She felt odd. Was it nervousness? She knew the symptoms. Sweaty palms, jittery nerves, pounding heart. It happened every time Jessi touched her, which was more often than not. And every time his eyes landed on her appreciatively and he sent her one of his cocky grins, those symptoms sky rocketed. It had to be because she was tense.

The only question now was why? Anna never felt anything like that before. The feeling was foreign to her and god, did she hate it. Every touch, every look, she became a puddle of nerves and she didn't like it. Mina was making it no better.

Maybe it was because Mina was ignoring her since they greeted the boys. Dan and Mina had been off in their own little world since the moment the doors opened and it left Anna to deal with Jessi by herself. He took her hand too, which was making her insides twist about. Maybe she wasn't nervous. Maybe she was just coming down with something. For as long as Anna could remember, she was never sick before. But there was a first for everything, wasn't there?

They were taking Jessi's car. Dan and Mina immediately slid into the back, leaving Anna to sit up front with the guy causing her to rethink everything. As soon as the doors closed, it was electric. It was smoldering, consuming her, and one look behind her made her know Dan and Mina didn't notice. They were too busy making out.

The electricity was flowing between her and Jessi. She knew so because, before the car took off, Jessi placed his hand on her thigh and it was as if she was in the death chair. She tried giving him a smile, tried putting on the mask she had worn since she arrived, tried acting like the princess they thought she was but it all failed. What resulted was an odd grimace but Jessi's grin never diminished.

They didn't speak. While Dan and Mina was off in wonderland, no conversation flowed between Jessi and Anna. Every now and again, she found herself looking at him. He was reclined casually in his chair, his strong legs out before him and only one hand gripping the steering wheel. His scent wafted over to her each time she stared at him, as if it was waiting for her to make contact again. He looked, for a lack of a better word, extremely hot. And it made her hot.

She was burning up in a car filled with AC. "You're awfully quiet over there, Anna," Jessi broke the silence.

Anna jolted at the sound of his voice, cursed herself instantly for acting so out of character. Calm down! Get back to normal. But her hands were rubbing over themselves and she stared out the window. "Just wondering where we're going, that's all."

"Don't worry about it. Wherever it is, I assure you'll have a good time."

"I'd better," she murmured. It was a shot in the dark, an attempt to make herself feel more in control. It failed.

Jessi chuckled. "Well, it's no fancy princess ball or anything."

A tiny surprised chuckle escaped her lips. "There's no such thing as a princess ball, you idiot."

"Hey, cool it with the harsh words, amour. I came out to have a good time, don't attack me."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Anna apologized with humour. They both laughed. "So, are you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Where we're going."

"Where's your spirit of surprise, Anna?"

"I think I left it back in the dorm room."

Jessi laughed at that. "You're really tense, you know that?"

"So I've been told."

"Stop worrying." He reached over and laced his fingers with hers. Anna froze, staring at their interlocked hands. Her heartbeat tripled, her breathing hitched. She wanted to pull her hand away, to get herself back under control and into safe territory, but she couldn't manage it. All she could think was how strong and warm his hand was, and how perfectly they fit together. Almost as if they were made for each other.

And that right there, that cloyingly cliched thought right there, was why she was definitely losing her mind.

She didn't pull away though. As much as she felt she needed to, she couldn't. It felt nice. Better than ice-cream. Way better than ice-cream.

Once more they sat in silence. Now and again, Jessi would rub his thumb against her hand, sometimes making slow circles, sometimes just up and down. She felt her body tingle with the movement. Every time he did it, her mind begged him to stop torturing her like that, but when he ceased, she begged him for more. It went on like that for a while, that mental battle, until finally they arrived.

Anna frowned as she stared out the window. "A fair?"

"It's their last night in the city," Jessi said. He released her hand to unbuckle his seat belt and Anna felt a bucket of loss fall over her. "Told you we're going to have fun."

Anna didn't know what kind of fun they could have but she didn't argue. They were already exiting the car. Jessi jogged over to her just as Dan and Mina came, hand in hand.

"Ooh, I love fairs!" Mina squealed.

Anna rolled her eyes, good naturedly. "What don't you love?"

"Well, there's a lot of things, like -"

"Don't really want to know." Everyone laughed.

Jessi held up his watch. "Okay, right now it's seven thirty. We should meet back up at the car by eleven."

Did she just hear that right? "We're splitting up?" Anna asked.

"Yes, we are," Mina answered. She grabbed Anna's hand and hauled her to the side. "Excuse a moment," she said to the boys, before dragged Anna away.

"What is it?" Anna inquired, pulling her arm from Mina's grasp.

"I want you to promise me something."

"Promise you what?"

"I want you to promise me that you'll have a good time. No, wait listen," she said, cutting Anna's next words off, "I don't know you very well and I haven't known you long but you're already one of my best friends and I want you to enjoy yourself on this date. Let loose and have some fun. Let Jessi woo you!"

She wasn't supposed to have fun. She was on a mission. But if she said that, who was she trying to convince? Mina or herself? Anna nodded, "Okay."

"Great!" Mina snaked her arm around Anna's again and dragged her back to where the boys stood waiting. She handed Anna over to Jessi, who instantly took her hand in his with a grin, then she replaced Anna's arm with Dan's. She wiggled her fingers in goodbye as they both went their separate ways.

Now, Jessi and Anna were truly alone.

"Shall we?" Jessi smiled.

Anna nodded, mute. She allowed Jessi to lead her into the fair. It was crowded. She was instantly aware of how dangerous a crowd could be, but she gave herself solace in the fact that as long as she kept Jessi close to her, nothing would go wrong. All she had to do was keep holding his hand, keep so close to him, his scent was all she could smell.

The crowd walked through steaming food stands, popping corn and laughter. In the distance, she could see Mina's ponytail bobbing away, before Jessi's tug on her hand brought her back to his presence.

"What rides do you want to go on?" he asked. "Or do you want to play a game?"

"Um..." It was such a simple question and she couldn't think of an answer. She never went to a fair before. Her thoughts of a fun time was a date with her ice-cream and TV.

"Do you like that?" Jessi's sudden shift in conversation had her blinking at what he pointed on. It was large white bunny with red eyes, hanging at the back of a game booth.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"I'll win it for you." All grins, Jessi ran over to the booth. Anna followed behind him, eyeing the current player as he threw the rings towards the bottles and missed.

"You sure you can handle that?" she asked.

"Of course I can! How hard could it be?"

"It looks kind of hard." Folding her arms, she teased him with a raised brow. "You have to have a good eye for this."

"Hey, I have the best set of eyes ever." No kidding. "And I've got focus, and coordination, and all the other good stuff."

"Then win me that bunny, hot stuff."

Jessi winked at her, handing the attendant his money. He was given five rings and, after two minutes, all five rings never came close to the bottles. Anna was laughing by the time he was done. "That was horrible!" she exclaimed.

"This game is rigged. They want me to fail so that I can just keep playing." Jessi pouted and it had Anna's laughing fading. She still chuckled but the sight of his playful grumpiness made her heart clench.

Smiling, she said, "You're the one at fault. After you failed the first time, you kept getting so frustrated you didn't even bother to line up your shot."

"I tell you this game is rigged."

"Let me have a crack at it."

"Okay, princess." Jessi raised his hand in the air, before giving the attendant more money. "Have at it. See if it won't just cheat you too."

Anna merely rolled her eyes. As soon as she was handed the rings, she knew she could do it. All she had to do was imagine this was her gun and it was target practice. She always made bullseye and by the time she was done, she was accepting the white bunny, radiating gloat.

"Wait, wait!" Jessi held her in place, digging into his pocket for more money. "I'll win you the lion."

"Jessi, you don't have to."

"I want to get you something. I'll win it this time, I promise."

And he did. The lion was bigger than her bunny, as a result of him getting eight out of the ten rings over the bottle heads. She didn't know if winning her the lion was his inspiration but she was happy he did. His smile was self-satisfied and she loved it.

But Anna was terrified because she finally figured something out. Jessi wasn't the only one in danger. She was too, or more specifically her heart. Not only was it in danger of beating right out of her chest when Jessi wrapped his arm around her shoulders but it was in the biggest danger of all.

She didn't even want to think about it.

But think about it she did. And to make matters worse, her body responded to it, as if it knew the truth her mind refused to accept.

When he asked for some of the cotton candy he bought for her, then leaned over and winked at her right before biting into it, her mind told her to step away from him and keep walking, but her face flushed and she froze, making him do that amused smile that she was, sadly, beginning to like too much.

When he boasted at the Test Your Strength game and his muscles bulged out at her, his wonderful strength making the point rise until it hit the word 'Stud', her mind told her to look away, scan the area for anyone suspicious, do her job, but her stomach sparked with lust and she unknowingly gripped the lion to keep from grabbing on to those muscles.

And when he had suggested that, nearing the eleven o' clock mark they had, to go up in the Ferris wheel for one last ride before heading back to his car, her mind screamed at her to say no, knowing full well from all those shows she watched what the Ferris wheel really meant, but her mouth said yes, and her hand held unto his as they gave the attendant their ticket and piled into the car.

It wasn't until after the Ferris wheel started that she began to regret not listening to her mind.

Anna was gripping onto the bars before her for her dear life. It wasn't because she was afraid of heights, but because she was afraid of being so alone with this boy she liked. She didn't know what to do with her feelings but she knew for a fact that going up into the air in a tiny car just inches from him made the situation no better. She was bottle of nerves and any movement from him had her jumping.

Anna hated every minute of it. She didn't like this side of her. She didn't want to be like this. That must have been the reason she pushed her stuffed animals between him and her, to give them space.

"Scared?" Jessi's voice sounded in her ear. The stuffed animals wasn't enough.

"I'm not scared of anything."

"Then why are you gripping the bars as if your life depends on it?"

Swiftly, she let go. Jessi's smile turned teasing. "Aw, Annabelle the Princess is afraid of heights. Isn't that cute?"

"I'm not afraid of heights and I'm not cute."

"You are very cute. Look, you can't even look me in the eye to say it."

Anna faced him. And just like that she regretted it.

Or did she?

His lips were on hers. He moved like lightning, so fast, she hadn't even registered it until she could feel him pressing into her. Her eyes remained wide, her breath caught in her throat. The thought could scarcely register. but when it did, oh when it did, it was like her brain had exploded and all her senses came to life at once. The very thought that Jessi was kissing her made her toes curl, her heartbeat go into overdrive and that tingly feeling in her stomach burn like a furnace. It was her first kiss and it was Jessime Beaumont, her target.

All too soon, he pulled away. He was smirking, but Anna didn't see it. She just stared.

"Anna?" Scared at her reaction, Jessi frowned. "Mon Dieu, Anna are you okay?"

She didn't reply. Only stared.

He grabbed her face, shook her bit. It brought her back. Anna blinked and her eyes focused on him, before embarrassment painted her face red. By now, she wasn't surprised by such an unusual emotion. Around Jessi, they were normal.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jessi asked worriedly.

Mutely she nodded. She was more than okay. She was on fire. Her first kiss was nothing like her first kill. All rush and excitement and beating hearts. The thought of it sounded painful but actually feeling it was indescribable. She wanted more.

"You kissed me," she said, facing him.

Jessi's cocky grin was back. "Yes, I did, amour. Liked it?"

Biting her lip, she nodded. "I want more."

Jessi laughed at that. She was staring at him, wide eyed, like a child begging for sweets. He wanted to please her in any way he could. He could instantly tell she wasn't used to it and he liked knowing he was her first. He hoped to be her last.

"Yes, amour," he said then leaned him once more.

Anna closed her eyes this time. It felt right, just like his lips did. Her heart did flip flops in her chest, her mind went on a rampage, and when his hands came up to tangle with her hair, Anna thought she had died and gone to heaven. Nothing could feel as good as this did, and right then and there, she vowed to never let go of Jessi. Not after he just turned her world upside down.

They didn't come up for air until the ride ended. As they made their way back to the car, Jessi was ecstatic. He wouldn't stop talking, wouldn't stop smiling, and every now and again, he would stop walking and kiss her. On the cheek, on the forehead, on the lips, even on the neck. Anna was just as happy as he was. They walked hand in hand, halfway to the car, when her happiness came to a sudden halt.

Someone was following them. She saw the man, dressed in all black, too many times to count. He was behind them now, shadowing them but Anna pretended as if she didn't notice. She continued to smile and laugh, even as she kept a wary eye on the man on their tail.