Chapter Fourteen – Winter Carnival

I'm on my lunch break at work when Kaden calls me to ask if my friends and I are free to go to a carnival tonight. I tell him that I will definitely come along but will have to ask my housemates if they don't have anything else planned.

I hang up and finish the rest of my sandwich before texting Maddox and Eva in our group chat about the carnival. Eva instantly replies and agrees to come, stating how she hasn't been to one in ages. Maddox replies just as I stand up to head back to work in the ICU, telling me that he has no plans and would love to go.

I text them the time we need to leave and we decide that Maddox will drive us. As I walk into the department where I'm needed for today, I quickly text Kaden about how we'll just meet him there at seven p.m. He immediately replies and tells me he can't wait to see me, making me smile widely.

Before I can text him back, I see Henry up ahead talking with the Doctor I am going to be assisting today. Immediately, I put my phone in the pocket of my trousers before greeting them both. We make our way towards the intensive care unit before Doctor Haven and I get started whilst Henry takes a seat in a corner so he can fill out my report and help me if I run into difficulties.

Time goes by slowly as I work, learning how to tend to patients who have just come out of surgery or are experiencing trauma. I find it much tougher here than in the A&E as it involves life and death situations but I know I want to work in this field because I want to help save as many lives as possible.

As I work, Dr Haven teaches me how to take careful assessment of patients and how to monitor their progress, along with what I can do if there are any sudden or subtle changes in their health. I also learn to manage medication doses, anaesthesia and ventilator support.

I'm on my feet for the whole day, rushing around to get supplies and tend to patients under the supervision of Doctor Haven and Henry. That makes me nervous as I don't want to do anything wrong because it might cause the patient discomfort or pain.

But I manage and they tell me that I did well for my first day in demonstrating my abilities to care for patients. I feel proud of myself as I walk down the hallway after bidding them goodbye, finally able to go home. I grab my things and shut down the computer before clocking out and walking to the bus stop near the hospital.

It was only five and thankfully there was a bus that takes the route towards my home at this hour. I soon see the familiar vehicle, paying for my ticket before taking a seat. I quickly call my parents and ask them about their day, remembering to tell my mum that I'll be at a carnival later with my friends so I might not be able to call just before bed.

We talk for a while longer before I tell her I must go when I see the bus driving up the street where my neighbourhood is. Hanging up, I press the button that alerts the driver to stop before I thank him and get off along with two other people.

I make my way into the neighbourhood, seeing other students coming and going, before unlocking my door and stepping in. I decide to start getting ready and head upstairs. I knew it was going to get colder by seven so I pick out my oversized denim jacket with a thick white sweater, black jeans and my white sneakers.

I jump into the shower and quickly wash my body, leaving my hair since I washed it this morning. I almost don't want to get out from under the hot spray of water but I do, grabbing my pink towel and drying my body with it. I put on my underwear before slipping on the sweater and jeans, walking back into my room.

I decide to leave my hair in its wavy state, doing a braid so half of my hair is up and the other half is down. As I'm doing that I hear the front door open and slam shut, Eva and Maddox yelling that they're home before rushing upstairs to get ready.

I work on my makeup, keeping it light and simple. I finish with mascara before finding my stud earrings and putting them on. Spritzing on some perfume, I put on my socks and sneakers before slipping on my denim jacket. I grab a small shoulder bag and pack my purse and other essentials in it before taking my phone and walking out of my bedroom.

Eva follows next with Maddox coming down the stairs soon after. She's wearing a thick burgundy sweater with black ripped jeans and black boots, her blonde hair in messy beach waves. Maddox wears a light brown parka with a sweater underneath, blue denim jeans and brown boots. He slips his beanie on before asking if we're ready to go.

Nodding, we follow him out of the house and make sure that the door is locked before we pile into his car. Eva sits in the front and rambles on about how excited she is whilst he reverses out of the small driveway and onto the road. We drive out of the neighbourhood and towards the city with me telling Maddox the directions Kaden had texted me over an hour ago.

Surprisingly, it only takes us ten minutes as it is in the city centre and soon we are parking right outside it and getting out of the car. I spot Kaden and his group of friends with two girls. One is standing beside Axel and the other has her arm looped through Chris'.

Everyone spots us and the boys cheer as I make my way over to them with a smile, immediately being pulled into an embrace by Kaden. I feel his body heat warm me up, his lips pressing against my cold cheek before he pulls away and tucks me into his side. He looks handsome as always in a grey sweater and black jeans with sneakers and a beanie on his head to hide his tousled hair.

I greet the others, finding out that Leah is Chris' girlfriend whilst Natalie is dating Axel. They seem lovely and Eva and I instantly click with them as we talk about our backgrounds and what we're studying. We find out that Natalie is in the same college as us but is always in the other buildings as she is studying Psychology. Leah is in another college completely and is studying teaching.

Owen tells us that Derek and Matt are already inside and we head in, buying our tickets at the booth. Just as I'm taking out the money from my purse, Kaden walks back with two tickets and starts pulling me towards the entrance. I groan and shake my head, knowing there was nothing I could do or say that would prevent him in paying for me. With a sigh, I let him intertwine our fingers as we meet up with the group inside.

We spot Derek and Matt by one of the picnic tables and make our way towards them and I chuckle when I see that they have already finished a burger and fries each.

"What's up Lukaden?" Derek greets us, making me frown in confusion.

"Who?" Kaden asks gruffly, draping his arm across my shoulders.

"You're right, it's too...meh. What about...Lunden or...Kadna?" He muses before shaking his head.

"Dude, are you high?" Owen asks, catching up to us with Axel and Natalie behind them.

"I'm thinking of a ship name for them!" He rolls his eyes, grinning when Eva squeals and tells him that she's been doing the same.

Kaden and I groan as we look at each other before rolling our eyes and smacking the back of their heads. Eva glares at me playfully whilst Derek dramatically cries out in shock. We ignore them and walk ahead, trying to figure out which ride to go on first.

"Aw come on guys, how about Lunka?" Derek suggests from behind us.

"Or Kaduna?" Eva pipes in, poking me in the back.

"Oh my gosh, what about Kluna?" Rico sarcastically suggests in a high-pitched tone, making me chuckle.

Maddox laughs before draping his arm across a pouting Eva's shoulders. After much discussion, we all decide to go on the bumper cars first. Heading over to the ride, we queue up and tell the supervisor that we would like to have one car each. Since there are twelve cars and twelve of us, he lets us on and we pay before making our way to our selected cars.

I choose an orange one and sit in, putting the seatbelt on before gripping the steering wheel. I laugh when I see Kaden run towards a green car, shoving Derek out of the way who whines loudly before trudging over to a blue one. After we're all seated, the cars jerk before I'm able to steer it to my liking. I immediately ram into Maddox, hearing him cry out in shock before following me and hitting my car so I nearly get stuck in a corner.

Next, we go on the pirate ship that takes us into the air, swinging back and forth as teenagers scream whilst the adults, mainly Kaden and the boys, cheer at the top of their lungs.

We go on two more rides before trying out the stalls placed around the ground. We play balloon darts where we attempt to burst three balloons to win a prize. Only Natalie, Chris and Derek won, now walking along with stuffed toys. Chris had given his stuffed bear to Leah which I found incredibly cute. Next, Owen, Maddox and I played ring toss but I only managed to get three around the object I wanted and Owen was the only one who aimed correctly and won a prize.

I made my way towards the basketball toss game where Kaden, Axel, Matt and Eva were shooting hoops to win a prize. Matt scored the highest with Kaden following, then Axel and lastly Eva. She rolled her eyes with a laugh when Matt waved a red angry bird in her face. He seemed quite delighted with himself.

I grabbed Kaden's hand making him look down at me with a smile, before we walked towards the food stalls, deciding to come back to the games later. We split up with food orders and I went towards the hot food stall with Natalie and Matt so we could get some burgers, cheesy fries and hot dogs.

As we were queuing in line, I turned slightly to see Kaden and Chris walking back to the table with hot dogs. Waving when he caught my eye, I smiled at him before noticing a group of teenage boys behind us. They were eyeing Natalie and I the wrong way, whispering filthy comments about us. Feeling uncomfortable, I turned back to face the front and noticed the Natalie and Matt were tense, especially Natalie who looked ready to turn around and punch someone.

"I swear...this vendor better hurry up before I lose it." She mutters, as Matt moves to stand behind us so that he was in between us and the boys.

"Come on man, what's taking so long?" A boy suddenly groans, shuffling forward so that he was right behind me.

His chest presses up against mine and I feel him touch my hand which makes me pull away, turning to glare at him. He smirks down at me, shoving Matt when he tries to pull him away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Natalie experiencing the same thing and trying hard not to retaliate.

It was only when another boy pulls me back when I try to move ahead that I push him away hard. He stumbles slightly before regaining balance, moving towards me again while the other boys laugh behind him. But before he can take another step, he's pulled back and turned around.

"Don't f*cking touch my girl." Kaden seethes, shoving him and making him fall to the ground.

"Hey man, we didn't know she was taken – woah!" He cries out when Kaden grasps him by the collar.

"Even if a girl isn't taken, don't touch them without their consent, don't talk shit about them and don't bother them. Got it?" He almost growls out and I watch how the group of boys back away slowly.

He nods, skin slightly pale. "I got it."

"Good, now get lost." Kaden replies angrily, letting go of him and watching as they try and get away from us as fast as possible.

He turns to me and I smile, reassuring him that I was fine and all they did was touch me. I see his body tense and his jaw lock, making me worry that he was going to after them again when he turns to look back. I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my cheek against his chest, successfully distracting him because he immediately wraps his arms around my back and holds me close, pressing a firm kiss to my forehead.

Axel is beside us, calming Natalie down as Matt explains what happened. After that, we order our food and bring it back to one of the picnic tables our group had occupied. We dig in happily, chatting about what rides we should try next.

After we finish up our food, Derek and Rico suggest the rollercoaster which all of us but Eva, Chris and Matt agree on. After much convincing, we finally get them to join us in the queue. Kaden has become very overprotective since the incident with the boys and hasn't let go of me. I have my arms wrapped around Kaden's waist and stand close to him, feeling cold. His rubs his hand up and down my back to warm me up whilst we chat to Axel and Natalie.

They invite us over for dinner sometime and we agree, Kaden telling them that he would text them to make plans and see when the four of us would be free. I see Maddox hugging Eva, no doubt reassuring her that it was going to be fine. But she was having none of it, her face pale as she adamantly shakes her head.

We are finally let on and as we take our seats, I choose to sit in the middle instead of the front like Owen had forced Matt to, Rico and Derek right behind them. Kaden takes a seat beside me and we are sitting right behind Axel and Natalie with Eva and Maddox right behind us, Chris and Leah choosing to sit behind all of us.

The ride starts and I find myself enjoying the wind blow through my hair as we travel higher and higher up the hill of the rollercoaster. I can hear Eva cursing behind me as Chris yells what he wants on his tombstone which makes me laugh. Rico tells Matt to shut up as Owen cackled like a maniac, freaking him out further.

But all of that suddenly turns into our screams as we shoot down the hill, speeding through the loop before we are upside down for about two seconds and then back up a hill again. I scream in delight as my stomach drops just as we speed down the hill. We go for another round and I find myself raising my hands in the air with Kaden, cheering as we come to a stop.

"Never again." Matt shudders, barely able to get out of the seat because his legs are so wobbly.

Chris shakes his head, his skin pale as he mutters about how much he despises this ride whilst Eva leans against Maddox for support, saying how she will forever hate rollercoasters. I chuckle and rub her shoulder, asking her if she needs a drink before walking out to the main grounds with everyone.

Kaden points to a ride called Space Shot and tells everyone that we are all going to try it out. I look up at the tall tower that shoots the riders up to the top before letting them drop to midway. There's a lot of screaming as the riders are dropped to the ground before brought all the way up to the top in rapid speed.

Immediately, I shake my head along with Derek. "There is no way I'm getting on that thing."

"Luna, you went on a rollercoaster. What's wrong with this?" Maddox laughs, bring Eva a drink who is also disagreeing.

"Look at the height of it compared to the rollercoaster!" I exclaim, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, she's going." Kaden smirks before draping his arm across my shoulders and leading me towards the ride.

"No, Kaden I'm serious. I don't want to go on that!" I shake my head, trying to break free from his grip.

"It'll be fine, everyone else is going on it." He tries to reassure me, but I can see the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Kaden..." I groan as he pulls me into the queue, glaring at him when he laughs at my panic.

"You'll be okay, I'll be right there with you." He murmurs, pecking my lips.

I sigh and nod, swatting Rico's arm when he teases me, my cheeks turning red from embarrassment. I hide my face in Kaden's chest, hearing him chuckle before wrapping his arms around me and telling Rico to stop it.

All too soon, we are walking on the ramp and toward our seats. I sit in the middle with Kaden and Rico on either side of me, feeling nervous and scared as I look at the height we're about to travel. After everyone is seated, the man pulls down the part which holds us against the seats along with the belts we have around our waists and chests, silver handles for us to hold on to.

The ride starts and we slowly travel to the very top, the fairground becoming tiny beneath us and people looking like ants walking around. I see the other rides and glare at Maddox when he shouts that the rollercoaster is in fact smaller than this ride.

"You okay Luna?" Kaden asks just as we stop at the very top of the tower.

"I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack but other than that it's all good!" I reply sarcastically, hearing him laugh.

"You're going to be fine!" He shouts back, just as we drop.

I shriek as the wind travels through my hair and my stomach drops at the feeling of us travelling at high speed before it bounces mid tower and shoots back up again. The boys are cheering and I can hear Derek cursing as loud as he can as the ride drops to the very bottom before shooting to mid-way. This goes on for a while and although Kaden said I will enjoy it, I want it to end.

Finally, it stops after what seems like hours, and I wait for the man to let us out before standing up. Kaden hops down before turning to me, his arms outstretched and grabbing me by the waist as he places me back on the ramp again.

"You okay?" He asks, brushing my hair away from my face with an amused smile.

"I feel funny...and it's not the good kind." I mumble, wrapping my arm around his waist and leaning against him for support as we walk away from the ride.

"Let's get you a drink then." He chuckles, leading me to one of the food stalls after the group agrees to meet up at the Ferris Wheel at nine.

He buys me a drink and after taking a couple of sips, I feel better. I nod when he asks me if I'm okay before he takes my hand and pulls me up. We walk through the fairground, trying some more food and playing more games for fun.

I'm enjoying my cotton candy when Kaden pulls me towards a stall. He pays the man before asking me what prize I would like. My eyes widen at his confident tone before I hesitantly point to the brown bear with a dark patch around his eye. He nods to the man behind the stall, who was watching him with narrowed eyes. Our jaws drop as we watch Kaden make all the cans fall over in less than ten seconds.

"B-But...how?" I mumble in shock, watching him take the bear from the man with a smirk before walking over to me.

He shrugs before handing me the bear, which I take happily. I smile down at it before hugging Kaden, hearing him chuckle as he wraps his arms around me. I pull away and thank him, pressing a kiss to his cheek before grabbing his hand and leading him towards the Ferris Wheel.

We meet everyone just in time to queue together, deciding that this will be the last ride of the night. I shiver from how chilly the air has become, pulling my hair forward so it acts as a scarf around my neck. Kaden notices this and hugs me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder as he chats to Owen and Maddox about some ride that was supposed to be here but wasn't.

Eventually, we step into the carriages and wait for the wheel to move. There is only a limit of two per carriage so we all fit into six carriages, a couple of other people on the ride with us. I'm sitting on the seat opposite of Kaden with my bear on my lap, grinning when the ride starts and we ascend into the air.

A quiet gasp escapes me when we are lifted higher and higher, allowing us to see the whole fairground