IF I LOVED YOU//ANASTASIA

I.

"horses prance through a silver storm..."

♡♡♡

The little carousel near the outskirts of town was a valued part of the Maine community near the bay. People would head over after work or whenever they had a free Saturday. Sweethearts would ride together, or parents would bring their children. However, every once in a while, a girl from the weaving mill would come to gawk at Dmitry Sudayev.

Dmitry was the barker for the carousel. He never made much money as a barker. Though Dmitry could at least get by, he did have a reputation for conning people and stealing. That didn't stop women from finding him attractive. None of the mill girls really caught his attention, except for Anya Romanova.

The strawberry blonde went with her friend, Lily, the main reason being to see Dmitry. Anastasia had gone to the carousel many times before. The first time was with some of her friends, since they were interested in scoping out Dmitry. For Anya, it was love at first sight. She kept coming back to see him, but Lily was interested to see what the fuss was about. Naturally, Lily was much older than the two, so she didn't have any romantic interest in Dmitry.

Dmitry always found Anya beautiful, but had too much pride in him to admit that he was attracted to her. She never rode the carousel, she would only look at him and walk to another location just to look at him again. Dmitry tried not to pay attention, but always looked back out of the corner of her eye. Anya looked young in his eyes, though she was no less than two years younger than him.

When Anya finally figured she had enough courage to actually ride the carousel, instead of gawking at the barker, it was announced that only sweethearts could ride. Anya was taken aback a little bit, since she had no sweetheart. She wasn't horribly disappointed with the occurrence. It was just a bit bothersome how Anya had finally gotten the courage to do something, and it was denied to her. However, Dmitry noticed this. In an attempt to finally break the silence between the two, he approached Anya as she made her way back to Lily. Dmitry had just caught Anya, and offered to take her on the ride. She gladly accepted, and he took her hand and led her to the polished horse.

The familiar music that always played during the ride started as the horse started to move. The organ played the song that was almost sickening to Dmitry, since he was always hearing it. He didn't care about the music, for once. He only cared about the beautiful girl next to him. Dmitry wrapped his arm around her waist, to make sure she didn't fall off (or at least, that's what he argued). A laugh couldn't help but escape Anya's lips. Anya's happiness was contagious, causing Dmitry to almost laugh too. He hadn't given a genuine smile in a long time.

When the horses on the ride stopped, Dmitry took Anya's hand once again, and led her off the ride. The two were about to engage in conversation, before a woman was discovered to be staring at them. If looks could kill, they both would be dead.

♡♡♡

"Forget it, Anya... It's getting late anyways..." Lily sighed as she and Anya angrily walked away from the carousel. The two were on a sidewalk that was just next to the shore. The almost sickening music of the merry-go-round was heard in the distance. The woman who shot the glare at the two just happened to be Dmitry's boss. "Why is she still following us?"

"It's fine, Lily. I'm not scared of her anyways..." Anya laughed, even though her heart started to slightly accelerate.

"Listen sweet cheeks!" The woman yelled from behind, "If you ever poke your nose near my carousel again, I'll throw you out, you hear?"

"I didn't do anything wrong, what's it to you?" Anya shot back.

"I do not want to get in trouble with the police and loose my license for this place..." The women ranted, just loud enough for Anya and Lily to hear.