Thrill Ride

by Rachel Hawthorne

  When it got really quiet and the only sounds we heard were the insects chirping, I yawned and stood up. “I guess I’d better start cleaning.”

  “I’ll help,” Parker said.

  “It doesn’t seem fair that you always help with the cleanup when you’re the one who provides the place for the party,” I said, as we walked into the house.

  “I promised Mitch that I’d take care of the place,” he said.

  “That’s right. Responsibility is your middle name.”

  “First name, actually.”

  I looked over at him and laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  It was really, really quiet in the house. “It feels like we’re totally alone here,” I said.

  “Can’t be.” He went to the front door, looked out. “Jordan’s car is still here.”

  He walked back through the house. “This way,” he said.

  I followed him to his bedroom. And just like Goldilocks, Jordan was curled up on Parker’s bed asleep. Well, not exactly like Goldilocks. Her boyfriend was snuggled up against her, both fully clothed on top of the covers.

  “I thought she was hitting the drinks pretty hard,” Parker said.

  “Can you take me back to the dorm after I help you clean up?” I asked.

  “Sure.”

  It didn’t take us long. Paper plates and cups into the trash. There were never any leftovers. Put a few dishes into the dishwasher, wiped down the counters.

  I was standing at the sink, staring out the window at the lake, having just rinsed out the dishrag, when Parker came up behind me, put his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder.

  “I TiVo’d one of my dad’s movies. Want to watch it with me?”

  I looked back at him. “Now?”

  “Sure. You can sleep late in the morning, right?”

  “Yeah, but don’t you have to get up early?”

  “I don’t need much sleep.”

  I shrugged, watched his head bob up with my movement. “Sure, I guess.”

  We went into the living room, sat on the couch. He put his arm around me, nestled me up against his side, turned on the TV, went through the TiVo menu, and selected a movie I’d never heard of.

  “I’ve never seen this one.”

  “It’s one of his better ones.”

  I watched the opening credits. “Sandra Bullock? I guess you know her, too.”

  “Yep.”

  “And she’s just a normal person.”

  “They all are, Megan.”

  It was a romantic comedy. We were about fifteen minutes into the movie when Parker said, “You know, the thing about my dad’s movies is that they’re more entertaining when watched from a horizontal position.”

  I snapped my head around and looked at him. “Are you making a move on me, Parker?”

  I thought he would smile, laugh. Instead he looked deadly serious.

  “Yeah. Do you have a problem with it?”

  Did I? I shook my head.

  We laid down on the couch with me nestled against his side, my back against the couch so I could still watch the movie, but it suddenly wasn’t making any sense to me. I’d lost the flow of the story, mostly because I was thinking about how nice it felt to be snuggling against Parker.

  “I’ll take you to the airport Friday,” he said quietly, tucking my hair behind my ear, over and over, like it was attempting to escape from the place where he’d put it. It felt really nice.

  “You’ll be working. I can take the shuttle.”

  “I can take a couple of hours off. No problem.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  “When do you get back Sunday?”

  “Late.”

  “Time?”

  I smiled. “Around nine.”

  “That’s not late, Megan. I never go to bed before one.”

  “It’ll feel late to me after the busy weekend.”

  “You will come back, won’t you?”

  “Of course. I have half the summer left to go.”

  “Will you see Nick while you’re there?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  He was still tucking my hair behind my ear, studying me. “You ever think about getting back together with him?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good. Look, Megan, I didn’t want to rush you, I didn’t want to push you. I know you were hurting, but I don’t want you going home without knowing exactly what’s waiting here for you.”

  He lowered his mouth to mine. Finally, after all this time, he was kissing me again. And I was kissing him back.

  Glad that we were moving beyond the just-friends stage. Glad to know that what would be waiting for me was something that I desperately wanted.

  Parker…and his kisses.

  Chapter 25

  “So have you slept with Parker yet?” Sarah asked.

  I was standing in front of a mirror, making sure the gown I was going to wear tomorrow fit properly, trying to see if it needed any last-minute adjustments. Her question took me totally off-guard and I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer it.

  Had I slept with Parker? Yes. After an incredible kissing session on his couch Wednesday night, early Thursday morning, we’d fallen asleep. So yes, technically, we’d slept together. But I knew that wasn’t what Sarah was asking.

  “You know, Sarah, it’s really none of your business.”

  “You have, then.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, I haven’t, not like you mean.”

  “Are you dating him?”

  “We spend a lot of time together.”

  “I knew he liked you,” she said. “And that you liked him.”

  “He’s not the reason I broke up with Nick.” I shook my head. “Or Nick broke up with me.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Megan. I just want you to be happy, and you seemed really happy whenever you were around Parker.”

  “I do like him, Sarah. I like him a lot. It’s just so natural to be with him. I can’t explain it, but I’m so dreading the end of summer.”

  “That’s weeks away. Don’t sweat it. It’ll work itself out. Besides, we have enough to worry about this weekend. What do you think of your gown?”

  Her brow was deeply furrowed, and she was nibbling the French manicure off one of her nails. I couldn’t tell her the truth.

  “I thought the bridesmaid’s gowns were supposed to be purple—”

  “That’s what I thought chartreuse was. I didn’t know it was the color of puke.”

  “Let’s call it green with a hint of yellow. Sounds better.”

  Although her description was pretty accurate. She’d ordered the gowns through a catalog. The gown shown had been blue, with the other colors available just listed. I couldn’t believe she’d ordered what she hadn’t seen. They’d arrived yesterday. No time to send them back. What had she been thinking?

  “It doesn’t look that bad,” I said.

  “I ordered purple irises for the flowers in the church. My bouquet has purple in it. Yours has purple in it.”

  “It’s probably got green, too, right? Stems and leaves. So it’ll match the gown.”

  Then she did the most unsettling thing. She started crying.

  I knelt in front of her and put my arms around her. “Sarah, it’s all right.”

  “It’s hideous. Your gown is hideous. Everything is going wrong.”

  “I hear it’s good luck for your wedding to go badly. It means the marriage will last.”

  She looked up at me. “You’re just trying to make me feel better, right?”

  “Yeah.” I squeezed her hand. “Honestly, the gown isn’t that bad. At least I don’t look like Gretel and I don’t have to wear my hair in braids.”

  She laughed. “That’s true. I just wanted everything to be perfect, and instead, I’m just ready for it to be over.”

  “Tomorrow will be here before you know it.”

  “If we survive tonight.” She scrunched up her face
, and I knew she was about to deliver some really bad news.

  “Tonight is just the rehearsal, then the dinner, right?” I asked.

  “Right, except that the groom’s parents handle the dinner and they’ve made reservations at Hart’s. And I’m pretty sure that Nick is working tonight.”

  I figured my face had just turned the same shade of green as my gown. “Great.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry. I just found out today—”

  “Don’t worry about it. Nick and I go to the same school. We’re going to run into each other. I can handle it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I was proud of myself for sounding more confident than I felt. I wasn’t sure that I was ready to see Nick again. Or if he was ready to see me.

  The rehearsal went smoothly, which I’d always heard was bad luck. I didn’t mention that to Sarah. She was so crazy in love with Bobby. Even though they were both totally stressed. Bobby was being a good sport, pretending to care about all the little details, but I could tell he was thinking Let’s get this over with already.

  I couldn’t have agreed more.

  I almost bailed out on the rehearsal dinner. I was really missing Parker, wishing I’d brought him with me so I wouldn’t have to face Nick alone, which was an insane thought. I wasn’t alone. There were at least two dozen people joining us in the private banquet room at Hart’s.

  And sure enough, our waiter was Nick. A girl with short black hair and dark eyes was assisting him. It was a little awkward when he got to me. We’d always had this private joke, because I’m so predictable. At Hart’s I always ordered the chicken fried steak, extra gravy. And whenever Nick waited on me, he never actually took my order.

  He’d just give me a wink and say, “I know what you want.” Like the moon and stars were in alignment and we knew each other so well that we always knew what the other wanted.

  But the truth was that we didn’t really know each other that well. And I think that was part of the reason that our relationship didn’t last. Our relationship was built on forwarded e-mail jokes and…convenience, if I was honest with myself.

  “And what would you like?” he said, formally. Like he’d never hugged me, never kissed me, never told me he loved me.

  I almost said “the usual.” But in the end, I told him, “Chicken fried steak, extra gravy.”

  “Sides?”

  “Mashed potatoes and salad with the house dressing. Sweet tea.”

  He moved on to the next person. I wanted to grab his arm, ask how he was. Ask if he was doing okay. If we could still be friends. But twenty-four guests were watching us, plus the girl who was following him around like a puppy on a leash.

  I spent a lot of time talking to the best man, Bobby’s younger brother, Joe. Probably the only guy I knew who was looking forward to school starting in the fall. He’d gone skiing last winter break and fallen in love with a girl named Kate. He couldn’t wait for the fall semester to start because she would be attending the same college he was.

  “Don’t you think it’s hard keeping a long-distance relationship going?” I asked.

  “It sucks big time, for sure. But we talk every day and I’ve gone to see her a couple of times over the summer. She’s come to see me. We make it work.”

  “I never thought of a relationship as being work,” I said.

  He grinned. “It’s a good kind of work. I don’t mind it at all.”

  “You just said it sucks.”

  “Being apart sucks. But when we’re together”—I thought he was actually blushing—“she’s terrific. I’m crazy about her.”

  “She’s not going to come for the wedding?”

  “No, she’s traveling in Europe right now with her aunt. I get a postcard every day that says, ‘Wish you were here.’ I wish I was there, too.”

  Our conversation came to an end when Bobby’s dad stood up to make a toast, to welcome Sarah into their family. Sarah looked radiant. Bobby looked so proud.

  I realized that tomorrow no one was going to notice that I was wearing puke green. No one was going to notice me at all. All eyes would be on Sarah. The bride.

  And that was how it should be.

  When we got home, although it was late, I asked Dad if I could borrow the car for a while. I drove back to Hart’s Diner and parked beside Nick’s old Chevy Nova. I got out of the car and sat on the hood and waited.

  Waited for most of the other cars to leave. Waited for the lights in the restaurant windows to dim and for the lights outside to go out. Only the streetlights remained on, but they were enough to see by.

  I spotted Nick as soon as he came out of the building. Came out of the building with the girl who had helped him serve us. I hadn’t heard her name, but I knew who she was. Tess.

  He hadn’t seen me yet. I watched as she wrapped her arm around his waist and he slipped his arm around her. Then he leaned down and kissed her. She laughed. So did he.

  I thought maybe I should have felt a prick of hurt or jealousy or anger. But I didn’t. I felt glad.

  He must have finally seen me, because he staggered to a stop. Tess looked at me, looked at him.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  I slid off the hood. “Hi, Nick.”

  I walked toward them. “You must be Tess.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  Talk about an attitude.

  “Nick’s told me a lot about you.”

  “How come?”

  “This is Megan,” Nick said impatiently. “What do you want?”

  “I’m flying back out Sunday. I just wanted to visit with you for a bit.”

  He scoffed. “It’s a little late, Megan.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. If I hurt you, Nick, I’m sorry. That’s all I wanted to say. I’ll see you around.”

  I got into my car, put the key into the ignition. A knock on the window nearly had me jumping out of my skin. It was Nick. I rolled down the window.

  “Tess was here. You weren’t,” he said defensively.

  “Were you seeing her before you drove up to see me?” I asked quietly.

  He looked away, and I realized that he might have been struggling with his feelings toward Tess, just like I’d struggled with mine about Parker. That he’d driven nonstop to see me not so much because he was so desperate to be with me, but because he was afraid that he might be losing the battle to resist Tess.

  “Not seriously,” he finally said, before looking back at me.

  “It’s okay, Nick. I’m happy for you.”

  “I miss you sometimes,” he said.

  “I miss you, too. But summer will be over soon and maybe we’ll be friends again.”

  He growled. “You know guys hate the ‘let’s be friends’ comment.”

  I grinned. “I know. But I don’t think we’ll ever be more than friends again. So you’d better hang on to Tess.”

  “I will.”

  He reached his hand into the car, to touch my cheek, I thought, but at the last second he pulled back. “See ya.”

  He was gone before I could say anything.

  I watched him get into his car where Tess was waiting for him. I thought about how nice it was to have someone waiting for you. Maybe that was what made long-distance relationships so hard. Because even if you had someone waiting for you, he had to wait so long.

  “How’s it going?”

  Parker’s deep voice rumbled in my ear in the dark. I’d just snuggled beneath the covers when my cell phone rang.

  “Other than the fact that Sarah never learned a color chart, things aren’t going too badly. My gown was supposed to be some shade of purple and instead it’s after-a-roller-coaster-ride green.”

  He laughed. “It’s not too late for them to get married here. I’ll even put streamers on the roller coaster for them.”

  “It is too late. We’ve already had the rehearsal.”

  I told him about the toasts during dinner and talking with Joe. He told me about the design fo
r the next roller coaster that he’d seen. It would be built over the winter, ready for operation next year.

  We talked for over an hour, about everything and nothing. Just to hear each other’s voices. And when I finally closed my cell phone, it was almost like he was there with me.

  Chapter 26

  When the plane landed Sunday evening, I was wiped out. The weekend had been an emotional roller coaster: seeing Nick; a lot of hand-holding with Sarah and reassurances that everything would go smoothly; staying up late Saturday night talking with Dad, who wanted to know everything about my job at the park. And dang it, I owed Jordan a day off, because I did get my dad to confess that he’d thought I was getting too serious with Nick and some time apart would do me good. I wondered how he’d feel about Parker? This morning I’d gotten up early to visit with Mom, who was still weepy over her firstborn daughter getting married and leaving home. I guess the weekend had been hard on everyone.

  I wasn’t looking forward to hauling my suitcase to the Thrill Ride! shuttle, but I figured as soon as I got to the dorm, I was going to crash. Big time.

  I was thinking about the luxury of crashing as I walked from the plane to the gate. Not paying much attention to my surroundings. Suddenly someone stepped in front of me. I lifted my gaze. Smiled.

  Parker.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey.” I am such an amazing conversationalist that I astound myself sometimes.

  He dipped his head and gave me a quick kiss. A welcoming kiss. That was the thing about Parker. I loved all his kisses. No matter how quick or how long or how slow. Each one was perfect.

  “How did you get through security without a ticket?” I asked.

  “I’ve got connections.” He slipped his arm around me. “You got baggage?”

  Have I got baggage. What a loaded question. Nick. The weekend with my family. Too much to unload right then and there.

  “Yeah.” I held up my ticket with my baggage claim number. “I wasn’t expecting you to pick me up.”

  “Why not? You’re my girlfriend, right?”

  I nestled my head in the curve of his shoulder. Was I his girlfriend? For how long?