Truth or Dare

Chapter 27: Normal

"No."

"Yes."

"No, I won't do it."

"C'mon", Chase pleads, "it will be fun."

I stubbornly shake my head and keep my feet glued to the ground. "No, it won't."

"Don't be such a chicken."

"I'd rather be a chicken than dead."

"For heaven's sake, Linnea", Chase sighs, "it's only a roller coaster, you won't die."

Shaking my head, I take a step back to show him exactly how unwilling I am. "You don't know that for sure."

Chase tries to grab ahold of me again, in what I believe to be his fifth attempt at getting me into the queue, but I dodge his arm.

"You can go, I'll wait", I plead, "it's fine, I promise."

"What's the fun in that", he pouts, and I accusingly point a finger at him.

"No, don't do that. Don't try to make me feel guilty for not getting onto that death trap."

"But-"

"No, I won't do it, and that's final. We can go onto that ride instead", I say and gesture towards a slow ride that's on the ground and not up in the air.

"Fine", Chase mutters, "you're impossible."

I grin widely at my triumph and grabs his hand before pushing through the crowd towards the carousel. There's only a handful of kids in the line before us, and we manage to get onto it by its next round.

"I feel like this is going to break", Chase frowns as he sits onto one of the wooden horses and I laugh as he struggles to find onto its small back.

"You're too fat", I tease as I easily slip onto a white horse beside him. I won't lie, it's a little uncomfortable, but I guess that's the price you have to pay if you choose to go onto a ride suitable for small kids.

The ride is slow, as expected, but I thoroughly enjoy the whole experience only because of Chase's obvious discomfort. He jumps off of his seat even before the carousel has stopped spinning completely, and as we walk towards one of the food stands, he complains about how he's not going to be able to have kids in the future.

"So, you're really afraid of heights, huh?" Chase asks as we've finally ordered our food, which he insisted on paying, and settled down by a table at the edge of the pier.

"What gave it away?" I say with faked amazement before popping a fry into my mouth.

Chase decides to completely ignore my irrelevant question and takes on a more serious expression.

"Is there any reason behind the fear?"

I shake my head. "No, not really. It's just always been that way."

"That sucks", he frowns. "I was really looking forward to that ride."

I throw a fry at him. "Don't guilt trip me! I'm sure you've been onto that ride like a thousand of times already."

"Yeah", he says slowly, "but not with you."

I try to hide the blush that's starting to burn my cheeks, and I silently curse myself for letting his words get to me so easily.

"You're so cheesy", I finally state and he takes a big bite from his burger before replying.

"But you like it."

"Whatever." I roll my eyes and sip on my milkshake, silently hoping that its coolness will help keeps my rosy cheeks at bay.

The rest of the dinner goes by smoothly, and I find myself really enjoying the date. It took me a while to grow accustomed to the thought of him and I being on an actual date, especially since we've become such good friends during my stay here, but it did honestly feel nice. After the dinner, we decided on taking a walk by the water, and every time he grabbed my hand or put his arm around me, I felt more and more butterflies spreading its wings in the pit of my stomach. I even grew nervous a couple of times when I thought that he might kiss me, but he never did. By the end of our date, I found myself growing quite frustrated by that fact, although I know that the sole reasons for his actions is to not take it too fast for my liking. He really meant what he said earlier about rather staying friends than becoming strangers. By the time the clock struck midnight and we'd reach my campus, I knew he didn't have to worry about that anymore.