My New Stepbrother.

The Date.

He grabbed my hand again and led me to the stand that sold the elephant ears. He payed for mine and got himself funnel cake.

"You gotta stop doing that." I said as I took a piece of the treat.

"Being cute... That's kinda impossible." I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

"Nooo. Paying for my food. That's what this is for." I reached for my purse.. That wasn't on my side. He watched as I felt for the purse and he laughed again.

"I made sure that you left it in the car so I could be a gentleman and pay for it." He smiled.

"My hero." He bowed and grabbed the plate that contained our sweets. We sat at the nearest table and ate our food. Every now and then I would catch him staring at me while I was eating so I would eat a tad bit slower and bow my head in embarrassment.

"You're blushing." He smiled and took a piece of my ear.

"Do you just pay for my food so you can steal it off of my plate?" He nodded as he stuffed another piece of the funnel cake into his mouth.

I smiled and took another piece of my elephant ear. It was almost gone and I whined. I heard Tyler groan as he too neared his last bite. I took the funnel cake off of his plate and popped it in my mouth and smiled at him.

He took the last of my ear. I frowned and took the funnel cake off of his tray and popped it into my mouth smiling triumphantly. He laughed as he grabbed both his tray and my plate and tossed them into the garbage.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me in line for one of the slow rides. "We shouldn't go on fast rides, we just finished eating" I nodded in agreement.

The line was short so we didn't have to wait long to ride the ride. And as I said before, the ride was slow. I spun a few times then lifted a bit, then stopped. It looked boring. I got tired just looking at it.

We were next in line and the man smiled as he opened the gate. Tyler and I ran to the first cart on the ride. I buckled myself in and smiled over at Tyler who was struggling with his seat belt. The man who ran the ride came over to help him and all the others who couldn't figure out the seat belts.

"Don't you say a word about this." I laughed as he crossed his arms across his chest and pouted.

"Come on, its just a seat belt, no need to pout." The side of his mouth went into a smirk and I laughed again.

The man went over the instructions for the ride and then started it up. The ride spun in a wide circle slowly then the circle started to get smaller and the ride somewhat sped up. I threw my hands in the air and screamed. Not loud but like some people do on exciting rides.

The tiny kids joined in while everyone else looked bored out of their minds. I looked over to Tyler who was smiling at me. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." I put my hands back up and let out another scream. This was the most fun I've had in awhile. Ever since mom left, I liked locking myself in my room, I liked reading books, I liked pretending that she was going to come back and help make high school easier, but she never did.

She always left me disappointed. Especially on my birthdays. At least when she lived with us, she gave me cards and sung me to bed that night. Now its nothing, her new son is her focus. And she just forgot all about me. Which is fine. I have dad, Maya, and now Kelly. I'll be perfectly fine without her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I looked over at Tyler and realized that I had been on the verge of crying. I wipe my face to see if any tears had escaped without me noticing. Thankfully my face was fully dry.

"Nothing, just thinking about the last time I came to a carnival."

He grinned an looked at me. "Wanna taco bout it?" He pointed to his shirt which he had a taco on it.  

I laughed and shook my head. "Maybe later." He smiled and the ride stopped. I helped him unbuckle his belt, then undid mine. We jumped off of the ride and ran to the gate. "Where to next?"

"House of mirrors?" I smiled and he grabbed my hand and dragged me to the house of mirrors. "I have to bring you here during Halloween, dad goes all out. He makes everyone dress up and the house of mirrors turns into the house of horrors. And if you make it through, you get a free shake. Its really cool." He smiles really wide. "Last year I got to help and I scared this lady so bad she couldn't even go through the rest of it."

"That sounds amazing." He nodded and continued to drag me to the house of mirrors. When we got there, Tyler did that guy handshake thing with the man-kid- who ran the house of mirrors.

"Enjoy." He smiled at me and nodded at Tyler and we ran into the mirrors.

There were so many mirrors, which I guess was kind of obvious. Some of the mirrors made me look fat, short, super skinny, tall, big top small bottom, and my favorite one contorted my face. I aughed as Tyler came and stood in front of the mirror and stuck his tongue out making his face look super weird.

I made a goofy face at the mirror causing Tyler to erupt in laughter. We moved on to the next mirror which made us super long. I laughed when Tyler started to bounce up and down and his reflection got longer.

When we got to the last mirror and both took pictures and left the mirror room.

After that, we rode a bunch of rides and got some Slurpees. After our last fast ride, Tyler grabbed my hand and dragged me to the ferris wheel. The line wasn't long, seeing as most people were on the fast rides.

We quickly settled into a cart and the ride started, taking us towards the top. "So, wanna tell me about the last time you were here?" I nodded.

"The last time, I was at a carnival was when My mom told me her and my father were getting a divorce. She let me ride all the rides, got me all my favorite snacks, She even told me she loved me. The last ride we rode, was the ferris wheel. When we got to the top, That's when she grabbed my hand and told me that they were splitting up." I closed my eyes at the horrible memory.

Tyler grabbed my hand and as the ride stopped, I noticed we were at the top. "Well, lets make a new memory for you." And then he kissed me. I was too shocked to kiss back. But I did, And it was amazing. But the first thing that popped in my head was the kiss me and Mason had shared, I quickly threw it to the back of my head and kissed Tyler.

The ride started again and our kiss broke apart. I smiled and so did he. And we just kind of sat in silence until the ride stopped.

He held my hand as we walked to the parking lot. We drove home in a comfortable silence and it was okay.

We parked in front of the house and he smiled. "Today was amazing. Thank you for letting me be your date to the carnival."

"No, thank you." I smiled as he leaned over and kissed me again. The lights on the porch came on and a shadow appeared in the window. I frowned as I said one last goodbye to Tyler.

I walked in the house, expecting my dad but was unfortunately greeted by Mason. "So how was it?" He smiled and sat on the couch and flicked on the tv.

"Why does it matter?" I started up the stairs.

"Just asking." He sounded bored but I ignored his tone of voice. "Goodnight"

"Night."