz match at the carnival where she competed against 3 Asians and won. Haley was walking with Alex, and the little sister gave Haley the tickets for safekeeping.

[Haley's commentary]

While holding Alex's tickets, Haley smiled and said, "Oh, I'm not giving this to Luke. I will be holding it until the end of the match, and told Ed I got it to help him win if he was a few tickets short."

Then, her smile disappeared and her expression turned a bit anxious, " I didn't do this because I want's Ed to lose! I want Luke to get his wish too. But I have a feeling that Luke is hiding something."

[Luke's commentary]

Luke smiled mischievously and said, "I'm going to make Edward bake 10 cakes for me. I miss eating them all alone and sleeping for the rest of the day."

[Commentary ends]

...

When Edward finally arrived at the pier, he saw a huge banner at the front of the event. [LA Beverly Hills Ponies Festival]

"Huh. So it is a Festival." Edward muttered to himself, however he was still confused. He walked side by side with Selena as they went to a stall nearby them. Edward needed to hit the stacked cans with a ball to win the tickets.

In an instant, all three towers fall down, making the stall owner baffled.

"Hey, you won this plush teddy bear along with the tickets as you managed to knock all the pins down." The stall owner said with a smile. Then, the latino man with a big belly widened his eyes as he saw the face underneath that baseball cap.

Edward slowly placed his finger on his lip while smiling before taking the teddy bear from the stall owner's hand. "Here." Edward gave it to Selena as they walked away from the stall.

Selena was confused but Edward spoke first, "To hold. I'm not giving it to you."

Selena nodded and said, "Good idea. I hate to see him getting cut into a million pieces when I get back."

Edward chuckled a bit, and the duo bumped into Luke and his parents while walking. Edward showed his tickets confidently at Luke and said, "I just came by, and I already got the first price tickets. How many do you have now?"

"Around...250." Luke said, shocking Edward. Even with the first price tickets, he only has 25 tickets right now.

"How is it possible? It's barely been an hour." Edward muttered in disbelief.

Luke smiled mischievously and said smugly, "Just wait. I'm going to get to a thousand before noon. And I'm going to claim the first price at the ticket booth!"

Phil mumbled to himself with disbelief, "One thousand? How can we get that without him noticing we're helping?"

Claire leaned in and whispered to Luke, "Well, the first price item is for 1500 tickets."

"Oh. then, whatever closes to a thousand then." Luke corrected himself to Edward.

Edward's face was anxious for a second before he smiled and said, "Alright. Challenge accepted. I'll see your thousand tickets, and I will make sure that I will get 1500 tickets before noon"

"That's impossible Ed. Even if you hit all the stalls here." Phil said with worry.

Edward grinned and said, "Don't worry Phil. It won't be fun if it's not a challenge."

[Phil's commentary]

"What happened to a healthy competition between brothers? I am feeling so guilty right now."

[Claire's commentary]

"I know that it's impossible for Ed to win with me helping Luke, and he was an hour late to the fair. But, for some reason, I still couldn't relax. Hmmm...Should I get Haley to walk with Ed? With girls around, he will surely slows down in getting the tickets...right? Or, will it make him more competitive as he feels that he couldn't lose his dignity in front of them?"