Leah
Mom, Dad and I, the three of us would come to such beach carnivals on the weekends, with mom and dad holding my either hands. Dad would always ask me, as soon as we entered the carnival, what do I wanted to do first, go on the Ferris wheel or the bumper cars. Even though my answer was always the same, Ferris wheel first and then the bumper cars, he'd still always ask me. And that somehow used to make me feel as if I have that authority to make decisions on my own. Dad always wanted me to be independent and capable of taking my own decisions since my childhood.
Going on rides after rides, laughing and screaming till our insides began to hurt, gobbling down food, taking silly pictures at the photo booths, basically having fun with my parents was how I remembered spending time at the carnivals. Those were the happy times that I would always look forward to, spending time with mom and dad. Even though now we don't come down to these carnivals, but there were still some moments spent with them that made me elated.
Now standing in the queue for the Ferris wheel, I was terribly missing them. I know it's just been a couple of days and that they're needed there, I couldn't help but want them back at home.
"I said it was an accident, get over it." Avery frustratingly rolled her eyes at the girl- whose name, as you must have guessed it, I didn't bother to remember- Nolan had brought with him. He'll probably be getting laid tonight by her. Gross
Now, don't get me wrong, she hasn't done anything to me yet but she has been pretty mean to Avery the entire evening. I mean, calling someone's curls as worms and calling her a 'freak' is a freaking insult and that does it for me to hate that person. And don't even get me started on how much she'd been flirting with Nolan and how clingy she was being the entire night. I don't know how Nolan was even tolerating her.
Such a leach.
No, wait.
That's just degrading the leaches.
"I know you spilled it on purpose." The girl started to fucking cry. Where the hell did Nolan find such thing?
Nolan opened his mouth to probably say something but before he could say something or any of us could stop her, Avery grabbed Jordan's drink and splashed it on that girl's blouse making her gasp.
"There you go." Avery gave her a fake smile and started walking away.
"Avery! What the hell is wrong with you?" Nolan gripped her wrist and turned her to face him with wide eyes as his nostrils flared.
"You're asking that?" She gave him a hard glare, "Everything is fucking wrong with me, you-you- ostrich ass." What?
She yanked her hand away and stormed from the queue and towards a more secluded place. Glances were exchanged amongst our group and all eyes settled on Jordan to know what's going on with his twin. But he just shrugged his shoulders as a confused expression settled on his face.
I looked at the pair and towards Avery's retreating figure as I started walking in the direction she went but not before throwing a glare at Nolan.
"Not cool, man." I heard Ethan's distant voice as I raced towards Avery.
"Avery, stop," I shouted in a completely futile attempt, resulting in nothing but depreciation of my throat.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Geez, let a girl breathe." The female twin discretely tried to wipe out the tear but her sniffle gave it away. She was crying and trust me I've seen her shed tears only once when her grandpa passed away. Avery Hughes wasn't the one to cry so easily.
"Want to grab ice creams?" I asked her as I looped my arm through hers.
"Sure." She chuckled and started dragging me with her.
"You want to tell what happened back there?" I asked her as we paid for our chilled-goodness.
"Nothing, that bitch was overreacting." She shrugged it off and took a bite of her ice cream. Bless her teeth.
"I am not talking about her." She gave me a confused look and I rolled my eyes at her. "You weren't very discrete while wiping off your tear."
"Oh that. It was breezy, I guess it was a sand particle."
"Yeah okay. Now tell me the truth." We were now sitting on a bench, the carnival far behind us with its lights blurry as I waited for Avery to speak. Nudging her shoulder slightly with mine, I urged her to continue.
"That idiot Nolan had to go on and bring someone with him." She began and sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing. "I fucking don't like her, she asked me to walk properly instead of waddling like a duck. Who the hell is she even to tell me what should I do and what I shouldn't. I should have strangled her then and there. But it's not too late, right?" She fumed with anger as she got up and started walking towards our group. I rushed up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her from getting blood on her hands. Fucking gross.
"Aves, I'll help you out in that." Her face literally lit up at that. "But right now you need to stop and let that off your chest." Her face fell.
We walked back to the bench to see a little girl sitting there. Avery scared her off by making a weird face at her and took a seat on the now-abandoned bench. I sighed and took a seat beside her.
"Yesterday, after school, Nolan, umm, he..."
"Sure, go ahead and kill me with anticipation." This time, I was the one to receive a weird face.
" Here goes nothing." She said before taking a huge breath, "Nolanaskedmeout." The last time I was this quick in jumping up and down, I rocked a broken ankle.
"And you're telling this now." I was still jumping like a kid high on sugar, making my ice cream splash everywhere.
"Leah, I'll smack your ass if you don't calm down." She looked at me annoyingly but there was a hint of smile on her lips.
"Let me guess, you rejected the boy?"
"You know how his relationships don't last more than a week. What if he does the same thing with me? I don't want to let him hurt me. I can't let him. And most importantly, you know how Jordan is when it comes to me dating any guy. He'd lose his marbles if he were to find out I'm dating Nolan of all people."
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know Avery was bottling up all these thoughts.
"What do you feel? About Nolan, I mean."
"That boy really tests me, Leah. Sometimes he pisses me off but there are these moments with him that make me feel all the mush and I fucking hate it but at the same time can't help but bask in those moments and it's not even funny. There are even moments when I feel like strangling him to death and at the same time I feel like kissing the hell out of him until he chokes. And then there are times when I feel like ripping his head off but at the same time rip his clothes off and just-"
"Okay, okay I get it. No need to go for further description."
She grinned at me and started picking at a stray thread at the hem of her shirt.
"It's all so confusing, Leah. It's fucking exhausting."
She didn't speak anything after that, just taking in huge breaths and twirling the stray piece of thread on her shirt, looking so lost. I felt bad now.
But Nolan is an idiot.
"Aves, don't be so disheartened." I stroked her dark locks as she rested her head on my shoulder. "How about you take some time and think it all through. One step at a time, eh? Talk it out with Nolan, whether he completely wants to be in it with you or he is looking for a fling. Once you both decide on what you want, talk to Jordan, make him understand your side. I'm sure he'll be understanding with this. Even though he acts all tough on the outside, he's a massive goofball at heart."
It feels like I'm always giving advice to people on their love lives these days and I'm already feeling old now.
"So talk it all out?" She lifted her head up and questioned.
"Talking out always helps to clear out things." She nodded and I smiled, "Besides, how about we go on that Ferris wheel, just forget about everything and enjoy ourselves."
"Eager to kiss your lover-boy at the top of the Ferris wheel?" She wiggled her eyebrows and grinned a wide grin, her face almost split in half, making her look silly. I didn't even find that weird. But what felt weird to me was how badly I want to do what Avery said. And that had me freaking out.
Instead of telling her, indeed, I want to do that, I shoved her and got up to go back to stand with our group in the queue for Ferris wheel. Avery joined shortly after that and I saw Nolan looking a bit relieved as she smiled at Lydia, silently assuring her that everything was fine now.
"You stay back with Mr.I-can't-keep-my-eyes-off-Leah," Avery whispered in my ear and pushed me back while she went on to sit with her brother in the cabin of the Ferris wheel.
When I looked back at Ethan, he was staring at me with a thoughtful gaze and suddenly the air around me became thick.
Nolan was sitting with his leach, Adrian pulled Lydia with him and the twins went into one, leaving me and Ethan to go in the next cabin.
As we went higher in the air, Ethan was looking around at the brightly lit carnival with a hint of smile on his face. The lights from the carnival below us casted a golden glow on his face and his eyes shimmered with contentment.
The boy, who showed me a side of himself which wasn't known to anyone, who let me in on his past, who woke me up at the break of the dawn every single day, who annoyed me to no extent, yet I can't help but be enchanted by him.
The brightly lit carnival, the beach looking colourful because of the carnival lights, the ocean roaring in the far distance, it was all beautiful but the boy in front of me was what had my entire attention.
When he looked at me and caught me staring at him like a creep, I knew a snarky comment was on its way. But he completely took me by surprise when he looked me in the eye and smiled, his eyes-crinkling smile, that had my breath hitching in my throat and my stomach doing somersaults.
And just like that, I knew I was doomed.
******
Do you lick your ice cream or straight up bite into it?
I'm one of those people who just sink their teeth in that chilled-sugary-goodness and gulp a huge chunk of it. And no, it's definitely not crazy. It's pretty normal.
So, any thoughts on the chapter. Comment them down and I'll be happy to read them.
Until next time.