"I'm tired of standing here" Sam Brooks groaned impatiently.
"We're wasting sunlight!" his brother Eric added, throwing his head back in a dramatic fashion.
"There's still hours left before the festival closes, we'll have plenty of time" Ralph insisted.
"How much longer are we gonna wait for him?" Eric pressured Ralph.
"He'll be here soon, okay? I don't want to go in until we're all here so nobody gets lost" Ralph continued to insist.
Sam sighed heavily and tossed his backpack to the ground, plopping himself down on top of it.
Ralph, Sam, and Eric were waiting at the entrance to the East Point Summer Festival gates. Every summer, the community turned the largest park within a fifty mile radius into a giant amusement style park. For two weeks in August, it became the hottest spot in all Northern Georgia.
A mere twenty two minutes after he was supposed to meet Ralph and the twins, Jack got off the bus in front of the festival gates. He saw the way Ralph's eyes lit up when he saw him, and internally cursed himself for not having the guts to tell Ralph the truth. But seconds later, that truth got off the bus behind Jack, following behind him.
"Sorry I'm late" Jack sighed, "We missed the first bus we were supposed to get on."
"That's alright, less time for bathroom breaks I guess" Sam decided, shrugging away the initial anger he'd felt towards Jack and his tardiness.
"Hey" Jack nodded his head once at Eric. "Long time, huh?"
"Feels like it" Eric agreed. "Today's gonna be fun, I promise. We've done this before, right Sam?"
"We came with our parents a couple years ago when we were like eight" Sam clarified, "it's real fun."
Jack, relieved that the air seemed to be clear between himself and the twins, turned to look at Ralph. He hadn't realized how drastically Ralph's expression had changed from when the boy first saw him get off the bus.
"How ya doin'?" Jack asked Ralph casually, in a tone he'd often talk to Roger or his detention buddies in.
Ralph raised his eyebrows as he looked around Jack at the curly headed brunette girl who stood just a little behind him.
"Oh, this is Emma" Jack snapped out of the stare he was giving Ralph, reaching back and taking the girl's hand to bring her forward a little.
"Cool, what's up?" Eric came up beside Ralph, sticking his hand out to Emma.
"Hi" she smiled shyly at the twin as she shook his clammy little hand.
"This is Eric... or Sam?" Jack guessed.
"Right the first time" Eric confirmed as he released the girl's hand. "That's Sam" he pointed back with his thumb at his brother who sat impatiently atop his backpack.
"And this is Ralph" Jack finished, directing the girl's attention at the brunette boy in front of them.
"Hey, I've heard a lot about you" she smiled widely as she stuck her hand out to Ralph.
"Likewise, y'know, except for the fact that you were coming here today" Ralph snarled in a sarcastic tone, one only Jack understood the bitterness behind. He didn't take Emma's hand.
"You said you asked them if I could join" Emma turned to Jack as she dropped her hand.
"Musta forgot" Jack shrugged awkwardly.
"Can we go in now or what?" Sam asked in the form of a tired, impatient whine.
"Yeah, let's do it" Jack agreed as he abandoned the circle, leaving Emma, Eric, and Ralph.
Eric followed after Jack, slapping his sitting brother upside the head as he passed him.
"Cut it out!" Sam snapped as he stood to his feet and threw his backpack over his shoulder.
Ralph glared at Emma for a moment before he turned around and followed everyone else in. She sighed and ran to catch up after a second of thought; grasping onto Jack's arm as she joined them.
By the time they'd paid for their tickets, it was already after 1100 hours. Sam declared that it would be best to get in the shortest lines first so they'd have time to get on a good number of rides before they'd have to stop for lunch. Eric insisted on the flying swings first. So they stood in the line, waiting under the hot summer sun.
"You really have done this before, huh?" Jack playfully punched the twin on the shoulder.
"We did some time management planning to maximize the experience" Eric informed the others. "We made some fatal mistakes last time" he recalled, and Sam cringed at the thought.
"We were in line for Magma Mountain when they closed last time" Sam explained.
"What's Magma Mountain?" Emma asked the twins.
"It's only the biggest, and craziest rollercoaster in the whole park" Eric's eyes went wide as he talked.
"In order to get on it with the shortest wait time and a guarantee that the place won't close before we do is to get in line at exactly 1237 hours" Sam declared.
"That's oddly specific" Jack observed.
"That's the sweet time" Eric added, "most people start going for lunch between 1200 and 1210 hours, respectively. But there's still gonna be a good number of people in line for Magma Mountain by then, cause people really want to go on. But by 1237 hours, kids will start getting cranky and parents will start getting impatient. That's when the line thins out, just before the early eaters return and as the stubborn late ones decide on coming back after they eat. You see, that's where their error lies."
"Wow" Emma dropped her jaw a little. "That's an impressive observation."
"It's all in the math" Eric nodded proudly.
"Since there are five of us now, someone's gonna have to swing solo" Sam pointed out.
Jack glanced over at the sets of both double and single swings hanging from the base of the ride.
"I'm no coward, I'll do it" Eric declared.
"Who's gonna be my partner then?" Sam practically whined.
"I will" Ralph agreed, linking his arm around the light haired boy's.
"That leaves us, I guess" Jack said as he looked to Emma before glancing over at Ralph, staring at the way he locked his arm tightly around Sam's.
"No complaints here" Emma smiled warmly as she grabbed Jack's hand. Jack watched as Ralph subtly rolled his eyes while turning his head the other way.
Despite having been on this ride before, Ralph could tell that Sam was scared shitless when they were latched in and secured by a park staff member.
"You okay?" Ralph asked, concern in his eyes.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Sam's nervous voice was higher than usual as he spoke rather quickly.
"You're sweating" Ralph observed.
"It's like ninety degrees out" he panted as he turend to meet Ralph's eyes.
"You'll be fine, I promise" Ralph said as he reached over and squeezed the worried twin's hand.
And of course, Ralph was right. Though, much to Ralph's dismay, Sam did scream the whole time. He felt like his eardrum had been dislodged by the time they got off the ride.
"Remind me not to sit beside you next time" Ralph jokingly teased Sam.
Jack looked back at the two and smiled. "You can sit with me on the next one?" he suggested.
"On second thought, I think Sam needs my support" Ralph replied in a low but subtly hot-headed tone.
"I wasn't even scared" Sam scoffed.
"Dude, I could hear you from three rows up" his brother poked fun of him.
"Shut up!" Sam called out, the spat earning a laugh from Jack in the middle of the bunch. It really hadn't been as bas as Sam thought it would be.
After they'd been on a couple rides, Eric had joined in on the conversation between Jack and Emma while Sam and Ralph walked a little behind. Jack took Emma's engagement with the twin as a way to step back for a moment, letting himself fall back in tune with Ralph and Sam.
"So your brother wants to do the Twist of Terror next but he said you'd be too scared to get on" Jack declared, throwing metaphorical gasoline on the fire.
"That's bullshit" Sam scoffed, "hey Eric!" he called up to his brother as he jogged a couple steps to catch up to Eric and Emma. "That's such bullshit!"
"What is?" Jack heard Eric's confused voice come from a few feet ahead of him and Ralph now.
"So you've been kinda quiet today" Jack said to Ralph once he was sure the others couldn't hear.
"To you, maybe" Ralph's tone was tainted by anger and frustration.
"Why?" Jack asked eagerly.
"Don't be stupid" Ralph rolled his eyes as he picked up the pace a little.
"Then don't be an ass" Jack responded hotly, grasping onto Ralph's shoulder to stop him.
"You should've asked me" Ralph raised his voice a little as both boys stopped in their tracks, facing each other fully now. The others had yet to notice.
"It just happened, alright? She wanted to hangout and I told her I had plans with friends, and she asked to come. What was I supposed to do?" Jack's volume trumped Ralph's in his response.
Sam, Eric, and Emma stopped several feet ahead of them when they noticed them missing, and looked back at the two; the three standing there staring as they waited.
"Talk to me! You were supposed to fucking talk to me, Jack!" Ralph was clearly shouting by now, earning awkward stares from the other park-goers around them.
"I didn't know how to!" Jack yelled in Ralph's face.
"That's not my fault!" Ralph stepped forward too, their faces a mere few inches apart, anger painting both their faces beat red.
Jack was on the brink of losing it. He shoved Ralph firmly enough that the brunette boy stumbled back a little before he found his footing again.
"Oh shit" Eric whispered to himself from where he stood between Sam and Emma up ahead.
Ralph shoved Jack back a little harder than Jack had shoved him. Before those around them knew it, they were in a full blown physically fight, pushing and punching each other until they both hit the floor and continued wrestling like animals on the ground.
"You guys!" one of the twins' voice came from much closer than he had been standing a moment ago. "You're gonna get us kicked out of here!" he shouted as he put himself between Ralph and Jack. The other twin came up behind Ralph and grasped onto him from behind, an attempt to hold him back long enough for him to consider his actions.
Both boys were on their feet now, panting heavily, staring each other down from the few feet the twins had managed to put between them. A large crowd had drawn around them now, and Emma was among it, watching near the front of the pack.
"Fight's over, people!" Sam released one of his arms from Ralph's body to wave everyone on. Slowly but surely, the crowd started to disperse as chatter spread about the incident.
"What the hell's the matter with you two?" Eric asked as he looked from Ralph to Jack.
"I thought you were friends now" Sam added. "Is this still about the island?"
"No!" Ralph and Jack snapped immediately, in unison.
Jack's eyes wandered until he found Emma standing still where the crowd had been. He sighed as he looked to her, hoping she wasn't about to become the second person to be mad at him.
Emma walked closer to Jack, Ralph and the twins. She grabbed onto Jack's arm and looked up at him. Jack sighed as he covered her hand with his, staring down at her in an attempt to read her. Ralph deliberately turned his back to them as he made to catch his breath, and Sam kept his hand on the other's back for support. Eric, still in the middle of it all, stared back and forth between his brother and Ralph, then Emma and Jack.
"Why'd you have to go and do that?" Emma asked her boyfriend, her tone concerned rather than angry.
"Doesn't matter" Jack shrugged, refusing to look her or anyone around him in the eye.
"Clearly not" Ralph turned to snap loudly in response as he started to walk away from the group.
"Ralph! Where you going?" one of the twins called out, and the other ran out after him.
"Why's he so upset with you?" Emma asked as Sam joined Jack and Emma where they stood.
"It's nothing, really, it's stupid" Jack brushed her off.
"Didn't look like nothing" Sam considered, earning a threatening glare from Jack. "Eric will bring him back. We should just stay here so we don't get separated for real" he added.
"Come on, Ralph, please just come back with me" Eric begged the brunette boy who walked determinedly in the opposite direction of Jack and the others.
"I need time to myself right now, alright?" Ralph turned to the twin as he spoke.
"But what happened back there?" he asked curiously.
"Don't worry about it, okay? Everything's fine, I just need time to calm down. Don't I have that right?" Ralph insisted, much calmer than he'd been a few minutes ago.
"I guess so" Eric shrugged, not sure how he could disagree with that.
"Just give me half an hour. Please. I'm gonna go buy lunch and find a table by the ferris wheel. Come there after the time has allotted and I'll come back to the group, alright?" Ralph requested.
Eric nodded simply before he abandoned Ralph to return to the others.
Sam noticed his brother walking back in the distance, and ushered Jack and Emma up from the bench they were sitting on to go meet him.
"Where's Ralph?" Sam asked curiously.
"He needs his space, said to come find him after lunch" Eric shrugged. He noticed the bothered look on Jack's face as he spoke. "He said he'd come back, he promised" Eric added.
The four of them went on two more rides while Ralph gathered his thoughts elsewhere. It was getting close to time to get in line for Magma Mountain, Ralph realized, when he noticed the others coming toward him in the distance. Ralph finished up the chicken strips he'd bought as the twins, Jack, and Emma approached his table.
"Are you coming with us to Magma Mountain?" Eric asked as he stood at the front of the group.
"I said I would, didn't I?" Ralph reminded him.
"We only got four minutes to get in line" Sam informed them as he glanced at his watch. "We gotta go."
The reunited group of five ran through the park to get to Magma Mountain before 1237 hours. Luckily, they got there with a minute to spare, panting and breathing heavily like exhausted dogs under the hot summer sun. The twins had been right; the line wasn't very long this time of day.
"So someone's gonna have to ride alone again" Sam pointed out after they'd all caught their breath. "They're two person cars."
"Well we all know it ain't gonna be you, piss pants" Eric poked fun of his brother, receiving a well deserved but light slap across the head.
"I'll do it" Ralph decided.
"You sure? This one isn't for the faint of heart" Eric pointed out.
"What? You're scared now?" Sam turned quickly on his brother.
"No! I was just warning him, asshole!" Eric spat back.
"I'll be fine, go with your brother, Eric" Ralph continued to insist.
Sam and Eric's bickering made the wait in line feel to the rest of the group like it was much longer than it really had been. By the time they got to the front, they'd only been in line less than fifteen minutes.
Sam and Eric climbed into the first car in the line. Ralph got in behind them, leaving the aisle seat empty. Just as he was about to pull the restraint down, Jack jumped in beside him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ralph turned abruptly to Jack as the blond pulled the restraint buckle down over them.
"What does it look like? I'm riding with you" Jack said as if made perfect sense in his own head.
"You're supposed to ride with Emma" Ralph pointed out rather hotly.
"I want to ride with you" Jack countered as he could hear the restraint buckles being latched down and secured by the riders behind them.
"I don't need a partner, especially not you. I'm not scared" Ralph felt the need to inform Jack.
"Well, I am" Jack admitted, much to Ralph's surprise.
Ralph raised his eyebrows at Jack in disbelief. "You? Scared? Yeah, right. You wouldn't be scared if a hungry crocodile was hanging over this car."
"Is that what you think? I've never been on this thing before, smartass. I'm freaking out, alright? And I want to ride with you because I feel safe with you. Is that so hard to believe?" Jack's vulnerability was starting to show as Ralph considered that he might actually be somewhat serious.
Truth be told, it kind of was hard to believe. Jack Merridew didn't have a fearful bone in his body. Then Ralph remembered the monster on the island, and real or imagined, Jack had been scared out of his goddamn mind. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn't kidding this time either.
"I'm still mad at you" Ralph made clear as the ride operator started calling out the rules to everyone about to ride the rollercoaster.
"Too bad" Jack said as he reached over and grabbed onto Ralph's hand, squeezing it tightly as if Ralph were the only thing keeping him alive. As angry and reluctant as he was, Ralph couldn't help but close his fingers around Jack's hand, squeezing it with a little less force than Jack was in return.
"Enjoy the ride!" the ride operator called out to the riders as he flipped the switch, sending the line of rollercoaster cars on its way.