Title: “Cotton Candy Skies”
The Luna Park lights sparkled like stars on a sugar high, and the sticky summer air was thick with laughter and the distant crash of waves. Aurora moved through the crowd like she didn’t belong there—and she didn’t. Not really. Her sandals were too expensive for the boardwalk, her hair too polished for the breeze, but there was something about the chaos of the place that made her feel… anonymous.
She was finishing her cotton candy, eyes scanning the people without really seeing them, when someone stepped into her line of sight.
“Didn’t think I’d see a girl like you out here.”
She looked up slowly. He was leaning slightly to the side, chain gleaming under the park lights, hoodie half-zipped even in the summer heat. His eyes held a cocky kind of confidence, the kind that made most girls melt.
Aurora didn’t.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she replied, tone cool as sea glass.
Sugarhill Ddot tilted his head, a smirk playing on his lips. “Nah. It’s just... unexpected.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So is this conversation.”
That threw him a bit, but he liked the challenge. “What’s your name?”
She hesitated, letting the silence linger long enough to be noticed. “Aurora.”
He grinned. “That’s pretty. Unique.”
She blinked, unimpressed. “You rehearsed that one?”
Ddot let out a laugh, running a hand over his hair. “Aight, I see how it is. You got walls.”
“Or maybe I just don’t give out my number to strangers with smooth lines and too many Instagram followers.”
“Oh, so you do know who I am.”
“I’m from the Upper East Side,” she said lightly, “not another planet.”
He laughed again, genuinely this time. “Alright, Aurora from the Upper East Side. Then how about you don’t give me your number… just give me one reason I shouldn’t try to change your mind.”
She studied him for a long beat, her gaze unreadable. Then she stepped past him, pausing just long enough to toss over her shoulder, “If you have to ask, you’re not ready.”
And just like that, she was gone, disappearing into the lights and laughter—leaving Ddot standing there with a grin, watching the girl who didn’t fall at his feet… and suddenly wanting her more than anyone else.