Meghan's POV

Joey's hand warmed mine as we walked through the gates of the small carnival. The first thing I caught sight of was the tall Ferris wheel that was streamed with different bright colours. I tugged on Joey's arm, pulling him in the opposite direction, to the direction of the Ferris wheel. The colours now flew before my eyes in large circles as I approached the towering ride. I looked back at Joey, who grinned with every tug, his startling pull forced me towards him, spinning me in the process. Our chests were now glued together, inseparable. 

I moved my hands so they rested on the sides of his muscular arms. Almost forgetting that David waited patiently beside us, I leaned into him. The lights reflected in Joey’s eyes before I closed mine, no longer seeing him personally, but always behind closed eyelids. We found each others lips, not pressured by the moving voices around us, or my waiting brother near us. It was never easy to tell how long one of our kisses lasted, time didn’t matter between the two of us, only love. I know, cheesy, but sometimes cheesiness was true.

We finally pulled away, my eyes opening. The world around us continued to function, not that it stopped during the time of our kiss, but that it definitely felt like it. David’s lips turned up into a smile when I looked at him, gesturing towards the short woman collecting the tickets. I handed one blue ticket to her open hand, still holding on to Joey’s hand with my other hand. The three of us ran towards a pale green cart attached to large metal beams. I sat onto the hard plastic and did my seat belt buckle up.

I fiddled around in my seat, clearly excited. Joey sat beside me and David in front of me, constantly grinning. A small jolt and swing of the cart told us it was about to move. I almost jumped up and down in my seat with excitement, the small belt holding me down. The huge wheel started spinning, moving further up extremely slowly, but good enough to look around at the Los Angeles view. As I got higher I looked at all the other rides. Ones that spun you around in countless circles, ones that flung you up into the air, then back down. There was a cheerful yellow funhouse with a large clown painted over top of it. A pink and purple marry-go-round, finished with plastic steeds of many colours. Children blissfully swung around on the horses, and threw their hands up in the tiny tea cups; I couldn’t help but smile at absolutely everything.

Joey’s POV

Instead of admiring the view from my place up high on the Ferris wheel, I watched the view from the reflection of Meghan’s eyes. Anything to look into those beautiful eyes for as long as I could. As the swinging cart lowered, the tree line came into view in the gleam of Meghan’s eyes. Her eyes darted around the colourful scenery, only to reflect through her eyes. Of course the view wasn’t as pretty as it would be if I looked at it directly, but looking into Meghan’s eyes was prettier than anything. Her eyes turned to look at me, probably feeling a sensation of a stare. She giggled as I continued to stare at her, unable to look away. Her rosy cheeks rested under her eyes as she smiled fully.

The cart came to a stop at where we started. I had just realized the entire ride was spent in silence. Not a word escaped our mouths while people were laughing and talking all around us. “What do you guys wanna do now?” I asked as we stepped onto the platform. Meghan shrugged, but I heard an answer from David.

“Cotton candy!” he laughed, covering his cheeks with his hands.

“Sure!” Meghan and I said in unison.  David led us to the tent with pink fluff hanging off the roof. I heard David order 3 cotton candies as I turned around, admiring everything around me. People ran around holding hotdogs and ice cream, smiling and laughing. I started getting a little bit jealous, not that I know what’s going on in their lives, the ups and down. But I started to get jealous of the way they could walk around with a grin on their face, not having to shield themselves for the bad about to come. Not having to build a barrier up every time they are having a good time only to get it knocked down again. The constant wishing that the barrier would minimize the hit of the negativity, but it doesn’t, but I still shield myself no matter what. Like a nervous habit I can’t get rid of.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Meghan stop to look at me. She had probably noticed the frown growing slightly on my face. “What’s wrong?” she peeped, now making her way in front of me.

“Oh, nothing,” I said, the edges of my lips still turned down, exposing the fact that I was clearly upset. She threw the piece of cotton candy that she was holding at me. A small chunk from the larger pink cloud now fluttered a couple inches before my face, in effort of hitting me. It floated to the ground quickly after hovering in the air for a millisecond. I kept my eye on it as it fell to the ground before landing on the dirt, flattening out slowly. I slid my foot along it, revealing dirt mixed with pink fluff as a result. Anything to avoid Meghan’s eyes that stared into mine, trying to uncover why I was particularly upset.

“Don’t be upset,” she just said before turning on her heel to the next ride David was pointing at. I admired her confidence and ability to have fun when she knows what her future beholds. She made herself so tempting, the way strutted away without a care, only looking back for a second before flipping her hair like a super model. I chocked out a laugh and ran after them as the wind cleared my head for seconds at a time.