-Chapter Nineteen-
“Jake where in the world are we?” I questioned as Jake’s motorcycle came to a halt.
“You have to wait and see!” he replied.
Okay so first, we stopped at Walmart. Why, you ask? Because Jake “needed” to buy a blindfold. Why did he need to be a blindfold, you ask? Because he “needed” to surprise me.
So now, we were at this mystery destination of his. I could feel Jake get off of the bike. He lifted the helmet that was placed on my head off, and helped me get off.
“You ready?”
“Yes, I have been waiting for like forty minutes.”
His hands went to work at the knot that he had tied tightly in the blindfold. Once it was removed, I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the sudden change of lighting.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park,” Jake replied, grinning from ear to ear. “They have some water rides too. Wanna ride those?”
“Jake. Why would you expect me to get on a water ride when I don’t even have my bathing suit?”
“Alex. You’re wearing one right now.”
I glanced down the cover up that I wore over my bikini. Oh! Yeah, that’s right I did have one!
“Oh, yeah,” I muttered, looking down at the ground. My cheeks tinged pink. “So why a theme park?”
“Why not?” he replied. “ Come on, it’ll be fun.”
After renting a locker to hold our belongings, or dead weight as Jake puts it, we roamed around the large amusement park. Jake held a map of the park, taking place as the navigator.
“Oh, how ‘bout this one?” Jake asked.
I looked at where his finger was pointing to. It rested next to cartoon looking roller coaster. The ride was called ‘The Xcelerator’. “Hum. Sure, why not?” I smiled. That ride looked pretty fun.
“You’re not going to be scared, right?”
“No, why would I be?”
“I don’t know, it looks pretty intimidating. . .” he trailed off.
“You think I can’t ride that because I’m a girl, don’t you?”
“Definitely not.”
“Okay, well I bet you twenty bucks I could ride that while keeping a straight face.”
He smirked down at me. “Okay, fine by me. But I’m going to win.”
I walked to the ride with Jake in tow. I can so do this. I will prove Jake wrong, and get twenty dollars!
The ride was bright orange and turquoise. I’m not kidding when I said it looked fun. The thing was massive! It was built for me. I decided to ride in the front row. The scarier the better, right?
When it was our turn to ride, I smiled back at Jake and winked — something that I’d never do on a regular basis.
A young couple, maybe somewhere in their late twenties, sat in the two vacant seats next to us.
“Hello, I’m Melody,” the woman greeted us with a bright smile. She was sitting to my left, while Jake sat to my right. Melody and I had the two inner seats. Lucky us.
“Hi, I’m Alex. This is Jake,” I replied, also smiling.
“Hey, Chase, remember when we were young like them?” she asked, turning to the man who I’m assuming is her husband.
“Yeah, I remember,” Chase said.
“You two are the cutest couple!” Melody exclaimed as she beamed brightly.
My eyes widened a fraction. “We—”
“Are you guys ready?” A male’s voice asked from above us, cutting me off. He stood about six feet tall. He was very gaunt. A puffy mustache sat above his upper hip, and his shiny bald head looked like it had been waxed. The man was quite awkward looking.
“Yeah, let’s get this show on the road!” Jake said, fist-pumping. He leant in closer and whispered something in my ear, his breath fanning my neck. “Remember the bet, Alex.”
As soon as he pulled back, he secured himself. I followed suit as the butterflies built up in my stomach.
“Are you all ready?” A voice boomed through the speakers. All the riders yelled a “yeah” in reply. The butterflies had children. Then those children had children. “In five, four, thr—”
The ride zoomed forward, not letting the bald man finish. We literally went straight up. Not at an angle, oh no, I mean straight up.
As soon as the ride reached the peak, I heard a loud scream. I know it wasn’t Melody. . . It was Chase? I nearly burst into laughter, but then I remembered the bet. I have to keep a straight face! How can I when there is a twenty something year old guy sitting there, screaming like a five year old girl?
Melody was laughing at her husband, enjoying the ride.
Technically, Jake and I couldn’t laugh — or even smile, for that matter — because neither of us wanted to cave first.
Don’t cave, Alex, you’ve got this.
Then we plummeted straight down. Chase’s screaming got more intense. This was so fun! The air hit my face as we went down quickly. All of the fun ended when the ride came to a halt and went slowly to back to the other people who were eagerly waiting in line to ride.
“You know what sucks?” Jake asked as we stood up from the tight fitting seats.
“What?”
“That neither of us caved once during the whole ride.”
“I told you I wouldn’t cave.” I smiled to myself. None of us won, but at least I didn’t lose. We walked to a booth where you could buy the pictures from the ride.
“You don’t want to know how bad I wanted to laugh at that Chase guy.” Jake nodded towards the direction where Chase was barfing over the railing. Gross. . . Melody was standing next to him giggling and patting his back.
“Oh, that’s nasty.”
“Agreed.”
We walked over to a stand that had multiple monitors that had pictures of people screaming. I’ve always hated those hidden cameras. . .
I burst out into laughter when I saw Jake’s picture.
He looked at me, obviously confused. “Why are you laughing?”
I pointed to his picture that was showing on one of the monitors. “You look. . .” I sucked in a large breath through my nostrils. I couldn’t breathe. I’m sure my face was beet red from laughing so hard. “Constipated.”
He looked up at the monitors and started laughing too. “Have you seen your own face?” he breathed.
I looked up to see my own face next to his. As soon as I caught my breath, I started laughing again. I looked even funnier than he did!
“I look like I’m about to explode!” I said in between guffaws.
“Whoa, that’s a shocker. . .”
I quickly composed myself. “Why is that ‘a shocker’?” I questioned doing air-quotes.
“Because most of the girls that I know would never laugh at their own face. Especially if well, they looked like that,” he explained, nodding in the direction of my monitor.
“Well, I’m not like other girls.” I smirked at him and held out my hand. “Let me see the map.”
He took the neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. After unfolding the map, I scanned over it. Hm, where to go. . .
“Oh, Jake! How about this one!” A ride called the ‘Supreme Scream’ looked kind of fun!
“Sure, come on. It’s right over. . .” he scanned the large, crowded area. “There.”
“First one to cave?” I asked him as I raised my eyebrows.
“Of course.”
* * *
Seven rides later, neither of us caved. There was no use anymore! I thought I could actually win this, too! Jake’s tougher than I thought.
“So, do you want to call it a draw?” Jake asked.
I hesitated before replying. I hated losing. Technically, we were both winning, I guess, but I’m competitive! I nodded, seeing as there was no use in refusing. “Fine.”
“Okay.” He held out his hand, which I took in my own and shook it firmly. He gave me his million dollar smile. “It’s a draw, then.”
It’s been roughly three hours since we first got here. My feet ached from standing in lines for so long, and my back was beginning to hurt too. I was also slightly soaked from the last two rides. Ah, who doesn’t love water rides?
“So what now?” I questioned. I wanted to leave. I wanted to sit down in The Awesome Room and watch TV for hours. I wanted to relax in the hot tub! Anything that doesn’t include walking.
“You ready to go back home?”
“Yes!” I said quickly. Maybe a little bit too quickly. What if it sounded as if I didn’t want to spend more time with him?
“I mean, I want to go home because my feet and my back hurt. I'm also tired, but not that much. It’s not because I don’t want to hang out with you. Of course I want to hang out with you! Like, who wouldn’t?” I closed my eyes and regretted saying the last part.
Ugh, I always screw things up! And I was babbling!
Jake looked at me in amusement. “Okay, thanks for that long speech, Alex. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
I smiled weakly, and fell into step with him as we made our way to the lockers. We reclaimed our stuff and walked towards the exit.
Well, this was a fun day. I pulled my phone out of my bag and checked the time. It was six thirty-nine. I took the red helmet that was on the handlebars of Jake’s motorcycle, and put it on, the familiar lemony scent filling my nostrils.
Once we were both on, I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly. I’m starting to love the fact that Jake has a motorcycle. I think you already know why.
We pulled into the driveway of the large house, rounding the marble fountain. I stepped off of the bike and handed the helmet back to Jake. He took it and placed it on the back seat before getting off the bike too.
I thought this was the cliché part when the handsome bad boy drops off the good girl and rides off into the sunset on his motorcycle . . . ? Why is Jake getting off of his bike?
“I want to go see Vicky. That, and I need to pick up my little sister,” he said, answering my silent question.
“Why is your sister here?”
“Her, Avery, and the other little girl, Michelle, are all best friends.”
Oh! You see, now that makes sense. “Oh,” I said simply. I walked towards Vicky’s house with Jake in tow. I retrieved the spare key from under a rock that sat in the mulch. I unlocked the front door, and was immediately warm.
I took off my shoes and put them next to the fancy looking coat rack. “Vicky, Mom, Danielle! We’re home!”
Danielle walked through a hall that led into the main entrance, Nutella jar in hand. “What do you mean by ‘we’re’?” She looked up from her jar and saw Jake standing behind me. Then she did the thing that I never thought I’d see her do during my entire life time. . . She let the jar of Nutella slip from her grip.
My eyes went wide as everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The jar fell to the ground slowly and landed with thud, most of the contents spilling out.
Danielle’s eyes went wide too, but obviously not for the same reason as mine did. Her eyes widened because of Jake’s sudden appearance.
I turned around to see Jake. He looked so confused right now.
“What was that all about?” he asked. “The whole dramatic scene, I mean.”
Danielle looked down at the jar and her eyes went even wider than before. “Mr. Nutty!” Yes, she calls her Nutella ‘Mr. Nutty’. You probably think she’s just a tad bit crazy now, right? “How did this happen?”
“You kind of dropped,” Jake chuckled then continued, “Mr. Nutty.”
“How dare you laugh? This is a serious matter! Grow up!” Danielle walked away towards the kitchen — probably to get paper towels — muttering incoherent sentences.
“Hum,” I started. “Sorry about that. She can be a bit. . . What’s the word? Ah, yes. She can be a bit odd sometimes.”
“I’ve noticed.” Jake let out another soft, short chuckle before walking towards the family room. I followed him in the large area. The three little girls were playing with Barbie dolls in front of the largest sofa. “Olivia, and Michelle, come on. We need to get you all home.”
“Okay, Boo-Bear, hold on,” Olivia said. She turned to Avery. “Bye, Ave!”
The three were all saying their goodbyes when I noticed something. I turned around to Jake. “Uhm, Jake?”
“Yes, Alex?”
“How are you going to take two seven year-olds home on a motorcycle?” I questioned.
“I’d never do that! I’m dropping them off at Mason’s house.”
“Who’s. . .? Never mind, I know. And I hope you know that you’ll still have to drive them there on your bike. . .”
“Not if Mason lives two houses down,” he replied, smirking at me.
“Oh. . .Well, thank you, Jake for making me feel like an idiot.”
“Anytime, Alex.” He then winked at me. His wink is so much better when it’s not through text messaging. . . “Come on, girls, let’s go.”
Olivia and Michelle got up and walked back to the front door.
Jake also walked to the door, but stopped when Vicky’s voice called out his name. “Jake! There you are! I haven’t seen you in so long!” He towered over Vicky’s short figure.
“Vicky, five days,” Jake told her.
“Five days, a year, same difference.” Vicky smiled at Jake, and pulled him into one of her famous bone crushing hugs. How she was so strong still remains a mystery.
“Can’t breathe, Vic.”
“Sorry, Hon.”
Jake let out a short laugh. “Okay, well, thanks for watching the girls.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” she replied, pinching his cheeks. “You’re just too darn adorable!”
His cheeks tinged pink as he slightly blushed. Aw, now he really does looks like a puppy! I almost laughed out loud at that.
Vicky sauntered back down the hallway, leaving me and Jake alone.
“So, Alex,” he started. “We definitely need to do this again sometime, yeah?”
I smiled at him. The front door was open, and he leaned on the inside of the doorframe. A slight breeze plus the sun setting in the background just made him look perfect. How does he always end up looking so good!?
“Of course, Boo-Bear.”
ELLO! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter xD Thanks for all the reads, votes, and comments! Almost at 15,000 reads now :D First person to comment gets a dedication!
~Storylover11~