What If

Chapter 29

The bus ride wasn't nearly as bad as the first. No smelly people to ruin the pleasant scenery. Paul was smiling the entire time, looking out the window. I think what I said to him was making him enthusiastic and making me worried.

I was facing the other way, silently cursing myself for making the situation between me and Paul even worse. Poor guy, I thought. He must be receiving mixed messages. I hated myself for unintentionally doing that. I was not the kind of person to purposely lead somebody on. But Paul was. My eyebrow twitched upwards at the thought. Paul's done way worse than this. Why should I feel bad? It eased the embarrassment and self-loathing for a few seconds, but soon they were back again. But I'm not that kind of person and I know that. I enjoy schadenfreude when someone deserves it as much as the next guy, but not when I'm causing it. God, you're such a wimp, Colleen.

"We're here!" Paul said excitedly, startling me out of my internal thoughts. He grabbed my sleeve, my hand being clear he wasn't supposed to touch, and dragged me off the bus once it came to a complete stop.

When I saw where we were, I almost wanted to punch him. We were right back where we started near our houses. "We went all the way into town, just to come right back?" I asked, pissed.

"Well, that's where we spent the first half of the day, now we're going to spend the second half over here," Paul explained. He seemed knocked down a peg like I hurt his feelings, though I knew he would never admit it. Well, he did take the time to plan out the whole day. And here I was criticizing his hard efforts.

I lifted myself up the peg he had lost and said "That's alright, I guess. We would've had to come back here anyway."

He smiled, seeming to be cheered up again. "Well, come on. It's not far from here." He grabbed my forearm and pulled me into a sprint in the direction of whatever secret place he wanted us to go.

"Ow, Paul!" I called over the air whistling past my ears. "My body isn't made for this! Remember the potatoes? I'm out of shape!"

He laughed to himself. "Come on! We've got to get you out of your potato-state then! Get you to be . . . a carrot!"

I looked at him in disgust. "A carrot?" I didn't dislike carrots if they were raw. I detested them if they were cooked. Still, I prefer potatoes far over carrots.

"Yeah," he said, defending his vegetable choice. "Carrots are slim and healthy. We should get you into the shape of a carrot! And you should start with exercise!"

I rolled my eyes and mumbled "Well, I've already got half of that down."

Only a full five minutes of running, more than enough to wear me out, we were standing in front of the neighborhood park. I had only been there twice in the few months I've been here, but I knew it well enough to recognize.

It was completely abandoned. There wasn't a child on the swings, on the seesaw, or on the animals attached to springs and there wasn't a single adult on a bench. If there had been roller coasters, it would be the creepiest abandoned amusement park I'd ever see.

I looked at Paul like he was crazy. This was the big surprise he was waiting to show me? This was what was so important to keep hidden from me and drive my OCD insane?

He was just staring at it, smiling like it had a special meaning in his heart, which if he's taking the time to show me, I think it does. He looked positively adorable, I will admit.

"The park?" I asked, trying to get his attention on me and not the park.

He looked down at me and grinned. "Yeah," he said, walking in by himself. He spun around and talked to me while walking backwards. "I used to come here all the time as a kid with me mum. Then George and I would come and play guitar underneath that tree over there." He pointed to a short tree about fifty feet away that was still fully green and covered in snow. He then fell to the ground on his back, still giddy like a child, staring up at the sky as snow continued to fall. He turned his head towards me and patted the area of snow next to him. "Come join me."