Wrong (A Shalnark x Reader)

[Chapter 4-Ferris Wheel]

As we all slowly eat our food, it gets darker and dark out. Once the sun is almost completely set, we get up and decide to head over to the large swing ride.

The line is extremely short and after the ride stops, we can get right on. There are two seats in each row. I get on the one on the outside, Car sits beside me on the inside. Shal gets in behind me, beside him is Fei. And finally, behind Shal is Macie, and beside her Sam.

The ride starts off slow but speeds up after about ten seconds. After about 20 seconds, it starts to rise into the air.

After about thirty seconds, it's at full speed.  It's not the fastest thing ever but it's fast enough to give you butterflies.  I hear a shriek and look over to see Car, giggling, and swinging her feet back and forth.  She reaches her hand out for me.  I try to reach over and grab it but my swing starts to tip, so I quickly lean back.  We both giggle at this. 

I look behind me and see Shal smiling right at me.  I grin back, and his face gets dark, but only for a second before reverting to his normal self.

He's been doing this for a while now, just getting a look of sadness over him, but only for half a second.  In fact, I'm sure I'm probably the only one who's noticed it.  It's strange, and it worries me, but I've never really gotten the chance to talk to him about it since he started his job again. 

I try to push this to the back of my mind and enjoy the carnival.

~~~

"Great, you dumbasses, we're lost,"  Fei says softly.  

Sam,  him, and I look around frantically, trying to see over the corn and find our friends.  "I was just listening to [Y/N],"  Sam says with a  smile on her face.  

We had split up into two groups; Shal, Car, and Macie, and Me, Sam, and Fei.  I couldn't help but notice Macie get a little anxious when she saw Shal was going to be in her group.  I made another mental note to see what's up with her, too. 

God, so much to remember.  

"Fuck it,"  I say, laughing.  Sam and Fei look at me, confused.  "SHAAALNAAARK!!"  I holler.  Feitan's eyes bulge out at me and Sam starts laughing hysterically.  I feel something gently wack me in the head and see Feitan put his arm down.  I giggle a bit.  "Hey, what was that for!"

He looks like he's about to say something, then closes his mouth, then opens it again.  "That was stupid."  He says quietly, looking away.   "Too loud."

Suddenly, I hear a response.  "[YYYY/NNN]!"  It's Shal's voice.  Now, even Feitan smirks a little, and I plow through one of the walls of corn, then turn a few corners, hearing Sam and Fei hurriedly running after me.  "Moron."  I hear Fei mutter to Sam, though he says it in a playful way.  

Finally, I find Shalnark.  Well, actually, I sort of run into him.  Like, literally.  My face hits his chest and I fall back on my ass.  He, looking a little surprised, looks down at me.  His face of confusion turns into one of joy.  

He reaches down and grabs my hands, yanking me up, as Sam and Feitan arrive.  "Carlina and Macie are this way, I may have wandered off a bit to find you,"  Shalnark says.  

After a few turns and maybe a moment of getting lost, we find Macie and Car.  Macie looks like her shy self as usual, but Car looks a little out of it.  'What's up with everyone?'  I think to myself as we make our way back to the carnival.

~~~

"Wow!  Look how pretty all of the rides look!"  Shalnark says, pointing at the Ferris wheel.  "Wanna go on it?"  I ask.  His face lights up.  "Hell yeah!"   

He grabs my wrist and yanks me towards the large glowing machine.  We get in the line, which is pretty long.  "Ughhhh..." I groan, but he just laughs it off and stands there and fidgets excitedly.  Despite the long line, seeing how happy he always is helps cheer me up.  I scroll through my phone aimlessly as the line progresses, getting shorter and shorter as time goes on.  We wait for about fifteen minutes before we can finally get on.  

As we step into the little car, I hear Shalnark murmur something under his breath.  "Blue!" He says quietly, I'm assuming to himself.  "I love blue."  

Adorable.  

The tired-looking worker pushes the bar down on us and tells us a few simple rules.  "No eating or drinking, no swinging the cart, and no climbing."  He says in a bored tone.  

The ride slowly goes up as the people from the last round are let off and new pairs are let on.  I look around happily, finally excited now that I'm on the actual wheel.  As I look around, the ride finally sits us at the top while a new group gets on.  

"Woah, this is so cool!"  Shal says.  He starts to swing his feet.  "Hey,"  I say, staring him down.  He smiles nervously.  "Sorry."  I'm not (that) scared of heights, but rules are rules.

We look around at the world below us.  Up here everything feels so small.  It's almost entrancing.  Even in this happy setting, however, Shal still looks a little out of it.  

"Hey, you've been acting really strange lately, what's up?"  I ask, finally getting the courage to say it.  Confrontation is tough with me but I know it's for Shal's wellbeing.  

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, [Y/N], I'm just fine!"  He says with a smile.  I can see right through it but I decide not to push it.  "Alright.  But I hope you know I'm always here for you."  I say.  He nods vigorously and points down at the ground again. 

Finally, the ride starts moving again, and it's surprisingly fast.  We giggle and squirm around in our seats.  At some point, I subconsciously grip Shal's hand on accident, but he doesn't pull away and neither do I.  

~~~

"That was awesome!"  I say.  "Fuck yeah it was!"  Shalnark says as we skip around to try and find the others.  "Where do you think they're off to?"

"Beats me,"  I say, yawning.  "Do you wanna stay at my place tonight?"  "Sure!"  

At this point, my room is like Shal's room when he stays over.  He has a full drawer full of his clothes and an account on my Netflix.  We spend the majority of our time together (when he isn't at work).  I'm pretty sure my dad considers him his son or something.

"I'll just text them that we left.  Fei can find his way back right?"  Shalnark nods in response.  "Oh, and are you sure you didn't wanna do anything else?"  He shakes his head. 

We make sure we have everything and make our way towards the exit.  Just as I'm about to text her, Car walks over to me.  "Hey, [Y/N], there you are!  You guys leaving?"  She asks.  "Yeah, it's getting pretty late and [Y/N] is tired,"  Shal says.  I nod.  

"Before you go, do you think you could go to the bathroom with me?   I was gonna go on my own but it's a little creepy."  She says.  I look over at the row of porta-potties.  They were kind of isolated from the rest of the place and there weren't many lights.  "Yeah, sure.  Stay right here.  Or go do something, I don't care."  I say to Shalnark.  He smiles and waves as Carlina and I  make our way to the bathroom.

"Okay, now that we're by ourselves, listen," Car says after we get some distance between us and Shal, keeping a normal facade as we walk to the bathrooms.  "I know you're not gonna like what I'm about to tell you."  She says.  When we get to the bathrooms, she checks all of them to make sure nobody is around.  She heads inside but I can tell she's just standing there.  

"I don't think you should trust those guys."