We're having a carnival! Even though it's probably freezing!

[Courtney Parker]

Twenty-four wasn't that old but something about hanging out with Jamie and seeing all of these high school students with their adorable partners just made her feel like she was an elderly lady. It was comforting to think that Jamie could possibly be here because he wanted to be but she was suddenly getting it in her head that he might just want extra credit. Would he do something like that? He didn't really appear to be that type of person but she wasn't so sure that she was that good at judging someone's character considering that she almost married a gay man who was kind of a douche bag on top of it. In her defense, she'd been dating him since she was just a naive little fifteen year old girl. He'd been her first love, really and she didn't know if she was going to be able to trust anyone like she had him.

Maybe Jamie really was a good guy and she was just subconsciously trying to make him seem like a bad guy because she didn't want to hurt him in the future. She couldn't imagine making someone as pure as him feel as worthless as she'd felt when she got her heartbroken. He hadn't done anything wrong and he didn't deserve someone who couldn't give him her whole heart. She worried that she would never move on from her past and that would only cause him to feel like he wasn't doing or like she didn't care enough. She was going to have to tell him eventually that things between them couldn't go any farther than just friends but she decided that tonight didn't have to be that night. What was the harm in just enjoying one day with him and letting loose?

It wasn't like they were going to have sex or get married! His adorable little gesture with the ball had sort of made her blush though mostly when she realized how close that they were. They must have looked like a couple in that position and she wondered what people around them were thinking. Were they judging her for being clearly older than him and still parading around like this? Or would people just assume that they were a cute couple having a nice day out at the carnival? She actually thought that she heard an older woman say 'awe' behind them when she was holding her giant Hello Kitty. "You're really impressive, St. Claire." She mused affectionately as she ran her fingers through his hair.

What was she even doing right now? This was exactly the opposite of what she was supposed to be doing! She wanted to make him not fall for her not start flirting so much that he thought that she had feelings for him.. Which she did but she was trying from now on to make them go away. If she really cared for him and his future than she would sacrifice her own happiness for his. She thought that it would be so easy to do so until she was overcome with this strong desire to just plant a kiss on his lips. She checked over both of her shoulders just to ensure that no students were in sight and planted a quick peck on him once realizing that they were in the clear.

It wasn't anything exciting or special, really. It lasted less than two seconds and she felt nothing but shame after. Had she just kissed a student in public? What if someone saw? What if he didn't like it and freaked out? She knew the difference between right and wrong but the lines were all blurred in her head. "I um... I'm so sorry.. How about we forget about that whole awkward thing and go get on the Ferris wheel?" She was really just hoping that he didn't hold this against her or you know report her to the damn board of education.

[Raine Gregory]

Raine hadn't forgotten her jacket on purpose! It'd been a simple mistake on her part that led to her almost freezing to death at the carnival. It would have been an interesting death though! She would probably even make it on the news! She could already see the headline in her head 'teenage girl dies at carnival because she forgot her jacket'. Parents everywhere would use her as a horror story to tell their children so they wouldn't hear any complaining when they told their little ones to not forget to put on another layer. She could have seriously made a difference in the lives of so many people if she had just died or maybe just gotten seriously sick. Okay her thoughts were getting a little twisted now and she was grateful when Elliot pulled her out of them by giving her his jacket.

She found the whole gesture to be rather romantic, really. Sexual things hadn't been occurring with her being injured and all so the fact that he still wanted to be sweet with her was sort of heartwarming. It was nice to know that he still loved her even when she couldn't put out even if she did miss sex.. A lot. It wasn't like she could even itch that scratch on her own with this damn cast on her wrist and Elliot just insisted on looking sexy as hell all the damn time which only frustrated her. She considered asking him to just help her out on his own once or twice but nerves prevented this from happening. She figured that he wouldn't be up for it since he obviously wouldn't be getting anything in return. "I can walk just fine sort of!" Yeah, the 'sort of' probably eliminated the basis of her statement completely.

She rolled her eyes out of habit when he said that they were psychos. It wasn't a rude gesture or anything, just a habit of sassiness that she was still in the process of trying to stop. It was just taking longer than expected though she wasn't really trying all that hard to be fair. "We're braving this cold and sore knee situation to find heaven on a donut meaning this burger." She reminded as she took a small bite. She wasn't doing this for his sake anymore since they'd been together for almost a year and he'd seen her eat plenty. She was doing this because being immobile basically for weeks had led to her putting on a little weight which her ballet instructor wasn't going to tolerate when she went back. It probably wasn't good for her given her history with restrictive dieting but she knew that she was going to have to deal with it.

"You know... My birthday is coming up and I'd really like to spend it coming." She wasn't even being slightly subtle about it! "We haven't had the chance to do anything like that in a very long time and I miss it." She had a very loose definition of a very long time since it hadn't exactly been months and months of nothing. Couldn't she go weeks without sex? Damn, she wasn't that addicted! "You just make me so hot." This was so not appropriate family carnival conversation and she was so thankful that no children happened to be around right now. She didn't feel like dealing with crazy ass mothers thinking that they got to dictate what other people said just because they spawned. How about just teaching their little brats not to eavesdrop instead?

[Aubrey Sawyer]

The Lady and the Tramp thing was equally supported by Aubrey. He enjoyed all Disney movies and their stories, it was all just wonderful. Thank you Walt Disney. When Caroline brought up graduation, getting married and having more children, he glanced down to his engagement ring. It was so lovely. He was so fortunate to have Caroline, she was a woman of detail. Although, just between us two, Aubrey felt very bad for not proposing to her first. Maybe she became impatient and had decided to take matters into her own hands? What if she thought he didn't love her enough or that he wasn't taking her serious? It was the last thing Aubrey wanted her to think. He did love her very much, he practically confessed his love every fifteen minutes or so. Was it the fact that he had just began working and came really tired at night only to fall asleep? Aubrey widened his eyes while all of these thoughts came to mind and turned his head to look at Caroline.

"Yeah..." he answered, nodding slowly with a forced smile. He then looked away and pouted, was it that? When they then got onto the Ferris wheel, he let Caroline go in first before taking a seat beside her. He was beginning to feel bad about carrying his engagement ring. His arm went around her as the wheel began moving, he held her close to him as he looked forward into the dark sky and a few lights coming from the city. His eyebrows twitched as his thoughts shifted gears and his expression changed. When Caroline commented on how he was the best thing that ever happened to her his eyes widened and he smiled weakly. "Ya' really think that, Caro?" he then sat up, turning his body and full attention toward her. 

"I have a question to ask ya'..." he said, almost weary of the words that were about to come out next from his mouth. Aubrey pursed his lips together and lowered his eyes to their laps before looking at Caroline, into her eyes and asking, "Do you think I love ya' enough?" Well, the question was dying to make an exit from Aubrey's thin lips and he wanted to validate the fact that he was doing a good job as a future husband. He didn't want to disappoint Caroline, never. "I just- I just think that cause' you proposed and all... I figure you were gettin' tired of waitin'." he rambled. 

It was true, Camila was proving to be half and half. She was determined, kind and rather clever. She must have only gotten the kindness from her father simply because he was neither determined nor clever. Scott smiled softly as he watched Cami interact with the baby sheep, "She really is. One of the smartest kids I know." he stated, proud of his niece. Of course, she was was influenced by her genius uncle but Scott didn't want to mention that simply because it would make him look rather arrogant. 

He then smiled softly as he looked to Isabel and listened to her talk about what it was like to live by the sea. The way she expressed herself made Scott jealous of her, but only well-natured envy. He was hardly even envious of anything. Perhaps because he had never owned nor felt like anything belonged to him. What was that? Scott was almost suddenly rather green with envy at the sea. Why you ask? Well, for one, it got to see Isabel rise every morning which as cheesy as it sounded, it was true. He sighed softly, his eyes still attentively on her beautiful face. He had never been this interested in any human being, never in his life had he sighed so deeply with so much meaning before. However, Scott reminded himself that he barely knew the girl. He couldn't be so darn fickle. 

"Oh, I bet it is. I've never lived near the ocean before but I have been to a boardwalk. I just love the beach, it's so calming." he made input to not sound so uptight and to be more pleasing in his small conversation he was engaging himself in. Scott smiled closed before averting his eyes once more to the tiny llama being fed by a group of youngsters. He wasn't sweating anymore, which was good but his hands were still holding onto Isabel's although his grip was very light, gentle and not too firm. "Would you like to take a seat on that bench there?" he asked her, "We still have sight of Cami but we can take a seat to be more comfortable." he really had no reason to give such a long explanation.

Isabel's meekness made it seem as if she was a little embarrassed by the fact that she was junior. Scott was confused on that subject but decided not to comment. He smiled to her trying to assure her that there was nothing wrong with being a junior when she was supposed to be one. "I sometimes feel like my intelligence is dysfunctional. As if perhaps I retrieved my sibling's brain cells." he explained although that sounded rather strange. Scott rose an eyebrow when Isabel asked him if he had looked into colleges. Well, it was more like colleges were looking into him.

How was the fourteen year old supposed to explain that he had already been accepted to numerous prestigious schools around the globe? Maybe he should just lie and say that he hasn't really looked into any and leave it at that. Lie? Scott Randall Sawyer being dishonest? Well, he was trying to make Isabel feel good because it seemed that she already felt bad about being the grade she was in. He smiled forcefully, his eyes lingered away from her and very quietly said, "I haven't looked into any schools yet." before looking to her, "But I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get into a real good one!" Scott exclaimed in a hopeful tone with a grin plastered on his face. 

"Yale?" Scott echoed what she had said into a question. He had already gotten a letter from that university. He nodded and smiled fondly of her academic goals. "I heard Yale has really good programs concerning politics." he said, lightly biting down on his lip. Scott had faith that Isabel would most likely achieve her dreams but maybe it was because it was the hope he had for just about everyone who had aspirations. He was a very positive person which was quite obvious regarding that he came from a very well put together family. "If you don't get accepted into Yale, there's always all the other ivy league schools out there looking for ya'." he added. 

[Deleted]

Caroline couldn't imagine her night getting any better than this and it made her even more excited for many more nights like this in the future. How crazy was it to think that she would get to spend every single day of her life with this amazing man? She'd get to fall asleep in his arms and feel that warmth inside of her that only he could provide for her. He was the reason that she wasn't so cynical anymore! If not for him than she would be that same judgmental unhappy thirteen year old that she'd been back then. Her whole life really had changed because of him and not just in the obvious 'had a baby' way. She thought that she expressed this enough to him but apparently not if he felt like he had to ask if he was enough for her. What more did he think that she really needed? He provided for their family, supported her and allowed her to still have some time outside of their little family to be an independent woman with a social life.

"Aubrey, I could have had children with anyone but I can only have a family with you." She started with a calm, affectionate tone as she gave one of his hands a quick squeeze to assure him that this little speech was actually going somewhere good for him. "I could have gotten pregnant at any point with anyone else and it wouldn't have made me feel as complete or wonderful as you do every single day. I wake up in the morning and I'm so excited to start the day because the first thing that I see is your face and that lets me know that everything is okay. I know that we argue sometimes and we go to bed angry but I still check out of the corner of my eye to make sure that you're still laying on the other side of the bed. You make me feel safe and more loved than I ever felt like I deserved." Had that even helped or was she just making this whole thing worse?

She wasn't very good with words and she hated that right now. She just wanted to find the right perfect thing to say that would make her fiance feel as important as he was to her but somehow everything just felt like it was coming out all wrong. "I know that you still feel guilty for what you did to me before we were together and I know that you might deny it because you don't want me to know but.. I do. I forgave you a long time ago for getting me pregnant and I wish I could thank you more often for it. I remember seeing her little face on the ultrasound for the first time and just knowing that she was the best thing for both of us. She was this little piece of me that I didn't even know was missing. I love her and I love you to infinity and beyond." She'd so just stolen a Toy Story quote! In her defense, she and Camila had stayed up watching it the night before so it was kind of stuck in her head.

She rested her head back against his shoulder and planted small kisses along his neck. She didn't mean anything sexual by it, she just wanted to make him feel a little bit better with her actions as well as her words. She was willing to do this every single day for the rest of their lives if she had to.. just to make him smile.

[Deleted]

Isabel was always the most excited when she talked about her future well and donuts.. But something about discussing her aspirations always gave her this big jolt of energy. She spoke slightly faster and her eyes lite up like there was this new fiery passion behind each of her words. "I'm sure that you'll get in anywhere that you want to." She assured him with a smile as she sat down on his suggested bench. She actually felt a little bit bad for him now that she thought about it. She couldn't imagine being that young and having to deal with people who were in completely different stages of live. "I can see why being so intelligent would really kind of suck like everyone around you is so much older and getting laid and clubbing and then at fourteen there's so much that you can't do yet."

She was just thinking back to when she was fifteen and obviously couldn't get her license yet and everyone in her class was getting theirs and starting to drive everywhere on their own while she still needed a ride from her parents. Her 'torture' had been over in just a few months while he still had /years/ before he was going to be able to do those things. Did people tease him? She worried that this beautiful soul could possibly be hurt by words of others or worse - physical violence. She obviously wasn't going to ask him since there was no subtle way to do so but if she did happen to see some form of injustice than she was certainly going to step in.

"I just feel like I really want to make a difference in the world! I don't want to be like most girls and get married young and start a family because being a wife and a stay at home mother just doesn't appeal to me at all." She was too naive to realize that things and situations can change people and their views on such issues. She believed right now that having a baby would wait until she was in her thirties or maybe even her forties and nothing was going to change her opinion on that.

"I want to be the person who other people read about and think 'wow I want to be just like her'. My biggest role models have all been these huge influential people in history and I just wish that I could one day join their rankings." She knew that she would likely never be as well known as Beyonce but maybe she could get to like vice president level one day or she'd just be the mayor of some tiny little town that nobody had ever heard of before. She wasn't going to be too picky about what kind of a difference or what size of a difference that she made as long as she made one.

[Kylar Fox]

www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=93866713

Kye was having a little bit of car trouble which bummed him out enough to start a damper on his night. Plus it was freezing outside. Who the fuck held a carnival this time of year? Were they crazy? Or was this for some kind of charity event? He probably should have asked Addie that before he agreed to going because if it was a charity event, he was going to bail. It wasn't because he was just anti-save-the-world, he just wasn't one for something so mainstream.

Either way, Addie was going to be there and that was enough to motivate him to go. Once he got his engine running again, he was off and arrived some time later. He'd stopped by a McDonalds to grab a strawberry shake before he went, but that was long gone by the time he got there. Kye sent a quick text to Addie to see where she was or if she had even come at all. When she replied he stuffed his phone back inside his coat pocket and headed on in.

There were a surprising amount of people there which made him a little uncomfortable, but who was asking? As he paved his little pathway through all of them, most of which he had seen in the corridors of school but didn't personally know, he finally found his friend. "Eyy, Addie! Glad I finally found you!" He laughed, "All of these fascist assholes almost took me away." Kye definitely had a bad outlook on the general public, but that was just how he was. He had gotten glared at by a couple that walked past as he stated his little comment and he wasn't even scared to ask them if they would 'like to kiss his ass.' Okay, maybe he was being a little moody tonight, but he was still trying to pull himself out of a really dark place with the anniversary of his mother's death only a month ago, and he knew that the one for his dad would be coming up in only a few short months. 

"What's up with you?" He wasn't much of an affectionate person, but he hugged her anyways because he truly had missed her. "It's been for-fucking-ever!" Kye said, trying to lighten his mood and brush the thoughts from his mind. 

[Addie Lockett]

((  www.polyvore.com/addie/set?id=93871025  ))

Hanging out with Kye always cheered Addie up no matter what else was going on in her life so she didn't know why she'd been outright avoiding him lately. It wasn't like she was angry at him or anything! She was just sort of trying to figure out what she was feeling for him and sort of force herself to get rid of those pesky romantic feelings that were developing. Kye was a lot of things and she believed fully that he was just misunderstood when people thought of him as some kind of a druggie freak. He was honestly so much more than that to her but that wasn't going to turn him into the relationship / commitment type and she was almost grateful for that. She didn't want to be the reason that he changed his whole life - she just wasn't going to be that girl.

She had serious doubts on whether or not she'd ever be the girl that someone wanted to give up their current lifestyle for. A tiny part of her wanted to think that she would one day fall in love and live happily ever after but nothing about her really made that seem wise. Why get her hopes up for something that she didn't even think that she deserved? She had to be a terrible person to deserve all of the things that had happened to her in her life. Was it karma for being the cause of her parents' break up and his turning to drugs? She had already realized at a far too young age that if not for her than her father wouldn't currently be a drug addict living on in someone's basement and depending on his daughter to support him financially.

If not for her birth than he wouldn't have had to rape her and then she wouldn't be living her life miserable like this. She did have happy moments but she was always so fearful that she didn't know if she was ever going to feel truly safe and secure. Her past was the reason that she didn't believe that she was worthy of nice things and why she flinched just slightly when Kye reached out to hug her like he was going to hit her. How pathetic was that? She couldn't even seem to trust her own friend. She just hoped that he wouldn't notice and if he did that he would have the decency to not comment on it. She so wasn't ready to explain why she was this way.

"Oh um... I've just been really busy with classes and stuff, you know but I've missed you!" It felt so strange to lie so effortlessly to him about why she hadn't been a very good friend. "What have you been up to, Mr. Mystery?" She was just trying to take attention off of herself... and maybe see if he'd missed her at all. She didn't know what she would do if he said that he had been off living the easy life with some hoes and bitches. "Oh and do you want to go on the Ferris wheel in a little bit? We could throw popcorn at couples from the top." She was a little bit bitter about everyone finding their 'soul mates' or whatever.

[Wyatt Parks]

He really wasn’t sure how he got signed up for this, but it would be fun. Plus he got to kiss a whole bunch of girls, which was good, even though it was kind of like prostitution since they had to pay for it… but for kisses. That made him sound great. Well, he was sure that he would find someone that was not terrible. After all, he liked to think that he was attractive so maybe lots of people would want to kiss him. His coworker on the other hand. She was sort of attractive, well the way he saw things anyway, but he didn’t like spending time with her, and maybe that was because she was incredibly rude.

If he hadn’t been running it he probably would have made her kiss him just to torture her, which as funny as it would have been, probably would have gotten him kicked in places that he didn’t want to be kicked. “Oh someone’s a little grumpy,” he teased. Some girl walked up to the booth, his first ‘customer’ and it was scary to think that no one wanted to kiss him, but then again why would they let people that no one wanted to kiss run a kissing booth... they let Lexiel… He was glad that he didn’t say that out loud because it was mean. The girl kissing him kind of ended the thought anyway. It was a short peck on the lips, before she was gone. He didn’t know who it was, but it didn’t really matter.

The carnival looked like it would be fun, the only other time that he had gone to a carnival was with Carol after they got back together, and he still had a broken hand. It wasn’t the best experience, well he was probably having fun at the time. So he wasn’t sure how fun it would be since he hadn’t been to many in his life, but it sort of looked more fun than running this booth for the entire night.

[Aubrey Sawyer]

Hearing Caroline say all these wonderful things really set Aubrey's heart racing. He wondered how this funny thing called love functioned. How could someone be so emotionally invested in someone in such manner? Just any stranger you pass by the street had a feeling like the one Aubrey felt for Caroline. Well, hopefully not too terribly unconditional. He really saw no flaws in her and listening to her saying all of this, it validated his theory.

He closed his eyes softly as he felt Caroline's lips against his neck. If her words had made his heartbeat increase, her kisses were making him weak. Aubrey opened his eyes and sighed, "I guess you're right. I just think that because I've been working and coming home tired. We never get to ask each other about our day or make love or anything." he explained before nuzzling the side of her face. "I just hold you tight to make sure you know I'm there beside you." Aubrey looked her in the eyes and nodded before looking forward and smiling softly, "The night is awfully pretty... And so are you." he turned his head to give her a kiss on the cheek before settling on looking forward. This was comfortable. Aubrey felt safe with Caroline, someone cared for him and he cared for her in return. It was perfect and he wouldn't let it go — he wasn't foolish.

Scott nodded in agreement with Isabel because he had been accepted to the school he had in mind. He then followed behind her toward the bench and took a seat. It excited Scott listening to Isabel's aspirations but not as feverishly as her. Still, he was rather glad that she dreamt really big. The only other person he knew had dreams so large was Mark and he could really hold off an intelligent conversation. Still, the guy tended to swear like a sailor and he sometimes spoke like he was some type of reject gangsta. He was glad that Isabel had not swore yet. Scott felt like swearing was extremely distasteful if there was no reason to be using such vulgar words. He understood it when people were angry though. "Well, none of that clubbing or drinking tickles my fancy." Scott stated rather cooly before he realized what he had just said. Ya da ya da blah blah blah tickles my fancy? He stared forward blankly for a moment before lowering an eyebrow and turning his eyes to her once more. "I only really want to be able to drive." Scott was the one who taught Aubrey how to drive simply because George got impatient and was very afraid that his older son's sudden brakes would send them flying. Needless to say, Scott was more than ready for a license. He just couldn't drive with his parents or even alone. "I already know how to manage a vehicle. I've driven on the freeway when my folks got drunk at a party." he explained. "They wouldn't let Aubrey take hold off the wheel and said that they'd rather walk home." Scott chuckled, "And Daisy was half-asleep, she gets very bored at parties."

A soft smile appeared on Scott's face as he looked to Isabel. They had released each others hands but he took the liberty in placing one of his on her own. "I've never met anyone other than a few people with dreams so big." He then tilted his head to the side before moving his hand away and then putting his hand to the side of head. It felt rather sticky. Scott shuffled around and pulled on the stuff stuck to his ear, neck and hair. "How embarrassing! I had cotton candy on the side of my head." he laughed whole heartedly before in pulling off the sugary treat off his fingers and letting them fall to the ground.

"As I was saying," he returned to his thoughts. "I think you'll achieve your goals. I'd love to have you as a mayor or some type of authority." Scott was speaking in flattery but he wouldn't mind seeing Isabel on his television screen in the nearby future. Not at all.

Soon enough Camila had moved onto the baby llama. She giggled so loud that her jubilant sounds could be heard from China. Scott turned his head to look at his niece and then looked to Isabel, "Someone's enjoying themselves." he laughed, looking slightly relaxed and it was evident by the way he let his smile broaden and brighten.

[Deleted]

Caroline was dying to ask Aubrey a question of her own but she wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to go about doing it. What if he didn't respond well and believed that she was some sort of a manipulative loon? He wasn't a cruel person so she knew that was irrational but she couldn't help but worry. "Hey.. I have a kind of important question." She paused longer than necessary a she tried to think of the just right way to phrase this.She couldn't just bluntly go right out and say it because that wasn't casual but she also couldn't just tiptoe around it for the rest of the evening. "How many children do you think that you want in the future? I know that we should probably discuss this before we tie the knot and all."

Hell, she knew that they should have discussed that before they even got engaged but when had they ever done things in any kind of an order? She didn't know what she was going to do if he said that he didn't like the idea of having a larger family. She couldn't imagine herself having less than at least three children which had a lot to do with her smaller family. She definitely had enough adults in her life with two mothers and two fathers but she only had one sister who wasn't really close enough to her age to confide in without judgment. She never felt like her sister was really that fond of her, either. She used to think that it was all in her head but then she wasn't invited to the wedding and it was sort of hard to not take it personally especially since she'd had a large wedding with over three hundred guests.

"I think that my dream family size would be six children. I want two more girls and three little boys. I know that it seems like kind of a lot but I know that we can do it. I know that I want to see you in the backyard one day playing with our beautiful little girls and handsome little men in the snow or the sun while I'm inside making some nice hot chocolate or maybe homemade lemonade." She didn't want to scare him right now but she was really passionate about having a bigger than average family. She knew that she wouldn't be content with one or even two children for the rest of her life. It wasn't just an obsession with newborns or anything.. It was just that being a mother was one of those things that she felt like she had a true calling for.

"I mean you can have as much time that you need to if you're not sure about that number but I just feel like you need to know that it's very important for me to have a lot of children running around the house." She wouldn't even mind being a soccer mom who packed lunches and helped with homework!