I woke up the next morning to Caroline shaking me.

"Stanley!" She whisper shouted.

I finally managed to open and eyes and turned to see Caroline sitting up next to me.

I came to and realized I was still in Caroline's room from last night. After looking at the clock and seeing it was nine in the morning, i'd have to hope I can easily sneak back to my room.

I got up quickly and collected my clothes that were scattered on the floor. I rushed my pants and shirt back on then opened Caroline's door a crack. I checked if anyone was upstairs to make sure no one saw me leaving her room.

When I didn't see anyone and heard both Bonnie's and Darla's voices coming from downstairs, I assumed it was safe. I saw Caroline blow me a kiss from her bed and I quickly left her room and hurried to mine.

Once I made it there safely, I changed into fresh new clothes for the day. I put on a new pair of light jeans and a green sweater. I fixed up my hair then left my room again.

As I passed by Caroline's room, her door was open this time and she was standing in front of her tall mirror, looking at her outfit. She was wearing a green dress with a white headband in her hair. She looked nice in green.

She turned and saw me then smiled.

"How does it look?" She asked, looking down at her dress.

"You look beautiful. Especially because you match me." I chuckled.

She noticed the green sweater I put on and laughed with me. "Well how 'bout that."

While Caroline was finishing getting ready, I head downstairs to meet everyone else. Darla and Bonnie were sitting at the dining table with four plates of breakfast at the seats.

"I thought you guys would never get up. Your food is cold now." Darla chucked and shook her head.

"Sorry, Darla. I was real tired." I said, taking a seat in front of one of the plates.

"Is Caroline awake yet?" She asked.

"I think so." I answered.

"Good morning." Caroline greeted, joining us in the dining room.

"There you are." Darla beamed.

Caroline took the only empty seat which was next to me.

"Awe, you guys are matching." Bonnie teased.

Caroline and I looked at each other and exchanged glances.

"Oh, look we are." I said as if I hadn't already knew. Caroline laughed at that.

"Was this planned?" Darla teased.

"It wasn't actually." Caroline grinned, taking a drink of her juice.

She then rolled her eyes with a smile at the big deal they were making of it.

"We are definitely spending the day together like we established, so what do you guys want to go do for the last day?" Darla asked everyone.

"That festival is still going on in the city, isn't it?" Caroline perked up.

"I think for the next couple days. That'd be fun." Darla agreed.

"And what if we go to Cracker Jacks tonight and listen to the band play?" She added.

"Perfect idea, Caroline. What do you guys think? Cracker Jacks is just this restaurant that's half outdoor half indoor and there's a band that plays there some nights."

"That sounds great." Bonnie agreed.

I nodded my head and began to get excited for the day ahead.

+ + + +

After finishing our cold breakfast and everyone got ready, we got in the car and headed for the city. We passed the fountain and I noticed people weren't out dancing yet, but instead a bunch of tents and tables set up.

"Just a bunch of people come out here and sell some homemade stuff. It's fun to walk through." Darla explained.

After a while, she found a place to park the car and we got out to look around. Darla made sure we looked around in order. There wasn't anything I was personally interested in, but it was neat to see everyone's homemade stuff.

When Caroline had her back turned looking at something at a different table with Darla, I saw a gold chained bracelet at the one I was at. It caught my eye and I figured Caroline would like it. I did notice she wore gold jewelry a lot.

I asked the lady running the table how much it was, and once I got my answer I pulled out that much from my pocket and handed it to her.

She thanked me, then handed me the bracelet. I gave her a smile and walked back over to join the others again, putting the bracelet in my pocket.

Most of the stands were handmade jewelry. Some were sewn accessories like blankets and bags and things. There were even some tables with baked items. I was tempted to get something from one of those, but Darla mentioned we were eating lunch soon.

"Look at this, Stan." Caroline smiled, pointing to a crocheted octopus stuffy. I grinned back at her.

She then went and joined Bonnie looking at a booth with a bunch of paintings. I took this time to go to the stand with engraved charms of different names that I noticed earlier.

It had other accessories across the table, but I was looking at the shelf with the name charms. There was gold and silver charms with many different names. I looked through them wondering if I could find the one I needed. I didn't expect to find a gold one with Caroline's name engraved on it but I did.

I was satisfied with it and paid the owner of the stand. I put that in my pocket for now as well.

+ + + +

For most of the afternoon, we walked through most of the festival and looked around. We took a break for lunch, which we ended up having tacos, then walked around some more. We even went into a few stores that were nearby.

By this time, more people started to crowd around the fountain for more events that was planned, like the dancing thing. Today though, it seemed to be more crowded so we decided now was the time to go to Cracker Jacks.

We drove to the restaurant and made our way inside. It was packed. As we made our way through the crowd, some people would stop us and say hello to Darla. I guess she was well known here. She did mention that her and Caroline came a lot.

We glanced around the inside of the restaurant and there wasn't a place for us to sit. Not enough for four anyways. We then followed Darla outside and we looked around there.

It was a really nice place back here. It was a big deck with lots of tables and chairs. There was a couple steps leading off the deck with a good sized yards. There were a few kids running around and playing there.

Almost every table was taken, Darla said this was because the band was playing, and it was also a Friday night.

The only four chairs available for us was at the bar. There was a big window that connected the side of the indoor bar to the outdoor one. But there was a curtain that covered it since they were only giving out drinks from the inside tonight.

We took our seats there, Bonnie sat next to Darla who sat next to Caroline with me beside her.

"I'll go get us menus." Darla exclaimed.

She then made her way through the people again and to the inside.

I took a moment to look around me again. There was stringed lights around the railing of the deck lighting up the area. The sun was just setting so it was already a nice view. There was an area in front of all the tables with instruments set up, a microphone, and such which was probably for the band.

The small yard had large bushes surrounding it so you couldn't see much behind it. But you could see part of the bridge in the distance lit up with lights in its own way.

"What do you think?" Caroline asked me.

"It's pretty nice." I answered.

Shortly later, Darla came back with menus for each of us.

"I already memorize the menu at this point, but I got one for me anyways." Darla sighed.

"I'm about to go in and get a drink." Bonnie huffed. Darla made a joke and they both laughed.

I thought about how close they'd been. From what my mother told me before we left, Bonnie and Darla were real close. Friends since elementary school. I liked seeing them have fun together. That you can last with someone so long. To know someone for that long and still be so close. Like you'd never been apart.

I got out of my thoughts and looked at the menu. Everything had a weird name that I didn't understand too much but I ended up deciding on a sandwich. You were supposed to choose a side, so I went with fruit since that's the only thing I could read on the menu.

Darla went around and asked everyone what we wanted to order and took our menus inside. Bonnie went with her.

The way this place worked was kinda weird. I assumed it was different on a regular day.

Later, two guys walked from a room on the side of the building and to the technical setup of the instruments. One guy picked up the bass guitar and slipped the strap over his head to hand on his shoulder. Another stocky guy did the same with the guitar that was also there.

There was a stack of small amplifies behind them with wires trailing under them. They messed around with those for a moment then spoke into the microphone.

"Good evening, y'all." The one with the guitar greeted.

Some people throughout the deck clapped and some cheered softly.

Darla and Bonnie then came out from inside the restaurant holding all of our orders. Darla set down mine and Caroline's order in front of us then Bonnie sat down with her's and Darla's order.

"Oh, those guys are my favorite band." Darla started. "They're brothers. Been making music for a long time. Both of 'em are real good. They could make it big if they wanted, but they didn't want to 'cause they didn't like that stuff. So they play at small stuff like this since they like it better this way." She explained.

"How is everyone doing tonight?" The guy asked.

More cheers and some claps came from everyone seated outside.

"If you're new, we're The Dunne Brothers. I'm Billy on the guitar and this right here on the bass guitar is Graham Dunne. We're gonna play some stuff for you guys tonight, and I hope you like it."

I ate my sandwich and watched as the guys started to play. We all had to turn our heads to the side to face them directly and watch. But I didn't mind.

They started playing their first song and was singing and stuff. It was pretty cool. I ate my food, talked to Caroline, and listened to the band. I did think they sounded good and I liked it.

We all finished eating shortly later, and it was pretty good even if I didn't understand the weird name of my sandwich. A bunch of english words mixed together.

We kept listening to the band and some people would stand around the tables and dance with someone. It seemed people had a lot of fun here.

Once the last song ended, they paused to say something.

"Now for this next one, I want all of you dancing around. Just grab someone and have fun." One of them beamed.

Everyone was laughing or cheering, and most everybody stood up from their seats and took their spouses to dance. I saw two men walk over to Bonnie and Darla and asked them to dance. They both laughed at the surprise and accepted.

"Look at us go!" Darla boasted.

"Take me away!" Bonnie joked.

Caroline and I laughed at them.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked Caroline.

I could tell by her expression she was waiting for me to ask that. She happily nodded, and I took her hand as we stood up from our seats.

I led her to the center joining the crowd and led her into a dance. They were playing an upbeat song that everyone was dancing happily to.

I'd spin Caroline around, take her hips and sway her, do different moves with our hands intertwined. We'd even accidentally teach ourselves new moves. I'd try to watch what other people were doing, but I kept my focus on having fun with Caroline.

We continued to do different steps and dance around. I think we were doing pretty good and it was a lot of fun. We moved close together and matched our rhythms. I held tight of Caroline's waist and she'd lean back to the song and meet me again, spinning around after.

We'd glide, twist, swing, and step. Allied with each other and doing whatever our bodies lead us to do.

After the song was over we looked at each other with big smiles. I looked around again, and noticed we were the youngest people in the center dancing.

Without warning, they began to play a slow song. Caroline looked back to me and smiled wide. I was confident and lead into a slow dance this time. She swayed with me and we knew our steps. I looked over to Bonnie and Darla with the random guys that took them to dance and saw that they were having a pretty good time. Both laughing and having fun.

It didn't last very long because they transitioned the slow song to a more upbeat song. I motioned to Caroline to do shag steps with me, and she seemed excited. I took Caroline's arms then stepped forward with my left foot, my right foot following. I stepped back and shifted my weight to my left foot then back again and did this with my right foot. I continued to do this with the rhythm of the music.

I spun Caroline around some times and did more moves, adding more steps as the song went on.

+ + + +

We left Cracker Jacks that night tired from dancing. I truly did have a lot of fun.

"How was your time with those guys?" Caroline teased them once we got in the car to leave.

"Oh, they were such dolls." Darla cheered.

"Sweethearts." Bonnie added.

"Did you get their numbers?" I joked.

"We did actually. On napkins." Darla smirked.

Caroline and I laughed at them.

"We saw you two dancing with each other, how'd that go?" Bonnie asked, smiling.

"It was fun." Caroline said.

I agreed with her and told Darla I liked the band.

"i'm glad you do, Stanley." She said.

"I liked 'em too." Bonnie admitted.

"Well you guys got a drive ahead of you tomorrow, so you'll need some rest." Darla acknowledged.

"Don't make me go back." Bonnie teased.

"You guys need to come back next summer. This week was good fun."

+ + + +