A Crybaby in the Badlands: HALSANIE

4 - Drive this Carousel

I stared at my burger, my hands clasped together in my lap. There was a single shake between mine and Melanie's plates, two straws in it. You could clearly tell which straw was mine, and which was hers, because hers had her lipstick printed on it.

Melanie had gotten a plate of chili fries, digging into them with a fork. We talked about memes for a while, then we got serious and discussed my feelings. By the end of the night, we both had butterflies in our tummies— I knew it.

She dropped me off at my house and let me leave with a purple and blue lip print on my left cheek. I walked into my house and just slumped down against my door. I was so happy.

"Aww!" Ryan cooed, clapping and gushing as he heard the slightly tweaked story. "You two will make such a cute couple when it becomes official!"

Brendon nodded, mimicking Ryan, and earning a backhand on the arm from Marina, who snickered a bit at how much he flinched. He rolled his eyes and turned to me. "So," he began, tapping his foot. "She feels the same?"

I shrugged, faking a love-struck expression. "I'm hoping so! I mean, it was only our first date, and I'd convinced her to let me post a photo of us on Insta! I had to agree to only one hashtag.. SIGH.. But, it was worth the sacrifice!" God, I loved how oblivious everyone was.

"Well, don't you guys have another date tonight? Where are you guys going?" Marina asked, leaning forwards on her elbows and staring at me with intrigue.

"I am taking her to the old amusement park," I told them, beaming. "You know, the one at Forefront Beach? That boardwalk arcade? It opens today, so I'm taking her."

"Oh, cool! Isn't everything there like, twenty-five cents?" Ryan asked.

I nodded. The bell rang and I waved goodbye, dashing off to my next class. I spotted Melanie in the hallway and we hugged, and I heard a couple people 'aww' from the sidelines. I rolled my eyes and skipped off to class.

At the end of the day, I met Melanie at the front of the school in my truck and she climbed in. I explained to her what we were doing, and she nearly shot out of the sunroof. She was elated. She began to reminisce about the times she'd gone there with her parents before they'd passed, and left her living with her grandmother.

"I mean, I love my Nana, one-hundred percent! She can just be a bit overbearing at times," Melanie explained, smiling softly. "Plus, you can't blame me for missing my parents."

"You're right, you're right. I don't."

Today, I was wearing jean short-shorts, a floral ascot, a gray and purple midriff, and violet sunglasses. I had light gray, low-top converse on, and long socks, as well as suspenders. I was going full Tumblr girl today.

I parked at the boardwalk parking lot, hopping out of the car, and getting ready to help Melanie out, but she climbed out herself, a change purse clutched between her fingers. "I brought some of my quarter collection. I figured we could use it, haha."

I pulled out my change purse and smiled. "Great minds think alike. C'mon!" I linked arms with her and started towards the park.

The first thing we head towards was the carousel. I helped her onto the 'prettiest' horse and took a not-so-appealing one beside her, gripping the bar.

"I just hope we don't see clowns here," she shuddered.

I snickered. "Do you not like them?" I asked, kicking my feet at the sides of the horse as the carousel started.

"Not particularly," she answered. "When I w—"

"These horses are boring," I cut her off, grinning. "Let's see how they feel!" I jumped off my horse and pulled Melanie off of hers, our lips nearly touching once more, but I swiftly moved. I held her hand and began running around the platform, easing nimbly between the horses and sleighs.

Melanie squealed excitedly and I let go of her hand, beginning to race her without her knowing it. She eventually stopped running, and I snuck up behind her. She shrieked and swung at me, but I quickly leapt off the carousel and bolted towards the arcade.

I heard her racing after me, and just pictured her flying towards me, her just-above-the-knee pink dress flowing, and her tie-dye vans hitting the wood of the boardwalk, her choker charm glistening in the falling sun, and her two-tone hair swaying in slow motion. I dived into the acrcade and stopped, turning to her and panting, holding up my hands and breathing out, "I surrender!"

Melanie reared to a halt and panted too, grinning at me and leaning up against the Pac-man machine. "Alright, let's play some games!"

Since it was a vintage amusement park, the games were all pretty vintage, too, with some exceptions. Afterwards, we went off to roam the park, and I bought us snow cones. After that, we went to play at some of the game stands. I won her and myself a couple small bears playing things such as darts, ring toss, shoot the ducky, and one where I had to climb a wobbly ass rope without falling.

She won me a giant bear playing that one game where, y'know, you've gotta aim the water, and the first to fill up the meter or whatever wins. There were others playing against us there, though, which is why she got a big bear. Well, it wasn't actually a bear. It was a unicorn.

I had some trouble fitting it into my car when we were all done, but I managed. We left our teddies there and decided to go down to the actual beach, since the sun was down now, and it wouldn't be scorching.

We slipped off our shoes and stood at the shore, the tide lapping at our feet as we looked off into the horizon, hand-in-hand. If I actually did like girls, Melanie would be the one, for sure.