Her grip on the railing tightened as she looked over the edge of the seat, but the smile never left her lips. Beside her, over the corny carnival music and the neverending crowd fading away beneath them, Amethyst laughed. The sort of laugh that came from disbelief moreso than amusement.

"Oh man, I could not have planned this better if I tried," she chuckled, elbowing her friend in a manner that was supposed to be friendly but still had the blonde girl wincing.

"What do you mean?"

Peridot looked over in time to see Amethyst throwing up her hands in a dual wave, but when her eyes darted over the crowd she couldn't for the life of her find who the older girl could possibly be waving at. The Ferris wheel rocked as it continued its upward ascent and Peridot felt her stomach twist with apprehension. Maybe that had more to do with the person she was here with, though, and not necessarily the scenario.

"Come on, dude. You can't tell me this isn't straight out of a romcom. You and me, up here as the sun sinks in the distance. My ex in the crowd as I tell you I love you unconditionally. And then, when we reach the top, you tell me, 'Hey, no worries, I love you, too,' and we make out like the high schoolers we are."

It was definitely the person she was with and not the ride. The Ferris wheel lurched to a sudden stop, and while their seat wasn't the one on top it was close enough that Peridot felt an uneasy shiver go through her spine. She glanced to her friend out the corner of her eye and smiled wistfully.

"Is this where I confess, then?" Her tone was light and as playful as Amethyst's had been, and yet she knew that it was now or never. Even if it came out in jest, she couldn't bite her tongue any longer. She couldn't stand this game of cat and mouse she'd been playing with her emotions.

The purple haired girl snickered, clasped her hands before herself and mockingly leaned against the smaller girl's shoulder. "Oh, Peri. Please do. I'm just dying here, not knowing whether you love me or not."

Peridot felt something very near to nausea hit her. Hard. But she smiled through the discomfort and put on her best doe-eyed expression. It wasn't hard. All she had to do was draw from honesty.

"Amethyst, I've loved you for years. You're funny and adorable, and I can't see my life without you. If there's any chance you feel the same..." Her words came to a stuttering halt and her chest clenched painfully. If there was such a thing as miracles, now would be a hell of a time for them to start working in her favor.

But Amethyst took her masked confession as the joke she'd been expecting. She laughed and elbowed the girl again, and the Ferris wheel jerked back to life.

Peridot tried to laugh. She really did.

But it sounded very much like a sob as she left her heart three forths of the way up a carnival ride at the precipice of dusk.