Rattling and jolting, Emily ascended into the sky.
It was a nice sky, she had to suppose, that late-afternoon blue with a few yellow-tinged clouds dotted here and there. A little way away a flock of Canada geese were squawking and flapping their way across it, sounding like someone was walking across a row of old car horns. Up here she could see a road off in the distance and hear the faint whoosh of tiny cars as they sped along it. The air had just a touch of a chill to it, but it wasn't unpleasant.
Having completed her curve through the air, Emily began to descend. Noise, previously rendered faint by the height, slowly engulfed her. Fairground rides rose steadily around her, blooming like strange, mechanical plants; soon she was surrounded. She descended further, passing by the roofs of carnival games until she was finally level with the people on the ground once more. Down here the noise was inescapable, a cacophony of chatter and whistles, along with the bone-shaking rumble of rides; bass-heavy music blasted out from large speakers, whilst electronic recordings enticed people to go on a particular attraction, or announced that it was about to start, or that it was "T-t-t-time to speed up!" along with other such inane phrases, distorted through an electronic voice filter. The scent of sugar was everywhere, in a variety of different forms to boot: hot doughnuts fresh from the fryer, candy floss, sweets and candy in every colour of the rainbow, hot chocolate, ice cream, fizzy drinks, Belgian waffles with a variety of hot sauces... Emily reckoned it was almost enough to make you diabetic from the smell alone.
And then she was off, rattling and rising back up into the air, the noise, scents, people, and rides dropping away to be replaced with open sky once more. Without thinking, Emily propped her chin in her hand, resting it on the side of the carriage; it was an action that immediately sent vibrations through her arm and rattled her skull about so much that it felt like her teeth were about to be jarred out of their sockets. She quickly stopped.
Okay, so. Ferris wheels were... nice, she had to admit. They were good to use as a landmark in case you got split up or someone got lost, they made for nice photographs when lit up or silhouetted against something, and it was pleasant enough to look at the world from a high vantage point... at first. After the first couple of rotations though? They were boring, and then you were literally stuck going in circles when you could have been doing much better things or going on much more thrilling rides. At least, that was how Emily saw it. Especially if you had no one to talk to. She sighed and watched the road until it was obscured from sight by a combination of rides.
Dooooown into the noise, back upppppp into the silence. How many rotations had it been already?
'Probably twenty,' thought Emily, 'but it feels like fifty.'
Around and around and around...
A sudden musical chime sounded opposite her, and Emily's eyes automatically flicked to the source. Now there was an interesting little distinction to be made here: while Emily had no one to talk to, that didn't necessarily mean that she was alone.
Opposite her sat Trellis, glaring at something on his phone. He quickly tapped something into it, then slipped it back into his shirt pocket. As he did so their eyes met. A crackle of… something ran up Emily's spine; both quickly looked away, Emily wrenching her gaze to the road, Trellis hurriedly looking down at his feet. As if on cue, Emily's lip gave a painful throb, and she could feel a blush heat up her face. She growled quietly to herself as embarrassment stewed within her.
There were no two ways about it: this had definitely been a set up.
You could call her whatever you want, cynical, suspicious, pessimistic, but she was certain of it. Looking back, there had been too many deliberately clumsy coincidences, the pieces all lining up and falling into place far too neatly for it to be anything other than something planned. The distinction was clear: it was like someone genuinely tripping and falling over, versus someone doing it on purpose to appear clumsy and cute, or to garner sympathy.
She had two people to thank for this:
Her brother, Navin, and his girlfriend, Aly.
It had been strange how they'd both latched onto the idea of Riding The Ferris Wheel once they gotten within radius of it. It was like they'd transformed into a pair of particularly determined roombas with low battery, their docking station being the ferris wheel.
"C'mon Em, let's go on it!" Navin had pleaded, hands clasped and doing a very good impression of a sad puppy.
"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Aly had added. "I bet the view'll be fantastic!"
"I'll pass," said Trellis. His tone had been flat, his eyes looking everywhere but at Emily.
Emily had shrugged at that, secretly relieved. In that case... "Fine, I'll ride with you."
She wasn't really able to describe the look passed across both Navin and Aly's faces at that point; it flitted by far too fast to catch. But whatever it was, in their eyes there was now a large target clearly painted on Trellis' back. They immediately went on the offensive.
"Aw, that's no fun!"
"It won't be the same without you!"
"It's only a ferris wheel, it's not really going to be going fast!"
"How often are you going to get to ride one of these?"
"C'mon, let's all go together!"
Afterwards, Emily wasn't really able to say how exactly they'd done it, what the precise key to victory had been when it came to her brother and his girlfriend's attempt at convincing professional icicle Trellis to ride. But somehow, through a combination of pestering, prodding, and the entangling rules of social convention, they had successfully done it, badgering a frosty Trellis into accompanying them.
There was a bizarre amount of triumph surrounding the pair as they'd fled to the queue, a less-excited Emily and Trellis trailing after them. As far as queues went, it wasn't too bad. There were a fair amount of people waiting already, but it was a large ferris wheel with a sizable ride capacity; when a ride ended, a large portion of the queue would be swallowed up and admitted. The four of them waited together, chatting casually, although Emily had to note that it was Navin and Aly doing the majority of the talking. And every so often, Emily would catch the pair giving one another a particular look, as if sharing an inside joke. A family of five had soon joined on behind them, and then more people had joined behind the family, and so the queue steadily grew.
Finally, the current ride ended, and in stops and starts the queue moved forwards. Before Emily knew it, it was their turn to clamber aboard. Now this was an oddity: in their brief journey through the queue, Aly and Navin had somehow ended up behind her and Trellis. She climbed aboard, followed by Trellis who was wearing an expression that clearly said he wanted this entire affair to be over as soon as possible, thanks.
She plonked herself down on the slightly-too-hard seat, looked up, and...
Navin and Aly had disappeared.
With a startled burst of confusion, she scanned the immediate area.
"Seen our friends!" came a sudden cry, and Emily caught sight of them running pell mell away from the ferris wheel.
"We'll catch up later!"
"Our friends from the academy!" added Navin, pantomiming a large pointing gesture that failed to single out anyone in particular.
"Wha-" began Emily.
She was cut off by a very decisive clunk. Oh no. Seeing that the pair were already seated, and not wanting to waste any time and move on to the next riders (time is money, time is money), the operator had shut the gate. With a clunk and a rumble, the carriage had risen into the air, its passengers still processing and trying to untangle what'd just happened.
With a slow horror, their gazes had slid to one another, and locked on.
They were alone together.
On a ferris wheel.
And they'd be alone for some time.
Embarrassment bloomed in the air between them.
Like a hive mind coming to a single decision, Emily had sat on one side, Trellis on the other, and both had pretended that they were the only one there.
Fun.
With a sigh Emily folded her arms, resting them on the carriage side, and nestled her head on the makeshift pillow; this way she was somewhat protected from the skull-rumbling vibrations. The ride would be over soon, and she could put this whole highly-embarrassing experience behind to bed. Both this one, and the one before it…
…(And the one before that…)
Lazily, Emily watched as they curved upwards, reaching the apex of the circle. Soon. This was probably the last rotation.
Suddenly the carriage rocked wildly as an ear-splitting metallic screech ripped through the air. Emily found herself catapulted off to the side, thumping into something soft which let out a 'whoof!'
"What was that?" she exclaimed.
Secretly a part of her had already guessed, but her mouth moved anyway, as if the result would be somehow different by asking.
It wasn't.
"We've stopped," said Trellis, sounding slightly winded and oddly close – the first thing he'd said for entirety of the ride.
With a start, Emily realised just exactly where she'd been deposited when the carriage had rocked: Trellis' lap. Face reddening, she scrambled back over to the safety of the opposite seat. The wheel groaned, juddered once more, and ground to a halt with a certain sort of finality.
Trellis was correct: they had stopped, right at the very top of the wheel to boot. Sticking her head out, Emily looked down. Way below them, a tiny ride operator was rushing over to the ferris wheel's control booth, whilst the equally-tiny man within had poked his head out and was yelling something.
"Something's wrong," said Emily, turning back to look at Trellis.
"Perhaps it's something minor," he said. "An electrical fault, maybe."
"Hm." Emily plonked herself back in the seat.
They both knew the real meaning of Trellis' words: Please don't let us be stuck up here on this thing for any longer than we need to be, especially after what happened…
Silence descended, the only sound being the distant rush of the road, and the faint buzz of noise and raised voices below.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
The shouting from below grew louder. The ferris wheel remained stock still.
Emily blew out a long sigh.
"Well, this sucks," she said flatly.
She leant back against the rather-hard seat, and titled her head back to look up at the sky. The late-afternoon blue had deepened, and shades of pink were beginning to appear. The yellow-grey clouds drifted serenely by, now holding a promise of future rain. She rolled her head to one side, and the fairground stretched out and away, a great, oversaturated, glittering landscape, people milling between stalls and rides like an immense, human river. As Emily watched, a cart on something called 'The DevXstator' shot down a slope, the people on-board shrieking and posing as the ride's camera flashed. Emily rolled her head the other way, neck popping as she did so, and now the view was one of fields and hedgerows and distant hills, the tiny road cutting through it all. A miniature lorry was steadily chugging along, followed by an agitated-looking red car which kept dipping in and out of the other lane in an attempt to see whether it could overtake. It eventually did, and zoomed away, looking like it was breaking the speed limit as it did so.
Emily rolled her head back to the sky once more. Overhead, a bird flashed by, too fast to see what it was. Sitting this high up in the sky was almost like being a bird, perched in a strange nest and waiting for your parents to come home, their beaks full of insects, or fish, or meat, or berries, depending on the species. Fledglings, unable to fly away…
That's solve everything, if they could just fly down, Emily thought, rocking her head to look at the fairground once more.
"That's really creepy to watch, you know," said Trellis.
"You're creepy," said Emily, not bothering to look up. Not her best comeback, but whatever. She languidly kicked out in jest, and her foot came into contact with hard metal.
"It looks like your head's about to come off, like a beheading gone wrong," Trellis continued.
Emily raised her head. "And who are you? The medieval expert? Next you'll be telling me that my red hair is a sign that I'm a witch and I'm to be burned at the stake."
Trellis snorted and crossed his arms, gazing off to one side. Relief settled onto Emily like a warm, cosy blanket. It was a horrible fact of life, but there was nothing like trauma and/or things going wrong to make people come together and overlook whatever personal business was going on between them. Case in point: the, ah, incident earlier had happened, making everything awkward between her and Trellis, but now, stuck at the top of a broken ferris wheel with no idea when or how they'd get down, and with no-one else to talk to, well, they were friends again and could get on with gently agitating one another once more.
Emily began tapping her foot against Trellis' leg. "They should be here too."
"Hmm?"
"My brother and Aly. It was their idea to ride this rotating deathtrap in the first place."
Trellis nodded slowly, staunchly ignoring the mild abuse of his leg. "They practically promised me their firstborn in exchange for getting me on this thing." He raised an eyebrow. "Or are you going to stake some sort of claim, o medieval witch?"
Disappointed at the lack of a rise she was getting regarding his leg, and getting a stiff neck from the awkward position, Emily shuffled upwards into a proper sitting position. She stretched.
"Dunno. Perhaps I'll take it as revenge for being stuck on this ride with you."
"Ha! I could make the same claim!"
"Then what?"
"We bring in the lawyers. Injured party vs. scurrilous medieval witch."
"Hey!"
Emily shifted herself around so she could lean on the carriage side, and looked out over the fairground once more. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Trellis turn to look too. She scanned the crowds below in an attempt to spot the deserters. Or heck, even her Mom and Leon; they were somewhere in that massive conglomeration of people. Far below, the two ride operators were gesticulating wildly at one another, their postures tense. Suddenly one's fist shot out, catching the other squarely across the jaw. The one who'd been hit reeled back in pain; the next second he lunged forward, tackling the other man to the ground, where they began to fight.
"Because that's really going to help fix matters," murmured Emily to herself.
Further away two women were chatting, Belgian waffles in hand, whilst a leashed dog sat at their feet, head swivelling back and forth at all the different sounds and smells. A group of kids piled off a ride titled "Whammo! RIde the SOuNd" with a tired-looking adult in tow, and immediately raced to the photo booth, pointing at the picture from their ride. Someone turned away from a shooting gallery, shrugging apologetically to their companion. Not that it was very likely in the first place, but trying to pick anyone familiar out of such a cluttered landscape was impossible, and Emily's gaze drifted further out. In the sparsely-populated maze of caravans and trailers that lay beyond the fairground's borders, the odd person wandered. Someone was bringing in their washing. Several people stood outside a trailer door, smoking cigarettes. A chained dog lay sleeping, its head on its paws, its back end underneath a trailer.
Emily's lip gave a painful throb. The previously bracing air was now beginning to border on being uncomfortable, as the sun began to set. A musical chime sounded to Emily's left; Trellis checking his phone.
"Any update from the world below?" she asked.
"For someone who's not going through it," said Trellis, as he tapped a response, "my brother is being remarkable laissez-faire about the whole thing."
"Lassay fare?"
"Relaxed, letting things take their own course. He says-" Trellis hunched over slightly, whilst adopting a slightly dreamy expression in an imitation of Luger, "-it's a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the evening air and see the world from above, a golden chance to reflect as well as spend some quality time with a lo- with a friend," he quickly corrected.
Emily automatically frowned at the error, but the next second it'd dropped away. "Your brother's pretty relaxed. If my Mom knew about this, she'd be, I dunno, a little bit worried, but trying not to show it."
For a moment Emily wondered about calling her Mom. But nah, if she called her Mom then her Mom would probably worry, and this really didn't seem like an important enough scenario to make a fuss over. They were at the top of a ferris wheel, sure, but they'd probably get it going again in the end.
Man, these seats were uncomfortable. Emily shifted and stretched again, trying to ease the stiffness that was beginning to build in her limbs.
"If my father was here, he'd pay them to leave the machine broken, and then blame me for getting stuck." Trellis huffed out his version of a laugh, but it was a bitter, humourless sound.
"Yeah, well, your Dad sucks." Emily leaned over and elbowed him in a companionable way.
Turning her attention back to the fairground, Emily was just in time to catch sight of two things: firstly, the two fighting ride operators were being broken up and restrained by a couple of burly people whilst an angry-looking woman shouted at them; judging by the money apron tied around her waist, she was another fairground worker. Secondly, a couple in front of a food stall were kissing one another. Enthusiastically. Very enthusiastically. It was rather like watching a pair of snakes trying to devour one another whole simultaneously. Emily felt herself blanch a little, partially in disgust, partially in embarrassment as two memories merrily waved to her from the back of her mind. Oh, geez. And in public, too. Why did people have to be so disgusting? She turned around and fixed her attention on the road. Okay, so it was infinitesimally more boring unless you happened to like cars, but at least there were no people… doing a certain activity.
A comfortable silence descended. The sun sank behind the hills, a beautiful orange disc against a vivid sky. Despite herself, Emily shivered. The air was now decidedly chill, and matters weren't helped by the fact that she'd been inactive for so long, as well as being quite high up. What on earth were those ride operators doing down there? And where were Navin and Aly? Or her Mom and Leon for that matter? Surely the former should've noticed that something was wrong by now. Emily rubbed her fingers, trying to work some vestige of warmth into them.
"You look cold," said Trellis, all of a sudden.
"Really," said Emily, dryly. "You don't exactly look like a bastion of warmth yourself."
Trellis' face had a slightly pinched look, sitting with his limbs pressed tightly to himself. In all honesty, he looked like a bad statue. Then again, Emily reckoned that she probably didn't look much better. Two poorly-carved statues, frozen at the top of the world. Emily tried to repress a shiver, and failed. If only she'd brought a coat! But the weather earlier had been so deceptively nice, and she hadn't exactly been planning to get stuck at the top of a ferris wheel for goodness-knows how long with a guy who outwardly had the emotional range of a sad potato. She sighed. And on top of this, it was only going to get colder. Fantastic. Trellis tucked his hands into his armpits; she watched him as he did so and he stared back, almost daring her to say something. She was cold, he was cold, and neither of them had coats.
An idea gently unfolded in the space between them, and there it sat, heavy and foreboding. Each knew that they were both thinking the same thing, and that the other person was thinking it too, but neither wanted to voice it. Trellis looked pained for a moment (well, more pained than usual), and Emily narrowed her eyes.
Here it was, here it comes, forcing its way out into the world…
He opened his mouth.
"No," Emily interrupted, embarrassment writhing within her. "There is no way that we are, or will ever-"
oOo
They were sitting huddled together for warmth. Well, perhaps 'huddled' wasn't the quite the right term, as it implied a sort of desperate, full-body contact, done by, say, orphans in a Charles Dickins novel who were probably about to die and it'd be all delightfully tragic. They just happened to be sitting side by side. In an enclosed space. Pressed up against one another. For warmth. Where no one could really see them. Alone. That was all there was to it. Just warmth.
Granted, they were both somewhat cold, so the warmth gained from this action wasn't that much, but as Emily knew from previous experience, a little warmth is better than nothing, and you'll cling to it because you can't bring yourself to go back to being cold.
Both of them sat slightly stiffly, as if they were trying to pretend that they weren't actually doing this. Emily had her eyes fixed firmly on the fairground, while Trellis was staring at the road like he was trying to set alight using nothing but his eyes.
It was excruciating.
Memories of the funhouse kept trying to pop in Emily's mind, followed by the Big Memory from the bike sheds before that. She tried to block them out by counting people in the queues. However this was made difficult by the simple fact that she was acutely aware of Trellis next to her; aware of where his skin was touching her, aware of the weight of his body, aware of the (mild) warmth his body was giving out, aware of the texture of his clothes. Heck, she was close enough to smell him and who knows what it was, the situation, their proximity, or good ol' hormones, but Emily felt slightly dizzy. Her heart was thumping away, and she knew without a doubt that her face was red.
'Yes!' whispered the deepest, hidden part of Emily's mind.
She wanted to... She wanted to…. As if on cue, her lip throbbed.
'Yeah, that's it!' continued her mind.
If she hadn't been pressed up against someone who prompted a lot of confused, mixed feelings in her, Emily probably would have been better able to counter her mind.
But instead:
'Erm,' she thought, face burning.
Evidentially on a roll, her mind responded by conjuring up a picture, including the sensations that would go with such an action.
'Erm,' she thought again with a bit more desperation.
"Ow," came a voice to her left. It was followed by a minor shifting in the shoulder area, and the imperceptible rustle of hair.
Half curious, half filled with dread, Emily turned to look. Trellis' gaze was fixed on their laps, his face coated in a heavy blush. Emily followed his line-of-sight down.
She was gripping his thigh.
Hard.
Evidentially sometime during her mental shenanigans her hand had drifted, clenching at the thought of ki- something, too lost in thought to notice. Mortified, she snatched her hand away like it'd been burned. Trellis was staring at her, looking somewhat bloodless despite appearing to have majority of his blood now concentrated solely in his face. His mouth moved soundlessly for a moment.
"Why?" he finally said, voice oddly hoarse.
Emily's mind was helpfully blank.
"It was on purpose," she said, then blanched. Why had she said that?! What she'd meant to say was that it'd been an accident! Stupid mouth!
Now Trellis' face was a mixture of emotions: fearful, concerned, and confused, and it might've been Emily's imagination, but was that a pinch of desi- nope, nope shutting that thought down right now.
"On purpose…?" he parroted.
"No!" Emily hurriedly turned aside as best she could to look out across the fairground and away, leaving Trellis staring confusedly at the back of her head.
Well, that went splendidly.
Internally, she was a sea of chastisement: stupid lousy ferris wheel, stupid cold, stupid beautiful Trellis, stupid human need for warmth, stupid bike sheds…
"Eeeeeeeeeeem!" A tiny-but-familiar voice bellowed up from below. "Eeeeeeem!"
For a moment Emily's head swivelled back and forth automatically, trying to locate the source of the noise, before sticking it out of the carriage. On the ground far below stood Navin and Aly. Oh thank goodness, a distraction.
"Whaaaaat?" she bellowed back.
"Are yooooou okayyyyy?"
Emily paused for a moment as she considered her answer. "Weeeee're colllllllld, but weeeeeee're okayyyyyyy!"
A pause, the blonde and brown heads conferring together. Then-
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee're soooooooooooorrrrrrrrry!"
Emily stiffened, eyes narrowing. Ah. This had been a set up. But that didn't explain-
"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"
"What are you all yelling about?" asked Trellis.
For a second Emily froze up, mortification from before mentally tripping her. She shoved it down.
"They're apologising, but it's hard to understand."
"Well, why didn't they just ring then, instead of yelling?"
Her phone, of course! She'd practically forgotten that it was there, the heavy weight in her pocket glossed over by her mind. Emily quickly dug her elderly brick of a mobile out of her pocket, and dialled Navin's number. Phone held up to her ear, she leaned out of the carriage once more. Below, Navin and Aly were still staring skyward, only to abruptly look down, their attention drawn by something. A second later Navin had pulled out his phone and his voice was in Emily's ear.
"Emily! Em! We're sorry! We didn't mean for this to happen!"
"You didn't mean for what to happen? For the ride to break down? Or for you to ditch us?" said Emily, her words coming out sharper than intended.
"Aha, well, yeah, y'see, about that…" Navin's voice petered out for a moment. In the background Emily could hear Aly pipe up.
"What? She guessed?! Ohh, we've gotta fess up!"
"We weren't exactly subtle! Oh man, oh man, yeah, you're right though. They're gonna be so annoyed…"
"Care to explain?" said Emily.
Navin yelped, having forgotten that he still had the phone to his ear. There was the brief sound of a scuffle and the phone being jostled; the next moment Aly's voice came through.
"You're right. We ditched you, Emily."
"Yeah, I noticed when you ran off with your "friends"," said Emily dryly.
"No, no, I mean, we ditched you deliberately. We, we- help me out here, Nav- we had a plan." There was the crunch of a phone being passed over, and then Navin was speaking in a jumbled rush, like he was trying to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.
"It was just after the funhouse incident, and we came up with it because you two were dancing around one another, I don't mean in a literal sense, you were just, arrg, acting like each other weren't there and you weren't looking at each other anymore like you had been earlier, and we had to do something to get you two alone together so you'd be forced to, I dunno, do something about it, and so we decided to go on the ferris wheel only once we were at the front Aly was supposed to suddenly pretend that she felt sick and I'd stay off with her and you two would have to ride alone, but then we saw Trish and Rob so we decided to ditch you that way instead but now the ferris wheel is stuck and you're stuck on it and we should be stuck with you and-"
Navin prattled on, but Emily didn't hear him. She was right. She was right, but oh geez, it was so much worse than she'd expected. The events of before flashed through her head; before they'd been nothing more than speculation, but now they were joined together with the glue of truth: Nav and Aly's insistence that they all ride, the looks that they kept exchanging, their strange determination at getting Trellis on board. Feeling mortified for a third time, Emily glanced over at Trellis. His close proximity combined with the kids below having to bellow over the noise of the fairground meant that he'd heard every word. His expression was strangely choked. Navin's voice continued to broadcast out from the phone, regardless.
"And everyone can see it and you're both grumpy, but together you seem happy in a grumpy way , and – Em? Em? You still there?"
As if in a dream, Emily stared out across the fairground. When she spoke, her voice was strangely calm and level, while inside she felt all wriggly and embarrassed. Unable to think of anything else, she defaulted to autopilot.
"I knew it."
And just like that, she ended the call.
An awkward silence spread through the carriage. Finally, Trellis cleared his throat.
"So," he said, his voice sounding slightly strangled, "it was all a ploy."
Alone once more, the strange level of cool that'd briefly taken over Emily had dissipated "Y-yeah."
Silence.
Navin's words echoed in the empty space above them, like ghosts. Everyone can see it. Together you're happy in a grumpy way. We had to get you two alone together.
Off in the distance, a lone siren wailed, its source being a tiny ambulance racing along the road.
Everyone can see it.
Everyone can see it.
EVERYONE CAN SEE IT.
What with all her dobbing in and out of the carriage during the call, a gap had opened up between Emily and Trellis, now sitting on opposite ends of the same side. She felt his gaze boring into her; she looked up and he hurriedly looked away.
Well. This was one heck of an elephant in the room. An elephant that her brother and his best friend had just painted pink, slapped a flashing neon sign on, and yelled "Hey! Look at this!", whilst Emily would rather it be ignored and, if possible, have a camouflage throw blanket draped over it: nothing to see here, move along, move along! At least, not until she and Trellis had personally figured out what was going on between them.
When you got down to it, this entire mess had started back then, in that place. It'd been the breeding ground for this whole affair…
oOo
Emily's spot was behind the bike sheds, accompanied by its usual scattering of elderly rubbish, weeds, and the odd cinderblock. It was a nice little hidey-hole in which she could tuck herself away during her free periods, hidden from the world. Plus, it was a secret, unfavoured location; no one ever bothered to investigate it or hang out there to secretly smoke or kiss (the favoured locations for those being behind the swimming pool, and the janitor's cupboard with the broken lock, respectively). The privacy, combined with those factors made it highly-desirable to Emily. It was her own shabby, secret, world.
That is, it was, until the day she'd rounded the corner-
And Trellis had been there, leaning against the shed, hands in pockets, and staring up at the sky.
For a split second Emily had halted mid-step as his gaze slid to her. Then a possessive part of her kicked into gear: this was her spot. Slowly and deliberately she'd walked over to the wall. She hefted herself up and sat on it, radiating the same sort of authority and possession as an explorer claiming a foreign piece of land in the name of their country. That is to say, it belonged to someone else and she had no legal claim on it in any way, shape or form, and not even any right to hold it in the first place, but there she was, claiming it anyway.
Trellis gave an imperceptible shrug, his gaze sliding back to the sky.
It was a slow, uncomfortable time for the both of them.
oOo
The next day, Emily was relieved to find her space free once more. And it remained that way, right up until her final period of free time.
Trellis was there.
Again.
Geez.
Again they locked eyes.
Again Emily made a show of going to sit on the wall.
As she sat there, the hard brick cutting into the backs of her legs, she mentally reviewed what she knew about Trellis. It was surprisingly little. He was a couple of years older than her. He had a small degree of infamy, both because his father was some sort of politician, and because of the scar splitting his face. She'd seen him once or twice in the library. In fact, it'd been the only place she'd ever seen him.
Ah. Out of scant pickings, that was the trail to follow.
"Aren't you usually in the library?" Emily asked.
Trellis regarded her for a moment, his gaze sliding sideways. It was oddly piercing, but Emily's armour was thick. "They're performing renovations."
Meaning that it was closed, otherwise he would be there. Instead of here. In her space.
It was another, long, uneasy time for them both.
oOo
Over the next several days, Trellis kept randomly turning up behind the bike sheds. Some days he would appear only once, on others he would be there multiple times, all decreed by when their free periods intersected.
"Why do you keep hanging out here?" asked Emily, on the fifth time.
"Why do you?" he shot back.
Emily had narrowed her eyes at that. "It's quiet. And I have the place to myself."
He nodded. "Then there's your answer."
"Hmm."
oOo
"What's that?"
The day was unusually chill and overcast, threatening rain. Nonetheless, both Emily and her newfound interloper were behind the bike shed.
Emily shook herself from where she'd been staring off into space. "What's what?"
"That." Trellis nodded at her hand. A large, raw graze marred the back.
Emily shrugged. "I tripped."
In fact she had tripped whilst going up the stairs, but Emily would rather chew off her own legs than admit that. She stared coolly at Trellis, almost daring him to make something of it.
He was silent for a moment, eyes drifting off and up to one side as he considered something. Finally, he spoke. "Careful it doesn't become infected. Aloe vera helps with wounds like that."
Emily's face scrunched up in a frown. Advice?
"Okay," she'd said, and that had been that.
oOo
(Later, she looked up the plant in question, and recognised it as one of the ones she'd seen among her Mom's collection of greenery in their kitchen. It was an odd, spiky thing, cool to the touch. Breaking off part of a leaf, a strange, gel-like substance had oozed out; it left a greenish-yellow stain on her hand where she spread it on the graze.
Sure enough, it had helped.)
oOo
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"Thanks. For the aloe vera advice."
A nod.
oOo
Emily lay on her back, staring up at the sky. Admittedly, the wall wasn't the most comfortable thing to rest on in such a position; it was cold, hard, and she could feel her body getting ready to protest in preparation for the moment she'd get up, but whatever. Above her, the sky tried its best to appear broad and open, but since it was bordered on one side by the weather-beaten bike shed roof, and on the other side by an old chain-link fence, the effect was somewhat lost. Absentmindedly, she fiddled with something in her hands, turning it this way and that, smoothing the wrapping whenever she felt some sort of crease.
Presently there came scuff of familiar footsteps, and Trellis rounded the corner. With a grunt, Emily hauled herself into a sitting position, her back stiffly twinging and complaining as she did. Before Trellis could settle himself into his usual position of leaning against the dingy shed wall, Emily called to him.
"Hey. Catch."
With a flick of her wrist, she chucked the slightly-abused object at Trellis. A look of surprise crossed his face for the briefest of seconds, then his hands were rising to catch it.
"Chocolate?" he said, looking down at the brightly-coloured wrapper.
Emily nodded, gazing absently off to one side. "You look like you could use it. And," she added, "now we're even about the aloe vera thing."
He was gaunt enough as it was, and in truth, it seemed like the safest option to go with. There was a quiet beat of silence, broken only by the distant cry of voices elsewhere in the school.
"Thanks," said Trellis, and he slipped the bar into his pocket.
A few minutes passed in what could be called an almost companionable sort of silence. Finally, Emily spoke.
"You're Trellis, right?"
"Yes," he said. "And you're Emily, correct?"
For a moment Emily found herself mildly taken aback; whilst she'd known his name, she hadn't really expected the reverse to be true. But hey, it made things easier. "Yeah."
It was strange, with that short introduction, Emily felt something that'd previously been sitting between them, a barrier of sorts, drop away.
oOo
Time ticked on, and Emily had to admit that it was weird how fast she acclimatised to Trellis being there, behind the bike sheds. If it had to be analogised, it was like a slow-blooming flower, gradually opening in the sun. As the time went on, they sometimes would converse a little; never ground-breaking conversations, just little odd fragments of one. Other times they'd be silent. Regardless of what they did, most days she'd see him there, once or twice.
And then one day she didn't.
Nor the day after that.
Or that.
In fact, for well over a week Emily didn't see Trellis. It was slightly disconcerting in more ways than one; his sudden absence from behind the bike sheds felt like a void. It was bizarre and completely irrational, but the without him, the space seemed larger. Emptier. It was even a little… boring with no one else to talk to.
Of course, Emily would be darned if she'd admit to missing him.
There were a whole host of reasons that Trellis was no longer there, ranging from 'He is sick' to 'He no longer wants to be there'. But the main reason, the mother reason which all the others orbited around, shone out bright and clear to Emily.
The library was open again.
It was only a vague guess, mind, but on the following Monday, with a vague prediction of when Trellis would be there, Emily went along to the library during a free period. Thanks to the renovations there was now a certain modern veneer about the place; the school desperately trying to look hi-tech and fancy, whilst spending as little money as possible. She wandered between the bookshelves, scanning the long tables and desks, paying scant attention to the books themselves.
Finally, she spotted Trellis, squirrelled away in a corner. Of course. Casually she walked over, and plonked herself down next to him. He briefly glanced up from the book he was reading.
"Don't you have some bike sheds to hide behind?" he muttered quietly.
She shrugged. "You moved in on my territory, I thought I'd move in on yours."
He huffed out a noise that almost sounded like a laugh.
oOo
Whether they were hanging out behind the bike sheds, or sitting in the library reading, somehow a friendship grew between the pair. It was an odd, vaguely sarcastic friendship to say the least, and one that got them a few strange looks, but a friendship nonetheless. And slowly their lives began to intersect outside of the realms of 'library' and 'bike sheds'. They hung out outside of school hours. He met her brother, and Mom. In turn she met his brother, Luger, and was kept away from his Dad. Friendship, as in many cases, was a rose-tinted filter.
In hindsight, Emily didn't notice it happening until it was far, far too late
Lying in bed one night, she caught her thoughts drifting to Trellis. It was curious, really, they'd been doing that more and more often recently. Emily had shrugged to herself; they were friends, it was only natural that she'd think about him, just like she'd think about her Mom, or bro, or Miskit, to name a few people. But these thoughts were of a different bent: they were oddly fond ones, wandering down a pleasant metaphorical path involving what his hands felt like, and the way he never really laughed but instead did that odd huff, and what his hair would feel like running through her fingers, and what it would be like to k-
The cold weight of realisation dropped into Emily's stomach.
Oh no.
Oh no.
This-
This could not be happening! Really, her and Trellis? The guy who was a pain in the butt, whose expressions ranged from 'frowning' to 'scowling', and who exuded an aura of "Don't"? It was laughable! They'd only started to hang out together because they'd encroached on one another's space, and then had kept on doing it because they'd gotten into a habit, not because they liked each other! It was ridiculous! He was- he was just- it was- he was-! And come to think of it, she didn't even look at him a lot! Their eyes didn't meet often! They looked at each other a normal amount for friends! And! And!
… And Emily couldn't imagine life without him anymore. Somehow it felt like they were in this together, that no matter what, the other one'd still be there, a sarcastic and annoying safe haven. If his father was being terrible, or if the grief threatened to engulf her (not that either of them would mention it outright, the other would know from the tightly-wound posture of their body), then they'd be there to give their own, unique brand of comfort.
Emily stared up into the darkness, now wide awake, adrenaline running through her veins.
Oh heck.
oOo
Like any sensible teenager, Emily's first reaction was to ignore the feelings until they went away; it was an action which worked about as well as trying to stop a geyser from erupting by damming it with her hands. If anything, it had the opposite effect – the feelings grew stronger. Her normally clement mind flip-flopped back and forth over the most pointless things: a casual touch of the shoulder – he liked her! No, he was just being friendly. But he never touched anyone like that! You're getting worked up over something that was clearly casual! Shut up, it meant something!
Whenever they hung out, a small current of electricity seemed to be running just below the surface of Emily's skin. Suddenly every action had some sort of deep meaning, and she found herself constantly second-guessing as to what it could be; the amount of analysis that went into the most mundane actions would have made her English Lit teacher proud.
It was a blasted nightmare, one that left her feeling like her mind had split into two. On the one side was her normal, sensible self, and on the other was some lovesick ninny.
In all the uncertainty, Emily was clear on one thing: she would go mad if this continued. Trying to ignore the feelings hadn't worked, and doing nothing about them would be an exciting and exhausting sort of hell, which meant there was only one option left to her.
Break the dam, and see what emerges in the resulting destruction.
oOo
They were behind the bike sheds as usual, but this time something was different. The air felt electric, charged, as if building up towards something. Emily knew that today was the day, today would be the day she cleared the air. Today would be the day she told him. If only her insides weren't feeling so jittery! It was the most stupid of clichés, but she really did feel like thousands of butterflies were trapped in her stomach, their gossamer wings fluttering and tickling her innards. Guh. The sooner she got it over with, the better.
"Hey. Trellis," she called from her perch on the wall. "C'mere."
He obeyed, pushing himself off the shed. In a scant few steps he was there in front of her. From her elevated position on the wall, Emily was eye to eye with him. Maybe even a little taller. As he looked at her, something in Trellis' expression softened, the faintest hint of a smile beginning to play around his mouth. Emily's heart helpfully responded by feeling like it was breaking.
'Not yet!' she thought. 'Besides, isn't that supposed to happen afterwards? And only if things go wrong?'
On the spur of the moment, Emily brought her hands up and cupped Trellis' cheeks with them. Internally, her mind screamed at her. What was she doing? What was all this malarkey? Just say the words! His eyes slid shut, a soft sigh escaping. On the one hand: excellent? On the other hand: just say the stupid words already! She gently rubbed a thumb across his scar. Another soft sigh as Trellis leaned into the contact.
"Hey. So. Er." Emily's voice came out unusually wobbly. She hadn't even properly begun and things were going fantastically.
Trellis' eyes slid back open, and Emily honestly wasn't sure what was worse, the intimacy of telling him whilst holding with his eyes were closed, or to have him looking at her as she said it. She brought her face a little closer, and oh geez, for a moment his eyes flicked to her lips.
"I li-"
THUNK!
Both Emily and Trellis leapt like a pair of startled cats. In Emily's case, the direction she happened to travel was forward, inadvertently cannoning into Trellis. He stumbled backwards, grabbing onto her as he did so. The source of the noise, a ball, bounced down onto the concrete from where it'd smacked the shed roof. It was followed second later by the sounds of raised voices, steadily getting closer.
"Oh nice shot, Brecon!"
"Fetch the ball!"
"No, I'll get it!"
To Emily's horror, the next second a couple of boys dashed around the side of the shed… and immediately skidded to a halt. Their eyes rapidly travelled back and forth between Emily and Trellis, clearly locked in what looked like a lover's embrace.
At that moment, Emily hoped that the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
A slow, leering smile was spreading on each of the boys' faces, and Emily could practically see the sarcastic remarks being pieced together in their brains.
"This isn't what it looks like," she said, and immediately winced, because out of all the things she could have said, that one was like adding petrol to a fire.
"Sure," one of the boys leered.
"We'll leave you two in peace," said the second, dripping with mockery.
They grabbed the ball, and left. With a slow, sinking horror, Emily knew that it would be all over the school by the end of the day.
Just like that, the mood was ruined.
oOo
First the bike sheds, then the funhouse, now this.
As if on cue, Emily's lip gave another painful throb; she ran her tongue over it automatically and faintly tasted dried blood. As if this entire mess wasn't bad enough, there was also the matter of... that.
"How's your lip?"
Emily almost didn't catch it, a half-mumbled smattering of words, but was just in time to catch Trellis' eyes flicking away from her. He'd seen. He was deliberately staring off into the distance with that same strangled expression, as if he was trying to keep his face from betraying some other emotion.
"It's okay," said Emily, shoulders stiffening slightly, gaze darting about. "It's scabbing over," she added, with a forced casualty.
At first she thought it was the light, because surely not, but as Emily looked, she could see that he was beginning to blush again. And oh nonononono, her own face beginning to heat up too, what was this nonsense?
It didn't count. It wasn't a proper one. It was an accident that meant nothing. Nothing! Things had most definitely not meant to turn out this way!
'Ah, but if it didn't mean anything,' said a nebulous thought, 'then why do you want to try again?'
A sudden jangly tune broke Emily out of her revere. 'Incoming call: Navin' was displayed on her buzzing phone. Ugh, she did not have the emotional energy for this right now. With a click, she rejected the call.
"Navin," she said simply, by way of explanation, in response to Trellis' quizzical look.
Around them, the wheel creaked.
So whilst there had been the issue of the bike sheds, it had had a follow up in the form of the funhouse.
That was where today's business had started. At best it was a two-storey box, with several giant people airbrushed in various places on the frontal façade. They were all wearing sunglasses, dressed as if they'd just stepped out of an early 2000's catalogue, and smiling with such vigour that their eyebrows appeared to be ascending into their hairlines while their mouths were trying to reach back and wrap around their entire head. All in all, they looked like a group of serial killers, or cultists. In a burst of creativity, the funhouse had been named 'Crazeey House'. Music was playing from somewhere, however when combined with the whirring and shunting of the machinery, and the general noise made by the people traversing the house, it all blended into a solid din. It was an okay sort of ride, not an immediately exciting one like a rollercoaster, but not a terrible one like a stall where you inevitably lose your money on rigged games.
There hadn't been any particular urgent intent to go through the funhouse, but they were passing by and the line was short, and why not? They'd paid their money and gone inside, along walkways that seesawed up and down, over cylindrical rollers that skidded beneath their feet, up and down stairs, through a narrow metal maze, across circles in the floor that spun them around, threading between massive rollers that made them feel like they were in a car wash, past large, padded poles that swung back and forth, and through not one, but two moving circular drums, being jostled and bashed and jolted every which way.
And then, at the final obstacle, it'd happened. For some reason, the makers of 'Crazeey House' had decided to make the final obstacle be a floor that was split into two halves, each segment moving back and forth in opposite directions. Aly and Navin had passed over it with little difficulty and much laughter, with Emily and Trellis not far behind them.
"Come on, slowpokes!" called Aly through a small giggling fit.
"At this rate the fair'll be closed by the time you get across!" Navin had added.
Emily waved her hand at them, a dismissive gesture: yeah, yeah, whatever…
"It's like watching a continental plate move," said Trellis, from somewhere behind her.
For a moment Emily didn't respond, focusing on where she was putting her feet, and falling into a fast rhythm that'd carry her to the end. One, two, three, four, and there! She was at the few steps that lead onto the grass. She half-turned, twisting her torso, ready to deliver a suitably stinging comeback-
- And was just in time to see one-hundred-and-thirty-two pounds of surprised boy bearing down upon her.
In her haste to get across, she hadn't seen the catalyst for this event, which was witnessed by Aly and Navin. Trellis had been making his way across, his balance unsteady, when a small, overeager child barrelled into him from behind. Now, normally a small child running into your legs has about as much force as a feather battering ram hitting an iron column. But since his balance was precarious due to the moving floor, he was knocked forward.
"Wh-" Emily began, but that was all the word that managed to get out before Trellis' face was meeting hers with some force in a teeth-jarring moment of contact.
Momentum carried them along; the next second Emily felt herself falling, the whole world now suddenly transformed into a confusing mesh of sudden pain, blurred colours, overpowering sensations, and heavy contact that happened far too quickly to process and was brought to a halt as suddenly as it'd begun.
A moan drifted out of Emily's mouth; she felt like she'd just had a trip in a tumble drier. There was an odd weight pressing down on her, and it took her a moment to realise that it was none other than a dazed Trellis. She hissed in pain as she lifted her head; her lip hurt something dreadful. She brought up a hand - made difficult as one of Trellis' arms was in the way - and it came away blooded. Her eyes flicked to Trellis' parted mouth. There was blood on his fangs. They'd... they'd...
"Get off!" she almost shrieked, practically shoving him away as Navin and Aly hurriedly crouched beside them.
"Are you guys okay?" Aly yelped.
'Yes,' Emily had wanted to sarcastically reply. 'Everything's fine, especially the part where I violently kissed Trellis in front of everyone.'
And that had been the funhouse incident.
And now, because of the machinations of a certain two people, they were now stuck on a ferris wheel. Alone.
Emily shivered as she thought. Really, when she'd set out to... confess (the word sticking in her throat like a lump), she'd been expecting one of two, maybe three, reactions.
The first (and because she was a cynic, it held this pole position), was that she'd be rejected, with all the awkwardness, pain, and potentially destroyed friendships that that entailed.
The second had been that nothing would happen. Trellis would walk away, and their friendship might continue, but it would be awkward, with her feelings hanging like a noose in the air between them.
The third outcome was the most favourable: her feelings were mutual and reciprocated. That would be an exciting path, even if it was shrouded in fog due to having no prior experience at that sort of thing.
Instead she'd ended up with a fourth, unknown reaction that had the same sort of outcome as dropping a full carton of eggs on the kitchen floor, and then slipping in the ensuing mess whilst holding your grandmother's best bone china: At school they had been exposed as a couple in the most embarrassing way, they'd ""kissed"" one another in front of a busy fairground, had been manipulated into riding a ferris wheel as a supposed method to spur 'romance', during which she'd accidentally felt him up whilst they were huddled together for warmth, and all this before any sort of confession with neither of them being certain how the other one felt!
Emily rested her face in her palms, and groaned.
It was such a colossal, colossal mess.
There was the soft, halting sensation of a hand being rested on her shoulder, as if its owner was mildly hesitant and flustered about doing so.
Emily peeked up. Trellis was unobtrusively gazing into the distance at a particular cloud formation. The sky had been edging into darkness for some time now, but the ferris wheel was covered in tiny lights, illuminating the night.
In that moment, Emily came to a decision. Things had gone to hell in a handbasket in such a fantastic way that at this point, being rejected would somehow be the least of her worries. She was freezing, stuck on a ferris wheel at night, alone with the guy she liked. Sometimes the only way left to go is up, even if you happened to be stuck high in the air.
Taking Trellis' hand in hers, she swivelled around to face him. His fingers were freezing between her palms, and Emily knew that hers were no better, but it was the principle of the matter. He looked slightly flustered at the contact, desperately trying to repress it. Blast it, why did she have to find that so endearing?!
Emily tried to come up with something to say, so that she would have a nice little arsenal of sentences that could be fired out into the open air without stopping. Unfortunately, her mind refused to cooperate, flinging half-finished fragments at her that were entirely awkward, all together unsuitable, and would have completely destroyed the moment.
"Emily…?"
Oh, what the heck.
"Remember that day behind the bike sheds?" Emily blurted out. "When we were like this?" Her eyes wanted to look everywhere but directly at Trellis, darting this way and that. "I wanted to tell you, er-" her mind had a brief stumble as she recalled the events of that day, but then she was continuing, her voice rising to a much higher pitch -"I like you! Not as a friend! I mean, I like you as a friend, but I also like you as… something else." Her voice trailed off. Nice. That'd been as entirely terrible and excruciating as she'd expected it to be. Her shoulders drooped at the sheer relief of having gotten it out in the open. Cautiously, Emily fixed her eyes on Trellis' face, almost dreading what the reaction would be.
His lips were slightly parted, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler truck going at 70mph. A heavy blush coated his face, and for a moment it was all he could do just to open and shut his mouth, no sound coming out.
A mixture of hope and anxiety churned within Emily's gut.
"I like you too." Trellis' voice was oddly hoarse. "As a, erm. Something other than a friend. Too," he added again.
Emily felt her face split into a grin as the tension drained from her body; it was instead replaced by sheer, euphoric elation.
On a glorious, irrational impulse, she all but dived forwards, kissing him firmly on the mouth. And oh joy, he was kissing her back! Oh, it was even better than she'd imagined; soft and warm, making her something behind her navel drop.
A rumble ran through the seats, as the entire structure groaned around them. There came the resounding growl of machinery as the ferris wheel's engine spluttered to life once more, releasing a billowing cloud of exhaust; neither Emily nor Trellis initially noticed it, too lost in one another.
They eventually broke apart, their eyes shining and bright.
"We're moving," said Emily, and she couldn't keep the delighted note out of her voice.
With a soft slip of the hand, Trellis shifted his hands so their equally-frozen fingers were interlocking. "Yeah."
Emily felt so filled with euphoria and light (hormones, the sensible part of her mind intoned), that they could have been descending into a pit of lava, and honestly she would not have minded or cared. As their carriage gradually drew closer to the ground through a series of halting stops and starts, Emily spotted Navin and Aly. They caught sight of her, both pointing and waving, and despite the hassle they'd caused, Emily almost felt like waving back herself.
Eventually, with a rumble and a clunk, it was Emily and Trellis' turn to disembark. They staggered out, tripping and stumbling and half-leaning on one another for support thanks to their numb legs, still holding hands. Somewhere to her left, Emily was aware of an unfamiliar voice apologising profusely as a wad of fairground tickets were shoved clumsily into her free hand. A couple more halting steps brought her back on solid ground proper, and she could have kissed it with relief. That said, there was someone else she'd much rather be kissing, but not in public…
Navin and Aly almost barrelled into them, a sea of apologies and frantic looks. Emily held up her and Trellis' intertwined hands, silencing them.
"Don't," she said, as Navin opened his mouth to speak. "Later." Her stomach gave a sudden loud growl. "Before we do anything else, I need to eat something or I think I'm going to-" eat Trellis "- faint."
"Same here," agreed Trellis, tiredly rubbing a hand against his forehead.
As they made their way towards the highly-enticing, heavenly-scented food stalls, leaving the ferris wheel thankfully behind them, Emily spotted her Mom and Leon emerging from the crowds. There was a mild look of concern on both their faces, but once they caught sight of the little group, it was replaced with a pair of relieved smiles.
She gave Trellis' hand a quick squeeze, and he squeezed back.
All in all, Emily reckoned, going on the ferris wheel hadn't been so bad of an idea after all.
oOoOoOo
AN: Me: *Doesn't post a new fic for six months*
Also me: *Posts two fics within the space of days*
No, but in all seriousness, this fic has been sitting in my folder stuck at 6k words for a long time, possibly even bordering on it being a year, and I have been busy with personal work and projects in the interim time since posting 'My Heart Is High Above'.
This is just one of those stories that fought me from the moment I put pen to paper; if you want an idea of the first part of my writing process, just imagine me and this story punching one another in the face over and over. For the second part of the writing process, just imagine me, running pell mell down a steep hill, my arms windmilling furiously as I try not to fall over.
Maybe I'll upload a scan of my notebook on my DA, so you can get a general idea of what it was like.
For once I wrote something happy with an outright happy ending! And not a trace of body horror to be found WHAT IS HAPPENING