Unpredictable

Chapter 3

"Okay, open your eyes."

I squinted, my eyes dazzled by the dancing, twirling lights at the bottom of the grassy mound we stood on. I was disorientated, held on to Harry's hand, giggling like crazy.

"Where are we?" Even as I asked, the lights faded into a fairground, a merry-go-round, chairaplanes, candyfloss stalls.

Harry slipped an arm around my waist, squeezing me to him. His fingers brushed the bottom of my hair, sending shivers up my back.

"You alright?"

I nodded. "I can't believe it! I haven't been to a fairground in ages!"

He grinned, the cold night air tousling his hair against the expanse of black above us. We were far away from the cities: here, the stars shone as bright as pins in black velvet. It was beautiful.

Holding hands, taking care not to slip, we made our way down the hill to the fair.

"Which one do you want to go on?" Harry asked, his voice deep and loud amongst the shouts from the rollercoasters.

I pointed at the merry-go-round. "I've never been on one of those, but it looks fun."

"You've never-?" He looked shocked, and I giggled at his surprise. "Right, come on."

He pulled me over, payed and picked out two horses, side by side. As much as I tried, I couldn't get on, so Harry wrapped his arm around my waist and hoisted me up as if I weighed nothing. I was kind of breathless, and needless to say, it had nothing to do with the excitement of being placed on a wooden horse travelling in circles.

The ride started, slow at first but gathering momentum. I laughed as I heard Harry whoop from his horse, letting go and pretending he could fly. I did the same, and at one point Harry stretched so far over to reach my fingers that I thought he would fall off, but he gripped with his legs, his fingers brushing mine.

We stumbled, heavy-legged and light-headed, off the merry-go-round.

"Thank you, that was brilliant!" I hold onto his arm, and he whirled me around.

"Come on! What next?"

I ran to a stall slung with giant toys, one of those shoot 'em up stalls that no-one ever wins. Harry followed, digging in his pocket for coins. The guy running the stall turned around, beaming.

"Harry, mate! Didn't expect to see you here!" He held out his hand and they shake. The guy was hot, in a Hollywood way, tall and muscled with thick, black arrow tattoos on his arm, dressed in an oil-stained white tank top showing off his abs. His hair was brown, lighter than Harry's, closely cropped and leading down to an attractive scatting of stubble.

"Who's this?" He winked at me.

"Ella, this is Liam, he's my mate. Liam, this is Ella, she's my date." He introduced us and I smiled shyly.

They chatted for a bit, whilst I admired the way the darkness sunk half of Harry's face into darkness.

"You still up for band practice on Saturday?"

On top of everything, he was in a band.

Harry nodded and they said goodbye. Harry handed me a teddy from the stall.

"Tada!"

"What?! Where did you get it?" I hadn't seen him try to win it, but maybe he had bought it?

He winked. "I'll pay Liam back later. He won't mind."

"You... Stole it?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "They're rigged anyway, so you wouldn't have won."

I could see his logic, but it was still stealing.

"Okay. Thank you." I took the bear, somewhat reluctantly and hugged it. Yawning, I refused the urge to rub my eyes; my eyeliner would smudge everywhere.

He noticed my tiredness. "You alright? Do you want to go back?"

I shook my head. "We've only been on two rides. One, actually, unless you count the win-a-bear stall."

"It's fine, seriously. I can see that you're tired." He slipped his hand around mine, his hand warm and soft.

"Okay. And sorry about cutting our date short, I'm really enjoying myself."

"Don't be sorry, it's fine. You could, I mean, only if you wanted, you could come along to my band rehearsal this Wednesday?" He looked down shyly, his hair flopping forward.

"Seriously?! I'd love to!" I smiled.

He leaned in close, and I thought he might kiss me, but at the last moment he streaked away through the dark away from me.

"Race you!" He called, his words thrown by the cold wind.

I giggled and ran to catch him up.