His bloodshot eyes light up. “I know just the thing!”
I’m assuming it’ll be some stupid stuffed animal, but when he turns back around he’s holding a plastic necklace. It’s a big chain link thing with a massive pendant at the bottom of it. We’re talking a pendant the size of a basketball. The carnie wiggles his eyebrows and then presses a switch on the back of it.
It lights up.
The wordbootyliciousblinks across the pendant.
“Oh my God, no,” I say.
Bayleigh places the necklace over my head and positions the pendant in the center of my chest. “You look beautiful,” she says, giving me this wicked sexy smile. She and the carnie high five. I glare at her, but I’m just playing with her. I have no problem making an ass out of myself it makes her smile.
While we’re waiting in line for one of the carnival rides, I can’t help but stare at her. My necklace is still glowing in a rainbow of colors, but I refuse to turn it off. Now I think it’s embarrassing her more than me. “This is fun,” I say. “I never expected my self-inflicted summer punishment would turn out this great.”
“Same here. I thought I would have died of boredom by now.” She reaches into her back pocket and then frowns, and touches the other one.
“What are you looking for?” I ask.
She looks at her hand, confusion wrinkling her eyebrows. “I don’t know,” she says, tapping her pockets again. Then she looks up. “Shit. I was looking for my cell phone.” She laughs a little, but I can tell it’s bothering her. “Ugh, it’s such a habit, you know? I can’t believe I’m not over it yet.”
I put a hand to my chest. “Am I so boring that you need to find someone else to talk to while you’re around me?” I shake my head. “Ouch, Bayleigh. I’m heartbroken.”
She gives me this look that makes my knees weak. “Maybe I’m having such a great time I felt the need to post it to Facebook or something.”
“That’s better,” I say, smiling.
Hours fly by faster than time should be allowed to go, and soon it’s nearly time to leave. I sigh and face the truth. “I promised Ed I’d have you home by eleven,” I say, bumping into her shoulder. “That gives us time for one more ride. What will it be?”
“How about something slow?” she says, looking at her empty nacho tray. We’ve eaten a ton of junk food, so a fast ride wouldn’t be a good idea. I look around, then find the Ferris wheel. Perfect.
Something in her demeanor changes as we walk toward it. I slide my arm around her shoulders. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” she says quickly. Her attention is on the Ferris wheel that’s currently letting people onto each little carriage. I take my arm off her shoulder just in case it’s what’s making her uncomfortable.
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” I say, trying to sound lighthearted. She waits until we’ve climbed onto the Ferris wheel to answer me.
She shrugs. “I guess I'm just realizing that we had an awesome time tonight, but that only makes the rest of the summer sucky because after tonight, there won't be anything fun to do. At the end of the day, I'm still grounded, I'm still stuck here and I still don't have a phone or computer.”
“You can't think that way,” I say. I want to touch her, so I run my fingers through a strand of her hair, figuring that’s safer than holding her and pulling her close to me like I’d prefer to do. I grin and let my fingers slide through her impossibly soft hair. “Now that Ed doesn’t consider me a soulless bastard, I’m sure he’ll let you come over. We’ll find something fun to do.”
Her eyes meet mine. The wheel lurches to a stop at the very top. My stomach tightens. It’s not exactly the height that bothers me, but the fact that this thing can be folded up and driven around on an eighteen wheeler when the fair is over. Kind of makes me wonder about the safety of it. She turns to the side and looks over, down at the ground below.
“You’re braver than I am,” I whisper in her ear.
She turns back toward me, her lips twisted in a little smirk. I can’t help myself. I held back long enough and now I can’t do it any longer. I kiss her. Slowly, softly, I kiss her. When the ride starts moving again, I reach up and take her head in my hands, holding her steady while we kiss. She leans into me, kissing me back with feeling. It’s all the encouragement I need. I wrap my arms around her, part her lips with my tongue. She lets me, and she tastes like candy and soda and everything perfect in this world.
All around us, the world is whooshing by as the Ferris wheel makes one loop after another. I hold onto her, and kiss her like this might be the only chance I get. As the ride starts to slow down, I pull away. Her smile nearly kills me.
I tap a finger on her nose. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
Chapter 12
The bad thing about Bayleigh’s situation is that I can’t call her the next morning and tell her how much fun I had on our date last night. I’m sure she knows how I feel, but I hate not being able to tell her. And on top of that, I can’t go see her today. I think about leaving a note on her front door, but her grandparents might think I’m a crazy stalker or something, so I leave my house at five in the morning and hope she doesn’t feel like I’ve abandoned her.
I found out last night that my racing agent flew in from California last night to go to a race at a track here in Texas. It’s in a town called Mixon, and I’ve never heard of it at all, but after a quick google search I realized it’s becoming a pretty big deal in the motocross world. They’re actually having a regionals race there, with plans of hosting a national race next year.
Since my agent promised to get me back in the good graces of the race commission and then promptly stopped answering my calls, I figure there’s no better way to talk to him than by finding him in person. Mixon is a few hours away from Salt Gap, but at least it’s in the same state. I leave early and I drive straight there.
I pay an entry fee to the girl who looks totally bored to be working there, and then I park and start looking for him. The races are getting ready to start, so there’s a ton of people here, and most of them are eagerly waiting for a good day of racing. There’s exhaust in the air, and bikes zooming around everywhere. It makes my chest ache to be on my own bike.
