IZ*ONEshots

Ferris Wheel - Annyeongz

The cute girl held her elegance for an impressive amount of time.

Any traces of Yujin's smile-grimace had just faded away when, rather inelegantly, the girl burst into a fit of snorts and giggles like a toddler reading Captain Underpants.

Yujin scowled. "What?"

"Must I really answer that question? Did you really not just hear yourself?"

Maybe her breath caught at the smoothness of that voice. Maybe it didn't.

We'll never know.

Yujin was too flustered trying to figure out a sophisticated answer to even think of that. 

"I... uh. Um," she answered intelligently.

Now both eyebrows were raised and Yujin was uncomfortably aware of glittery white stars right on her reddening cheekbone. There wasn't even a slim chance that tomato red would go well with green and blue stripes, was there?

Desperately trying to save her pride (and the reputation of eloquence that she upheld among her peers), Yujin stuck out her hand and blurted, "Hi, I'm Ahn Yujin, nice to meet you."

Yujin would forever be thankful that the girl played along. "Hi, I'm Jang Wonyoung, and it's nice to meet you, too." With a moment's hesitation, Wonyoung continued with a giggle, "That was a little random, don't you think?"

Yujin shrugged, mind finally back in check, allowing her to actually talk without sounding like an idiot. "Eh. I figured I should at least know the name of the lovely lady I get to share this claustrophobic, ridiculously high, dangling cart with."

Oh yes. Yujin was back in her element.

"Sorry, I should've warned you," Wonyoung said, somehow apologetic for a machine that she did not operate and could not have known would stop. "I was hoping something would happen today. All the most romantic things happen at the top of a ferris wheel, especially when it's stopped."

"Didn't peg you as a sap."

"Shut up."

And with that, they were chatting. 

"You from here?"

"Nope," Wonyoung said, popping the 'p'. "I'm traveling from Westchester, but just prior to that, I lived in LA. It's a great place, especially for mega tourists like yours truly, but everyone thinks they're so much better than everyone else."

"Oh man. How long do you think it takes to get into that mindset? A year? A decade?"

"Are you kidding? I lived there for three months and I already know I'm better than everyone else."

Yujin snorted. "I can tell."

"Thanks." Wonyoung rolled her eyes. "Are you from here?"

"Yup. Vermont born and raised."

"And how would you rate Vermont for the next tourist?"

"Hm." Yujin pursed her lips. "Not much for tourism in Weston, but this particular part of the state isn't all that bad. Where're you staying?"

"I'm living with my aunt right now. She works at the Panera by the gas station?"

"The tall one with red hair?"

"No, the one with tattoos. She's got one that says 'relevance' right on her collarbone. I was chatting with her yesterday, and I never realized how insane she is. It's like the internet - one second I'm on an article about how Hurricane Ida is destroying Louisiana and next I'm reading about the mating habits of pipevine swallowtail butterflies. I was trying to tell her about school and she suddenly started ranting about the noise of the cars and the trucks outside Panera and then she began talking about books and then she was venting to me about her best friend-"