The Trade Off | The Lost Boys

Chapter 9

A/N: Please stay safe out there.  The real world a dangerous place to be right now.

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 "Woo!" Paul cheered, the force pushing them against the back of the ride. His hair was flying in every direction, the blonde streaks covered his wild and cheerful expression. They were going fast, so fast that it made Ollie's eyes water.

No no no.

"Ohhh yeah!" He howled as the ride slowed, a wild grin plastered on his face. He was raving and hollering and clapping his hands together, and next to him Olive clung to the bar as tightly as she could. The spinning and the lights and the force were all too much to take in. She was going to be sick.

She was going to, oh god. She didn't want to think about it.

The feeling was not unfamiliar, and she could practically feel the burning in the back of her throat; the beer was trying to crawl it's way back up. She had been to her fair share of parties back at home where she would drink way too much with her friends, but this wasn't it. She had not been drinking to get plastered. Ollie squeezed her eyes tight in an attempt to steady herself. The ride was over. It was finally over.

Paul was quick to get off the ride, waiting for her to meet him at the exit, but she took her time. He was almost vibrating with excitement.

"Are we having fun or what?" Paul asked, pulling his arm around her with a squeeze. He was joking. He had to have been joking.

He didn't even wait for her to respond before he was setting off towards the drink stand. They had been on a terrible cycle of getting another drink before going on another ride. Ollie made a terrible mistake listening to Paul. He had dragged her from the Cyclone to the Tsunami, another circle jerk ride that made her want to hurl. The name was fitting. It was too fast. The lights were too bright. The rest of the rides were beginning to blur together.

"Hey," She lamely started as he helped her off the fourth, or maybe it was the fifth ride. Her voice was uneasy, as if she spoke too loudly or too quickly it would break. "Paul?"

He gave her a hum to let her know he was paying attention, but they were off again, heading towards another line. Her feet were moving mechanically and she was trying her best to stay steady among the crowd. Her equilibrium had disappeared entirely. She didn't want to think about it for too long.

"What the hell are we doing?"

The wicked smile he turned to her with made her nervous.

"We're going to the Teacups, silly." Paul tutted.

It sounded like the most obvious thing. She froze in her tracks, dismissing his enthusiasm. There was no way she was going with him on the teacups. No way, not with him. Not in a million years. His idea of fun was going to make her lose all of her brain cells. Hell, she felt as if her brain was rattling around in her head already.

"Hold up there, sport." She chastised tightly, leaning against one of the light poles. She needed to sit down for a minute. All of the spinning made her feel like she was playing pin the tail on the donkey without a blindfold on. It was terribly disorienting. "That's not going to happen."

"Oh no?" He teased, looking down to her.

He was unfazed, and if anything it looked like he had gotten what he wanted. Maybe he wanted the thrill or to see Ollie make a fool of herself in front of all the people on the boardwalk. His smile was ever changing; it was a continuous set of toothy grins and stealthy smirks.

"No." She repeated. She was going to stand her ground.

She was shaking her head, trying to figure out if something had been shaken loose. Her good sense, maybe. Ollie knew that she shouldn't have been baited to go on those rides.