Chapter 74
Mireya
Play - The feels by Labrinth
Crossing the line
We’re not even fully parked when the noise hits from outside. Music and laughter from somewhere I can’t see mixes with voices and mechanical sounds that rise and fall in the distance.
We get out of the car, both looking lost and it makes me laugh at how ridiculous we look next to everyone.
“You're already laughing, it's a good sign,” he says, taking my hand in his as we start walking.
I keep thinking I should feel something more defined than this. That… awareness. Of him being next to me and trying to do something to make me forget everything.
What am I even doing here?
He’s not even in his element, I know it. He’s tense and tragically beautiful in his own way. Cold but warm when he smiles at me shyly.
“You don’t have any idea about what to do now that we’re here, am I wrong?” I ask, walking beside him and smiling like an idiot.
He brushes the scar on his nose like he always does, before smiling and leaving out a long breath, “I’ll figure it out.”
He stops at the cotton candy stand and asks for two. We don’t even talk in the meantime, his hand is still on mine, his eyes fixed on the stand, and my smile slowly turns into me being confused. Him. Out of all people, him.
He’s always careful. But this is not careful at all.
“Here,” he says, grabbing them both and giving one to me.
“Thank you...”
He watches me as I tear off a tiny piece, my teeth grazing the sugar but his own stays untouched. “Is it good?” he asks.
“I love anything with sugar so yes,” I say nodding. “You have to try yours, now.”
He shakes his head, a half-smile tugging at his mouth, and I grab a small piece of his, holding it to him. His eyes catch mine just as his lips close around the tips of my fingers.
Deep blue eyes focused on my face, watching me feel him, focused on every reaction his touch pulled out of me. “It’s really good,” he murmurs. “Better than on the stick.”
I want to say something clever, insolent even, but my brain is already halfway out of my body. Everything around us feels blurred and soft, like I’m watching him through water.
“Mister Caldwell,” I whisper. “Remember when we said we can’t break the rules?”
He steps closer, enough for me to feel the smile on his lips as he leans toward me. “I remember perfectly.”
I tilt my head, meeting his gaze close enough that I can see my reflection in his eyes. A girl who never smiled much is smiling now, and somehow she looks like a stranger.
“If you keep looking at me like that, I might break it.”
“And I might already have broken it before,” he says, almost sadly. “Remember?”
He takes my hand and pulls me toward the Ferris wheel, buying tickets for the highest cabin. The wheel looms above us like some impossible thing, solid lines and lights spinning in the dark. We climbed in as the world slipped below. I can feel the sky pressing around me, infinite and indifferent.
A part of me floats there already, away from my body, away from all the rules I carry around like the heaviest anchor to a world where kindness was never on my side.
It feels good, here, on top of the world. For a few minutes nothing can hurt me. I’m far away from home, far away from responsibilities, from pretending to be okay.
I want to stay here.
With him.
Yeah I really do.