Book 4: The Way We've Always Done Before (Axl Rose FanFic)

Ch. 14: Santa Cruz

It was around eleven o'clock at night when Will made me pull over so that he could drive.

"Where on Earth are we going?" I demanded as I buckled up in the passenger's seat and Will merged back onto the highway.

"Don't worry about it," Will muttered with a tiny smile.

"Wi-" I caught myself by clapping my hands over my mouth. I glanced over at Will, but he seemed to be too busy driving to notice my slip.

"Axl," the name left a weird taste in my mouth "we've been driving for nearly 5 hours."

"Which means we are almost there," he teased. "What? You're not getting tired, are you?"

He laughed as I fought back a yawn.

"No!"

"Good. Because I've got something special planned for you."

He winked at me and I turned away from him so he wouldn't see my face as it slowly transformed into a tomato. I stared out the window to see that Will was now taking the off ramp that had a sign that read "Santa Cruz".

I had never heard of nor been to Santa Cruz before, so I couldn't guess what Will possibly had planned for me. So I just sat back, ignored the butterflies in my stomach, and decided to get some shut-eye to prepare myself for the night ahead.

"Hazel."

My eyes fluttered open, and I saw nothing but black. I blinked furiously and, still, my eye sight wasn't returning.

"I can't see!" I cried out frantically.

I heard Will's booming laughter. "That's 'cause I'm covering your eyes with my hands."

I went rigid and just about died of embarrassment right there.

"Your face is getting hot. You okay?" He chuckled.

"I'm fine!" I shot back, fearing he'd tease me some more. "Why are your hands over my eyes?"

"So I could surprise you with....this."

He removed his hands from my face and I blinked furiously, fighting to focus in the sudden light. When my vision finally returned, what I saw made me gasp.

Towering before us was a boardwalk, covered in lights that winked back at us like little stars. There were carousels, roller coasters, and a giant ferris wheel. All of the rides were on and ready, and better still, the park was empty.

"Where are we?" I breathed, soaking it all up.

"The Santa Cruz Boardwalk," Will replied with a shrug.

"Isn't it past business hours?" I asked, still gawking at all of the lights.

"It is," he agreed. "That's why I paid them to keep this going all night."

That statement was enough to make me completely forget about the boardwalk long enough to gape at the man sitting beside me, smoking a cigarette and looking bored.

"You bought out the whole boardwalk for a night?" I stammered.

He shrugged and blew out some smoke. "Yeah."

He flicked his cigarette out of the window and stepped out of the car. I followed him outside, but stopped just in front of the car while he began walking towards the park. I stood there like an idiot, still unable to process what was going on.

Will had rented out an entire boardwalk for me. I never would have even considered that an option for the things he had planned for tonight.

"You comin' or what?" He asked with a smirk, turning around with a hand in his pocket and his eyes twinkling under his backwards hat.

I shook my head in disbelief. When Will had ran away to California with Izzy, I always had had the utmost faith in them. But even I had never considered just how successful they could be. Myself, being a small town girl, never even dreamed of being able to buy out an entire amusement park. But Will had huge aspirations, and he always got what he wanted. Maybe this was why he had forgotten about me. If he could get things as amazing as this, the girls he could get were probably even more spectacular.

He chuckled and walked back over to me, slipping his hand into my own and intertwining our fingers.

"Come on, darlin'," he pecked my cheek lightly, and it was like no time had passed between us at all. His accent even shone through slightly. "As beautiful as you look just standing around, I didn't rent the place out just for you to look at it."

I giggled and finally began to walk beside him. "Is that a bit of a twang I sense in your voice?"

He chuckled. "Oh, please. Even if it was, it's only because you're here to bring it back."

"Well, I'm glad I'm here," I admitted, watching our feet as we stepped side by side. There was a long pause and when I looked over at him, he seemed to be taken off guard by my confession, as though he couldn't be sure whether to believe me or not.

"I'm glad you're here too," he finally admitted. "Really glad."