– 6 –

I liked amusement parks, but I follow by the rule of riding all the extreme rides only once. So when Vince convinced everyone to take a second round of Space Shuttle, I declined and told them I’d just wait for them on the ground. I excused myself to go to the restroom while they all decided who would go on a second round with the Space Shuttle. When I got back, I thought everyone went to ride the coaster until I spotted Olive sitting alone at one of the benches.

I could have gone around the park then, to see and check out other things rather than sit with Olive alone, but I realized I’m tired of running away. I headed for the bench and dropped beside her.

She glanced at me briefly and then looked away. “Hey Chase.”

I was surprised that she actually spoke to me, but that was a good sign. “Hey. Not up for a second round, eh?”

Olive shook her head. “No. I never liked rollercoasters.”

“Yeah,” I hesitated before adding, “I remember.”

She looked at me sideways and then straight ahead again, but I saw a small smile tug the corner of her mouth. I felt encouraged.

“Thanks for inviting me by the way,” I said.

“It’s nothing,” Olive replied. “Amanda wanted the old gang here, so I can’t not invite you.”

I smiled. “I thought I’d never see you guys again.”

“You mean Amanda, right?” Olive’s voice softened, almost lost in the loud chatter around us. We fell silent.

I never thought I’d ever be alone with Olive again after everything, so I wasn’t really prepared for any confrontation. But Olive has always been up front — she always says what she thinks, almost never beating around the bush. She won’t sugarcoat it if she’s not in the mood, and she never held back her opinion whenever she was asked for it. That was one of her big differences with Amanda that I never really got to appreciate when we were together.

Suddenly I felt exhausted. And helpless. I was tired of avoiding all this, of being silent and pretending everything is okay and nothing happened. I just wanted it to be free of all of this.

“Look, Olive, I’m sorry –”

“What happened, Chase?” she cut my apology short.  She turned to look at me, green eyes sad.

“What really happened?”

* * *

What really happened that night at the beach…was nothing.

Amanda and I sat there, her head on my shoulders and hand in mine. The cold beach wind blew through us, making her shiver, and she squeezed closer to me. The entire thing felt right, like we belonged together. And when Amanda turned her head to me just as I turned to look at her, there was really just one thing I wanted to do. And I could sense she wanted it too.

I closed my eyes as I felt Amanda’s breath on my face, but before anything could really happen, I heard her whisper something.

“Olive. Chase, we can’t.”

Suddenly, she was gone from my side. I reeled from the sudden separation and almost fell back on the sand. She stood a couple of feet away, eyes wide and somewhat horrified.

“God, I am so sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”

I just looked at her from my position. What were we doing? What were we about to do?

“Amanda…”

“Nothing happened,” Amanda said, her voice panicky. “I’m sorry Chase, I was just drunk.”

I got up and stood in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders. “Amanda, calm down.” She wouldn’t look at me.

“I can’t. This isn’t supposed to happen, and I can’t be doing this. Nothing happened, okay?”

And with that, she stormed away.

[628 words]

Tags: 44, fairy's wheel, fiction, first person