It wasn't hard to wiggle out of Harvey's grasp but he didn't stop walking even after my escape – I guess he didn't need to. I kept his pace so I could question him.

“And where the hell did you come from?”

Harvey smiled as he looked at the tight pathways of the fair ahead. The edges of his brown hair caught the lights and burned a molten gold. It gave him a holy appearance that fuelled my irritation. ‘Holier than thou’ almost perfectly described his attitude towards the end of our friendship.

“I was with Sammy and Ruby. And now we're not.” He said.

I took a breath, knowing my rumble of negative emotions wasn't exactly rational. “I'm not a child that needs time out.” 

“I think I remember your childhood differently.” Was his retort.

“As if you weren't getting into trouble right alongside me.”

Harvey glanced my way, his brows slightly raised. But he said nothing. He said nothing because he's better than me and he knows when to stop and that this pointless bickering is just that. Ugh, this is why I can't deal with his family!

I stop our aimless walking to pull my phone out, and I duck down the side of a candy floss stall. Harvey stopped a few paces after me, watching me like I'm some prisoner he'd graciously allowed out on parole.

It didn't matter what he thought, though. I'm just texting Jacie.

Jacie, 19:14 I'm alright Thanks tho He's just so infuriating sometimes!! Ill talk about it later Im forcing my sisters to listen to my rants lmao

“At least she seems in high spirits.” Harvey said over my shoulder. 

I tried to conceal my jump and switched my phone off as if I was looking at something bad. Harvey was unaffected by my glares.

“You're still here?” I all but mumbled, shoving my phone into my back pocket.

Harvey looked down at himself, then back at me like he was stating the obvious. It was an action that left me rolling my eyes. “Uh yeah. There's something I want to talk to you about actually.”

“Can it wait? Preferably indefinitely?”

Harvey shook his head and resumed his grasp on my arm. He led me onto one of the rides, a little cart that takes you as high as the tallest stalls and around the somewhat small perimeter of the fairground. All the while, he ignored my half-hearted protests.

This felt weird. It felt like watching an old film you'd loved as a kid, but come back to many years later without all the magic of a childhood brain. You want to like it. But it's just…

“You need to get along with Sammy.” Harvey stated, right as the rickety cart started its slow go around the field.

“Excuse me?” I asked, shuffling as far away from Harvey as I could get in the tight space. I soon realised why he took me onto this thing. I have no escape.

“You clearly can't tell, even though I literally told you a few days ago, but Aaron respects your opinion so much that he's easily swayed by it.” He explains, but not nearly enough. And with such a cocky attitude that I almost don't want to interact with him anymore.

Unfortunately, that would make this already awkward ride excruciatingly more so.

So I say, defensively, “And so what if he is?”

“Aaron still likes Sammy. They get along pretty well when you're not there.” Harvey caught the unappreciative look I was giving him and he quickly sighed, tacking on, “all I'm saying is, you should at least try to be nice to Sammy! Maybe things would start to go smoothly if you did.”

The cart began its ascent up all 10 feet into the air, its speed slowed down into a painful crawl. It made the experience so much more awkward and I wished so hard to be literally anywhere else. Anywhere.

“Oh, because I'm the only problem in their relationship! As if Sammy isn't a controlling, conceited little witch! I doubt I could even do anything nice in her eyes. She'd probably find a fault in everything I do!” I continued ranting on as the ride reached the top. It paused, creaking lowly under the music and murmurs.

Harvey's eyes met mine and for the first time that night, they weren't trying to prove anything to me. He didn't look smug, or like he was holding something over me. He looked sympathetic. He looked like he was trying to understand me.

Then we whooshed down in a wide spiral, his short hair flew back and his gaze fell away. 

When the cart stopped and we climbed out, he stood quiet for a few moments. 

“Sammy isn't at all perfect, I know that.” He began. “But she's working hard to be a mother, she's trying to keep her grades up. She has friends she's scared of losing if she doesn't keep up with them, and she has a whole second family to worry about in regards to her daughter,” he gestured to me. “Would it really cost you much to be a bit more friendly?”

That felt like a mic-drop situation because I was floored.

When he puts it like that, it makes me sound like an asshole! And I'm not. I don't want to think of myself that way. Even if there's a possibility it could be true.

We eventually said our goodbyes, as weird as that felt, and I took the long route home. The cold air in the nighttime darkness felt like the best atmosphere to think in. I almost didn't recognise the silence that fell the moment I stepped away from the bustling fair.

Sure Sammy was rude and offensive and really knew how to piss me off. But she was a human going through a lot. She doesn't deserve my kindness or my forgiveness, at least, I don't think so. But…maybe I could see where being nice got me. At least, for Aaron and Ruby's sake.