"Keep your head, arms, and legs inside the ride at all times. Eyes and mouth must remain closed until the ride comes to a complete stop." Gold said, blocking his nose to make his voice sound nasally.
"You're such a dork." I snorted.
"I try," He hummed, "but seriously though, keep your eyes and mouth closed. I know it's still a bit cold out, but do you really want to take any chances?" He pressed a button located somewhere behind his ear, a blue plastic shield slid out of his cowl and covered his face.
"Not at all." I answered.
"Do you have a preferable flying position?" Gold asked.
"A what?"
"Well, I assume you've flown before? With Orbit?" He asked.
I shook my head, "I didn't know he was Orbit, I only found out when he..." I trailed of.
"My condolences." Gold said sympathetically.
"So," I said, changing the subject, "flying positions?"
"Yeah, uh- well, there's really only three options, but there's multiple ways to hold on, like I could hold you or you could hold onto-"
"What's the three options?" I interrupted his rambling.
"Me." He finished, then took a deep breath, "back, belly, and bridal."
"Back, belly, and bridal?" I asked for clarification.
Gold blinked, "that's what I said..."
"Elaborate." I ordered.
"You can piggy my back, koala my stomach, or I can carry you bridal style." He explained.
"Piggy your back?" I inquired.
"You can piggy back on my back sounds weird." He clarified.
"So does piggy your back."
"Too late to take it back now," he shrugged.
"What's more comfortable for you?" I asked.
"What's more... Oh! You mean position?" I nodded, "well, I haven't really flown anyone anywhere so I'm not quite sure."
"Okay," I ignored the queasy feeling I got at the mention of me being his first passenger, "how do you fly?" He raised an eyebrow, "do you use your arms, legs, hand, or feet?"
"Um," Gold stepped forward and scooped me up, "like this. This is good."
I didn't realize we were off the ground until I looked down, and I didn't know until now, that I have a fear of heights. I yelped, squeezed my eyes shut and hugged him tighter, he stiffened and in turn, fell a few feet before regaining balance.
"Don't do that." He scolded.
"Sorry." I mumbled into his chest. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell he was glowing, it's warm, like the warmth being outside in the sun on a nice summer day, or like the heat from sitting in front of a camp fire.
The flight to my house was longer than I expected. Gold was flying slower than usual, either because it was his first time flying with someone, or because I was squeezing the power out of him. Anyhow, when we arrived at my bedroom window, I felt like kissing the floor.
"I can come in- right?" Gold asked, peering inside my bedroom, taking in the surroundings.
"Of course. Do you want anything to eat? Drink? Redux usually just helps himself." I rambled.
"Sterling?" Gold inquired, one leg through the window. I smacked my forehead.
"Forgot about that." I sighed.
"It's not like I'm going to tell anybody." He chuckled, walking around the perimeter of my room; my stomach growled, hungry from all of the training I got done with an empty stomach.
"Stay put." I ordered, pointing to the floor. I rushed off to scavenge the pantry for food.
When I got back to the room, I was carrying various types of junk food, chips, chocolate, candy, popcorn, and two jugs of soda. It's my secret stash considering Mom only buys organic, healthy, and disgusting food. Gold was looking at a picture on my desk, it was of Alden, Axel and I.
"It delights me to see you eat healthy." Gold mused when he saw the stack of food I held, keeping it steady with my chin.
"It's organic." I smiled, playing along."so expensive."
Gold snorted, "yeah, I bet." I looked at the time, 9:07pm.
"Movie?" I asked, dumping the food all over my bed; he nodded. The mattress dipped from where Golf sat down beside me, touching my shoulder with his. I placed the computer between us.
"Doritos?" I asked, offering the open bag to him, he reached a hand in and brought it to his mouth.
***
Halfway through watching some random, boring, film Gold picked, I noticed he began squirming a lot, tugging on the outside of his suit. His feet were dangling off my bed because he didn't want to get mud on my blanket. We were onto our second bag of chips, Dill Pickle, and Gold's blue gloves were stained orange from the Doritos.
I paused the movie, "Are you okay?" I asked when his face morphed into a frown.
"Yeah, it's just," Gold groaned and pulled at the fabric again, "I usually take it off once I get home. Like popular belief, it really is uncomfortable."
"I see." I thought for a moment, "what if I gave you something to wear? Sterling taught me how to make a mask with a shirt, which I'd think is much comfier than that." I pointed to his mask.
He paused, scratching his arm, to think. When his eyes darted to me,they narrowed, "no peeking?" He asked.
I smiled, "no peeking."
Gold is easily a head taller than me, but his height may be deceiving with whatever's in his super suit. I went to Alden's room because Axel's resting and Golds closer to his height anyway. The room is exactly how he left it, clothes scattered messily across the floor, bed unmade and various types of posters hung on the walls. Mom won't admit it, but she thinks he'll magically come back to life, hoping to pick up where he left off, everything exactly how he left it. She didn't witness his death. I didn't see the cord running from the Xbox to the controller on his bed, so I slipped and fell, face first, onto a pile of socks. Regaining composure, I tugged on his drawers, looking for something suitable for Gold.
I picked out a grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt for Gold to wear. I continued looking for a shirt for him to use as a mask, but I came across something better. One Halloween, when Axel and Alden considered themselves 'too old for trick-or-treating', It broke my heart. I didn't want to go alone, I didn't have much friends, and they were all going with other people I wasn't close to. When Alden saw just how sad I was, we went to the nearest store selling Halloween costumes, and he bought himself a blue and black mask, similar to his Orbit one. We went trick-or-treating until our feet hurt, and when we were finished, Alden wasn't satisfied with the amount of candy we accumulated so we went on a trip to the superstore and bought more goodies than I could eat in years without feeling queasy. I ran the felt material between my fingers with one hand, and wiped a stray tear away with the other. I grabbed the clothes, including the mask, and left for my room.
When I opened the door, Gold sat, his mask laying at the foot of my bed, scratching his face. All I could do was gape. He has brown hair, short at the sides and a bit longer at the top where it was matted from his mask. His hands were slowly dropping from his face, stretching his skin down with them until it bounced back after they passed, I could now see his forehead, his eyes- he saw me standing in the doorway and shot up, glowing to the point he looked like a human shaped lamp, only his light was much more powerful; I had to shield my eyes.
"Here's your clothes-" I mumbled, blindly reaching out, hoping he'd see them. When I felt the weight of the material vanish, I turned around and closed the door behind me. I could faintly hear Gold mumble 'thanks' from the other side of the wall.
When the door opened again, Gold was leaning against the frame, no longer glowing. The sweat pants fit perfectly, but the shirt was a bit snug, it showed off his athletic build. His hair was sticking up in many directions, Gold ran a hand through it to tame the wild waves.
He smiled sheepishly, "how's you're eyes?" He asked. Without the voice modulator, Golds' voice sounded light and fun, more like someone close to my age than a robot without a soul.
"Don't worry," I walked past him to get back on my bed, "I'm not blind."
"That's good." He sighed, "it's kind of a defense mechanism I guess, the first time it happened was when my mom came into my room and I was in in the process of taking the suit off. She didn't know I'm me. Still doesn't, actually. I think I managed to convince her Golden Sparkler saved me and was just bringing me home. She's skeptical though, she's always making remarks on how careful Golden Sparkler has to be whenever I'm on the television."
"How do you stop it from happening in public?" I asked.
"I'm never in my suit without the mask in public..." He trailed off.
"What about when you're feeling embarrassed... or emotional?" I asked.
He started to glow, "you've noticed that?" I laughed and nodded, "I tend to keep myself away from embarrassing situations, and if I'm feeling overemotional, I just stay home from school." He explained.
"High school or College?" I asked.
"Last year of high school."
"Why is every superhero I meet so young? Alden was beginning college, and Sterling is in my class. Isn't there older people with superpowers who can save people too?" I sighed.
"Ashlyn," his eyes darted to mine, "almost everyone matures, wants to be married, have kids. Superheros retire, they hang up the spandex to get a job in the real world where they actually get paid so they can fend for their family. Yes, there are a few superheros out there over the age of thirty, but they're only remaining superheros either because they're rich, or they never grew up. Or, you know, because they're villains and they can get rich from robbing people."
"Huh. I never thought of that." Although I'm the shyer type of person, I'm never afraid to look someone in the eye when they're speaking to me. For as long as I can remember, eyes have been my favorite feature on anyone's face. From brown eyes so dark they blend in with the pupils, to eyes so bright they resemble the greenest fields to the bluest sky's on any given day. My obsession for beautiful eyes usually result in the person giving me strange looks for staring at them.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked when silence filled the room for no more than three minutes.
"Eyes." I answered truthfully while I looked into his.
"Really?" He mused, leaning his head on his hand, "and what do you think about mine?" he opened his eyes so wide, I could see little red lines at the very edges; I laughed at how high he could shoot his eyebrows up, close to his hairline.
"Don't laugh at me." I ordered before taking in a deep breath, as if I was about to deliver some grande speech to millions of people, "you're eyes are the color of diamonds in between an outer ring of sapphire and, right beside the pupil, a band of amber." I squinted my eyes, "I think there's specks of topaz in there too."
He let out a low whistle, "do you always use gems to describe eyes?"
I shrugged, "I think eyes are the gems of any face."
"Deep." he placed a hand in front of his mouth, trying to hide a laugh that was bound to come out.
"You're laughing at me." I frowned, "I knew I shouldn't have told you that." I placed my hands over my eyes and groaned, "now you probably think I'm some sort of," I paused to think of an appropriate word.
"Some sort of girl who describes eyes in a very unique way I've never thought of?" He offered.
I sighed, my arms fell to my sides. "Sure."
Gold cleared his throat, "your eyes are the color of grayish blue with little flecks of brown, an outer ring of dark grey and a band of yellowish-brown right beside the pupil." He spoke with a deep voice.
"Now you're just mocking me." I scoffed.
"I swear I'm not!" He laughed.
"Okay, sure." I said sarcastically, "What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"Gems." He wiggled his eyebrows, "your go."
"Redux." I sighed.
"Sterling?" Gold asked.
"No," I pointed to the fur ball that appeared out of nowhere and was now sitting at the foot of my bed, "the cat. Alden- Orbit- named him." I added when confusion settled over Gold's face.
"Ah, I see." he mumbled, "Telephone pole tree farms."
"What?" I snorted.
"Once, on the way to school, my mom and I were in the car. We counted how much poles we past, which was a lot. I asked how they made them out of mere curiosity, and she told me, fully confident, that they grow them in telephone pole tree farms." He laughed, " Then we got into a crash. I was in a coma for a few months." He sighed. "When I woke up, I was glowing."
"Was your mom okay?" I asked.
"No, she died." He frowned.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
His smile reappeared, "Just kidding, the truck hit my side of the car, so she was almost unharmed, just a few bruises and a broken leg from what I was told."
I smacked him, "you're such an ass!"
"I was just trying to be funny!" He defended himself.
"You have a sick sense of humour." I laughed.
"You're laughing, aren't you?" He said, nudging my shoulder.
"Only because I pity you and don't want you to feel pathetic." I patted his shoulder.
"Ouch," he placed a hand on his heart, "you're just as bad as Sterling."
I smiled, "I try."