[Edward POV]
Selena's eyes widened in realization of what had just happened, and she swiftly pulled her lips away from mine. Her eyes become dazed and her hands become clammy.
Anxiousness flickered across her expression as she awaited my reaction, but to her surprise, I remained relatively unfazed, which left her feeling somewhat surreal.
"Well, that was interesting," I muttered in a casual tone, attempting to ease the tension.
Blushing, Selena anxiously interjected, "I-I- That kiss doesn't mean anything. Y-You should leave. And seriously, it DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"
Shaking my head, I offered reassurance, "Don't worry. I understand. I won't bring it up. It seems like you were just feeling vulnerable at the moment." As her expression began to calm, I playfully added, "Besides, let's be honest, it wasn't exactly a great kiss. It was a bit salty and snotty."
"WHAT!?" Selena exclaimed in disbelief, suddenly realizing that she had been crying. Embarrassment flushed across her face, and she rushed to the bathroom to check her appearance.
I heard stifled screams coming from the direction after she left. I chuckled and then stood up from the sofa to check up on her.
My thoughts about the kiss? Yeah, it was great. But I knew better than to bring it up or make something more out of it, given that I was currently in a 'situationship' with her best friend, and the fact that she was just doing it to make herself feel better after getting pretty bad news.
"Selena, you want me to call your 'manager' for you?" I asked as I stood in front of the locked door. I heard the sound of water running, presumably from her washing her face at the sink. Selena's manager is currently her mother and her step-father. Selena's manager happened to be her mother and step-father, and while I didn't know all the details of their relationship, it seemed to be more professional than a typical mother-daughter dynamic.
Selena hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "No. I'd already called her this morning."
"Oh. Have you told her about your condition too?" I asked with some concern.
Selena slowly opened the door, and her eyes became teary again. With a shaky voice, she said, "I did."
"And, what did your mother say?"
"She said that; it won't be bad until far in the future, so I can go to work today." A mix of frustration and resignation flickered in Selena's eyes as she replied.
After a moment of silence, I maintained a composed expression despite feeling a surge of anger within me.
Finally, I spoke up, my tone laced with sarcasm, "Well, since you're clearly having a rough day and can't get out of bed, I suppose I can take it upon myself to contact the studio on your 'manager's behalf. Then, let's play hooky at the pier. There's a festival there, so there's a lot of stuff to do."
Selena paused for a moment, her face turning slightly flushed as she stammered, "You're taking me on a date?"
I rolled my eyes in response and clarified, "No, it's not a date. Just because you kissed me doesn't mean I want to go out with you."
As Selena's relief washed over her, a hint of regret flickered in her eyes. Taking note of her mixed emotions, I added,""I thought it would be a good distraction and stress relief for both of us. I'm planning to invite my friends too. By the way, I haven't shared this with anyone yet, but my dad had a cancer scare yesterday and was diagnosed with cirrhosis. His liver isn't functioning well."
By revealing this personal information to Selena, I wanted to ensure that she understood my intentions were not rooted in pity or a desire to take advantage of her vulnerability.
Selena widened her eyes in surprise and then said, "Oh, Ed, I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. It's not my liver. And I will make sure he stays alive whether he wants it or not. Alright, we should forget about these depressing topics. So, what do you say? Should we go outside? Because unless you're going to 'accidentally' do hand stuff with me next, I think we should go to the pier."
Selena's face froze, "I-I…I'M NOT GOING TO DO HAND STUFF–"
"Oh, so straight to the bed? You're kinda kinky." I said with a slimy look.
"SHUT UP! GET OUT!" She chased me out of the house by pushing my back.
I laughed and said, "I'll bring the car upfront. Go and get dressed. And oh, wear a large sunhat. You need to lessen your time in the sun."
"I WILL!" Selena shouted angrily, but in agreement to what I was saying. She slammed the door in front of me, and I laughed at her reaction. Then, I walked back to my house.
I didn't go to the Dunphys as I knew that Phil wanted to take his family out to the same festival. I called Alex first, as it was still early in the morning and I wasn't sure if Haley was awake.
The phone rang for a short while before Alex answered, "Hey. Good morning."
"Morning. Has your family gone out yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're already on the road." Alex replied. I heard Haley's voice from the other line saying to put the call on speaker. Then, I was greeted by a highly cheerful family. The greetings made me grimace a bit from their overenthusiastic energy, but also made me smile at the same time.
"Why did you call?" Alex asked. Then Haley added poutingly, "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?!"
I laughed a bit and said, "You're usually the last one to wake up, so, you know…"
Haley shouted in embarrassment, "No I didn't! I woke up very early today!"
Claire snided, "Still the last one of us to wake up, so Ed's not wrong."
"MOM!" Haley protested, clearly offended. I could imagine her widening her eyes and stared at her mother in disbelief.
Phil, unable to contain his excitement, interjected, "Ed, you should come with us! I heard that there are horses there."
"Pony." Claire corrected Phil.
"Horses? What kind of festival is this?" I asked with disbelief.
"Wait. Can you repeat that?" Alex caught something and her tone turned mischievous.
"Hmm? What kind… of festival is this?" I repeated my sentence slowly with some confusion.
"Yeah. You call it 'FESTIVAL'. It is a 'CARNIVAL'."
I shuddered at Alex's condescending tone, "WAIT- NO!"
"TOO LATE! YOU MADE A MISTAKE!" Alex cackled like a madman before saying, "I'm so going to rub it in your face."
I scoffed and replied, "What are you, the carnival police? Anyway, I managed to get a rare break, so Selena and I are playing hooky together. We're heading to the carnival too.""
Claire joined in with some teasing, "Playing hooky together, huh? Are you sure your 'girlfriend' won't get mad?"
I smirked and responded, "Why don't you ask them? They're in your car right now." My comment made Claire flustered, while Haley blushed and Alex grimaced, quickly clarifying, "We're not your girlfriends"
Ignoring Alex's protest, I continued, "Anyway, I'll see you guys there."
Luke chimed in at the last moment, "Edward, when we're at the carnival, let's compete to see who can earn the most tickets. But I'll start first since I'll be there earlier."
Provocatively, I replied, "Oh, you want to compete with me? Sure, let's do it. And let's make it more interesting. The loser has to obey one order from the winner. How about that?"
Alex interjected, shaking her head fearfully. "Don't do it, Luke! You'll never win!" She seemed to recall her own previous experience.
"That reminds me, Alex," I added with a sweet yet threatening tone, "you still owe me one favor." Alex shuddered at the reminder, but Luke, unaware of her reaction, eagerly accepted the challenge. "I'll take that bet!"
Phil, always the peacemaker, chimed in, "Alright, my two boys, having a healthy competition. But can another one of the 'boys' join—"
Before Phil could finish his sentence, Luke cut the call abruptly, leaving everyone in suspense. Then, I went back to my house, took out the Ford convertible and a black baseball hat before picking up Selena.
She was wearing a long black skirt and a ruffled white off-shoulder blouse, paired with a large white hat to protect herself from the sun. Her minimal makeup was to emphasize that this 'wasn't a date', and she also made a poor choice of pairing her attire up with a white sneaker.
As I looked at Selena, confusion and a smile played across my face. "Either wear it with jeans, or pair the skirt with heels. Why are you creating an abomination?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "Do you think that I kept my stuff here? I don't have any."
"Don't have it, or it hasn't been cleaned yet?" I asked with a teasing tone, "Cause I've seen the pile of dirty laundry in the house."
"Oh, that? That's Taylor's mess, not mine. I'm innocent, I swear." She lied through her teeth while flashing a mischievous smile. I shrugged and teased, "Eh. Not quite innocent."
She froze for a bit and blood rushed to her cheeks. Before she could react, I smirked and said, "We're going to shop first. But make it quick. I am currently in a competition with Luke."
Still blushing, Selena tried to play it cool, "Make it quick? Have you ever gone out shopping with a woman before?"
"Never have and never will." I joked. Selena rolled her eyes and entered the car. We stopped by to get a new pair of jeans before going to the Carnival. We got some weird looks from the shop staff, but no one there could actually recognize us.
I had to pay for her jeans as she 'conveniently' left her purse back at home. However I didn't call her out on that since Selena's mother could track her spending and knew that she didn't go to work.
When I called the Disney staff before, they didn't actually mind that she didn't come today. In fact, they were joyful to get a break on a Sunday.
And they were especially glad to get in touch with me. So for Selena's sake, I would be cameo-ing as a hot stud in the next episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. But she didn't know that yet. It would be a surprise by then.
…
[General POV]
The clock turned back an hour before when Edward just finished the call with the Dunphys.
"Luke! Why did you do that? You know he's going to win!?" Alex scolded, having no trust in her brother.
Phil laughed a bit and said, "How many will this make Luke?"
"He won 7 times. I didn't even win once." Luke replied. "But this time, I have a secret weapon that he didn't have."
"Oh, what's that?" Claire asked while narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"I have you guys." Luke replied with an innocent face.
Disappointed, the girls in the family rolled their eyes at Luke while Phil automatically went into a sermon mode, "We're not going to help you cheat Luke. You have to win your own match, fair and square. Like Ed did yesterday. Learn from him."
[Luke's commentary]
"Oh I learned a lot from watching the game yesterday."
[Commentary paused]
Alex added, "Yeah Luke. Ed always fight fair, even if something he's being a smug son of a bi–"
"Alex. Careful with your language." Claire interjected quickly.
Haley chuckled innocently and said, "Don't worry mom. Ed told us we can call him that."
Claire was speechless, and then realized that Edward was okay with it because that curse remarks attacked his mother more than him.
Phil ignored the slight straying off topic and added to his sermon, "So Luke. We're going to root for you, but we won't help you."
Luke acted unbothered and said, "Oh well. I guess I can't win the prize after all."
Claire and Phil smiled as they thought that they were getting to Luke. Claire asked, "Don't give up yet. The competition still hasn't started yet. Just think about the prizes. You can boss Edward around. What are you going to ask him to do Luke? Sit on a whoopee cushion? Teach you to attract birds to your hand?"
"Oh. I just wanted to use my bet, to ask him to take care of himself. He's been away a lot lately, and I'm worried about him." Luke replied with an innocent facade while pretending he was being sad for Edward.
[Luke's commentary continued]
[Sometimes, you have to act to get what you want. When Ed wants to play the other team, he pretends he has the ball, even if he doesn't."
"So I need to pretend to want something, even if what I really want is something else, but make people think that the first thing that I want is important."
(Can't really make Luke use big words. He's 10)
[Commentary ends]
The rest of the family in the car was baffled, and they felt a bit guilty about rejecting Luke's request for help. Then, they finally arrived at the carnival. Claire, Luke and Phil grouped together while Alex paired off with Haley and walked around together.
[Claire's commentary]
"Well, it won't be the worst thing in the world if Luke won." Claire said.
At the festival, Claire separated from her family while making sure that they wouldn't notice her and went to a Whac-A-Mole machine. She paid for a chance to play and went on to get a high score.
Then, she slowly returned to her family and then said to Luke in private while handing him the ticket, "You dropped this. You need a way to hold your tickets better."
And Claire really thought of that, because she also needed a way to sneak more tickets to Luke without him noticing.
[Phil's commentary]
"It'll be fun if Luke asks Edward to go to Trampoline world with us." Phil said.
At the festival, Phil pretended to have a stomach ache and went to a keep your balance game where he has to walk across a straight narrow beam 6 inches from the ground.
He won 5 tickets for that and went back to his family. Then, he snuck the ticket into Luke's ticket bag that Claire bought while Phil was away.
[Alex's commentary]
"I don't condone cheating behavior. But it'll be fun to see Edward lose." She said, hiding her true intention.
Alex participated in a quiz match at the carnival where she competed against 3 Asians and won. Haley was walking with Alex, and the little sister gave Haley the tickets for safekeeping.
[Haley's commentary]
While holding Alex's tickets, Haley smiled and said, "Oh, I'm not giving this to Luke. I will be holding it until the end of the match, and told Ed I got it to help him win if he was a few tickets short."
Then, her smile disappeared and her expression turned a bit anxious, " I didn't do this because I want's Ed to lose! I want Luke to get his wish too. But I have a feeling that Luke is hiding something."
[Luke's commentary]
Luke smiled mischievously and said, "I'm going to make Edward bake 10 cakes for me. I miss eating them all alone and sleeping for the rest of the day."
[Commentary ends]
…
When Edward finally arrived at the pier, he saw a huge banner at the front of the event. [LA Beverly Hills Ponies Festival]
"Huh. So it is a Festival." Edward muttered to himself, however he was still confused. He walked side by side with Selena as they went to a stall nearby them. Edward needed to hit the stacked cans with a ball to win the tickets.
In an instant, all three towers fall down, making the stall owner baffled.
"Hey, you won this plush teddy bear along with the tickets as you managed to knock all the pins down." The stall owner said with a smile. Then, the latino man with a big belly widened his eyes as he saw the face underneath that baseball cap.
Edward slowly placed his finger on his lip while smiling before taking the teddy bear from the stall owner's hand. "Here." Edward gave it to Selena as they walked away from the stall.
Selena was confused but Edward spoke first, "To hold. I'm not giving it to you."
Selena nodded and said, "Good idea. I hate to see him getting cut into a million pieces when I get back."
Edward chuckled a bit, and the duo bumped into Luke and his parents while walking. Edward showed his tickets confidently at Luke and said, "I just came by, and I already got the first price tickets. How many do you have now?"
"Around…250." Luke said, shocking Edward. Even with the first price tickets, he only has 25 tickets right now.
"How is it possible? It's barely been an hour." Edward muttered in disbelief.
Luke smiled mischievously and said smugly, "Just wait. I'm going to get to a thousand before noon. And I'm going to claim the first price at the ticket booth!"
Phil mumbled to himself with disbelief, "One thousand? How can we get that without him noticing we're helping?"
Claire leaned in and whispered to Luke, "Well, the first price item is for 1500 tickets."
"Oh. then, whatever closes to a thousand then." Luke corrected himself to Edward.
Edward's face was anxious for a second before he smiled and said, "Alright. Challenge accepted. I'll see your thousand tickets, and I will make sure that I will get 1500 tickets before noon"
"That's impossible Ed. Even if you hit all the stalls here." Phil said with worry.
Edward grinned and said, "Don't worry Phil. It won't be fun if it's not a challenge."
[Phil's commentary]
"What happened to a healthy competition between brothers? I am feeling so guilty right now."
[Claire's commentary]
"I know that it's impossible for Ed to win with me helping Luke, and he was an hour late to the fair. But, for some reason, I still couldn't relax. Hmmm…Should I get Haley to walk with Ed? With girls around, he will surely slows down in getting the tickets…right? Or, will it make him more competitive as he feels that he couldn't lose his dignity in front of them?"