Ethan and I decided to stay at the gym since we only have a couple of minutes left. I can only count with my fingers the number of people left that’s why it’s not that awkward to vlog.

JB then asked if she can stop being the videographer since there are a couple of activities she wanted to check out. Kel also went with their other friends—to leave us alone, apparently.

Now, Ethan and I are just sitting beside each other on the bleachers. Holding hands while I’m resting on his shoulder. I’m not sure if it’s because I missed him too much that I’m being too comfortable with him, but it really makes me feel warm sharing moments like this with him.

“Love?”, he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Promise me we’ll just stay like this.”

I slowly straightened up and stared at him. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just…you suddenly grew distant.” He sighed.

I closed the camera first. I don’t think it’s necessary to show this anyway.

“Why did you start avoiding me?”, he asked calmly.

“I- I just…”, I looked down. “…just had bad memories. It wasn’t your fault.”

He lifted my chin up and just smiled at me. “It’s fine if you won’t tell me yet, just…don’t do that again.”

I just smiled and nodded lightly in response.

My phone rang after a few minutes. I just received a message from Seth telling me to go to the food park. I guess our time’s up.

Ethan walked me there. Since there were a lot of people at the time, it felt a bit awkward having to leave Ethan for Seth. I slowly got my vlogging camera out so that people won’t think too much about it.

“So, how are you babe?”, Seth smiled as he held my hand.

“I’m good, babe”, I smiled at him. “How was your competition?”

“It went well. We got in the top 10, then it’s the final round on Friday. You should come!”

“That’s great! But let me check my sched first”, I chuckled.

“Aw, my babe’s just so busy”, he pinched my cheeks.

I looked at him menacingly and I playfully slapped his wrist to get his hands off my face.

We bought some snacks, I wasn’t too hungry, and besides, it was late anyway, I might not have the appetite for dinner.

While eating, he was trying to feed me, which was so funny because it’d always end up messy with some sauce in my face. I just told him off and we just ate normally.

I guess we both needed recharging, because we just stayed there until our time was up. Aside from the acting part for the content, we mostly talked about dealing with vlogging and studying. It’s actually great having a friend who’s into the same hobby-slash-side job as me. I haven’t really had a fellow vlogger friend who can relate to editing videos, thinking of what to come up with and so on.

Though I have JB as a friend, we mostly relate when it comes to personal matters and school-related stuff. I also have some other friends, but it’s just with Seth that I get to have someone to ask when it comes to dealing with bashers when making a possibly polarizing content, and just the usual what trending content would be nice to make.

I feel like he really takes pride in what he does as a vlogger and dancer, because he’s quite confident in telling me about the matter that I felt like I learned a lot from him.

When we were done, I immediately sent Ethan a text.

“Ave, can we be at the carnival for the last hour? You still haven’t been there, right?”, Seth asked as we were about to part ways.

“Yeah, I’d love that”, I said with a grin.

“See you later!”, he said while waving at me as he slowly faded into the crowd.

As I was looking at my phone, pretending to be fiddling with it, I noticed a black figure stop in front of me. I just rolled my eyes as I was lifting my head up to look at him.

I can’t help but lift an eyebrow up when I saw that he was grinning from ear-to-ear. I wonder what he’s up to.

“Let’s go”, he said as he reached for my hand and guided me towards the open field where a band is performing on stage.

Like everyone around us, we sat on the field while watching the performance. Most people around us were couples as well that’s why we didn’t seem to get much attention this time, plus it was getting a bit dark.

It was like we were lost in our own little world while we were holding hands and my head was resting on his shoulder, until a different band started to perform.

“Mic test. Mic test”, the guy who went up on stage said.

The lights on-stage are quite glaring, so I had to rub my eyes to be able to see the guy on the stage clearer. Apparently, it was one of Ethan’s friends, Zach.

“We’re Band-Age, and this first song that we will be performing was requested by my friend, Ethan.”

There was a collective gasp when he said that.

Then he looked at our direction and he seemed to point at me, “Avery, this one’s for you.”

I can’t hide the shock from my face as a number of people turned to look at us. Then there were cheers that followed. I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks.

There were already a lot of attention-grabbing moments this day, but this one somehow caught me off guard.

When Zach started singing, most of the audience turned to look at the stage, and only a few eyes remained at us.

I jokingly slapped Ethan and asked, “Why did you have to do that?”

He just shrugged and stared at me for a while as if he was battling with some inner thoughts.

The next thing he did was lightly tilt my head towards the stage,then he put his arms around me. Because I was surprised, I stood there frozen as he leaned towards my ear and whispered, “You seemed to have forgotten what today’s all about.”

A bit dazed with his gestures, I couldn’t catch the first few lines of the song. I then tried to shake it off and focus on the stage so as not to think too much about it.

“I know that it might sound more than a little crazy but I believe…”

Despite hearing a few lines, I still am not familiar with the song.

“I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life…”

After what seemed to be the chorus, I turned to look at him a bit wide-eyed.

He stared back at me with those intense eyes and smiled lightly.

As if on cue, my heart started beating wildly. It’s as if I haven’t gotten used to everything he has done this day.

I lightly slapped myself on the cheek to remind me that this is all part of our boyfriend challenge. I really need to get a grip on myself.

“I knew I loved you before I met you, I have been waiting all my life…”

As the song came to an end, the crowd started to cheer and there were a few heads that turned to look at us. I know that everything that we’re doing is for the vlog, but I just wanna be swallowed by the ground because I think some are getting the wrong impression.

Surprisingly, Ethan doesn’t seem to mind the attention. He doesn’t react or anything though, but he just kept his arm over my shoulder. I just smiled shyly at some of those looking at us.

When Zach’s band finished their set, we decided to grab a quick dinner, since it will be my time with Seth soon. I can’t believe we’re down to the last two hours!

“So, uh…save the best for last?”, Ethan asked as he dropped me off at the area with carnival rides—the area where Seth and I agreed to meet.

I chuckled and just nodded. He then kissed me on the forehead which caught me off guard. And he immediately went away as I was trying to wrap my head around it.

“Hey!”

I got back to my senses when someone lightly tapped my shoulder.

“Oh, Seth, hi!”, the only thing I was able to say while chuckling.

“Why? Were you expecting someone else?”

“Huh?- Ah, no, I wasn’t.”

“I just noticed you staring blankly though. What happened?”, he eyed me curiously.

I shook my head. “It was nothing.” I then pulled him lightly as we went to the rides so that he won’t keep asking me questions. “Let’s go! The queues for the rides are quite long. What do you wanna try first?”

“Let’s play games, Ave. I just had my dinner.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s?”, I asked while grinning.

We spent the next half hour trying out all the games available. He even won a stuffed animal, but it made it hard for us to go around, so I left it in my car first. The other half hour was spent trying out the rides we can manage to try. There were only a few, but the queues were long, so it took as a while.

It was fun and we managed to take a lot of clips while doing so.

When our time was up, I got a message from Ethan telling me where he was. Since it wasn’t far from where I was, I just went there right away.

“So, how are you now, love?”, he asked as I approached him.

“I’m good. I got to try almost all the rides and play games.”

“Which rides?”, he asked.

“Everything?”, I thought to myself. “Oh, wait. Haven’t tried the ferris wheel, love.”

“Okay, then. Perfect. Ferris wheel it is”, he smiled as he grabbed my hand and we made our way to the queue.

While we were queueing, he held my hand. I can’t help but feel some warmth rush up on my cheeks. I don’t really know when I’ll ever get used to his effect on me.

After a while, a couple of girls approached us and asked if it was okay to take a photo with us.

I replied, “Sure.”

Then Ethan asked for their phone and offered to take a photo of us, but one of the girls said, “Oh, no, we also want to include you.”

He looked a bit surprised, and went back to my side.

After taking a photo, one of the girls asked, “are you actually vlogging right now?”

I nodded.

“Is it the boyfriend challenge?”, one interjected.

“I guess you need to tune in to my vlog to find out”, I answered while smiling.

The girl pouted, and another said, “Thank you. You really look good together. You should be vlogging more often.”

“Well, that depends on Avery. I’m just always available when she needs me”, Ethan answered which left me in a daze. Since when did he become like this?

The girls turned to look at me as if waiting for me to have an answer to what he said. “Uh, I guess, we can work something out in the future. I’ll think about it”, I told them.

They just smiled at us and bid their goodbyes.

I then looked at Ethan with curious eyes. “So…?”

“So, what?”, he asked with a grin.

“Seriously, Ethan?”

“Seriously, Avery.”

I scoffed at his response.

He laughed at me mockingly.

“You’re annoying. What’s up with you?”, I asked him half laughing, yet half annoyed.

“Nothing, Ave. I just like spending time with you. That’s why I told them that.” He answered, a bit serious.

I just nodded. That was a sudden change in the atmosphere.

“I’ll try not to do that again, I guess.” He said, then tried to slightly smile.

“No, it’s fine. I guess I’m just not used to you being like that. I mean, we haven’t really talked in a while”, I replied.

“Next!”, the ride technician shouted. We didn’t notice that we were the ones next in line.

We went to the front and the ferris wheel carriage stopped in front of us, we were then guided in.

When we got seated, Ethan arranged the tripod and looked for a somewhat stable area where we can place it.

I was kinda surprised when the ferris wheel started moving that I ended up touching his thighs. He immediately held my hand to help me keep my balance.

“Uh, sorry”, I said, flustered, as I immediately tried to remove my hands from his thighs.

“You okay, Ave?”

“Yeah, was just surprised, I guess”, I said trying to fake a laugh. I immediately tried to reach for my phone, and clumsily fiddled with it trying to take photos of the view that we’re having.

“Ave”, he called.

“Hmm?”, I absentmindedly turned to him.

“Do you want us to continue this?”, he asked seriously.

“Continue what?”

“This? This challenge.”

“Wait. Doing this challenge?”, I asked, a bit uncertain with what he’s implying.

“No, I mean, beyond this challenge. The real thing.”

“The real-”

It was cut short when the ferris wheel jolted and I lost my balance. It stopped.

I found myself in a compromising position with him—my arms on his chest and his arms close to my waist.

I lifted my head to look at him and noticed that he lowered his head to look at me.

“Uh-“, I tried to say something, but was cut short since the ferris wheel jolted again and now I can feel his lips on mine.

I stayed there frozen with my eyes wide open when I felt him remove his lips on mine, only to feel it again a few seconds later. I can feel a surge of electricity within me as he’s giving me light kisses.

Then he stopped and just stared at me.

It was as if I missed his lips on mine that I gave him a peck. It was enough to make him lose control, as if I gave him permission for a more intrusive kiss.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him as he’s starting to invade my mouth. Once I felt his tongue reaching for mine, I met it halfway. I wasn’t sure what I was doing and I just felt my senses getting the best of me. It was like our tongues were engaged in a battle of their own, and they can’t be stopped.

I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach and realized that the ferris wheel’s already moving, I think we’re descending.

I immediately pulled myself out of that kiss and pushed him lightly.

I was really flustered when I realized what we did. I just had my first kiss.

It wasn’t the kind of first kiss I was expecting. I thought it would be just a light peck, which we did, at first. I- Wow. I really don’t know how to face him.

I was dazed and speechless the entire time that we were led out of the ferris wheel.

Once we were back among the crowd, that’s when I got back to my senses and turned to face him.

“Why did you do that?”, I asked him.

“For the vlog”, he said in a matter of fact way and just shrugged.

Oh wow, so I had my first kiss with the guy I like and it was all for a publicity stunt? Great!