At Last (Part One)

Toby couldn't handle being with his "team" any longer. After their near death experience in the fun house, he needed some space to recollect himself, to feel normal. The game was over for the night, and nothing sounded more appealing to him than letting loose, eating something greasy and deep fried, and blowing some cash on an aggressive game, or two, or three. He also wanted to find a WiFi hot-spot for his laptop to see if he could get online to talk to Moira. At that point, he'd just about sell his soul to hear her voice and see her face.

Funny, because as he walked through the carnival, he noticed someone who looked an awful lot like her. Toby rubbed at his eyes, slapped his face a few times, and then pinched himself. Not possible. She couldn't be there. Could she? What was she doing there even? No, his eyes had to be playing tricks on him. Still, as much as he wanted to just keep walking, he followed the girl with the dark hair who looked practically identical to the girl he loved whom he'd never met. The one he'd been dating online for the past six months. And he felt his heart beat faster the closer and closer he got to her.

Soon he was right behind her, his hand outstretched as if to touch her, but he held back. Until someone shoved him into her and he knocked her to the ground. "Shit, sorry." He mumbled, completely embarrassed. And then his eyes met hers.

“What the hell? Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Moira yelled from the ground. She stared up at the guy who had knocked her down. “Oh my God, Toby?” Moira couldn’t believe her eyes. There’s no way he could really be here. It was impossible! She hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell him that she was going to be on this show. Had he tracked her down somehow? “Is that really you?”

He had a great reply for her, but he was completely shocked that it actually was her. "Moira? Are you shitting me? It really is you?" He had to pinch himself again. "Sorry some asshole pushed me into you, but I saw you from that way." He pointed in the general direction of the fun house. "I had to see...and I'm glad I did baby. Wow you look..." He couldn't take his eyes from her.

“It’s really me. I can’t believe this!” She finally tore her eyes from his and glanced around, realizing she was still on the ground. She flushed, embarrassed that her first meeting with Toby in person involved her being sprawled out on the ground like a moron. “I guess I should get up.”

"Oh here." He offered his hand and pulled her up. Ace boyfriend move right there. Just leave her on the ground idiot. He sighed and nervously put a hand through his dark shaggy hair. "What are you doing in Colorado?" he asked at last as he tried to regain his insides. He was amazed at how he didn't feel as awkward as he initially imagined the moment being.

“Thanks.” She couldn’t stop staring at him. It was nothing like seeing him on Skype. To actually see him in person...she felt like she was in a dream. “Well, I’m sort of on this show. Like this reality show thing. I know, it sounds kind of dumb.”

That was when he crapped a proverbial brick. "Did you say a reality show?" His jaw dropped further. "No freaking way. That's why I'm here too!"

This was beginning to become bizarre. “Are you serious? Wait, is the one you’re on called Escape?”

He nodded slowly. Then it dawned on him that his traumatic experience in the fun house...she might have gone through that too. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt did you?" He could ask about why she was even there later. He paused. "You're not on my team. Ahhhh shit." He scowled. "Dammit all."

“Oh crap. Do you think they’ll let us switch?” She wondered how much she should tell him about what had happened in there. Wait, what was she thinking? This was her boyfriend she was talking to. She could tell him anything. She didn’t have to act like things didn’t bother her. “I’m not hurt, at least not physically. But they locked me in this tiny room. I was terrified.”

He put an arm around her, instantly wanting to comfort her after the words 'I was terrified' were uttered. "I doubt we can switch. This sucks." He sighed, happy to actually be able to hold her. This was weird. He almost stopped but realized he was her boyfriend. This should be cool.

Her heart felt like it was going to stop when Toby’s arm went around her. It felt so good to be held by him, especially after what had happened in the fun house. She snuggled closer to him. “It does suck. All my teammates are assholes. I’d much rather be on a team with you.”

"Mine are too,” he groaned. "This one guy is completely worthless. You should swap places with him." She didn't pull away from him, so he took this as a good signal and put his hand a little lower on her hip, admiring the curve, and moving her in closer. "Let's...let's do something fun. Forget about all of that crap for a little while?"

She tentatively threaded her arm around Toby’s waist, hoping that he wouldn’t notice and freak out. “Sounds good to me. What do you want to do?”

"I think its one of my boyfriend duties to win you a huge ass stuffed animal. Food sounds good. I'm starving." And he needed to comfort eat like a total girl, but it was the only familiar thing he had at the moment.

She grinned at him. “A huge ass stuffed animal sounds amazing. I don’t know how I’m going to get it in that ghetto thing they claim is a car, but I’ll figure it out. And food definitely sounds good. I’m starving too.” She hadn’t eaten all day, afraid that she was going to throw up from the fear of being stuck in that “fun” house.

"Anything in particular you want?" He asked. "There's teddy bears, unicorns, gorillas, pandas, I could probably win any of these games with my super jock powers. And for food we have um..." he paused trying to find something she might eat. "Cheese curds maybe?"

“I’m not much of a teddy bear person, but I make an exception for pandas. But I’d be happy with anything you want to win me. And cheese curds? Ew! Sorry, but that just sounds nasty.” She laughed. “What about a funnel cake instead?”

"Panda it is! Which is easier for me because it’s the basketball game and we all know I'm totally amazing there." He was kidding, but it helped him cope with not focusing on any of the negative implications floating around., like how she was competition now, and the cameras. Were those on now? And if he won what did she miss out on? "Okay so no cheese curds. I was just trying to appease your vegetarian side since these isn't a lot that isn't meat on a stick." He paused. "You won't kill me if I get a corndog will you?" He gave her a sweet and innocent smile. "I'll get you a funnel cake and I see potato skins up that way. Wow, mini donuts!"

“Yes, we all know how amazing you are—at sports, I mean.” She blushed. Man, what was with her today? She figured it must be a combination of not eating, the stress of being trapped in the fun house, and the excitement of finally meeting Toby in person. Speaking of which, it had just occurred to her that they were now competing against each other. What would happen to them if her team won, and his lost? Or the other way around? She couldn’t be thinking about that right now. “No, I won’t kill you if you get a corndog. But you do realize that they’re not even real meat, right? They’re just cast-off parts of animals that they’ve caged and tortured.”

"I bet I'm amazing at more than just sports too." He said confidently. Not like he'd know or anything seeing as how he'd never had a girlfriend near him, but he did have a lot of self-esteem. Plus he was smart; he had a lot to offer. "And I know they're not real meat, but I'm staaaaaaarving. Though, I could skip it tonight and just go for the potatoes." Wonderful, filling, carbs with cheese. It would probably be better for him in the long run too. "Oh look! That one has fried veggies on a stick!" He dragged her over that way so they could investigate. "Looks like eggplant, carrots, mushrooms...I'm getting it." He went into his pockets to dig out the cash they'd pulled from the ATM earlier so he could pay. "What about you? Enticed?"

“You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you? I guess I’ll try the fried veggies, and maybe a couple of the potatoes. Ugh, why’d I agree to go on this show? If I’m going to be eating nothing but junk food...maybe I should have stayed home. Oh, and you don’t have to pay for all of it. I have money too.”

"I'm just happy to be eating right now, and with those hunters..." He shuddered a little. "I'm not worried about gaining weight, that's for sure. It's one night of indulging. It won't hurt you. You're super hot babe." He looked down at her and met her eyes briefly, took a moment to check her out again because wow she was so much hotter in person than he ever could have imagined, and then looked back up at the menu. "Anyway, what kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn't pay for my girl? You can get the next one."

“Thanks. And you’re right, we should be eating now while we have a chance. Those hunters scare the hell out of me. Who knows when they're going to pop up?" She glanced around before continuing. “Besides, I didn’t eat all day, so I guess one meal of fried food won’t hurt...” She broke off when she noticed him staring at her. “Toby, why do you keep staring at me? It’s not like you didn’t know what I look like.”

He shifted as she caught him staring and he quickly averted his eyes to somewhere, anywhere else. "I've always thought you were super gorgeous, beautiful, hot, sexy, awesome looking. Even more so now that you're four dimensional, well, maybe five now because I can touch you, and taste you, I mean..." He blushed. 

He shouldn't even be thinking beyond the hand holding cuddling stage, but for so long he'd been wondering what it would be like to touch her and kiss her. Especially kiss her. He'd always wondered what that would be like in general. "It's different, but um. I'll stop now. Food." 

He got back on track. "We'll find something non-fried to balance it out or whatever."  He bit his lower lip, "You don't think the hunters will come again tonight do you? I mean, Chance said we got the night off, but...I don't know how much I trust him."

Oh crap. She’d upset him. She grabbed his arm. “Toby, I didn’t mean it like that! I wasn’t trying to be mean. Damn it, I’m totally screwing this up, aren’t I? I mean, I like you staring at me...ahhh this isn’t coming out right! It’s totally different than talking to you online and I kind of don’t know what to say...I don’t know if I should touch you or if it would freak you out, you know?”

He took his eyes off the menu board to look back down at her again. "Babe, you're my girl. Whatever you want it's yours. Do with me as you please. I meant it when I said I'm yours. You honestly think I'm going to freak out on you?" He laughed, "Trust me. I'm cool. I just wasn't sure if you were. I mean, this isn't how I was planning on meeting you. I wanted it to be a little more romantic. But...carnivals are pretty romantic. And I think there's a tunnel of love ride too." Was that too forward of him? He didn't know, but they had been dating for six months. He would have made out with her via computer screen if he didn't think it was weird as hell.

“That’s good to hear. Sooo...carnivals are romantic? I’ve never really thought of them that way . . . more as a source of terror, as proved today. But maybe you can show me a different side of them?”

"I can try," he said. "Back home this kind of thing is huge. They come and set up, it's a three day event." He finally was able to get the food and pay. With a gentle hand, he led her off to the side. He immediately started to devour the fried veggies. "Ugh, this is like heaven right now."

She reached for one of the fried veggies and tentatively bit into it. “These aren’t as bad as I thought they would be. The closest we have back home is a theme park. Although, they do have a carnival every once in a while in San Jose, which isn’t far from where I live. It’s mostly food and games...nothing compared to this.”

"Theme parks are nothing to the real deal." He grinned, determined to make this a great time for them both and to make the most of it. If he didn't think about the game, about the hunters, about anything else having to do with what brought them there, then he couldn't let it spoil the fun. "Okay, so we need the panda." He pointed to the basketball hoop game. "Ya know, I've never been to a theme park."

“Are you serious? That sucks. I mean they’re not all that great, but everyone should go at least once in their lives. The one in Santa Cruz has rides, games, shopping, food, mini-golf...but when I go, I spend most of my time in the arcade.”

"I was supposed to go to King's Island once with my family, but I ended up getting food poisoning. While everyone else left, I stayed home with my grandma and puked my guts out,” he said as he finished wolfing down his food. "Fun times, let me tell you. We were supposed to go again this summer, but I kind of screwed that one up big time. It sounds like fun. You should take me sometime." He nudged her playfully. "Show me what I'm missing out on out in the country."

“That doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t know much about the rest of the country, but I can show you around Santa Cruz. That is...if you want to come see me when this is all over.”

"Uh, hell yes I do!" He wanted to be anywhere she was, and anywhere that was far away from home. He hated home. "Unless you think I'm annoying and you don't want to bring me back with you. I bet I could fit in your suitcase or something if I tried hard enough. You could sneak me in."

She grinned. She liked the idea of him being at her house. “Of course I don’t think you’re annoying! And I wouldn’t have to sneak you in. My mom wouldn’t mind if you came to visit. In fact, I can guarantee she’d say you could stay as long as you like. She’d probably think you’d be a good influence on me!”

"Really?" He smiled at that. He liked that her mom liked him and them together. His parents always sort of rolled his eyes and hoped he'd grow out of the Internet stage, but they never understood. They thought she was sweet and pretty, but they didn't like that she wasn't physical. But now she was.

He stopped at the basketball game and gave the attendant some tickets. "Alright. One panda coming right up." And with ease and the near perfect form that earned him his position as starting forward, he dropped the ball into the net five times in a row. He pointed to the panda, which was fairly large, but not so big she couldn't carry it easily in her arms. He made sure that she was holding it before he kissed her cheek just in case she'd try to slap him or something. "Now you can cuddle with it and think of me. Since...I mean...it could be a lil bit before we..." he swallowed. This wasn't fair. At all.

Her hand flew up to touch where he had just kissed her and she almost dropped her new panda. She smiled at him, but she felt like she wanted to cry. “It’s not fair!” she finally said, feeling a little like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum. “None of this is fair. I hate that we had to meet like this, on this stupid show...I mean, I’m glad that we finally met, but I definitely wouldn’t have planned it like this. And now we’re going to be separated!”

"We can try to keep meeting? I can help you!" he insisted. "We can leave each other clues and hints online. I duno. Anything!"

“That’s a great idea! I mean, we’re basically going to be in the same places at the same time anyway, right? We can sneak away after the challenges like we did tonight!”

"Yes!" He liked this idea. The more time he could spend with her the better. "So now you have your panda. How about a ride?" He wasn’t kidding about the tunnel of love, but he didn’t know if he should suggest it or something else. He did want this date to feel normal though.

“Sounds good to me. What did you have in mind? Please, no roller coasters or anything like that. I don’t really like heights.”

"Then that rules out the Ferris wheel." He snapped his fingers. "We have a carousel, looks like a haunted house ride but id rather stay away from all things houses right now. The tunnel of luuuuurve." He made a dorky face at that one. "Scrambler, the octopus, and the spinning strawberry thing."

She hesitated for a moment. Would it be too forward of her to suggest the tunnel of love ride? She kind of liked the idea of being alone with him in the dark...“Whatever’s the quietest ride, I guess. I kind of need to relax a little after the fiasco of the fun house.”

"So let's go on the tunnel, quiet and dark." He paused unsure if this is her indirect way of saying she wanted that kind of time with him. "And no pressure, promise." He was just happy to touch her instead of a computer screen.

She was glad that he had suggested it instead of her. “Sounds good to me. But what are we going to do with the panda?”

"Panda can make sure we don't get too frisky. Plus I think there's a back seat anyway." He waggled his eyebrows playfully. Maybe he was getting a little too excited. His fingers interlaced with hers again and he led her towards the ride, his tickets ready.

*This is a collaborative story between Brea Essex and J.F. Jenkins (Team Introv3rsion). To read Part Two, please visit http://introv3rsion.blogspot.com/