Lemonade (WLGYL #2)

Chapter 14-Past

My whole body was shaking, in full-on fight-or-flight mode as we made our way towards our impending doom.

"I don't know if I can do this," I said, willing my voice to remain calm. I didn't want to have a panic attack in the roller-coaster line.

Mason squeezed my hand. "You'll be fine. I'll be right next to you holding your hand, just please don't throw up on me."

I glared at him.

He nudged my waist. "Kidding!" Mason's eyes grew serious. "But seriously, if you don't want to go on the ride, you don't have to." He shrugged. "We can always cross over to the other side."

I groaned. "We waited in line for an hour."

"This is supposed to be one of the best rides here."

"Fine," I said with a sigh, starting to feel brave. My fingers grasped the lemon necklace around my neck; it always gave me more confidence. "Let's do it then."

Mason furrowed his brows. He was wearing a white West Lake High basketball t-shirt, even though he'd already graduated. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "Happy anniversary."

When it was finally our turn, we found our seats in the second row of the rollercoaster. The worker, a man probably around Mason's age, came around to check our safety bars. He pushed down on Mason's before turning to me, his blonde hair flopping into his eyes. He was cute, in a conventional way, but I had the hottest boy next to me already, so I didn't care. When he pushed on my harness, he must've noticed I looked nervous because he gave me a wink. "It'll be over before you know it," he said.

As he turned around, Mason scoffed. "Wow," he said, his face incredulous. "He was totally hitting on you."

I rolled my eyes. "Jealous, Mase?"

He laughed and grabbed my hand as the ride began. "Nah. They can look, but I'm the one sitting next to you."

"Always," I responded with a smile. Even though we were making our way up to the top of the drop, I wasn't nervous anymore.

***

As soon as we got off the ride—the newest and tallest at WonderLand Adventures—I grabbed Mason's face and kissed him. I didn't care that people were probably staring at us and that I usually hated PDA, I only cared about the fact that I just conquered The Raptor with my boyfriend on our one-year anniversary.

"Woah," Mason said when I pulled away. "I take it you liked the ride, then?"

Interlacing our fingers, I said, "It wasn't so bad with you there."

He kissed the side of my head. "Cheesy. I like it."

"And I figured we wouldn't be killed on our one-year anniversary date. That would be terrible luck."

"That sounds more like you." Mason rolled his eyes as I dragged him along to the next ride. WonderLand Adventures had been his idea—Mason was more into roller-coasters than I was—but I was enjoying it. I would've been okay with anything, to be honest, as long as I got to hang out with Mason. One year (more, if you counted our first relationship) with Mason and I still wasn't sick of him. Our plan was this: a few hours at the amusement park and then a restaurant downtown for dinner. Mason and I had a few more stops we wanted to make before leaving.

The ride I was most looking forward to was a water raft that would go down a drop and probably soak us. The July heat was persistent, so I didn't mind getting a little wet. I sat in the seat in front of Mason, and two other girls sat in front of us. Mason wrapped his arms around my waist, warm and steady. "Ready?" he whispered in my ear.

I squeezed his hands.

The ride began by looping around a garden filled with various plants and animatronic animals, before going up the top of a fake mountain. The girls in front of us were already screaming, and we hadn't even dropped yet.

Although the drop was shorter than The Raptor's, I still had butterflies in my stomach. Anticipation of the cold water and my stomach falling. The closer we got to the end of the mountain, the tighter Mason squeezed my hands. I could tell he was nervous too, and it made me smile. Macho Mason Masterson felt anxious on rollercoasters, just like everyone else.

As soon as we went over the edge, I squeezed my eyes shut and grit my teeth. The girls in front of us screamed even louder. The whole thing only lasted a few seconds, before our raft plunged into the water below and we were soaked with the waves.

Mason sputtered behind me, removing his hands from my waist so he could wipe his face. I shut my eyes again to try to remedy the water that got in my contacts.

Getting out of the raft, I noticed Mason's white shirt was completely see-through. I raised my eyebrows.

"What?" he asked when he saw me staring.

I gestured to his abs and biceps peeking through. "You're giving everyone a show."

He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was pleased. Mason worked hard for his body, and boy was I happy about it. "No one's even looking."

Men were so oblivious. "Really?" I said, my eyes flitting to the girls who were sitting in front of us on the ride, now collecting their bags while pretending not to look at Mason. They were giggling to themselves. "I think they like the new shirt," I said to him, quiet enough so the girls couldn't hear.

He rolled his eyes again and bumped my shoulder. "Let's go, dork. I need to change my shirt in the car." We brought a separate change of clothes specifically for this reason, so we didn't have to go to dinner wet.

"You could take it off here," I suggested. I nudged Mason with my elbow. "I bet the girls would like it."

Mason groaned, and I followed him out of the park. "It's so hard to have everyone think you're hot," I teased, interlacing my fingers with his.

He grabbed his car keys out of his navy backpack and shot me a smirk. "I only care what you think." Mason swung our hands between us. "Now, let's get dinner."

I grinned. Best. Anniversary. Ever.