Chapter 32

As soon as the four of them stepped out of Weiss's car, they were greeted with fairground music, and surrounded by crowds of people who were all making their way to the entrance. Vaughn placed his arm around Sydney's shoulders gently pulling her into his embrace, her arm automatically wrapping around his waist. With her free hand she reached up and linked her fingers with Vaughn's, as his hand rested protectively on her shoulder.

Eric looked towards the fair and shuddered. He could see one of the small rollercoasters, as a cart full of people quickly found it's way to the bottom of a large dip. Their screams filled his ears causing his stomach to dip, just as the ride had done seconds before. He had never told anyone about his fear of rollercoasters before, and he knew that they would soon find out especially with Sydney watching him curiously out of the corner of her eye. He quickly looked away from the ride and pretended that he was simply scanning the crowds to see if he recognised anyone; but it was too late she knew that something was wrong.

"Weiss is everything ok?" Vaughn and Paige looked at him after hearing her question, concern visible on both their faces.

Weiss cleared his throat, a forced smile on his lips. "Er…sure!" He knew that he didn't sound too convincing; there was just no way that they would buy what he was saying.

"Are you sure?" Paige asked. She placed a comforting hand on his back and smiled at him, silently letting him know that he could trust her with whatever the problem was. He took a deep breath and nodded to her. Paige and Michael seemed content with his answer, but Sydney remained unconvinced. She glanced curiously at him and watched as he nervously looked at something in the distance.

She followed his gaze, her eyes falling on a rollercoaster, which at first glance looked like the highest ride at the fair, except for the giant Ferris wheel that was in the centre of the fair. Suddenly everything fitted into place.

"Weiss, do you not like rollercoasters?" Weiss looked at her, wondering how she knew, but then realised that the look of shear panic on his face everytime he looked at the ride, was probably what gave him away.

"I guess you could say that!" He admitted, his cheeks colouring slightly. I don't know what I'm so embarrassed about…everybody's afraid of something right? My fear just happens to have multiple dips and turns, and travels at a speed that is potentially dangerous for anybody onboard.

"How could you not like rollercoasters? They're so much fun!" Vaughn had always enjoyed rollercoasters. Back when he was in France, he used to go to Disneyland every year with his parents, and he would ride at each rollercoaster at least once.

"They scare the hell out of me! I seriously don't know how you find being thrown around in that small carriage fun! It's torture!"

Sydney walked over to Weiss, dragging Vaughn along with her. She linked her arm through his and smiled at him. "If you don't like rollercoasters, you don't have to go on them. No-one's gonna drag you onto them!" She gently reassured him, causing him to smile. He reached out and took hold of Paige's hand, and pulled her towards him, and the four of them walked into the fair in one long line.

They walked through the fair, joking and laughing while looking at the various rides and stalls. "Let's go on the bumper cars!" Sydney suggested, quickly dragging Vaughn towards the cars; Weiss and Paige following closely behind. They joined the back of the queue, waiting until it was their turn.

Sydney took a step closer to Michael, and placed her arms around his waist, her head resting on his chest. He smiled at her gesture and gently kissed the top of her head, as he wrapped his arms securely around her. She could hear his heart beating as his chest steadily rose and then fall. She snuggled closer into his embrace, happy at how comfortable she felt in his presence.

"I'm warning you guys now, I am awful behind the wheel of a car!" Paige said, watching one car in particular, where the woman sitting in it had absolutely no control of the car. Yep, that's gonna be me

"Don't worry about it! That's half of the fun!" Weiss reassured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, her arm wrapping around his waist while her other hand rested on his chest. Sydney smiled at them both, feeling happy about just how cute her two friends were and she was glad that she had contributed to helping them start dating.

The cars finally stopped and everyone excited the ride, allowing the next group of people to have their turn. Sydney squealed with excitement as she grabbed Vaughn's hand and ran towards the first empty car that she could find. Vaughn couldn't help but laugh at her, she was like a little girl who was at the fair for the first time; getting excited about every little thing. It was just one of the things that he liked about her.

Weiss, Paige, and Vaughn each found a car and sat down, fastening the seatbelt. The music started playing and the main lights dimmed, as the bright disco lights came on. Sydney immediately put her foot down on the pedal and turned the wheel, crashing into another car.

"Oops!" The little boy in the car looked at her and laughed, before driving past her ready to crash into more people.

Vaughn raced alongside Weiss, bumping into his car at every opportunity. Paige pressed the pedal down and moved the wheel, only she was moving anywhere. She was trapped in the middle of some cars that had crashed around her.

"I'm stuck!" She yelled out, not knowing exactly who she was talking to. Weiss and Vaughn went passed her and waved to her, as there was nothing that they could do to help. She laughed to herself and rested her head against the steering wheel.

Sydney looked around and spotted Michael. A mischievous smile took over her normally sweet one, as she quickly made her way over to him and bumped into the back of his car, causing him to move forward in his seat. He turned around to see who had bumped into him, and was greeted by an innocent smile.

"Hi honey!" She moved her car so that she was beside him. "My bad!" She shrugged and drove off, unable to control her laughter.

"Ooh, you're gonna pay for that Bristow!" He shouted as he chased after her car. She looked behind her and screamed as she realised that he was catching up with her, a playful look on his face. She managed to successfully wind her way through the other cars with only a few minor bumps. Just when she thought that she had gotten away from him, her car was pushed forward as he bumped into the back of it. She slowly turned her head to look at him, her eyebrows raised.

"Hello dear!" He mimicked the voice that she had used earlier, his now innocent face mirroring the one that she had had. "Looks like this one was my bad!" He smirked as he drove off. He turned back to look at her and watched as she slowly shook her head, a small smile on her face.

Paige linked her fingers with Eric's as they walked away from the bumper cars. "I cannot believe I spent the majority of that time stuck between about four other cars!" Eric laughed at her, his thumb slowly moving over her hand.

"Yeah well at least you weren't chased around everywhere like those two!" He commented, nodding towards Sydney and Vaughn who were walking infront of them, their arms wrapped around each other.

They walked around the fair, looking for something that they wanted to do next. One stall in particular caught Paige's attention and she quickly dragged Weiss towards it; Sydney and Vaughn following closely behind.

The back of the stall was covered in teddy bears, ranging from Disney characters to just plain bears. Paige watched as one guy stepped up, and started throwing darts at the dartboard, wanting to win his wife a present. After throwing all the darts, the man behind the stall added up his total and handed the woman a teddy bear of her chose. As they walked away, the man's attention focused on the four of them.

"Care to give it a try?" He asked, holding the darts out to Vaughn and Weiss. They looked at each other neither one knowing what to say. The man noticed their hesitation and wasn't about to lose out on some customers.

"How about trying to win something for these two beautiful girls?" Paige and Sydney looked at each other and blushed at his comment.

The guys looked at their girlfriends and smiled. "Ok."

He handed them 3 darts each. "Throw over 35 and you win a prize!" He stepped out of the way while Weiss took his go. Sydney and Paige cheered after he threw them, earning them so funny glances from people walking past.

The guy behind the stall counted Weiss's total and smiled. He turned to Sydney and Paige. "So which of you two lucky girls gets the prize?" He asked, looking at each of them as he waited for an answer. Paige smiled and stepped forward.

"I believe that would be me!" Weiss smiled at her, and moved so that he was standing next to her, his hand resting on her back.

"Which one do you want?" He asked, as her eyes scanned over all the teddy bears.

"I'll have that cute bear, with the yellow stripy jumper on please!" She told him, and kissed Eric on the cheek while she waited for the man to get it down. "Thank you." She whispered in Weiss's ear before the man handed her the bear. She hugged the bear in one arm and Weiss in the other as they went and stood with Sydney while Vaughn took his go.

"Go Vaughn! Go Vaughn!" Vaughn started laughing as he heard their cheers, but he still managed to throw a total of 39.

The man turned to Sydney, waiting to see what toy she wanted. "Minnie Mouse please!" Michael looked at her, and smiled at her choice. "Hey, don't tease me! I love Minnie and Mickey!" She shrugged as she picked up the Mouse and the four of them walked off together.

They stood at the entrance for the rollercoaster, Weiss's eyes following one of the carts as it went down a dip. He felt nauseous looking at it, but everyone on the ride seemed to be having a good time.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait with you?" Paige offered. Her, Sydney, and Michael were going to go on the ride but she felt bad for leaving Eric behind. Weiss took one last look at the ride and then focused his attention on her.

"There's no need." I can't believe I'm about to say this. "I'm gonna come on it with you guys." His heart beat faster in his chest, at the realization of what he had just agreed to.

"But I thought you didn't like rollercoasters?" Sydney asked.

"I don't! But you only live once, so why not!" oh my God! I'm actually going to do this…

Paige stepped towards him, her hands cupping his face. She placed a soft, gentle kiss on his lips, and smiled at him. "I'll take care of you. I promise!" She took hold of his hand and the four of them joined the queue for the ride.

"Remind me again why I'm doing this!" Weiss asked, as he held on tightly to the bar infront of him. People were still getting on the ride, but he knew that in a matter of minutes, the ride would start and he would have no way off.

"Because you had the sudden urge to feel the wind in your hair!" Paige joked, but all Weiss could do was nod.

Sydney leaned forward and hugged him from behind. "Eric, you'll be fine!"

"Come on, just don't think about it." Paige told him, taking one of his hands off the bar and placing it in her own. He automatically gripped onto her hand. His gaze was fixed on the track infront of them as his heart beat faster, his breaths getting shallower. "Don't look forward." She gently turned his head so that he was looking at her and not the ride. "Look at me instead!" She smiled sweetly at him, and was surprised to see that he actually smiled back. "Talk to me, it'll help take your mind off it!"

"Ok." He took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving her face. "You look beautif…ARGH!" His sentence ended quickly as the ride took off. His words were replaced by screams as they dipped over numerous hills. He tightened his grip on Paige's hand, but she didn't seem to mind as she was having too much fun on the ride.

"I cannot believe I did that!" Weiss exclaimed as they came off the ride. His legs felt like jelly as he slowly walked away.

"See, I told you I'd take care of you!" Paige linked her arm through with his, a huge smile on her face.

"I am never doing that again!" Weiss promised himself. Paige turned to face him, her arms wrapping around his neck. She slowly moved her face closer to his, their lips meeting in the middle.

"Well if ever rollercoaster ended that way I may be convinced to go on a few more!" Paige laughed at him and carried on walking.

The four of them joined the queue for the Ferris wheel. Sydney shivered as a breeze came over her. Vaughn stepped closer to her, opening out the front of his jacket so that she could snuggle inside it. She gladly accepted his offer, and stood with her back against his chest, his jacket pulled around the two of them, while his arms wrapped around her stomach. She turned her head and kissed his cheek, as his head was resting on her shoulder.

She groaned when it was their turn to go on the wheel, she was too comfortable in Michael's embrace that she didn't want to move. But reluctantly she did and they got on the ride.

As they sat down, Vaughn wrapped his arm around her, and she snuggled into him, her head resting on his chest. In the seat behind them, Paige was also sat in Weiss's arms, a smile on her face.

"I wanted to tell you before that you looked beautiful, but let's just say that the rollercoaster got in the way!" Paige laughed at him, as he gently kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you!" She blushed at his comment, her smile growing.