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The auction ended up being quite a crazy time and Talie ended up winning the date with him —- a date only for charity. It wasn’t an actual date. She didn’t think it was, did she? Thinking about that, Thomas was not completely sure where Talie stood in those thoughts. It wasn’t an actual date. Just a fun time. It would be great finally hanging out with the woman outside of work. Only visiting her during lunch hours was probably strange. He wondered what her coworker Manny thought about that. Probably thought he was weird. 

Sighing as he stepped down from the stage and he was going to thank her, but he got nervous. Jolts of nervous anxiety ran through his body and the negativity he has been stormed by all night seemed to cause him to implode on himself. “[color=66946b]It shouldn't be a problem if aah thank her later, right?[/color]” Whispering to himself as he slipped into the crowd so he could try to make his way home. He was done with the festival. None of his friends tried to make plans. The only person to make plans ended up kissing him and bidding seven-hundred dollars on him for charity and he really didn’t know how to feel about that. It was a strange feeling. It made him feel warm and cold at the same time. Kind of shaky. Somewhat forcing a smile to his lips as well. Mixed emotions one could say but he couldn’t stay at the festival anymore. There wasn’t anything here for him, was there? 

Thomas shook those thoughts away and he began to slowly make his way through the crowd, getting around people, and somewhat getting stopped by the occasional passersby that wanted to ask about the fourth of July — fireworks. When those were going to be. Where. How much money did they get for them this year? What type of show? Was music going to be synced with it? A whole bunch of questions from a whole bunch of people. The sheriff had an answer for each one of them. 

Being able to break away from the crowd and the main parts of the stage, Tommy found himself on the outskirts of the date auction and listened to how others were beginning to bid on the next poor soul. [i]I’m never doing that again…[/i] Was a thought that passed while he began to make his way through the rest of the festival. Games were still going on. Venders were still calling people to the stalls to get buyers. The man felt like he was in a twilight zone in a sense. 

Almost a decade… 

A decade ago was the last time the friend group ran around the festival like children. Playing games. Doing things their parents would have been angry about. Being of the age where the parents didn’t know if they should scold you, ground you, or do nothing about it. You were going to leave in a couple months for college or wherever you thought would be best for you. Practically an adult. Memories passed by his eyes while he looked over at certain games or physical locations. Remembering how Levi and him at fifteen somehow got a bag of weed from a party two weeks before the October bash. A dance the high school held. They tried it out. 

The stinging in his lungs could be felt and he only tried it once and that was almost fifteen to twenty years ago. It dried his mouth and he went into a coughing fit. He couldn’t stop. Levi tried to give him a pop from the vending machine by the grocery store but it was only eating the quarters and nothing was coming out while his friend was dying by the chipped lamppost. Levi finally realized that most of the selection was out and he just had to press an unpopular flavor of pop that neither of them really cared for but he ended up getting three because of how many quarters he put in. 

After chugging one and sipping another, Levi even drank the one. They had a laugh about it. Tommy told Levi that he was never trying that again and Levi was going to have to find someone else to smoke with him. He thought his friend understood with the smile that came back at him. Both of them were smiling like idiots. It was probably because of the small high that hit their systems. 

That night, Tommy found himself in a rough position with his father. The man had a heavy hand and a sharper belt when his eldest son came home smelling like the [i]devils plant[/i] was what he called it. That night, he rode his bike about two hours to the Serrano’s homestead and slept in their barn. He was too embarrassed to even ask Javier to stay in the house and didn’t want the man worrying or anything. Remembering how a young Estella found him broken and bruised in the morning. She was so worried. He remembered how her big doe eyes filled with worry, concern, care, and she instantly tried helping him in any way she could. 

He told her not to tell anyone but being the good girl she was. She told her dad, most likely not on purpose, when she went into the house to get him something. Instead of meeting Estella at the barn door, Javier opened it up and Tommy felt fear rise in him. He didn’t know why he was scared or maybe terrified but he was. He felt like he was going to get in trouble by the man but he was brought inside the house instead and a few questions were asked. It was nothing. That was the most common answer he would give and he knew Javier knew he was lying. He was glad that the older man didn’t push too much. 

Sighing at the memory, Tommy continued to walk through the festival and other memories were coming to light. Him and Levi did almost everything together and he did miss that. 
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[b]Location[/b] Somewhere at the festival  
[b]Mentions[/b] [@LovelyComplex] (memory of Estella and Javier) [@The Muse] (memory of Levi)
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