Chapter 35 Part 1

A/N: Hey guys! I usually make little playlists based on each chapter I write, and I thought I'd share with you this time- if you listen to any/all of these songs while reading you IT WILL MAKE THE CHAPTER 300X BETTER

*just friends- Virginia to Vegas

*perfect places- Lorde

*right now- iamnotshane

*starlight- Taylor Swift

*lemonade- Hannah Jane Lewis

*enchanted- Taylor Swift

*delicate- Taylor Swift

The alcohol burns my throat as it goes down and I almost spit it out, wanting to cough, but at the same time it fills me with a warmth, and before I know it, it's been multiple seconds and I'm still drinking it.

At least until Jase snatches the flask away from me, a challenging smirk on his face. "Slow down there, Red. I'm trying to get you to let loose, not be completely wasted."

"And was this your grand plan for helping me to 'let loose?'" I ask, saying the last part with air quotes. "Take me into a random parking lot and tell me to drink?"

"Ah, Red," he says, and the ever-spreading grin on his face makes me a bit nervous. "No. That was only the beginning."

"So... what's next, then?"

He runs a hand through his dark hair, strands casually falling into his face. "That, Red, is entirely up to us."

--

It doesn't take long for us to make it down to the beach, my heels off and dangling from my hand as I walk barefoot, my toes covered in wet sand as we walk up to a street just barely above the waterfront. I'm expecting all the shops to be closed, but somehow Jase manages to pull me into a 24-hour bakery with more flavors of pie than I've ever seen in my life. The two of us are a bit tipsy by this point, and when Jase suggests we buy an entire pie-sized amount of different slices, I can't help but think that's a great idea. I haven't forgotten about how our hands are intertwined the whole time we're ordering- periodically making me shiver and my heartbeat quicken. I've never done anything like this before... I mean, Noah and I held hands all the time, but it never felt like this, like I was being strung together and was coming undone all at the same time.

We sit down and I take my first bite of peach pie, my eyes going wide. "This might be the singularly best thing I've ever tasted. In my life. I want to marry this pie and have ten children with it."

"Ten? That sounds expensive," he grins, slicing off a piece of pecan pie and putting it in his mouth. "Also somewhat cannibalistic seeing that you're eating it."

"Wow. Hilarious. You're just so funny," I say, rolling my eyes, though somehow he managed to elicit a small smile from me.

"Yeah, I thought so," Jase says, leaning back in his chair with a lazy smirk on his face. "Do you want to dance?" he asks all of a sudden, leaning back in closer to where I'm sitting, his eyes so focused on me that it sends a shiver down my spine. Normally I'd just laugh at him, make some sarcastic comment about how we're not at the club anymore... but a mixture of alcohol and adrenaline is pumping through my veins, making me want to do things I wouldn't usually. So I just roll my eyes, taking his outstretched hand and stand up, stepping closer to him as the song switches to something lighthearted and fun, easy to dance to. There's a silence between us for a second, but it's... a good silence. I don't think I could say anything anyways, I feel like my heart's been lit on fire and I'm about to go up in flames at any second. So I just try to take a deep breath as we dance around jokingly, his shoes clicking on the black and white tile floors. Finally, though, when I think I've gotten over my breathlessness at being so, so close to Jase Turner, I look up at him. "Is this what you do with all the girls? Take them to bakeries at midnight and then ask them to dance while they're inebriated?"

He grins, shaking his head a little bit as he looks slightly over my shoulder, then back into my eyes, a slight chuckle on his lips. "Never change, Red. I don't know a single other girl who would call herself 'inebriated' while drunk."

"I suppose this is the part where I proceed to tell you that I'm 'not like other girls?'"

"Well," he grins. "To be fair... you're not."

The song switches to... Ed Sheeran's Perfect, of all things, and I almost want to burst out laughing just at the utter ridiculousness. My eighth-grade heart would be on fire right now. But before I can think about that, I feel Jase's hands around my waist and I reach up for his shoulders- this really has turned into a middle school dance.

"Tell me something," Jase says, and the look he gives me sends a shiver down my spine- it's like he's seeing right through me.

"Anything?"

"No, not anything." he looks down for a second, then back up at me, his eyes still sparkling a little bit. "Tell me... I don't know. About your dreams or something. I feel like we've lived together for ages, and yet I still don't know anything deeper about you other than your complete hatred for cereal."

"Hey, a person's choice in breakfast food can really say a lot about them, you know," I grin, and for once I'm not trying to hide the blush on my face as I look into his eyes... I can see how he gets so many girls. This look, the smoldering gaze that makes me feel like I'm special, like I'm the only one on earth he sees... it's enrapturing. "But... fine. My dreams. I guess I just want to get the hell out of Virginia, maybe live on the West Coast... and I was convinced I was going to be a professional tennis player when I was little, but I haven't even picked up a racket in years, so it's not like that's going to happen. It was mostly just a stupid pipe dream."

"Who said that was stupid?" Jase asks, raising an eyebrow. "If you want to play tennis, then just do it. I'll teach you if you want. My parents have a membership to a club half an hour away. They made me take lessons for it, too, just in case any potential future business partners wanted someone with an impressive backhand."

When he says it like that, everything sounds so simple... but I know it isn't. Not really, not when he doesn't even want to be seen in public with me. Besides, we can hardly stand to be in a room together for more than five minutes. Tonight is just a... strange exception.

"What about you, then, Jase? Got any impossible dreams of your own?"

"No," he says quickly, but the way he doesn't meet my eyes tells me that there's more to the story there. "Ugh... why are we even dancing to this song in the first place? I feel like I'm back in junior high."

"Y-yeah," I say, letting go of his shoulders and trying not to look as embarrassed as I feel. "Let's go."

--

We make our way out of the bakery (Jase carrying the several slices of pie we have yet to eat in a box) and into the cool night air. I look over at Jase, at the way a sliver of moonlight seems to be dancing around him, hitting his face almost ethereally, like he's some otherworldly being... too beautiful for this planet.

Jesus christ. I have a problem.

Jase gives me a puzzled smile. "What?"

"Huh?" I ask, blinking out of my daze.

"Why were you staring at me?" he asks, a light smirk coming to his face. "Am I really just that irresistible?

Yes.

"In your dreams, Turner," I say, rolling my eyes and stepping in front of him- making any eye contact would make me blush enough to completely give up the fact that I do actually find him irresistible. Unfortunately.

We continue along the street until I spot something up the hill- a carnival of some sorts, though it appears to be closed now and there's a tall metal fence that says 'No Trespassing'. Which, of course, makes it the perfect place to trespass into.

"What the hell are you doing, Red?" I hear Jase chuckle as I toss my heels onto the pavement and start running up the hill.

"I'm having fun! Isn't that the point of this whole getting-drunk-and-staying-out thing?" I call back, a grin on my face as I look over my shoulder and down at him. He's rolling his eyes, but the dimple on his face shows me that he's not as annoyed as he looks. "I am not following you up there!" he calls back, shaking his head like I'm crazy... but an amusing kind of crazy.

"Fine, suit yoursel- aaah!" I try to say back to him, though my words are interrupted by a slight shriek as I scale the chain link fence, turning to climb down the other side when my foot slips out from its hold and I fall maybe six feet down headfirst into the fenced-in area. Luckily, the ground is soft, and aside from a brief stab of pain in my wrists, which broke my fall, I seem to be completely fine.

"Are you okay?" Jase asks, running up the hill after me, and I'm surprised to see relief in his eyes as he looks down at the smile on my face. "Are you coming or not, Turner?"

"I mean, someone needs to keep your stupid ass in check," Jase says, giving me a dimpled smirk as he hoists himself up to climb over the fence. "I guess it's true what they say... alcohol really does change a person."

"It lowers your inhibitions," I tell him matter-of-factly, standing up and brushing the dirt and grass off of my white dress. "That's why it's harder to consent to sex-"

Why. The hell. Am I. Talking. About. Sex. Right. Now.

"What are we even doing here in the first place?" Jase asks, seeming to be oblivious to my inner panic as he hops down to the ground smoothly. "I mean, this place isn't even open, it's not exactly like I can just go and win you a stuffed animal in that weird Whack-A-Mole game."

I scoff. "I'm perfectly capable of winning my own stuffed animal, thank you very much. And the carnival games have never even been the fun part."

"Oh yeah? Then what exactly is?"

"That," I say, a smile on my face as I point to the now stationary old-fashioned carousel, pulling his hand as I take off towards it- just in case there are any creepy axe murderers waiting in the dead of the night to kill me, you know.

"Red, did you just have a brain transplant? I don't think I've ever seen you this... happy around me before," Jase laughs. "And the carousel's not even running."

"Oh, just shut up and stop being slow," I mutter, climbing onto the back of one of the horses as Jase takes the one next to me. And I know it's crazy, and true that I'm not usually this happy, but... something about this night feels different. Freer. Like I can be whoever the hell I want to be without thinking, without worrying, like I can do anything. And I never want to let that feeling go. I know Jase said I just had a brain transplant, but really... being here with him in the middle of the night?

I've never felt more like myself.

"You do realize that this isn't going to move no matter how hard you try?" Jase asks, that stupidly attractive smirk appearing on his face again as he looks over at me- the horses are barely far enough apart from each other for us to both fit... if I leaned over, and he leaned over, we could... kiss. And for some reason, I really want to do that. Maybe it's the way he's looking into my eyes, or the teasing smirk on his face as he continues- "I'm sorry to burst your bub-"

But it appears that Jase is wrong, for at that second, the carousel makes a low, creaking noise, slightly children's music that should be sweet but seems slightly ominous in the deserted night playing out of a speaker somewhere... and it starts to move, slowly at first, like a circus acrobat just warming up, but then starting to spin around faster, forcing me to grip the pole in front of me for dear life.

"What the fuck?" Jase asks, looking over at me. His eyes are wide. "Please tell me that this was you, Red."

I just shake my head, looking equally incredulous. "Jase... I swear on my life I have no idea what the hell is happening right now. But I kind of love it."

The carousel speeds up, faster and faster until it's all I can do to close my eyes, one arm wrapped around the pole and the other against Jase's hand, the only thing that's not moving too fast that it's dizzying.

Yeah, so, maybe I regret that whole thing about loving it?

All of a sudden, the carousel jerks to a halt and I hear Jase curse, both of us letting out a breath we didn't realize we were holding in. A spotlight suddenly shines on us, so bright that I can't even see who's holding it for a few seconds.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I here a gruff, older male voice ask, and I look between my fingers, still slightly blinded, seeing a man with a remote control, presumably for the carousel, and the flashlight in one hand, the other wielding-

A knife.

A/N: MWAHAHAH I LEFT YOU GUYS ON SUCH A CLIFFHANGER I'M SO EVIL but please don't kill me because part 2 will (hopefully) be up in a few minutes, once I'm done writing it. I had meant for the two to just be one chapter, but there's sooo much going on and I have 4000 words already... but let's just say, it'll be worth the wait

(cue evil laugh)

Anyways, I'll see y'all in just a couple minutes!!

-Lemon Zesttt