Chapter 16

                                    

                                          
A jubilant atmosphere awaited us as we made our way down the boardwalk. Carnival barkers calling out to take a chance on one of their skill games. Your typical carnival games, like knocking milk bottles over with a softball, throwing a ring at an array of soda bottles, and squirting a water gun into a cutout of a clown’s mouth. I heard exhilarating screams as I looked over at a roller coaster nearby. I heard the sound of circus music as I looked the other direction toward a merry-go-round. The multicolored lights gave a radiant glow as the sun was setting over the western horizon. Chloe tugged on my arm and pulled me to the merry-go-round. “Come on, Olivia! Let’s go on the merry-go-round!” she said with palpable excitement. “Evan, would you like to join them on the merry-go-round?” Stella said. Evan just smiled as he nodded disapprovingly. “I’ll join them on the next ride,” he said. He held up his promise as we proceeded to various rides. All of them very dizzying, such as a tilt-a-whirl ride, a ride with several rotating cars, and a Florida-themed ride where we sat in larger-than-life oranges. The orange cars had a wheel in the center where you could spin it to make the car spin faster. Evan spun the wheel with all his might to spin the car as hard as he could. I joined in to make the car spin even faster. We all laughed in amusement as the world around us became a dizzying blur. I began to think to myself how much fun I was having. I hadn’t had this much fun since I was a child. It came to my realization that in a way, I was a child again – or at least one that was beginning her teenage years. After the three of us enjoyed several dizzying rides, Chloe went to her mother, leaving Evan and I alone. “Let’s go play one of those carnival games over there,” Evan said as he pointed in the direction of one of the games. The game he pointed to was one of those games where you throw a dart at a wall of balloons in an attempt to pop as many as you can. “Care to test your skill on the dart game?” the carnival barker exclaimed. “Yeah, I’ll give it a try,” Evan said as he placed three dollars on the counter. “Great,” the carnival barker continued. “Green balloons are worth 1 point, yellow balloons are worth 5 points, red balloons are worth 25 points, and blue balloons are worth a whopping 100 points! You get three throws for three dollars!” Evan took one of the darts and threw directly at one of the three blue balloons on the wall, popping it on impact. “Nice shot!” I exclaimed. He took another attempt at one of the other of the blue balloons on the wall. Again, he popped the blue balloon. Even looked intensely focused as he targeted the third dart. It was a perfect shot, as he popped the last remaining blue balloon on the wall. “Yes!” we cheered, jumping in jubilation, Evan pumping his fist in excitement. “A perfect score! 300 points!” the carnival barker shouted. “Go ahead and pick from the top row of prizes.” “Wow Evan, you’re a natural at this!” I said to Evan excitedly. “Thanks,” he said nervously, and he looked at me with a wry smile as he broke eye contact and looked away shyly. “Go ahead and pick whatever prize you want; I want you to have it,” he continued, as his cheeks blushed. I pointed at a large, tie-dyed bear as the carnival barker took it down and handed it to me. “Thanks for the bear, Evan. That was really sweet of you,” I said to Evan warmly. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanted you to have it because I…..really……” he stuttered. “Hey, let’s go over there and ride the roller coaster!” he said, changing the subject. We ran over to wait in line for the roller coaster. As we waited in line, we both looked at each other and smiled. I don’t know what it was, but I felt butterflies in my chest as I looked at Evan. It felt strange, as just a couple of days ago, I was a man that Evan looked up to. Now I found myself in the position of a young teenage girl, and instead of looking up to me. It became more than apparent that he was developing somewhat of a crush on me. The magnitude of this scenario made me feel a bit uncomfortable, however I must admit that I was enjoying the sudden affection he was showing me. “Are you nervous?” Evan said to me, looking up at the roller coaster. “A little bit,” I replied. “I’ve never ridden one of these things.” A fib of course, as I had ridden plenty of roller coasters fearlessly when I was younger. However, I got chills looking up at this roller coaster. It was only a carnival roller coaster, so it wasn’t particularly large or intense, however for some reason it felt a lot larger and more intimidating than what I was used to. I wasn’t lying when I said I was nervous. I gulped nervously as Evan and I stepped into the roller coaster car. After the attendant checked our restraints, he proceeded to press a button, as a loud buzzer went off, indicating the start of the ride. After a slow ascent, the car careened down the tracks, speedily around corners as it dipped and rose repeatedly, maintaining its speed. Near the end of the ride, the roller coaster car made another ascent, as it prepared to build momentum to the largest, fastest drop of the ride. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around Evan and clung onto him for dear life. I screamed as we sped down the final drop. As we slowed around the final corner to the end of the ride, he wrapped his arm around me, with me still clinging to him. “Are you okay?” he said to me, visibly concerned. I nodded yes. “Yes, I’m okay. That….was a lot of fun!” I said. He smiled at me and replied, “Good. I had a lot of fun too!” “What was happening here?” I thought to myself. I found myself suddenly smitten by Evan. While I had literally become a different person, I was also cognizant of the fact that the dynamics of our relationship had completely changed, as had the relationship between myself and Meredith. I felt nervous proceeding with any path forward for me. I know that Meredith and I could no longer remain husband and wife, however I found myself very uncomfortable with the prospect of her finding out that Evan and I were possibly becoming an item. I felt that I would have to hide any feelings I might have had for Evan around Meredith, and avoid showing him any affection around her, at least for the time being. Who knows, maybe this wouldn’t materialize into something bigger? However, it was hard to not notice that there was definitely a spark between us that night. As we all walked back to the hotel for the night, Evan pulled me aside and said to me, “Hey, Olivia. I really had a good time with you tonight.” “Me too,” I replied shyly. Evan continued, “Tomorrow’s our last day here before we head home. I wish we could stay here forever. Hey, are you going to the gala tomorrow night?” I nodded yes. “Great,” he said smiling. “I look forward to seeing you there. Goodnight, Olivia.” “Goodnight,” I replied, as we all walked into the hotel to retire for the evening.