She Wears Toms, He Wears Converse

Chapter 5

"The moment you kissed me, I knew I was risking it all."

Astrid's P.O.V

"Next." The lady in the booth called. Her voice seemed hoarse as if she yelled too much. Maybe it was the fact that she sat in that booth shouting 'next' all day. Without hesitation, I gave her enough money for a bracelet and stuck my wrist in the tiny opening. My gaze remained on my wrist. I watched her loosely attach the thin bracelet. I unhurriedly pulled my arm back through the opening and stepped out of line just as her raspy voice called the next victim up to the ticket/bracelet booth.

"What would you like to go on first?" Aiden questioned. I turned my focus onto him and raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of question is that?" I inquired. He let out a soft chuckle.

"Zipper?" He asked.

"Of course!" I answered as I picked up my pace and began to jog towards the carnival ride that I loved so much. Since Aiden and I got there exactly when the amusement park opened, there wasn't a line. The beauty of Aiden and I's relationship is our immaturity. We always get to fairs early so that we can go on rides without waiting in line. People like Jayden and Harlow only show up in the evening when most of the people our age do. There were only about fifty people at the carnival. Most of them were kids going on the roller coaster, gravitron or the scrambler, and the rest were parents waiting impatiently or taking pictures. I could tell already that this was going to be fun.

"Here, you two are." Said a tall man who was operating the zipper. He shook me out of my thoughts. I spun on my heel, changing my view from the theme park to the ride attendant casually holding the cage door open and patiently waiting for us to get it. He seemed young to be working at a carnival. He seemed only to be one or two years older than me. I gave him a quick smile as I hopped into the cage and comfortably sat in the farther corner. Aiden seemed to hop in the zipper just as fast as I did. Once we sat in, he let the cage go. We began to sway back and forth as he closed the door and quickly secured it with a pin.

"Do you want me to flip you guys?" He questioned. With everything he said, I swear my eyes doubled in size. People rarely offer to flip you in the zipper cage. He's either really happy, really nice or both.

"Yes, please!" I told him. He smiled at my enthusiasm. He rocked our cage back and forth until the point where we began to flip. I began to count the flips in my head. In total, I think Aiden and I flipped ten times before the ride had even started. Aiden and I moved closer together since the ride can fit three people in a cart. At the same moment, we reached for the bars attached to the cage door. The wind seeped through the cage door; my hair was a complete mess from being twirled upside down so many times; I did countless backflips; the cage door made a clanking noise every time we flipped and, it even seemed like we were going to smash into the ground a couple of times. What can I say? I love the zipper.  I live to be tossed around in a cage. The ride began to slow down.

"BACKWARDS!" I shouted with enthusiasm.

"I hope it flips more..." Aiden whispered.

"It normally does," I answered from experience, and, with that Aiden and I were being tossed around just like before except the ride going in the other direction.

"What's the most you've ever flipped?" Aiden questioned, just as we finished a chain of three backflips. I ran my hand through my hair in an attempt to smoothen out my messy hair. Of course, I failed miserably because we're on the zipper, and within moments my hair was a mess from the cart wobbling back and forth.

"Thirty-one times in a row..." I told him.

"WOAH, WHAT? LUCKY! Where was I?" He inquired.

"You don't remember? You were on the zipper with me!" I replied.