Chapter 18

~Grant~

       Once I was handed the prize on the top shelf, like I had been with all the other carnival games, I handed it over to Ollie whose arms were already full with other top prizes. He sighed as I shoved the newest one in his arms. "You don't have to give me all of the prizes," he said.

       "Yes, I do," I said, leading him away from that booth so we could go to one I haven't won yet. "For various reasons. One, I love you. Two, I love showering you with affection. Three, you deserve it after what happened in that alternate universe. And four, I don't have to carry all of them."

       "You know, even though three out of the four reasons were positive and sweet, the last one just outweighs the rest so now I'm mad at you."

       I stopped in my tracks and gently grabbed Ollie's shoulder to stop him as well. I turned him to face me and placed both of my hands on his shoulder before pressing my lips on his.

       When I pulled away, a small smiled appeared on Ollie's face. "I guess I don't have to stay mad at you," he said.

       I smiled as well and kissed his cheek before we continued our walk to find another carnival game to play.

       The Halloween carnival Spruceworth held every year was one of my favourite events in this village; all the costumes, games, rides, food. This year seemed a lot more enjoyable now that we all found our way out of that craziness and back to this normal life.

       I was just glad nobody was killed by those creatures. I was glad Ollie wasn't killed by those creatures. I had no idea what I would do if I lost him because right now, he was one of the few things who brought light to my life. 

       Ever since I met Ollie, a lot of the negative parts of my life faded away. I was, admittedly, a horrible person. I was cold and reserved and I snapped an anyone who tried talking to me, even Ollie.

       He was the first person to stand up to me and wouldn't let me be a jerk to him.

       When I started liking him, I thought I was the stupidest person ever. I didn't want to like anyone. I didn't want to let anyone get too close to me but I was actually glad I got close to Ollie.

       He was the best thing that ever happened to me.

       "My arms are getting tired carrying all these prizes," Ollie said. "Can we go back to our house so I can put them down?"

       "Why? You don't love me anymore?" I asked.

       "No, it's literally because I don't want to be carrying them anymore," Ollie said. "And I know you're going to win more prizes so that will be way too much for me to carry."

       "Fine," I said. "You're lucky everything in Spruceworth is close to each other so it won't take long to go home and come back."

       It really didn't take long and the two of us were back in the village. I wanted to get back to winning more games but Ollie wanted to take a break and eat some food first.

       And of course, I couldn't say no to his cute, adorable face.

       We went to one of the many food stands, both of us getting a soft pretzel before we sat down on a nearby bench.

       After Ollie finished the first bite he took, he said, "I don't think I've ever been this happy being back home," he said. "I was always so hungry in that alternate place."

       "We had a lot of food there," I said. "That we took from the grocery store and vending machines."

       "Yes, but I was always too weak to eat anything," Ollie said. "All I did eat was saltine crackers since it was the only thing that wouldn't make me feel even more nauseous. I missed eating food like this."

       "I'm just happy nothing bad happened to you when you turned into that creature," I said.

       Ollie was silent for a bit before saying, "Did anyone want to hurt me? When I was that creature?"

       I didn't want to tell him the truth but I also couldn't lie to him. "Yeah," I admitted. "But I refused to let anything happen to you because I knew that it was still you."

       Ollie smiled. "Thank you. For not giving up on me when I was that ugly thing."

       "Ugly?" I asked. "You're anything but ugly."

       "Okay, so when I was that creature, you found me attractive?" Ollie asked.

       "I always find you attractive."

       Ollie chuckled and rolled his eyes as I kissed his cheek. "I'm serious, though," he said. "Thank you for not giving up on me and for looking out for me. I have no idea how I got so lucky to have a boyfriend like you."

       "Yeah, anybody would be extremely lucky to have me as their boyfriend," I said. Ollie gave me a playful shove. "I'm kidding. I need to thank you too."

       Ollie furrowed his eyebrow. "For what?"

       "Just for being you," I said. "You help me to stop shutting people out and I'm really happy about that. I'm really happy with you."

       "You're being really cheesy for once," Ollie said.

       "Yeah, I know," I said. "Who am I? What even am I doing? I hate being cheesy."

       "Sure you do," Ollie said.

       I shrugged. "So ready to get back to winning some more carnival games?"

       "I'm not even down my pretzel," Ollie said.

       "Then finish it so I can shower you with more prizes," I said.

       "You only make me feel worse because I can't win anything," Ollie said.

       "You won my heart."

       "...Yeah, cheesiness doesn't really work with you," Ollie said.

       "That's hurtful," I said. "You can at least say I love you."

       Ollie rolled his eyes and kissed my cheek. "I love you."

       "And I love you too," I said.

_________________

i'm always so horrible at ending my seasonal stories so sorry about this ending lol. i never know how to end them.

i'm hoping the christmas story will actually have a good ending and so far, i think it will. 

ANYWAY HAPPY HALLOWEEN (it's still halloween here so i can still say that) I love being in one of the latest timezones.