“Drew!”

           Drew reluctantly spins around to see Scarlett pointing at a huge fluffy puppy stuffed toy right above her from a game stall. He raises an eyebrow, and responds in an uncaring and tired tone, “What?”

           She frowns. “I want that toy!”

           He exhales deeply and rubs his forehead with his fingers. Why am I here? He asks himself again for the umpteenth time. He knows that he has to buy whatever she wants, because it’s her birthday today after all. If it wasn’t for Grace begging him to take Scarlett and the kids along with her out to the carnival to celebrate her birthday, he would’ve been at his workplace working.

           I can’t believe I’m here, he repeats in his head as he looks around for Grace and the other two boys who always seem to cause trouble despite of being in a carnival—anything can happen, you never know.

            “Looking for me?”

           He jumps a little in surprise. When he realizes it’s just Grace, he closes his eyes and inhales, trying to keep sane at the moment. He’s still feeling uncomfortable, uptight, and jumpy, because of the kids. Even after three weeks of tolerating them in the house, he still doesn’t feel comfortable. He waits for the day till they turn eighteen so they can get out of the house and his life forever.

           Which is a long, long, long way to go.

           He opens his eyes again to see a grinning Grace standing in front of him. His gaze moves to the blue bow that’s placed neatly on the side of her head, holding her bangs, keeping them out of her face. He stares at her face, then. He never seems to get enough of seeing her face, and not sure why. He tries to stop himself, but fails. Her warm brown eyes are practically luring his steel gray ones.

           He now realizes that he has to snap out of it. She’s just here for work, isn’t she? They’re just in between the acquaintance and friend stage. Pushing his thoughts away for now, he informs her, “Scarlett wants that puppy toy over there.” With that, he points behind him and toward the game stall.

           Grace glances at it for a second before facing him again with a smirk. “Then go get it for her.”

           His eyes widen. “Are you serious?”

            “It’s her birthday today! You can’t ignore that, can you?” Ethan teases, crossing his arms over his chest.

            “Exactly,” Uriah chimes in, raising an eyebrow as if challenging him. “You wouldn’t want to ruin her birthday, now would you?”

           Rolling his eyes, he turns his back at the kids, and faces the booth. “No, but I would love to ruin your face,” he mutters under his breath.

           Grace chortles, covering her mouth with her hand. “I heard that, stickman,” she murmurs back.

           He scoffs, not bothering to reply back. He then takes a step forward, rolling up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. Unsurprisingly, he’s wearing formal clothing even for celebrating Scarlett’s birthday in a carnival fair. Because of work, he has to wear a business suit or at least something semi-formal almost every day.

           The man in the booth smiles at him, and then asks, “One game?”

            “One game.”

           ♦          ♦          ♦

           Drew walks back to Grace and the kids with an accomplished look across his face, because in his hands is the fluffy puppy stuffed toy that Scarlett wants. They now look back up at him, pausing from their conversation. He doesn’t miss the small smile forming on Grace’s face.

           Scarlett runs to him, her arms flailing around, and a big toothy grin on her face. “Yay!” she squeals. “You did it!”

           Drew bends down so their eyes are leveled. The corners of his lips twitch, and he says, “Here you go, Scar.” Then, he realizes that he just called her Scar instead of Scarlett unlike before. He’s getting influenced by the others.

           Scarlett grabs the stuffed toy from him, and hugs it tightly. “It’s so soft and fluffy!”

           Unexpectedly, he chuckles and without knowing, he ruffles her hair gently. “I’m sure it is.”

           She smiles shyly at him, and then in a swift motion, she leans in to give a soft kiss on his cheek. After that, she looks at his stunned expression and then runs to Grace with a laugh that he finds really cute.

           Drew finds himself shocked as he subconsciously touches his cheek where Scarlett placed a kiss on. Slowly, a small smile appears on his face, thinking how adorable she is to have done that. However, he also can’t believe that a child just did that. To him. What if this is another prank? He thinks suspiciously. After that, he stands up, and then questions, “Are we ready to go home now?”

            “What!”

            “No!”

            “I still want to ride on more rides!”

            “Fine, whatever. Let’s just get this day over with.”

           ♦          ♦          ♦

           Drew regrets his decision. I shouldn’t have come to this ride. He, Grace, and the kids are already seated in the rollercoaster so that doesn’t give him a choice to back out now. I’m going to throw up. What’s making him regret even more is probably because he’s seated in the front along with Grace and the kids. He sucks in a breath as they’re already going toward the top, screams from the back emitting from both excited and frightened riders. This just frightens him even more so he prepares himself for the drop as it’s still slowly going upward. 

           He looks away from Grace as he took a glimpse at her small smirk. “You’re scared, aren’t you?” she teases.

            “Maybe a little,” he lies, still avoiding eye contact. He feels embarrassed, because even Grace has the balls to ride in this scary ride.

            “Oh come on, Drew,” she says in that cheerful tone of hers. “Loosen up a bit! They say that you won’t have that feeling in your stomach when you put your hands up in the air.”

            “That won’t help.”

            “It will! I’ve tried it before!”

            “I’m sure it would make no difference to you,” he mutters in a low voice.

            “Oh look! We’re already at the top!” she yells, laughing.

           Drew snaps his neck to the front to see that she’s right. They’re already at the top. He considers putting his hands up in the air, but he doesn’t want to look silly in front of the kids. But then again he should probably put it up, because maybe it would help and—there isn’t any more time to think, because they’re already dropping down as if never ending.  He hears Grace shouting at the top of her lungs. But not of fear, it’s of happiness and excitement. He’s struggling to keep his terrified screams inside.

           He’s obviously trying to show that he’s the man in front of Grace and the kids.

           However, he’s failing. That feeling in his stomach dropping makes him roll into a ball, except he can’t because of the tight seatbelt around his torso. He has his eyes closed tightly, not daring to see what’s in front of him. He feels the air rush to his hair, face, and body; the cold air kissing his smooth pale skin.

           Suddenly, someone grabs his left hand. Warmth electrifies through him. He finally opens his eyes to see who it is, but he already knows that it’s Grace. He feels same kind of warmth he felt that time when he almost slapped Uriah. The way her fingers perfectly fit in his. Her palm softly caressing his smoothly. But he doesn’t think anymore, because they’re in for another drop in the rollercoaster. This time, Grace puts her hands up in the air, causing Drew, too, because their hands are intertwined together.

           Drew can’t help but let out a scream this time.

           Just as they drop down, he feels someone quickly wrap their tiny arms around his right arm. When they’re finally zooming through the wind in one straight track, he glances at the side quickly to see that it’s Scarlett who’s comfily wrapping her arms around his arm. He doesn’t feel the rush of the rollercoaster anymore, because he’s distracted at this little girl. His heart clenches at the sight of Grace and Scarlett holding onto him. He feels . . . confused yet happy at the same time.

           And before he knows it, the ride’s already coming to a stop.

            “That was,” Uriah murmurs, “awesome!”

            “I know, right?” Ethan agrees as they step out of the ride. “I wanna go again!”

            “Same,” chirps Grace, walking toward the exit along with the others trailing after her.

            “No!” Scarlett disagrees with a pout on her face. “I’m scared.”

            “Aw,” Ethan coos. “You can stay with stickman then. I’m pretty sure he’s scared as you.”

           Uriah snickers. “I heard him scream like a girl all the way from where I sat, and remember that we sat from each other very far apart. I still managed to hear him.”

            “Stop talking like I’m not even here,” Drew says irritably. Then, he whispers to Grace, “I didn’t scream that loud, did I?”

           The corners of her lips tug upward. “Maybe, maybe not.” Drew opens his mouth to speak, but Grace interrupts, “You look flushed, by the way, so I’m pretty sure you did. I heard you, too.”

           He feels his cheeks and neck heating up even more. “I just hate roller coasters.”

            “I figured that out already, Brit boy,” she teases, giggling.

            “Is it really that big of a matter that I’m British?” he questions, cocking an eyebrow and a smile playing across his lips.

            “No.”

           He feels a smirk forming. “Really? Because I recall you on the first time we met, you were literally blushing like crazy and couldn’t stop talking about how British I was—oh, and did I mention about my accent—?”

            “Shut up,” she interjects, looking away.

           However, he catches the tint color of her cheeks. She’s blushing as expected. “And I know you think I’m one amazing Brit—”

           Abruptly, Grace faces him, catching him off guard. He almost bumps into her, but luckily doesn’t. Her hands are on her waist, and her head’s tilted to the side. “Since when did you get arrogant, Brit boy?”

           The question even gets him thinking. He isn’t usually like this. He feels . . . relaxed. He’s playing around with Grace, and he wonders when was the last time he did that. But he merely shrugs. “I don’t know.”

           Grace raises an eyebrow in amusement. “I always thought that you’re isolated.”

           Before he knows it, he says, “Then I guess you make me less isolated.” When he finished his sentence, his eyes go a little wide and his mouth opens a little. He realizes what he’s said, and he’s not sure if he really said that or what. And . . . is he flirting with Grace? He realizes that he actually is without even knowing. He closes his mouth and then glances away.

           Grace doesn’t say a word.

           ♦          ♦          ♦

           Drew groans as he falls backward onto his own bed.

            “Home sweet home,” he says to himself, staring up at the ceiling. He starts to close his eyes, prepared to drift away into a deep slumber—but then he hears someone clearing their throat. He resists the urge to groan, and sets himself up with a scowl etched on his face.

            “Remind me again,” Grace muses, crossing her arms under her chest, “you hate children, right?”

            “You’re disturbing my sleep, just because you wanted to ask me that?” he deadpans, slightly narrowing his eyes at her.

            “Because it seems like otherwise when I saw you holding Scar’s hand all around the carnival the whole day.”

            “What, no! She was holding my hand, and it wasn’t for the whole day. You’re over-exaggerating this. Because, really, I would never even think of doing that again. It feels . . . weird.”

           She shrugs, a smirk plastered on her lips. “Just saying, you know? Because it’s obvious that you enjoyed being around her today. You looked happy, to be honest.”

            “No—”

            “Don’t deny it. She likes you, and so do you.”

            “But I don’t—”

            “You’re lying to me and yourself. But you’ll see, Andrew Mason Walter, you’re going to love each and every one of them later no matter how naughty they are.”

            “Dream on, Grace Baker.”

            “Watch me prove you wrong then,” Grace teases, wriggling her eyebrows at him.

           He chuckles, shaking his head. “You really do have a big ego, don’t you?”

           She rolls her eyes. “Maybe, but yours is bigger.”

            “That’s what she said.”

           Grace gasps dramatically. “You’re so loosening up today! I never thought I’d see this day but—wait, were you seriously planning on sleeping with a suit on?”

           He tips his head down, and sees that he’s still on his formal clothes. “Yeah . . .” he trails off lazily, glancing back up at Grace again. “Get out so I can change.”

           She rolls her eyes. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”

           Drew widens his eyes, her jaw dropping slightly. He almost forgot about it. Grace did see him naked, how can he forget about that? The time when he took a shower in her bathroom, and his body really close against hers. He tries to push that memory away to the back of his head before he can think about it any further as he clears his throat. “Grace . . .”

           Grace also seems to have realized what she just said, because her cheeks are painted with pink and she’s avoiding eye contact. “I should . . . uh, probably go right now. I mean—you’re tired and sleepy, and you need to change. Right, yeah, okay, I’ll go.” And immediately after that, she walks out of the room before closing the door behind her.

           Drew chuckles to himself, thinking how random and adorable Grace Baker is. And he likes it. He likes how she stutters and messes her words, because of him. He likes knowing that he has that power over her to do that. He likes how easily she blushes, just like him. He likes how much nonsense she likes to talk about when she’s nervous. And most of all, he likes how Grace . . . is Grace. Herself.