Ollie Fitzgerald's Heartbreak Anthems by Charlie Arrigo

Author:Charlie Arrigo [Arrigo, Charlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

We find Dee outside arguing, or “gently convincing” as she’d say, one of the game vendors to up the costs of the game and split the profit with the prom fundraiser. He literally can’t do that. He’s sixteen. We have to drag her away from him.

I can tell she notices that I’m wearing Nash’s hoodie, but thankfully she doesn’t say anything. We buy a funnel cake and sit at one of the picnic tables.

“You know, he was close to agreeing with me!” she says with her mouth full.

“It was very close to verbal assault,” I say.

She rolls her eyes.

“Can you chill? Ollie’s stunt brought us a bunch of extra money. We’re good tonight, okay?” Nash takes the funnel cake from her.

“I guess.” She snatches it back.

“Can we go have fun now?” I ask with wide eyes.

Fun to Dee is going back to that game with the terrified teenager and winning his little ring toss five times in a row. She clears him out of all his best prizes before passing them out to the little kids in the crowd. Nash plays some basketball and wins a nice little stuffed bear that he makes sure to slip in my hoodie pocket when no one is looking. I watch them battle it out at one of the games where you shoot the target with water to make the little boat race. The sibling rivalry is real there. And, of course, they tied.

I want to go on The Scrambler, but Dee refuses, citing too much funnel cake. Whimp. Nash ends up agreeing to go with me.

“Smaller rider on the inside,” he says, reading a sign in line. “I guess you get to squish me.”

“How convenient!”

He’s a gentleman and lets me climb in the car first. I can’t reach the lap bar, so he takes care of that. I put an inch or two of space between us, because we’re not protected out here. His foot still finds mine in the safety of the covered floor.

“I hate rides, by the way.” He looks at me nervously.

“You’ll be fine.” I give him a little thumbs up as the ride starts. It goes around slowly at first, giving Nash time to get used to be thrown around. I hold on to the bar as the ride speeds up, trying to keep my spot and not squish him. Eventually, it becomes too much, too fast.

So I let go and gravity takes over. I slide directly into Nash’s side, immediately laughing at the shock on his face. It takes a second for him to let go a little, too. And then there we are, laughing and being squished together.

This might be my new favorite memory.

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