Kyle loses

Kyle knew that winning the games would help secure the outcome he wanted for this date. If he won, he could pick an anti-romantic ride to end the night, and hopefully return home to continue his attempts to escape MARCI’s grasp, but if he lost, he had no doubt that Greg would pull something romantic, and any attempt Kyle tried to dissuade him would only make him more determined.

As they approached the booth, Kyle saw what the first game was going to be. The first game was the classic water gun balloon game, where the point is to hit the target in the clown’s mouth in order to fill a balloon with enough water that it pops!

“Your weapon, my lady.” Greg motioned towards the stationary water pistol situated on the counter of the booth.

Kyle thought he had this one in the bag. The game required a keen eye for targeting and a steady hand, two things that Kyle had honed over years of playing video games. Unfortunately for Kyle, in addition to the stool he was situated on putting him in an inconvenient position to aim, his gun also took a few extra seconds to shoot water after the trigger was depressed, so Greg easily bested him and Greg’s balloon popped before Kyle had gotten his inflated halfway.

“Shoot!” Kyle clenched his fist, then winced as his nails dug into his palm.

“Winner! You can pick a small prize, or if you win another game, you can upgrade it to a bigger one.” the barker exclaimed.

“How about that game?” Greg asked, pointing towards another booth.

The second game was ring toss, and while Kyle had adapted well to his nails over the last few days, gripping the rings in a comfortable way was still difficult, not to mention how they kept hitting his nails as he tossed them, which sent them off-target, resulting in another sweeping win for Greg.

It was all over in practically an instant, any chance Kyle had of making the date end his way had evaporated faster than he could keep track. Two out of three, and Kyle hadn’t even managed to win once! Kyle stamped his foot in anger, which had the unfortunate side-effect of making him look extremely cute to Greg, as Greg pointed towards the biggest, fluffiest, pinkest stuffed animal, a stuffed unicorn, which the barker gladly grabbed and handed to Greg, who then handed it to Kyle, who pouted as he tried to find a comfortable position to carry the stuffed animal.

“That was fun!” Greg said. “Don’t you think so?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Kyle muttered.

“Don’t be too bummed, at least you get to keep the prize!” Greg said. “Besides, you *did* say they were rigged.”

Kyle rolled his eyes as he imagined that either MARCI or the girls would insist that the unicorn be put up on a nice shelf to commemorate his date with Greg.

“I guess…” Kyle was too demoralized to care any longer about seeming disinterested.

“We’ve got enough time left for one more ride, and I know exactly which one to pick.” Greg suddenly grabbed Kyle’s hand and started pulling him towards, predictably, the Ferris wheel.

They chatted some more as they waited on line, mostly about inconsequential stuff, Greg very obviously fishing for second date ideas, and when they got into the car, Kyle placed the large stuffed unicorn between them as the Ferris wheel car began to rise.

Kyle zoned out while Greg talked, staring out at the carnival as it became smaller and smaller the higher they went, the lights of the various attractions twinkling as the dusk gave way to nightfall.

“It’s a beautiful view, huh?” Greg asked, putting his arm around Kyle, pushing the unicorn onto the floor of the car.

“Yeah,” Kyle squeaked, having been unprepared for this siege to his personal space, nor did he expect the car to stop at that exact moment.

“Although I can think of an even better view from up here…” Greg used his free hand to brush a strand of hair from Kyle’s face that had escaped from the ponytail.

Kyle’s mind began to race, he couldn’t play hard to get, but the alternative was to throw himself at him, and while it hadn’t quite worked before, Kyle did know from previous experience that he liked to be the one to initiate kisses with girls, so maybe Greg, with his “likes a chase” mentality would be put off by a more dominant partner. He didn’t want to, but he was running out of options and he didn’t want things to go like the kiss he shared with Eli the previous night.