The Way He's Not

Chapter 15

His reaction is immediate. He grasps my hips and tugs me closer to him and I wrap my arms around his neck. I run my fingers through his messy hair and push his head down closer to mine. He kisses me over and over again, I lose track of how many times.

I pull away to catch my breath.

“You taste like cotton candy,” Colton mumbles against my neck.

What the hell did I just do?

I just kissed my best friend’s boyfriend, while I have a boyfriend.

Realization dawns on me and I quickly shove Colton off of me. Unprepared, he stumbles backward, surprised.

“I-I-“ I stutter. I don’t know what to say, so I turn around and dart through the rest of the fun house.

“Jacey!” I hear Colton shout behind me, but I don’t stop. I hurry down some stairs, then I come to the stupid spinning tunnel. I don’t even bother to play around in it like most people do, I bolt through it and sprint down the stairs. I don’t even know where I’m going, but I keep running.

“Jacey! Come back!” Colton’s shouts are distant and I can barely hear them. Panicked, I turn to run towards the parking lot only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of a person standing in front of the fun house, casually looking up at where I had been kissing Colton only moments before.

“I’ve never been a fan of fun houses. I always thought they were stupid. I guess you know how to make them fun, though, don’t you, Jacey?” Alex says with a cat-like smile. I feel my breath catch in my throat when I grasp the fact that she saw everything.

“Alex-“ I start, but she’s not listening to me.

“I always thought you were a good person. I guess I was wrong.”

“Alex-“

“I mean, you were always so nice to me and you were always there for me.”

“Alex please-“

“But making out with your best friend’s boyfriend? That’s a new low for you, Jacey.”

“Please don’t tell,” I whisper, my voice raspy. My heart is pounding in my chest. Alex just smiles at me.

“Oh, don’t worry Sweetie, I won’t tell,” She says pleasantly, taking a few steps toward me. Since we are both wearing high heels today, we are the same height and I don’t have to look up at her. That doesn’t make her any less intimidating, however.

“I’ll leave that to you,” Alex says, her voice cold. The smile drops from her face and what is left is a dangerous, angry glare that makes me gulp. With that, she turns and disappears in the crowd of teenagers.

“Jacey!” Colton’s voice comes from directly behind me and I twirl around to see him jogging up towards me. Quickly, I turn and race towards the ride with the shortest line. The Ferris Wheel.

Actually, there’s no line at all, so I get on immediately. There’s only a few other people on the ride, but most of the seats are empty. The man starts the ride right after I get on and I slowly start to go up. Unfortunately, I don’t get very high before Colton reaches the ride, also. The seat right after mine is empty, it’s too late for him to get on that one, though, because he already passed the stopping point, and the next seat has a young, sophomore couple in it. Colton doesn’t seem to care that the seat is occupied, though. He doesn’t wait for the ride to stop, he just runs up and hops onto the couple’s seat, rocking it back and forth wildly. The girl screams as Colton turns and faces backward in the seat to look at me.

“Jacey!” He shouts. I refuse to look down at him, though.

“Go away Colton!” I yell back, feeling a lump form in my throat.

“Jacey, I just want to talk!” the girl lets out another scream as Colton adjusts in his seat when I reach the top of the wheel.

“I don’t want to talk to you!”

“Jacey, damn it, just listen to me!”

“No!”

“Kid! You can’t do that!” I see the man who’s operating the Ferris Wheel is yelling at Colton.

“Why not? I’ve got a bracelet!” Colton shouts back, holding up his wrist.

“Two people per seat!” I look back to see what Colton’s going to do. My seat is coming back around the bottom of the wheel, the seat he’s in is still towards the top. Colton stands up in the seat, his eyes focused on the seat in between ours.

“Colton don’t-“ But he’s already done it. He leaps from the seat and somehow manages to wrap his hands around one of the bars on the spokes of the wheel. He swings from bar to bar, like monkey bars at the playground in elementary school. I hear terrified shrieks from the ground as people recognize Colton and see what he’s doing. The seat in front of me comes to a halt as the man operating the Ferris Wheel stops it at the bottom. Colton drops down to the next bar, then into the seat casually.