As we head up to the gates of the park, we get quite a few odd looks, but the guys don’t seem fazed by it, unlike me. I kind of want to crawl under a rock, and never come back out. Hey, look. There’s one about my size.
Anyway, as we arrive at the gates, Dahvie pays for all of us to get all day passes, and the man behind the booth give each of us a bracelet, then we walk in. When I look around I’m shocked by how many rides there are. Kiddie rides to huge roller coasters. Fair games to haunted houses. It would be very easy to get lost here, so I make sure I have my cell phone with me.
The guys smile at me, then ask where I want to head first. I shrug, and tell them, “I’ve never been to an amusement park before, so I don’t know what’s a good choice or not.”
“Let’s take her on that then!” CC says, pointing to one of the large roller coasters. Yep, my heart just sank at the thought of getting on that monster.
“Great idea, man,” Ashley says, clapping CC on the back, and then grabbing my hand and pulling me to the line. A short time later though, we’re getting ready to get on, and Ashley gets in the front car, and then holds his hand out to me.
I shake my head, and say, “I’m going to sit back here,” as I point to Dahvie in the second car.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Ashley says, picking me up, and setting me in the seat, then placing the restraints to my chest, where they instantly lock. I look up at him with fear wrote all over my face, and he sits next to me, strapping himself in. He grabs my hand, then winks at me, and says, “You’re going to be fine. Promise.”
How can he know what will or will not happen? I like high places, sure, but so long as I’m stationary. On a roller coaster, you’re not sitting still, so I’m afraid, needless to say. I watch in horror as the young man presses down on our harnesses, then walks back to the controls and presses a green button.
That’s when I hear a loud sound, that makes me jump, and we begin to move up the tracks. I swear I’m going to shoot CC!
We get to the top of the first hill, then Ashley says, “Hold on tight!” and we fall forward. I scream in fear, while everyone else is whooping in excitement. Well, fuck y’all too, I think as I shut my eyes tightly. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.
“Open your eyes!” I hear Ashley shout to me, and reluctantly, I do so. We head through a tunnel, where there’s absolutely no light, then back out into the sunny southern California day, and suddenly, it’s like there’s no more track, as we freefall down towards the ground.
The next thing I know, we’re only a few feet from the ground, as the cars right themselves once again, and then spiral up this vortex thing, and then down another steep hill. At the end of the hill there are three large loops and I’m pretty sure I nearly broke Ashley’s hand because of how hard I was squeezing it. After the loops, the track evens out again, and we begin to slow down, and coast to a stop.
As soon as my restraints are lifted, I’m climbing over Ashley to get out of the car, and racing to the closest exit, I can find.
Nope. Nope. Never again will I even consider getting on a death trap like that ever again! No one can talk me into it, and if they try to force me, I’ll rip their balls off, and shove them in their eye sockets.
A moment later the guys join me at the exit gate, and they are laughing at me. I growl at them, then look around the amusement park, and see a cute little water ride. I quickly grab Ashley’s hand, and drag him with me to it. Once there, a man lets us through the gates, and Ashley helps me into the log shaped boat.
Once inside it, we both grab the bar in front of us, and pull it over our laps, where it locks securely across our upper legs. I smile at Ashley and he chuckles, then shakes his head, but that’s when I notice that Dahvie and CC aren’t coming with us. Then again, this is a two person log boat thing.
The man checks our restraints, then presses the green button, and smirks at Ashley and me. What the hell? I don’t . . . Wait a second . . . The first thing I notice when we enter the tunnel of the ride, is a little baby Cupid. What the . . . No. This is not what I signed on for.
I mistook the cute little water ride, for the Tunnel of Love ride. Grr . . . I can only imagine what’s running through Dahvie’s and CC’s minds right now.
I look up at Ashley in the dim lighted area, and he smiles down at me, then rest his arm on my shoulder. With a small chuckle, he asked, “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“No. I just thought this was a cute water ride. Not the Tunnel of Love,” I tell him, honestly.
He nods, and says, “Well, we have about 10 more minutes of this, and there is something I want to tell you.”
I look up at him again, but he’s looking down. Almost like he’s unsure. What is he thinking?
“Umm . . . I know we pretty much just met, and I’m pretty sure you don’t feel the same about me, but . . . I like you, Katie,” he says.
“I like you too, Ashley. Why would you think I don’t?” I ask, completely confused. Have I given him any signs that I hate him?
“No. Katie, I mean, I really like you. Maybe one day it would turn into something more, if you ever felt the same, that is,” he says, looking me dead in the eye. I gulp as I quickly realize what he means. He’s crushing on me, while I’ve been crushing on him.
I smile, then grab his hand, and look down at my intertwined fingers. The age difference alone is enough to make me back off. I’m still a minor at 17, and the last thing I want to do is get Ashley in trouble. My birthday’s only 7 months away. I think we could put our feelings aside until then. Right?
But just as I finish my little though, Ashley’s free hand finds my chin, and he makes me look at him. He looks at me, as he brings his face closer to mine, and then he kisses me on my lips. What the hell?! Ashley Purdy, man whore deluxe, is kissing me, Katie Monroe-Vanity, the girl who’s never been kissed in her life!
The moment I’m about to start kissing him back, he pulls away, and has me rest my head on his shoulder, in time for a small flash with a clicking sound to go off, and then the ride is over. We get back on the wooden platform, once we’re releases, and as soon as we step out of the gate, Dahvie hugs me, and says, “I know what you’re up to, and with any luck, it will work.”
I pull away from him, then say, “I was up to nothing. I didn’t realize it was the Tunnel of Love. I thought it was just a cute little water ride.”
“Mhm, that’s why your lip gloss is smudged, and there’s a little red tint on Ashley’s lips?” he counters, and my eyes widen as I look at Ashley. Yep, his lips are red from my tinted lip gloss. Damn it.
I walk over to Ashley and grab the collar of his black shirt, then whip the lip gloss off him, and fix my lip gloss with my fingers. Ashley just smirks at me, then shows me the picture of me with my head resting on his shoulder, and that he actually got two.
He passes one to me, and says with a cute smile, “One for you, and one for me.”
We begin to walk away from the ride, to another, and CC walks over to me. He falls in step with me, and says, “So, you and Ashley, huh?”
I look at him, and say in defeat, “I don’t know. He told me he basically has a huge crush on me, and ever since I saw him in the Perfect Weapon’s video, I’ve had one on him. It would never work though. He’s what? 28? 29? I’m 17.”
CC shrugs and says, “So what? Age really is just a number. If you want to date him, let him know, and find out if he wants the same thing.”
I sigh, and say, “Age may only be a number once I’m of legal age, but not right now.”
“But that’s the beauty of it. No one but us have to know what your real age is. And by the time anyone caught on to it, you’d be of legal age, and they couldn’t do anything about it.”
Hmm . . . Maybe CC has a point. I nod, then he pushes me forward, towards Ashley, and says, “Go get him, tiger.”
I roll my eyes at CC, then walk over to Dahvie to get his opinion. He tells me he and Jayy wouldn’t mind, and in fact would be happy that I’m dating one of their closest friends. The only thing is, they would need to have a little bro talk with him before we got too serious.
I nod, and he does what CC did to me, and pushes me to Ashley, and says, “Go get him, tiger.”
Once again, I roll my eyes, then start talking to Ashley about random stuff, until I “randomly” look at the picture from the Tunnel of Love, and he smiles down at me.
“That’s a good picture,” he says.
“True, but I can’t help but wish our kiss could have lasted a little longer,” I tell him, trying not to sound too flirtatious, like Dahvie advised me.
“Maybe next time, it can,” Ashley whispers in my ear, then kisses my forehead, and locks our fingers together, as we walk through the park to the next ride.