LOVERS | sean lew

ix.

When Sapphire first saw the vintage carousel upclose, she was gaping like a goldfish as she stared in awe.

It was pretty — a rustic yet nostalgic kind of pretty because it reminded you of what childhood was like in the past, when everything was goodie goodie and all you'd have to worry about is not catching on to the latest Hannah Montana episode on Disney or not having the chance to ride the choochoo train.

All the while Sapphire admired it in all its beauty, Sean, like what he did majority of the night, admired her, and how all of these simple things managed to capture her heart.

"You never fail to amuse me," Sean remarked, laughing lightly at how Sapphire instantly dragged him to wherever the ticket booth is. "I'll pay."

"You paid for majority of the night already."

"It's called a date, S, and I'm supposed to pay for you."

"It's a date. A mutually agreed situation wherein we both put on our 'yes' to be here, and by mutual agreement, it is also a must to equally pay for tonight, so I will also pay because I can, Mr. Lew, and you cannot and will not stop me," Sapphire rambled on, sticking her tongue out at the boy who looked so done.

"And you call me the smarty pants," Sean muttered, "okay. If we go on another round, I'll pay."

The girl thought about it for awhile, then shrugged. "Sure."

Then for almost an hour, that's where they spent their time.

They named some of the horses that were on there, like Pinky because she had pink mane and Gucci because his color was brown and he had a red and green seat.

"Did you just assume the horse's gender?" Sapphire fake-gasped, pointing to the white horse with the white mane.

"It's Taylor Swift now," Sean announced proudly, leaning on the horse and patting it like it's his own. "Because it's too late for you and your white horse, to catch me now!"

Then Sean ran, while the carousel was moving steadily to a random nursery rhyme, dodging the incoming horses that was in his way. Sapphire, after coming out of a frozen state, went in the opposite direction to catch Sean.

"Won't we feel dizzy after this?!" The girl exclaimed, yelping as she almost fell of the ride.

Sean, who just laughed as he continued running in circles, had his phone brought out to film. "Smile, babe!"

Sapphire, who looked exhausted and done but still kept running after the boy, shot the camera a halfhearted smile for a split second as it went to a concerned look the next. "I think I'm dizzy."

Almost tired himself too, just walked over to his girl who was perched on a smaller horse. He brought out a pack of gum from his pocket, and gave one to Sapphire. Coincidentally, the ride stopped too.

Both of them plopped down on the grass, lying down to see the actual stars that littered the sky.

"When you wish upon a star, your wish is actually really dead since that star is probably dead too, for like billions of years already," the boy randomly blurted out.

"You must be really fun at parties."

Sean winked in her direction, "I really am, especially if I start to pull out my dance moves."

"Oh no, not the crazy no-bones move," then they both laughed at the image of it. "But, hey Sean."

"Yep?" The boy turned his head to look at the girl.

"Thank you for tonight," she smiled wholeheartedly, "I really mean it. Like, really, thank you for such a great night like this."

"Of course. I wouldn't want my date night for my girl to be suckish, you know?" Sean joked, snaking an arm on the girl's shoulder as she leaned on him. "It's not all me. It's also you too. You made this night greater than what I've thought. Everything always becomes a lot greater when you're in it."