Something's Wrong

"In this season, let not blind passion darken out counsels." --Harry Truman

-------------------

Armani, the secret service guy (the one who didn't get sick), Roselle, and her father were all on their way to the department store to buy a new window. Roselle was concerned about her father because he wasn't acting like himself.

"So, Dad," Roselle said. "On our way to the store, let's talk about politics."

'What are you doing?' mouthed Armani.

'Trust me,' she mouthed back.

Mr. Reyes kept his hands on the wheel, driving. "Politics, huh? What for?"

"Well, Armani is going to be the next president. Don't you have a ton of suggestions about what he should do with the country?"

Armani widened his eyes and shook his head ferociously. "Why are you throwing me out to the wolves?" he whispered.

"Actually," Mr. Reyes said. "I do have a couple of questions for our Mr. President here. What party are you, son? Aren't you from a tiny little third party that somehow won?"

He cleared his throat. "I'm in the potato party, sir."

"Ah. Don't love 'em, don't hate 'em."

"Potato party?" Roselle interjected. "Is that some kind of joke?"

"It's an acronym," Armani explained. "It stands for 'Party of the American Tangent Operatives'."

"What do you mean by tangent? Geometry?"

"Ah, that's another acronym within the acronym. It stands for--"

"You know what? Doesn't matter."

"Well, it's still impressive that you won," Mr. Reyes said. "Kudos."

"Don't you want to tell him your ideas for the country, Dad?" Roselle asked.

"Eh, I don't care."

Armani and Roselle exchanged worried glances.

* * *

After they went to the store to get the window, they went back home. Armani and Roselle were unsuccessful finding out what was wrong with Mr. Reyes, so they decided to put it on the backburner for the time being.

* * *

When they got back to the house, Mrs. Reyes was outside waiting for them, stomping her foot. Uh oh. Roselle's mother was usually a nice and chill woman, but when it came to the state of the house, that was another story. Was she going to flip on Dad for breaking the window.

"What happened in the living room?" Mrs. Reyes asked.

"I broke it," Mr. Reyes said, not even flinching in the slightest. "I got a new one. We're gonna fix it." With that, he went into the house.

Roselle's stomach was in knots. She was expecting them to get into some kind of fight, or even a small debate, but to her surprise, none took place.

Her mother simply sighed. "Well, okay." She went back inside the house as well.

"See what I mean?!" Roselle exclaimed. "Something is seriously up."

"Maybe they just don't want to fight in front of company," suggested Armani.

Roselle crossed her arms and glared at him. "Really? Even as kids, have they ever cared about stuff like that?"

"Well, no, but maybe you���re overthinking it. I'm sure everything is fine."

"I know that logically, but my gut says--"

Michelle walked outside. "Hey guys, everyone is feeling better now. Dad said we all have to pitch in to fix the window." She rolled her eyes. "Then we're having lunch. After that, we're going to the Christmas Carnival.

They nodded, and went inside.

* * *

Everyone (except the secret service gentleman who wasn't sick [he was finally sleeping since he had to cover everyone else's shift while they were recovering]) attended the Christmas Carnival together. There were rides, games, events, shows, and more.

"Woah," Michelle said. "It reminds me of when we were kids!"

"Christmas in a small town is so charming. It really puts you in the Christmas spirit." He made a three-sixty turn, examining the whole place. "There's so much to do. Where should we go first?"

"The rides," said Michelle.

"The play," said Mr. Reyes

"The arcade," said Roselle

Surprisingly, everyone said their own suggestions at the same time, so they were all taken aback for a minute.

Mrs. Reyes frowned "It looks like we all want to go somewhere different. Should we split up?"

"I think so," Michelle said, latching herself to Dan. "Mom and Dad can watch the play, Dan and I can ride the rides, and Roselle and Armani can play at the arcade. We can all meet back here in two hours. Sound cool?"

"Hey, wait a minute," Roselle put her finger in the air to object.

"Sounds good to me," said Mr. Reyes. He and his wife walked off.

"See ya later." Michelle and Dan were in a hurry to walk off, but Roselle grabbed them before they could get away.

"Not so fast, you two," said Roselle. "Michelle, I need to talk to you about Dad for a minute. I think--"

"Can we talk about this later? Dan and I are kind of in a hurry."

"Why? The lines for the rides aren't long."

"Because we're going to bang and this is the only time the house is empty!"

Dan's face was too dark to blush, but he hid his face in embarrassment. "Babe, that was kind of loud."

"Sorry." Michelle turned back to her sister. "Look, we'll talk about it later. Go with Armani and do whatever. Bye!" She ran off with Dan.

"Well, looks like it's just us," Armani said.

"Plus your security guards," Roselle scoffed. She looked around, but they were gone. "Where are they?"

"Oh, it would be suspicious for them to follow me around, so they're just going to watch me from far away."

"Riiight." She felt chills down her spine. "The thought of being watched is creepy."

"You have no idea. Two months in, and I'm still not used to it."

"So . . . Arcade?"

"Arcade."

* * *

Roselle and Armani spent a while in the arcade playing various games. From basketball to racing games, the two were having a good time. Eventually, they earned enough tickets to get a prize. Sort of.

"Thirty tickets," Roselle said, looking at the prizes. "Can I get the bunny?"

The guy in the back glanced at the stuffed animal, and then back at her. "Sorry, miss, but that's actually thirty-thousand tickets."

She squinted at the price again and realized her mistake. "Oh . . ."

Armani glanced at the prizes. "What can we get for thirty tickets, then?"

"A lollipop."

He nodded and handed them over. "One lollipop, please. Cherry if you have it."

The guy gave Armani the candy and returned to playing games on his phone.

"Well." Armani unwrapped the lollipop. "How are we going to do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's only one lollipop, but there's two of us. Do you want to share it?"

She reddened at the thought of doing that. "You dummy! We're not putting the same piece of candy in our mouths!"

He stumbled back a bit, but eventually laughed uncontrollably. "Ro . . . Hahah! You're killing me, Ro!"

"What's so funny?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant that maybe we could cut it in half or break it."

"Oh . . ." Awkward. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she called herself inside her head.

Armani put the lollipop back in the wrapper and set it on the table. He then took out his phone and smacked the candy with it.

The unsuspecting worker behind the counter that wasn't paying attention screamed at the sound and fell on the floor.

"Uhh, sorry," Armani apologized.

The man got up, dusted himself off, and mumbled about hating his job.

Roselle grabbed the candy and unwrapped it. It was now in small pieces. "Thanks," she said, putting a few chunks in her mouth.

"Itadakimasu!" Armani put the rest in his mouth.

She nearly choked. "You're still a weeb, I see."

"Hey, anime is good."

* * *

The two hours were finally up, and the pair went back to the meeting place, where they met with Michelle and Dan. Minutes went by, but they added up and turned into half an hour.

"What's taking them so long?" questioned Michelle. "The play should've been over by now."

WE, WOO, WE, WOO, WE WOO. There were sirens. An ambulance rushed by the carnival.

Dan stared at it curiously. "What do you suppose is going on there?"

Roselle had a terrible stomach ache right then and there. "I don't have a good feeling about this, guys." She hyperventilated a little.

Armani held her hand, and rubbed her back. "It's going to be okay, Ro. One, two, three, four, five."

She breathed in.

"Five, four, three, two, one."

She breathed out.

"I think I'm fine," she said. Then, she checked her phone. Five missed texts from her mother.

Mom: Ro!

Mom: Your Dad's going in an ambulance!

Mom: Come to the hospital right away!

Mom: Ro???

Mom: Answer ASAP!

The panicking within Roselle came back tenfold.

* * *

Dan, Michelle, Armani, and Roselle (and the secret service guys) were at the hospital, awaiting for the announcement on what happened to Mr. Reyes. Roselle's been having a panic attack for over an hour, but Armani spent all that time calming her down. She was better now, but still incredibly worried. She had no clue what was going on.

Finally, Mrs. Reyes walked up to the group, quiet and fragile. Everyone jumped out of their seats.

"What happened to Dad?" asked Michelle.

"I have a confession to make." Tears dripped down her cheeks, and no matter how many times she tried to shoo them away, more tears replaced them. "Your father was diagnosed with cancer. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner. We didn't want to worry you."