Chapter 4

Danny found himself staring at the entrance of a county fair. While walking around the town, the noise had caught his attention so he had come to investigate. Only to be greeted with the site of a carnival. Grinning to himself, he walked toward a ticket booth. 'Well I guess I found what I'll be doing for the rest of the day.' After buying tickets for the rides he went in search of something fun.

Stopping at a long line, he looked to the front to see what it was for. 'The Zipper' was written in big letters over the machine. 'Aw cool.' Danny smiled to himself, remembering the last time he had ridden the ride. Tucker had been with him, and he had screamed like a girl. Only to want to ride it again when it was over. Danny shook his head, he missed Tucker but that couldn't be helped at the moment.

Looking again at the line, a frown formed on his face. 'It will take forever to get up there' but he was quickly proven wrong when he heard the carnie running this particular ride, start yelling from the front of the line.

"We need a lone rider!"

No one seemed to make a move so Danny quickly answered back, waving his arms and stepping to the side of the line so he could be seen. "Hey I'm alone!" He smiled when he was waved to the front, only to be stunned upon seeing the person he was called up to ride with. It was the same girl that had been staring at him at the diner. He couldn't believe it. And apparently from the look she had on her face, she couldn't believe it either.

They both stepped into the ride and the carnie shut the doors. All they could do was stare at each other as an uncomfortable silence overtook them. Until finally breaking the silence Sam blurted out,

"Your following me aren't you?" Danny couldn't help but laugh.

"You're kidding me right? You're the one that was staring at me in the diner." Sam blushed a dark shade of red as Danny smiled at her, knowing he had caught her off guard. "And you showed up at that store just after me... If I didn't know any better I'd say you were the one following me."

Sam huffed and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Don't let that head on your shoulders grow anymore than it already has, cuz it looks like your neck's about to snap from all of the weight." Danny frowned at her.

"Well there's no need to get huffy over it. I was just stating the facts." Whatever retort she was going to shoot back at him, was cut off when the ride jolted to a start. The cage they were in was flipped upside down a multiple of times, and neither could help themselves as they laughed from the weightless feeling that was created in the pit of their stomachs. When the ride was finally over, both stepped out and made there way away from the machine.

"Always did love that ride." Danny said absentmindedly putting both of his hands behind his head and linking them, smiling up at the sky.

Sam grinned despite herself. "Yea me to." And after a long pause of silence she started walking in another direction, calling back, "Well bye."

"Hey wait!" Sam turned around to look at the now frowning boy only a few feet away from her. He stared at her for a minute as if thinking before he got out what he wanted to say. "We didn't get off on the right foot…"

"No… I guess not…" 'Where's he going with this?'

"So… um… my name's Danny." Sam cocked her head to the side, not quite sure what to make of the boy. Hadn't they just been arguing? 'Well you couldn't really call it arguing, but we weren't on the friendliest of terms either…' Noticing her hesitation Danny added, "What's yours?"

She took a minute in answering, as if unsure. "My name's Sam."

"Sam huh, nice to meet you" He nodded his head toward her.

"Yea… you too." Sam observed this 'Danny' person a little closer. He was a head taller than her, he was still wearing the red tee shirt with baggy dark blue jeans and his heir was black and messy, and his eyes were a bright sky blue. Finding herself looking into them once again, she still got the feeling as if he could see right through her, which she wasn't sure if she liked. So she quickly diverted her eyes, moving the to his chest. Over all he had a calm demeanor about him. 'He looks harmless enough.' Then frowned 'Wait what am I saying, they ALWAYS look harmless. I don't know if I can trust this guy. Why does he want to get to know me anyways?' Danny frowned back at her as he watched her stare at him. He took a few steps closer and waved a hand in front of her face.

"Um… hello? You okay?"

Snapping out of her thoughts she pushed his hand aside. "Yes, I'm fine" Danny's frown only deepened. Her voice sounded… desperate?

"Um, okay if you say so…" He looked her up and down watching her body language. But he couldn't get any clues as to what the girl was thinking. Deciding on another approach he looked around. "So how about we just stick together." Sam raised her eyebrow at him, "I mean most of the rides here are two person and well, we both are lacking in the other person category." He paused to grin at her before he continued. "Besides it'll give us both someone to talk to while we wait for rides." Danny watched as she cocked her head to the side again, looking at him, sizing him up. She was taking a long time in answering, so Danny smiled at her reassuringly.

"I guess that would be fine…" He let out a big sigh, feeling as if he had accomplished something.

"Great." He Responded while Sam continued to look at him confused, she finally decided to gave up on her critical thinking for the time being and just shook her head.

"Ok… so what ride should we do next?" She asked while turning her head to the side, surveying the rest of the carnival. 'So many people… ugh I hate crowds like this, why am I even here?' she turned her head back to Danny and watched as he looked around. 'Is it really safe if I stay with this guy? He could be a rapist for all I know… but he doesn't look like he'd hurt me. Ugh why do I think so much'

"Are you sure your okay?" Sam moved her eyes up to find Danny looking down at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Yea I'm fine." She Replied annoyed. "Why are you so concerned about a complete stranger anyways?"

"Well we're not complete strangers anymore. I've given you my name and you've given me yours." He looked up in thought "Were more of what you would call 'acquaintances'." He flashed her another smile as he saw her face adapt an irritated look. "Come on, I think there's better rides this way." Turning to his right he moved forward and glanced back to see if she was following him. 'Wow she's actually following me, thought for sure she ditch me after I asked if we should stay together for the rides.'

ob0do

They had ridden almost every single ride except the one they were in line for now. It was dark out and this would probably be the last ride of the day before they both turned in for the night. Both had talked little, not wanting to reveal anything about themselves. The only thing they had offered up is that neither of them live in this town.

Both were currently silent, still feeling nervous around the other. Danny put his hand behind his neck and looked down at the raven-haired girl standing next to him. He felt nervous being around her, but why he wasn't quite sure. Maybe it was because of the silence. Danny never could stand it.

He looked back up when he heard the ride slow to a stop and he and Sam moved forward onto the Ferris wheel. They opted to sit across from each other both looking anywhere but at the person seated across from them. Finally deciding he couldn't take it anymore, he turned to face Sam and started up a conversation.

"So… you said you didn't live here… are you visiting someone or…" But he was cut off with her quick reply.

"No," Sam made sure to keep her tone of voice in monotones, sounding bored. "I was just traveling through and decided to stay here for the night."

"Traveling, huh. Me too, just needed a vacation away from my home." He shrugged, "But I got tired so I stopped to rest." Sam looked at him from the corner of her eye, still keeping her head turned to the side, as if she were looking at the fair below.

"So you're not here with family?" Danny turned his gaze to the ground below and looked at the lights shining from the rides. Opting not to look at her while he was being interrogated.

"Nope, just me." Sam turned to him and frowned.

"No friends either?"

"No, no friends, I just needed to get away, so I left."

"You must get lonely, traveling with yourself I mean."

"I wouldn't know, I've only just left last night." He turned to look back at her. She still seemed so distant, and he had tried so hard all day to get her to talk and be friendly with him. 'Well at least I got a few words out of her' Danny sighed and looked down shaking his head. What had he been thinking? He just met this girl and he probably wasn't going to see her again. Why was he so desperate to make friends with her? Or perhaps he was looking too much into this. Maybe he was lonely. 'No, I've never had this problem before…"

"Danny, something's been bothering me all day…" Danny looked back up at her and saw that she was still looking over the railing, but she had a distant look on her face.

"Yea, what is it?" Sam turned her head back toward him, looking him dead in the eye. Her unusual violet-colored eyes staring him down.

"Why are you so desperate in making friends with me?" Danny looked away from her.

"To tell the truth… I don't even know." He turned his head back, locking his eyes with hers once again. "I guess I was just curious." She gave him a confused look and he continued, explaining what he had meant. "I mean your different then most people I've ever met… and you were staring at me in the diner… then you showed up at the store, then we met here. It was just weird how it had happened, so curiosity got the better of me."

"Oh…" Sam turned her head and watched as their seats came to ground level. Both of them got up and exited the ride. They walked to the entrance in silence. When they made it, Sam turned to him and finished her thought, "I was just wondering… because most people don't talk to me… and well I didn't know if I had attracted a stalker or not." Danny chuckled.

"No, I'm not stalking you. I'll be leaving tomorrow so you wont have to worry."

"Gee, thanks" Sam's voice adapted a sarcastic tone. While Danny added humor to his.

"Hey, no problem." She smiled at him, a real smile, for the first time and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Well I guess this is goodbye Danny." She held out her hand, which he took, and they shook them. "See ya." She turned her back to him and started heading toward her car.

"Hey!" He called to her and she turned to see what he wanted. "Are you sure its safe to walk around at night alone? Do you want me to walk you to your car or your hotel or something?"

"Now that Danny sounds a bit stalkerish." But she stopped her teasing when she noticed he was being serious with her. "Hey don't worry, I'll be fine. My car isn't to far from here."

"Well… okay. But be careful." She turned back around and called behind her.

"I will be. See ya."

"Bye," Danny frowned as he watched Sam turn the corner. But he decided that he shouldn't worry so much about her, so he turned to head back to the motel where he was staying.