Ophelia McCarthy (breatheoutside) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-05-11 20:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, jen, jen x ophelia, ophelia |
Who: Jen and Phee
When: noonish, Saturday, June 30th
Where: the carnival
Status: complete
The time away with her mom had helped Phee’s mindset quite a bit. It hadn’t been completely smooth, but she felt like she understood Brianna better, in ways that were probably weird to understand about one’s mother. Or maybe this was a normal phase of growing up as a daughter, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like she’d had any big sisters to look up to and learn from, it was just her and her mom feeling it out together. In any case, it had been good for both of them in the end. It had been actually kind of fun to share a hotel room and eat room service while they watched a movie together, and she felt marginally better about everything. They were both going to work on stuff and hopefully she would start to feel like she really had a mom again.
Once Saturday rolled around, she was itching to get out of the house in a good sort of way. Phee hadn’t seen Jen in a while, so she texted her friend to see if she wanted to hang out and maybe go to the carnival. She’d gone with Greg earlier in the week and it had been pretty awesome even in her bad mood, so she knew it would be fun with Jen. They coordinated enough to meet at the entrance around noon, and Phee was there right on time in some cute vine leggings and her hair pulled into low curly pigtails. She grinned and waved when she spotted Jen.
Jen had been feeling kind of dead on her feet all week. Working was a lot harder than school and she'd been tempted to go to the carnival a lot after work so she hadn't exactly been resting. In fact she'd set a goal to sleep all Saturday and not go anywhere or do anything, but then she'd woken up feeling energized and excited all over again so maybe Sunday could be her veg-out day. "Oh look at you all cute and dressed up!" she yelled as she jogged over to Phee, holding her take-away coffee (with lots of sugar!) to the side as she leaned in to hug her. "I didn't even bother getting dolled up, you get all the glory today," she snickered as she'd just pulled on a pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt for this venture. "I like your hair!"
Phee laughed and made a ‘wtf’ face at the idea that she was dressed up, glancing down at her outfit before she hugged Jen back. “Well thanks,” she said with another laugh, bobbing her head back and forth to make her ponytails bounce. “You look cute no matter what, no dolling up needed.” It still gave her a fun littler flutter every time she saw Jen, who just seemed effortlessly fey and pretty all the time. Phee turned and hooked her arm through Jen’s so they could stroll up to the ticket booth together. Soon enough they were inside the carnival itself, and Phee felt that same excitement she’d been filled with when she’d come with Greg. “This isn’t your first time here this week, right?” she asked Jen as they walked, glancing over at her.
"No," Jen admitted and laughed. "I've been coming here after work. I even fell asleep on the ferris wheel!" Maybe it was weird that she was so desperate to come here, even when she was that tired, but she was young and she liked fun and she had no idea how long this carnival was going to be in town for. "I hope they're still here when I get the film for my camera, I think it'd make for some awesome pictures. It's all so retro and cool." She was kind of sulky it wasn't there yet, but ordering things online could be dodgy and this sort of old film hadn't been easy to find. "I hope they're here the whole summer!"
“Oh good,” Phee said first with a laugh. She wouldn’t have minded showing Jen around the carnival for the first time, but it was cool that she’d already been there and probably knew what she wanted to see and do. “Oh man, that would be awesome! I bet you could get great pictures here. And it’s great for people-watching -- I only came once with Greg, but I saw like twenty people I knew here too.” Phee had no idea how long the carnival would last, but she kind of hoped it was all summer too! How fun would that be? She already wanted to come back a few more times, especially now that she was there again.
"Yeah and you can get great photos of the town from the ferris wheel," Jen replied. "I might take a few just on my phone to see if it's worth the film. Plus I have no idea if this camera takes good photos or not. I hope so! Otherwise it's just like a pretty decoration." At least it hadn't been crazy expensive or she wouldn't even have been able to afford it. "There are a few places I haven't tried yet, like the fun house and the bumper cars. Those just seem more fun when you're with someone, you know?"
“Yeah totally!” Phee agreed. “I can highly recommend the bumper cars, but me and Greg kind of rushed through the funhouse, so I’d definitely be down to go through it again.” There had been a creepy sort of vibe in there, but there was kind of a creepy vibe all over the carnival, so that seemed pretty standard. Plus doing something creepy with Jen seemed like fun. “Wanna get the whiplash out of the way and do bumper cars first?” she asked, flashing Jen a grin.
"Bad boyfriend!" Jen exclaimed in a playfully dramatic fashion. "You can't rush fun." She was absolutely down for all the rides and places if she was honest, except maybe the tunnel of love which sounded boring in general to someone lacking a romantic bone in her body - but also made her think about kissing Phee which had not been boring and she didn't really want to invoke any awkwardness today. "We'll take all the time we need in the fun house, after the bumper cars," she added in agreement and let Phee lead the way in that direction, wishing she had some fake ID to be able to buy the special cocktail they were offering. Some girls were really good at talking people into buying alcohol for them but Jen had never been one of them.
Phee and Greg had skipped the tunnel of love themselves just because it seemed kind of cheesy and they had plenty of privacy to kiss as much as they wanted back at Greg’s place. It didn’t cross her mind yet with Jen, but she often thought of that kiss herself when she was alone ... and occasionally when she and Greg were having sex. Phee didn’t think that was really wrong of her or anything -- she didn’t plan on doing it again because she was with someone she loved, and his permission had been a one-time thing, but it still felt like discovering important things about herself. Today was for fun and not navel-gazing though, and Phee was stoked to climb into a bumper car again. She made sure that her bag was secure between her feet, then gunned the engine until the start buzzer went off, then promptly went after Jen, giggling like mad.
It was invigorating to just smash into things and scream their heads off and Jen found herself stupidly happy to have a friend she could do this with. She didn't often think of Portland and how lonely she had really been there but at times like these it was hard not to feel gratitude for her friendship with Phee. God she wanted this stupid carnival to be here all summer and come back next summer, it wasn't often she let loose like this and it felt amazing. "Watch out!" she yelled right before ramming into Phee's bumper car, not so much a warning as a war cry and she burst out laughing before she squealed as someone else bumped into her car just as hard.
Phee had never been overflowing with friends either -- she was friendly with some of the other students in band with her, had a couple of friends who had stuck around since grade school, but none of them were what Phee would call really close friends. She’d just never really connected with any other girls but Jen the same way. Being some super popular girl had never been a real desire of hers, but having a best friend made such a difference. Phee screamed happily as Jen slammed into her, laughing as she desperately tried to turn her car so she could get back at her. The steering on those things was not the best, but that was part of the fun. It took a few more run-ins with other people before Phee could retaliate, giggling as both of their bodies jerked. Too soon, the buzzer sounded that their time was over and the cars stopped moving. “Aww,” Phee groaned in protest, then started to climb out.
That was the problem with the carnival, Jen didn't have enough money to go on all the rides all the time and it was over too quickly every time. Well, maybe that wasn't a carnival problem so much as a 'her problem' but still... She sullenly got out of her little car and linked her arm with Phee's as they headed out of there but it was hard to keep up any sort of a sour front when her mood was still elevated. "Funhouse?" she suggested with a grin once they were outside again. "See what all the fun is about?"
She actually had money to burn, and Phee would happily come back to the bumper cars later if they wanted to. Right then she was in ‘see everything’ mode and she was ready to move on for the moment. “Funhouse!” Phee agreed enthusiastically, grinning as she strolled arm-in-arm with Jen in that direction. “Just a fair warning, I think I saw a clown in there when me and Greg went through, so I hope you’re not afraid of clowns.” It was hard to imagine Jen being afraid of anything, honestly, she was so cool and open minded and collected bugs for fun, but you never knew what kind of phobias people had.
"I'm not afraid of clowns," Jen snickered. "Unless they're like actively gunning for me. I mean yeah, they're creepy, I think we've all collectively come to an agreement - finally - that the ones with painted faces are creepy as hell." She was pretty sure Hunter would be scared of clowns, he was probably scared of everything now and she wasn't even sure he would have come to the carnival if he was visiting. His loss, it was actually fantastic. "Is Greg scared of clowns?" she asked, half teasing as she pictured Phee's hyperactive boyfriend reacting comically to seeing that clown in there.
“That old clown movie with the red balloon kind of made them creepy,” Phee assessed, even though she really had no idea. Maybe clowns had always been creepy and people just did movies based on that, but whatever. The question about Greg made her laugh and she shook her head. “No, not that I know of, at least,” she said, wrinkling her nose a bit. “Honestly, I’m not sure what he’s scared of. Besides, like, Point Pleasant’s usual bullshit, you know?” There was Jules and her portals, but Phee was feeling too good to want to delve into all of that. Nor did she really want to tell Jen about Greg’s gun. It hadn’t been a problem yet, and hopefully it never would. “Me, I hate like, dark enclosed spaces, Trip used to shut me up in a closet when I was little just to hear me scream in like, ten seconds.” Phee laughed a bit. Oh, brothers.
Jen burst out laughing, covering her mouth as she gave Phee a slightly guilty look. "I used to do that to Hunter," she admitted with a snicker. "He was scared of everything. I'm so sorry." She hadn't locked Phee in a closet but it somehow still felt a bit like she was responsible, having been the perpetrator in someone else's misery. "To be fair it is hilarious on the other side and I was just a kid. I probably would again though, if he annoyed me enough. He's fun to torture." Which probably made her a horrible person - or just a typical sister, she didn't know. "I would never do that to you though," she promised. "You're only really allowed to do that to your siblings anyway."
Phee laughed, because even if she’d suffered through it herself, torturing siblings was fun, and if she’d had a younger one she probably would’ve done similar things to them. “Yeah, it’s totally okay if it’s your own siblings,” she agreed with a grin. “No apologies needed, you didn’t do it, Trip did. Bash never liked doing stuff like that, he was always too sensitive. ... but now I kinda want to tell him you used to do it to Hunter, I think he’d laugh now.” Exes were also kind of fun to laugh at, and now that Bash had moved on with his love life, he’d probably see the humor in it. They were approaching the funhouse now, and Phee did a little skip-hop into walking faster to get to the entrance. She might not like getting stuck in closets, but this kind of half-scary thing was so fun.
The clowns inside were creepy, more so than Jen had expected though she couldn't exactly say why. They weren't scary at least, just... weird. Maybe because everything was so strange inside the funhouse and the place really messed with her perception of reality. She knew it was all fake but the primal parts of her brain still freaked the hell out when the floor suddenly dropped from under her and she grabbed onto Phee as she shrieked, then laughed, her knees buckling. "We need to stay away from this floor!" she yelled as she pulled her along toward the slides. "Oh my God, Phee!"
The place probably would have unsettled her more if she’d been there by herself, but Phee felt no fear with Jen at her side, just like she’d been fearless with Greg. She still squealed with glee and her heart jumped when the floor dropped away, and she ran away with Jen. They went down one of the big slides clinging to each other and giggling like mad. Phee ended up falling on her ass trying to cross a rope bridge and she just laid there and laughed for what felt like a really long time. At least there were mats to land on. She needed Jen’s help to get on her feet again, still out of breath and giggling. Her body bumped into Jen’s and Phee turned it into a hug just because.
Jen hugged her back and it was so damn nice to just laugh and have a good time, in a way she kind of felt like she was a kid again, her inhibitions lowered and the worries of daily life far away for the time being. It'd be a perfect day if her feet didn't hurt so much but even that was easy to ignore. "C'mon," she tittered. "Let's go stuff ourselves on greasy and sweet food. I need sustenance!" The way she was feeling she kind of wished she was -temporarily at least - one of those girls who could easily flirt their way into getting things because trying out the carnival cocktail sounded so tempting. It was times like these where she couldn't wait to be twenty-one with all the freedom that came with it.
Just the high of being there with Jen and having a fantastic time was enough of an intoxicant for Phee for now, so the alcohol they were missing out on was far from her mind. What did sound tempting was junk food, and Phee already knew she wanted a funnel cake and a big soft pretzel and maybe a corndog, and hopefully Jen would help her finish it all off. “Yes! Fun fuel!” she agreed with another flurry of giggles. She grabbed Jen’s hand so they could stick close together on their way out of the Funhouse. She might not have been actually afraid of clowns, but there was still that deep instinct of safety in numbers. Once they’d made it out unmolested, Phee kept her hand in Jen’s, practically skipping off to enjoy the rest of the carnival with her best friend.