One More Day

Your father says we’re gonna be able to call you soon!!! Not sure how but please believe in him I do :3

Hey girls, nvm. It didn’t work out. I’m sorry. Merry Christmas! I wish I could see you. Send me more pictures! You’re going all these places, don’t leave me out. I’m lonely up here, you know? LMAO

“I think she was trying to be funny, but this text is just depressing.”

“Yeah…” Katie looked over her sister’s phone as they left the hotel off Kidney Road that morning. “I mean, I’m sad anyway. I wish I could talk to them…”

“Maybe one day… hey, do a pose or something.”

Ugly as she thought she looked with all the stressful work she’d been through, Frankie turned her phone camera on herself and snapped a picture of the two of them- her looking like a zombie, Katie a slightly more energetic zombie. But you know what? They were cute zombies, Frankie assured herself. Hard work is a beautiful thing. (…Even if she’d rather be home in bed right now then whatever was going on today.)

“Do we have to stay for the fireworks…? I wanna get out on the water already…”

“I’d never be able to forgive myself if we didn’t.”

Suddenly, Katie looked up at all the lights that had been put up around the buildings, and realized that at least for now, she was feeling very, very happy.

“…Merry Christmas Frankie.”

“…Yeah, Merry Christmas.”

It always felt weird to just kill time for a while, especially after the games.

They spent that whole entire day just riding rides- enjoying a park the way normal people do. They hopped from zone to zone, seeing all the ones they’d missed- it was magical.

The girls had forgotten what this was like. Living in the moment had not been a luxury afforded to them during the upward climb to third place. The only wait was in long lines before an attraction. The only struggle in short-lived arguments on where to go next. They hadn’t felt this way since that night in Makoasis. This was true bliss.

In the middle of the day, Frankie received an email after having shot one to Cheryl that morning. She wasn’t expecting something like this so soon, but it made sense. They’d be leaving soon, after all.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Katie teased, right on time, peeking over Frankie’s shoulder to read the message. “Wait, really? Lunch? Can I come?”

“It’s not that kind of thing!” Frankie insisted. “It’s an invitation for both of us, so yes you’re coming.” She straightened her hat, suddenly forced to imagine that not being the case as her mind giddily jumped to the thought of a candlelit dinner with the steely-eyed cowgirl staring into her, sitting right across the table… maybe some spaghetti on their plates... She quickly brushed it aside, hiding her already intense blush under the shadow of her cap.

It felt like in mere seconds they were there. Cheryl and Saint were already waiting for them. They’d chosen to meet in Middle Coast, Kidney’s waterpark sector, for the reason that the sisters hadn't seen it yet and it was a refreshing change of scenery for the desert-dwelling siblings.

“H-hi.” Instead of across like last time, this time Frankie was placed right beside Cheryl when Katie took the spot next to her brother almost immediately. Both had certainly broke down in front of each other before, but in this particular situation, neither of the park-roaming heroine sisters were able to keep their cool, the gunslinger and the Percy obsessive placed inches away from each other, their hard exteriors all but lost forever at that point.

Still, Everyone was pretty happy to get to share another meal with everyone else, just like they had near the start of the week. In this crazy park, they’d actually found some friends. Soon enough they were simply enjoying the meal together.

“I’m gonna be honest… this kinda beats the hell outta the Stampede Buffet. I gotta abuse this Food Card more often.” Cheryl was thoroughly enjoying her pasta at the local hotspot that was the Italian-themed diner known as… well, it was called Hotspot.

“Do it, definitely.” Frankie tore into a breakfast into with righteous fury. “Mm, we weren’t really eating much during that whole competition thing… I dunno how we made it.” She spoke under the loud conversation Katie and Saint were currently having, something about spinning attractions.

“Congrats on that, by the way… guess you’re pretty strong after all.” Cheryl managed to get out an actual compliment between bites of marinara sauce and crippling shyness. “S-Saint looks up to you and your sister.” She backpedaled for a moment, before regretting it in an instant. “I… do too.” She recovered.

“Oh- um… really?” People didn’t say that to Frankie very often, so she wasn’t sure how to respond.

“…Yeah. Sorry my kid sibling’s a weirdo, I… know you have to put up with that too.”

“Mhm…” she stopped to stare at Katie, who was happily shouting her head off in public explaining their past exploits to the little boy, like she was an old lady telling stories. She looked so content. She couldn’t help but think of the things she said to her last night.

“I… wanna ask you something.” Cheryl muttered under her breath even though she didn’t mean to. This wasn’t the best time or place, she realized, but as much as her weakness lied there, Cheryl’s strength had always been in her disregard for waiting for things to be just right. It let her get what she wanted when and where she wanted it, not somewhere else. “I was… I was wondering if-“

“MY LORD BECKONS THY TO HIS CASTLE!” The knight kept his hand on his sword as he took a knee in front of the table, reaching his other metal glove out to unroll a parchment written in old English and colorful fonts.

“I’m sorry… what?” Frankie looked down at the lost-in-time warrior beside their table, her attention stolen with him kneeling to her and her sister as their brains both broke.

“LORD DANSUHONVANGONVICTTH THE HUNDRETH HAS PERSONALLY REQUESTED…” he recited loudly in the middle of the restaurant, staff too scared to kick him out. “…THE PRESENCE OF THE POP SISTERS IN HIS PARK IMMEDIATELY!”

“What park?” Katie was interested.

“THE EVERFAIR WITHIN THE LAND YOU KNOW AS “THE UNITED KINGDOM!” He dropped the parchment on the ground to hand them both tickets instead.

“Nice!” The parktrotter pumped her fist. “Had to go beyond the states at some point…”

“THAT IS ALL, FAIR LADIES! YOU HAVE MY THANKS. FAREWELL!”

With that, as quickly and abruptly as he’d arrived, the soldier left, leaving only an unreadable scroll and some soggy tickets.

“Did he try and go on the water rides in that thing…?” Katie muttered, impressed.

“So. Um…” Frankie straightened herself up in her seat. “What was it you were saying, Cheryl…?”

“Uh… I forgot.” She lied. “Nothing important, though.”

Barring that little event, the rest of the lunch went swell. The lovesick outcasts vowed to message each other more, and Katie and Saint said their goodbyes.

Walking through the parks again, Katie couldn’t help but feel a hole in her heart as they left their previous distraction.

“I do wish we actually got to see our parents today…”

Frankie nodded, knowing it was hopeless. That wasn’t what this part of her life was about now anyway. Self-sufficiency had been drilled into her the hard way.

Her phone buzzed. At first, she was just excited that Cheryl was probably messaging her again already, but what she saw surprised her even more.

“Katie!” She gasped.

“What is it?” She peeked over the screen again. A smile exploded over her face.

“Let’s get to somewhere we can sit down!” Frankie ran towards the nearest hotel, followed by her sister.