Sophia and I watched Justin throw up for the third time in the trash can a few feet away in disgust.
Considering Soph had made us ride almost every roller coaster, it was no surprise that everything he'd ate had come right back up the second he were back on the ground. A small part of me knew I should be standing beside him and making sure he was okay, but my disgust pushed that thought out of my head and replaced it with giving him a worried glance from afar.
"Let's take a selfie!" Sophia said suddenly, pulling her phone from her pocket. I fixed the Minnie Mouse ears on my head and leaned against my best friend, making a silly face with her before we both fell into a fit of giggles.
"Glad you find my sickness funny." Justin muttered as he came up behind us, flipping Sophia's camera off when she tried to take a picture.
"Oh My God, the Jungle Cruise is over there!" Sophia squealed, whirling around to squeeze my shoulders, "Do you remember the our third grade accident on that ride?" Justin rubbed his palms against his jeans, an amused look starting to move through his eyes.
"Accident?" he asked.
"We promised to never-" I started, whirling around to give my best friend a pointed look, but she had already started to go on.
"Okay, so your pretty little girlfriend here was completely in love with this fifth grader, Bryan or Brent, or something like that. Our parents had saved enough money to bring us here and the first ride we went on was the Jungle Cruise. Hannah saw Mr. B and waved, giggled, then somehow managed to fall over the side of the boat and into the water. She screamed, because at the time we thought the animals on the attraction were real." Justin was already laughing his ass off halfway through the story. I crossed my arms over my chest, turning my back on my friends and heading for the line.
"Sorry, babe. It's just. . . I can totally just picture you doing that." Justin kissed my temple, wrapping his arm around me as he joined Soph and I in line.
"I wonder where in the park Mase and Hailey are." Sophia commented, staring down at her phone. I shrugged, laying my head against her shoulder as I pushed the phone down and away from her face.
"We'll be meeting up to watch the fireworks, Soph." was all I said.
After about an hour of waiting in line, we were finally able to climb on board the boat that somehow seemed so much smaller than it had been the last time I'd been here.
"How did we ever think they were real?" Sophia questioned, watching as we passed an elephant. I had to hand it to whoever built the things, they did look pretty realistic.
"Mommy! Mommy look!" A girl's voice broke through my thoughts. I turned to find a little girl with dark pigtails tugging at her Mom's hand. Her mother was more interested in her phone than the little girl pointing at the animatronic animals around us.
"They're so cool, huh?" I asked her, crouching down so I was at eye level with her. She nodded, pulling away from her mom and standing beside me with a toothy grin. One of her front teeth were missing.
"Yeah! I want to wide an elphant when I get bigger." She explained, mispronouncing most of the words. I smiled, nodding as I pointed at the Giraffe's we were passing.
"I want to be a Veterinarian." I responded. She frowned, her brown eye narrowing.
"Is that someone who doesn't eat meat?" She questioned, earning a quiet laugh out of me.
"No, that's a vegetarian or a vegan. A Vet is someone who helps save animals like that big giraffe if he hurt himself." I explained as best as I could. She started hopping up and down again, giggling.
"I want to be one of those too! I want to save animals!" She turned around and tried to get her mother's attention again. I turned to find Sophia and Justin watching me, Justin's Canon in his hands, as if he were ready to start taking pictures again.
"She was a cutie." Sophia laughed.
"You're good with kids." Justin returned my smile as he stood up, making his way toward me.
"Her mom was ignoring her." I shrugged, "And she looked like she wanted to talk to someone." his smile widened as he nodded.
Before he could go on, a few gasps and screams broke out behind us. I spun around to find the mother of the little girl as well as a few other people leaning over the edge of the boat. The guide was heading over to the crowd himself. I launched myself forward and pushed a few people away, my eyes widening when I saw the little girl splashing in the water below us.
I knew from experience it wasn't that deep, but for a six year old that probably couldn't swim, it was quite possibly the most traumatic and scary thing she'd ever experience.
I threw my phone and ears off before throwing myself over the edge of the boat and into the water.
"Hey, sweetie. Calm down. It's okay." I whispered once I had her in my arms. She was still crying, but her screams had died out. I hoisted her onto my hip and brushed my hand gently against her throat to make sure she hadn't swallowed any of the water.
"Can you breathe?" I forced her to look at me, "I need you to breathe for me, sweetie." She was still hyperventilating, her hands gripping the hem of my shirt tightly.
"What's your name?" I tried to calm her down, touching my hand to her cheek.
"Ally." She barely got out.
"Okay, Ally. I'm going to need you to be a big big girl right now, okay? I'm going to need you to take a deep breath and then let it out." she gave me a terrified look, tears still mixing with the water already staining her cheeks.
"Good, good." I started to shift her on my hip. "Now I'm going to need you to wrap your arms around my neck tightly so I can swim back to the boat. Can you do that for me?" she nodded, moving her body so she was on my back. I smiled and started to swim back toward the boat once I felt her hands lock around my neck. Once I reached the boat, the guide held his arms out for her. I handed her off to him, waiting until she was safe back on board before I tried to get onto the boat myself. I slipped the first time, but the second I felt someone grab my forearm. I gave my boyfriend and thankful look as he pulled me the rest of the way up.
The second I was standing beside him, he wrapped his jacket around me and rubbed my shoulders.
"You're so brave." he kissed my cheek, "So selfless." I turned my attention back toward the woman and her daughter, Ally. They were rushing toward me, Ally holding on to her mom.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, darling. You saved my little girl. Thank you!" I nodded, letting her pull me into a tight hug that nearly suffocated me.
Once she pulled away, Justin and Sophia sat on either side of me and quickly broke into a new conversation on why Sophia would be the perfect person to own a horse.
*
"Bengal Barbecue." Sophia read the restaurant name aloud with a disgusted look, "But I don't eat meat."
"They have other stuff, Soph." Justin replied, tossing his arm over her shoulder as he guided her toward the direction of the other menu.
"You want to share some fresh fruit and yogurt?" Soph questioned after we took in the menu. I started nodding, blinking in surprise when I saw the strange look Justin was giving me.
"What?" I touched my cheeks, "Is something wrong with my face?"
"No. No, Han. I'm just surprised to see you eat fruit. I've seen you devour an entire cheeseburger." I laughed without emotion.
"And you still stuck with me. A true man here Ladies and Gentleman." I joked, lacing my fingers through his as Sophia skipped ahead to order for us.
"Okay, so these booths are way too small." I mumbled once we reached the dining area. My best friend rolled her eyes.
"Just sit on Justin's lap. I'm sure he'd love that." Justin feigned worry, throwing his hand over his chest.
"There are children present, Sophia!" She threw her head back and laughed, watching as I lowered myself onto Justin's lap and wrapped my arms loosely around his neck.
"No more roller coasters." he said quietly, pushing a strand of my blonde hair out of my eyes, "Please, God, no more roller coasters."
"Buzzkill." Soph muttered.
"She's right, Justin. You're a buzzkill." I teased, kissing his cheek softly.
"What you did earlier was really commendable, you know." He caressed my shoulder, "You're such a great person, Hannah."
"I second that!" Sophia piped up, then pointed her finger at us accusingly. "This is the reason we got you two a separate room. Neither of you know how to keep it in your pants in public."
"We haven't had sex." I pointed out, feeling warmth spread through my cheeks.
"I'd be the first to know if you did," Sophia responded with a nod, "and you really should. It's an amazing feeling. The intimacy-"
"Can we please stop talking about sex in a restaurant full of children?" I cut her off, burying my face against Justin's chest to prevent my best friend from seeing how bad I was blushing.
"Yeah, yeah." She waved me off, "Not that your Mom cared. She talked about sex constantly when we were kids."
"I wonder if that's what your dad became a Sex Ed teacher." Justin frowned, "Maybe because your mother was a nympho, you know, someone addicted to sex."
"Guys." I groaned. They both laughed, completely unaware of my burning cheeks. After a moment, I lifted my head and returned to the reality of their dirty conversation, knowing very well I wouldn't be able to stop them from talking about it.
*
"I'll be right back, guys." I ducked away from my friends as they searched the Gift Shop.
"Hello?"
"Hannah." I felt all energy drain out of me.
"Hi, Daddy." I replied, reaching up to push my hair out of my face.
"Hannah, baby girl. Are you having fun?" the drunken slur had my stomach in knots immediately.
"Yeah, Dad. We're having fun."
"I miss you." he went on.
"I miss you too, Dad." I kept my answers shot, hoping he'd take the hint and hang up.
"Rodge! Come on!" My head whipped up at the high pitched voice in the background. My dad had a woman over?
He missed us so fucking much that he thought it would be just fine and dandy to invite a woman over to have sex with?
"I gotta go, Han. I love-"
"Yeah. Love you too. Bye." I shoved my phone back into my purse. I met Justin and Sophia outside the Gift Shop. Soph wearing another pair of Minnie Ears and holding a Minnie Mouse bear against her chest.
"Hannah." Justin waved a cute little Winnie-The-Pooh bear in front of me, "Pooh is beary worried about you." I couldn't stop the giggle from escaping me as I took the bear and hugged it against me.
"That was the worst pun I have ever heard in my life." Sophia shook her head, "My goodness, Justin, you are so whipped." she nudged me a with an elbow, showing me the stuffed Minnie she had bought. I leaned into Justin, talking with my best friend as I forced all bad thoughts from my mind. This was supposed to be a fun trip, a great one with laughs and giggles, and all kinds of other things. I wasn't going to let anyone change that. Especially my father and his hypocrisy.
***AN***
Two updates in one day? What, now way!
Yep, guys, two updates. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, all you little Minions are stuck with me for the next few updates. I know that's disappointing and I'll miss Brianna just as much as you.
Let us know what you thought!
Hope you enjoyed!
~ChasingMadness24