Sean had an interesting habit. Whenever he became nervous, he began to stutter and stammer. It was like an underdeveloped form of Tourette’s syndrome, enhanced in nerve-racking situations.
Sean was beginning to shiver as the engineer operating the Ferris wheel yelled, “And off we go!”
It was a warm night.
Karlie was trying not to laugh at him, staring at her and pleading with his eyes, “help me, help!”
She looked down instead, looked anywhere but at the blonde girl, trying to make the atmosphere as un-awkward as possible. She stared out the window, and saw that out of the corner of her eye that
the blonde girl, too, was staring out of the window.
Sean let out a deep breath of air and Karlie and Taylor both turned to look at him. His face was crimson.
Karlie chuckled.
How cute.
Sean began to open his mouth to speak, stuttering.
“S-so, uh, w-what’s, uh, y-your n-name?” he directed the question to Taylor.
Taylor smiled and locked eyes with him before responding. Sean looked down at the floor in embarrassment, unable to hold eye contact.
“I’m Taylor, and you two?”
“Uh, um, uh, I-I’m, uh, Se –
“This is Sean, and I’m Karlie,” Karlie cut in.
Taylor’s eyes switched onto Karlie, and Karlie held her gaze for a few seconds, before Taylor decided that Karlie was more capable of having a conversation.
“So where are you two from?” asked Taylor.
Karlie did not want to bother with telling Taylor the story of her life, did not want to just yet.
“Sean and I grew up here.”
Taylor nodded and smiled, wondering if Karlie would return the question, wondering if she would carry on the conversation. Instead, the girl simply returned to staring out the window. Taylor felt a tug of disappointment. Karlie had seemed interesting.
By this point, Sean gathered his air again, and tried to speak – yet again.
“W-where are you from, T-Taylor?”
“I’m from out of town, just staying here for the summer,” she replied.
She smiled again at Sean, who began to blush furiously and looked away.
Taylor looked at Karlie, desperate for some form of conversation, and spoke.
“Is there anything to do around here?” asked Taylor.
“Yeah, there’s plenty,” Karlie replied.
She did not want to make eye contact for too long, was afraid of not being able to unlock herself from the gaze, and so she spoke while still staring at the floor.
Taylor continued to stare at Karlie.
“Such as?”
Karlie gave in and looked up.
She has nice eyes.
“Well, there’s the little shops along the street,” she said, while looking at Taylor, “and there’s the nature around here. Plenty of wildlife and hills and beautiful scenery.”
Taylor smiled as the Ferris wheel was beginning to descend.
“Karlie!” Sean gasped, “Karlie, I feel sick.”
