Unexpected Connection

CHAPTER 13

Good Morning 

I turn around in bed.

Ring RIng

My alarm rings and I hit it, woke up earlier than it again. I get up from bed and as usual I go visit my house next door. My house, Ian's house, its the same thing Tomato, Potato. I grab my binoculars and I see Ian outside also with his binoculars. He smiles when he sees me and waves. I wave back. I pick up my notepad and write;

'Mornin'' 

'Mornin' love'. Love? I smile at him and wave trying not to make it seem awkward.

'What are you doing today?' he asks.

'Asher and I are going to the carnival later'

'I'd drive us there' he writes inviting himself.

'Eli would be joining us' I tell him giving him heads up.

'Alright, Axel would join as well, he loves carnivals'

'Good by me, I'd tell Ash. See you in a few'

I give him a small wave and walk inside. I love carnivals, the rides, foods, games, prizes. I love it. I walk downstairs and see Asher in the living room.

    "Morning" he says pausing his movie.

    "I just woke up but I'm so tired" I tell flopping on the couch beside him.

    "You came home pretty late last night" he says smiling at me.

    "Mum and Dad?" I ask.

    "With friends" he answers. "How was meeting Ian's friends, did they like you?"

    "Loved me. I charmed the socks off them" I reply sounding confidence.

    "That's you, the charmer" Asher says not believing me. I punch his arm.

    "Speaking of Ian and his friends, he wants to come to the carnival with us. Bringing a friend too" I tell Ash.

    "A friend?" 

    "Yes, Axel. Met him yesterday" I explain.

    "An objective person who would tell me what happened yesterday" Asher says.

    "Yes, and he would tell you how charming I was" I tell him poking my tongue out at him. Asher plays his movie and I join him. He's watching Mechanic Resurrections. I love Jason Statham. I suggest we watch the movie in the cinema and he agrees. We order pizza and watch the movie at our cinema. It's loud and dark just as we like it. 

    "Lily, Asher" we hear Eli call. I pick up my phone to text him and I see I have fifteen missed calls and five texts from Eli. 

You Ready? - E

On my way over - E

Lily, pick up - E

What is wrong, why are you and Ash not picking up -E

Come on Lily, pick up - E

I show Ash the texts and missed call, he pauses the movie and checks his phone too, ten missed calls from Eli and texts mirroring mine. I see the time on Ash's phone, four noon. What the heck, where did time go. We are watching mission impossible now, so I guess that's where time went. After The Mechanic one and two, we watched the three John Wicks and now Mission Impossible. Don't judge me, I already said I knew where time went.

    "Eli can never know about this" Ash says and I nod. Ash sends a text to Eli that we are at the back of the house.

    "Let's get out of here" I tell him.

Ash and I sneak out the cinema and go to our rooms making sure to avoid Eli. If he's gonna catch us, he might as well catch up while we are getting ready. I quickly rush to the bathroom and shower, I need to pick an outfit, do my hair and put on makeup in just a few minutes. Let the magic happen.

I put on black shorts with a black plain t-shirt, small white socks and white sneakers. I pack my hair into two high buns like Minnie mouse, I use moisturizer, eye liner and mascara with tinted lip balm on my face and we good to go. While I was getting ready, Eli texted and I told him I'd be down in five, that was twenty minutes ago. I'm done now. I put my fanny bag across my shoulder, my phone, credit cards, money and id card are inside.

    "My goodness I have a hot girl" I hear Ian say behind me. I smile and turn around, he is leaning against my door post.

    "Don't forget that" I tell him my hand on my waist.

    "Never" he says.

    "How long have you been here?" I ask kissing me.

    "Since the dance" he says and I blush a bit. I always dance when I fam getting ready, makes me feel good. You should try it, it makes you feel good about the day and your outfit.

    "You saw that, huh?" I say scrunching my face.

    "Yeah and I think it made me like you a bit more" he says bending to kiss my face.

    "Lily?" Ash calls from my room. 

    "Ready" I say. I put my camera on my neck. You have to have pictures at the carnival.

    "When did you get here?" Ash asks Ian.

    "A while" Ian answers. "The front door was open, still is. I just walked in" he adds. Ash and I look at each other thinking we could have died if it were a killer that just walked into our house not Ian.

    "You ready, Lily?" Eli asks walking into my room. 

    "Yeah" I answer.

    "Ian" Eli says with a nod to Ian.

    "Eli" Ian says. Weird.

    "Beautiful house" Axel says walking into my room, "Gave myself a tour" he adds. Ash and I would definitely be dead by now if it were a killer. This right here would be a crime scene.

    "When did you get here?" I ask him.

    "Came with Ian" Axel answers smiling at me.

    "Who is this?" Ash asks.

    "Axel, Ian's friend" I answer.

    "Axel, this is Asher, my brother" I say pointing at Ash, "and Eli, my best friend" I add.

    "Hey man" Eli says with a small wave.

    "Hey" 

    "Nice meeting you" Ash says nodding at Axel awkwardly. This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship or maybe just a friendship for now.

    "If we are done with whatever this is, let's go" I tell them.

We all pile into Ian's SUV, its a big car that easily takes the five of us. Ian opens the car door, passenger side and does my seat belt for me while Ash, Eli and Axel pile into the back seat. We are on our way when Ash asks Axel how I did with Ian's friend group yesterday.

    "She was charming and funny" Axel answers.

    "Yes" Ian adds.

    "How much are you getting paid to say this?" Eli asks.

    "Hey!" I shout at him. Axel laughs and shakes his head indicating he is not getting paid.

    "What does she have on you?" Ash asks.

    "Blink twice if you are being forced" Eli adds.

    "I'm serious, your sister is awesome" Axel says, "Ian is lucky he got to her first" he adds.

    "Easy there buddy" Ian says looking at Axe through the rear view mirror.

    "What, I'm just saying" Axel says shrugging, "Lily is very very hot" he adds.

    "Thank you" I say looking back and winking at him.

    "You are most welcome" Axel says.

    "What just took place?" Asher asks.

    "Axel thinks your sister, his best friend's girlfriend is very hot" Eli explains making it sound bad. Asher gags dramatically.

    "I'm gonna use music to drive whatever just happened away" Ian says and turns on the radio. 

    "Good idea" Asher says.

The drive to the carnival is filled with laughter, music and singing. I love a good car ride with the right people. When we arrive at the carnival, it's twilight, the sky has this pinkish glow about it, it is magical. The lights of the carnival can be seen a mile away, it's so bright. Ian parks the car and the guys and I walk to the carnival, every thing is in full swing, there are people everywhere, on rides, playing games, walking around with friends and or family, eating. Dang it, I love carnivals, so many rides and so many options to pick from. 

    "What do we want to do first?" I ask the guys.

    "Rides" Asher answers and I nod at him. We always take the rides first before we get eat and throw up all over the place. I link my arm with Ian's and drag him to the rollercoaster.

    "Wait up" Ash says running after us, Eli and Axel behind. 

It's been a few hours at the carnival and we have ridden every ride you could think of. After the rollercoaster, we rode the Ferris wheel, Wave Swinger, Bumper cars, Carousel, Pendulum, Round Up and others, we even went through a dark tunnel where scary faces jumped out at us. We all screamed, not gonna lie. The faces came out of nowhere. I have so many pictures of us and I love that Ian is holding my hand in every single pictures. We also have pictures from the photo booth. I know I have a camera but photo booth pictures hit different.

    "What next?" Ian asks after the pirate ship.

    "Haunted House" Axel asks pointing at the house in front.

    "I'm down" I say smiling.

    "What just touched me?" Eli shouts. 

I told unto Ian's arm scared of whatever could pop out. I'm beginning to think I'm a scaredy-cat. A guy with a undead look makeup jumps in front of Ian and Ian punches the guys square in the face. 

    "What the heck man?" the guy shouts.

    "Sorry, you came out nowhere" Ian says.

    "That's how haunted house works" the guy shouts nursing his nose.

    "What happened?" another zombie guy asks.

    "That guy broke my nose" 

    "Get him" the zombie guy says to his zombie friends.

    "RUN!!" I shout holding Ian's hand. We all ran out of the house and blend into the crowd. 

    "I think it's time to eat and play games" Asher says. 

    "I agree" Ian says and we all go get something to eat and drink. We got corndogs, lemonades, hotdogs, nachos, sodas and popcorns. We are done eating and are walking to the games section, Ian is carrying me on his back, I feed him the cotton candy I am eating and he laughs. I love his laugh, the butterflies in me dance every time he laughs. We finally get to the game section and decide to play darts first. 

    "Any one wants to bet how many balloons I can hit?" I ask the guys. Asher and Eli shake their heads.

    "I have learnt to never bet against you" Axel says raising his palms out.

    "it's a no for me too" Ian says.

    "You guys are no fun" I say and pay for the darts. I win a penguin.

    "Guess what I just noticed now" Axel says.

    "What?" Eli asks.

    "Ian and Lily are matching" Axel answers. Ian and I look at each other and see it, we are both wearing black t-shirts, I am wearing black shorts, Ian has on black jeans ands we both have white sneakers on. How did I not notice it?

    "That's because our minds are connected" Ian says then kisses me. 

    "Gross" Ash says looking away. I notice Eli is looking at Ian and I weird but I quickly ignore it. He knows I am with Ian and is happy for us.

We play other games as well like milk bottle ring toss, baseball toss and high striker. As you have guessed, the high striker became a competition among Asher, Eli and Axel. Boys.

Ian and I are watching them when I suddenly smear my ice cream on Ian's face and start laughing. 

    "Lily..." Ian says removing his hands from his pockets and I run laughing. I can hear him laughing behind me as he chases me down, it's not easy running with so many people around, my ice cream has gone bye-bye. Ian catches up to me, his arms wrap my waist and pull me back to him, my feet leave the ground and I am laughing. 

    "Got you" he says causing me to laugh harder. Ian puts me down and then carries me, my feet around his waist. I put my fingers in his hair, we are still laughing. I love how his eyes are laughing looking at me and his dimples making his smile so beautiful. He is handsome and he his mine. 

    "You make me happy" he says suddenly. I stop laughing and look at him. "I have never felt this happy before, Lily and it's all because of you" he adds and I kiss him.

    "You make me happy too" I tell him.

    "Really?" he asks.

    "Yes" I say and he kisses me.

    "We should join the others" Ian says.

It's past midnight and the guys and I have left the carnival, none of us wants to go home so we decide to drive to the beach, Axel is driving with Ash in front. I am at the back sitting in between Ian and Eli. Ian is resting on my shoulder, says he's a bit tired and just needs to rest. Eli is looking out the window, he has been doing that since Ian kept his head on my shoulder. We finally arrived at the beach, it is deserted as expected at one in the morning. We settle at one corner of the beach, away from the normal places people would have gathered. 

    "I brought something" Axel says opening the duffel bag he is carrying. He brings out fireworks. Yes. I love fireworks. It takes a couple minute but we have everything set up. Axel lights the fireworks and we all sit far away from it and watch them display in the sky. Have I said I love fireworks? I do. The last of the fireworks is being shot to the sky when we heard a police cruiser car, the siren is on. We didn't have to be told twice before we pack up everything, we put the evidence of the fireworks in Axe's bag, try to scatter the beach sand to hide whatever and sneak away from the cops. We run a bit and then walk all the way to the car. I see why Axel parked the car far away from the beach in the first place.

***

It's been a week since our night at the carnival, I am currently in class. I look over at the sleeping Ian, everything has been going so well with us. It's amazing. He's amazing. I find myself smiling and laughing every time I'm with me, he brings out the best in me. Don't tell anyone this but I think I might be in love with him. I know!. I rest my head still looking at him even when the class is over.

    "I'd see you later" Asher says and leaves the class.

I smile at Ian when he opens his eyes, "Hey" I say.

    "Hey" he responds sitting up. "Where's everybody?" he asks.

    "That was the last class for today" I tell him.

    "I slept through that" he say stretching. The way his muscles moved when he stretched? Yes, please.

     "You must have been tired" I tell him.

    "You have no idea, I had to go through the night going through the things your dad sent to me for work" he tells me. "I also have a seminar to give next week" he adds. That is a lot of work to get through.

    "If you need any help, let me know" I offer.

    "Thanks bunny. I'd take you up on that" he says.

    "Anytime".

We leave class and Ian drives us me home. I am in my office finishing assignments and getting company work done when my phone chimes, it's a message from Ian.

Get ready, we are going out - I

Okay, that came out of nowhere.

I'd pick you up in an hour, dress casual - I

Alright, I guess I have to get ready. I get leave my office and go to my room to get ready. I have a quick shower and change into a flower print dress. I put my hair into a messy bun and put on minimal makeup. An hour later, I am in Ian's car driving to who knows where.

    "Where are we going" I ask for the millionth time.

    "No where in particular, just want to take my girl out" he says. 

    "Fine" I say and he holds my hand. 

We are apparently going nowhere in particular, we are at the park. Ian parks the car and says we are just going biking. I know, it's weird. Ian rents a bicycle for us, the couple kind and we ride through the park. It's pretty fun, never ridden a couple bicycle before. After the bike ride, Ian rents a carriage that takes us through another part of the park. The carriage stops and Ian leads me to this secluded park of the park, I see a laid out blanket on the floor with a basket and books on it.

    "What is all this?" I ask Ian when he sits me on the blanket. "When did you set this up?" I ask.

    "I realized we've never really asked you to be my girlfriend or took you out on a date so I decided to change that" he explains. 

    "I know we are dating" I tell him.

    "But I never really asked so here goes" he says and takes a deep breath, "Would you be my girlfriend, Liliana Grant?" he asks. I take a deep breath.

    "I'd say yes but-" I trail.

    "But?" Ian asks.

    "I am with someone else and it's pretty serious. I've met his family and all. He's handsome, hot even, tall, selfless, passionate, hardworking and every other good adjective there is" I tell him nodding my head sadly.

    "I'm going to kill whoever it is" Ian says, "It's Eli isn't it. I know it's him. I am going to kill him" he adds getting angry. How did we get here? I shake my head at him.

    "Oh my gosh Ian, it's you" I say laughing. He looks at me and his face softens.

    "Me?" he asks now smiling.

    "Yes. It's you, I'm with" I tell him.

    "I knew it" he said smiling and I laugh. "So you'd be my girlfriend?" he asks.

    "I'm already your girlfriend" I tell him and he kisses me.

I had so much fun at the park with Ian, after our picnic, Ian took me for ice cream before we left the park. He is currently driving us to his place, says he has something for me over at his house. It might not seem like much but I love the date Ian planned, it's was simple and perfect. I also love that it was just the two of us, no distractions. Ian parks the vehicle and we walk into his home together.   

    "Your surprise is on my bed" Ian says when we walk in. I rush up the stairs excited to see what my surprise is. I see a garment bag on his bed and I open it. Wow. There is a beautiful black dress inside. Excited, I put it on, it's a long elegant dress with an open back and plunging neck line. The dress hugs my body in all the right places and has this long lit in front. I look at myself in the mirror. I look amazing. I put on the heels with the dress, it's also black and strappy. I let my hair loose and I am glad my makeup still looks presentable. I adjust where necessary and walk down to meet Ian. When I get downstairs, there is a flower trail starting from the stairs that leads to the back of the house. The trail changes into led lights and they lead to a gazebo set up at the back of Ian's house. To say I'm surprised would be an understatement. Ian has set up a candle lit dinner for two, there are flowers around the gazebo with fairy lights. There are twinkle string lights all over the plant hedges brightening the place, there is also a huge rose flower on the table.

    "Ian" I say when he steps out. 

    "You look beautiful" he says taking my dress in.

    "Thank you, the dress is amazing" I tell him, "All this is amazing" I add gesturing around.

    ''You like it?" he asks.

    "I love it, it's perfect. Thank you" I say kissing him. "Is this why you took me out earlier?" I ask.

    "Well, part of it. I didn't want you seeing it being set up" he says and I smile. 

    "Thank you" I say when he pulls out my chair. He sits in front of me. The chef he tired brings our dinner for us and it's tastes divine. After dinner, Ian and I talk about anything and everything, I got to know him better, learnt about his childhood too and parents. We are currently in the pool, don't worry, we rested before going in. 

    "Thanks for dinner" I tell Ian swimming to him.

    "Anytime bunny" he says. I wrap my legs around him in the water and kiss him. We stay like that just looking at each other and I smile. The last time we were like this in the water, he said he wanted to kiss me and here we are now, dating each other. How time flies. 

     "I remember the last time we were like this" Ian says and I smile.

    "I was just thinking that" I tell him.

    "I wanted to kiss you so badly that day" he tells me.

    "But didn't want to rush us, I remember" 

    "I can't believe we are here now and I am so happy" he says.

    "I am happy too" I tell him. I smile at him and kiss him. We are looking at each other and he said it, he said the words.

    "I love you, Lily".