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I stop walking. Adam stops too.

‘That was probably fake,’ he says. ‘To scare us – not someone being terrified.’

‘Probably?’

‘Almost definitely,’ he says, a little more firmly.

‘Oh, well, that’s reassuring,’ I say sarcastically.

‘Do you want me to lie?’ he asks with a chuckle.

‘Yes.’

‘That was definitely fake.’

‘Thank you,’ I reply. ‘Was that so hard?’

We keep walking and for the first minute or two, nothing happens. It’s just us, the rustle of the corn, the squelch of mud under our shoes, and the distant rumble of fairground music. I’m finally starting to relax, thinking this isn’t that bad, which is obviously when something lunges out from the side wearing a sack over its head.

I scream, and it’s not a cute scream. Not a flirty little gasp. A full-body, blood-curdling scream. And then I pretty much throw myself into Adam’s arms, like we’re Shaggy and Scooby-Doo.

The sack-headed man disappears back into the corn, presumably to ruin someone else’s night, satisfied that his work is done here.

Adam turns to face me, unable to suppress a laugh, but I think it scared him too.

‘You okay?’ he asks.

‘Oh, fine, fine,’ I say sarcastically.

‘Come on, let’s get out of here, the carousel might be more our style,’ he replies.

We continue, me clinging to Adam, my arms pretty much wrapped around his body as he drags me along. Every few corners, someone jumps out. A blood-soaked lumberjack. A girl with long black hair over her face. A man crawling upside down on all fours – the worst of the bunch, even though I could probably kick him over.

Then we reach a section full of mirrors. I see my own reflection and scream again.

Adam laughs. I swear, it tightens my grip on him beyond what I thought possible.

‘Aww, no, Lia, do you want to go?’ he checks. ‘It does actually seem much scarier this year.’

Do I want to go? No, not really, because as scared as I am, being here with him, just the two of us, up close and personal like this… I’m really enjoying it.

‘No,’ I say immediately. ‘I’m having fun, really, it’s just my face that missed the memo.’

‘Okay,’ he says with a laugh. ‘But maybe we’ll take a hot chocolate break after this. They have little pumpkin pods to get cosy in.’

Now that sounds more my style.

Something bangs loudly behind us and I shriek again, throwing myself into Adam’s chest. His arms come around me automatically, steadying me.

For a second, I forget where we are. His body is warm against mine. His hand is on my back. My face is pressed into his jacket and he smells like aftershave, cold air and hot chocolate.

Yep, this is definitely the scariest part all right. It’s being here, with him, knowing how much I like him, but how incredibly inconvenient that’s going to be.

28

As days at work go, this hasn’t been the greatest – because I haven’t actually done any work.

Adam and I went to meet the first band at Blossom HQ but there was a message waiting for us saying they were stuck in traffic and they would have to reschedule. Kerry was there, so she showed me around the studio and introduced me to the team. They’re like a proper little family unit; everyone is so friendly, and they were all having a laugh together – exactly the kind of place you’d want to work, which has only made me more determined to prove myself.