Loving Carter

6

He ignored them again, but this time Carter turned her back around to face them.

"Hi!" Her soft voice spoke. "Sorry about my friend, he got a little lost and I saved his spot in line. Is that okay?" She spoke softly, pouting her lips slightly at the end.

The guy seemed mesmerized by her. "Of course, don't worry about it, sweetheart." Oh so now his voice was kind?

Carter basically just hypnotized those guys. He hoped he didn't look like that when she gave him her puppy dog eyes.

She smiled brightly at them, "Thank you!" She grabbed Eli's arm pulling him right up next to her so they faced the front of the line again. He stumbled.

"I'm not your friend." He grumbled, shaking her arm off.

She rolled her eyes, "Anyways, you were saying?" She prompted.

"You left your bag on the bench," Eli replied, finishing his previous thought.

Her face paled. "Oh. Did you... did you get it for me?" She eyed his body, seeing it nowhere.

"No. It might still be there, you should go check."

He waited for a beat, watching her almost panic.

"I'm just kidding. Here." He retrieved it from the shoulder she couldn't see, handing it to her. She took it quickly, throwing it on. She didn't even check if anything was missing. She was too trusting.

"You're mean." She scowled, for a millisecond before her smile was back. "I'm so excited to go on the Ferris wheel. Do you wanna come up with me?"

"No. I'm leaving."

"What? Why?"  She questioned.

"I don't like Ferris wheels."

"No one doesn't like Ferris wheels."

"Well, I don't."

They had reached the front of the line. He saw Della, Porter and Raina get in a cart, and get going. This meant Carter and him were alone now.

He stepped out of the line, leaving her there.

"Eli! Who am I gonna go on with if you leave?" She spoke, frowning slightly. He stepped back further, turning to leave.

The operator waited for them to decide the next riders, impatiently.

"That's alright, sweetheart. We'll go on with you." One of the guys from before walked up to Carter, putting his arm on her shoulders. His friend was on the other side of her as they ushered her into the cart.

Elijah wasn't sure how it happened, his legs must've moved on their own, because next thing he knew, he was back in line, knocking both guys away from Carter, and pulling her into the cart with him.

She giggled as his hands pushed her roughly into the seat across from the one he dropped down in. The operator closed the cart behind them, and the ride started once again.

They sat there in silence, Carter staring over the edge in wonder at the outside. Elijah silently staring at her annoying blue converse.

When the cart was approaching the top, Eli became painfully aware of why he hated Ferris wheels. 

 He gripped the bottom of the seat, hard, keeping his head down, eyes on her shoes as he felt his stomach drop at the mere thought of being this high in the air. His nails were probably bending back from how tightly he was holding on to the seat.

They were now at the top, and the cart stopped there for a moment as Ferris wheels did. Eli ducked his head down and bit his lip. He tried to distract himself with other thoughts.

"You're scared of heights." A soft voice observed. He quirked his head up to find Carter already staring at him curiously.

There was really no point trying to hide it. He nodded, uncomfortably. He knew she was going to start making fun of him for it; people usually did.

He saw her shoes disappear from his line of sight as she slid over to his side of the cart.

Carter sat right next to him, her arm pushed against his. He looked up to find her giving him a weird look. Her eyes were a sparkling pool of green, her eyebrows scrunched in the middle, and her pink lips pursed slightly.

He frowned at the way her face made him feel.

"It's okay." She whispered, giving him a smile. "I'm scared of things too."

He saw her hand move, and then she placed it on top of his, in a reassuring touch. Her palm was soft and warm; exactly how he imagined it to be. 

She gently traced her index finger across the top of his hand. The green nail polish on it was chipped at the top. "You can hold my hand if you want to."

Eli hesitated before he turned his hand over so that Carter's palm laid in his. 

She gently looped her fingers through his, eyes on his as she did. He glanced down at her holding his hand. Her hand was small as his was big and warm as his was cool. He was surprised that he didn't hate her touch like he hated everyone else's. He actually liked it.

As their fingers were loosely intertwined, he noticed Carter was sitting close enough that their legs were almost touching. But she looked away from his face, looking outside the cart again.

Her hand in his kept him grounded. He was no longer 200 feet in the air. He was just holding hands with Carter.

*****

Eli stepped off the Ferris wheel the minute they had finally reached solid ground. He walked ahead of Carter as they rejoined the group.

He waited for her to say something about what just happened on the ride. She did not.

His hand also felt cold.

*****

Carters POV

When Carter got home after the carnival she immediately got in her pyjamas. She didn't like wearing outside clothes at home.

She laid in her bed, pulling her backpack up from the floor to take out her things.

As she unzipped the main pocket, she paused when she saw something in her bag that wasn't there before.

She frowned before she pulled out.

It was the teddy bear that she had wanted.

a/n hi! hope u enjoyed it. 

vote if u did :)

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