Shinigami Haken High School (Black Butler)

Chapter Thirty Four: Slingby To The Resuce

Eric rolled his eyes at me before wriggling out of my grip and taking off.  "Race you to Ronnie!" he yelled to me as he ran to our friend, who was waving over at us energetically from his seat on the bench.

I laughed at the little challenge and ran after him. I was going to make sure I had as much fun as I could the throughout the rest of the day. Besides, happiness doesn't last forever, so I should enjoy it while I can. We finally reached Ronald, Eric first and me following right after him. "Hey guys," Ronnie greeted as Ashlyn flashed a quick smile and a wave. "Everything okay?" he asked, pressing his eyebrows together.

I looked over to Eric, sucking in a deep breath. He glanced over at me and gave a subtle shrug, unsure what to do. It was obvious that either of us weren't very comfortable with the bathroom situation, let alone retelling it.  Eric turned back to Ronald and Ashlyn, biting the edge of his lip. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, everything's okay. How 'bout we take another turn on the scrambler?"

Ashlyn gasped, her violet eyes lighting up. "Yeah, why don't we go ahead and do that?" she nodded, a large smile on her face. She lept off of her seat on Ronald's lap and began strolling along the long, winding line that lead to the Scrambler. Immeadiately, Ronald followed behind her. I shot a glance up at Eric, who smiled down at me and shoved me playfully, inviting me to walk along with him. We took our time, eventually making it to the end of the line with Ronald and Ashlyn.

The wait took quite a while, and soon we had grown bored. Ashlyn had resorted to her phone for a source of entertainment, and Ronald seemed to be in his own little world, his hands in his pockets and humming along to a song in his head. I pursed my lip and stared down at my shoes, tapping one of my feet up and down impatiently. I sighed, and then I felt something strange. Furrowing my brows together in confusion, I picked my head back up, looking around. My eyes settled on Eric, who was staring at me with a big smile on his face. "W-What?" I asked, stuttering slightly.

He was silent for a moment, his expression unchanging. Eric shook his head, pulling himself out of his trance. He blinked a couple times, eyeing me again as a blush appeared on his face. "Ah, er, it's nothing. You... just kind of look like a girl I dated back in ninth grade in those clothes. Very adorable," he commented, his eyes darting away from me as he bit his lip. He nodded a few times, running a nervous hand through his hair. "B-But, I'm not saying that I'd find you attractive or anything - God, no, like, if you were a girl, I might dump Remi for you, you'd be that cute - I'm not saying I would dump her, but," he groaned, covering his face with his hands, "you make an adorable girl," he said, finally spitting it out. 

I raise my eyebrows, my eyes widening. I couldn't believe he thought I looked adorable, even if he thought I'd make an adorable girl. I felt my heart hammering against my ribs, and I could feel it in my ears. I'm sure that I was cherry red and that Eric could hear my heartbeat, too. Flustered, I looked away from him. I needed to say something quickly, I didn't need to let this silence go on too long. Just as the words fell out of my mouth, I began to regret them. "Well, if I was a girl, I'd date y-"

"Oh my gosh, guys, come take a look at this!" Ashlyn squealed, bouncing up and down slightly. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that Ashlyn had intervened at just the right time. Luckily for me, I don't think Eric was paying much attention, anyway. Playing along with Eric and Ronald, we moved over to see what Ashlyn was pointing at. "It's Grell and Will!" she exclaimed happily. True enough, over by the food cart, Grell and William sat at the table together. William was feeding Grells something - it almost looked like chocolate ice cream.

"Do you think he confessed?" Eric questioned, peering over the two.

"I have no idea what happened, but by the smiles on their faces, something good had to have happened in that tunnel," Ronald stated, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Knowing what went on in his brain, he was already imagining any, and all possible scenarios.

"Ew, Ronnie, don't. That's gross," Ashlyn commented, play-shoving Ronald into Eric, the two of them laughing it off.

The four of us waited in silence until finally the ride operator called out again. "Next," he announced, gesturing for me and my friends to come on ahead. We stepped ahead and the operator checked our passes before allowing us to take our seats on the ride. Ashlyn sat on one end and Ronald sat right next to her, the white-haired girl nuzzling into her boyfriend's shoulder. Eric sat down next to Ronnie, and that left me with the seat next to Eric. I squeezed myself in between him and the edge of the seat. It was a tight squeeze, but we all were aware that Ronald would insist that all four of us must ride together.

Just as we had put on our seatbelts and latched the door shut, the ride's motor fired up and the Scrambler began to move, twisting in many stomach-churning worthy spins and circles. I squinted my eyes shut, the blurry world going black instantly. It was going quite a bit faster than I had remembered, and I didn't want a repeat of what happened to Ronald earlier. I didn't notice it at the time, but I had been grabbing around with my hand, and somehow I had found something to squeeze. Opening my eyes, I looked down at saw that I was holding hands with Eric.

Embarrassed, I pulled my hand away, glancing down away from Eric. I bit my lip and looked down at my lap, occasionally shooting a glance up at Eric. Soon, the ride had ended, and the four of us exited. Ronald and Ashlyn were hooting and hollering; begging to go on again. I walked behind them shyly, accidentally bumping into Eric. I looked up and him, my face still red from when I accidentally grabbed his hand on the Scrambler. "I-I'm sorry," I muttered an apology, holding onto my arm.

"You're fine," he said, patting my back comfortingly. I peeked up and him, and he had a kind smile on his face. It was a bit more of a smirk, with one end rising up higher than the other, but that was always how he smiled. I liked the way he smiled. The more I thought about it, the more I got lost in my own daydreams. He spoke comforting wods to me, but I didn't bother to listen. I was just glad he was there for me. After a little while, a hand appeared in front of my face, waving me back into reality. "Alan?" Eric asked, "you still there?"

"Huh? Wha- oh, yeah. What did you say?" I asked, cocking my head to the side and running a hand through my hair.

"I said we should go meet up with Grell and Will while Ashlyn and Ronnie go on the Scrambler one more time. It's not very late, but I don't really want a repeat of last night," he explained, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," I said with a nod, beginning to walk towards where Ashlyn had pointed out Grell and William sitting together. As we walked, I felt a spot on warmth around my waist. I peeked down, noticing that Eric had wrapped one of his arms around me. "E-Eric?!" I stuttered, looking up at him.

He looked down to his hand, his face becoming surprised. Apparently, he hadn't realized what he was doing, either. He face went slightly red and he looked away from me. "I just don't want something like what happened in the bathroom to happen again. I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but..." he trailed off.

I looked up at him, with a smile on my face. "It's fine," I replied. I was glad that he was treating me like this, even if it was just for a little while. But deep down, I knew that he would never truly know how much I cared about him.

-Oli