Embarrassed

Katie bit into a giant stack of pancakes the next morning.

“Thish is my favorite…”

“Eat up. It won’t be much longer ‘till the ceremony.” Frankie rested her arms above her finished meal of hashbrowns, eggs, and sausage.

A waiter delivered their total, and Frankie roughly subtracted it in her head. “We’re about out of money…” she dug into their wallet for the necessary amount.

“Good thing we’re about to have a whole lot more.”

Frankie smirked, first wanting to say, “Here’s hoping” in cautious optimism, but something in her was getting bored of that sort of thing.

“Damn straight.” She said instead, leaving the biggest tip she could.

The only thing left to do was take one more stroll through the metropolis they’d given up a whole week of park-hopping to visit. But leaving the Winter Wonderpan cafe that Christmas Eve morning, it didn’t feel like they’d been there for hardly any time at all. Without the games, the stress… Frankie felt like she was seeing a whole new park.

“This is nice, all of a sudden.” She said, passing by all the gift shops they hadn’t entered.

“I mean… it was nice before too, wasn’t it?”

“Something about this is just better to me. I dunno.”

“Is it because you know we’re about to win?”

Frankie looked up to let some snow fall on her face.

“More like… our fates are already sealed, so why worry? Even if I knew we were gonna lose… that wouldn’t matter anymore, would it? Right now… aside from getting to the reveal on time, we can do whatever we want. We’re free.”

Katie shivered.

“You’re… comfy ‘cause our fates are already sealed?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that comforting to you?”

“You are a weird one…” Katie giggled, but it didn’t quite sound like it was coming from the heart.

Another walk through the tunnel, and back they found themselves in the Universe Theater, now melting alive inside their heavy clothes. They went to change immediately, soon exiting the bathroom with appropriate attire and still-sweaty skin.

“That was close… woulda sucked to die from heatstroke on the last day.”

“That it would.” Katie at least agreed with her there. Walking out of the stalls they both instinctively positioned themselves on the quickest route to leave the building as soon as they could, but something stopped their obsessively eager movements.

“Come on, sis! Why won’t you say hi to them? Just go over there! Do I have to do it for you…?!” The kid’s high-pitched voice raised in argument, driven into action by his sister’s incompetence.

“Since when did you start talking back to me…” She uttered without much sternness, watching as their roles swapped the second her persona couldn’t keep her afloat.

Katie blinked.

“Cheryl?”

The girl stood awkwardly, wishing she had the sling of a rifle to hold onto instead of her flimsy cooler strap while she averted her gaze to the ground a few feet away from her diagonally. Frankie finally turned to see the frontier siblings, a little in awe to see anyone she’d met before a second time who wasn’t Bozo or someone equally awful.

Katie and Saint immediately jumped into a hug, the extroverts quite overjoyed to bump into one another, which only made the two chronically anxious women beside them that much more uncomfortable. After how things left off last time- out of both of their respective controls- the perceived power they each had was lost, and both felt weak and naked in front of the other, unable to say anything lest the situation become that much more odd.

“Uh? Guys? Why aren’t you two saying anything? Hug or something!” Katie egged on after she looked over from her best buddy Saint to see the weirdos idling around without so much making eye contact. Like two immovable objects, nothing much was going to happen for either of them without a Katie or a Saint to push them into it.

“Sorry, I’m a bit tired.” Cheryl made up an excuse, at last forcing herself to look at the bewildered Frankie, an act that elicited more emotion in herself than she was quite ready for. Praying her blush wasn’t visible and steadying her posture, she cleared her throat and did what she could to regain her composure. “Ahem. I see you have…” she said coldly, like she was back to the way she was when they first met. “…dyed your hair.”

Taking Cheryl off her guard, Frankie burst into a laughing fit in response, much of her shyness now able to melt down after all she’d seen in the few days they’d been apart.

“W-Why are you laughing at me?” Cheryl did her best to sound mean again.

“Sorry. I'm… glad you like it.” Frankie straightened herself out, still grabbing at her sides with a smile. Not that she’d admit it, but sharpshooter sounded absolutely adorable trying to act tough.

“I.. never said I-“

Cheryl looked down to see her brother tugging on her again, looking up at her with an aggravated, yet still innocent face that looked a lot like Katie’s. She looked back at Frankie.

“…I like it.” Her gaze fell back to the ground the second she got the words out, face now just as red as the sisters who had spent a day in Snowfall Kingdom.

“Are… you two here to see the results, then?” Frankie asked.

“Y…Yeah.” Nodded Cheryl. “I don’t know if we stand much of a chance, but… maybe we could still make it into third if we get really lucky.”

“Of course you stand a chance!” Frankie objected. “You’re the best gunslinger in the park, aren’t you?”

“I… wouldn’t go that far. Let’s not forget how you managed to beat me.”

“Let’s not forget it was against both of us.” Katie argued. “And besides… were you really on your A-game that day?” She teased.

“I don’t know what you’re implying, but I… yes, I reckon it wasn’t all that balanced of a match. Thanks. I’ll keep believing in myself.”

“You better!” Katie punched the air. Saint mimicked it.

“I’m… excited to see you two win, though.”

“You are? Thanks!” Responded Katie immediately.

“You’re betting on us?”

“Yeah. Not uh… literally, but… maybe that wouldn’t be that bad an idea. You two just seem… real motivated, is all. I like you.” The shooter smiled, before her face went read again and she waved her hands at the sisters. “B-both- of you- I mean!” Her face went even redder, regretting her words instantly. “A-As in, I respect you! I, Cheryl, will do well to surpass you!”

Frankie chuckled, scratching her head. Katie respectfully nodded to the challenge. “When we see you again, let’s play another game!” The optimistic ideologue said.

“A-Again…?” Cheryl murmured. “But… how do you know we’ll ever-“

“We’re gonna be traveling the world forever, so we’re bound to run into you two again, right? Even if you stay right here, we’ll be back to ride more rides. Right, Frankie?”

“Well… it… um. Still might be smart to exchange some contact info, just in case.”

“In case what?” Katie asked, bewildered. 

“I don’t have a phone, but… this is my email address.” She wrote on a torn napkin from her cooler and handed it to Frankie, who took it happily. “There’s public computers in a lot of the zones, so… we can talk. I-if you want.”

“I… uh… look forward to it.” Frankie smiled nervously under the heat of her emotions. 

“Sis…!” As much as he liked to see his big sis doing something good for herself, Saint tugged on her a second time, growing worried. “I see Kidney, it’s about to start! Come on, let’s go!”

“Um…!” Cheryl looked at Saint, then back at the girls. “Goodbye. I’ll see you up onstage when you win…!” She waved. As she left, pulled away by her tiny little brother, Katie cupped her hands like a megaphone and called out to her.

“My sister likes you too!” She shouted, alerting not just her but the whole central plaza. Frankie was quick to cover her mouth in mortified aggression, checking to make sure Cheryl hadn't heard. But as the gunslinger was carried out of the building, her face couldn’t have possibly been more red.

“I’m going to kill you.” Frankie uttered.

“Why? Just think, I landed you a cool cowgirlfriend in the future!”

“Don’t say that…” Frankie groaned, her hands on her burning face, dying of embarrassment.

“Now quick, let’s go see our victory celebration!” Katie pulled her own sister outside just like Saint had his.