Woke Up Married

12. Roaring Roller

"It's a date. That's what he said." I whispered to Rain once we got to the amusement park. She threw up a thumbs up and smiled a little even though she seemed like she was in a bad mood.
Michael was already twenty minutes late. He should of gotten off work and have been here by now. She was unhappy that he was late.
Just then he ran up behind us, and Rain just crossed her arms over her chest. She pulled Michael by the arm to the side, and they were having a small whisper argument.
Jamie leaned down to say to me that he's never been to a place like this before. I looked up at him surprised, and he just shrugged. He seemed excited.
"So you've never been on a roller coaster, or ferris wheel?"
He nodded no. " My family thinks these places are well beneath them I guess. My mom says everyone and everything is sticky. My dad believes his life has no vacation. It's all work."
"Wow, Well, we are going on all the rides until you puke." I grabbed him by the arm surprising myself, but he didn't pull away. Then said to Rain "Meet us at the Roaring Roller, we will hold your spot in line."
Rain said okay, and they went back to arguing. I hated seeing them like this. I hoped it would of been a better atmosphere for my first date with Jamie.
We had been standing in line for about fifteen minutes when Jamie asked "How long do you have to wait for this Roaming Roller?"
I giggled. "It's Roaring Roller. It's that big rollercoaster. You saw those big lime green loops on the way in? That's what we're going on."
"Oh. I do remember that."
"Yeah. Something tells me you're not used to waiting for stuff." I teased.
"What told you that?"
"I don't know. Maybe how low your patience is for things."
He smirked. "Believe me you're teaching me to have patience."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I've never been ignored for days, and then forgiven someone before. I just had to wait until you were ready to talk to me."
"I'm sorry about that." I hadn't really realized maybe he did want to talk to me all those times I avoided him.
The line moved up a few steps, and Jamie leaned against the railing that just cleared up. "So what is a rollercoaster like?"
"The first time you will feel so nervous but excited, then you get strapped in and you're like woah I can't believe this is happening, then slowly you inch to the top, you drop and your heart feels like it's fallen into your stomach, and then you're going fast, and time flies by. Before you know it's over."
    I making wild hand gestures to describe the loops the coaster takes, I noticed him staring at me and smiling. I stopped with my arms midair. "What?"
    "That was cute." With those three words my face was on fire. I didn't know how to respond and I didn't have to because Rain finally showed up handing us both blue and pink swirled cotton candy.
    Michael just stood behind her broody. We met eye contact for a second but I looked away.
    Rain pretended like nothing was wrong, and seemed like she was in a better mood. She did most of the talking the rest of the wait.
    After the ride, Rain was excited to go look at the pictures they take of you on the ride. We started walking that way when Jamie strayed off in a different direction.
    "Come on, guys!" Rain was already at the photobooth with Michael lagging behind her. I was concerned about Jamie though as he disappeared into the crowd.
    "Hey go on without us. Okay?" I yelled over the crowd to Rain.  I knew she heard me, and I tried to get through the sea of people to find Jamie.
    When I finally found him he was leaning over a trash can. I walked over just as he threw up. "Are you okay?" I patted him on the back.
    He just nodded but I knew he wasn't. He had eaten too much of that cotton candy and the rollercoaster messed him up. "I'll be right back. Go ahead and try to sit on that bench over there in the shade."
    I went to go buy some water. When I returned he was sitting on the bench I'd told him to. He was looking down and looked miserable.
    I sat down beside him on the sky blue colored bench. I handed him the water. He didn't even look up at me, and downed about half the bottle before he put the cap back on it and then said. "Well, my mom was right about it being sticky here."
    He tried to lift his foot and you could hear it peeling off the sticky ground where it looked like someones candy had melted.
    "Oh, I'm sorry you got sick on our first date."
    I looked over at me suddenly. "This wasn't a date. You know that right?"
    "Oh, um, yeah. Of course. We're just friends."
    He set the water bottle down on the other side of the bench and then turned toward me. "Listen, Peyton, I didn't mean to lead you on or anything. I just got out of a relationship. I'm not really looking for another one."
    "I guess I just thought... I don't know. I just don't want all this to be for nothing. I want this to be something." I was embarrassing myself. I couldn't face him after saying that so I walked away from him. I walked fast through the crowd back to the photo booth but Rain was already somewhere else.
    I spent the next few minutes ignoring Jamie's text, and asked Rain to meet me up front to leave. She came right away. "I'm ready to leave too. I thought maybe this was a good idea, but Michael ruined it."
    She complained about him a little, she didn't like sharing too much about her personal relationship with Michael. "Anyways enough about him. What happened with Jamie?"
    "I thought it was a date and I don't know what he thought it was but it wasn't a date to him. He shouldn't have said it's a date to a girl falling in love with him."
    "Yeah that was crappy of him."
    I sighed. "I just wanna go home and be done with all this. I've been so delusional lately. Why would he like me back? Who am I compared to the life he comes from?"
    "You're amazing, Pey. If he doesn't see that then you should find someone that does see you that way."
    I nodded. I knew she was right.
    She played our favorite radio hits on the way to my house. I thanked her for leaving early with me, and joked about trying it again in the future with hopefully better results. We both laughed.
    When I got inside and to my room I just fell on the bed and tried not to cry. It wasn't a date, I reminded myself. I've just been fooling myself.
    I thought about his words and how he would patiently wait for me to get back to him when I ignored him. He didn't deserve that. He was kind of my friend and I shouldn't treat him so badly.
    I pulled my phone out with tears in my eyes and opened his text worried about where I went and if I got home okay. That made me smile that he cared and then cry more.