Chapter 34: Live While We're Young

SEBASTIAN

"Who goes to carnivals in March?" Sebastian had asked when Artie approached him in the kitchen at breakfast with his idea for a date for this coming Friday night. Hosting an outdoor carnival this early in the Spring was certainly a risk. Ohio snowstorms were unpredictable and known for coming out of nowhere.

"I don't know, I didn't schedule the damn thing. Regardless, there's one happening in Lima this weekend, and Kitty and I are going. I invited Watson and T to come, and I think it would be fun if you and Spencer came too, and we made it, like, a triple-date thing," Artie said. "You know, Kitty and I have been dating for a few months now, and you and Spencer have been dating for even longer, but we've never actually double-dated."

"And you want our first time to be with Tina?!" Sebastian clarified, giving Artie a look that told him that he thought that this idea was absolutely crazy.

Artie huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Watson will be there, and she's always on her best behavior when he's around. And he's a good mediator if she pulls any funny business."

Artie and Tina had been at a rocky point in their friendship for a week or two while fighting over the spot of Class Valedictorian, but Tina had ultimately ended up surrendering the title to Artie. Sebastian still didn't understand why she'd done that- and he was still a little suspicious of her motives- but he knew that she cared for Artie just as much as he did, so he wasn't too concerned. After they put the Valedictorian race to rest, they'd been back to normal, but in Seb's book, Tina was still on notice.

"Come on, what's a better way to start off Spring Break? It'll be fun," Artie insisted, using his puppy dog eyes on his step-brother, which Sebastian couldn't resist. He didn't know if there was anyone in the world who could resist saying no to Artie's big baby blues.

"Yeah, fun if you want to trust your life to the toothless carnies who operate the rides," Sebastian reminded him. The expression on Artie's face showed that he was less than amused at that comment.

"Fine," Sebastian gave in, taking a bite of his cereal. "But Spencer and I are dipping if it's dumb."

That's how Sebastian and Spencer had ended up caravan-ing to the carnival with the other two couples on Friday night. There was just simply no way to fit all six of them- plus two wheelchairs- into one car, so Artie had ended up driving himself, Sebastian, Spencer, and Kitty, while Watson and Tina met them there.

Sebastian had to admit, the carnival was a little more well-executed than he'd been expecting, which was a relief. It actually resembled more of an amusement park. There were games where you could win giant stuffed animals as prizes, multiple stands selling the greasy food that you could only find at carnivals, and numerous rides which looked relatively safe. Though it was certainly chilly, they had bundled up for the night spent outdoors, and as they bought tickets at the entrance, Sebastian was beginning to think that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea for a triple-date after all.

"Where to first?" Artie asked once the group was granted admission to the fairgrounds. He was wearing tight-fitting khakis and his McKinley High letterman jacket that he'd gotten when he was on the football team sophomore year (Sebastian still wasn't sure how that had actually gone down, as he'd never asked). Kitty stood by his side, in jeans and a sweater. For the first time that Sebastian could remember, she wasn't wearing her Cheerios uniform while in public.

"Hey, that looks pretty cool," Watson said, pointing to a game resembling skee ball. The more balls you got into the holes, the faster a car would move forward, and whoever's car made it to the end first, won. "Why don't we start there?"

Nobody objected to the idea, and after paying the game's attendant, the girls, Spencer, and Sebastian took seats on the built-in stools. Meanwhile, Watson and Artie attempted to squeeze their chairs into the narrow open spots between the stools that had been left empty.

Key word: attempted.

Watson's wheelchair was a lot sleeker than Artie's, so he was able to manage, but Artie's was too wide, due to the armrests. This put him at a pretty big disadvantage, as far as the game went, but he didn't seem to care too much. Ever one to adapt to any situation, Artie just shrugged and didn't dwell on the situation. He had a pretty impressive reach, so he was able to play well enough, but still ended up in last place. First place went to Kitty, by a pretty large margin.

"Ha!" She exclaimed in celebration as her car crossed the finish line and a bell dang.

The attendant handed her a giant pink stuffed lion, which she happily thrust in the air and skipped over to where Artie was sitting.

"It's for you!" She said, handing it to him and accepting his congratulatory hug.

"Isn't the boy supposed to win the girl those things?" Sebastian asked, crossing his arms and raising one eyebrow while Artie glared at him. Sebastian may or may not have been a little jealous of Kitty's winnings. After all, he'd come in second place.

"Well, I'll just have to win her one the next time," Artie said. "There are plenty more games to play, and I plan on trying each one at least once."

Well, Artie was right about one thing: there were many more games to play. He was wrong in assuming that he'd win a prize, though. In fact, nobody else won a prize either. Kitty kept winning, game after game, and soon, Artie's lap was so full of stuffed animals of various sizes that he couldn't adequately push his chair (a task that Sebastian knew was difficult to do on an uneven, grassy surface anyways) without one or two falling off. This caused Kitty to position herself behind Artie and begin to push him from one destination to the next, which Artie didn't seem to mind.

Eventually, Sebastian grew tired of losing.

"Can we go on some rides now?" Sebastian asked the group, desperate to do something that wouldn't result in Kitty winning another toy to pile in Artie's lap.

"What about bumper cars?" Tina suggested, beginning to get visibly excited at the idea. "That could be fun."

"Oh, hell yes," Watson chimed in his support. "You all better watch out, though, because this is kind of my jam."

"Yeah?" Artie asked, narrowing his eyes in Watson's direction, but sounding very unintimidating beneath the stuffed animals that decorated his lap. "Is that a challenge?"

Kitty and Tina rolled their eyes at their boyfriends, and, since it seemed as if bumper cars was an idea that everybody could get behind, they headed in that direction.

"Think we're tall enough?" Sebastian heard Artie joke to Watson as they waited in line, thrusting his thumb over his shoulder towards the clown cut-out that held a sign saying: "You must be taller than me to ride this ride". The clown appeared to be mocking them, seeing as though from their seated position, both boys were shorter than it.

"I think you'll manage," Tina assured them, shaking her head at her best friend's unique sense of humor.

The ride had a steep metal ramp leading onto it, and with a helpful push, both Artie and Watson were able to make it up and over to their respective bumper cars.

"Need a lift?" Sebastian asked Artie cautiously, knowing that he didn't always like to be helped. Normally, he wouldn't have even offered, but he noticed that the transfer down into the tiny car was at an awkward angle, and one wrong move could result in his butt landing on the hard metal floor.

"No, I think I've got it…" Artie replied, placing his legs into the car first before carefully lowering the rest of himself in too. Kitty was standing close by, spotting him, just in case.

They seemed to have the situation handled, so Sebastian headed over to where Spencer had claimed them a bumper car of their own. Spencer had already sat himself on the driver's side, so Sebastian squeezed in next to him, which was easier said than done, with two six-foot-tall boys attempting to fit inside of a bumper car made for children.

Tina and Kitty, ever the considerate girlfriends, had taken their boyfriends' chairs back down the ramp and left them beside the clown cut-out that had been mocking the boys earlier. After giving strict instructions to the ride's operator to keep his eye on them (they could not have a chair go missing during the short time period that the boys would be out of them!), Kitty and Tina climbed into the passenger seats.

Their boyfriends were each sporting child-like grins on their faces as they gripped the steering wheels with anticipation, but Sebastian wasn't quite sure how that was going to work. He guessed that the girls would be tasked with using one of their own feet to push down the pedal while the boys steered, which, to him, seemed like a little too reckless of an idea. Sebastian, himself, didn't have much control, being the passenger, so he was sure to hold on extra tight as Spencer was steering them into the direct path of the two paraplegic drivers and whoever else would be on the ride at the same time as them.

Sebastian had never been much of a worrier- until Artie came into his life, that is. Artie's perpetual state of anxiety had rubbed off on him in certain situations, and this was one of them. There weren't any seatbelts- or restraints of any kind, for that matter- in the tiny cars, and with Artie's notoriously crappy balance, Sebastian was more than a little nervous. His fears were for naught, though, because the cheeky grin that Artie was wearing showed that he wasn't scared in the slightest. Though he went bouncing all over the place when his car was hit, it looked to Sebastian like Artie was having the time of his life.

After gauging Artie's gleeful reaction to the ride, Sebastian decided to allow himself to relax a little too. And, sure enough, once he stopped being so uptight, the ride became a lot more fun. At one point, Seb had even taken control of the steering wheel himself, and got a good hit on Artie and Kitty's car. The three-minute ride together was quite the experience, but it was certainly a fun one. All six of them were fighting off fits of giggles by the end, when their time was up.

"I'll take you up on that offer for a lift right now," Artie told Sebastian with a laugh after the girls had gone to retrieve the chairs, clearly at a loss for an easy and quick way to make this transfer manageable. Getting into the bumper car was one thing, but getting out of it was a completely different challenge.

Sebastian stooped down to pick up Artie, as Spencer did the same for Watson. After the boys were safely back in their chairs and had made sure that their feet were resting securely on the footplates, the three couples exited the ride in search of the next one.

"I want to go on whatever that is next," Spencer said, pointing at the ride labeled "The Round Up" that simultaneously spun and lifted vertically in the air.

Sebastian caught the wary look in Artie's eye as he glanced up at the attraction. None of these rides were very accessible for him, but this one, in particular, required you to stand.

Sebastian could now understand why Artie had been vehemently opposed to taking a trip to Six Flags this past summer. The rides were fun once they got going, but getting on and off each one was a huge hassle for him. Though nobody minded giving him some assistance, Artie hated to rely on other people. His independence was too much of a source of pride for him.

"I don't know…" Kitty said, crossing her arms over her chest as they all stared up at the looming ride together. "It seems kind of scary. Also, I get dizzy really easily, and that would probably send me running to the nearest trashcan to throwup all of that cotton candy I had earlier."

Sebastian had a feeling that this was a little white lie to cover up the fact that she knew Artie wasn't going to be able to go on this ride. She didn't want him to be left out, and she clearly knew that Artie would insist that she go on without him. Sebastian had to hand it to her for that one.

Watson- the younger, more fearless one out of the para duo- was eager to be included, however. "I'll go on it with you, Spencer," he said. "If they'll allow the chair to come aboard."

Artie appeared to perk up at this. The idea that Artie and Watson would be allowed to go on the ride in their wheelchairs, hadn't occurred to Sebastian, and it appeared that it hadn't occurred to Artie either.

"You think they'll let us on with the chairs?" Artie asked, the sound of excitement beginning to brew in his voice. It was then that Sebastian remembered that it had been Artie's idea to attend the carnival in the first place. Of course he would want to take advantage of going on just about every ride he could. He was a teenage boy, after all. He loved a good adrenaline rush.

Watson shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

Their anticipation was short-lived, however, because the ride's operator was quick to shoot down their idea.

"No wheels on the ride," the large bald man with a scruffy beard told the group when he saw them in line, approaching the front. "It's a liability."

"Let me handle this," Artie said quietly to his friends, completely unfazed about having been referred to as "a liability", after hearing it for nearly his entire life. Artie wheeled forward a pace in order to address the man himself.

Artie can be very persuasive once his mind is set on something, so he was able to successfully sweet talk the operator into letting the two boys on the ride after showing that their wheels, once locked in place, weren't going anywhere.

After getting permission from the operator to ride, there was only a steep staircase standing between the friends and the attraction. It took some teamwork, but the four able-bodied friends were able to take two trips and carefully load both boys onto the ride. Sebastian was considering this to be his full-body workout for the day.

Luckily, Artie's chair was narrow enough (or, rather, the individual spaces were wide enough) to fit comfortably on the ride. Sebastian stood between Spencer and Artie, then it was Kitty, Tina, and, on the other end of the group, Watson. Sebastian held on for dear life as the ride began to pick up speed, immediately beginning to think that having Artie and Watson's wheelchairs on board wasn't such a good idea after all.

That thought was fleeting, however, because the faster the ride spun around, the broader the smiles of each of the riders. Sebastian glanced to his left, making eye contact with his boyfriend, whose eyes sparkled as they went round and round. Spencer bravely let go of the ride with one hand, holding his out to take Sebastian's. After a quick moment of hesitation, Seb let go as well, interlacing his fingers with his boyfriend's and squeezing tightly.

In that moment, he took back all of the reservations he had previously had about the triple-date at the carnival.

This night was perfect, in its own weird little way.

This chapter is a little bit shorter because I split up the original idea that I had for this one into two separate parts. Artie's POV will be its own upcoming chapter. Please leave a review if you enjoyed! :)