Castle and Beckett are in high school and they are in their last years of school and Kate doesn't want to leave feeling like she didn't make the most of it so she asks Castle if he would like to go the carnival with her and he says yes. While they are having the time of their lives a sneaky ex comes in to try and win an old lover back.
•••
Got so close to love
I can almost taste the kill
Barely close enough
But I could not make the deal
Got so close to love
I can almost taste the kill
Barely close enough
But I just can't close the deal
Girls Aloud - Close To Love
•••
Carnival. Games and rides, junk food and prizes. The carnival was happening in Central Park and it was going to be huge. Kate was a senior getting ready to go off into the world and it was probably one of the last carnivals she would have time to go to.
It was the last night of the carnival and the only one Kate wanted to go too. She had no one to go with, because Lanie was busy with Javi, and Maddie was out partying somewhere, but that wasn't going to stop her from texting Rick. They were good friends, and hanging out with him always made her feel warm inside which is the exact reason she didn't want him to come. She knew that she was going to be blurting random things and rambling on when a simple one word answer would suffice. And she knew why. She was falling for him. She had texted him ten minutes ago and had gotten no reply.
The carnival opened at 11:30, but she was going to head over around 4:30, so she texted Rick at 3:15, wanting an answer sooner rather than later. She sat on her bed with her phone in her hands staring at the blank screen. Great, she though, not even Rick wants to hang out with me. Things had gotten rough after her mother died. After all, she was only 19. She had just graduated high school, and her mother had just passed. Her and her dad, especially her dad, took the death hard. She had gotten behind in school and just wanted a break. So she figured a distraction with funnel cake could help.
A few moments later her phone lit up with a text from Rick. She smiled and quickly opened it reading his text message:
I'd love nothing more than to accompany thee gorgeous Katherine Beckett to the carnival tonight ;) just tell me the time and I'll be there to pick you up.
Her smile widened, cheeky, she thought. She quickly texted back the time he was supposed to pick her up and bolted up to clean up her house and get herself ready. She was excited and nervous, she wanted him deep down to feel the same way she did, because she wanted to be with him, even if she didn't fully know it yet.
Sure enough at 4:15 Rick was ringing her doorbell. She quickly adjusted herself in the mirror and hurried to the door and opened it. They both had glowing smiles in their face.
"Hey." Rick said.
"Hey." She said back and they hugged. They always hugged. It was a normal thing for them to do and it never felt awkward, expect for now, Kate wanted it to mean something more than just a greeting and a sending off gesture.
"You ready?"
"Heck yes, overpriced games, crappy food, and unsafe rides, it's what what I live for." She smiled grabbing her coat.
"Well I'm glad." He gestured for her to exit and then closed the door and left room for her to lock it.
The two of them headed to his car and he opened the door for her, and hurried back around to the drivers side.
They reached the carnival within half an hour, which was good for a Sunday evening. It was 5:04 when they walked in the oranges and yellows were faint in the sky, but were definitely rolling in.
"What do you want to do first?" He asked.
"Whatever you want to do, I'm the one who dragged you here in the first place." She smiled.
"But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable if I want to do something that you don't want to." He gently nudged her as they joined the crowds of people, causing a faint blush to rise in her cheeks.
"I would be honest."
"So would I." His smile grew bigger.
"Then let's go on-" Kate began but was cut off by a voice in the distance.
"Kate!" It called. But she knew that voice all to well. The voice of an asshole.
She and Rick turned around to see the group of guys walking up to them.
"Hi..." she smiled awkwardly. Castle could sense it but she held on strong.
"Hey babe." He smiled and leant in for a hug. Kate didn't want to be rude to him, so she met his hug.
"Hi Josh..." she said once more.
"You look really good." He said putting his arm around her, causing Rick to take a small step away. He was obviously trying to impress his five other friends, one of them being Tom Demming, surprisingly not an asshole, just a misguided senior, stuck in the wrong friend group.
"Thanks." She quickly replied.
"Sooo," he droned placing his lips up against her ear but still talking loud enough for his friends, and Rick to hear, "if I bought some tickets later, would you want to go on a ride with me?" He said smirking expecting an almost immediate answer.
"Um...why?" Kate struggled out.
"Because I want to catch up with you." He said with his confidence wavering.
"Why?"
"Because I miss you."
"Umm..."
"Don't be afraid, just a yes or a no. Come on..."
"No." Kate blurted and although she never expected to be saying that, she was proud she did because she wanted nothing to do with him. She pulled away from him and walked away with Rick leaving Josh and his friends behind.
She felt good that she was making him look 'bad' in front of his friends because she never would've expected to voice what she actually wanted. She would've thought she would've given in to the peer pressure and said yes, because his friends were around. She didn't care though, because she had said no. And now she had Rick. And that was all she needed.
After they were safe from sight, Rick spoke,
"I'm proud of you." He said.
"Why?" She questioned looking up st him.
"Because you said no."
"Well I had to do something."
"I guess I just expected you to say yes."
"Oh, come on, I'm not that much of a push-over." She joked.
"That I will admit."
There was a moment of silence between them as they walked before she stroke up the conversation again.
"I just don't get why he still wants me." She huffed.
"Because he can't have you." Rick replied.
"Huh?"
"He can't have you, it's like your playing hard to get, and he wants you because he knows he can't have you."
"But I'm not playing hard to get, I'm playing get away from me."
"Yeah, well, he doesn't know that."
"Then he should use his raisin size of a brain and figure it out."
The two laughed and went on a few rides with tickets that Rick had bought for the both of them. He was being extra sweet to her today. Maybe he liked her the way she liked him. It was 7:30 when they're next round of tickets ran out and they decided to take a few minutes to themselves.
"Do you wanna play some games?" He asked as the headed away from the rides and towards the games and food.
"I'm kinda hungry." She admitted.
"Me too," he agreed, "want a funnel cake?"
"You read my mind." They both chuckled and then made there way over to the funnel cake stand. Rick was walking a little more ahead than Kate so when she got pulled away he didn't notice.
Kate yipped as the hand pulled her back. She turned around and saw Josh and his friends, and once again she became flustered.
"Hey." He said smirking.
"What do you want." She huffed.
"For you, to go on a ride...with me."
"Why?" She persisted, knowing he hated that word.
"Because I want to talk, and catch up."
"Yeah, I know-."
"Because I miss you."
"But I-"
"Just one ride," he interrupted her, "one, that's all I ask for."
Kate glanced behind her at Castle and saw that he was looking around for her. She wanted to go back to him but she saw the worker ask him for an order. She figured that while he waited, she would go on a quick ride with him.
"What ride?"
"The ferries wheel."
"Umm..."
"Please."
"Fine, but I want to hurry."
"Got it."
Kate began walking over to the ferries wheel with Josh on her tail. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side, and as much as Kate wanted to push him away, she didn't. She would ignore it because she just wanted the ride to be over with.
She could tell Josh was ecstatic, and she hated it. She didn't want him to think that he had won her over, because he hadn't. It almost the exact opposite.
Josh didn't lie about the tickets though he took out ten and handed them over to the operator of the ferries wheel. Josh opened the door and they both got in. There was enough room for each of them to have one side to themselves but Josh purposely chose to squish in next to Kate.
She already wanted the ride to be over as it slowly started its first descend up the wheel. She was being very quiet and looking out at the view instead of Josh who was trying to get her attention.
"Kate?" He asked.
"Huh?" She turned to face him and noticed that he was rather close. She tried to scoot back but there was no room.
"Why don't you want to be with me?" He blurted, not realizing what he had just said, but obviously wanting an answer.
"Because you cheated on me." She replied bluntly.
"But that was months ago."
"It doesn't matter, it still happened." She replied in a firm tone of voice.
"But I've changed." He tried.
"No you haven't."
"How would you know?"
"Because you're doing the exact same routine you did when you wanted me to go out with you when we first met."
"So, it just means I get girls the same way, it doesn't mean I'm the same guy who broke your heart."
"But you are." She frowned.
"I know you still want me."
"I-I-"
"Kate."
"Josh, I-"
"No, please." He begged his voice desperate.
She felt bad for him and hated seeing someone hurting knowing that it was because of her. She liked Rick though, but he probably didn't like her back. She thought for a moments but didn't say anything.
"I-I don't know." She whispered.
"Please." He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes.
"I-"
"Please."
He didn't give Kate a chance to retort before he placed his lips gently onto hers. It felt good, And it made Kate remember why she had loved him, but it also brought back the memories of his lips being on someone else when he was still in a relationship with her. It hurt and as much as she missed him, so, so much, she couldn't get past the fact the he had broke her heart, and that now he was expecting to win her back.
She pushed him away and switched to the other side of the seat, but he just followed her.
"Kate."
"No." She pleaded standing up.
"Kate, please."
"No. Stop! Stop the ride!" She yelled peering off, getting emotional. She didn't care what people thought for , her emotions were taking her on. She didn't want to be in the same ride, same place, same carnival as Josh. She felt a tear run down her cheek as she yelled again, "Hey! Stop! Help! Stop the ride!" She knew she didn't need to say help, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how embarrassed Josh would be.
When their cart got to the bottom, and her door was opened, Kate burst through and down the steps and pushed through Josh's friends and look behind her to see Josh stepping out with his head down, but when she turned back she slammed into a body and fell to the ground, feeling some kind of powder all over her face and chest. It was Rick.
"I got the funnel cake..." he said holding back his laugh, and immediately gave her his hands and pulled her up. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, because if she had, she probably would've felt them burn from the powdered sugar.
"I'm so sorry-what's wrong-" before he could ask anything else, he felt her arms wrap around him, squeezing him tightly. He didn't want to push so he just hugged her back, letting the funnel cake drop to the grass.
Meanwhile back with Josh and his friends Tom spoke, "she wants him."
He earned a slap on the back of the head.
"Don't you think I don't know that?" Josh said aggravated.
"Then you should leave her alone."
"Shut up."
Back with Kate and Rick, she had finally pulled away and began wiping the powdered sugar from her face.
"It's a good thing I didn't get any whipped cream on it then." He joked earning a little giggle from her, "that's better." he said when he could see her hazel eyes.
She sniffled a little and then sneezed and powdered sugar came out of her nose. They both laughed and then he handed her a napkin and she blew her nose. Once all powdered sugar was surely gone he began to speak again.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" He gave her a warm smile, and she shook her head 'no.'
"Well could you at least tell me where you went? I was starting to get worried." He continued.
"I went on a ride with Josh. The ferries wheel." She replied bluntly.
"Did he try something? Did he hurt you? I swear-"
"Castle." She pleaded.
"Well are you ok now? Or do you want some alone time? I can take you home if you want." He said kindly.
"No, I don't want to go home...I'm fine."
"Are you sure-"
"Yes." She replied harshly quick.
"Ok, ok."
"I'm sorry."
"It's totally fine. You wanna play some games?"
"I'd love too. You'd know what I'd also love?"
"What?"
"Another funnel cake."
"Ok, but you have to pay for this one."
"Deal."
As the night rolled on, and 10:00 o'clock was approaching, Rick was throwing the last of his many balls, trying to make them into a glass fish bowl. And he did. On his second yo last one. He shouted and jumped up and down like a little boy, and Kate swore she could feel her heart explode. Rick had won a fish. He picked a black and orange one, and and even bought a little bowl for it. Once he had it he handed it to Kate and thanked the booth operators.
"You want me to hold it while you tie your shoe?" She asked.
"No, I want you to have it."
"No."
"Yes."
"Rick-"
"No, no, no, this is your way to remember the night. The good times we had, and forget the bad ones, flush them down the toilet."
"He's gonna die within the fortnight."
"You don't know that."
"Thank you though, im gonna name him Speckles."
"That's cute."
"Yeah."
The pair walked out of the carnival and into the parking lot, where Kate let her head rest on Rick's shoulder holding the fish in her right hand. Castle slipped his hand into hers and then opened her door for her as they reached the car.
When he reached her house he walked her up the steps.
"Thank you for coming with me Rick." She said and smiled looking down at her feet.
"Always." He replied matching her smile. They stared intently into each other's eyes and Rick leaned in only to stop and advert from her lips, to place a gentle kiss on her cheek before turning and walking away.
As much as Kate wanted him to kiss her, she was thankful he didn't because she was still a little emotional over the ordeal with Josh, and a kiss on the lips would only make things worse.
If she hadn't gone on that ride then she'd definitely want more than a kiss from him tonight. But for now, and in that moment she was thankful for him being in her life, and couldn't have asked for a better night.