Cry Me A River

Chapter Eleven - Carnival

{Dakota}

"No, don't make me," I begged Landon playfully. "I hate heights."

"I know that now, but it'll be worth it," he replied, holding my hands and dragging me toward the giant ferris wheel. After playing games, going on a couple rides, eating a lot of food (per Landon's request, although I didn't mind) and dodging clowns for an hour, this was where we ended up.

"Heights, Landon! Heights!" He stopped pulling me, letting my hands fall to my sides.

"Please? You brought your camera, and this was supposed to be the main event," he pleaded, giving me a pouty puppy dog face. I sighed.

"Fine. You're lucky you're cute. And I want the teddy bear," I ordered, referring to the little brown one tucked under his right arm. He'd won it for me at the Test Your Strength game. He was a totally different person away from everything at school and his friends, at least tonight. He was talkative and not as sarcastic, but still funny, and he was just happier.

"Thank you. Come on," he said excitedly, handing me the bear and intertwining our fingers as he pulled me along behind him.

"Go get in line. I gotta talk to the guy," Landon said. I nodded, getting in the line. Tonight was weird. A good weird, but weird all the same.

He joined me in line a minute later and we got into our seat, the ferris wheel jolting to a start. I clutched the safety rail and watched as the world began to move. As we neared the top, Landon stretched his arm across the back of the bucket. The wheel stopped abruptly and I made the mistake of looking down. Landon just chuckled and squeezed my shoulder.

"Don't focus on the ground. Look up," he suggested. I took a deep breath and looked up, tearing my eyes away from our seemingly 50 foot drop to death. I gasped at what I saw.

"It's beautiful."

"I know. And I would give you a really cheesy line, like 'not as beautiful as you,' but you'd call me on my shit," he replied. I laughed and moved my eyes over the picture perfect scene in front of me: The sky was dark and speckled with stars, and the lights below from the carnival illuminated the bottom of it, making the sky seem like it was even darker further up. I reached for my camera and paused.

"The 'main event?'" I wondered, quoting him. He smiled sheepishly.

"I know you love photography and I was here a couple years ago and saw the view, and I knew you'd love it," he explained. Maybe the asshole has a heart after all. I grinned and gave him a quick kiss before snapping a couple pictures of the sky. Then I turned and snapped a couple of Landon, who smirked and turned his head away.

After 5 minutes, Landon nodded to the guy in charge and we started moving again.

"Thank you," I said. Landon ran a hand through his shaggy hair, getting it out of his face.

"No problem, Kota. I had fun," he told me. I smiled as we got off the ferris wheel and he grabbed my hand again, lacing his fingers through mine.

Once we reached his car, I stopped walking, which caused him to stop. He turned, facing me.

"Come here," I said quietly. He stepped closer and I kissed him. He kissed me back gently, carefully. I knotted my fists in his shirt, pulling him harder against me. He groaned softly, low in his throat, and cupped my face in his rough hands.

"If we don't stop now I'm not sure I'll be able to stop later," he breathed, pulling back. "There was somewhere else I wanted to take you." I nodded, letting his shirt go and smoothing it down. Then I headed around to the passenger side. He joined me a minute later, which caused me to grin like a smug idiot. I like the effect I have on him.

"We've got about a half hour at this other place if we're gonna make it back by ten," I told him. He nodded and pulled out of the parking lot.

**************

We pulled into the makeshift parking lot of a nearby beach.

"What're we doing here?"

"Figured we could just talk, if you want," he replied. I nodded.

"I'd like that," I said. He smiled and we got out of the car. I grabbed his hand and slipped my fingers through his.

"So, can I count this as a successful first date?" he wondered. I chuckled.

"Yes, I'd say it was rather successful," I replied. He nodded slowly.

"That's good." We walked in a comfortable silence for a few moments, and I looked around us. The moon lit up the ocean as it calmly lapsed against the shore, just a few feet away from us. The wet sand squished beneath our shoes as we slowly made our way down the beach.

"So tell me about your mom. You only mentioned her a bit on the ride here," I said.

"My mom's a nurse, like I told you earlier, so she's not home much, but... I'm not either. She does the best she can, but with everything... it's hard," he told me.

"So that's why you help out with money?" I asked. He nodded. After another moment of silence, I spoke again. "You never mention your dad."

"No, and I probably won't, or at least, not for awhile," he replied.

"Why? If you don't mind...?"

"There's just a lot of stuff in my past that involves him, and considering everything I'm already involved in... dredging it up won't do either of us any good. At least not now," he explained.

"Okay, but when you want to talk to me, I'm all ears," I decided, making sure he knew.

"I know. Anyway, I think we should be done talking," he said. I looked up at him. He smirked, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.

"What else do you have in mind?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck and tangling one of my hands in his hair. He rested one hand on my lower back and used his other to tuck my hair behind my right ear. He dipped his head, nipping my earlobe and proceeding to place small kisses down my neck and then pulled back, meeting his lips to mine. "I like this idea," I said against his lips. He grinned.

"I tend to have good ones from time to time," he replied, breaking our kiss and leaning his forehead against mine. I smiled.

Just then, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye.

"Who's that?" I whispered to Landon.

"Who's who?" he wondered, turning around. His grip on me tightened and I felt the rest of him tense up as well. This was about to get bad.