Cali's POV
When his mom told me to leave, the first thing I did was look at him. Waiting... waiting for him to do something... anything about it. But why? Why had I expected him to say something? And when he didn't, why on earth was I disappointed? Did I want him to speak up? To defend me? To tell me to stay by his side? To not listen to his mother? I must be crazy. Something must be wrong with me. The fact that I was thinking, even considering, being in a relationship with someone like Christian was something that I had no right to do.
I slapped myself on my forehead to wake myself up from this insane fantasy and continued walking down the sidewalk.
"Wilson!"
I stopped, frozen in place. There was only one person I knew who called me like that. Could it possibly be him? I tried to hold in my curiosity, but I just couldn't. The urge to know was just too strong. I had to take a look and see if my guess was right. I slowly spun around and I felt a spark of hope when I saw that it was indeed him. He was jogging towards me. He was coming back for me. No, he wasn't. Yes, he was. NO. YES. The conflict of emotions inside me made me so confused. What should I do? Wait for him or turn back around and go? Oh whatever let's just keep walking Cali. If he really did come back for you, he'll stop you from walking any further. Yeah.. yeah good plan.
Not long after following my plan to keep walking, the sound of footsteps got louder and closer. Christian caught up to me. He ran past of me and stopped right in front of me, blocking my path.
"Why didn't you stop when I called you?" he asked. "I know you heard me. I even saw you turn around."
"Oh! Was that you? I thought you were calling someone else. Last time I checked, my first name was Cali, not Wilson."
"Cali."
"Yes?" I said innocently.
"Where are you going?" he asked. "You don't have anywhere to go."
"That's my problem, not yours."
"No. It is my problem because it looks to me like someone doesn't want to take responsibility for losing a bet."
"I didn't lose the bet."
"Oh yes, you did. The moment you stepped out of my apartment, you signed yourself up as the loser."
"But-" I opened my mouth to argue when he stopped me.
"No buts. Accept the reality that you, Cali, lost and that now you have to spend the rest of the day with me."
Before I could even argue with him, he grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me back toward his apartment complex.
"Are we going back to your apartment?" I asked nervously as he dragged me forward.
I sighed in relief when he shook his head. "Nope."
"Then where are you bringing me?"
He looked at me and flashed a mysterious smile. "It's a surprise." Wait, did he just smile? Wow, I can't believe this. This was so unusual, he never smiled. Well, I've never seen it before and now that I've seen it, I can see how nice it was. His teeth were white and straight. He had dimples on each cheek. If only he wasn't so rude and arrogant. I would've fallen in love with that smile.
We reached his black Porsche and he opened the passenger seat door then gestured for me to go in. He shut the door behind me and brought my suitcase over to the back of the car to put it in the trunk. Once that was done, I thought he was going to go in the car himself, but instead, he ran off.
"Hey!" I yelled behind the glass. Where was the heck he going?
A couple minutes later, he returned a brown paper bag in hand. He got in the driver seat and tossed it at me. "Here, it's yours."
"For me?" I stuck my hand inside and pulled out a pair of gray sweatpants. "Huh?"
"Put them on," he ordered.
"Why?"
"Have you seen what you're wearing?" he asked.
I looked down at myself and cringed when I saw that I was still in his t-shirt. Wearing nothing but his stupid t-shirt. Man, did I really walk around on the streets like this? God that's so embarrassing. I lightly banged my head against the glass. Thump, thump, thump.
"Hurry up," he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in impatience.
"Wait wait wait. Are these yours?" I squinted at him suspiciously. I was already wearing his t-shirt and look what happened with his parents. I would rather die than wear something of his again.
"Nope, they're yours."
"You looked through my closet??" A flush of embarrassment hit me again. What could he have seen as he looked for those sweatpants.... I didn't even want to think about it.
"Of course not," he denied. "I'm not a pervert. I found them lying on the floor in your room."
I must've forgotten to pack that up when I was rushing. I let out a sigh of relief and obediently slipped my sweatpants on. "Alright, they're on, you can start driving to wherever we're going."
Instead of starting the engine like I expected him to do, he leaned toward me. We were so close that I could smell his aftershave.
"W-what are you doing?" I stuttered.
He didn't answer and leaned even closer. What was he doing? Was he.. was he going to kiss me? My heart skipped a beat at the thought. I found myself closing my eyes, waiting for what I thought was going to happen.
"Is there something wrong with your eyes?" he asked suddenly.
My eyes fluttered open and I saw him staring at me as if there was something wrong with me.
"Noth-nothing. I- I just thought something uh... went into my eyes that's all," I struggled to think up of an excuse.
"Sure there was," he grinned.
"There really was!" I insisted.
"Sure.. sure." He started the engine and a smile stayed on his face. My eyes kept wandering over to those dimples... oh darn those dimples.
"Sooo... where are we going?" I asked to change the subject. The desire to know was killing me. I just had to know.
"I told you already, it's a surprise, which means that you're not supposed to know."
"Fine," I grumbled.
***
The moment I heard the loud screams and music coming from the distance, I knew exactly where he was bringing me- a carnival. This was not what I expected at all. He didn't seem like a person who would be okay in a crowded place.
"Are we at the right place?"
"Why wouldn't we be?"
"You just don't seem like someone who would go to a place like this."
"Oh so just because I'm rich and I'm a CEO, I can't go to a carnival??" he asked, volume increasing.
"No no no... I never said that. Don't put words in my mouth jeez. Forget that I said anything." I looked out the window and my mouth opened in awe at the carnival. There was a lot of people. A Ferris wheel was a must for carnivals. Other rides were there too, like roller coasters. Food and game booths too.
I was afraid that we wouldn't find an empty parking space, but thankfully we did. I got out of the car happily and waited for him to get out. When he finally did, we went in together and explored the activities available.
***
"Let's go on that one," he suggested, pointing in the direction of the screams.
I looked up and my eyes widened in horror. It was the perfect nightmare. High up in the air with 3 loops, going at an unbelievable speed. My heartbeat quickened just looking at it.
"No way in hell am I going on that death trap," I shook my head and started to walk away.
"Cali!" He ran after me. "Stop!"
I could've gotten away if only I ran. For some strange reason, I wanted him to catch up to me. He pulled me back by grabbing onto the collar of the t-shirt, nearly choking me.
"Slow down, tiger," he smirked. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Not on that roller coaster that's what."
"Nuh uh, I wanna go on," he whined. He reminded me of a little kid.
"I said no already."
"Please."
"No."
"Pretty please," he pleaded.
"No."
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
"I hate cherries so no."
"Come on Cali, it looks like a lot of fun," he persuaded. "Look at all those happy people on the ride and those that are lining up. It must be tons of fun."
"No," I said for the thousandth time. There was no way I was going on that thing. What I hated more than having a debt was going on roller coasters. I used to be okay with them, but then I watched Final Destination 3. I didn't even watch the whole thing, only a half an hour of it and I was so done with roller coasters. Swore that I was never going to go on them ever again.
"You scared? Is Cali Wilson scared? " he provoked. "I didn't know you were such a wimp."
I really wanted to say yes I was scared, but I didn't want him to know. He was the last person on Earth that should know about my fear of roller coasters.
"No, I'm not," I lied.
"Cali's a wimp. Cali's a wimp..." he teased repeatedly.
"Fine! Fine, I'll go on it. Just this once," I groaned in defeat. I was not going to let him call me a wimp for the rest of my life just because of a stupid moving death trap.
He pulled me towards the end of the line and we stood there for almost an hour until it was our turn.
When it was finally our turn, I reluctantly took a seat beside Christian and prayed that nothing would happen. My palms were sweaty and my teeth chattered in fear. I've never been so afraid before. Sensing my nervousness, Christian held onto my hand and looked at me assuringly.
"It'll be okay Cali," he assured.
"No, it won't," I pouted. "We're gonna die like in Final Destination."
His eyebrows went up in confusion before he seemed to understand. "Oh, so you're afraid to go on because you watched that stupid movie?"
I nodded.
"It's all fake. Don't worry, I'll be here."
The worker pulled down the handles that went over our heads and around our waists. "Go!" he told another worker controlling the buttons.
I felt the roller coaster cart begin to move. Slowly we went forward. And then we started to go upward. Higher and higher. I knew what was going to happen next. We were going to fall downwards. I felt Christian's hands tightened around mine. I looked over and he smiled at me reassuringly. It distracted me for a couple seconds, taking my attention away so I didn't realize that we were at the climax point. The falling point. The cart tipped downward and we fell. My heart felt like it was about to fall out of my chest. I closed my eyes and screamed as if my life depended on it. I could hear other people's screams along with mine, Christian's too. I tightened my grip on both the handle and his hand, never letting it go once during the entire ride.
When we returned to the loading zone, I've never felt happier. I, Cali Wilson, survived the death trap. Christian got up and waited for me to do the same.
"Come on Cali, people are waiting to ride it."
"Mhm." I slowly got up and carefully stepped out. My legs felt weak and I lost my balance. I would've fallen if he didn't catch me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and led me out.
"Are you okay?"
"I just need some fresh air."
He guided me toward an unoccupied bench and I gratefully sat down. Christian gave me some time to calm down and when I was finally calm, we spent the rest of the day playing carnival games, avoiding all roller coasters for my sake.
We played bumper cars, skeeball, and much more. Although he may not look like it, he was very good at those kind of games. There was one where you threw darts at a star in the center. On his first try, he aimed the dart at the star in the middle and actually made it. He won a giant brown teddy bear and gave it to me.
"Here, you can have it," he held out the stuffed animal to me and I accepted it with open arms, hugging it tightly.
"Thanks," I grinned. This was the first time a guy gave me something. Well, it was the first time going on a date with a guy too. I've been too busy working to date.
"No problem. I could win more for you if you'd like."
"It's okay, let's grab something to eat. I'm starving."
We had been so focused on playing that we didn't even notice that the sun had set until now. We headed over to a hot dog stand that he spotted a couple feet away when a crowd of tourists suddenly appeared, pushing us apart, separating us.
"Cali!" I heard him call out to me from somewhere, but I could not locate which direction. I began to wander around, looking for someone with his tall build that wore a gray cardigan and jeans. After wandering for a while I found that I was lost. I couldn't even call him because I didn't have his number. He didn't have mine either. Urgh, what should I do?
I was about to panic when I saw him. Standing about a foot away, staring back at me. He looked relieved to see me and honestly I felt the same. He ran toward me and hugged me.
"Cali, thank God you're okay. I was so scared that something happened to you," he said, still not releasing me from his embrace.
"I'm glad to see you too, buddy," I said lightheartedly to lighten up the mood.
I thought he would get angry at me for joking around at a time like this, but he grinned. "Give me your phone." He held his hand out, waiting for me to hand it over.
I didn't ask why and took it out of my pocket and gave it to him.
"What's your pattern?" he asked.
I took it back and unlocked it before giving it back to him. A couple of seconds later he handed it back to me. "How do you add a contact on here?" I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Could you believe the CEO of Wright Corporations didn't know how to use a MyTouch?
"Stop laughing. It's your fault for having such an old phone," he blamed.
"Oh, so it's my fault now."
"No it's your phone's fault," he corrected.
I burst into laughter again. "Sure... sure." This reminded me of when he said that to me in the car when I thought he was going to kiss me.
"Teach me."
I went over to him and showed him how to do it. We had to be pretty close to each other for me to be able to teach him. His shoulder was touching mine, that was how close we were. Our close proximity made me slightly nervous. I was not used to being this close to guys. I could feel his stares on me as I taught him, step by step. When I was done, he was shaking his head at the simplicity of it.
"Let's go eat," I said while rubbing my stomach hungrily.
He nodded in agreement and held onto my hand before walking over to the hot dog stand.
"Why are you holding my hand?
"I don't want to lose you again," he said simply.
I was about to say something back to him when the delicious smell of hot dogs caught my attention. Ahhhh.. the smell... My stomach grumbled in agreement.
We lined up and each got a hot dog with chips and soda. We found an unoccupied table and placed our food down before taking a seat. I took a bite of the hot dog, savoring the sweetness of the ketchup and the saltiness of the hot dog. They went well together. I devoured them in a couple of bites. I had to wait for him to finish his hot dog and he took forever. He sure was a slow eater.
"Let's get some ice cream!" I chirped and bounced up to my feet.
"I'm not into ice cream, it's too sweet." He shook his head.
I gasped. "How can you not like ice cream?"
"I just don't," he shrugged.
"Fine, I'll go get some myself." I started to walk over to the ice cream stand when he held me back.
"I'll go with you."
When we came back, we saw that the table we were using earlier now had people using it. With no other empty tables to go to, we had no other choice but to stand.
I licked my already melting vanilla ice cream cone cheerfully, not allowing the fact that we had nowhere to sit to bring me down.
When I felt a pair of eyes on me, I looked up from my cone and saw Christian staring at me. Was he regretting not getting a cone for himself? Ha! Sucks for him if he was. I wasn't going to share mine with him.
"What?"
He walked closer to me and stopped when there was merely an inch of space between us. I started to back up when he stopped me by holding onto my waist. "You got some ice cream on your face," he said.
"Where?"
Rather than telling me where on my face, he stared at my lips and began to lean forward. He tilted his head to the left, his right hand was on the side of my cheek and his other hand was on my back, pulling me closer to him. His lips found its way to mine. They were warm and soft. My eyes enlarged and I stared at him in shock. My ice cream cone slipped from my hand and I heard it splat on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of fireworks abruptly filled the air. It felt so unreal, like a dream. The prince was kissing a pauper.
A/N: Sorry if the kiss scene was not detailed enough! It's my first time writing them so I'm not good at it. :)