ferris wheel || Julie Gaffney

3.

(huge time skip!)

We had just won our first game against Trinidad. The whole locker room was celebrating the victory. Me and Adam were jumping around and dancing with the rest of the team. Charlie came over to join us. He actually picked me up and gave Adam an awkward pat on the back. Adam smiled and once my brother walked away he blushed a bit. I smirked at him and he hit me with his stick.

"Hey Dean," I heard a voice coming from behind me. I whipped around and peeked threw the lockers. Julie and Dean were sitting on one of the benches. Holding hands. I felt a little bile start to rise in my mouth. I swallowed and kept listening.

"You were great today Dean," Julie said.

"Right back at ya," he replied.

"I'm gonna go get ready, see ya later Dean," Julie said and kissed him on the cheek. My face fell. My eyes followed her walking to the other side and I quickly got back to looking in my locker.

"Hey what happened over there?" Adam was behind me when I turned around.

"Oh nothing Adam don't worry about it," I pushed passed him with my stuff and out the locker room door.

~

"Okay guys gather round I have the dorm assignments!" Coach was standing around the dinner table later that night with a list in his hand. I was fiddling with my jacket zipper until I heard names being called. "The first dorm is Luis, Goldburg, Dwayne, and Ken. The next dorm is Charlie, Adam, Jesse, Averman and Guy. Next is Dean and Fulton. Last dorm is Julie, Connie, and Eliza. Any questions?"

I sighed and followed everyone to the dorms. Adam ran up to me while I was walking.

"Hey what happened at the game? All of a sudden your mood changed," He sounded actually concerned. I honestly didn't know what to do. If I told him, I would have to tell him I liked Julie, if I didn't tell him I would never hear the end of it. I turned around and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling his face closer to mine.

"Look i'll tell you okay. Meet me in the arcade downstairs at 10 got it?" I resorted to the best decision.

"But isn't bed time at 10?" Adam said.

"Exactly, once everyone goes to bed we can sneak out," I answered. Before he could answer, Guy opened his dorm door and called Adam over.

"Looks like your boyfriend needs you Adam," I winked and went forward to my dorm.

"He's not my- never mind," Adam rolled his eyes and walked back to Guy.

The dorms were real nice and when I got inside, there were 3 beds with blue team USA sweat suits. They also had white tank tops and red shorts that said "Team USA" on each.

"These are real nice, and free too!" Connie said putting on the sweatshirt. It was a nice sky blue with red stars on the sleeves.

"Haha yeah," Julie said, putting it on. She looked so pretty in the blue color.

"That looks nice on you Julie," I blurted out. My eyes widened and I blushed a bit.

"Aw thank you Liz, put yours on!" She said. I picked up the sweatshirt and sweatpants and went to the bathroom to change.

"They look amazing on you!" Julie said as I was walking out.

"You think so? Maybe I should wear it out later. You know just in case I run into anybody famous out here!" I said. Julie and Connie laughed and I felt a little more confident.

~

It was about 9:30 and I was eating the leftover ice cream from the restaurant downstairs on my bed, while talking with Connie and Julie.

"So Julie how are things with you and Dean," Connie said out of no where. I almost spit out my ice cream. I spilled a little on the tank top I was wearing.

"Shit, this was my favorite top!" I said trying to frantically wipe it off. Julie and Connie just laughed and kept eating theirs and talking.

"Oh well we're doing alright. I mean we just started dating, Connie," Julie said.

"Wait you and Dean are...dating?" I dropped my ice cream in shock. This was just great I finally got more comfortable talking to Julie and now this happens.

"Well we haven't made it official. But we did kiss.." Julie said.

"YOU GUYS KISSED!" Connie sounded like it was her birthday.

"Yeah only once though..." Julie answered.

"Yeah but that's still a kiss! You guys can go on double dates with me and Guy!" I looked visibly upset at this point.

"Hey Liz, you've been pretty quiet over there. Is there anyone you like?" Connie looked at me. I instantly got nervous.

"Who me? I've never really thought about stuff like that," That was the worst excuse i've ever made.

"Well what about Adam? You guys seem to hang out a lot," She suggested. Just the thought of dating Adam made me feel weird.

"Oh Adam? Absolutely not he and I are like brothers. Nothing between us I swear," I was going to go on saying Adam likes someone else, but I thought it was best that it stayed secret.

"Oh, well what about...Kenny? Or Jesse, or maybe Dwayne..." She kept listing guys names on our team. I never saw any of them as love interests, just like brothers to me.

"GUYS LIGHTS OUT!" I shot up as I heard Coach yelling threw the halls. I started crawling off the bed and dragging the sweats we got with me.

"Hey guys I'm gonna get changed for bed. I took a pair of red plaid PJ shorts and an old T-Shirt. Julie and Connie were already dressed for bed so they went to their beds and shut the lights.

"Night girls," Julie said as she was turning her lamp off.

"Yeah night," I rolled over waiting until I couldn't hear footsteps anymore. The coast was clear so I threw on my sweatshirt and white converse and peeked around the hall. No one. I quickly glanced at my watch. 10:02. Perfect. I started walking around trying to find the sign pointing to the arcade. I found it and followed it down and hall and to a right. I walked, being careful not to be seen. I quietly pushed open the arcade door. It was absolutely empty and quiet except for the music coming from the ski ball.

"Adam?" I whispered.

"Over here!" I heard a whisper coming from the back. I followed it and found Adam, with two Pepsi cans and a huge bag of Lays. I knew I could count on him.