Rainy Nights

Rainy Nights: part 4

"We're here." Elaine repeated slowly as she looked up at the bright lights of the Ferris Wheel turning in the distance. This was always the type of scene they would show in movies, the kind that couldn't possibly exist outside of fiction. But there it was, right in front of Elaine's eyes.

"Elaine!"

She was brought back to reality by Emmie running to her car window.

"What are you waiting for?" Emmie asked. "Let's go."

Elaine nodded and got out. Kai and Noah were already here, they were standing behind what looked like a very annoyed Tanner.

"You're late." he said.

"Come on man, it's not the end of the world." Jay said.

"This was your idea in the first place, the least you could do is show up on time."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a buzzkill, we're here now so lets have fun." he turned to Elaine. "Come on."

She nodded and her and Emmie followed the group into the park.

The first thing Elaine saw was a little carousel. It's bright lights flashed as the carousel horses spun round and round. She had seen a carousel before of course, when she was young.

"Are all of you paying separately?" the girl at the ticket booth asked.

Elaine recognized her face from some of her classes. She didn't look too pleased to have to hand out change eight times.

"Yeah actually." Noah said, taking out his wallet.

The girl sighed and forced a smile onto her face. "Of course, one at a time please."

When it was finally Elaine's turn she didn't even get the chance to open her purse.

"Don't worry, it's on me." Jay said as he too out a 10 dollar bill.

Elaine opened her mouth to say something, to pretest, but the girl had already taken the money.

"Have a great time." she said with a forced smile.

Ethan frowned. Of course, paying for her ticket, why hadn't he thought of that? Jay was getting ahead of him already. He had to step up his game.

He leaned down to Elaine, "I saw you looking at the carousel." he said.

"Oh- I um, yeah, I guess I was." she stuttered.

She wasn't expecting Ethan to get so close to her.

"You never been on one?" play it cool Ethan, you've got this.

She shook her head. "Once or twice when I was little, I don't exactly remember very well."

Ethan smiled. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Elaine glanced over at the rest of the group. It looked like Noah and Kai were making bets to see who could win the most games.

"Shouldn't we stay with the others?" she asked.

Ethan looked over too. He met Jay's eyes.

"Nah, everyone's gonna go off on their own anyway." he said after a moment, making sure Jay had heard him.

"Okay then," Elaine thought about it for a moment, then she smiled. "Let's go then."

Ethan's heart skipped a beat. That smile was going to be the death of him. As they got in line for the carousel he took a deep breath and reminded himself why he was here.

He was here for Elaine, not for Jay and his stupid games.

The line wasn't too long, there were only a few people ahead of them, mostly little kids.