Gypsy Girl and Horse Lovin' Boys

by K. D. Kinney

  “Umm … Cessie. But she’s being obnoxious with the bells on her ankles. I might change my mind in a little bit.” I wanted to stuff my hands in some pockets. Unfortunately, there weren’t any. Stupid skirt. Folding my arms across my chest, the bangles clanged until I made them stop. I did my best to hide my embarrassment. “This room has great acoustics.” I knew the smile I gave him was cheesy. Came with the outfit.

  Cessie was finally by my side. I desperately wanted to take our jingling outdoors. I also didn’t want to end our conversation so soon.

  “Noah!” Cessie bounced on her toes and her ankles played jingle bells. “How is your horse?”

  He laughed. “My horse is as good as she was yesterday. Were you leaving?”

  “I was just trying to take our noise outside,” I said. “I’m not in a hurry or anything.”

  Noah stared at my shoulders. When I glanced down, I realized he was looking at my colored hair and feathers. He held the door open for the two of us. I thought he was just going to let us out. What the heck! He followed. I made sure I didn’t get too weak in the knees. The clothes were embarrassing enough.

  “You both look very different from yesterday.” He still smiled broadly at us. That was a good sign.

  “We’re dressed for the show. You want to come?” Cessie asked.

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek. If he showed up, I would probably mess up my part. It didn’t help that the more I looked at Noah in bright daylight, the more attractive he was with the unbuttoned plaid shirt her wore over his t-shirt fit that fit his broad muscled shoulders really well. Why did sleeves rolled up to the elbows look so hot? He still had on his 49ers cap. Dark hair curled around the edges of his hat, calling me to reach out and touch it. But I didn’t.

  “I don’t know if I can today. I have to find out what the schedule is for my competitions and help the younger kids get their animals settled and ready for judging. I don’t know when I’m helping with some of the other events when I’m not doing that.” He patted Cessie on the shoulder as he apologetically looked at me.

  Relief and disappointment washed over me at the same time.

  “I will come though if I can.” His eyes locked on mine as his face softened into the kindest smile.

  Hmmm. He was very nice. I might have gone into a trance again.

  “Can we come watch your horse?”

  Why did little sisters have to ruin everything? “Cessie, you should ask if we can come watch him with his horse. The horse doesn’t perform on its own.” I corrected her and then my heart raced when I realized I might have just committed myself to be in a situation where we would be surrounded by horses. I pressed my sweaty palms against my skirt and everything clanged and jangled. I clenched my jaw, forcing a smile on my face.

  “Well, I will let you know. I’m sure I don’t compete today. However, I’ll tell you when I do. When do you two get done with your shows?”

  “The last one is at seven and then we can roam the fair,” I said as a rush of excitement filled my chest.

  “I look forward to catching up with you later. I’m here for the week too.” He looked at his watch. “I have to go check in.” He waved goodbye as he jogged off.

  I watched him until he turned the corner and finally exhaled.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Cessie frowned as she studied my face. “Are you getting sick? Your face is red.”

  “Shut-up Cesspool.” I slapped the rest of the fliers against her chest for her to take them and headed for the bathroom.

  “Mom says you can’t leave me alone,” she yelled.

  “Then you’d better follow.”

  3

  Thankfully, Noah wasn’t at the first show and I was able to get my nerves under control. The three and five o’clock shows were fine. At the last show of the day when I stepped out onto the stage with Peppy the Capuchin monkey on my shoulder, Noah was front and center with several girls and a boy all about the same age sitting around him. I smiled when our eyes met and I was also suddenly hyper-aware of his presence as I played the part of gypsy girl.

  I waited for the next cue with Peppy. Perched on my shoulder, the monkey groomed my hair. Usually I didn’t mind him picking through it, but I didn’t want them to think there was anything living on my head. Waving Peppy’s hands away, I nervously kept an eye on Noah and his crew. His friends watched my mom’s performance. Noah kept glancing at me and every time he did, my heart would flutter. The girl sitting beside him looked at him and then at me. Her arm slid across his lap to hold his hand. He moved her hand away and said something in her ear. Completely miffed, the girl stopped and gave me the evil eye after that.

  “And Peppy came to rescue poor Millie … ,” Mom said, giving me the evil eye as well.

  Oh man, I missed my cue. Shaking my head to pay attention, I tugged Peppy’s leash. He crawled down my arm and monkey waddled to Millie with the little wagon. Once the bird was on the stand, he pulled the wagon away. I paid closer attention to Mom after that.

  When the show was over, I sold stuffed Peppy and Millie toys and books written by my mom while she visited with members of the audience and let them meet the monkey and the macaw.

  Noah lingered with his friends. The flirty girl attempted to hang on him while he continued to dismiss her. When the crowd finally cleared and Mom was putting Millie away, Noah finally approached with his friends.

  “Your mom is really fun to watch. She even looks like a real life gypsy. That was a really cool show.” He beamed at me and many of his friends agreed.

  “Thank you.” I felt a little overwhelmed with the group of kids my age standing around me. However, the dark haired girl glaring at me was getting under my skin.

  “We’re all going to the carnival rides. Can you come?” Noah asked.

  “I need to help my mom put things away and change first. I could meet up with you shortly.”

  “Do you have a phone?” Noah asked.

  I nodded and hopped onto the stage to run inside to my turret bedroom that I shared with Cessie. I hadn’t needed my phone all day. Hopefully it had enough battery. When I finally found it buried in a drawer, I messed with my contacts so I could add his number as I rejoined Noah and his friends. Some of them had left and he was patiently listening to Cessie while she talked his ear off.

  “Sera! He says we can meet his horse before the fair opens tomorrow,” Cessie squealed.

  I forced a smile on my face. “That’s great.” It took great effort to force enthusiasm in my voice. I probably failed even though I tried.

  I had just enough battery to add Noah’s number. Of course he had a fancy Smartphone. Everyone usually did except for me. My phone was a basic slider. There were times that I felt as if we were real life gypsies. Always a bit behind everyone else. I sighed.

  “So text me when you’re ready to find us.”

  I nodded and Noah left with the other boy.

  I ran back in to plug in my phone before rushing through the clean up list and I still had to take care of Peppy.

  “You were really good today, especially during the last show.” I gave him a piece of banana. “Thanks for not making a fool out of me. At least not yet, because I know you’ll do it.” I handed him some pieces of apple before changing into my real clothes. I smoothed out the Hello Kitty T-shirt relishing the feel of the soft stretchy material. I pulled on a pair of basketball shorts over my boots. The boots would take too much time to change. After grabbing my carnival wristband that was good all week, I unplugged my phone and ran for my life, jumping off the stage. I was almost free.

  “I’m going on rides with some new friends,” I yelled, jogging to the walkway, not giving Mom a chance to answer. I texted Noah as I was swallowed by the crowd. He said I could find them waiting in line at the mini-coaster. I wound a ponytail holder around my hair and froze before I reached the line. Crap, I forgot to check my face and I was still wearing my show make-up. It was too late. Noah waved and I waved back, trying hard to forget all the
things I might have checked if I wasn’t so excited to go to the carnival with someone other than Cessie.

  Noah casually leaned against the rails. Dark-haired-girl shifted her stance so it looked like he had his arm around her.

  “So your mom introduced you as Seraphina. Is that your name or just for the show?” the Dark One asked.

  “My full name is Seraphina but I prefer friends call me Sera.” I shoved my hands into my pockets. At least I had some today. I had never met someone before that could make me squirm just by the glares they gave me.

  “You look totally different. I didn’t recognize you, did you guys?” the other boy asked the group.

  Everyone shook their heads except for Noah.

  “I met her last night in regular clothes so I almost didn’t recognize her in costume this morning. This is Josh.” Noah pointed to the boy. He pointed to The Dark One. “This is Kelly.”

  The smile on her face was full of contempt.

  Noah pointed at the other two girls. “Bree, and Rachel.”

  They smiled at me briefly before whispering to each other.

  All three girls were pretty. Kelly had perfect dark hair and rich dark skin. She was very fit and knew how to flaunt it with her pink western shirt and short jean shorts. Bree’s blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and suited her tiny frame and extra large eyes. Rachel was the closest to looking like me with lighter brown hair. Unlike my average height and build, Rachel was tall and thin. I wasn’t sure why I was comparing them to myself except maybe I was wondering if I even had a shot with Noah. He was as nice and polite to the three girls as he was to me. Josh wasn’t bad looking either. He wore glasses and had short, sandy brown hair that was mostly hidden under his backwards baseball cap. Josh wore an unbuttoned plaid shirt over a T-shirt like Noah. The difference was Josh had on long khaki shorts with big pockets instead of jeans.

  “Are you all showing horses?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we are all from Middleton and in the same club.” Josh pulled back and forth on the rails, nearly colliding into the people behind him. He apologized and moved closer, leaning on the rail next to me.

  “Where are you from?” Noah asked.

  “We live in Arizona in the winter. In the summer we travel all around the country performing.”

  “They are gypsies, I told you,” Kelly said, smiling triumphantly up at Noah.

  “Not really. We just perform the show pretending to be like them. We go to Renaissance Faires, and State and county fairs to do our show. In the winter we homeschool while mom writes her stories and we make the toys for the show.”

  “You guys made those? They’re really cute,” Bree said.

  “So do you have any friends if you homeschool?” Rachel asked.

  “Yes. I have a few friends. Sometimes I meet them at the fair. Like now. I have friends everywhere.” I didn’t mention that most were wannabe-friends not real friends that knew who I really was. They were mainly fans from the show. I hadn’t decided yet if this group was going to fall into that same category. I checked my phone after if vibrated. Mom wasn’t happy with me at all. There was not time to deal with that, it was finally our turn.

  Bree and Rachel climbed in the first car. Kelly grabbed Noah’s arm to sit in the next one. I had to ride with Josh and was rather shy until he made goofy scared faces at me before the ride even started. He pretended to be terrified as our car climbed to the top. I couldn’t help it, I joined him by throwing my arms up in the air with every plunge. The girls in front of us screamed like terrified children. Josh intentionally squished me on the corners. I did the same to him and laughed so hard that tears streamed down my cheeks by the time I stumbled off the ride.

  I ignored my phone as it vibrated while we went on a few more rides. Josh had to pair up with me every time. I wasn’t about to cause issues with The Dark One so I dealt with it. Besides, Josh was a lot of fun. However, Noah wasn’t smiling as much. Once we exited another ride, he pushed Kelly’s hands off his arm.

  “Kelly, you need to back off.” He stormed off from the group. She gave me a dirty look before she ran after Noah. The rest of us were uncomfortably silent.

  “I probably have to go. My mom wants me back.” I backed up a few steps.

  Everyone said goodbye to me as I waved. When Noah heard, he left Kelly standing where she was. I felt terrible. How did I suddenly become the source of the drama with their group? I waved at him and turned to go.

  “Wait.” Noah caught up to me. “That didn’t go at all like I planned. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. I have to go, I really do. My mom keeps texting me and I might be in trouble. Josh is a lot of fun by the way.”

  “Oh.” Noah stopped in his tracks.

  “I’m sorry that I caused problems with you and Kelly.” I kicked at the ground. “I wouldn’t have come.”

  “No,” Noah said in disbelief. “It’s Kelly that’s causing the problems. I invited you and I wanted to be the one to … ” He clamped his jaw shut. His face may have reddened. With his sun-darkened skin, it was hard to tell. “Let me put it this way, when I ran into you yesterday, I was running from her. We’ve been part of the same club for forever and all of a sudden she’s all over me. I don’t like her in that way. Being nice about it isn’t getting me anywhere and it complicates everything when we’re all together.” Noah sighed.

  My phone buzzed again. “That makes sense. I’m sorry, I still have to go.” I reluctantly took a few steps away. Now he lets me know what he really wanted when my fun times at the fair were about to be over forever. The story of my life. So close and yet so far. So much for pushing it with Mom.

  “See you tomorrow morning? I’ll let you ride my horse.”

  I froze and my body tensed all over before I slowly turned to face him. “Okay, I have to admit something. I’m really scared of horses.”

  “What?” He covered his mouth when he started to laugh. “Oh, that wasn’t nice. I’m sorry. I’m glad you told me. If you still come, I’ll show you that Ezra is the gentlest horse ever. I’ll help you see there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  If it had been anyone else, even Josh, I would have said no. However, Noah was so sincere, and the curls, the blue eyes, and the eyebrows that lifted, wrinkling his forehead kind of cute-like while he waited for my answer. I couldn’t believe it. I actually nodded.

  “Good. You bring your sister and I’ll make sure Kelly stays away.”

  “Deal.” I ran for the Caravan hoping Mom wasn’t about to ground me for the rest of my life for ignoring her for so long. However, if I kept Cessie out of Mom’s hair the next morning, she might allow us to go.

  4

  I was right. I got into a heap of trouble for not waiting for permission to go. The next day I had to take Cessie with me to go on the rides. In the meantime, my punishment was I had to stay home the rest of the night because Mom still had ‘things’ to take care of. More than likely, Mom was on the hunt for her own hot local guy.

  Cessie wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the night. However, she never stopped talking to Peppy and Millie, going on and on about what an awful sister she had. I climbed up the ladder to our bed in the turret bedroom. I crawled through the large hinged window onto the landing in between the turrets and brought some pillows out with me. My phone vibrated. I didn’t want to look it at first. Mom might be giving me another chore list. Next to kid’s books, chore lists were her second favorite thing to write. My heart did a back flip when I discovered the text was from Noah.

  Noah: U in trouble?

  Me: A little

  Noah: Sorry

  Me: Not ur fault. Left Cesspot behind.

  Noah: Autocorrect?’

  Me: No. My phone doesn’t have that. Sister Cessie-Cesspool-Cesspot. All the same.

  Noah: Hahaha!

  I clutched my phone tight waiting for more texts. Usually if a boy was interested in me it was after they saw me perform. Then they flirted beyond reason mistaking gypsy fo
r something less flattering. I had never texted a boy that was genuinely nice and interested in the real me before.

  Noah: Can you come at 8?

  I usually didn’t wake up that early on performance days. Fair nightlife always lasted so late that it was impossible to sleep before midnight and we usually slept in until ten. However, if I could spend some time with Noah without all his friends around, and if he could help me with my fear of horses, I would do it, and drag Cessie along if I had to. The honest truth was she’d probably be dragging me there instead.

  Me: Yes. But ur friends won’t be there right? 2 scared and embarrassed.

  I didn’t want to make it sound like I didn’t like them or that I secretly really wanted him to myself. Both points were true, though. I take that back. I liked Josh.

  Noah: No friends.

  Me: Thank u.

  Noah: Can’t wait.

  I stared at the last text a long time and kept it lit up on the screen until he sent his next one. He asked me questions about where I lived and wanted to know about my dad. There wasn’t much to tell. My parents spilt after Cessie was born and he took a job in Alaska so I rarely saw him. I learned Noah was the middle child of five boys. He was staying at the RV park near the fair, camping in a tent with Josh while the girls stayed in a camper with their club leader.

  Noah: What are you doing now?

  Me: On the roof watching the lights from the rides

  Noah: I would love to see that with you sometime

  I hugged my phone against my chest with my mind whirling with possibilities. What would it be like to have Noah leaning against the turret right next to me? I never had a chance to find out what riding next to him was like. I needed to tell him I was only going to be able to ride kiddie rides with Cessie the next night. I didn’t want to scare him off yet.

  Noah: Goodnight, Gypsy Girl

  Me: Goodnight, Cowboy

  I smiled as I squinted at the carnival rides to blur the lights from the giant Ferris wheel into swirling rainbows. The far away screams and the rock concert at the stadium on the other side of the fairgrounds filled my ears. Fried food wafted in the air. A mix of funnel cake, barbeque, and Pronto pups. It was just like any other week at the fair, except this time there was a boy who might possibly like me.