-Tristan-
"What, the amusement park?"
With a pallid face, I stared at the Ferris wheel and at the other daunting stoma ch-churning rides. The air was filled with the aroma of popcorn and grilled food . The din of the crowd was rowdy, and everyone's faces were plastered with smile s.
Boy, it had been a long time since I went to this place.
"You could've picked anywhere, anywhere. And you pick this?" I complained.
"Well, beggars can't be choosers. Besides, you asked for it," she said with a si nister smile.
"Oh heck no, Kylie. Let's just go someplace else." I turned away, but she quickl y grabbed my arm. I didn't know how many times she'd touched me today (or vice v ersa), but what the hell. It felt good, anyway, in spite of the torture she'd in flicted on me along the way.
She eventually released me and roared with laughter. "Ooh, come to think of it, didn't you get lost here when you were a kid? Yeah... and a clown brought you ba ck to your parents in tears!"
"Shut up." I gritted my teeth at the repressed memory. She'd reminded me countle ss times, thanks to my mother thoughtlessly tattling on without realizing the da mage it could cause. "That guy was just getting in the way of me getting back to my parents on my own!"
"I bet your face back then was just the same as now," she went on, pointing and laughing at me, "You look purple all over like Barney!"
"Kylie," I warned.
"But do you really still have a fear of clowns?" she went on persistently.
"Huh," I sneered. "Not anymore."
"But why are you backing away? Huh? Huh?" She wriggled her eyebrows.
"No. Look, I just don't feel like going in this place. Maybe some other time, bu t not now," I ventured, turning away with a frown.
"Tristan Hartford, you wuss," she taunted.
I turned to her again. She wouldn't dare. "Says who?" I snapped.
"Ooh, looks like you're gonna throw up."
"Jeez, fine! I'm going now." I marched back to the place, not having any other c hoice. It's not like I could disagree to her any longer. "I'm gonna show you tha t I'd already gotten over that pathetic thing."
This place held my worst childhood experience, so I hadn't been here for ten yea rs. That memory was still fresh in my head-I could even draw that clown in full detail. His mascot had irreversibly disturbed my seven-year-old self, and the fa ct that I didn't know who'd been behind that mask made it even scarier, at least for me. Ever since that had happened, I kept having these recurring nightmares and I'd sworn to myself that I wouldn't return to this place ever again...
...until she'd insisted me to do it now.
Still laughing, Kylie skipped along with me and watched the sights giddily. I me rely looked at her and sighed.
If it only wasn't for her...
"Over here, Tristan!" She waved from afar and pointed at her back. "Look, there' s a clown show over there. Why don't we watch it? It looks awesome!"
I grimaced. No, even until now, I wanted to stay the hell away from that thing. "Nah, that show's corny. Can't even see any fun in that one."
"Killjoy. Fine, let's roam around."
A smile struck my lips, and I followed her like a satellite whenever she went. S he was practically bouncing her way from booth to booth, looking at the cool dis plays. All I could do was staring at her.
She's really enjoying this, and her broad smile was something I'd looked forward to after all this time. Little did she know that I'd stolen a date from her.
"Let's ride the Merry-Go-Round!" she exclaimed.
"But it's for kids," I objected.
"So? No matter how old I get, I won't get enough of riding one."
In the end, to my shame, we did. She had that thrilled look as the carousel went around, like a little kid on her first time riding one. I was sitting behind he r, on the verge of laughing as I watched her childlike frenzy.
Then next to that, she dragged me to the ghost train. And during the ride, her v oice was the only thing I heard above the noise.
After yet another go on those rides, we ended up grabbing some bites to fill our empty stomachs.
"Vanilla pudding!" she gasped as I went to her with a plastic bag.
Sitting on the bench beside her, I frowned. "I know you're starving to death now , but too bad I only bought this for me."
"Just as I thought," she muttered, glaring at me and curling her lips. "You boug ht that just to make me drool."
I pulled out the plastic container from the bag, opened up the lid, and sniffed the sweet scent. "Hmm, well, this smells heavenly," I said, throwing her an evil grin just to make her jealous.
She crossed her arms in despise, and then a loud grumbling noise from her stomac h came. Her cheeks went deep pink in an instant.
I throw my head back, roaring a laugh.
"Shut up!" she exclaimed.
I took a scoop using a plastic spoon. "You want some?"
I knew she couldn't resist herself just to watch me eating her favorite snack in front of her, and since the monster in her stomach was already complaining in h unger, she didn't have a choice but nod at my question.
"All right, since I'm a man of good heart," I said with a smirk, "I'll share thi s with you... as long as I will be the one to feed you."
Her mouth fell. "Tristan!"
I lifted up the spoon to her face. "Little Kylie, say aaahhhh," I teased.
"T, what the hell! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"Open up your mouth, the train is coming." I flew the spoon in the air in a zigz ag motion. "Choo, choo!"
The gooey, white substance and the vanilla scent were surely teasing her so badl y. Cheeks heating up even more, she grudgingly opened her mouth and slightly lea ned forward. At the same time, someone called not too far.
"Hey, you guys!"
It was Drew, and together with him was a pretty redhead girl in a simple peach d ress. I immediately went speechless as I recognized the girl. Kylie took the cha nce to grab the spoon from my hand and stuff it in her mouth.
After Drew and I did a high-five, he pointed the girl, saying, "Meet my girlfrie nd Eliana."
Eliana's green eyes twinkled as she smiled.
I motioned him to follow me away from the girls, who were staring at us in confu sion, and whispered to him, "Dude, is that girl...?"
"Yeah, she's the girl in the coffee shop," he said with a wide grin.
"Whoa. Really? That's cool, man," I remarked, shaking my head in awe. "You final ly have the balls to ask her out! Congratulations."
"Yeah. Well, it took me several days before I finally asked her out. I thought s he was going to turn me down, but it turned out she was completely into it." Dre w laughed. "Anyway, congratulations, too, T."
"What?" I asked. Then I looked at Kylie who was talking with Eliana, and back at Drew. "No, Kylie and I were just going out as... friends. She doesn't even know I've stolen a date from her."
"That's very sneaky, man." He shook his head. "Wait... friends? But I thought yo u and her were finally an item now, seeing you two were going all intimate over a food just a while ago..."
"Don't ask. It's one of my moves to get closer to her."
Drew sputtered a loud laugh and tapped me on the back. "Good luck, T. You better do what you gotta do before some guy could snatch her."
We went back to the girls and had a small talk together for a short while. After that, the couple bid goodbye.
"They look so adorable," Kylie said dreamily behind me. "Eliana is nice. Shy, bu t very nice."
I stared at them swinging their hands playfully. "Yeah, Drew finally did it. Luc ky guy." I turned around and spotted Kylie already gobbling up the pudding.
Her eyebrows knitted. "What?" she asked while munching.
I snorted a laugh. "You look cute when you bloat your cheeks like that."
Blinking, she stopped munching, apparently surprised by that.
"But did you know the original meaning of cute is small and ugly?" I joked.
"Really," she said blandly. "Ha-ha, hilarious."
Chuckling, I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "You're just an exception," I said and turned away, leaving her baffled again. "Let's go now, Kyles."
We walked together in silence as we went along with the flow of people until we ended up watching some magic tricks along the way. Kylie, together with the othe r audiences, looked at the performer with amazement, while I tried to keep my un easiness in me.
The performer had thick white makeup, a mass of red hair, and beady dark eyes th at reminded me of the horror movie It, which was also another thing that gave me nightmares.
"Tristan, he's pointing at you," Kylie hissed, nudging me at the side.
I blinked. "What?"
Then I realized that everyone was looking at me. I found a hand wrapped in a whi te glove extending towards me, and I almost stumbled back when the performer gav e me his Cheshire cat smile and said in a squeaky tone, "Sir, would you like to be a volunteer?"
Volunteer for what, a sacrificial ritual?
I opened my mouth to decline, but Kylie pushed me hard until I staggered my way in front. Everyone clapped at me, while all I could do was to force a smile, sho ot punishing looks at Kylie, and think "I'm so screwed" as I paraded in front of the crowd.
I swallowed as I faced the thing that had given me so many traumas. Time to face your fears, Tristan.
He gave me instructions, which I followed without saying any word, and later he started to do his tricks. I wasn't paying attention to whatever he was doing sin ce random thoughts occupied my mind to help me calm.
Kylie was staring at me with another of her sinister smiles again. I smiled back , and she blinked, stunned, and shifted her attention away.
Afterwards, the show was over. I had no idea what I did during the performance, but I gave a court nod when the crowd cheered. Several girls swarmed around me, asking for my name and my number, but I didn't give them even half of my attenti on.
My eyes scanned for Kylie, but she was nowhere to be found.
I ran from place to place, gasping deeply for air. But crap, I hadn't found her in this massive, overcrowded place. Where was she? Is this one of her jokes agai n? Now I felt like I was experiencing that traumatic childhood experience all ov er again, though I didn't know who was the helpless lost child this time - her o r me?
What if she's actually in trouble?
I knew that Kylie was the type that didn't let her guard down whenever she's in danger. She could kick anyone's ass as if she wanted to. But even though she mig ht be the female version of Bruce Lee, still she's a girl, and of course, she ha d her limits.
I had to find her.
"Hey!"
Everything around went like blur as I revolved around to the beckoning voice. Ky lie stood a couple of meters away from me. She cocked her head slightly to the s ide and studied me.
"You okay?" she asked.
I trudged towards her, gritting my teeth. "Where did you go?"
"Well, I just-"
"I thought you'd left me for dead back there."
She squirmed, but still stood on her ground and frowned slightly. "Jeez, I'm sor ry. I thought I found someone familiar, so I followed him," she explained in a m umble. "But when I came back, you were already gone, so I looked for you."
I sighed exasperatedly. "I've been looking all over for you for God knows how lo ng," I bellowed. "Do you even know how I feel? You made me sick with worry, Kyli e. What were you thinking? What if something happened to you?"
I didn't realize that I'd been too frank about my feelings until just now.
Her mouth dropped, and she quickly shut it and raised both her hands. "Relax, je ez. I told you I'm not a freaking damsel in distress, T. I know how to handle my self, okay?"
"Don't be stubborn, Kylie." I took a deep breath again. Pushing my hands in my p ockets, I turned away to hide my inflamed face. "Just... just don't leave me lik e that."
"Gee, all right. I'm sorry. Look, I already said that twice."
I glanced at her and noticed that she was bloating her cheeks again. Her whole f ace turned rosy, and her eyes narrowed as she was on the brink of smiling. Event ually, she did break a smile... it lightened up her whole face again.
I was stunned. It seemed like I couldn't take up the angry façade any longer.
"Wh-what's funny?" I stammered.
She glanced away, snickering. "Nothing."
An idea popped in my head. Smiling menacingly, I said, "So Kylie, since you pull ed that little stunt and ditched me, I think it's my turn to get my own back..."
"Hey, I didn't say I ditched you! It was a complete mix up. It wasn't intentiona l, got that?"
"How about in that show? You pushed me, and I know you did that on purpose."
"W-well, I just-" she stuttered, "I just wanna teach you how to face your fear!"
I grinned. She'd finally fallen on my trap. "Ah, that's cool. So now's my time t o teach you how to face your fear."
"What!"
"Well, that's just a little payback I want from you." I turned around. "Follow m e, and don't you dare leave."
Finally, we had arrived on the only place in the park she's never dared to go on : the Ferris wheel.
"Two tickets, please," I said to the person behind the booth.
"No! Hell no, Tristan!" Kylie cried. "I don't want to ride in that freaking thin g ever. Just looking at it makes me wanna throw up! I swear I'll never do anythi ng like that again. Just please, don't make me ride."
I turned to her and raised the tickets. "Too late."
"Noooo!"
She hugged the admission post as if her life depended on it, while wailing words of prayer hysterically. I tried to pull her in, but she was completely glued on the thing. Her shouts had already attracted many people, and some of them were whispering that we were such a sweet couple. I could only laugh on that. They di dn't know how damn hard it'd been to get this one girl.
"It's time to face your fear, Kylie," I teased.
"Aargh! You-you're despicable!"
"At the count of five, you have to get off the post, or else I have to carry you inside." I stepped forward. "One-"
"Shaddap!"
I extended my arms around her. "Two-"
"I said no, no, no! Can't you understand simple English?"
"Five!"
"What!"
With full force, I quickly yanked her away successfully and laughed. She kept on growling as she stomped her feet in the car. She somehow reminded me King Kong on the loose.
"That's unfair, Tristan! Where did the rest of the numbers go?" She crossed her arms as she sank on the seat.
Still laughing, I sat beside her and said, "On the way to your heart."
She punched my shoulder. "Very funny."
Her whole face was white and red all over. She was already very nervous, and we hadn't even started yet.
"Calm down, Kylie. This ride isn't scary at all," I comforted.
"It's your fault if I pass out."
"I'm here, don't worry."
There was a jolt and the ride started. Kylie straightened her back and tightened her grip around the handle.
"Oh darn, it's moving," she mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut. I noticed that h er knees were shaking as the wheel took us slowly up and up, higher and higher.
I gazed intently at her. She looked so funny yet cute when she's like that. The wind brushed through, and a strand of her hair fell gently on her face. It gave my heart a little tug.
This was the perfect time and place to tell her how I feel. This was my chance. But my lips cluttered, and the words that I wanted to say just wouldn't be said.
"Kylie, open your eyes."
She shook her head and pursed her lips.
"Trust me, if you won't open your eyes, you'll miss something beautiful."
At last, she slowly opened her eyes and gasped. Her hand automatically wrapped a round mine. We were at the highest point, and the wheel seemed to be as high as a ten-story building. From here, we could see the whole park, and everyone below us looked like ants. The sun was setting, the sky was painted in an array of re d and gray, and the pale glow of the moon was starting to show.
Kylie was completely absorbed by the scenery. The sparkle in her eyes had shown it all.
"Wow... it really is beautiful," she breathed.
"You are, too," I said and tangled my fingers with hers. The way your hair flows , the glow of your smile, the grace of your awkwardness...
Her cheeks became crimson as she smiled.
And she didn't know how it kept me hanging on every moment.
***
We were biking under the night stars. Kylie was sitting on the front again, and I could smell the vanilla scent on her hair.
The tiring day was over. Yet it was too perfect I didn't want it to end. I proba bly should thank Clark and Lacey for a job well done, because if it wasn't for t hem, this might not have even happened.
I pulled the brakes as we finally reached her house. She hopped down, and I swun g off.
"Are you happy?" I asked.
"With what?" she chirped.
"Everything." I shrugged. "You know, this day and all."
"Of course! Don't be silly." She laughed. "Do I look like I'm crying?"
"You were practically crying back at the Ferris wheel."
She made a face. "And you looked like you were gonna be sick back in that magic show."
"It was a win-win situation then. We've both faced our fears, so let's stop argu ing with that."
"All right. But... what's with that question, anyway? Why'd you asked me if I wa s happy?"
"Nothing. Just wanna know." I mentally made a fist pump for success. Ha! Plus po ints for me!
She shook her head. "Hmm, I wonder if Lacey's already back from her date... Oh w ell, I hope everything turned out well for her." She yawned and stretched her bo dy. "Ah! I'm so tired, I should go inside now." Her eyes met mine. "So... uh see ya tomorrow, I guess? Thanks for the ride."
She bid me a goodbye and turned towards the porch.
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"I-I just wanna say-"
I didn't want to end this perfect day just as simple as this. My mind and my hea rt were stuck on her tonight and no one else. I wanted to say that I loved her, but in the end, I merely sighed and said, "Goodnight, Kylie."
I was just trying to be considerate. I'd said that word instead, since saying 'I love you' would mean some falling.
And she was afraid of heights.
"Oh... okay." She gave me a nod and turned away.
I dragged my bike alongside as I walked towards my house. But then, I heard thum ping noises coming behind me. Spinning around, I saw Kylie running towards me wi th her head lowered. I was about to ask what's wrong, but when she stopped besid e me, I snapped my mouth shut.
To my surprise, she lifted on her toes and kissed me on the cheek.
"Goodnight, Tristan."