You Can't Choose Love (11 page)

           
Ashton eats a fried turkey leg as she walks toward the warehouse on Main Street
holding the dance. A Ferris wheel in the distance, and hundreds of dancing
lights, grab her attention for a fleeting moment. She sighs wishing she had someone
to go to the Midway with.

Faith was overly excited
about the dance. She practically skips by Ashton’s side.

“I wonder if the sexy cowboy
will be there. I can’t wait to see who I end up with.”

Ashton rolls her eyes. She
hoped a great day wouldn’t be ruined by a repeat of every weekend. Most
weekends Faith gets courted by a handsome suitor, and Ashton normally gets
ignored in the corner. Dances were the worst. Other than line dances which she
loved, most guys paid no attention to her.

Pumpkins sat on steps in
front of huge warehouse doors. Stacks of hay made a make shift entry way.
Country Honky Tonk music belts from inside.  A couple with colorful duds
and starch ironed clothes pass Ashton and Faith to enter the social. Faith
grabs her sister’s fried turkey leg and throws it away.

“Hey! I wasn’t done with
that.”

“Stop eating already! You’re
gonna scare the guys away,” Faith says as she wipes barbeque sauce from
Ashton’s cheek. She grabs Ashton’s hand and drags her inside.

           
Lights shoot back and forth. A tapestry of colors move in rhythmic motion.
Ashton stops and feels an overwhelming emotion. It reminds her of the spaceship
and Orion. Faith tugs her again and brings her to the wooden dance floor. A
line dance was starting and guys and girls in boots and jeans were scooting and
sliding to the song. Faith throws Ashton into it.

“I’ll be back. I’m gonna go
get us some drinks,” Faith says before running off.

Ashton follows the others
sliding and stepping and clapping. Two more steps and turn. Slide, slide.
Something was always therapeutic about this to Ashton. It was the one thing
that let her fit into a group when no one would normally notice her. The dance
fizzles to a stop, and the music changes to something slow. Ashton didn’t
realize a line of guys watching her from the side. Faith muscles through them
with drinks in hand. She looks back at them and sees they are gawking at
Ashton.

“What is going on? The world
is upside down. This whole day all the boys want you over me. No offense,
but...” She hands Ashton the beer and looks over at her boobs, then her own,
debating whether to try prop them up more. 

“Believe you, me. They don’t
want me,” Ashton says in denial.

“Excuse me, miss. Would you
like to dance?” says a blonde-haired 6ft one Brad Pit looking fellow.

Faith rolls her eyes and
takes a drink before for storming off. Ashton agrees to dance.

“My name is Bradly.”

“I’m Ashton.”

Bradly puts his hand firmly
behind her back and one on the other at her hip. Ashton puts her hands on his shoulders.
Normally her anxiety would go through the roof. “This guy is nice to look at,”
she thought, but she just wasn’t feeling any emotion. She found herself
distracted, watching the moving lights in the distance and thinking of her
night with Orion. Bradly was very smitten with her, but when the song ended she
said thanks and walked away.

Faith runs up to Ashton.

“Wow he’s hot, what happened?
Did he get your number? Did you get his??”

Ashton shrugs.

“No we didn’t really talk”

“You don’t need to talk! Just
make out. What’s going on with you? You make up stories about space creatures
sweeping you off your feet, but when the real thing is here you just ignore
it.”

“I didn’t make it… I just
didn’t connect with him.”

“Brad Pitt in boots wasn’t
your type? Or are you still hung up on what happened to … Bobby!”

Faith is startled to see
Bobby Darren. He walks up to Ashton and Faith with an “I’m sorry” smile on his
face. 

“Uh, hey you two. Can I talk
to Ashton?” Bobby Darren says looking for permission.

“How dare you…” Faith says
before Ashton waves her off to stop. “Well, I’ll kick your ass if you hurt her
again.”

“It’s okay, Faith. Can you
get me another corn dog? I’m starving.”

“How about I get you
something? It’s the least I can do.” Bobby says and Ashton agrees. He puts his
arm out and Ashton wraps her hand around it. A slight spark happens and Ashton
passes it off as the static electricity that’s been bothering her all week.

           
Carnies on the left and right scream and taunt for attention. Tents line up as
far as the eye can see with games of skill and chance, but mostly cons of some
sort. Kids run around eating cotton candy and holding small prizes their
parents probably paid a hundred times their worth for. The smell of fried
everything and spilt beer mix in the air. “Step right up, prove your skills.
Show your little lady what a man you are. She’s worth a prize for sure,” says a
game barker next to a booth full of numbered holes and animal-shaped items to knock
over with a mini football.

           
Bobby and Ashton find themselves staring at the booth. She has two corn dogs,
cotton candy and a soda in hand. He looks over at the game barker calling him
out and then back at Ashton.

“I’d throw, but my throwing arm…I can’t really move it
that way since I broke it. You’re worth the prize for sure.”

           
“Sure I am.”

Ashton enjoys giving him a hard time after the other
night.

           
“See that fella, I don’t know if she rightfully believes you. If she was my
gal, I’d be pulling out my wallet and fighting for her honor or for at least a
kiss at the end of the night. I bet it’s worth a kiss am I right little lady.”

           
Ashton nods in agreement.

           
Bobby shakes his head but was called out and has no choice. He pulls out his
wallet and gives the game operator five bucks. The operator gives him a basket
of mini footballs. Bobby tosses the first ball with little energy and makes it
nowhere near the hole.

           
“Hey, don’t worry about it; not everyone can make it into the hole,” Ashton
jokes, and realizes it was almost as bad as something Faith would say. She felt
bad and put her hand on Bobby’s arm and kisses him on the cheek.

“Just playing. You don’t have to do this.”

           
After she touched him, he felt a tingle through his hand and arm as if blood
rushed to it. He picked up another ball and tossed it with such force and
velocity that the game operator and Ashton were shocked. Even Bobby was a
little shocked.

           
“Woah nelly. I think you’re trying to hustle me Mr.”

“I guess second times the
charm.”

Bobby throws another bullet
straight into the hardest hole to get. Before long a crowd gathers around.
Bobby is throwing like his old quarterback self. He can’t miss. People start
taking pictures with their phones and cheering every throw.

           
Thirty minutes later Ashton and Bobby found themselves walking down the Midway
with two oversized stuffed animals and three smaller stuffed prizes. Both laugh
as they walk.

           
“I can’t believe that. What happened? Did you see that crowd cheering for you?”

           
“I don’t know. I guess your kiss was magical.”

           
“Yeah a little kiss on the cheek brought you back to your quarterback days.”

           
“Maybe it did. Imagine what a full kiss would do”

           
“You’re so bad.”

They stop next to an old
cobble stone water fountain shooting water ten feet in the air. A popular make
out place at the fair but they’ve managed to find it empty. Bobby places the
animal prizes down and helps Ashton sit on the concrete bench nearby.

“Well this is nice.” Ashton
looks all around. She wasn’t used to all the attention the day has brought her,
and to be here with her high school crush was something she’d not soon forget.

           
“I’m so sorry. I’ve regretted that night. I had a chance to be with you and I
blew it. I’ve thought about you every day since,” Bobby says with that
quarterback charm Ashton’s always swooned over. “And seeing you now. You’re ten
times more beautiful than I even remembered. When I saw you at the dance, I
realized I had to steal you away before all those other guys jumped in.”

           
“Steal me away, huh?” Ashton says, then looks away to the steady stream of
water arching from the nearby fountain. Bobby places his hand to her chin and
turns her head toward him. He looks into her eyes and kisses her. Her heart
skips a beat. His hand slips around her side and Ashton closes her eyes,
enjoying his hard and passionate embrace.

           
Fireworks crackle in the night sky signaling the end of the State Fair. Ashton
reluctantly pushes Bobby away. Bobby stops his kiss. “Sorry, I thought you
wanted me to.”

           
“The first kiss is free. The next one will cost you a date,” Ashton whispers
into his ear.

           
The town square looks much like it did fifty years ago. A large clock tower
overlooks eclectic shops and red brick buildings. Families and couples walk from
shop to shop. A group watches a fiddler play a classic country tune for change.
Men on horseback ride down the streets leisurely. A few classic 1950’s car sit
next to each other in the parking area. A car enthusiast meetup group gets
together on weekends.  The air is brisk.

“That’ll be $2.50,” a
tattooed girl behind the coffee counter calls out as she slides a steaming hot
chocolate and coffee toward Ashton and Bobby. The couple stands under a small
awning with the words “Country Coffee” sprawled across the top.  Ashton’s
never had a real date. Boys would mostly take her to parties and drinking at
the lake. Ashton, the hopeless romantic was enjoying this. Bobby held doors
open and paid for anything and everything. He even laughed at some of her lamest
jokes. She wasn’t completely sure if she could fully forgive Bobby for the
lake, but this was nice, nonetheless.

 “Thanks for the
coffee,” Ashton says with her first sip, as they walk down the sidewalk past a
boutique clothing store for pets.

“My pleasure,” Bobby says
before getting distracted by something in the window display.

“Suit and tie for a baby pig?
Now I’ve seen everything.”

“Well, you can’t have them
going around all naked for Sunday service. That would be unsightly,” Ashton
jokes.

Bobby laughs and touches his
hand against Ashton’s as they walk.  “I can’t believe we never really
talked much in school.”

“Well, we were in different
circles, I guess.”

“I guess. Oh, hey…look at that,”
Bobby says, pointing to a picture of his younger self in a football uniform in
the hobby shop. “I guess they still have that hung up here. Back during the
championships, my mug was on all these shops.”

“I remember,” Ashton says,
almost rolling her eyes from what sounded like a big Ego.

“The good ole days.”

“Yep.” Ashton smiles, but
disagrees. She was never real popular. She was glad to be done with high
school, though at the time she would have done anything for Bobby to notice
her. Maybe then she would have been part of the cool clique. 

“My hair hasn’t changed much,
I guess.”

 “Oh, hey, that’s neat,”
she says to change the subject. “A telescope.” A shiny black star 1000
telescope sits on display behind the glass.

“Looking to spy on the
neighbors?” Bobby laughs. “Maybe catch some couple doing the nasty?”

“Well, maybe. But I could
gaze at the starts.” Ashton realizes how nice it would be to gaze at the stars.
Maybe she’d see Orion, or his ship. She’s thought about him a lot. She’s tried
to radio a couple of times since that night, but received no response. She’s
even been out to the field, begging to be taken again. It was all a distant
dream. She begins to wonder if it was real at all.

“Star gazing, huh? I never
got that...why anyone would look to the skies for anything. Everything you need
in life is down here. Staring at some bright lights in the air ain’t gonna do
anything for ya.”

“You never wanted more than
this? This life? This world?” Ashton asks.

“There you go again with all
your ambition talk. It hurts my head,” Bobby jokes.

“Sorry.” Ashton apologizes
despite feeling an emotional dagger stab her. She was realizing the dream of
Bobby Darren was looking much better than the self-centered reality. She
decided to put up a strong wall and finish the date, no matter what
happened. 

 “Hey Bobby!” A group of
young flirty girls giggle as they pass by.

“Uh, hey,” Bobby says back,
almost embarrassed.

“Your fan club, I see,”
Ashton says, disapprovingly.

“Uh, yeah.”  Bobby
Smiles. “My reputation precedes me, I guess. From the football field I mean…and
other things, I guess.”

“Yep, I bet you have a big
reputation,” Ashton teases before playfully hitting Bobby.  “Let’s go
check out where you had your glory days.”