Coffe Shop Tragedy ||A Jeremy Mckinnon Fanfiction||

Chapter Three

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I breathed. We  were currently standing in front of an amusement park, the sign towering above us. "Nope." She smiled and pulled on my arm, glancing back when I held my ground. My mind was on high alert, flashing warning signs everywhere. To me, there was nothing more horrifying than an amusment park. I absolutely hated roller coasters. They scared me more than anything else probably ever would.

"There is no way in hell that I am going in there." She looked at me, bewildered. A look of realization crossed her face as I stood there, frozen. People passed by us, avoiding me, as usual. I got occasional weird glances too, but those were normal as well. I hated places like this, they always annoyed me. "You're scared of heights?" Lex chuckled. I shook my head, breaking my gaze on the huge coasters that hung even further above us than the welcome sign, they read death, not fun, in my eyes. "No, Just... Not a big fan of roller coasters." I swallowed a lump that had been growing in my throat, trying to control my breathing. Lex stepped closer to me, resting a hand on my shoulder. I tried not to shake with anxiety.
I hated this place. I had only been here once before, the guys thought it would be a good idea to trick me into thinking that we were going out to eat Chinese food and I ended up sitting outside for three hours, talking with the girl at the front window, who was also afraid of roller coasters. "It's okay, we don't have to. We'll go somewhere else." Concern was etched into her voice, but there was something else there as well that I couldn't figure out. Fear? Probably not. I actually considered taking her up on the offer, but I instantly regretted the thought. I needed to get over such an irrational fear at some point, so why not now? "No, I'll be fine. Just... give me a minute." I took a deep breath and stepped forward. She followed me to the ticket booth and we split the bill after a bickering over who would pay.

I stumbled through the gates, my legs trembled so much I thought they would collapse beneath me. I was horrified at the thought of being two hundred feet in the air with nothing holding me up but flimsy ass metal, but I had brought this upon myself.
"You'll do great." Lex grinned, giving me a thumbs up. She then turned her attention to putting on her plastic wristband and I did the same, slipping mine on with ease. I looked up to see her struggling, trying to loosen the bright green material only to have it tighten. I gently took her wrist and pulled it closer, adjusting it until it was loose enough to please her. "Thanks." She muttered, looking down. She smiled, her cheeks a soft pink.

She pulled on my shirtsleeve, turning me in the direction she wanted to go. I stayed behind her, watching as she swerved between people to get where she wanted to be. Lex stopped abruptly, forcing me to stumble next to her. I twisted sideways in an attempt to keep her standing, but instead, I tripped over the crowd next to us and landed on my back in front of her.

"Smooth." She giggled. I shot her a dirty look, rubbing my scraped palms along my jeans. "Thanks." I stood up, ignoring her outstretched hand. She scoffed and rested it on one of her hips, alongside the other.
"So much sass." I smirked, whispering to myself. She flipped me off and tugged me into another line. I looked up, my eyes going wise with fear. "Oh, no. No. No. Hell no." I stumbled back a little, pulling Lex with me, her hand still in mine.
I looked down, my focus turning to our fingers, tangled together. I slowly pulled my hand away, momentarily forgetting about what was important. What was that about?
Then I snapped back to reality and all I could see was the giant tower that was placed in front of us. I could hear screams and shrieks everywhere. Suddenly, regret was all I could feel, there wasn't very much fear anymore, I just really regretted letting Lex choose the ride.

The huge track of twisted metal taunted me as we got closer to the front. The fear had quickly returned as we approached the beginning of the line. There were so many loops, just looking at it made me dizzy, but then again it could have been the lack of air from my meltdown at the gates.
I hadn't felt like this in years, I had forgotten what it felt like to genuinely be afraid, and it wasn't a feeling I missed. I wanted it to go away and there was only one way to do that. I had to ride a god damn roller coaster.