Sorry for the wait! I've got exams for the rest of this month but after that I'll update more regularly!

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“YO smart cookie!” I called out, “I’m really sorry but I’ve got detention today, since it’s Friday and the teachers just LOVE staying at school to spend time with us” I continued sarcastically.

His face fell, “Oh that’s ok then, we can find another time to do the assignment” He said

“Woah, I never said to cancel!” I assured him while he looked perplexed, “but I need a favour”

I go on my tiptoes and whispered into his ear, “You’re gonna help me break out of detention”

“What?! No you can’t do that, you’ll get caught!” he exclaimed

“What are they gonna do to me? Tell me off and give me yet another detention? Pfff, I’ll take the risk.”

“I don’t know, I’m no good at doing this sort of thing, I can’t lie, I always look so suspicious” he said

“No, you’re the perfect person to help me! You’re Mr straight A student and all the teachers LOVE you, they’d never suspect a thing!”

He paused hesitantly like he was on the verge of saying yes

“I’ve never broken the rules before” He whispered

And I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at how cute that little confession was! It was like a little kid that admitted to stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

“Please? For me?” I pleaded, bringing out the big guns with my eyes wide and sad and my expertly executed puppy dog pout.

He sighed in mock exasperation, “ok, I guess even the infamous Ava Maxwell needs a right-hand man to break her out of trouble.”

“haha, and you’re my man,” I said laughing, only realising the other meaning of my words after they slipped out.

“So here’s the plan!” I add quickly, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“now, now boys and girls” said Mr Gordon in his annoyingly slow, nasally voice all in monotone, almost like Fran Drescher from The Nanny.

“You all know why you’re here in detention today, especially you Miss Maxwell, this is the 5th time you’ve been here for mouthing off with inappropriate language.”

“Hey I’m just practising my legal right to freedom of speech Gordo, don’t hate on me.”

“Miss Maxwell, for the last time, please refrain from calling me ‘Gordo,’ It is MISTER GORDON to you.”

“And I’m the Queen of England” I said rolling my eyes,

“Ava Maxwell you’re skating on thin ice. I am THIS close to giving you another detention, ON SATURDAY”

That shut me up.

“Hmm exactly what I was thinking”

“You shouldn’t do that sir, it might hurt your brain!” Pipes up a freshman kid called Carter Carters from the back

Everyone sniggers and laughs

“SILENCE!”

“Mr Carters, unless you want to join Miss Maxwell in Saturday detention I suggest that you BOTH clamp those mouths shut or I’ll clamp them for yo-“

“Mr Gordan, sir!” yells Ryan as he bursts into the classroom panting exaggeratedly and looking nerdier than ever before; his shirt was tucked into his pants and the top button on his collar was done, he wore huge Harry Potter glasses as opposed to his usual nerdy hipster square ones and his hair was in an awful comb-over.

“Mr Haywood what’s the matter?” Asks Mr Gordon, actually looking genuinely concerned.

“I saw some students with balaclavas and spray paint heading towards Smitherson Hall but I couldn’t catch up to them!  I heard them saying something about spray-painting the headmaster’s portrait”

“Those rotten little punks, I think I know just who they are…” Gordo muttered,

“The rest of you stay here,  I have to handle this situation” he said standing up and hiking up his pants over his portly belly and straightening his tie while looking into the distance like he thought he was superman or something.

“I’m locking you all in so don’t even think about sneaking out!” He says striding out of the class with Ryan in tow.

I heard the click of the lock outside and the thuds of Mr Gordon’s feet running down the hallway. As soon as the thuds fade away, I leap out of my seat and rush to the door, pressing up against it “Ryan?” I asked. But there was no answer. DAMNIT, did he chicken out? No way, he wouldn’t, I trust him. A few minutes went by and all the kids in detention were getting restless “IMMA RAM INTO THAT DOOR AND BREAK THAT MOTHA F***** IN HALF!” yells Omar, a big tough black guy that has anger management issues but is actually a real softie at heart.

“Hey shhh, shhh It’s ok Omar, I promise we’ll get you home in time to make dinner for your Grandma” I said calming him down

“you Promise Ava?” he asked, his voice soft and his eyes sad

“Yeah I promise, I have a guy on the outside who’s gonna bust us all out?”

“WHAT, Haywood? That 4-eyed teacher’s pet?” yells Carter. Carter’s this scrawny string bean of a kid who thinks he’s Rocky Balboa or something.

“Pipe down short-stuff, aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black?”

“F*** you Ava” he said giving me the finger.

“Yeah you wish” I shoot back.

He turned his chair around but I can see a little smile on his face.

“So what exactly is your latest plan to bust us out this time A?” asked Rhea Hellas all dressed in black as per usual. Rhea was a Wiccan and carried candles and spell books around with her, basically she freaked the shit out of everyone and her fringe was so long that you could never see her eyes. But she had an awesome sense of humour and we’ve played countless pranks on people with her “voo-doo” curses and hexes (obviously we made these ones up just to scare people though….I don’t believe in all that but just in case…)

This was our detention gang; misfits, troublemakers, rebels and the misunderstood.

I jumped up onto the table and shouted “OK listen up gang,” to the rest of the detention crowd, “I’ve used up all my get out of jail cards since Gordo isn’t buying my persuasive tactics anymore, they sealed up the loose floor tile in the corner so we can’t crawl out the air vent, and they’ve been monitoring every trouble kid that’s gotten a detention in the last 2 months. So what amazing loophole did I find?”

“Hurry up Ava I have to pee!” cried Selena Hoare, who lived up to her name and actually was a whore, but a sweet girl all in all.

“let me finish Sel, the quicker I do, the quicker you can get out”

“Anyway, teachers always suspect the bad kids to only hang out with bad kids, and they rely on the good kids to tattle. But what if a bad kid was friends with a good kid?”

“OH I GET IT!” says Carter slamming his fist on the desk for emphasis, “smarty pants Haywood is your bitch and he’s gonna bust us out and the teachers would never suspect him.”

“He’s not my bitch but yeah that’s the plan.”

“well you sure as hell ain’t his bitch Ava, let alone anyone elses.”

“naww Carter that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard from you” I saw Carter blush

“SO WHERE IS HE THEN?!” shouts Omar, getting anxious “Shh, use your inside voice Omar, he’ll come”

At least I hoped he would.

Just then, I heard a shout from outside “AVA!” A wave of relief washed over me. He came through in the end. Slamming the window open I looked down to the ground level where Ryan was standing, still all ‘white and nerdy’ lol. He was jingling a bunch of keys in the air and everybody cheered. I couldn’t help but grin at him while he smiled proudly up at me.  “Ryan, I’m jumping down!” I said, look, it was a spur of the moment decision and I was just really happy that when I placed my trust in him he didn’t let me down. “What?! NO Ava it’s dangerous it’s the second floor!” “Calm down cookie it’s only 2 metres. Catch me!” I said, launching myself from the window pane before he could protest further.  And sure enough, his strong arms stretched out to wrap around my waist. As I fell into his firm hold I could feel how powerful he was as he recoiled backwards only a few steps before he regained balance. My arms were wound around his neck and he was holding me close to him with one arm around my waist, but the other clasped around my thighs close to my butt, sending tingles throughout my body.  He let out a huge sigh and said “I caught you,” his face all smiley and cute with relief.  My heart started throbbing involuntarily. I smiled right back at him and said “You came through for me!” and his smile got wider and I got that urge to tease him again; I smirked and teasingly said “oh cookie I knew you were smart but you’re also strong too!” walking my fingers up his bicep “I mean most boys would have had to put me down by now but you just keep holding on.” Then he let go of me, his cheeks blushing and I laughed “I’m just messing with you.” Rolling his eyes, his cheeks still pink, he said “You know you could have waited until I came upstairs with the keys.” “But where’s the fun in that?” I said with a wink, taking the keys from him. “YO CARTER!” I yell. “Is it my turn? Ooh Haywood catch me~!” He squeals, mocking me.  “Shut up poop-face, do you want out or not?” I say jingling the keys as bait.  Omar shoves Carter out of the way and says “Ava, please! Grammy is gonna get home from Bingo and she’ll get scared if she’s alone” Oops I forgot about Omar, I back up a little and throw the keys up towards the open window. Omar fumbles around with them and they look like they’re just about to slip through his fingers, when Rhea comes to the rescue and catches them in her net. Wait what?! “Rhea do I want to know why you have a random net?” “It’s for catching lost sprites and pixies. “ “It’s about to catch my pee if you don’t hurry up and open the damn door!” yells Selena.

Turning to Ryan I said “Smarty pants let’s skedaddle before Gordo realises that there aren’t any hooded vandals!” catching my bag as Rhea throws it down to me.

“Mom I’m home!” I call out as we step inside the house. “uh, I think she’s out” said Ryan handing me the note on the counter: Ava! Sorry, emergency at the hospital. I’ll be back late, there’s money in the cookie jar. Mom xo. Typical, I should have guessed.  All of a sudden Poptart comes bounding down the stairs. Looks like I’d better warn Ryan.

“Hey just be cautious about Poptart she can get a little hissy around new peop-“ aaaand poptart loves Ryan

“hey there kitty, whatcha doin’?” He said picking her up and petting her behind her ears. Poptart purred and rolled about in his arms, clearly inlove with this handsome stranger.  

“You traitor, how come you purr for him but only scratch me!” I said jokingly to Poptart while Ryan chuckled rubbing her belly, and she just flopped around happier than ever as if she was taunting me.  It was strange, Poptart hated nearly everybody the first time they came around, except Rose but that’s partly because she helped me pick her out from the animal shelter and take care of her the first few days and also because animals just love Rose in general.

Ahaha I remember the time we went camping when we were 15 and we went for a walk in the woods, I turned around for one second and when I look back, two deer, songbirds and a hare had gathered around her like she was a Disney Princess. But also, animals that were attracted to her included skunks and we woke up in the middle of the night to hear Rose screaming at the skunk that had crawled into bed with her, but that scream scared the skunk and you can guess what happened. Poor Rose vowed never to go camping again!

Sitting down to work, we only managed to get 1 page done; I really just couldn’t be bothered. Checking the time, it was nearly 7:30 and I usually never do work on a Friday night. Friday night is supposed to be fun night! Writing a message on a piece of paper and folding it up into a paper plane, I launched it right at Ryan’s head where it hit his glasses and fell in front of him. Picking it up, he looked at me sceptically and said “Ava you’re sitting across from me, what is it?”

 “Open it.” I said

I watched his eyes scan the page and the corner of his mouth tug into a smile. Flipping the page around he pointed to the picture that I drew and asked “Is this supposed to be me?” trying not to laugh. “Hey don’t bag my stick figures! They’re amazing.” I protested. They weren’t. Honestly I have the drawing ability of a 2 year old. “Ok but what is this big circle thing?” “It’s a ferris wheel, duh.”  “You want me to say ‘yes’ to a ferris wheel?” “Ryan I thought you were supposed to be master of analysis.” “I am! But this is complex stuff Ava; I think its bordering Mensa material.” He said, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide in mock amazement.” “You dick” I said, punching his arm but he was too busy laughing at me. Wow that arm was firm, my hand hurts a little. “Ok ok are you saying, let’s go to the Venice Beach Carnival?” Rolling my eyes I replied “of course, everyone in LA knows it’s on tonight.” “Well let’s go then, who cares about homework anyway.” “Woah woah slow down there tiger, I said let’s go to the carnival not go crazy! Where did nerdy Ryan go?” I said, smirking, “What, can’t ‘nerdy’ Ryan like carnivals?” he said, quirking an eyebrow adorably at me, “And what about you Miss Bad girl? Aren’t carnivals too babyish for you?”

“Alright smart guy, do you want to go or not?”

“My car or yours?”

“Mine is less likely to be stolen or trashed, Richie Rich.” I said flippantly, just about to grab my keys when I saw something flicker in his eyes, but then it was gone. Shit did I go too far? Argh Ava you always do this!

“Yeah I guess you’re right, let’s go.” He replied, grabbing his phone and wallet.

“See you soon kitty cat” he said bending down to pet Poptart.  

I’ve never been at a loss for words before, but let me tell you it is NOT a great feeling.

“Ryan, I –“ I began, “You coming Ava?” he asked, standing up and looking at me with the same completely kind and non-judgemental look he always has on his face, that is, when it isn’t all cute and scrunched up in laughter.

“Hey wait a sec what I said before I –“

“Don’t worry, I know you were just teasing.” He smiled at me and ruffled my hair.

Why is it that he can make me feel so lost for words?

Inside the car we sat in silence while I drove. But what surprised me was that it wasn’t awkward at all, it was just natural like we didn’t have to talk every single second and just felt comfortable enough just to stay like this. I know it isn’t something that people generally notice, but for me it’s a big deal. I’ve been on plenty of dates where the silence is painfully awkward and I racked my brains for something to say just to make things less weird. But I guess that’s what you get when you barely know the guy before you start dating just to fool around. It wasn’t like that with Ryan though.  Stopping at the lights, Ryan turned to me and said, “I think something just rolled out from under my seat.” He reached down to pick it up and in the light of the streetlamps and buildings I saw that it was my iPod dock.  “Ah! Don’t turn it on!” 

But it was too late, he already had.  That was my old iPod that had all of the songs I listened to when I was 15; I didn’t know what was going to come up.

“Back to the street where we began, feeling as good as lovers can, you know, yeah we’re feeling so good~”

“Hey I love Panic! At the Disco,” said Ryan, his face lighting up. PHEW! THANK GOD IT WASN’T JUSTIN BIEBER. I had ONE song and ONE song only of his and I was counting my lucky stars that his damn catchy pre-teen voice wasn’t blasting BABY BABY BABY OHHHH from the speakers.

“~‘Cause it’s nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon, you could ‘cause you can so you do, we’re feelin’ so good, just the way that we do when it’s nine in the afternoon~” I sang along.

“Ava your voice is beautiful” exclaimed Ryan,

“naww thanks cookie, I’m flattered” I said dramatically, and he just laughs.

But actually my heart fluttered; I was so used to people saying that my voice was “awesome” or “amazing” and once “the shiz,” but believe it or not, I don’t think anyone has ever told me specifically that it was ‘beautiful.’

Arriving at the carnival, we pulled into an empty spot in the parking lot. The beach was buzzing with people, lights, rides, and sugary carnival food.  We were still in Fall and the weather was pleasant without being too cold or windy or anything; just perfect for the carnival.

After buying our tickets and wandering in, I turned to Ryan with a little smirk and said “Am I correct in assuming that you’re a scaredy-cat and won’t go on any of the fun rides?”

“Are you kidding? I love anything that goes fast, upside down, twists and turns, loop de loops you name it I’ll do it.” He replied enthusiastically. It was so interesting to see him come out of his shell like this; he’s always so reserved and quiet at school.  It was just too cute!

“Well then let’s go!” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the kamikaze.  

I felt a zap of electricity shoot up arm as my hand made contact with his and I felt tingles spread throughout as his long fingers enclosed around my own. His warm palm pressed against my own and as we weaved our way through the crowds of people, his knuckles often grazed my side, sending shivers down my spine as we were jostled about. A few people were staring and I was aware that we probably looked like a ridiculous couple; me in my torn jeans, and Ed Hardy tank top, while he wore chinos and an argyle sweater.

But who actually cares? I mean it’s not like we’re actually dating and we’re here to have fun. Suddenly an image of me and Ryan kissing at the top of the Ferris wheel flashed through my mind. WOAH where did that come from?  It must be the adrenalin from the ride we just went on…

“That was so awesome!” I said as we walked down the metal steps off the ride.

“Yeah, especially the part when it went all the way around but backwards!” added Ryan enthusiastically.

We couldn’t stop laughing as we realised our legs were shaky and we were walking retardedly and I felt high on happiness.  I can’t remember the last time someone willingly went on a thrill-seeker ride with me.

“Hey cookie, watch this” I said, heading over to the Test-of-strength game, “I’m gonna win that owl for you” I said, pointing to the rack of stuffed animals hanging above our heads.

“What? Why the owl?” he asked, confused.

"Owls are smart, you're smart. Owls are also just a tad boring and well, you..." I trailed off teasingly.

He blushed adorably

"I'm just joking Ryan, you're the complete opposite of boring." I reassured him

Picking up the mallet I prepared myself, cracking my neck on both sides and shaking out my legs.  This would be a cinch.

POW! I brought the mallet down hard onto the platform and the little dial on the meter shot up to 50. Everyone knows these games are rigged and don’t actually go up to 100 like the meter says, I’ve never seen the dial go higher than 50. Inside my head I was having a party wooo, yeah das right go Ava go go go Ava!  But on the outside I just played it cool and took the owl stuffed animal from the game vendor while flashing a grin at Ryan.

Ryan looked at the ground and I saw a small, mischievous smile tug at his lips as he looked back up at me and said “Mind if I have a go?”

“Be my guest, just don’t cry if you don’t get 50.”

Taking the mallet in his hands he suddenly slams it down onto the platform, fast as lightning, and to my utter astonishment, the dial shoots all the way up to 100 and even hits the bell. What. The. Hell. This kind of thing only happens in the loony toons cartoons or something. Who the F*** is Ryan Haywood!

“Ding ding ding we have a winner!” the vendor calls out enthusiastically as people walking past stop to applaud.  “Pick your prize, champ”

“I’ll take the wildcat toy” said Ryan.

“here ya go” said the vendor, handing Ryan the adorable stuffed animal.

“This is for you,” he said, the corner of his mouth tugging upward into a half-smile.

“Why a wildcat?” I asked, dubiously taking the adorable toy from him.

“Girls as feisty as you are hard to come by nowadays, just like wildcats,” He replied nonchalantly taking the words I’d said to him and turning them on me.  OH SNAP not again! Argh, this guy is too damn smart for his own good.  Once again I have no comeback. DAMN Ava! What is this?!

“What do you want to do next?” He asked.

“Hmm, let’s go to the haunted house,” I replied. I loved the haunted house, not because I liked getting scared, but because they were always so stupid! You could tell when things were going to jump out at you and they were almost always cheap and tacky Halloween-ish decorations from like the 80s. It was hilarious to watch the workers try as hard as they could to get a reaction out of me and then give up and walk away.

“uhh how about we do that later” said Ryan nervously,

JACKPOT. “Naww is little Ryan scared of a little blood and guts? Afraid you’re gonna scream like a baby?” I teased.

“Blood and guts? No problem, I’ve watched every SAW movie there is and did not flinch once. But Supernatural stuff? I shake like a leaf, I can’t even watch the trailer for Paranormal activity and the one time Brad made me watch The Ring with him, I was terrified of watching TV and thought for the longest time that I might be gay because every little girl looked like Samara to me.” He replied

“AHAHAHAHAH!” I could not stop laughing! But at the same time I thought it was really cool that Ryan was honest about hating ghosts and stuff, instead of acting tough and pretending to be cool. I really liked that about him, that he could just tell me the truth.

“Now we – definitely - have to- go!” I managed to get out between laughs.

“No way. I have never been, nor will I ever go, into a haunted house willingly.” He said resolutely.

“Well I guess it’s a good thing I’m not asking.” I replied pulling him towards the ticket booth.

“Welllllcoommmeeee” said the creepy butler that opened the door for the next lot of haunted house-goers.

“Ava I don’t know about this…” said Ryan nervously.

“Oh come on cookie, haunted houses are really stupid, you’ll see” I replied, wiggling my eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes and shifted his weight uncomfortably onto the other foot.

How bad could it be? There were little kids going in with us too.

“oooooooh~” “woooooooo~” came the typical ghostly whispers.

Ryan flinched when a skeleton fell down in front of us on a hook hanging up above.

“ahaha, you’re so cute, scaredy cat” I laughed.

“it’s not real it’s not real” I heard him chant under his breath.

“I VANT TO SUCK YOOR BLOOD!” yelled the automated voice of a ‘vampire’ robot that suddenly sat up in its coffin and stared at us, with blinking red lights for eyes, until the machine reset and the coffin lid closed again.

At that moment, Ryan had suddenly grabbed my hand and was holding it tight.

“ah, sorry Ava, I just reacted without thinking” he said, embarrassed and trying to pull away after the shock had passed.

I wanted to laugh again, but I didn’t, and instead I squeezed his hand gently and held on as we walked further through the house. It was obviously dark inside so I couldn’t tell for sure, but I swear Ryan was blushing. Oh how could he be so cute?

After a series of other tacky ghosts and ghouls and Ryan flinching but trying hard to remain calm, we spotted the exit sign and I rolled my eyes.

“See what did I tell you Ryan? This wasn’t that scary at al–“

BOO!

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” both of us screamed bloody murder as a guy in a werewolf jumped at us out of nowhere.

POW >>

….So I might have just punched the guy in the face. But hey I guess it was self-defence.

“OWWWW!” howled the werewolf. Lol! Wait I shouldn’t be cracking jokes when I just injured the guy.

“Um, hey man are you ok?” asked Ryan as the werewolf takes off his mask.

“Ryan?” asked the guy, rubbing his nose to soothe the pain.

“Oh shit, Jack are you ok?” said Ryan, now very concerned.

Great. They know each other; now I’ve just assaulted one of Ryan’s friends. WTH Ava.

“Yeah brah it’s cool, just a scratch. But DAMN your girl really packs a punch” said Jack jokingly.

“Oh, uh, she’s not my girl” Ryan said, quickly.

Weird, I felt an uncomfortable sinking feeling in my stomach when he said that. It’s probably nothing but geez he didn’t have to dismiss it so quickly like it was the worst thought in the world to have me as his girlfriend…

“Oh my bad dude, well….” Said Jack, leaning in to whisper something to Ryan, “Can I have her then? She’s hot as F***!” 

Aww hell no. Any guilt I had for punching him flew out the window right then; what a douche.

They were doing that whole bro code thing, but before Ryan even got a chance to answer, I interrupted: “AHEM no thanks buddy. That whole S and M thing doesn’t turn me on and if I heard correctly, you just asked if you could hit on me right after I just “HIT” you.”

 “Ohh SNAP! She’s a feisty one Haywood! Don’t let her eat you alive!” Jack winks and leaves us to clean up the blood from his nose.

Ryan started to apologise “Sorry about him, he can be a real– “

“Jerk?” I finished for him, “don’t worry, it happens from time to time and I can handle it.”

“Haha I know you can! That blood nose was not ‘just a scratch’” he said laughing and moving his fingers in the hand gesture that meant quotation marks.

I couldn’t help but smile. I never expected this to happen! Just wait til I told Kim, she’d be on the floor in hysterics.

“Hey the carnival’s nearly closing,” said Ryan as we walked side by side along the boardwalk, “do you want to ride the ferris wheel before we leave?”

Ok now I know I’m overthinking things and it’s probably only girls who even care about this sort of thing, but there’s always been this legend that every year at the carnival, if you ride the ferris wheel with someone special on the last round and you make it to the very top when the fireworks go off and you kiss at that moment, you’ll be together forever.

Stupid and cheesy I know, but for some reason it sprung to mind when Ryan asked the question.

“Sure,” I said, thinking that if we lined up now we’d get on the ferris wheel before the last ride when the fireworks went off.

And once again I’m wrong. Geez Ava, do you even think nowadays? The line was MASSIVE, but Ryan looked like he really wanted to go on it and I felt guilty for 1. Dragging him through the haunted house and 2. Giving his friend a blood nose. Actually scratch that second one; I regret nothing.

Moving along the line at a snails pace, Ryan and I kept talking about random things and then somewhere along the line he said “yeah and this is the first time I’ve ever been to a carnival”

“What?! Your first time? How are you this old and have never been to a carnival before?!” I practically shouted in disbelief, to which Ryan just laughed.

No wonder he looked so adorable and excited and wanted to ride the ferris wheel.

“I’ve been to carnivals in Italy and parades at Disneyland though” He said,

“But it’s hardly the same thing, Argh! I feel so bad for making your first carnival experience so retarded…” I apologised.

But just then the tired looking ride attendant called us up, “next 15 pairs please, this is the last rotation of the night, sorry for any inconvenience.”

There was a chorus of groans from the people who would miss out behind us.

“All set kids, hope the legend turns out to be true for you” said the attendant securing the safety bar in place over us.

“What legend is she talking about?” asked Ryan,

“No idea” I replied. That legend was stupid, there’s no way things like that actually happen.

But as the wheel started to move, lifting us up into the air and away from ground below, the carnival with its glittering lights in the night looked magical, and for a moment it seemed like anything was possible…Cut it out Ava! You’re starting to sound like one of those Disney movie narrators.

Ryan whistled low as we rose higher and higher. The ferris wheel carriage wasn’t one of the newer, safer ones that had a door or bars and actually looked like a carriage. This dodgy ride looked more like a chair lift at a ski-field!  Ryan and I were squished together in the middle for fear of falling off the sides. ARGH, yet another thing that would make Ryan have weird memories of us together.

We were almost at the top when Ryan turned to me and said “Ava, what you said before about making my ‘first carnival experience’ retarded, well you’re wrong. You actually made it the best I ever could have had, even if you did drag me through that damn haunted house!” His face crinkled up in laughter and revealed his dimples. DAMN YOU RYAN, you’re too perfect for your own good! My heart was fluttering like crazy hearing those words from him.

Be cool Ava, be cool.

I patted his hand briefly and said “Aww Cookie you’re a sweetheart,” then my smile turned devilish and I added “but that haunted house was the best damn bit of tonight! You were so adorable when you got scared AND I got to punch a guy in the face!”

“Wait did you just say you thought I was adorable?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement

OH SHIT I said that out loud!

But just then I saw Ryan’s phone about to fall out of his pants pocket, MY ESCAPE ROUTE!

“Shit! Ryan hold still you’re phone’s about to-“

BOOM!  Went the first firework.

In the process of me trying to lean over him to grab his phone before it fell, and him quickly turning his head to look at his pocket and then back to me, his lips collided with my temple and he caught me in his arms as the carriage jolted sideways.

Um so I guess that was a temple kiss. A FRIGGEN TEMPLE KISS.  But damn even from that I could tell his lips were amazingly soft and smooth and probably incredible to kiss and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like if they were pressed against other parts of my body…

F***AVA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! Stop it! Bad girl! You are not the type of girl he should be dating and you do NOT want to ruin this friendship! Just be friends…

In all of the hysterics, neither of us realised that we’d reached the top, we were the ACTUAL top carriage, and the ride had stopped for the fireworks display.  Shit, but a temple-kiss can’t possibly count as a real kiss therefore the legend wouldn’t come true, would it? I don’t know why but I felt strangely disappointed that we hadn’t kissed for real…

As we watched the fireworks display, I remained in Ryan’s arms because I was too scared that if I tried to move around again the whole carriage would probably fall. Dodgy ferris wheel I tell you, dodgy.

But I liked it. I felt so safe and warm with his arms around me, and I couldn’t help but smile at the fast rate of his heartbeat; he was probably uncomfortable with being this high up for so long or something. So I leaned my head against him to let him know it was fine, or at least I tried to because it seemed like his heart beat only sped up.

We were silent all the way down and even though it was dark, I swear Ryan was blushing hard. Or maybe that was just the red and pink lights from the carnival rides.

The car trip back was pretty quiet too, except for the radio in the background which was playing Daniel Lee Kendall’s Lost in the Moment.

“Hey do you wanna come inside again?” I asked him when we got back to my house. I don’t know why but I didn’t want him to leave; maybe it was partly because it was so fun to hang out with him or partly because I didn’t want to be alone again for most of the night, waiting for my mom to come home.

“Thanks, but I probably should get going, I’ve got some stuff I need to sort out at home” He replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sounded fishy to me, but I’d give him the benefit of the doubt; sometimes people just had shiz they needed to do, I get that.

“Ok, that’s cool” I said starting to walk towards my front door, but OUCH I still felt awkward.

“But I’ll see you on Monday right?” He asked,

“Yeah of course, we’ve got school cookie, I thought you were supposed to be smart!” I joked,

He was moving closer towards me to hug me goodbye and my heart sped up at the thought of his strong arms holding me close again,

MEOW! Suddenly Poptart came bounding through her cat flap and jumped into Ryan’s arms.

“Uh-oh, looks like someone doesn’t want me to leave” he laughed, petting Poptart behind the ears while she purred happily.

“Yeah she isn’t the only one…” I muttered under my breath

“What was that?” He asked, looking up at me curiously.

“Oh nothing, I just said that Poptart’s a little traitor haha” I laughed. God that was such a retarded laugh. How does Ryan just have this ability to break my cool exterior?

“Um, can you kind of help me detach her from my shirt?” he asked

“Sure” I said, walking over to him to remove my stubborn cat. “Ok Poptart, let Ryan go now. Poptart let go. POPTART!”

Poptart hissed and struggled in my arms but I held her down. “No treats for you later missy” I scolded.

“I’ll see you later Ava” said Ryan, “have a good weekend.”

“You too” I replied as I watched him get in his car and drive away.

Looking down at Poptart who had now calmed down, I said “well it looks like it’s just you and me again huh Pops?”

If it was actually even possible, Poptart looked like she was sulking, “What? Don’t give me that face, he had to go home and do stuff”

“Meow” she mewed as if she disapproved.

“Yes ok fine, I wanted him to stay too.”

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Comment down below if you think Ava's going to turn into a crazy cat lady!!
Cerise xx