Joe Mazzello Imagines

Ferris Wheel

Since moving to LA, I haven't had the chance to see my best friend, Rebekah in what feels like years. Sure, we've Skype'd and called and texted, but it's definitely not the same. So, when I found out she got tickets to fly to LA for the weekend, I got super excited. I would finally get to see her again. We even made a plan to go to the city carnival together since she's never been to one before. I was so looking forward to it all until I met her at the airport to find she had her boyfriend, Brad in tow with her. 

Don't get me wrong, Brad is a great guy. An absolute sweet heart of a boyfriend, but he's kinda ruining the girl's weekend I had planned. And I love Rebekah to bits, but she doesn't know how to take breaks from guys. She's always been boy crazy for as long as I can remember and doesn't know how to be alone. But I guess I have the opposite problem. I've gotten too good at being on my own, and am not so good at actually talking to guys. I think maybe we should learn from one another.

But right now, I am stuck being third wheel with Rebekah and Brad at the carnival. Yay. I honestly should have expected this.

I end up following behind Rebekah and Brad throughout the start of the start of the night , eating a giant pretzel (which I have a bit of a weakness for) and ignoring all of the lovey dovey moments they share. So basically everything they do together. These two are so cute together, its disgusting. They do try and include me on everything, but the attempts are so half-hearted that I just keep back and let them do their own thing. I like being in my own head anyway.

"Y/N!" Rebekah says excitedly, pulling Brad with her up to me. "We're going onto the Ferris Wheel now, if you want to come." I sigh.

"Sure, why not." I can't help but hear the boredom in my own voice, but they don't seem to hear it as we all stand in line to wait. I seriously didn't sign up for this third wheeling thing. I think after this, I'll just head back home and they can just get a taxi home. I can hear my bottle of wine, my bed and Brooklyn Nine-Nine calling me. I just don't think I can take much more of this.

"Okay," the man in charge of the Ferris Wheel  says, snapping me out of my thoughts, "we'll have you two in one cart, you two in another cart, and the two third wheels in another cart." Are you serious? Even the Ferris Wheel guy is getting a good kick out of this. 

I sigh as I sit down in our assigned cart at the exact same time as the other guy, making the cart rock a little under our sudden weight. It's not until we got secured in, we started going up and he starts speaking that I even acknowledged him. Let's just say, I'm not used to people in LA taking time to talk to me.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't sign up to being the third wheel either?" The guy asks with a smooth voice and now that I'm looking at him, I don't want to look away.

"Not at all. I haven't seen my friend in ages, and I thought we were having a girls night out. Turns out, not so much. What about you?"

"Basically the same. We just wanted to relive our 'glory' days." He air quotes glory before he stares back at me, refusing to break eye contact. "I'm Joe."

"Y/N."

"Well, Y/N, how about a proposition?" I raise my eyebrow, intrigued. "How about we join our groups of love birds and third wheels together, that way we can keep each other company and not get bored out of our minds." I can't help but smile.

"Or," I start, "we just leave the love birds and we can go off and do our own thing so we aren't disrupting them."

"I like your thinking Y/N." After we get off the Ferris Wheel , we go back to our respective groups to tell them our plan. While Brad smiles at me gratefully, Rebekah just glares at me.

"So, you're ditching me, ditching us, for a guy you met on a two minute ride? Are you crazy?" Her voice is louder and harsher than anticipated, but I know I can't back down.

"Yeah, pretty much." I can see Brad fighting off a laugh, but Rebekah rolls her eyes in annoyance. "Look, I'll be fine. If he tries anything, I can look after myself. You know I can. And like you said, I'm crazy, so it's really him who should be worried, not me. Rebekah, we can have a girls day tomorrow, and we can meet back here at midnight so I can take us all back home." Rebekah sighs in defeat.

"Fine. Just promise you'll text me if you need me, and please be safe."

"Always." I wink as Brad starts pulling Rebekah gently away and out of my sight. I'm not left alone for long as Joe soon fills the recently vacated spot. 

"So, I'm free. How did it go with you?"

"Honestly, better than I expected." He chuckles. "So, I was thinking that we could do all the things we couldn't do before, because no doubt your couple did everything that my couple did, which is nothing fun." He smirks at me and I can't help but smile and blush. "So, shall we?" He holds out his arm which I shyly accept.

"Hell yes."

With all the rides we couldn't go on before, we went on all of the thrill rides. As in all of the rides that newly couples tend to avoid in fear of throwing up in front of their date. But the one ride I couldn't seem to handle as well as the others was the roller coaster. The bloody thing went upside down for the majority of it! I ended up grabbing hold of Joe's hand and squeezing it tightly. I swear his hand was dark purple by the time we got off the ride, but he didn't seem to complain. Especially when he refused to let go of my hand as we started walking around again. 

After all of the thrill, talking and the laughter, we decided to go for one more ride on the Ferris Wheel before we had to say good-bye. The funny thing is, the whole night we couldn't stop talking when we had the chance, but upon taking our seats, we didn't seem to have a single word to say to one another.

So, I just sat there, staring out at the view as the ride comes to a stop at the top. I could feel Joe's eyes staring at me, and I couldn't help but blush as I look over at him with a small smile.

"What?" I ask quietly as he stares at me like I'm something special.

"You're just very beautiful." I almost didn't catch what he said, but when I did, he was already leaning in, placing a small kiss on my lips. The kiss was simple, quick and made slightly awkward because of our restraints, but it held so much promise for the future. He leans his forehead against mine and strokes my cheek with his thumb softly. "We should do this again sometime in the near future."

"Definitely."