Chapter 11 #3
“We got doughnuts and had a look around.” Keira shrugged before turning her attention back to the Ferris wheel.
A few minutes later, it was finally their turn to board.
The queue slowly moved forward, and the group shuffled around to organise themselves into fours.
Evie, who had been behind Amelia and Keira, slipped past them to talk to the ride operator, something clutched in her hand.
The ride operator glanced towards Keira and Amelia, then turned back to Evie and nodded, grinning.
Amelia was still too petrified at the sight of the Ferris wheel to notice, but Keira looked at Evie quizzically.
The Ferris wheel cranked around, and people boarded.
At last, just four people stood in front of Keira and Amelia. When Amelia started to step out of the line, Evie leaned forward and grabbed her arm.
“Don’t you dare,” Evie whispered, her tone authoritative.
Amelia seemed paralysed to the spot.
“What if I hold your hand?” Keira offered.
She held out her gloved hand in Amelia’s direction.
Amelia looked at her hand with abject fear, then her gaze rose upwards.
“You helped me with the ice skating. Let me help you with this.” Keira looked at her imploringly, daring her to step outside of her comfort zone.
Inexplicably needing her to step outside her comfort zone.
Amelia took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders, just as Keira had done before going on the ice, then stepped back into line.
Surreptitiously, she took Keira’s hand, letting their joined hands hang between them.
Keira gave her hand a little squeeze. She could feel Amelia’s whole body vibrating with nerves.
The next empty carriage rolled around, stopping in front of a small access ramp, and Keira moved to step on. Amelia, who seemed rooted in place, limited her movement and acted as an anchor. Their joined hands stretched between them like a lifeline. Amelia’s eyes were wide with fear.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Keira said gently, giving her hand another squeeze.
Amelia was still frozen in place. People in the queue behind them jostled, and started murmuring about the cause of the hold-up.
Amelia seemed to be acutely aware of every single pair of eyes on her as her breathing accelerated.
Keira squeezed her hand to draw her attention back to her.
Eventually, Amelia took a deep breath and lurched her right foot forward, slowly followed by the left. Keira stepped aside to let Amelia in first. She wordlessly climbed in, choosing the seat furthest away from the carriage’s small door.
Keira climbed in after her. The attendant shut the gate, despite there still being two empty seats in the carriage, and Amelia jumped.
Keira’s brow furrowed. Then she caught sight of Evie, who grinned mischievously.
She rolled her eyes and turned away before Evie could see the small smile on her face.
Amelia kept her eyes fixated on the nearby city hall, unable to look anywhere that might resemble down.
“Something wrong with the other seats, I think,” Keira heard Evie explain to an inquisitive Sienna.
“It’s okay,” she said gently to Amelia again. The wheel turned slowly, and the last empty seats were filled, each quartet of additional passengers dragging them higher up into the sky. Amelia gripped the cold metal handlebar next to her so tightly her knuckles were white.
A loud clank and a whirring sound made Amelia jump, and she grabbed Keira’s arm in a death grip.
“It’s okay. It’s just the Ferris wheel returning to full speed now everyone is on.”
Amelia nodded, then looked down at her hands, and immediately returned her hands to the railing.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Keira said again and smiled.
As they neared the apex of the climb, Amelia closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, still grasping onto the metal railing tightly. Keira couldn’t fight the protective impulse that came over her.
She wrapped her arm over Amelia’s shoulders and pulled her in close.
Amelia tensed, seemingly automatically, before her breathing visibly slowed.
Keira exhaled. She was just being a good friend.
Amelia let go of the railing and gripped tight onto the front of Keira’s coat instead, challenging Keira’s commitment to just being her friend.
Keira gave Amelia’s shoulder a little squeeze every time the Ferris wheel made a noise or jerked a little.
By the time they reached the bottom of their first rotation, Amelia had managed to open her eyes a few times.
When they ascended again, Amelia shut her eyes once more, and Keira spoke softly into her ear.
“It really is beautiful up here,” she said gently. “Try and have a proper look, if you can.”
Amelia took a few more steadying breaths and cracked open her eyes.
Keira got a front-row seat to the wonder that overcame her.
Amelia turned slowly, taking in the twinkling lights of the city.
Keira noticed how the ice skaters, resembling little figurines in a window shop display, made Amelia’s eyes widen with delight.
Even the music, almost unbearably loud at times, seemed muted and smaller up here.
Amelia slowly started to relax against Keira’s body, the beauty surrounding them distracting her from her fear.
Amelia’s eyes sparkled with magic, and Keira’s heart fluttered boldly as the last of her walls came tumbling down.
Oh, I’m in trouble here.
When Amelia sighed and looked up at Keira with a smile, then gently rested her head on Keira’s shoulders, Keira dared not move.
She didn’t want to scare her away like a frightened bird.
Amelia released the grip she had on Keira’s coat and instead let her hand drape over Keira’s stomach.
Keira couldn’t help it, she pulled Amelia in closer and kissed the top of her head.
Closing her eyes, she breathed in the scent of her shampoo. It felt like coming up for air.
Amelia smiled up at Keira. The look of wonder in her eyes transformed into something deeper.
Amelia’s pupils dilated, her gaze dropping tantalisingly to Keira’s lips.
The rest of the world disappeared. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss her.
The warmth that cascaded through her body quickly drove out the November cold and urged her to move forward.
The Ferris wheel jolted to a stop as the first quartet of passengers disembarked somewhere below them. Amelia glanced to the carriage below and instantly paled as her fear rushed back in. The moment between them was gone.
Keira turned away, digging her fingers into her own thigh, just for somewhere to put the tidal wave of feelings crashing through her.
Friends. We are just friends.
The cold crept back in as Amelia sat back upright, returning to gazing at city hall as they made their slow descent back to ground level. Keira retracted her arm and placed hands in her lap instead, ostensibly still taking in the surrounding view.
Amelia would always be just out of reach.
Tears prickled at the corners of Keira’s eyes before she could surreptitiously wipe them away.
She had made her boundaries regarding dating teammates very clear, and she had to respect that.
She was surprised, therefore, when Amelia reached out and took her hand in her own.
Keira didn’t look at her, but the corner of her mouth twitched into what might have been a smile, and she interlaced her fingers with Amelia’s.
They could play pretend, at least, for the rest of the ride.
They could pretend they didn’t have teams to lead or a parent to worry about.
Too soon, the Ferris wheel slowed to start letting people off.
It was only when the carriage before theirs emptied that they unlinked their fingers, keeping their gazes straight forward.
So many unspoken words hung in the air. Keira wanted to ask what it meant, wanted to ask whether Amelia had the same butterflies in her stomach every time their eyes met.
But they only had a few seconds before the rest of the team disembarked after them, forcing Keira to leave her questions unasked.