"Jordan, you need to stop having ideas. Last time you had ideas, you got the snot beaten out of you in tennis."

"I swear, this time it's a good idea."

Bennett sighed. "We are not going to a carnival today, or any other day, for that matter."

"But why?"

"Because. It's way too hot to go all the way to a carnival, buy five hundred dollars' worth of food, and then throw it all up again when we go on bungee jumps and Ferris wheels."

"You're no fun," Jordan grumped, returning to watching Declan, who was playing some sort of game on his Xbox. "Declan, Bennett's no fun."

"Bennett pays for the air conditioning and electricity bills in this base, so I'd suggest you stop complaining," Bennett retorted.

I just sat there, watching. "Come on, Bennett. A carnival isn't that bad."

He looked at me, and I stared back at him. He had declared it taboo to mention the whole truth-or-dare-kiss-thing, but I could tell that we were both thinking about it.

"All right, but you people are going to be miserable when we get back. I'm calling it now."

"I bet I can prove you wrong," Jordan insisted. Declan gave a grunt and threw down his Xbox controller in frustration.

"I'll go. I need a break from this stupid game."

Bennett glanced at me. "Naomi?"

Jordan nearly broke my spine jumping onto me. "Come on, Naomi! Don't side with him! Don't you want to go to a carnival?"

I sighed. "Bennett, is a carnival really that bad to you?"

It was his turn to sigh. "Fine. I'll go."

Declan grinned and sauntered up to Bennett. "Aww, you'll listen to Naomi, but you won't listen to us? That's nepotism."

"No it isn't," I retorted. "It's favoritism."

The other guys looked at Bennett to see if this was true, but he just flipped them the bird and stalked off to go and get ready.

"Well," Declan grumped. "Isn't he friendly?"

Jordan lowered his voice. "I think he's still grumpy about you-know-what." I blushed. Clearly he was indicating the fact that we'd kissed... but only because he'd dared us to.

"I think he's going to kick your you-know-what if he hears you talking about it." Declan hissed.

"I'm gonna kick your you-know-what," Jordan retorted.

"Oh yeah, well I'm gonna kick your—"

"And I'm gonna kick BOTH of you in the you-know-what unless you shut up!" Bennett called from the hallway.

"Isn't he friendly?" Declan asked again.

Bennett stormed back into the room, having put on his favorite black hoodie and skinny jeans.

"A hoodie? It's eighty degrees outside!" Jordan protested when he saw Bennett's attire.

"Shush, Jordan, we've already got him on our side, let's try to keep him there," I advised.

"But—"

"Jordan?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

He smiled. "Anything for you, Naomi dear." He played with a strand of my hair and wrapped his arm around my neck, and then he turned to Bennett with a malicious grin. "Are you getting jealous yet?" he asked.

"No," he answered coolly, but his ice-blue eyes burned.

"Come on, Naomi dear, let's go." Jordan spun on his heel and marched all the way down to the driveway before forgetting that Bennett had the car keys.

He turned to Bennett. "Pleeeeeeease?"

"What, do you want to ride shotgun?" Bennett asked, tossing him the keys. "I know you aren't driving."

"No, I just want to open the door for Naomi—I'm sitting in the back with her, you see."

Declan raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that Section Fifteen, Article Five is still in place, right?"

Jordan nodded. "Of course I do. I'm simply waiting for Bent to admit that inwardly, this totally makes him want to kill me."

Bennett rolled his eyes. "First of all, I don't have any romantic attachment to Naomi, and second of all, if I did, which I don't, I really don't think that you want me to kill you. And I'll open the door, thanks," he added, clicking the keys and popping the lock. He clambered inside, and Jordan dragged me into the back with him.

After a long drive filled with awkward silence, we arrived at the carnival. It was very similar to the fair that Jordan had taken me to the night Declan had been shot.

Jordan seemed to share the idea. "Just like the place Naomi and I went on our date." His eyes glinted with mischief as he turned to Bennett. "Are you jealous yet?"

"Nope."

We all walked in through the main gates. Well, Declan was the only one who walked. Jordan was dragging me by my arm at what I swear was a full-on sprint, and Bennett was trudging along looking like he would rather be anywhere than here.

We arrived at a ticket booth, and the lady gave Jordan a dirty look. "No pay, no play."

Bennett skulked up to us, his expression bored (what else was new?) and gave the lady a fat wad of cash. Her face changed from ticked off to downright scared in a matter of seconds, and she handed Jordan an entire roll of tickets. He went charging out into the throng of people while still clutching my arm, dragging me along with him.

"Jordan, calm down!" I cried, my voice going up and down and up and down as he bounced around like a kid in a candy store.

"Calm down? Why would I want to do that?"

We stopped finally at a large contraption. At first I wasn't sure exactly what it was, until I saw the legions of metal animals bobbing up and down on poles to sickeningly sweet music.

"A carousel? You want to ride a carousel?"

"Correction... I want us to ride a carousel."

"Good luck getting Bennett to ride a carousel, Jordan."

"Who said anything about Bennett?" he asked, grinning.

Bennett isn't going to let Jordan get away with this. Not if he really does like me.

But does he?

"Speak of the devil," said Jordan as Bennett and Declan walked over. "I was just going to ride the carousel with Naomi," he informed them.

"Oh, no you weren't. This is a group activity," Bennett growled. "Emphasis on the group."

"Someone's jealous. Emphasis on the jealous," Jordan retorted.

"I am not jealous," he protested. "I am simply slightly protective of my female colleague when she's alone in the presence of the opposite sex."

Jordan snorted. "Come on, then. I guess that means Declan's coming, too?"

"Apparently this is a group activity," Declan repeated sarcastically, before following the rest of us into the line.

When we finally got up to the ticket collector, he immediately recognized Bennett and mumbled something about a free seasonal pass, which Bennett waved off with a bit of a blush before we entered the carousel.

We began to pick our animal steeds: Declan climbed onto the back of a lion, Bennett onto a wolf, and Jordan onto a giraffe. I selected a chestnut horse, but found that the back of the metal model was too high for me to swing my leg over.

Bennett, who was to the left of me, made a move to help me, but before he could, Jordan, who was to the right of me, stepped up and helped me onto it.

"Allow me," he said courteously. He mouthed something to Bennett that looked an awful lot like are you jealous yet before climbing back onto his giraffe.

The music began to play and our animals bobbed up and down. Bennett was hiding his face, Declan didn't look too bothered, and Jordan was gushing happiness like a five-year-old.

When the music finally came to an end, I slid off of the horse before Jordan or Bennett could offer to help me off.

Declan and I waited patiently at the exit for the two of them, and after a while I turned around to see the two were arguing.

"Of course I don't!" Jordan shouted. "You're the one breaking the contract!"

"I'm not breaking the contract!" protested Bennett.

"What happened during Truth or Dare, then, huh?" Jordan retorted.

"That wasn't my fault!" Bennett shouted. I was struck by the ridiculousness of it all: this drama had caused someone as shy and dormant as Bennett Frazier to compete in a shouting match.

"Oh yeah?" Jordan asked loudly.

Declan placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come with me, before they drag us into this," he muttered.

I had no choice but to follow him. He led me down winding roads, past booths and tents set up with cotton candy and popcorn and all sorts of things. Finally, we came to a towering rig...

"The Ferris wheel?"

Declan nodded. "I need to talk to you."

"Up there?"

He nodded again, and fished out a strand of tickets that he'd snatched from Jordan. He handed them over and we climbed into a carriage.

Higher and higher we ascended, until we had reached the very apex of the wheel. I couldn't hear anything besides the whistle of the wind in my ears.

"Naomi? What's going on between you and Bennett?" he asked, out of the blue.

I blushed, not meeting his gaze. "Nothing."

He looked faintly disappointed at my answer, but as if it was what he'd been expecting me to say. "Fine. Don't tell me. But just know that no matter what the other two do, we will always be friends."

I nodded. "I'm sorry that Jordan made you kiss me just to prove a point."

He sighed. "It's fine. When Jordan has his mind set on something, he'll do everything in his power to achieve it. Even if it means telling his best friend to kiss his other best friend to prove that his other best friend likes the other best friend."

I snorted at this logic. "Great explanation."

He rolled his eyes. "But seriously, do you like Bennett? I mean, it won't bother me if you do."

He's lying.

A lie for a lie.

"Of course I don't. That French kiss was just him proving that he wasn't a coward."

Declan nodded uneasily. "Okay."

I don't believe him.

But he doesn't believe me, either.

Suddenly, Declan's phone went off. He took it out and stared at the screen for a long time.

"I don't understand," Declan told me. "They left forty-eight messages over the course of like, four minutes."

He showed me his screen.

JorDunDunDun2 declan?

BentOverBckwrds1  i think he left with naomi where are they???? 

JorDunDunDun2 idk declan where r u???

BentOverBckwrds1  declan answer ur phone

BentOverBckwrds1 declan

BentOverBckwrds1 declan

BentOverBckwrds1 declan

BentOverBckwrds1 declan

JorDunDunDun2 try naomi

BentOverBckwrds1 naomi

BentOverBckwrds1 naomi

BentOverBckwrds1 naomi

BentOverBckwrds1 naomi

JorDunDunDun2 i don't think it's working

BentOverBckwrds1 OH RLY???

JorDunDunDun2 maybe there phones r dead

BentOverBckwrds1 *their

JorDunDunDun2 your really correcting my grammar right now?????

BentOverBckwrds1 *you're

JorDunDunDun2 I hate u

BentOverBckwrds1 *you

JorDunDunDun2 now is not the time for this!!!!!! don't forget your girlfriends missing

BentOverBckwrds1 shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 you shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 you shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 you shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 you shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 THIS IS NOT HELPING US FIND NAOMI AND DECLAN

JorDunDunDun2 why does naomi's name get to come first????

BentOverBckwrds1 idk it just does

JorDunDunDun2 that's totally nepotism

BentOverBckwrds1 no it's not

JorDunDunDun2 what is it, then???

BentOverBckwrds1 favoritism

JorDunDunDun2 STILL NOT HELPING US FIND UR GIRLFRIEND!!!

BentOverBckwrds1 she's not my girlfriend!

JorDunDunDun2 keep telling yourself that, bent...

BentOverBckwrds1 YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DARED US TO KISS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

JorDunDunDun2 yeah i dared u to kiss not eat each others faces

BentOverBckwrds1 we were not eating each other's faces, that's just sick

JorDunDunDun2 your sick

BentOverBckwrds1 *you're

JorDunDunDun2 AAAAAAARGH!!!

"Forty-eight messages," I muttered. "Wow." I was totally ignoring the face-eating comments.

"I'm not going to respond. I'm going to let them have their fun."

I laughed. "I can practically hear them now."

Declan mimicked Jordan's voice. "Are you jealous, yet?"

I impersonated Bennett's voice, higher than Declan's but not as high as Jordan's. "No."

But is he jealous?

Is he really?

Are you jealous, yet, Bennett?

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

Well, that was fun. I'm not sure if I should make a part 2 or just go on to the next one-shot... thoughts?

Anyways, I decided to give Declan a bigger part in this one because I feel like he's been underrepresented in the past.

But. Should I make a part 2 or should I move on???