Chapter Text
Rockford, IL August 2070
Nurse Beverly knocks on the doorframe of the quiet room where Greta is sitting in an arm chair, peacefully gazing out the window overlooking the still waters of the lake.
“Hi Miss Greta, this is Shaw…” as she motions to the shorter woman to her right, with grey wavy hair that falls just above her shoulders, holding a leather journal in front of her. “She’s going to read to you.”
“Oh… I don’t know. I don’t feel up for much right now.” Greta responds, her gaze never straying from looking out the window.
“Give her a chance Miss Greta, I think you’ll like her— she’s very funny” the nurse says as Greta finally looks over to Shaw who smiles softly back at her.
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Rockford, IL June 2005
The annual carnival in Rockford always marked the beginning of the summer, and Maybelle drags her friend Carson along with her to meet up with her girlfriend Jo. “Come on you little horse’s butt, it will be fun! Jo even said she has a friend with her that you may be interested in— she’s in town with her family for the summer from Chicago.”
“Oh, so instead of playing the third wheel like I usually do with the two of you, you decided to set me up?” Carson responds, shaking her head at her best friend. She knows that Maybelle just wants what is best for her, including for her to find a love like she shares with “her Josephine” after watching her bounce from one girl to the next, never staying long enough to develop any sort of real feelings. Real feelings mean real hurt and she’s had enough hurt in her 18 short years on this Earth to want to deal with any more right now.
“Please Carson! For me!” Maybelle pleads, giving Carson a look with those big brown puppy dog eyes that she knows her best friend can’t say no to.
“Fine I’ll go, but no promises! Don’t try to force this May, let’s just see how the night goes.” Carson responds, knowing she has no intention of starting anything serious with anyone this summer, especially some girl that will be disappearing back to the city in just a few short months when the summer ends.
They arrive at the carnival to find Jo standing at the ticket booth looking eagerly through the crowd for her girlfriend, her eyes lighting up when she spots Maybelle and Carson. Jo loves Maybelle more than anything and because she loves Maybelle like that she also loves Carson. Carson who gives off a bit of a “too cool” demeanor like she is impervious to feelings, but Jo knows really it is just a false bravado that she puts out to protect her fragile heart. She too, like Maybelle, wants Carson to find a love like she has— mostly because she believes Carson is a great person who deserves it, but also so that maybe she will get some alone time with her sweet May if Carson is otherwise engaged.
When May shrieks Jo’s name and runs and leaps into her love’s arms, the tall woman who had been standing beside her turns around to watch it happen, her eyes locking with Carson’s for the first time. Neither says anything to each other at first, but neither can take their eyes off of each other either. Carson is immediately struck by Greta’s beauty. Her long legs, her gentle curves, her absolutely perfect curls that fall below her shoulders that are a shade of red that both matches the fire Carson feels in her heart and that she is sure she has never seen before. Carson lets out a breath, that she didn’t realize she was holding in, when Maybelle elbows her, a little less than gently, to knock her out of the trance she was in. “Carson, this is Greta. Greta meet Carson.” May says, sharing a knowing look at the two women and then with Jo.
“Hi.” Carson says softly, eyes barely able to meet Greta’s.
“Hi.” Greta responds, searching for the deep brown eyes she didn’t realize she had been staring at before Maybelle spoke up to make the introduction. She wasn’t sure what it was about the shorter woman that captivated her so instantly, and she felt like she had to keep searching those beautiful eyes until she could find the answer.
“Hi.” Carson says again, her eyes finally meeting Greta’s.
Jo and Maybelle smirk at each other, each watching their respective friend grin like lovesick puppies at each other, both thinking that they may just be expert matchmakers.
“Alright,” Jo interjects to stop the cycle of introductions that seem like they may never end otherwise, “how about we actually go enjoy the carnival rather than just standing here at the entrance?” popping the little bubble that Carson and Greta had found themselves in. As they turn to walk deeper into the carnival, Greta finds herself pulled in a number of directions. To the surprise of absolutely no one, word had spread around town about the beautiful redhead from the city who was spending her summer in Rockford, and she had no lack of potential gentleman suitors who were hoping to spend some time with her this summer.
“Would you like to dance with me?” Carson says, at no more than a whisper from several feet away to Greta. So taken by her beauty that she doesn’t even care that they’re in the middle of a bustling crowd and that there certainly isn’t any music playing.
“What?” Greta responds, unsure if she heard what she thought she heard, and at the same time being pulled in the opposite direction by a young man asking if she will accompany him to where the carnival games are— not waiting for an answer before pulling her along with him. She gazes back with a confused look on her face as she allows the young man to pull her to the booth, only finally forcing herself to look away when her feet stopped to wait in line to play the milk jug game. Greta couldn’t quite comprehend how forward the brunette had been with her— asking her to dance in the middle of a carnival, without music, when they had just met. The boring teenage boy beside her who had pulled her off towards the games hadn’t stopped talking the whole time since he had grabbed her hand, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell you what he had been talking about.
Just as they were about to reach the front of the line, Carson reappeared at Greta’s side. No one must have ever explained personal space to this girl, Greta thought to herself, as she could feel Carson’s warm breath against her ear as she whispered just loudly enough for Greta to hear “let me take you out on a date.”
“What?” Greta replied. Carson started to wonder if Greta had a hearing issue or if maybe she wasn’t speaking clearly, knowing she had a tendency to ramble, especially around beautiful girls.
At this point the boring boy, after passing over his ticket to play the milk jug game and being handed the baseballs from the game attendant, noticed Carson talking to Greta again. “Is she bothering you?” He asked, but not waiting for the answer before continuing, “leave the lady alone Carson, she’s with me!”
Greta looked at Carson and then back to the boy who had just claimed her as his own without even speaking to her about it and said, “woah I’m not with anyone and I don’t intend to be! I came here to have a fun night with my best friend…” pausing to notice that she isn’t sure where Jo is at the moment “… and that’s all.”
The boring boy, ego bruised and not wanting to waste another second trying to impress the fiery redhead rolled his eyes and walked off after the next cute girl he saw. But Carson didn’t move. Greta, still scanning the carnival with her eyes to try to find Jo, could feel Carson’s presence and finally turned back to look at her.
“If I can knock down all of these milk jugs with one throw, then you have to go on a date with me.” Carson stated matter of factly to Greta, picking up the abandoned baseballs the teenage boy had left behind.
“Oh I have to?” Greta responded, feigning annoyance with the statement while trying to mask the butterflies she was feeling in her stomach.
“Yup, those are the rules.” Carson countered with a shy yet self assured smile.
“Fine, if those are the rules, and it will get you to leave me alone. One throw and that’s it.” Said Greta, knowing that carnival games are notoriously rigged against the suckers who attempt to play and that there was no chance anyone could knock down the 6 milk jugs with just a single throw.
Carson picked up the baseball, reared back her strong right arm, followed through, and released a fastball right at the milk jugs, hitting the exact spot needed to cause the whole tower to come crashing down off the pedestal on which they sat. The game attendant handed over the stuffed animal prize which Carson turned and handed off to Greta while wearing a victorious smirk on her face saying, “I look forward to our date” before disappearing into the carnival crowd to find her friends.
Greta stood, stuffed puppy dog in hand, not able to process what just happened, but desperate to see what would happen next. It was going to be an interesting summer.