Royal Disaster

the disastrous tram ride

I began berating myself for even letting my anxiety pile up just because he left me on a ride. Then I scolded myself even more for letting him influence me to miss out on a good ride- a ride I waited thirty minutes in line for.

Determined, I stood up, eyes narrowing as I headed back to the line. If he was going to leave me here, then fine. Whatever. I would enjoy my time here because, goddamit, it's Universal Studios, and, even though it's not as infamous as Disneyland, I was going to have fun.

So I went back in line with my ice cream and calmed myself as I waited. At the front of the line was Dave, back in position, and he gave me a surprised but welcoming smile when he directed me to the first lane. When I got on the ride, I whooped, smiled, squealed, as if I was here alone and I didn't give a damn.

By the end of the ride, I was only slightly pissed off, but not enough to need another ice cream. Which is a good thing considering I was low on cash.

Stepping out of the building, I found myself, once again, taking in the crowd as they rushed by or crowded into lines. I wasn't one to get all philosophical so there wasn't really much to my observation, except me imagining myself as a part of the masses and then grimacing a bit at the reminder that I'll be a part of that soon if I wanted to get on the Studio Tour. That had a hot line, since it was outdoors.

Bracing myself, I readied myself to jump into the ocean of rushing people before me.

But before I could take one step out, my ears perked up at the sound of muffled shouting. I turned around, brows drawn. It sounds like they were calling...

"Kaia!" Arthur burst through the doors I exited, eyes frantic and posture rigid, tense.

When his eyes landed on me, everyone who was looking could see him visibly droop in relief. Then he was walking towards me, his strides speedy and long and purposeful. Next thing I knew, my wrist was gripped tightly in his large hand and he was dragging me off.

At first, I was too shocked to react, but as he began to pull us through the crowd, shoving people rudely left and right without even mumbling an apology, I snapped back.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, trying to pull myself out of his grip, but he wouldn't budge.

"We have to go. Now," he stated, his eyes scanning everyone around us. Then he was wrapping an arm around my shoulders so that I wasn't lagging behind him. It was like I was a doll and that didn't sit well with me.

Anger spiking, I struggled against his hold for the second time that day. "No!" I shouted, garnering the attention of many people passing by. "Let me go!"

"Kaia, stop making a scene," he growled through gritted teeth, eyes slashing me with a glare before returning back to scanning the area. What was his problem?

"NO!" The volume of my exclamation surprised him enough to slightly loosen his hold. I took the opportunity, breaking away from him and bumping into some guy. I apologized to him briefly before carefully stepping back from Arthur.

He reached for my arm again, trying to pull me with him, but I was too pissed off to let him get away with that again. Sliding from his grip, I began to make my way to the Studio tour. I was going there before he came back and he damn well wasn't going to distract me.

"Kaia!" he continued to shout through the crowd as he followed me.

I continued to ignore him. There were a lot of people here and they wouldn't know he was talking to me. They could glare at him all they wanted.

I slid through the crowd easily since I wasn't too big and it was easy to move about as a lone person. Arthur had a hard time, though, since he was being loud and wasn't really focusing on where he was going. Glancing back at him, I rolled my eyes, ducking my head and pushing through.