what's simple is true
[ chapter 23 ]

“well, here we are sutton.” taylor said as the reached the merry go round. “surprisingly, there’s hardly a line at all.”

“they knew we were coming,” sutton said as she followed taylor to the end of the line.

“no, its just that no one likes the ride anymore.” sutton pushed taylor forward as they showed the employee their green wrist bands and made their way around the carousel and found vacant animals next to each other to sit on.

“look taylor, you’re sitting on a jack a- a horse!” sutton tried to hold back her laughter as she wrapped her arms around the pole in front of her.

taylor looked down at the animal he was sitting on and frowned. “you just had to make me aware of that. i can’t ride this one now,” he said and hopped off as the ride slowly began.

“there aren’t anymore free ones near me though,” sutton laughed as taylor held onto her pole.

“i’ll ride with you, then,” taylor said and hopped on the animal sutton was on behind her.

“taylor!” she cried, and looked behind her at him as he gently wrapped his arms around her stomach. “what are you doing?!”

“quit it, you’ll make me fall off,” he grinned and felt her body tense as he held onto her stomach and pushed his nose into the back of her head, smelled the fragrant scent of her shampoo. “your hair smells good,” he grinned.

sutton limply held onto the pole in front of her, glad that taylor couldn’t see her blush as they slowly rose and fell as the twinkling lights surrounded them and the cheery music played from speakers above them. she softly leaned back into him as he rested his chin on her right shoulder; his warm breath tickling the hairs on her neck as and they slowly spun around in a circle and watched the sun slowly begin to leave the sky.

“that is so pretty,” taylor whispered into her ear.

“wha-what?” she stuttered, unaware of what he was commenting about. taylor leaned to the side so he could see her face.

“the sun, sutt,” he grinned softly, and leaned back behind her.

“oh,” she silently kicked herself and smiled. “yeah...it’ll look even prettier when it starts to set.”

“this is actually kind of cool,” taylor said softly.

sutton sensed his grip around her waist tighten, and she closed her eyes, realizing she was in pure bliss as thoughts in her mind about talyor and their relationship raced at a mile a minute. she softly smiled, and put one of her hands over his. taylor leaned his chin on her right shoulder once more, as the ride began to slow.

“i know,” sutton finally said, and then looked behind her at taylor who had pulled her disposable camera out of her pocket. “what are you doing?” she grinned.

“here,” he said and brought his arms around her neck and held the camera in front of their faces. “smile!” he instructed and quickly took a picture of them sitting on the carousel animal.

“oh, geez!” sutton and taylor cried together. “that flash!!” she laughed, covering her eyes as taylor slipped his arms loosely around her neck and rested his forehead on her shoulder.

“sutton! what is up with your camera?!” he said as he rubbed his eyes and the ride slowly ended. “that was rather bright!” he laughed.

“i’m sorry, geez,” she grinned, and looked behind her shoulder as taylor slipped off the animal. sutton followed and they quickly weaved out of the mass of animals and back out into the park.

“here,” he laughed and handed the camera to sutton. “i don’t think i’ll be taking anymore pictures.”

sutton laughed and stuck the camera in her pocket as she and taylor absentmindedly made their way back to the roller coaster section of the park. she looked towards the ground as she walked with her hands on her hips, knowing taylor had been flirting with her on the carrousel, but unsure of what she felt or though. she shyly looked up to him and laughed nervously as she met his eyes. “ah, one more roller coaster?” she abruptly asked.

“definitely,” taylor answered and they jogged to add to the short line on one of the smaller roller coasters. “the good thing about being here at night is all of the lines are shorter.”

“that’s right. on the good rides, too. i love this roller coaster.” sutton smiled as she and taylor crawled into one of the small carts, and pulled the hand rail down over their laps.

“this is practically the tamest in the whole park,” taylor looked over to her and smiled as he shoved her in the shoulder.

“yea, but that means you can ride it again and again and not get sick of it, unlike the fricken hurler. you get sick, literally, if you go on that thing more than once.” sutton uttered as the coaster slowly began its ascent.

“you’re never going to let me live that one down, i can tell.”

“nope,” sutton cried as she threw her hands in the air and cheered as they flew down a hill and directly up another one. “i love this roller coaster,” sutton yelled as they flew through the turns and were thrusted around in their cart.

“you are crazy,” taylor called back as they made a large dip and around several more turns before the ride finally ended several seconds later.

sutton laughed as she crawled out of the cart and followed taylor to the exit.

“you are crazy, my suttie,” he grinned as he pulled her towards him and put his arm around her shoulder.

twenty four