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SINGLE RIDERS ENTRANCE, PARTIES WILL BE SPLIT AND RIDERS WILL BE PAIRED, the sign glared at her.
Elysia tilted her head and squinted at the polished gold of the plaque, tapping a finger right under her lip as she pondered it. The woman in front of her was merely staring up at the massive Ferris wheel ahead of them, neck craned and arms unmoving.
There wasn’t much left for her to do, anyway; she had been waiting patiently in line for the past fifteen minutes, and her phone was nearly dead in her pocket. She had to keep the battery alive enough to call Kevin to pick her up from the amusement park, at the very least.
She tapped her foot to the beat of a faint song stemming from another ride a few dozen feet away from her. She wrestled with the idea of humming it, but unfortunately, the pleasant tune was not at all familiar to her.
The line moved up by another foot. She was nearing the front of the line now, with only one more person standing between her and the red line that denoted the end.
Smooth, black hair was gathered into a nice and neat ponytail by this mysterious woman, and Elysia could already tell by the expansion of her almost-entirely-open sweaty back and the subtle fidgeting of her fingers against the hem of her blouse. Elysia stared at those nimble fingers for a moment, then looked back up at the clock above her with a faint, satisfied smile on her lips.
Oh, the things she would do in order to get into a cart with that smokeshow. She hadn’t seen the mystery woman from the front yet, but Elysia had a knack for picking out who looked the most beautiful just by the way they held themselves.
A buzzer beeped to signify a cue, and the woman in front of her winced and moved forward. Almost robotically. Elysia pressed her lips together in mild curiosity.
Just as she was about to settle in to wait for another three to five minutes, the buzzer beeped once more. Elysia looked at the tired worker leaning against a pegged-down sign, bewildered, but he only sighed and waved her forward with a lazy beckon of the fingers.
Elysia looked over her shoulder to look at the long line of other single riders, then complied with the instructions once she realized that she was, in fact, not hallucinating the cue.
She shivered under the shadow of the small building. It felt tight too, with all its gears and wires exposed to let the gigantic Ferris wheel run as it did. In front of her was a carpet that led her to an open door of a Ferris wheel cart, one with a colorful pink metal umbrella above it and walls to keep the individuals intact in one small ferry.
The woman with jet-black hair had one foot on the stairs leading up to the cart, and her hand gripping the side of the door. She was looking right at Elysia.
“I was under the impression you were pairing single riders with other carts,” Elysia mused to the worker tapping her foot impatiently. “You know, to keep the weight distribution even. And have enough people in each cart.” It was her subtle way of asking why there were only two of them, with no other party member in sight.
“Ride is closing soon,” the attendant clarified. “We got a call for an impromptu inspection in about an hour. You’re our last guests for the night.”
“Lucky us,” Elysia chimed happily, clasping her hands together. She must’ve appeased a lovely god for having this opportunity to be alone with this beautiful lady, rather than with a whole group of people (not that it would be less fun that way, per se, but she certainly didn’t mind having this woman alone for a few minutes).
Meanwhile, her lucky partner for the night only looked down at the ground with a glare.
Sure, she was a little broody, but certainly, Elysia could crack her open for the night. She was sure of it.
She was especially sure when the woman looked back up and stepped away from the cart to let her in first with a sweep of a stiff hand. She was a gentleman, and Elysia let her know that before she settled into her seat.
The quiet woman sat down across from her with the Ferris wheel pole in between them. Their cart swung back and forth subtly at her feet, a feeling that made a little giggle bubble out of Elysia’s throat.
“They usually aren’t this rocky,” Elysia commented pleasantly. “We must’ve grabbed a looser cart.”
“Did we?” the woman said. Her voice was gentle and soft, just as Elysia suspected, but the way she said it was almost… snappy. But not in the crude way that was unbecoming of someone as beautiful as her, but as if her voice had become strained.
They lurched forward when the cart began to move, and they started their descent up the tallest Ferris wheel in the entire city.
Her partner for the night grabbed onto the pole in front of them with vicious precision. Now that they were outside of the building that ushered them into carts, Elysia inhaled deeply to smell the cool wind that whipped around her face. She could hear the faint noises of the other amusement park rides beneath her, and the other attendants were becoming nothing but small dots making beelines around attractions. She always loved this part of Ferris wheels.
They stopped about halfway through, and Elysia could hear a couple giggling from above them about how high they were.
Elysia looked back at the woman across from her, who was focused on eyeing the ground. The hand on the pole had knuckles that were turning white from the pressure.
Elysia studied her for a moment, and then she said, “My name is Elysia. Do you have a pretty name to pair with how beautiful you are?”
The woman made eye contact with her for a moment. A slow smile crept onto her face, and faintly she answered, “Mei.”
Mei. Elysia loved the sound of it. She doubted she would ever tire of it at all.
“Well, your name really is beautiful, Mei,” Elysia said candidly. It was then that she realized that Mei’s face was two shades lighter than it was before they settled into their seats. For the moment being, she brushed it off as the lighting of the colorful neon lights around the Ferris wheel. “What brought you here to me?”
Mei studied both of her eyes for a long moment, her white-knuckled hand still wrapped on the pole. To make her feel less lonely, Elysia put her hand on the pole right underneath it.
“Do you talk to everyone like this?” Mei asked her, and though she sounded incredulous, there was no amount of disgust detectable in the way she said it.
It just made Elysia laugh. “Is it a crime to remind a girl about how beautiful she looks?” she replied.
Mei pressed her mouth into a thin line. She looked like she wanted to conceal a small smile. “I guess not,” she said, and Elysia flashed her a winning smile. “I thought it would be… good for me.”
“Good for you?” Elysia repeated, and she tilted her head up to the sky to think about it. The stars above them were twinkling as she added, “Well, at least I know that coming here was good for me after meeting someone like you.”
Mei eyed her suspiciously. “And why did you come here? You don’t look like the type to go to a Ferris wheel alone.”
“Are you saying I’m too pretty to be alone?” Elysia smiled at her in amusement.
One of Mei’s fingers twitched on the pole. “I’m just saying you don’t look like the type,” she reiterated.
Elysia shrugged at that and said, “Well, aren’t you beautiful and observant? Sometimes I just like coming here with strangers. Much more interesting than my friends, in some ways.”
Mei gaped at her as if she said something unfathomable. “Why?”
“There’s beauty in talking to new people,” she explained patiently. Their cart moved again to bring them further up by a few feet. “And sometimes you get a group of people who just don’t want to talk to you. And in those cases, you can just look around you for the ten minutes you’re up here.”
Mei closed her eyes. She didn’t open them again.
The swaying underneath them felt like the rocking of a baby. It was calming Elysia down, but she could tell from the way that Mei was turning pale that she didn’t share the same sentiment as she did.
“You didn’t answer me,” Elysia reminded her gently. She hoped that it would serve as a distraction to whatever inner turmoil the poor girl was having. “What makes going to a Ferris wheel in a poor little single rider line so good for you?”
It took Mei a long while to answer her. Elysia couldn’t find it in herself to blame her.
“How high up are we?” she said instead. Her eyes were still squeezed shut.
Elysia looked over her shoulder to peer over the lip of the walls. They weren’t nearly close to the very top of the Ferris wheel, but it was a sizable amount. She could see the lights of nearby office buildings around them, and the people underneath them were now the size of lanky dotted specks.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Elysia drawled, looking back at Mei. She prayed that her concern was shining through her voice.
Mei didn’t answer. She thought so.
She looked back down at the lights beneath them, mouth slightly agape to take in the attraction of a million different lights and the scenery of a joyful night at an amusement park. Elysia loved being in the heart of it all, looking below to a diffused canvas that amalgamated the treasures of human joy.
But Mei— she didn’t seem at all thrilled to be where she was.
Elysia shifted her weight slightly in her seat, and it caused their cart to rock and shiver slightly where it stood frozen in the air. It caused Mei’s shoulders to buckle that much tighter.
“You would think,” Elysia began, resting her shoulder blades onto the cool surface of the plastic seat, “that a person with an innate fear of heights would stay far, far away from a Ferris wheel. Especially one advertised to be as tall as it is.”
Mei looked as if she were gritting her teeth together. Elysia prayed that those pearly whites would make it out of there alive by the time they had to leave.
When she opened her mouth to respond, the Ferris wheel creaked and began to move them up to the top, and all words that had been trapped on Mei’s beautiful mouth zipped up into one thin, worried line across her face. Elysia felt deep sympathy for the poor girl across from her. She wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but it was nearly impossible now that they sat at the very crown of the Ferris wheel, and everything that looked tiny before had turned into microscopic dots beneath them.
The wind was cold up where they were, and it caused their cart to sway back and forth in small, yet disquieting, movements. Even though Elysia was accustomed to the feeling, even she wasn’t immune to the slight prodding in the back of her mind about the loose bolts around them.
It was odd, too, now that she thought about it. They should’ve moved downwards about a good few minutes ago; yet, here they were, dangling like a piece of steak above the jaws of the water below.
Elysia squinted down to discern any sign of disturbance around the Ferris wheel. She looked back to Mei when she couldn’t find anything, who had given into temptation and was now looking down to the abyss with the palest color plastered on her face.
Oh, dear.
The cart rocked to one side when Elysia stood up.
Mei turned to look at her sharply, eyes wide as she said, “What are you doing?”
Elysia pressed a finger to the middle of her lips, quieting her. She held onto the pole steadfastly and then shimmied around it with small, incrementing steps. The cart continued to rock, but not as much as it did before. She could tell that it did nothing to satiate the clear panic on Mei’s face, however.
“There,” she said proudly. Elysia was now sitting down beside her, and their center of gravity shifted enough for the cart to support both of their weights without tipping.
Mei was breathing much more heavily when she turned to look at Elysia. “Why did you do that?” she asked, incredulous, and her voice almost lost to the wind.
Elysia only held up her palm, upwards.
Slowly, and cautiously as a wounded animal would, Mei flitted her eyes between the offered palm and Elysia’s imploring look, then placed her heavy hand in Elysia’s. It was sweaty and shook slightly between her fingers.
“Not so scary now that you have someone to hold onto, right?” Elysia said happily. “I was like that the first time I came here. My poor Eden had to wrap her hand in a bandage for days after that.”
Mei was only silent. She was a tougher walnut to crack, but Elysia was certain that even someone like her could learn to understand that they were in no danger whatsoever. Even if it took a few more attempts in cracking her open.
Elysia swiped the pad of her thumb over the side of Mei’s hand. The skin there was warm just as much as it was soft, and where their palms pressed together was sweaty. She made no comment towards that.
“Are you trying to triumph a fear then?” Elysia guessed for her. The Ferris wheel creaked under the pressure of the wind around them, yet held steady. It was taking an awfully long time for them to descend, even by her standards; though she refused to look towards the worst situations, for perhaps the operators just wanted them to have more time to enjoy themselves. “Not everyone could say they’re facing something they’re afraid of by their own volition. It takes a special kind of person to do that.”
Mei exhaled slowly. She had her eyes closed again, presumably to shut herself away from the stark fear around her. “Partly,” she remarked simply, and said nothing more.
Elysia hummed in thought. She rubbed her thumb against Mei’s hand again to soothe her as she spoke. “It’ll be over before you know it,” Elysia promised her. “Tell me something about yourself. Maybe that’ll help pass the time quicker for you.” Or at the very least, distract her.
Mei seemed to think about it for a while. When she finally came to a conclusion, she opened her mouth and answered, “I never used to be scared of this.”
That was certainly surprising. Elysia’s eyebrows rose, impressed by the fact. “This isn’t your first time here then?” she asked, then tilted her head. “Well, this is a popular attraction,” she mused to herself.
Mei visibly swallowed down her nervousness. “I used to go every year,” she said again, voice hoarse and soft. Elysia quite liked hearing her speak. “With my father. He used to lift me and show me the outside of his office every weekend.”
They did say that fear and adrenaline were good icebreakers. Elysia regarded her words for a second. “Did you like looking down?” she finally settled on saying.
“Yes.” Mei shifted her weight and seemed to regret it the moment the bolts creaked in warning. Her next words came out much quicker, a product of the fear that was approaching her body. “There was something about feeling small that made me feel bigger after a while. And now, I can’t seem to think the same way.”
“So what changed it?” Elysia asked her gently.
The inhale and exhale of Mei’s chest were coming in deeper and slower with every turn. Elysia was glad for it.
“No one can look down the same way after being seconds away from touching that ground,” Mei answered. “It changes how you see the skyline.”
Elysia bet that it was true. A near-death experience like that— it was unfathomable to imagine coming out unscathed. She wanted to ask more about it, to know the details that made this woman as frightened of a bright wheel as she did, but it felt almost grotesque to even think about it.
But still, she couldn’t help but say, “Whatever or whoever helped you that day, Mei, I’m glad it gave you the chance to be right beside me now.”
It made Mei laugh enough that her gentle giggle could be heard faintly across the expanse of the wind, and Elysia was infinitely grateful for it. It was a cute laugh, and it was one that she wished she could hear over and over again.
“Do you cook?” Elysia asked her.
Mei turned to look at her slightly, confusion etched on her features. “What?”
“Do you like to cook?” Elysia clarified for her. “You just seem like the type to cook. Am I wrong about that?” She certainly couldn’t fathom being so.
Once more, Mei laughed. “No, you’re not.” She thought about it some more, and then told Elysia, “I always set some time aside to prepare a meal for the day. It’s… my version of meditation.”
“Hmm.” Elysia tapped on the corner of her jaw, looking out from the corner of her eye to think. “And how do you like your eggs?”
Mei looked confused, but she still answered nonetheless. “It depends on my mood that day,” she said. “And what dish I want to pair it with.”
Pouting, Elysia said, “Well, how am I supposed to surprise in the mornings when you don’t give me a straight answer!”
Mei gave her a pointed look, but there was a faint smile on her lips. The color was returning to her face. “And you said your name is Elysia?” she said, turning their conversation elsewhere.
“You remembered!” Elysia commented pleasantly, giving Mei’s hand a playful squeeze. “You could call me yours too, if you like that better.”
Mei let out another laugh, leaning backwards to relax against the seat. It rocked the cart once more, though she only looked half as panicked as she used to be. Maybe less than that, if Elysia’s careful studies of her face proved to be right.
“Do you really talk to everyone you get stuck on the Ferris wheel with like this?” Mei asked. There was no judgment to her words, only curiosity. The squint of her eyes and the slight furrow in her brow suited her quite nicely, Elysia decided.
“Only the gorgeous ones,” Elysia said. Which meant pretty much every girl that ended up in front of her in the cart, now that she thought about it. So she clarified, “But you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve seen after a thousand cycles of this thing.”
Mei looked unbothered by her attempt to crack her, but she gave Elysia a kind, confused smile. It was much different from the strained ones that Elysia had been used to for the past few minutes, but it certainly wasn’t all the way there yet. All it meant was that she had a little more work to do.
Elysia swiped her thumb over Mei’s hand one more time. She had almost forgotten that they had them clasped so tightly, but it was clear that Mei had forgotten entirely. Her eyes glanced down from Elysia’s face to their intertwined hands, and slowly, her shoulders began to slump.
Would it be rude of her to bring Mei’s knuckles up to her lips and kiss them gently?
Oh, how she ardently wished she could without scaring the living daylights out of the poor woman. Perhaps next time, if Mei would like to come back with her.
“I wanted to try something new,” Mei said quietly. Elysia almost didn’t hear her over the whistling wind tickling behind her ear. At her silent imploring look, Mei explained, “You asked me why I thought being here was good for me. That’s why. I’m sorry it isn’t as climatic as you wanted it to be.”
“Any story out of those lips of yours are stories I want to cling onto forever,” Elysia exclaimed, affronted that Mei would ever think she could find the likes of her boring, of all things. “Have you wandered to the other rides on the fairgrounds then? There’s quite a few that I think you’d like.”
“Me?” Mei said incredulously.
“Why, of course!” Elysia answered, pleased that Mei decided to humor her. “You don’t seem the thrillseeker type, but there are plenty of things here that could satisfy that heart of yours— besides me, obviously. There’s a nice, relaxing swing carousel if you go past that hotdog truck.” She pointed at the large tower in the distance, careful to keep her eyes level with it so Mei wouldn’t feel the need to look down.
Mei hummed her approval, her head tilting closer to Elysia’s neck to take a better look. Elysia felt her heart hiccup in her chest.
“If you want to come back here with a friend of yours, there’s a second swing carousel behind it over there,” Elysia instructed. She pointed at the slightly larger tower behind it. There were already people in chairs swinging around the cylindrical tower, and the neon lights were helping to illuminate their silhouettes. “This particular one has a pair of seats rather than a singular chair. Though they do have a single riders line,” she mused, mostly to herself.
She could feel Mei’s eyes on her while she spoke. “Ah!” Elysia said, an epiphany hanging over her head. She quickly turned her head to point further out in the distance. “If you make it past the gates over there, there’s a food court and a few rides for the younger kids.”
Mei breathed out, sounding amused. “Are you saying kiddie rides are something I’d like?”
“There is zero judgment here,” Elysia said with her chin held up high, making a cross over her chest and holding out her hand. Mei laughed distinctly. “I’ve been on a few, and I’m proud of it. That little caterpillar rollercoaster they make for the kids is more thrilling than you think it is, you know.”
“I think I’ll take your word for it,” Mei replied. She finally leaned her body away from Elysia, though Elysia found herself missing the proximity. “What’s your favorite ride here?”
“If you wanted to get to know me so bad, we could’ve done it over dinner,” Elysia chimed. Still, she replied, “There’s a spaceship to your left that I’m fond of. But I’m not sure if getting dizzy is something you’d enjoy just as much as I would.”
They began to criticize the rest of the rides. Elysia would point to a ride in the distance and then ask for Mei’s input about it. She would nod her head along to Mei’s concerns and questions about it, locking away every fact about her in the back of her mind for the safest of keeping.
Sometimes Mei would ask her questions too, mostly about what kind of fair food she was into or what flavor of lemonade she liked to drink, if any at all. It was like having a conversation on a patio of a local coffee shop, their patio umbrella shielding them from the rest of the world and the wind accompanying their laughter and delighted comments.
Their hands stayed clasped the entire time. Once in a while, Elysia would swipe her thumb over the smooth expanse of skin that was beginning to grow warmer. Once, Mei had done the same to her.
And then the cart lurched forward. Gears grinded above, below, and around them.
Mei’s grip on her hand tightened tenfold, not that Elysia really minded. She just put her other hand over Mei’s knuckles, holding her tight and rubbing the smooth skin on her hand. It helped enough.
Their cart began to lurch again, and downwards they began to descend. Elysia could feel Mei’s shallow breath next to her cheek.
“They’re letting us down,” Elysia said to her calmly. “It took a lot longer than they would usually let us on for, but that just meant that we got to spend more time together! No?”
Mei exhaled hard. “You’re right. You’re right,” she said, and it wasn’t nearly as strained or shaky as Elysia thought it would be. It was a good thing, and it made her smile.
Mei reciprocated with a smile of her own, and the distance between them was not as far and considerable as it used to be.
They were let off the Ferris wheel by two nice employees, who were very apologetic and explained to them that something had malfunctioned with their controls. Elysia only waved them off and thanked them for their diligence in fixing it so quickly (which confused the handyman, who told her that they were stuck up there for over an hour).
They stretched next to the hotdog stand that was beginning to close down for the night, nonchalantly finishing their conversation about the deep-fried food in the amusement park that they both saw on the way to the Ferris wheel line.
“The park is closing in a few minutes,” Elysia observed, mostly to herself. She looked up at the neon lights around them, flashing down at her like timers on a clock. She looked back at Mei and flashed her a big smile. “I hope you get home safe, Mei! Maybe we can see each other again, if we’re fated to,” she teased.
Mei held onto her wrist. Elysia almost didn’t catch the movement where she stepped forward to do so. “Can— how about tomorrow?” she said. She sounded almost nervous. It was cute.
Elysia tilted her head at her. “Tomorrow?” she parroted in curiosity.
“Can I see you again?” Mei asked her, steadily. “Tomorrow? Earlier than now?”
It took a moment for that to process. She could hear a group of friends cheering and the sounds of bells to denote their success in getting a prize for a carnival game in the distance. Mei’s breathless face was shrouded in colorful, beautiful lights.
“Tomorrow, here?” Elysia said. It was almost mute to her ears, but maybe it was just the constant wind urging against her cheeks, even on the ground. “Maybe what they say about adrenaline making a person braver is true,” she teased, though she shifted her feet from one foot to the other and gripped the strap of her bag tightly.
It was a curious feeling to be on the opposite end of a situation like this. She had never felt so jittery with nerves, and yet excited all the same.
“It was just a suggestion,” Mei said quickly, releasing her grip on Elysia’s wrist. Her face was becoming red once more, this time without the fear of being a thousand feet in the air. “We don’t— I thought it would be nice to—”
“Meet me near the entrance at five o’clock,” Elysia said gently. “It’s a date.”
Maybe she was just biased, but Mei’s dazzling smile triumphed over all the beauty in the world. It even reached those pretty eyes of hers.
There was a noticeable skip to her step as she made her way back to Kevin’s car. She hummed louder too, bobbing her head more to the music on the radio and giggling stupidly to every little jab that her friends were making. Kevin only side-eyed her in the rearview mirror.
She felt like she was on top of the world.
Maybe tomorrow, when they get back on the Ferris wheel to end such a perfect date with such a gorgeous, brilliant woman, Elysia could finally find the courage to ask her for a kiss at the top.