Gods, I'd missed fair food so much. I had a deep fried corn on the cob, and we had about three boxes of deep fried food infront of us. I was in love with the deep fried snickers wrapped in bacon, but so did Dalton, apparently, and I had to fight him for the last one. We ended up splitting it. Finally, we were all full, and it was time to take a look around. Since Kayla and I had been here before, we led the way. Of course, by that I mean I was on Dalton's back and Kayla next to us. We led them towards a large building which held my favorite thing ever. I was glad that they still hadn't finished, I loved to watch them work on it. We weaved our way through the crowd, and my face lit up when we saw it. "Wow." Was all Dalton had to say.

There was a huge sand sculpture in the middle of the room, people still working on it. This year, it was dedicated to the Trevor Project. It almost brought tears to my eyes. They had sculpted all of the children that had committed suicide this year because of bullying, the Trevor logo in the front. We all walked around, taking pictures of it for a while, before Kayla and I led them to the other side of the building, where my second favorite thing was. There, in a rotating cooler, was a butter sculpture. This year, it was the statue of Liberty. Of course, Will ran up to it to take as many pictures as he could. "I wanna eat this. Can I eat this?" We all laughed, and I rolled my eyes.

"No. You're not allowed to eat it, fatty!" He gave me a fake hurt look, and I stuck my tongue out at him before we continued on our tour. We decided to hit up a lot of the stalls and booths they had. I almost screamed when I saw a pair of sunglassed that had SWAG written on them. I had found a pair like them in Claire's almost a year ago, but didn't have enough to buy them. I wiggled off of Dalton's back and ran to them, picking them up to hug them. Kayla laughed and got herself a pair. To my surprise, Dalton grabbed a pair identical to mine. Before we knew it, all of us had them. Dalton, Nia, and I had purple. Kayla, Gabe, and Brennan had yellow. Dana and Channing had red. Cole had green, and Will had blue. I looked around for a bit, glad to be on my feet, even if it hurt. I stopped by a display of necklaces, and I smiled when I saw one of a dolphin. Dolphins and Penguins had always been my favorite animals. I flipped it over to look at the price and I winced. Too much, sadly. I sighed and rejoined the group. We all paid, put on our new sunglasses, and took a few pictures. We ended up splitting into groups to take pictures after. Tyler, Brennan, Channing, Nia, Dalton and I were all clustered together, making funny faces. 

Of course, Dalton squished my face together, and out of habit, I said "exterminate." It was something Clover and I had always done, since we were Whovians. His eyes widened, and he hugged me. "I swear to God you are the best person, ever!" I giggled a bit as I looked back at the tent. I furrowed my brow. The necklace was gone. Well...Balls. I shrugged it off, actually able to walk to the other stalls with everyone. We bought a few more things. I got a new belt, Dalton got a top hat, and I got a few more bracelets. By the time we reached my favorite store ever, I checked my pockets. YES! I had enough! 

"Hey...Will you guys wait here for a little bit?" Everyone nodded, and I grabbed Kayla and went into the shop. I knocked on the door of a trailer attached, and a familiar face greeted me. "Pinky!?" My eyes were wide.

"Charlie! Shit, girl! Come here!" I hobbled up the stairs and he wrapped me in a hug. Pinky had dated my best friend for a long time. We all lived together a few summers ago. But now he was married, with three kids, and not to my friend. It was better that way. They were just bad for each other. He looked at Kayla, giving me a questioning look.

"Oh! This is my friend, Kayla." He nodded his hello. "Are you doing them now?" I asked cryptically. He nodded, and I grinned. "I need two, boo. Each wrist. I have enough this time, I swear." Pinky just laughed and led the two of us into the trailer. Kayla finally realized what was going on.

"Oh my God, Charlie! You're going to get tattoos?!" I just laughed and nodded. She looked a bit nervous before she added. "D..Do you have enough so...I could get one, too?" I gave her a small smile and I nodded, but Pinky shook his head.

"Char, you don't have to worry. I've got you covered. And hey. Remember when I worked the Watertown fair?" I nodded slowly, knowing exactly what he was going to say, and my eyes lit up. "We have the perfect stud if you want it." I nodded happily. Dear God, Eben and Jill were going to kill me. I didn't care, though. I could finally do something I'd always wanted to do.

So, I told Pinky what I wanted done, and he instantly went to work. I knew his stuff was good, he'd done my first tattoo. My right wrist now said "5ever" in beautiful lettering, and down my left arm, on the inside, it said "It Gets Better" in the same lettering. He finished and covered them, giving me some ointment for them. Finally, he got Kayla into the chair. She ended up getting the same thing on her wrist, since it was something we said. We would always say "I love you forever!" And then the other would reply "Well I love you 5ever!" It made me happy.

Kayla took it like a champ, he cleaned it up, covered it, and gave her the ointment before he got out the long needle. I knew what was coming next, and I was a little scared. I took a deep breath as he showed me the stud. It was a purple titanium, but he said he had something else for me too, when it heals enough to change it. I nodded. He started counting down, but he pushed the pin through my lip at 2. I cringed, the blood instantly flowing. He put the ring through as quick as he could and started to clean up the blood. We stayed in the trailer until I stopped bleeding, which was only a few minutes. I took a peek in the mirror, and I grinned. It fit me so well. I gave Pinky a huge hug, and even though he said not to, I set $50 on the table before we walked out. 

To our surprise, the group was still there. "What took you guys so-" Dalton stopped talking when he looked at my lip. I gave a shy grin, and I thought I saw his eyes darken before Nia ran up to me. 

"it looks so amazing! But..That shouldn't have taken that long.." I gave a nervous laugh before I shrugged off Dalton's jacket, wincing. As soon as Dalton saw the gauze covering my arms, he freaked out. 

"Those better not be what I think they are!" There's a warning in his voice. I knew what he was talking about. I looked at him like he was stupid. Why the balls would I go somewhere to cut, and bring Kayla with me, at that? I shook my head, and pulled Kayla up to me. At the same time, we showed him the matching tattoos on our wrists. His face softened. He obviously realized the secret meaning behind it. Not only did Kayla and I say that, but it was also for the boys. I then showed him the other arm, and his eyes softened even more. He could still see the scars beneath the ink, but he knew why I did it. Things got better, I could get better." He fixed the guaze and hugged me tightly, and all I could do was grin.

We took some more pictures, because I wanted to show off my lip ring, then we went off to find everyone else. Of course, it was starting to get warm, so I took off Dalton's jacket. He threw it into a bag he'd bought earlier, and grinned whenever he looked at the gauze on my arm. All of a sudden, Dalton seemed to remember that he wasn't letting me walk, so he made Tyler pick me up to put me on Dalton's back. I groaned, since it hurt to hold onto his neck. I fought through it, though, until we reached the group. 

We found them in the midway, playing random fair games. I got off of Dalton's back, and grinned when Will turned to look at us. Of course, he looked shocked. Slowly, as everyone else turned to look, their faces matched. Jill and Eben facepalmed as they walked over to me. "I..I'm sorry. I know I should've asked permission, but...I've wanted them forever and they mean a lot to me." I hurried the words out of my mouth as they both laughed.

"It's fine, Charlie. You're a grown woman, you can do as you please. Just give us a little warning next time. Can we see?" Eben was the one who spoke. I nodded and held out my arms. Dalton pulled off the gauze and Jill's face softened. "They're beautiful, dear. Just make sure you take care of those. And don't let that lip get infected." I grinned brightly and hugged the both of them before we joined the boys. We were almost at the rides, and I felt my heart pick up. I hoped none of them wanted me to go on the scary rides. I could see the Music Express in the distance, and I just wanted to run to it, but the boys had other plans. 

"No! Oh, HELL NO! I am not getting on that thing and you can't make me!" We were in line for the Orbiter. It was like the Scrambler, but it almost went upside down, which I didn't like one bit. I hated being upside down. Every single time I went on this stupid, I puked on someone. "Guys, seriously. I'm not going on it. I'll hurl everywhere, no joke." I had already gone pale, my stomach just knowing what would happen. Everyone was still trying to get me to go on, but Will saw my face and moved to pull me off of Dalton's back, placing me on the ground.

"Guys, she's right, she doesn't look good. I'll stay down here with her, okay?" They all nodded, all of them getting on the ride while Will and I stayed behind. I pulled out my phone and my camera, taking pictures with my phone while Will used the camera. He took a couple videos of Gabe screaming like a girl while Kayla just laughed at him. We took a few pictures together. I put one on Instagram.

@Peguin_Trell: @WilljayIM5 loves me enough to stay behind when everyone else went on a scary ride!

I got a response not a second later, Will grinning. 

@Penguin_Trell: @WilljayIM5 loves me enough to stay behind when everyone else went on a scary ride!

            @WilljayIM5: @Penguin_Trell Gurl, we too fab for them!

I laughed loudly and rolled my eyes, sticking my phone back into my pocket. When they got off, almost everyone wanted to ride again, minus Dalton, who looked as pale as I felt. Will went on the ride this time, and I rubbed Dalton's back as he hurled into a nearby trash can. "Next time...You say a ride makes you puke...Remind me not to go on it."  I gave a little laugh, but I held out some napkins for him when he stood up. He cleaned up his face and looked around a bit. His eyes stopped on the Music Express, which I had been staring at the whole time. "You wanna go?" My face lit up and he bent down. I hopped onto his back and he ran us over there as fast as he could.

We were at the front of the line, and I was super excited. Sadly, we had to leave our hats at the front, since the attendant was worried they would fly off and hurt someone. We finally got into our car and I pulled out my camera, turning on the video setting. We still had a few minutes, because people were filing in. "Hey guys! Guess where I am?! At a fair! Guess what I'm on?! A ride! Guess who I'm with!" before I could answer, Dalton turned the camera to himself, grinning.

"ME!" He shouted out the camera and I laughed. He ended up stealing the camera. "Guys! Guess what! If you didn't notice, Charlie got a lip ring! And it's amazing! And she got tattoos! Look!" He peeled away the gauze and showed them my new tattoos before I fixed it. "So, we're gonna go ride this ride! BYE!" He turned off my camera and stuffed it into his pocket. I rolled my eyes, but finally the ride started. "Oh shit..You're on the outside..You're gonna squish me!" I gave him an evil grin. 

At first, it was great. We stayed in our spots, dancing stupidily to the music. Then MCR came on, and we started headbanging, of course, it didn't last long, because the ride started to get faster. I ended up squishing Dalton, but we were both laughing so hard we didn't care. Finally, when the ride started going backwards, we threw our hands into the air, grinning happily, still laughing. It was nice to just have fun with someone, and not worry about all of the pain. I was glad to have Dalton in my life. He knew just what to do and say to make me feel better. 

We were bummed when the ride stopped, but we grabbed our hats and got right back in line. Everyone else had gotten off the other ride, and had been waiting for us. They jumped into line with us, and Will came up to us. "Threes?" We both nodded and grinned. Will had a backpack, so Dalton and I stuck our hats in it, and Will did the same with his. We moved up the line and piled into the cars. Fangirls were everywhere, taking pictures and going crazy, but we ignored them for now. We climbed into the car, Will on the outside, me in the middle, and Dalton on the outside. Dalton pulled out my camera and turned it on, waving at it.

"Hi, Charlie's camera! Dalton again! Guess what?! We're riding again! Guess who's with us now?!" He turned the camera to Will, who made a duck face, and said something stupid like 'wut up babehs'. I couldn't help but laugh as Dalton switched the settings. We took a few pictures of the three of us before he turned around, taking pictures of the rest of our group. He switched settings again and took videos of them behind us. Everyone was going crazy. He turned it off and put it back in his pocket just before the ride started. 

This time, when the music started, the three of us looked at eachother, and we turned behind us. Everyone had the same look. They were playing an IM5 song. So what did we do? Every one of us burst out into song, singing along. The singing was cut off when the ride started to get faster. I was pressed up against Will, who was screaming, and Dalton was squishing me. I couldn't stop laughing. My cheeks hurt so much from all of the laughter. When the ride stop, we were all a bit dizzy. We all wobbled off of the ride and gathered in a little group. Tyler, Dalton, Will and I were in one little group, and everyone separated from us, but we didn't care. Will announced that he was going to get food, and Brennan called Tyler over, leaving Dalton and I alone.

We stood in silence for a moment before he spoke up. "Oh. I um..I got something for you, today." I blushed slightly and blinked as I turned to face him. He pulled something out of his pocket, the necklace I had been looking at earlier. "I saw you looking at it...And you looked  bummed that you couldn't buy it...So yeah." I gave him a bright smile and turned around, holding up my hair. He slid the necklace around my neck and closed it, smiling when I turned back around the face him. Of course, my feet hurt, and I needed a little break.

"Come on, go on this ride with me." I pulled him away from everyone else, wincing every time I stepped down. Finally, we got to the most lame ride they had, but it was relaxing for me. It was a small haunted house that you rode through on a car, and it would be a nice break for my feet. He followed in silence, climbing into the car with me. When it started, we jolted forward, but instantly slowed down when we went through the doors. I took my opportunity. "Thank you, Dalton. This is absolutely amazing." He smiled at me, but I shook my head. "No. I mean it." I stared up at his eyes, watching his darken slightly.

"Charlie I...I don't want to freak you out. I mean..My best friend just broke up with you, yesterday but...Since that day we met...I've kind of had a thing for you." My heart started beating faster. I knew I was blushing, I could feel it. I reached over, grabbing his hand, squeezing it slightly. He smiled down at me and leaned close. "I promise, I'll take it slow, get to know you, but I have to do this before I go insane." He closed the space between us, and I swear I heard fireworks. We pulled away right before the ride ended.

I got out of the car with a blush on my face, and I noticed Dalton was blushing, too. I smiled softly when he bent down. I got onto his back, wrapping my arms and legs around him. When he held onto my legs, his thumbs moved lightly, making me shiver. I gave him a little squeeze, resting my head on his for a second before we joined the group. Eben and Jill explained that there were fireworks tonight, and we could stay for them if we chose to. We all nodded, but decided that we would rather get some real food. It was already getting dark, so we knew they would start soon. We ended up piling into the van, and driving to an Arby's down the road. 

I ordered my usual and ate in silence, though I was screaming in my head. Dalton placed his hand on my leg, just for comfort. Cole still hadn't said anything to me, but he had stopped giving me glares. We all finished our food rather quickly, and we drove back to the fair grounds. Unfortunately, Cole crawled in after Dalton before I could sit next to him. I sighed, and climbed in after him, sitting awkwardly next to him. I didn't know what to do. Finally, I felt Cole looking at me, so I looked up. He looked nervous, rather than angry. "I'm sorry." He said simply. "I..I don't know what came over me. I just...I didn't know how to handle it." He was trying to apologize? Seriously? After what he said to me? I shook my head.

"Cole..Save it. I'm no where ready to forgive you. You didn't just hurt me, you shattered my heart. There's no excuse for what you did.." Cole sighed and looked at his lap.

"I hope one day you can forgive me...I miss you. Today sucked without you to laugh with." I simply shrugged and looked away, not wanting to deal with him anymore. My phone went off and I looked down.

You okay?

I smiled softly. Dalton.

I'll be fine <3

I sent the text and looked over at him. Dalton was smiling, which made me smile in return. Finally, we got back to the fair grounds. The boys and Nia were waiting for us at the gate, and they led us to the grand stands. There were couples and families everywhere, just sitting with their loved ones. Dalton and I seemed to have the same idea. We climbed up the stand, as far as we could go. He pulled his jacket out of his bag and wrapped it around my shoulders before he grabbed a hoodie, putting it on the metal seats so we didn't get too cold. I held his jacket close as I sat down, him sitting as close as possible. I smiled up at him, but frowned slightly when he spoke. "Don't let Cole get to you...I know you still have feelings for him." I opened my mouth, but he shook his head. "Even if I just get a few days with you, I'll be happy. If you choose to go back to Cole eventually, I won't hate you." His words made my heart swell. I was so glad for the shadows, no one could see us, because I took that moment to surge forward, pressing my lips against his.

His hand went to my cheek, the other around my waist as he pulled me closer. I wrapped both of my hands around his neck, smiling into his kiss. There were the fireworks again. Finally, we pulled apart, both breathing heavily. We pressed our foreheads together and just stared at each other for a few seconds before we both jumped. The fireworks had started. Without another word, Dalton put his arm around me, and I leaned into him with a smile. I was glad for the comfort. I was so glad to have someone like him in my life. 

We sat like that until the fireworks were over, not speaking, just holding each other. Finally, Jill called us all down, and we filed out of the fair grounds and into the van. I was super tired, and ended up falling asleep with my head on Dalton's shoulder. When we got back to the hotel, he got out of the van and picked me up, carrying