“So, are you not going to tell me where you’re taking me?” I ask Luke, as he drives onto the ferry that would take us back to the mainland. “Do you really want to know? Do you not like surprises?” he asks me, glancing at me. “I like surprises.” I pout. “Then stop asking me questions.” He says. I continue pouting but I don’t say anything.
We sit in his car and make small talk while the ferry begins its course. It takes about 30 minutes before we reach the mainland. We arrive at the mainland and Luke starts up his car again. We keep up our small talk while Luke begins to drive. We drive for about 30 minutes before I start to notice where we are going. “Is that the Santa Monica pier?” I ask him. “Yup.” He smiles. “Are we going there?” I ask. “Yup.” He answers.
I smile because I love going to the Santa Monica pier. My family use to come here all the time when I was little. “I use to come here when I was little. I’ve never been on the rollercoasters though.” I tell him. “Really? Well, I guess that’s what we’re going to get on while we’re here.” He says, smirking at me. “Do we have to?” I plead. “I have to help you get over your fear!” he says, finding a parking spot and parking.
“No we don’t. I’m perfectly fine right here on the ground.” I tell him. He rolls his eyes and turns off the car. We get out and he locks the car and waits for me to meet up with him on the sidewalk. I walk over to him and he holds his hand out to me. I hesitate for a second before taking his hand. We walk to the boardwalk and we begin walking through the boardwalk, looking at the rides and booths.
“Come on, let’s go into the Pacific Park.” He says, pulling me towards the rollercoaster part of the pier. I sigh but follow him along. He pays for our tickets and we head into the park. “Well, these rollercoasters don’t seem too bad.” I say, looking up at the rollercoasters. “Elena, these are imposters. Wait until we go to Six Flags later on Tuesday.” He says, grinning at me. “I didn’t know you already planned out a second date. We haven’t even finished the first date.” I tease him. His eyes widen in surprise. “James said that it was a group outing.” He says to me. “I was just teasing you.” I say blushing. “Oh. Well, um. How about we start with the Sea Dragon?” he says, pointing to the ride.
I looked at the ride and it was like a giant boat thing that rocked back and forth. “I rode something like that before when the girls and I went to Carowinds last year.” I tell him. “Ah, the Southern Star. If you can get on that then you can get on this.” He says, pointing to the Sea Dragon. Instead of answering, I grabbed his hand and moved to the line. We stood in line and talked for about 15 minutes before it was our turn to get on.
When our turn comes, I climb into the second row and get seated. Luke comes in to the second row and takes a seat right next to me. Since this ride is smaller than the Southern Star, Luke and I are pressed against each other. “Would you like to hold my hand? You know, if you get scared or anything.” He says, holding his hand out to me. I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not scared.” I tell him. “Well, I was just using that as an excuse to hold your hand.” He says, grinning. I try to stop myself from smiling but I couldn’t help it.
“So, did my plan work?” he asks me, grinning. I roll my eyes and hold onto his hand. He smiles and the ride begins. I don’t scream but I do squeeze Luke’s hand a bit. When the ride is over, we get out and walk towards another ride. “That wasn’t too bad. That was nothing compared to the Southern Star.” I tell him. “Told ya.” He says.
While still holding hands, we walked over to the West Coaster. I looked up at the ride and noticed that there wasn’t any flips or loops. “Okay. This doesn’t seem too bad.” I tell him. He pulls me and we get in line. We continue talking while we wait. Finally, it’s our turn and we get into the 1st row. “Why Luke! Why! I don’t like the 1st row!” I complain as we put on our safety belts.
He rolls his eyes and says, “Stop being a wuss.” I stick my tongue out at him and get more comfrontable in my seat. When the ride jolted forward, I quickly grabbed Luke’s arm and wrapped my hand around his arm. “Scared?” he asks me. “No.” I say, pulling his arm closer to me. He chuckles and the ride begins.
“That wasn’t that bad.” He says to me, when we get off the ride. “Except, you might have scratched me.” He says, surveying his arm. I roll my eyes and grab his hand. We walked over to the Pacific Plunge and got in line. “Woah. You think you can handle this one?” he jokes. “Please, these rides aren’t too bad.” I say to him.
Again, we make small talk while we wait in line. Finally, it’s our turn. We find our seats and I begin to take off my sandals. “Don’t want them flying off.” I say, sitting in my seat. I put the safety belt on and pull down the bars. I try to make sure that the bars are on tightly before I let them go. I hold my hand out to Luke and he takes a hold of my hand. Everyone gets settled and we begin to rise.
We rise several feet before we drop. I scream. I knew the drop was coming but it still scared me. I tightened my grip on Luke’s hand when we went up again. Again, we unexpectedly dropped, causing me to scream. Luke was in hysterics by the time the ride was over. “Laugh it up Luke. Laugh it up.” I said dryly. “I’m sorry.” He managed to say, before laughing again. I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. “That was pretty funny.” I say, grinning a little bit. “Yeah, it was.” He said, trying to control himself.
“Come on. Let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry.” I say, rolling my eyes and walking towards the Harbor Grill. We walked into the diner looking place and went to the cashier. “A bacon cheeseburger and fries sound good.” I say to Luke. “Make that 2 bacon cheeseburgers and fries.” Luke says, ordering the cashier. “Alright. What would you guys like to drink?” the cashier asks. “Pepsi, no ice please.” I say. “And a Coke for me.” Luke says. “Alright. That will be $12.35” the cashier tells Luke.
“Let me pay half atleast.” I say, grabbing Luke’s arm. “Elena, I’m taking you out on a date, I can’t let you pay.” He says, glaring at me. “Okay mister bossy pants. I just wanted to help pay.” I say to him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude.” He says, handing the cashier a twenty dollar bill. I smile politely at Luke and grab our drinks from the counter. After Luke got his change, we found a small booth and took a seat. I sat across from Luke and grabbed a straw and put it into my soda. I took a big gulp while Luke watched me.
“Are you having fun?” he asks me. I swallow the soda and nod. “Good.” He smiles. “So, do you think there might be a second date for us?” he asks me, looking nervous. “I don’t know Luke.” I answer truthfully. He nods but frowns. “You like him, don’t you?” he asks me. I stop my mouth from dropping open and try to play it cool. “Wh-what are you talking about?” I stutter out. “James. You like him right?” he says again, grabbing his straw and messing with it. “I like him as a friend. That’s it.” I lie to him. “Oh, okay.” He says, sounding like he didn’t believe me.
Before he could bring up James again, I ask him a question about college. “Where do you want to go to college?” I ask him. “I’ve applied to UCLA and USC and now, I’m just waiting for my letters.” He says. “Oh, no sports scholarships?” I ask him, remembering his and James outstanding football season. “Yeah. I got a few from colleges out east. Duke, Princeton, Clemson, and a few others.” He says. “Don’t you want to go there?” I ask him. “Well, I don’t know. I would be very far from home.” He says. “True, but these are such good opportunities. I don’t watch much football but I do know that those schools have amazing teams. And you, you’re an amazing player.” I say to him. “Are you trying to flatter me Elena?” he asks, grinning. “Yes and no,” I say, “you really are a good player. You should at least visit the campuses before you make your decision.” “I did. They’re all really nice schools.” He tells me. “When is the deadline for the contracts?” I ask him. “June, I think.” He says. “Isn’t that a bit late?” I ask. “Yeah. Contracts are usually due in May but they gave me a month extension.” He says nonchalantly. “Luke!” I say, shoving his hand. “If they give you a month extension, then they must really want you! Please tell me you’re considering accepting.” I say to him. “I don’t know Elena. I’ll be so far away from here. It’ll be weird.” He says, shrugging. “Luke, this is a once in a life time opportunity. You could go places! You could even end up in the NFL! Do you not realize that there are these things called airplanes? They make traveling so much easier.” I tease him. He chuckles before replying. “I know there are airplanes, it’s just…” he starts. “Luke, I will drag you to the east coast myself if you don’t do it yourself.” I threaten, half-heartedly. “Okay, okay. How about I’ll consider it? I’ll talk to my parents and then I’ll decide.” He says to me. “Sounds much better.” I say, raising my finger to his face.
Before we could continue speaking, our food arrived. “Mmm. That smells so good.” I say, when the smell of the bacon hits my nose. The waiter gives us our food and we begin to eat silently. We were both pretty hungry so neither one of us tried to talk. “This is good.” I say, taking another bite of my burger. Luke nodded in agreement. He put his burger down and reached across the table and wiped the ketchup off the side of my lip. I hold in my gasp when he touches my skin. He wipes the ketchup and licks the ketchup from his finger. Woah! I say to myself.
I break eye contact from him and return to my burger. That was weird. I thought to myself. We finished eating without any more incidents. “I’m so stuffed.” I say, taking a small sip of soda. “Me too.” He says, burping. “Luke!” I gasp. “Sorry.” He says, smirking at me. “You know what I want for dessert?” I ask him. “What?” he grunts. “A funnel cake! Topped with powdered sugar, strawberries, and whipped cream.” I say, licking my lips. “Sounds good to me.” He says. We sit around for another 5 minutes before getting up.
“Let’s walk around a bit before eating.” I say to him. “Okay. Do you want to go down to the beach?” he asks me. I nod. We hold hands again and head to the stairs that lead to the sand. I go down the stairs first and when I get to the last step, I take off my sandals and hold them in my hands. He follows my lead and takes off his vans and socks. Instead of carrying them, he tosses them under the pier, behind a post. He holds his hand out to grab mine and I hand him my sandals. He tosses them next to his. “If someone steals them, you owe me another pair of sandals.” I jokingly tell him. “No one’s going to steal them.” He says, rolling his eyes. I stick my tongue out at him and he does the same thing. We stop acting childish and begin walking down the beach shore, without touching.
“This is romantic.” Luke says, glancing at me. “I know.” I say, not adding anything else. We walk in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Luke tries to hold my hand, but this time, he tries to intertwine our fingers. I stop walking and look at him. “Luke,” I begin, but he interrupts me. He holds both of my hands and pulls them up to stomach level. “Elena, I really like you. I know you have some feelings toward James but I still like you and I think you kind of like me too. If you don’t, just say so and I’ll stop talking.” He says, giving me an ultimatum.
I really did not know how I felt about Luke. He was a nice, attractive, and single guy. He has been making me smile ever since I’ve started hanging out with him and I never realized that I was starting to have a crush on him until tonight. “Luke, you’re a really nice guy,” I start, but I stop talking. I couldn’t lie to him and say I didn’t like him. “I think I might like you.” I say quietly. I see a flicker of hope cross his eyes. “You didn’t deny it.” He says instead. “Deny what?” I ask, even though I know what he’s talking about. “James. You didn’t deny that you like him.” He says, looking directly into my eyes. I squirm a little under his intense gaze.
“Luke, we already talked about this.” I simply answer. “Prove it.” He says. “How?” I ask nervously. “Kiss me. Show me you don’t like him by kissing me.” He says. I blush and begin blinking rapidly. I don’t know what came over me but I leaned over and kissed Luke. The kiss took him by surprise but he began kissing back. I pulled away from him but kept our foreheads touching. “You’re right.” I say. “I do like James, but it’s weird because I like you too.” I say, telling him the truth. We stand there, looking at each other for a little bit before we finally decide to walk back. “We’ll figure it out.” Luke says, holding my hand and intertwining our fingers. I smile a small smile and we head back to the pier.
Luke gets our shoes and we put them back on. “Let’s get on the Ferris wheel.” I say to him. “Okay.” He says. We walk up the stairs and head to the line for the Ferris wheel. We wait in silence until our turn. We finally get our turn and take a seat in our cart. Luke puts his arm around my shoulder and I lean into him while the Ferris wheel starts up again.
“Elena?” he says. “Yeah?” I answer. “Do you think it’s better if we just stay friends?” he asks me. I look up at him before answering. “I don’t know. I’ve liked James since freshman year. I think I like you too but…” I say, letting him finish off my thoughts. “I understand.” He says. “Carly is going to Six Flags with us.” He says, after a minute. “I thought she was in Hawaii.” I say. “Her trip got canceled.” He says simply. I don’t know how to respond so I just grunt.
“Do you think you’ll stop liking him?” he asks me. “I don’t know.” I answer truthfully. For the rest of the ride, we stay quiet. We get off the ride and head to the booth that sells funnel cakes. Luke orders one for me and him to share while I by a few more for the girls. “They’re going to be so happy.” I say. “Girls and junk food.” He jokes. “Whatever. Guys and food are much worse.” I say. “Yeah right! We’re just messier! You girls can eat a whole bunch too! Ya’ll just eat it more lady like.” He teases.
Luke and I finish off our funnel cake and we grab the box of funnel cakes and begin walking back to the car. Once again, we make small talk but once we get in the car, we turn on music and go home without speaking. It wasn’t awkward or anything, it was just silence. We finally pulled up into our driveway around midnight and saw that the lights were still on.
Luke turned off the engine and we stayed in the car for a bit. “So, about our talk,” he began. “How about we hang out some more and see what happens?” I say, hoping that he wouldn’t push the subject. “Okay.” He says, sounding defeated. I felt bad for turning him down, but I had to. “Does that mean there might be a second date?” he asks, hope in his eyes. “Maybe.” I say, grinning. “Sounds legit to me.” He says, grinning back.
We get out of the car and head to the front door. Before putting the key into the front door, Luke turned back to me and asked, “Could I give you a kiss? On the cheek?” he asks me. I nod. He leans over and gives me a lingering kiss on the cheek. He looks at me and I smile back at him. He makes a face and opens the door.
“Ya’ll are back! We were beginning to think you two love birds ran off!” Megan joked. I rolled my eyes and placed the box on the table. Luke walked to the kitchen and got a water bottle from the fridge. “Who wants funnel cakes?” I ask the crowded room. That seemed to get everyone excited. “Bring some paper plates.” I tell Luke. He nods and opens a cabinet and takes out some paper plates. He comes to the living room and hands me the plates. I open up the box and begin dividing out the pieces between each couple.
Once the first funnel cake was divided, I opened the second box and divided up that funnel cake. I passed out the funnel cakes and I could tell that James was disappointed. He only like funnel cake with powdered sugar. I grabbed the third box and sat down next to James. “One plain funnel cake with powdered sugar.” I say, handing him the box. He took the box from me and opened it. “Aww, you remembered!” he says, smiling and pulling me into quick hug and giving me a kiss on my temple.
“Aww! How come he gets a full funnel cake to himself!” Beth whines. “That’s not fair.” Seirra whines along with her. “His house, his funnel cake.” I say. They roll their eyes but don’t say anything else. Luke takes a seat beside me and James digs into his funnel cake. “How was your date?” Seirra asks, glancing from Luke to me to James and back at me. “It was fun.” I say, not adding anything on. “Do you care to elaborate?” Megan says. “Nope. What happens on our dates stays on our date.” I joke. “That doesn’t even make sense.” Seirra counters. “Stop bugging her, she’ll tell ya’ll anyways. Girls always do.” Luke teases.
After sitting around and talking for a while, we all decided to retire for the night. I get up and grab my pj’s and head into the bathroom. I get changed and walk out of the bathroom. Luke is in the bedroom with only his shorts on. I stop and admire his body before speaking. “Good night.” I say, quickly walking past him. “Wait, are you sleeping in James’ room tonight?” he asks. I nod. He opens his mouth to say something but stops. “Good night.” He simply says. I give him a quick smile and walk out of his room and close the door. I go to James’ room and knock. “Come in!” I hear him shout.
I open the door and step inside. Inside the room, James’ was stepping out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. He was shirtless and I couldn’t help myself to checking him out. I quickly looked away before he noticed what I was doing. “You can turn on the tv. I’ll be out in a minute.” He says, walking back into the bathroom. I walk towards the left side of his bed and climb in. I reach over his pillow and grab the remote. I turn on the tv and flick through the channels, trying to find something interesting. I turned to FX and Iron Man 2 was about to start.
I got comfortable and waited for James. He finally came out of the bathroom 5 minutes later and walked to his side of the bed and turned on the lamp. He turned off the big light and climbed into bed. Without saying a word, he wrapped his arm around me and I leaned into him, just like how we sit when we watch movies together.
During the first commercial break, James finally spoke. “Did you guys have a good time?” he asks, his voice sounding tight. “Yeah.” I answer. “Okay.” He simply says. Somehow, we both stay up and finish the movie. Around 3:30, he fell asleep. I slowly, without waking him, turned the tv off, got comfortable, and went to sleep. The last thing I thought about before I fell asleep was kissing Luke.