All Roses Have Thorns

Erin XXI

She was trying not to think about last night, but it seemed that it was the only thing she could think of.

She pushed him away. "Z-Zach-"

"Sorry!" He covered his face. "It was kind of an in the moment thing and-"

"It's fi-"

They kept cutting each other off. "No, I am sorry, Erin," he mumbled, speaking into his arms. His head was propped up on his knees and she couldn't see his face underneath his mop of dark, messy hair. "I know you don't see me that way. I'm a knucklehead."

Erin couldn't help but snicker at that. "You are a knucklehead, but this isn't a reason you are. You're a teenage boy and my best friend. Plus... I can tell when you start acting differently. Even slightly."

"So... you're not mad?" His head tilted up a bit, his eyes peeking out from behind his knees.

She scoffed, "Of course, I'm a little mad at you. I'll put this behind us, though. Whatever happens will happen, y'know?"

"Well, I just want you to know that no matter what-"

"Erin!" Zach snapped his fingers in front of her face. "We're up!"

"Ah, okay," she followed along behind him. The two of them, as well as Matt, piled into one of the seats. They had allotted a certain amount of their tickets to go on the spinning machine. Some called it Twister, some called it The Barf Machine. Whatever the name and wherever it was, it was still the same thing: the place where Erin and the two boys made monologues in monotone voices while spinning at ridiculously high speeds.

Sierra and Maggie were in another booth, and Safiya and Reese were in another one across the way. The three other boys had chosen not to ride it. Sebastian and Ryan didn't like it. Jake chose to keep them company.

The guy running the ride came around to check everyone's seatbelts. Then the ride started.

When they were moving at a fairly good speed, Matt pointed to a teenager on the side. "I can hear his thoughts." He had already started talking in a deadpan monotone voice.

"Then what does he say?" Erin gestured like an old English member of court in a historical fiction film.

"I'm tired. When can I go home? This is boring." They all lurched to the side as the ride finished one of the circles. "Are there any potatoes? My girlfriend will be a potato." Erin snorted at this. "Then we will have baby fries."

"But," Erin said in her best - but still horrible - British accent, "Wouldn't he have to kill his girlfriend?"

"Then the young man realized the flaw in his plan," Zach continued the story. "His family would be delicious, and he would cave in toward his human instincts and devour his family! It would be a catastrophe!"

It was a good thing Erin wasn't drinking anything, because she would have spit it right out. She laughed.

Zach cracked a smile, "You broke first."

"I know." It was almost like they weren't on a ride, except for the screaming children in the background or when they reached the outside of the circle and got squished together. She sighed, "What do I have to do?"

"Buy us zeppolis."

"Done."

»» — ⋆❀⋆ — ««

They all got pizza for lunch, and different amounts of zeppolis were bought by various members of the group. Then they all went for a walk on the beach. Happy times.