~~~~~
Oh, fuck's sake.
Halloween is supposed to be fun, isn't it? It's supposed to be fun, and so is the Fall Fair that comes along with it.
Yet here I am, stuck in a bloody corn maze at said Fair with no idea where my friends are or how I'm going to get out.
I pull my phone out of my pocket, squinting at the dim screen before raising the brightness. Please tell me there's signal in the middle of this corn field? Maybe a cell tower is hidden between one of these stalks that I'm too bloody short to look above.
Glancing at the cell service symbol, I'm left cursing everything I know when instead of seeing bars, I see a blank triangle with the notification reading 'No cell service found!'.
I sigh, before getting another idea. I stand up straight, standing still and not moving any of the stalks around me. Maybe someone else is stuck here too.
I stand for a good three minutes before I think of giving up. I'm gonna die in here. Trying to suppress the panic, I stand on my toes, struggling to see where I was. And that's when I hear it.
Snap.
The sound of the twig breaking somewhere to my left makes my eyes widen. Oh my dear god, I'm gonna die in here.
I take a deep breath. "Is anyone there?" I call out.
Silence, before I hear a loud "Yes! Fuck, where are you?"
"I...I don't know, where are you?" I stammer at the British accent.
A pause. "Um...can you see the tree?" The boy asks.
"I can't see shit."
"Fair enough. Keep talking, and I'll try and find you."
"What do I say?"
"I dunno, sing the alphabet or something." He responds, sounding more amused than irritated.
"Fine. Um..." I honestly could not believe the situation I was stuck in. "A, b, c, d, e, g, h, i, j, k--ow!" I trail off sharply as I feel someone collide into my back.
Spinning around, it takes me a second to come to terms with the fact that there was a tall boy with really long legs sitting on the ground with his brown eyes squinting up at me. "Alphabet girl?" He asks after a moment's pause.
"British boy," I say with a sigh of relief. I extend an arm, helping him up. "How long have you been out here?"
"In the maze? An hour. Lost? Like, 40 minutes." He says, brushing off his knees. "Are you getting any service out here?"
I shake my head. "No, been in here for twenty minutes."
"Neither am I." A silence that borders on awkward settles between us before I speak up again.
"How on earth are we gonna get ourselves out of here?"
He pauses for a moment. "Get on my back."
"What? I don't even know you--"
He sighs, sticking out his hand. "I'm Thomas Sangster. Nice to meet you."
I open my mouth to say something, but close it when words don't come out. I shake his hand. "Y/n Y/l/n," I say after a moment.
"Now will you get on my back?"
"Why?" I ask, exasperated.
"Because," he says, "neither of us can see over the corn stalks."
"But you're like, 7 feet tall!"
"And my 7 foot tall ass can't see anything." He responds without missing a beat.
Silence falls over us again.
"For the love-- fine," I say. "Turn around."
"Thank you." He says, turning and bending down.
"Don't sass me, I'm your eyes right now." I mumble, climbing onto his back. I hear him chuckle lightly.
He grabs onto the underside of my legs. "Do you need me to move my hands or are you okay?"
"Fine," I say, heat rising onto my cheeks.
He stands up straight. "I can practically hear you blush."
I slap his back lightly. "Shut up!" Looking around, I nudge my knee into his side to make him turn the other way. Oh, man. "We are so far from the main entrance, god."
He sets me down gently. "How far?"
"Um..." I think for a moment. "2 and a half kilometres?"
He sighs. "I swear to god, I'll kill Dylan for this."
"Dylan?" I ask, curious.
"Dylan O'Brien, aka the tosser who bet me $50 that I could get to the end and out within an hour."
"You gonna end up paying him?" I ask, beginning to walk alongside him.
"Pfft," he says, and I laugh. "I'm going to make him pay me."
I don't see it, but I feel him reach back slightly and link our fingers loosely. He glances down at me. "I just found you, not losing you."
A beat passes, before I suppress a grin, interlocking our fingers. "I can practically hear you blush."
He glances down at me again. "Stop it," he says with a laugh, shaking his head and pulling me closer, keeping our fingers laced as he brings our joined hands over my shoulder.
"You don't have a boyfriend, do you?" He asks after a moment.
"No, why?"
"I don't need someone who's gonna beat me up if I go out there and ask you out."
I pause for a moment, before letting out a breathy laugh. "I'd say yes, even if I did have one."
"Really?" he asks, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Your accent is what's making me a goner."
He laughs again, a hearty laugh that makes the tips of my ears warm.
"Did you come here with anyone?" He asks after his laughter subsides.
"Yeah, two of my friends. They left me in here," I say sheepishly. "So actually, maybe not."
"Good, because I was just about to invite you to hang out with me and the tosser."
"I'd love to."
****
Twenty minutes pass before we see signs of human civilization. We had shifted positions, arms loosely around each other's waists as we walked.
"Okay, question number...43, is it?" He asks, as I nod. We had begun to play twenty questions, but eventually just changed it to 'Questions' because we surpassed the 20 mark ten minutes in. "Can I kiss you?"
I almost didn't hear him. "What?" I ask after forcing words to come out of my mouth.
"I mean, if you don't want to --"
"No, no," I say, shaking my head. "You just caught me off guard, no big deal."
Silence.
"That's a yeah, by the way."
He looks down at me, stopping. "Really?"
"Um..yeah," I say, rubbing the back of my neck as I feel the blush creep up my cheeks once again.
He once again catches me by surprise when he leans down and presses his lips to mine without warning. I freeze up, and he pulls away. "Was that too fast--"
I reach up, arms tangling around his neck as I kiss him, his hands finding my hips as he kisses me back. We stand like that for a few minutes, silence around us save for the sounds of our own lips meeting.
Suddenly, a bright light lands on our faces, pushing us apart. "The fair closed a half hour ago!" The man wielding the flashlight yells. "You kids aren't supposed to be here, get out of here before I call the cops!"
Thomas tugs at my hand, pulling me into a walk. "Sorry, sir, we got lost."
"Sure you did. Heard that excuse twice already. Get out of the field, and go home!" He all but spits.
I roll my eyes, walking with him to his car before I remember one vital part to tonight's events - my friend gave me a ride here.
And I didn't have a ride home.
Thomas looks around the empty parking lot. "You need a ride?"
"Yeah," I say sheepishly. "You offering?"
"Only if I get to take you to dinner, too."
"I'm taking up that offer," I say with a laugh, kissing his cheek before stepping into the car.
~~~