Today, she was on a mission. A secret mission.

  She had invited him to go to the fair that their town was sponsoring, and he had reluctantly agreed. Originally, she simply wanted to go with him for fun, but now she had a plan.

  "Operation Make Eye Contact With Sawyer."

  "What did you say, Alice?" Sawyer asked, and she quickly tossed him a bright smile.

  "Nothing! Oh, look, let's go play the balloon pop game," she said hastily before dragging him to the booth. He handed the man a ticket to play, then grabbed his first dart.

"You got this, Sawyer!" Ali exclaimed confidently.

He threw the dart. He missed.

"It's okay, you'll most definitely get the next one!"

He sighed and threw another. An excited squeal escaped from her mouth when the balloon popped, and he glanced over at her as she jumped happily. A small smile hung from his lips, amused, before he handed her the last dart. "Here, you got this one."

Ali took the dart and blew out a long, dramatic breath. She stepped back, her eyes concentrating on the pink balloon in the middle, then launched her arm forward.

Pop!

"Yes!" she shouted before turning to him. "High five, Sawyer!"

He lifted his hands and somehow hit hers without even looking. She frowned and watched as he took their prize from the man at the booth.

Attempt one: failed.

Her eyes searched for another opportunity, and a wide smile blossomed onto her face when she did. She pulled him over to another booth, making him almost drop their stuffed animal prize in the process, and quickly gave away a ticket.

"Okay," Ali breathed, barely able to contain her excitement. "Turn around, I need to blindfold you for this game."

Sawyer scrunched his eyebrows as he looked over the name of the booth. "Pin the tail on the donkey?"

"Yes, let's see if you can do it," she said before tying the black cloth over his eyes. She slowly guided him to the board with the cartoon donkey drawn on it, then spinned him around a few times. "Ready?"

"No."

"Good. Go ahead!"

Sawyer warily stepped forward and stretched out his hand, holding the so-called tail. She glanced around, seeing that no one was looking, and silently tiptoed to the board. As he took his final step forward, she managed to slide in between him and the board.

  Ali held her breath as he slowly stuck the tail onto her forehead. He cocked his head, unsure. "Did I do it?"

  Instead of replying, she gently untied his blindfold and waited for the moment they locked eyes. Her heart pounded; she couldn't believe it was finally happening.

  Ali's lips parted in surprise when he turned around immediately after she removed the blindfold. She blinked, confused, as he stood with his back towards her.

  "You don't make a great donkey," Sawyer remarked casually. "Your shoes are far too squeaky."

She never seemed to remember how unpredictable he was. She glared down at her sneakers and ripped off the tail from her forehead.

  Attempt two: failed.

  Out of ideas, Ali grudgingly accepted her defeat and spent the rest of the day strolling around with him. They went on the ferris wheel, where he sat too close to the edge, and ate at the wooden benches, where she had too much funnel cake.

  When the sun began to set, the two went to their usual pier and walked side by side to the end. She watched as he leaned over the wooden rail, gazing at the dark waters. She, too, looked down and momentarily caught his eye in their reflections.

  She cracked a smile. This was the most she would get out of him, and that was okay.

  "Do you ever get an urge to jump in there?" Sawyer suddenly asked her, and she quirked an eyebrow at him.

  "In where? The ocean?"

  "Yeah," he nodded. "For fun."

  Ali chuckled and took his hand in hers, partly due to the fear that he would actually jump into the cold water and partly because she simply wanted to. "Sure. But let's not do that today because one, there are sharks, and two, it's probably forty degrees down there."

"That's what makes it fun," he said flatly; she tightened her grip on his hand a little more at that. The gesture didn't go unnoticed, and he briefly glanced over at her in his peripheral vision. "Impulsivity and a disregard for one's own safety are traits of sociopathy, Alice. But don't worry, I won't do it. For you."

Her cheeks burned slightly at his words, but she still had her wit. "Oh, but let me guess, you'll most definitely be doing it in your free time?"

"I don't know the future," he shrugged innocently, and she smiled.

After a moment, he turned away from the ocean and leaned his back against the wooden rails. When she turned to look at him, she almost felt her heartbeat tremble.

The faint, early moonlight shined across his skin beautifully, and his black hair moved with the light breeze. But his eyes, as always, were what she loved the most as they lit up like the stars in the dark. All of her self control seemed to diminish in a matter of seconds upon looking at him, and she suddenly found herself acting without thinking.

"Sawyer," she said quietly, taking both of his hands in hers now. "Can you...close your eyes for a second?"

He blinked. "Why?"

"Can you just..." she trailed off, lacking a concrete reason, and he hesitated. His instincts were seeing this as a test, like any other social situation, but he pushed the thought away for once.

"Okay," he murmured before closing his eyes. Ali stood there for a minute, holding his hands tightly, and gazed at him as her breaths began to grow shallow.

She didn't know what she was doing, but she somehow didn't want to stop herself either. And perhaps it was the way his thumbs were purposefully rubbing her hand, softly and tenderly, or the way she felt like she was being pulled to him every passing second—but it drove her to do the unforeseeable.

Ali dropped his hands and cupped his face all in the same second. Then, before he could react to the change, her lips softly met his, and she closed her eyes. She stood on her tippy-toes, her heart racing with thrill and fear.

She pulled her head back, keeping her hands on his cheeks, and opened her eyes again. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

Sawyer was looking at her.

Straight into her eyes.

With every emotion swirling in his irises for all to see.

Ali fell silent as she forced herself not to blink, wanting to gaze into his eyes for as long as she could. But the moment lasted for barely a minute, as he slid his hands around her waist and desperately dipped down to meet her lips once more.

When they pulled apart again, Sawyer stared into her eyes like he had finally found the meaning of life in them, like he saw something more—just as she did with him.

Attempt three: an accidental success.