Life

Chapter Seven

(So in the last chapter, Max found out her mother has died and so Max passed out.)
-3 hours later-
"Huh?" I say as I wake up. "Max!! I was so worried. Are you ok?" Luke says. I rub my head. "Ah, please. Not too loud. My head hurts." I whine. "Sorry. Are you ok? What happened?" "I'm ok. I passed out because I found out my mother had a heart attack. I was worried before I came to college something like this would happen. Now I'm without parents, so I don't know what to do." I realize that I'm again in Luke's dorm. He hugs me and puts my head to his chest. "It'll be ok. You have me and Ash and Charley and Alex. We'll take care of you. You'll be safe." "Thanks, Luke." He rubs a hand up and down my back, feeling like he's trying to calm me down. I smile as I remember he used to do that when I was sad. One time I had gotten hurt because I had fell and he was there and he helped me calm down. No matter what, he's always there for me. "Luke?" I say as I look up at him. "Yes?" He says. "Um... could I stay here again? Just for tonight?" It might sound weird, but I can't go back in my dorm and face Ash, not now. "Max, you don't have to ask me if you can stay with me, I'll always say yes. I don't care what time of day it might be but you can stay here." "Thank you," I say. "No problem," he says. "Now I guess you should go get you some clothes?" "Oh yeah. I'll be right back." I get out the bed and hurry out the door to my dorm. "Ash? You there?" I say as I open the door. Of course, she's asleep. Good. I think. I don't want her to ask where I'm going because then she'll most likely pick. I grab a bag and start putting clothes on while listening to music. My favorite song plays, "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Micheal Jackson. The king may be dead, but he lives through his loyal subjects. As I finish packing clothes, I grab some clothes and take a quick shower.
-15 minutes later-
As I step out the shower, I notice the door is open. "Hello?" I call. "W- Who's there?" "Just me," says Luke. "Wha-! LUKE!!" I whisper- shout. "What are you doing in here?!" "Just coming to check on you, jeez Louise girl don't get so worked up." "Well I was taking a shower and I was about to head back to your dorm after I got my clothes on and brushed my teeth. You didn't have to come check." I hear footsteps coming to the bathroom door. "Um... what are you doing?" I ask shakily. "Just coming to check." "Well you don't need to come in here. I'm completely fine." "Okay. Whatever you say." I hear him walk away from the door. I dry myself off with the towel and put my clothes on. As I'm going to brush my teeth, the door suddenly opens and Luke runs in. He takes me by the waist and tickles me. "Wait! No!!" I shout laughing. "Yes! I have to. It's too funny." He says. I start squealing and then Ashley comes in the bathroom. "Can you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep." She says groggily. "Sorry." We say. She walks back to bed and goes back to sleep. We bust out laughing. "SHUSH!" She says as the throws a pillow at me and Luke. It makes us laugh even harder but then we are able to calm down. "Sorry," Luke says. "I'll let you brush your teeth now." "Yeah thanks," I chuckle. After I finish, I walk out the door and go meet Luke. "Ready?" He asks. "For what?" He grabs my hand without answering and pulls me to the door. "Hey wait! Where you takin' me?" "It's a surprise!" He says. "Now come on." He drags me to his truck and opens the door for me. He picks me up, even though I can get in by myself, and closes the door. He gets in and looks at me. "What?" I say. "If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?" Good question. Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a surprise? "Hmm.... somewhere fun? A beach? I don't know." "Well, I'll take you somewhere fun. There is a fair not far from here." "No way! I haven't been to a fair in a while. I miss the Cotton Festival fair. And the parade. It was awesome." "Well this has all the rides from the Festival. And the cake that you loved so much." Shut up. They don't have- "No way. No way possible. No one makes that anymore." "Well this fair does." "Well what are we waiting for? Let's gooooo I need my old friend back." He laughs and starts the truck up and drives out of the parking lot.
-45 minutes later-
The lights, the Ferris wheel, everything like I remembered. "Wow..." my breath was taken away. "I wish I was still a kid. I missed these things." "If you were still a kid, would I be here too?" "Of course, you big dummy." "Good." He says. Suddenly, I feel something on my arm and look back. "Huh? What are you-" I was cut off by him swinging me around and picking me up, putting me on his shoulders. "Hey-! What was that for?" "Thought you might've wanted to get a full view." He was right. But it wasn't enough. "Can we go on the Ferris Wheel? Please?" I ask with puppy dog eyes. "Fine," he chuckles. "We can go on the Ferris wheel." "Yay!" I slide down and hold on to his neck, putting my legs on his sides. "Lets go," I say as I hold on to him. He slides his arms under my legs and walks in the direction of the Ferris Wheel. I wonder what it will look like from up there.
"Tickets please," the ticket master says. We hand her our tickets and she lets us in one of the carriages. She lets more people on, then starts the Ferris Wheel up.
-At the top of the Ferris Wheel-
"Woah," I say as my eyes widen. "It's so pretty at night." "Yeah. It is." Luke says as he slides his arm around my waist. Suddenly, the Ferris Wheel stops. "Oh no not again," I say as I remember. Luke is afraid of heights. Every time we would go on the Ferris Wheel as kids and it would stop at the top, he would get scared. I completely forgot about that. I feel him shaking. "Oh no please don't be scared. It's ok. I'm right here." He's much more afraid of heights than I am. I wish we would get over it but it seems we can't. "I- I'm ok," he says. His shaking lessens. "You sure?" "Yeah... sorry." "It's ok," I say. I feel a little scared. I shouldn't worry him... "What about you? Are you ok?" He asks with a smile. You little-! "Suuure I'm fine," I lie. He sees through it and squeezes my waist. "Don't be afraid. We won't fall or-" As soon as he says that, we hear something snap. "What the-" I'm cut off by hearing another snap. My eyes widen as I realize what's happening. "WE ARE GOING TO FALL?!" I say. "Hold on to me!" Luke shouts. He grabs my waist and I hold onto his shoulders. I feel the carriage fall from underneath us. "Woah!" I scream. I'm scared. Too scared. This can't be happening. He just said we wouldn't fall. And we did. "Ouch!" I say as we hit the ground with a hard thump. "Are you ok?" I ask Luke as I turn on my side. "Yeah, I'm fine." He says. I don't think he is so I check his arms and face. "What are you doing?" He asks. "Sorry, I was just making sure..." "It's ok. Want to go back home now?" "Yes, please." I say. When I stand up, I start shaking badly. I shake so bad I almost fall. Luke catches me and picks me up. My eyes water. "Oh no don't cry. It's ok I'm here. Don't cry." He tells me. "I'm sorry I- I can't help it. I was so scared we were going to die." I say as tears stream down my face. "It's ok, we aren't dead." He says as he kisses my forehead. "We are going home. You don't need to be scared. I'm here. If you are tired, you should go to sleep," Luke says as he notices my eyelids fluttering shut and opening again. "Yeah.... I'm kinda tired," I say as I drift off to sleep in his arms.