"You need to drive slower, Chris. You scare me every time we come here," Mark tells me as he arrives to the finish line.
"I'm fine, Mark. Relax. And just for the record, I won again!" I tell him and give him a cheeky smile and he sighs and shakes his head but ends up laughing in the end.
"God, what am I gonna do with you," he says and I smile.
"You love me really," I joke sticking out my tongue as he looks at me when he hears me.
"Of course I do. And you love me too," he states sticking his tongue back. The guy gives a signal and Mark leaves quickly leaving me there as I was not prepared.
"YAH!" I scream and he laughs loudly. I press the accelerator and I drive fast as I try to catch up. "Cheater."
Knowing I won't catch up seeing as he had many seconds on me I just tried to finish the track quickly, enjoying the feelings again.
I soon reach the finish line and scowl at him as he watched me pull up.
"That was a cheap shot," I tell him. He shrugs.
"Not denying that. Let's go for one more round and then let's go," he suggests as he checks the time. I nod and watch the guy to give the signal.
"Let's actually try and enjoy this lap, yeah?" I ask and he gives an 'okay' sign with his hand. The guy gives the signal and we nod at each other pressing the accelerator. We go at a decent speed staying by each other. We glance each other every so often and smile at each other. I'm really going to miss him. But who am I to hold him back. I'll just visit him later on or something. People come and go in life right? If we were meant to see each other we will. If we aren't then we won't. Even if we try who knows what can hold us back or help us come together.
After thinking so much I finally realize we've reached the finish line. I sigh and unbuckle myself only to look up to a hand. I smile at the owner and take it hoisting myself up.
"Why thank you, kind sir," I joke.
He bows and replies, "My pleasure, m'lady."
We laugh and take off our helmets and head to the member to return them and gather our things.
"That was fun," I say holding his arm and wrapping my arm around it as I walk with him with an extra hop to my step.
"It was. And I can tell you're happy from your jumpiness," he tells me noticing it.
"Mhm! I am! But you know what else?" I look up at him.
"You're hungry," he states smiling, knowing me all too well.
"Mmmmmhmmmm. Come on, let's go quickly so we don't hit lunch rush or traffic." I let go of his arm and run towards the car waving bye to the guy in the front. He waves back awkwardly making me laugh before pulling the handle of the car only to find out it's still locked. I look up at Mark with pouted lips and raised eyebrows.
"Just wait, would you?" He says as he clicks the alarm. It unlocks and I open the door and hop in quickly putting on my seatbelt. I look at him through the windshield and see him laugh. I love seeing him smile and laugh. I mean isn't that normal? Right? Of course it is.
"You're slow, today," I complain as he opens his door.
"You're crazy, impatient and hyper, today," he lists off as he climbs in and starts the engine. He closes his door and puts on his seatbelt and backs out of the parking and heads toward the freeway back.
"I know. It's weird. I think it's cause it's today. Do you get me?" I ask him as he switches towards the fast lanes.
"Yeah, I get you. Let's not think about it. We still have six-ish hours left," he tells me as the mood became darker.
"Seems too short of a time to make our last moments," I say quietly.
"It's not our last moments. We will have more. Don't be so negative, Chris. It's not like one of us is dying. It's just a different country." He heard me. I guess he's right. But how will we know that the other isn't dying if we aren't minutes away from each other. "Believe in me, Chris. Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do," I answered without even questioning it. "It's just gonna be different after always being near you in some way for these past years."
"True. It'll be hard at first but we'll get use to it," he says trying to reassure me. I nod and keep quiet.
After about twenty minutes after we exited the freeway and are about to pull into an In-N-Out. He parks the car and we get out the car as he locks it. We walk side by side towards the entrance and fall in line.
"What should we do after this?" I ask as we wait for our turn.
"Mmmm. We can go to the beach. I know we keep going back and forth but the weather is great today," he suggests gesturing out the window to the sunny and clear sky. I nod my head agreeing to do anything he wants. It's our turn and we step up to the counter. "Hi, two double doubles, one with no tomatoes and grilled onions, an order of fries and two drinks."
"Is that all?" The cashier asks us. We nod and I hand the card to her. She slides the card and hands it back to me. "Your number will be seven."
"Okay, thank you," I tell her and glance at Mark who already has a smirk. We walk away and I jump happily. "Yay! I've never gotten seven before! We came just in time. They probably just restarted their numbers. And right before lunch rush too!"
"What luck," he says taking a seat by the window.
"I know right? What other luck can I have today- oh my god." I flinched as I felt something wet and cold touch my back.
"Oh I'm sorry. Mark! I didn't see you there! How are you?"
Of course. Of course she comes right when I say that. Amber, the girl who hates my guts and messes with me as much as she can. She doesn't even talk to Mark. What luck? Same sentence different connotation. She just knows exactly how to ruin my day.
"Oh my gosh! Christine are you okay? Wait here let me go ask for some towels," he says ignoring her questioning getting up quickly and returning quickly to wipe my neck and back as much as he could. "Let's go to the restroom."
I walk awkwardly as the touch of a wet shirt to skin is not the best feeling in the world. I glance at her and she scowls at me threateningly. I hurry to Mark's side and hold his arm. We enter the area of the bathroom and he takes off his flannel and hands it to me leaving him in a tank top.
"Change into this," he commands pushing me to the girls restroom taking my phone and wallet. I walk in entering a stall and lock the door. I clutch his shirt in between my legs and pull of my top and tank top together and hung it on the hook for bags and slipped on his flannel. I tucked in the front to show my shorts since it was much longer than them. I took my clothes off the hook and stepped out of the stall and went to the sink to wring out my shirt of the liquid. My back was still a bit damp and sticky. Lucky for my my hair is up in a ponytail so only the ends got hit. I grabbed my hair and put it under the water and wrung it out so it won't become hard from the drink. I took some paper towels and wiped my hair. I took more and tried to get my back but it was hard. I walked out of the restroom to see him waiting with the bag of food and our drinks.
Without a word he gestures me to walk ahead and he quickly follows. I grab my drink from him and he uses that hand to put on my hip protectively. I look around and I don't see Amber. Where'd she go?
We reach his car and he opens the back door and the front passenger door. He puts the food in the front and lightly pushes me to the back seat. I was confused but followed. He popped the back of his car and got a water bottle and a rag. He shuts the trunk and comes to the back seat with me so I scoot over. He pours water onto the rag out the door and wrings it out before facing towards me.
"Turn," he commands. I now understand I untuck his shirt and free the shirt from under me as I turn around. He places one hand on my shoulder as the other goes under the shirt to wipe my back. The water was cold and I shivered but wasn't able to wiggle much because of his hold on my shoulder.
"What happened with Amber?" I ask as he wipes my back and neck.
"I told her to get lost and never to bother you again," he stated coldly. "Check if there's any place I missed."
I felt my back and shrugged my shoulders to test if I would feel anything sticky or weird feeling and there wasn't anything. "I'm fine. Thank you."
"Anything for you," he said before sliding out and helping me out. He takes the food from the passenger seat and lets me sit before giving it back to me and shuts the door. I toss my clothes that I still had in my hand to the back seat as he walks over to the driver seat and hops in. Soon we are on our way to the beach.
After a few minutes the air had calmed down and I opened the bag releasing the smell of the burgers. I sit crisscross and tear the bag into a mat over my legs. I fix the food on my lap and eat a fry. I take another and reach over and feed him. I then take off the first wrapper of his burger and open the brown wrapper enough to make it easier to eat. I hand him the burger and then open my burger.
Every so often he'd ask for his drink or a fry and I'd give it to him. It was a quiet ride. Much quieter than the one earlier. When he finished his burger I took his wrapper and crumpled it and put it in his other wrapper and placed it by mine. I gave him the last bit of the fries and flattened the 'boat' and placed it in the second bag that held the fries before. I then crumpled the first bag and the burger wrappers and put it in that bag. I take a napkin from the middle compartment and give it to him along with the wipes. After he wiped his mouth and his hand I took the napkin and hand the wipe. I toss the napkin in the bag and took another wipe out for myself. I throw mine in the bag and take his and throw it in there as well. He grabs his drink and finished it.
"We're almost there," he tells me and I nod recognizing the area. It was now 1:14 in the afternoon and our time together was shortening. When exiting, he started to look for the correct street. He turns left once he sees it and goes into the lot to park.
I tucked the shirt in the front again and walked closer to him after smelling the air. He smells it too and placed his arm around me and we walked towards the water. We crossed the street and walked down to the pier.
"Let's ride the Ferris wheel and then go to the beach," he tells me and I nod. He removed his arm and we walked comfortably to the hut. When it was our turn I handed the card and paid for our passes. Another bracelet was placed around our wrist and we walked towards the Ferris wheel. I held the back of his tank top as we walked through the crowd filled with families and teenagers. When we got to the line I let go of his shirt and we faced each other. Him leaning against the railing and me against the wall.
"Hey, I have less than four hours with you. Let's enjoy it okay?" I tell him nudging his stomach. He gave me a small smile and nodded.
"Okay. Let's enjoy it," he says coming to your side and wraps his arm on your shoulder making you squirm.
"Ewwww don't touch me with your armpit!" I squeal trying to move away but he just laughs pulling me closer.
"You're wearing my shirt. You won't even feel anything. You said to enjoy it, so I will. I've never really held you like this so let me just for today. I want to see how it feels to do this to you," he says as his arm slides down to your waist.
"That's because we're just friends. There shouldn't be a reason for you to do this," I roll my eyes. "Just until we go onto the Ferris wheel."
"Fine by me," he says as we take a few steps forward as they let people into their carts. I watch as it moves. It shakes and it goes up pretty high.
"You know, I've gone on this before but I always get scared in the beginning," I mumble looking all the way to the top. I see Mark look at me in my peripherals and look at him. "It's true!"
"Yeah, you're definitely a freak. Why am I friends with you again?" He teases squeezing my side. I make a face at him and roll my eyes. He taps the person in front of us- who I assume to be a father or uncle to the child with him- and asks, "Can you take a picture of us please?"
"Sure, of course," the man says accepting the phone Mark gives him. We step back and I turn a bit towards Mark and tilt my head as he keeps his arm around me and we smile to the camera as the guy counts to three, "One. Two. Three. Here check to make sure it's okay."
We look at the photo and are happy with the results.
"Thank you." I say the man with a smile. He nods and puts a hand up to say it was nothing. I look at the photo again and take the his phone and send it to myself.
The line moves up and it's our turn next. We show our bracelets and we step towards the cart. He holds my hand helping me balance as I step on and he sits across from me. I sigh as the instructor closes the door and turns the machine on to move us and it jolts and I jerk and hold my seat. My knuckles have turned white as I clutch the seat tightly.
"Hey," I look up to Mark, "Just look at me. It's okay. Don't worry."
I do just that. We just look at each other until we are near the top. I break eye contact first and look to my right. The ocean looked so blue as the clear sky reflected against it. I let out a sound of amazement and glance over to Mark as he does the same.
"Let's take a picture," I tell him raising my phone. He nods and I hold up my phone to my left as he leans over so our heads are next to each other. It was sunny so it was hard to see and take a nice one but it would have been better if the sun didn't mess with the focus. "Aww."
"It's okay. We'll take more later," he reassures me rubbing my head. I sigh and nod taking pictures of the water and the shoreline filled with families and friends. I felt at ease while we were at the top because I was distracted but now that we started going back down I was nervous again.
I bit my lip as it jerked again and looked over to Mark seeing him looking at me already with a friendly smile. I smiled back and before I knew it it was time to go off. He stepped off first and offered a hand to help me. I took his hand and hopped off thanking the instructor and we left. We walked down the pier and neared the stairs.
We spent our time walking down the beach just talking- or not talking. It was simple and it was just easy going. Before I knew it, we were on our way back home to get his stuff and head to the airport all together.
A/N: posting every Thursday and Friday hopefully. Sorry the intros are very lengthy. Enjoy! Please leave comments good or bad.