"Come on," Nathan said as he gave my arm another vicious tug.
Digging my foot into the path, I shook my head. "Nathan, this is ridiculous. This is for kids," I protested, repeating myself for the fifth time in a minute.
Ignoring me, he gave my hand another little gentle tug. "Oh, come on, you act like a kid, half the time, so why not?" he argued, his eyes sparkling cheekily. "And besides, I know you want to go on," he coaxed.
I paused and then rolled my eyes. "Okay, maybe I want to go on a little," I admitted defeatedly.
"Perfect," he beamed as he dragged me along to the carousel.
Even though I was perfectly capable of doing so myself, Nathan helped me up onto the platform with a guiding hand on my back. I couldn't help but notice how much more touchy he's been lately. Any opportunity there was to hold my hand, tap me, rest his hand on my back, he'd run for it. It was hard to believe he was the same guy who had yelled at me all those weeks ago for merely touching him.
Once on the disk, I made my way eagerly over to a white plastic horse on the edge before hoisting myself up onto it. The action caused a giddy smile to pull to my face, despite my efforts to try and maintain my cool.
I turned my head to try and figure out where Nathan was, but the action was interrupted by the sensation of someone wrapping their arms around my waist.
"Budge up a little," I heard Nathan mumbled against my ear, the familiar smell of his cologne wafting towards my nose.
My heart jumped in surprise, and I tried to look over my shoulder. "N-Nathan? W-What are you doing?"
He ignored me, and before long, he had hoisted himself on the horse, causing his warm body to nestle up behind me. This time my heart did more than jump, it was having a full-blown heart attack.
Then without a care in the world, he tightened his hold around my waist.
With my heart still hammering away and my mind a mess, I angled my head back to look at Nathan. When I found his face inches away from mine, the panic I felt further intensified. I made strange shapes with my mouth.
"I..er...what..but..I... Why the fuck are you on my horse?" I finally stammered out.
"Oh right," he chuckled. "I thought if we shared one, more people could get on the ride," he explained simply. "You don't mind, right?" he asked, his breath causing goosebumps to brush against my bare neck.
I swallowed nervously. "Erm, well, I guess not," I mumbled with a slight squeak to my tone. I closed my eyes in embarrassment, hating this side of myself Nathan seemed to bring out in me. I sounded and felt like an absolute idiot.
Soon enough, the merry-go-ride started up, and the disk started to spin, while the horse we were on started bobbing up and down in a smooth regular fashion. I smiled like a fool as the wind brushed against my face. It wasn't the most heart-dropping of rides, but it filled my childhood fantasies, so I was happy.
"Satisfied?" Nathan whispered against my ear.
I angled my head his way, and swallowed, finding those gorgeous green eyes of his inches away from me. My eyes drifted over his face, taken in that strong jawline of his and those full gentle lips. I slowly nodded my head.
He smiled, his eyes twinkling joyfully. "Good," he said. I watched as his eyes drifted tentatively over my face, all the while holding a strange kind of distance to them.
The more I stared at him, the more I felt the burning desire to lean in, but before I could let my mind fall further down that rabbit hole of stupidity, the ride started to slow down before drifting to a halt.
"Okay, come on, fun's over, let's go," Nathan said with a reminiscent sigh as he started to unwrap his hands from around my waist.
"Wait!" I said, suddenly as I grabbed his wrist.
Nathan obliged rather quickly with my demand and snaked his arms back around me. "What? Can't bear for me to let you go," he whispered jokingly against my ear.
Yes.
"No, you delusional idiot. Give me your phone," I snapped as I raised my hand out expectantly.
"Why?" he drawled suspiciously.
"Give it to me, and I'll show you."
Nathan tutted. "You know we really should get off the ride before we get in trouble and-"
"Nathan!" I yelled.
"Alright, alright, here's my phone, you nutter," he chuckled as he dropped it into my hand. "Wait, let me do the password," he said as he reached around me for his phone.
He rested his head on my shoulder as he typed it in, making me catch an even stronger scent of him. Why did he always have to smell so godamn good?
To distract myself, I focused on what he was typing. It was difficult to make out since he was typing so fast. It was something that began with S and ended with an 'o', 'd' and an 's.' Once it was unlocked, Nathan dropped it back into my palm. "Here you are," he said.
I quickly clicked on his camera app before lifting the phone in line with our faces. Immediately, it reflected back a picture of myself with Nathan's face tucked over my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Nathan questioned as he stared back at the camera in confusion.
"Taking a cute picture, now smile!" I demanded.
Nathan rolled his eyes but humored me by snuggling up closer to me and beaming back at the camera. His smile was contagious, and I soon had one to match his, and I snapped picture after picture. Nathan, then surprised me by suddenly moving his head and pressing his lips into the crook of my neck when I was mid-way through taking a picture.
"Nathan!" I shrieked.
"Relax, I need a good photo to wave around in Noah's face," he said with the roll of his eyes.
"Oh," I said stupidly, my heart dropping slightly with what I feared was disappointment.
Nathan hopped off the horse, and I quickly followed after him. As I looked towards the queue line, I winced as I saw how pissed the merry-go-round operator looked.
Oops.
As we walked away, I kept my head down as I got to work on his phone. Hoping to piss him off, I had changed his lock screen to the picture of us smiling.
"Your phone looks a lot better now," I stated matter of factly as I slid his phone back into his pocket.
Nathan narrowed his eyes in suspicion before swiftly pulling out his phone.
As soon as he took in the screen, he chuckled, and his eyes flickered over the picture with an amused little smile.
"I don't think you can get any more self-centered than uploading yourself as someone's background picture?" he snorted.
"Hey, it's a picture of us, not just me. And besides, I know how much you love me," I teased with a playful smile.
"Hmm, sure, I do," he commented flatly.
"Deny it all you want, Natalie, but you and I both know I'm your best friend," I sang boastfully.
Nathan shook his head with a smile on his face. "You're certainly something alright," he muttered lowly.
As we walked, a little tent in the corner caught my eye with a signpost outside labeled 'fortune-telling.' I tugged Nathan's arms in excitement. "Come on, that's where we're going next," I announced bossily as I took his hand and tugged him over to the area.
"I can't believe you're into this fortune-telling shit," Nathan groaned as we walked through the threshold of the tent. "You know, they are feeding you lies to get your money," he piped in annoyingly. I rolled my eyes, feeling too lazy to argue.
As we walked deeper into the tent, we saw an elderly-looking lady kneeling on a cushion with a bright-colored scarf wrapped all around her head. She looked as though she was meditating as her eyes were closed and her fingers held out in a poised position.
Nathan nudged me. "Er...maybe we should go; she seems a little... preoccupied," he whispered.
Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes and smiled. "Oh, you wouldn't want to leave before I could feed you lies, would you?" she chuckled smoothly with her eyes firmly fixed on Nathan.
My eyes widened in embarrassment, realizing she must have heard Nathan's earlier bitching. I slapped his shoulder scoldingly. "Look what you've done, you idiot. She totally heard you," I hissed under my breath.
"Hey, don't slap me," Nathan grumbled as he soothingly rubbed up and down his arm.
"Don't worry, dear, not everyone is blessed with an open heart. Anyway, sit, sit," she said as she gently patted the rather dusty-looking cushions across from her.
Nathan looked as though he was about to pass out from the effort of restraining himself from rolling his eyes. Annoyed that he was embarrassing me again, I gave him a vicious shove in the direction of the cushions while quietly hissing at him to sit.
Nathan reluctantly complied, and we both settled cross-legged on the two cushions. However, I didn't miss Nathan's sly comment about how this tent needed a dust extraction.
Luckily, she didn't seem offended at Nathan's rude behavior and merely smiled. "Which of you has come here to get their truth heard?"
"Both of us," I said quickly.
Nathan whipped his head towards me, not looking all too pleased at my proclamation. "No, way, I'm not doing this weird spiritual s-"
I shot him a warning look, daring him to finish. You know, the kind of glare that clearly communicated, 'I swear to god, if you embarrass me one more time, I'm going to rip your ball sack right off your body and tie it around your neck.'
Just casual threats, nothing serious.
Nathan rolled his eyes in defeat. "Fine, whatever, I'll do it," he grumbled.
"Excellent," the lady smiled. "I shall do you first, dear. If you wouldn't mind giving me your hand," she said as she turned to me.
"Of course," I said as I eagerly presented her with my hand palm up.
She cupped my hand gently, and then closed her eyes while rubbing small little circles around the heel of my palm. Nathan quirked up an eyebrow as she did this, and mouthed 'what the fuck at me.' I stifled the urge to laugh and tried to maintain seriousness.
Slowly the woman opened her eyes. "Yes, I've got an incredibly strong reading for you," the woman said after a few seconds.
"Really, let's hear it," I said, an excited smile spreading over my face.
She cleared her throat. "You're what I call an eagle case-"
Nathan snorted on the word eagle and poorly tried to cover it up with a cough.
I gave Nathan a dirty look "Sorry, ignore him, please continue," I said, turning back to the lady with an apologetic smile.
"Don't worry, some of us have more juvenile souls," she said sassily as she subtly looked Nathan up and down. I openly laughed at her clear jab towards Nathan while he rolled his eyes from beside me.
"Anyway, as I was saying, an eagle case is what I call someone who's been a strong and fearless warrior on the surface but is suffering deep within. I can see much turmoil in you and confusion. And my advice to you is to do what you fear most. You're working with a strong force, my dear. It will fight, and it will win," she said, her hands gripping mine firmly.
All I could do was stare, feeling at a complete loss for words. Something about her words was eerily unsettling. I managed to force a smile. "Thank you," I said as I returned my hands to my lap.
"It's your turn next," I whispered as I spared Nathan a glance.
He looked a little shaken from what the lady had said too, but he managed to maintain composure long enough to lower his palm into her hand.
The lady repeated the same gripping motion with her eyes closed as she did for me, and then in no time at all, she opened her eyes.
"You've got a very strong message," she chuckled, her eyes almost smiling at Nathan as she spoke. I could tell from the flickering motion of Nathan's eyes that he was nervous, but he shrugged it off as though it was nothing.
His mouth pricked up into a smirk. "Let me guess, a tall, dark man is going to sweep me off my feet?" he joked.
"Ah, Nathan, always hiding behind your sarcastic jokes," she smiled. Nathan's smile fell off his face, and as did mine.
We hadn't told her our names.....
Stiffened completely now, Nathan watched her cautiously.
"What I saw from you, Nathan was suffering and a lot of it. Life has been cruel to you, so you're angry, hurt, and above all scared. And right now; you're especially scared because something is challenging your ability to push people away like you want to. Something is gripping at your heart, so painfully tight that you feel like you can't even breathe," she said, her eyes piercing into his.
Nathan looked as though he'd seen a ghost, and swallowed thickly. "My advice to you, Nathan, is that this thing that's burst into your life is a gift, not a curse. Trust that it is real, and it will set you free."
The whole room went silent as she finished, and the only sound in the tent was the rhythmical tick of Nathan's watch. Nathan was the first to snap out of it, and his eyes became guarded once more. Pulling out his wallet, he sifted through it with a sigh.
"How much do we owe you?" he asked bluntly.
The woman paused, then smiled before softly shaking her head. "I don't charge," she said softly.
Nathan looked up at her slowly, then narrowed his eyes. "No charge?" he repeated in confusion.
She nodded.
Nathan scoffed and fished a tenner out of his wallet. "Here, take it," he said as he held it out for her.
"I'm not running a business," she repeated, not moving an inch.
He shot her a weird look. "Well, okay then...," Nathan said as he slowly put it back in his wallet. "Come on, Sophie, let's er... go," he mumbled as he took my elbow and pulled me up to my feet. Both of us walked out of the tent in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.
"Well, that was weird," I snorted when we were a couple of meters away from the tent. Nathan chuckled, but the amusement didn't quite seem to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess it was...," he said softly.
As my mind wandered off in thought, I was slowly brought back to the strange, ambiguous words of the fortune-teller. The last of her words still sticking out the most to me - It will fight, and it will win.
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Author's note:
Hope you enjoyed chapter forty-three!
What do you reckon Nathan's password is?
Next Update: Friday (6-8 PM - UK time)