Playing With Lightning

Public Appearances

“Naaaathhaaaaan!”  A squeal cut through the air, making me jump. A blur blew past me, knocking into my side. I lost my balance and would have fallen if not for a pair of arms that shot out to grab me out of practice.

“Chill Nath,” Jay laughed. “She has enough trouble staying on her feet as is.”

“Don’t worry about me or anything,” Tay rolled her eyes from where she was draped over Nathan’s shoulder. “Nathan James Sykes, put me down right now!”

“Where are your manners, Missy?” Nathan pouted, keeping hold of her.

“Please Nathan,” she pleaded. “Super dooper pretty please?”

Nathan grinned and put her down, keeping an arm around her waist. She looked at me with wide eyes, trying to stay composed. I just winked and smiled knowingly and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Should we get going?” Siva asked the group, his accent ringing out clearly. We all looked to each other and nodded, moving out to the car. I slid into the dark interior, ending up between Max and Jay.

“Now remember kiddies,” I addressed them all. “Everyone on their best behaviour tonight. Remember the buddy system, and lets not disappoint our good friend Anne, who does so very much for us.”

“Oh yeah definitely,” Nathan rolled his eyes.

“But buddy system is probably a good idea,” Max pointed out. “Especially for the girls, I’d rather you guys not wandering around by yourselves. Agreed?”

The boys all nodded. What’s a bet this was because they thought I was going to be abducted by some crazy stalker. Sigh. Not that I’m not grateful that they care of course.

“Want to be my buddy Jay Jay?” I asked, nudging him with my elbow.

“I guess,” he shrugged nonchalantly before shooting me a grin.

We stepped out of the car to be greeted by flashing lights and the sounds of people screaming, laughing and having fun. I jumped up and down in excitement. I love carnivals okay, sue me.

“Well, what’s the plan?” Siva asked.

“We have to go on the ferris wheel later,” Max urged. “It’s the highest in England. There’s a session at 7:00. Until then, I say we split up and cause as much trouble as we can.” We all cheered and split off.

Nathan and Jay spotted a rollercoaster automatically, pointing at it like over excited little boys. Nathan bent down so Tay could jump onto his back and ran off towards it. Jay grabbed my hand and pulled me after them.

“This line is insane!” Nathan whined, staring at the massive line leading off from the rollercoaster.

“Excuse me!” A voice called over the noise of the public. “Mr Sykes, Mr McGuiness, through here.” An attendant ushered us through a small gate off to the side of the main one. I felt a bit guilty for cutting in front of everybody, but it happened so often you couldn’t fight it every single time.

“Maeve, want to sit at the back or the front?” Tay asked as we approached the cart. I looked between her and Nathan, a plan formulating.

“Sorry babe,” I shrugged. “I want to sit with Jay-Jay for this one.” She once again narrowed her eyes at me in that way that said she both loved me and hated me at once.

Jay and I took the very last seats while Tay and Nathan were one row in front of us. The cart took off slowly at first, starting to build up speed. We started slanting upwards, travelling up a hill. I automatically reached out and grabbed Jay’s arm. He raised his eyebrows and laughed, slipping his hand down to hold mine. I took to squeezing his fingers instead.

“Having fun yet?” Nathan called back over his shoulder.

“This isn’t even that – AHHHHH!” Taylah broke into a scream as we shot downwards. My stomach dropped and I buried my face in Jay’s shoulder. We shot back up again, going around a sharp corner. I took the quiet patch of track to look up and notice Taylah had been pushed up against Nathan’s side when we hit the corner, and he’d wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Awww,” I cooed, nudging Jay and nodding my head in their directions. “They’re so cu – HOLY SHITBALLS ON – AHHHHH!” We dipped again and I tightened my grip on his hand.

We pulled back into the platform where the safety bars were raised up and we could get off. Jay stepped out first, holding out his arm to let me follow.

“That was fun,” Taylah declared.

“Babe, you were shitting yourself,” Nathan pointed out. She waved her hand dismissively and kept walking. He gave me a ‘your best friend is a weirdo’ look and I shrugged, linking arms with her and skipping off on them.

“We’ve got fifteen minutes until the ferris wheel ride,” I informed her. “Want me to distract Jay so you can spend more time with your lover boy?”

“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “That’s just an excuse for you to spend time with your lover boy.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said aloofly. “Jaaaaaay, I’m hungry.”

“This way to the food court M’Lady,” he held out an arm and I linked it with mine, practically dragging him over to the food court. After ordering a hot dog and a bag of fairy floss and having Jay insist on paying, we set off to find the others. Jay spotted Max in line at the ferris wheel, and as we approached we found he was with Siva and Tom.

“So, exactly how much shit did you guys cause?” I asked, slinging an arm around Tom’s shoulders.

“Couldn’t do too much while our partner in crime was off being such a girl,” he said seriously.

“I rode a roller coaster thank you very much!” I said defensively.

“Yeah, then went and got fairy floss,” Max scoffed.

“Just for that, none of you are having any,” I huffed, turning around to offer some to Jay. While my back was turned, Siva reached over my shoulder and plucked a bit from the bag, sharing it with the others. “Not fair!”

“Oh stop bickering you guys,” Nathan laughed as he and Tay joined the group. She too had a bag of fair floss in one hand and a stuffed teddy in the other. I looked at her pointedly and she nodded with a grin, her eyes flickering to Nathan and back quickly.

“Next group up,” the attendant bellowed, gesturing us forward with a bored expression. Siva, Max and Tom stepped up, squishing into the two person cart together. Poor things, stuck with each other because their girlfriends were all otherwise occupied. “Next.”

I pulled Jay into the seat next to me, pulling down the rail and bouncing in my seat excitedly. He laughed and pushed back his curly hair as we started to move around the wheel as people got on.

 “I love ferris wheels,” I said almost to myself, resting my chin on the bar in front of me. I felt Jay’s hand brush accidently against my back as he stretched his arm out.

“Maeve!” A call came from below me. I looked down to see Taylah looking up at me, waving. I waved back and Nathan popped out as well. “This is so cool!”

“I take it neither of you hate heights?” Jay asked casually. I shook my head, looking back out over the whole carnival, a sea of people and lights. “That’s good, or this would have been a pretty pathetic evening.”

“Guess you lucked out, hey?” I grinned back at him. I leant back, which meant that his arm was essentially around my shoulders.  I leant into his side, laying my head on his shoulder. I could feel a curl tickling my cheek. He started humming. Lightning under his breath.

“I know that it’s a little bit frightening, we might as well be playing with lightning now.”