Under The Stars

Chapter 8

We ran around the carnival, looking for a good ride to ride on. Brianna suddenly stopped in front of me, making me bump into her. "Ouch! What the heck?" I yelped.

"Sorry.." Brianna apologized. "Maybe we should go to that ride." She said, pointing at the Ferris wheel... Oh no, thank you.

"Sorry, I can't go there." I said, walking towards the bench and taking my money out to buy some cotton candy beside the bench to distract myself while they all ride the ferris wheel. I may be afraid of heights. A little.

"Why not?!" Brianna whined, "Come on.. Please?" I looked at her puppy dog eyes, and gave in. I looked at the Ferris wheel and glared at her and walked towards the Ferris wheel.

Brianna squealed and grabbed my hands. "Brianna, it's okay if you sit in with Jack, you know. It's your date after all." I told her, just to make her more happier.

"Um.. Really?" She asked, with a hopeful eyes. And I answered with a yes. She smiled and hugged me, "You're the greatest friend I've ever had." She whispers. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Now go win that guy's heart. The guy that you had always love." I nudged and winked at her. She laughed and punched my shoulder.

"Jack, let's go together." Brianna held his hands and squeezed it."Now don't be afraid, I'm here for you. Always." She comforted him. He said he was afraid of Ferris wheels. But he's riding it anyways just for his girl.

"They're so happy." Noah said, watching Brianna and Jack laugh while they went in their cart. "They're so happy that I'm happy for them. That for some reason I'm not jealous of them." He mumbles.

"Hmm.. I wonder why you aren't jealous. Surely you had to cause you're in love with her. But, I'm sorry Noah, but I ship them more." I smirked, going in the cart that Noah and I are sharing. At least I have someone to distract myself from my fear of heights.

"I do, too." I was surprised with his respond, to be honest. Maybe he gave up on Brianna, maybe he's just going to be happy for her and let her fall in love with his best friend.

The cart shook a little and I gasped and held at the railings tightly. I felt a hand over mines. I looked at Noah and saw him staring at our hands, together. I stare at him for a little while. "What happened in the car?"

He looked at me, surprised. "It was nothing." He lied.

"It wasn't nothing, Noah. You know you could trust me. If your ever afraid to tell anything to anyone, I'll always be here. I know I may say something crappy, may be not, but I'm a good listener. I may not show, but I care. I'm a human being too. People says that I don't care about anything. That I'm heartless. But they don't know about me. Tell me, and I'll keep my mouth shut." I took my hand away and put it on above his, rubbing it gently.

He was looking at me the whole time, smiling a bit. "You know, I used to be afraid of telling people about my past or my secrets and thoughts. But now, you made me want to tell you everything that I felt. And my secrets. I used to be afraid of everybody's thoughts about me, thinking maybe they would judge me if I told them anything about me. But you, you are the only person that made me want to let out and express my feelings that I've been hiding for a long time. Not even to Brianna, only you." That made me smile.

"Okay, dork. Enough with this mushy saying and tell me what happened in the car." I changed the topic with the real topic we were supposed to discuss about. I am really curious of what made him that scared.

"When I was 8, I was the young little boy who was really close to his grandmother. Whenever my parents are out, busy working, I always stay at my grandma's house. She would bake me cookies, watch cartoons, play toys with me, tell me to catch her cat to make him take a bath, and would tuck me in at night and read me bedtime stories. She isn't just a grandmother to me, she is my best friend. My only best friend. I have no friends at school. But I was okay with it. Because I had my grandma. Every time I feel lonely I look at the bracelet my grandma made me." He started telling me the story, the Ferris wheel became slower and slower for some reason.

This is the 2nd time the Ferris wheel had rounded. I inched closer to him as he tells me the story. I wrapped my arms around his shoulder. He did't seem to notice.

"Until one day, I went to her house and asked her to go to the park with me. She was 81 and she didn't know how to drive anymore. But she didn't care, she wanted to go to the park with me. She told me to wait, while she changes. We went to her car and she started the engine. We talked, sang, and joked." He paused for a little bit and looked at me and I smiled.

"Then, I told her about the guy who bullied me. She got furious. And she gave me an advice about the bullies. She would tell me, "Don't mind them, they are just jealous of you, jealous of how smart, handsome, and creative you are. But no matter what, don't fight them back. Remember me, remember what I said." She looked at me and I looked at her. We smiled at each other and heard a loud honk. Then before I knew what was happening, her smile dropped, we were rolled over and blood came all over my body. Her blood and mine. Her blood mostly. I stared at her, she stared back at me. "I love you, my grandson." She whipered. "No matter what, I'll always be by your side and in your heart." And that's the last word I've ever heard from her. "I love you too, granny." I whispered back and held her hand. That's how she died. She died while holding my hand." He wiped his tears and sniffed.

I didn't know we were already at the end of the ride until we saw Brianna and Jack waiting for us, eating a cotton candy, taking a selfie. I stopped Noah from walking and hugged him. "I'm sure your Granny is proud of you and is smiling at you from above." I told him, cupping his face with both of my hands, wiping another tear from his face. His eyes staring back at mine.

Then we heard a click and a giggle. We looked at Jack and Brianna and saw Brianna taking a picture of us. Jack smiled and winked at Noah.

"Who wants some cake?" He asked.

"Me!!" Brianna yelled.

"You guys go ahead. I need to some time with Noah, alone. Text me when you guys are done and we'll meet up in a certain place." I told them. Jack grinned.

"Okay. See you." Brianna smiled.

"It's 8:56.. The fireworks is at 9:10.. You wouldn't want to miss it." Jack yelled while walking away from us, arms wrapped around Brianna's shoulder.

I took Noah hands and walk out the carnival. "Where are we going?" He asked while we walk. "Somewhere where barely no one is around." I replied. There is a beach near by and I decided to take him there. Just to keep him calm and relax after what he had just told me.

We sat in a bench and watch the waves in silent. "Thank you." He said after a long silence. "I've never told anyone about my Granny." He admitted.

I smiled, "I'm glad. You know, sometimes, you just have to tell somebody your emotions. It's a good feeling sometimes, letting it all out. You feel relief, you feel satisfied, you feel the weigh down your chest disappear. And damn, it feels so good telling someone about that would understand you. That would listen to you. Thank you for doing that to me. Thank you for trusting me."

We heard a boom. We looked at the carnival and saw fireworks. I looked at the fireworks and smiled. He wrapped his arms around me. I smiled at him and he smiled at me.

At least now I know that someone could trust me and would actually tell me about their past. Noah is something. Something that I can't quite figure out. And I'm willing to find out what it is.

We stared at each other for a while then he tucked my hair behind my ear. "You're beautiful." He whispered.

❤️❤️