You Were Always There (Spin-Off to Her Little Firefighter)

Chapter Three

                                               ~~~~ One Month Later~~~~ 

                                                Eric's Point of View 

         Ah the first weekend in June, also known as the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, so it was time again for the annual carnival. Everyone in town went, as it was a time of dancing, games, rides, and of course good food. The fire department hosts the dunk booth every year, so I was currently at the grounds setting up. I could see Alex out of the corner of my eye running around trying to make sure everything looks perfect. She is a part of the city council and loves planning events like this so I figured she would be up here. I smiled slightly and turned back to finish getting the dunk tank set up and then a few of us got the banner hung up. It looked like we were all set and ready for the festivities to begin. I was going to go home and shower before the carnival that night, because thankfully I wasn't signed up to work the booth, last year I did and I was dunked like 30 times in my shift, 5 of the times were by Miss Alex herself, you wouldn't know it by looking at her, but the girl has got a good arm on her. 

     I was on my way back to my truck when I saw her working on trying to get a banner up by herself, struggling miserably I might add. "Here let me help." I ran over to her and we got the banner hung up no problem. 

     "Thanks Eric, that was really being a pain in the ass." 

    "No problem, have everything set up for tonight?" 

     "Mostly, just need to do a quick sweep through everything and make sure everyone did their jobs correctly." She said, chuckling slightly, but I also knew her, she was dead serious. Alex is a bit of a perfectionist, so if anything was not how it was instructed to be done, she would come find you. 

    "Well the dunk booth is all done, and I made sure it would pass the Alex inspection." 

     She grimaced and glared her eyes at me, but I knew she wasn't mad. 

    "It better be or else I'm gonna come find you Eric." 

    "That's terrifying, you need to relax a little, everyone is going to have a great time tonight Alex." I said, wrapping my arms around her to pull her into a hug. I thought it would be a quick hug, but then she slung her arms around my waist and just held on. She's not nearly as tall as me and so the top of her head comes to the top of my chest, and so as I held her I could smell her strawberry shampoo, and it made me smile. 

    Our moment was interrupted when we heard a cough behind us, and I found Duke there smiling. "When you two lovebirds are done, the arts club would like to see Alex." 

     "Of course, thanks Duke, see you later Eric." She said without even glancing back over at me. 

   "We are not lovebirds for your information, we're friends." 

   "Yeah okay that may be true, but you two definitely like each other and you know I'm right Eric, don't bother hiding that fact." 

    "We are just close friends, she just broke up with Justin, I don't think she's ready to jump back into dating." 

   "Ha! So you admit you want to take her out on a date." 

   I sighed, "Damnit," I muttered under my breath. 

 "Dude it's okay it's Alex, she's a great girl. We all know you would be a great couple together." 

  I shrugged my shoulders, praying we could switch up the conversation. "I'll see you tonight dude." 

  "Absolutely." 

                                                             ~~~ That Night~~~ 

     It was currently 8 that night and everyone in town was here, the kids were waiting in lines for rides and the cotton candy machine, parents were watching them while also having fun on the dance floor or on the rides themselves. People were sitting at tables talking in the pavilion where the dance floor was also set up. I saw Duke out there spinning Rayna around while his mom was sitting with the kids. I was currently hanging out at the dunk booth with some of the guys as people were lining up to dunk the new guy Hunter, but of course everyone was missing, why couldn't that have happened during my time last year? Finally a 5 year old girl came up and when she missed the target, she simply walked up and hit the button launching Hunter in the tank. It made everyone laugh, including Hunter who congratulated her and gave her a high five. I  kept glancing around for Alex, and I finally found her over by the library's booth. I smiled and headed over to her. "Hey, having fun." 

 She looked over at me, "Hey, yeah just making sure everyone is taken care of, I need to skim some other areas and make sure no one needs anything." 

 "That's not having fun, everyone is perfectly fine Alex, come on let's go have some fun." 

"Eric I really should check on people." 

"Alex the rest of the council is out enjoying themselves, it's your turn." 

 "I don't know." 

  I didn't give her another option as I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor. "Now I know you love to dance come on." I said. I saw her smile and then we were out there dancing to the beat, I'm not the best dancer, but I liked being out there with her, as she was beginning to loosen up. We had been dancing for a little bit when a slow song came over the speakers. She looked at me, and I just pulled her close. I had one arm wrapped around her waist while my other hand was interlaced with hers and she had one hand up on my shoulder. We were swaying to the music and I saw her begin to smile up at me. "See now I know you're having fun." 

"I am thanks to you." 

"Anytime, that's what I'm here for." We danced for a little bit longer, but then I saw her tense up, when I turned around I noticed why, there was Justin out on the dance floor with the woman he had met from work. I knew Alex was fine not having Justin in her life, but I also knew she was still in pain. She looked at him like part of her heart was still in his hands and he didn't even care. It hurt me to see her upset. "Hey let's go ride some rides come on." I said reaching down to squeeze her hand. She looked at me, nodded her head, and away we went, still holding hands I might add. I turned around briefly and I caught Justin staring at the two of us, it made me chuckle slightly. 

I took Alex to ride a couple things before we went to ride the ferris wheel, a town favorite I may add. The line was a little long and so while we waited we talked about our summer plans. My plans weren't really any different I would just be working at the fire department, but Alex told me she planned to volunteer over at the library for the summer since she would not be teaching. She needs to keep herself busy all the time. 

"I think that's a great thing to do with your time." 

"Yeah that's what I thought to, keeps me connected with the community." 

"Alex you already are pretty connected with them, don't think you're not." 

"Yeah, but I love that, I need to be involved or I feel like I'm not doing anything." 

"You do more than your realize, do not ever sell yourself short." 

"Thanks."

"You bet." 

We finally made it to the front of the line to ride the ferris wheel and while we were riding the ride stopped so that we were up at the top, we could see everything up here. 

"The view is beautiful up here." 

It was, but all I could do was look at her. 

                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Hi everyone, well I finally finished chapter three, I hope you all like it. Please let me know what you think of the story so far and what you would like to see in the future for this story. Thank you again for all of the support. 

Katelyn