Careless

"Ella, hurry up dear, you'll be late. Sid's already here!" Norma called from the bottom of the stairs. "Here you are Sid." She handed Sidney a cup of water and sat down beside Frank waiting for Ella descend down the stairs.

Sidney waited nervously on the couch. He hadn't felt this nervous in a long time; it felt like prom all over again. He constantly had to tell himself that they were going to the carnival as friends and nothing more. Watching Norma and Frank talk about what was happening on the show they were watching, Sidney tried to focus on the show.

"Sorry it took so long, I couldn't find my cell phone," Ella apologized as she walked down the stairs, her eyes still on her bag searching for something. Once she hit the bottom of the steps she looked up and saw Sidney smiling shyly at her from the living room. "You ready?" she asked him.

Sidney nodded and said his goodbyes to Norma and Frank, both standing up and following Sidney.

"Bye Grandma, Grandpa," she followed suit and kissed both of them on the cheek. "Don't wait up for me."

"Have fun sweetie," her grandmother said warmly. "Take care Sid," she said happily to Sidney and hugged him as well. Norma was glad that Ella was becoming good friends with Sidney, she needed a good influence on her and Sidney was just that.

Ella hooked her arm with Sidney's as they walked out the door. She was smiling widely, glancing at Sidney her eyes connected with his. They got into Sidney's car quietly, just enjoying each other's company.

To Sidney, Ella was completely different from all of the other girls he'd been with. She wasn't pushy, but she was straightforward, she never took herself too seriously, she was always joking and teasing. Not to mention, Ella was insanely beautiful. It wasn't the in your face supermodel beautiful, but that unique beauty. Compared to all the other girls, Ella James was genuine.

Sidney was slightly disappointed though, that Ella only saw him as a friend and he was sure she held no romantic feelings for him whatsoever. She seemed to only treat him like a friend, sure she would tease him and joke about him having a crush on her, but it was just harmless teasing to her.

He slowed the car to the parking lot where the Carnival was situated. Taking his eyes off the road for a moment he watched Ella's eyes reflect the Carnival lights and add her own light. Her mouth was slightly agape with wonderment, her eyes never leaving the amazing sight before her. He let out a low chuckle at how childish Ella looked making her look his way.

Ella kept a smile on her face while she turned her head to the side slightly. "What?" she asked with a small laugh. "Are you making fun of me, Mr. Crosby?"

"You just look cute," he confessed making Ella stunned and blushing. Shaking his head, he killed the engine and got out of the car making his way to Ella's side and opened it for her. "My lady," he teased and bowed like a butler.

"Why thank you good sir," she replied in a fake British accent and laughed out loud at their silliness. She pulled her snow white cardigan closer to her body and placed her brown satchel across her chest. "This place looks so amazing!" she said and spun around in the parking lot.

Watching her act like a child, he chuckled again following her to the entrance of the carnival. "You should stop spinning before you make yourself puke," he suggested and walked beside her.

Giggling, Ella stopped and placed her hands on her head to stop the continued spinning in her head. "I'm not doing that again," she laughed, hooking her arm with Sidney's she looked up at him and smiled.

The two entered the brightly lit carnival. Ella walked around amazed, everything was loud, and people were all smiling and laughing. It amazed her as she took out her camera and began to randomly take pictures. An idea popped in her head and she stopped walking, making Sidney stop as well.

"Say cheese!" she exclaimed and kissed his cheek, camera flashing so suddenly. She gave an airy laugh and previewed the picture. "Aw Sid, you look so lost," she cooed and showed him the picture.

Sid's face looked bewildered but the corners of his mouth tugged upwards, while Ella was kissing him in the corner of her mouth her eyes closed, her arm stretched to hold up the camera.

Sid chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Let's go on the Ferris wheel," he suggested and pointed to a fairly high Ferris wheel not far from them. Ella nodded and they began to make their way to the ride.

Nudging Sidney, Ella looked up at him as they waited in line. "Just so you know, I'm deathly afraid of heights," she whispered leaning towards him. She gripped her camera tighter as they drew nearer to the front of the line.

Sidney just smiled down at her and grabbed her free hand. He squeezed her hand as if to tell her that he would be there for her every step of the way. There was something about Ella that made him want to protect her. Maybe it was her fragile demeanour or maybe it was because she came off as broken.

He recalled spending hours trying to figure out what it was about Ella that made his heart beat just a little bit faster. It was like the feelings he got when he first steps on that nice clean sheet of ice. People cheering for him and his team, that rush he got whenever he saw their proud faces, all of those feelings he got with just one girl.

Taking a deep breath, Ella held on to Sid's hand tighter and gave him a small smile when they were ushered into a seat. The man then told them about the standard safety precautions and told them to enjoy their ride.

As they reached the top of the Ferris wheel, the ride stopped to allow more people into the ride. Ella's breath hitched as she looked down at the distance between her and the ground, it started to scare her.

"It's a little high up here huh?" she asked Sidney in hopes that he would get the hint to distract her.

Sid nodded and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, giving them a supportive squeeze. "Just don't look down. Look! The sky looks nice today," he said and pointed at the darkened sky.

Ella gave him a blank stare. "It's black Sid."

He gave her a boyish grin and shrugged. "Fine, the stars are nice, I bet you can't see them in New York!"

Nodding, she fished out her camera from her bag and smiled at Sidney. "Let's take some pictures. I want to remember this," she said enthusiastically and held up her camera.

*

Stepping off the ride, they giggled and laughed at each other as they looked at all the silly pictures they took together. Ella was enjoying herself and loved Sidney's company. He was always up for anything and fun to be with.

They had been to numerous rides already, but they both had a silent agreement that they enjoyed the Ferris wheel the most. Ella and Sid enjoyed being up almost touching the sky just sitting beside each other and talking. They both knew that it would be committed to their memories forever.

"I like this one," Sid said and pointed to the picture of both of them with their eyes closed, tongues stuck out and cheek to check. The camera was at an awkward angle, because Ella had been giggling uncontrollably at the time with her eyes closed.

Ella nodded in agreement and hooked her arm with Sidney's and giggled, taking a bite of her cotton candy. "Oh!" she yelped when a shoulder bumped into her making her drop her bag and camera.

"I'm so sorry," the middle aged woman said, bending down to help her pick up her fallen things.

Smiling, Ella shook her head and handed Sidney her cotton candy to gather the spilt contents from her bag. "It's alright," she said, dismissing the accident.

Gathering her things, she stood up and smiled at the woman who handed her, back her camera. "Thank you," she said politely and just nodded when the woman apologized again. "At least my camera didn't break," she said, examining her camera as they walked to the parking lot.

"Yeah, that would have sucked. We should get home soon, it might rain," he stated as he looked up at the star filled sky.

Ella nodded and watched as Sidney took out his keys. She put back her camera safely into her purse and fished for the blue wristband she held dearly to her heart. Stopping dead in her tracks, Ella, started to rummage through her bag clumsily in search of her most prized possession.

Noticing that Ella was no longer beside him, Sidney turned around and instantly saw Ella's panic stricken face. "What's wrong?" he asked her worriedly and retraced his tracks to get to her. "Ella, are you alright?"

Panic washed all over Ella's body, her heart started to feel heavy, and her breathing irregular as she tried to remember where it could have been. "My wristband, the blue one that I had with me the other day, it's gone!" she informed him, her voice strained and panicky. Ella stood her ground, but her head moved every which way, hoping to spot the wristband.

Sidney held her shoulders firmly. "Hey, hey, its okay. Relax and breathe. We'll just retrace our steps. I'm sure we'll find it, okay?" he tried to reassure her, but her eyes just kept moving, searching.

Sniffling, she just nodded her head and looked down on the ground defeated. "Okay," she whispered. She couldn't lose that wristband, it meant so much to her. It was the only thing she had connecting her to him and she be damned if she lost it.

Tears sprang from her eyes as the thought of losing the one thing she had left of him, terrified her to no end. Ella sniffled again and rubbed her nose. She started to quiver as a wave of emotion hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Hey," Sid said nudging her gently. "We'll find it," he encouraged her and wrapped her in a hug, kissing the top of her head. It killed him to see her so heartbroken, clearly that hospital wristband meant a lot to her. It made him wonder why; he scolded himself saying that it wasn't the time to feed his curiosity. "Why don't we split up, you go to the food area and I'll go to the rides," he suggested.

"Okay," she replied quietly and broke the hug. She hugged her sweater tighter and made her way to the concessions.

Asking around the operators if they had seen a blue colored wristband, Sid was ready to give up as they all said no. But then he thought about Ella and how broken up she was about losing it; he kept on going, determined to find the small object. Making his way to the concessions he heard a soft crunch under his feet.

Looking down, he saw the blue wristband resting on top of the bed of grass. Relief and happiness for Ella washed over him as he gracefully picked it up from the ground. Curiosity got the best of him, he knew he shouldn't be prying but it ate him inside to see how Ella was so attached to it and it made him wonder why it was so special.

Examining the wristband, the only information he got out of it was James, which he guessed was for her last name. And that it was tiny, almost tiny enough for a baby's wrist. His breath hitched at the thought of it belonging to a baby and different scenarios ran around in his head. Could it have been for a baby? Whose baby is it? Is it Ella's? When did she have a baby?

Panicking, Ella asked around if people had seen the wristband. She stopped to take a breath when her head wandered to Sidney and instinctively looked around for him. Her heart stopped when she saw Sidney examining the wristband. Sure she was happy that it was found, but she hoped that would have been her to find it. At that moment, she knew her secrets were no longer secrets.