Rollercoaster

the pier

November 26th, 2019
F I N O L A

We finally arrived at the pier after being stuck in traffic for way too long. We listened to One Direction the whole way there, and I think Braxton is officially a fan. Seriously, I think he knows all the words to every song at this point.

"What do you wanna do first," I said grabbing his hand. "it's up to you."

Braxton looked up at me and gave me the biggest smile. "Cotton Candy."

Of course he wants Cotton Candy, can't blame the kid though. That's some good shit. We make our way to one of the food vendors and wait in the long line of people.

"Your son is so cute!" a woman said to me, I got a warm feeling in my stomach.

"Thank you," I smiled politely "your little girl is so adorable"

I looked down into her stroller and admired her adorable baby, she couldn't be more than a year old.
God, I want a baby so bad. The baby fever is real.

"Aw thanks!" She smiled. "I'm Rebecca, and this is Hadley.

"My name is Finola, but you can just call me Finn." I said "and this is Braxton"

The line moved up a little bit but we carried on conversation. She complemented my earrings, I complemented her shoes. Women empower women as they say.

"We should really hang out some time, I don't have many friends around here," she said getting her phone out of her pocket "can I have your number?"

"Yeah of course," I said a little too excitedly "I don't have many friends either."

Which was true, I was never allowed to spend time with my friends when I was with Ryan. Now my only friends are the people I met through Buck. As much as I love them, I really want to make my own friends as well.

We got to the front of the line finally, and got our delicious Cotton Candy. Rebecca waited for us after she got her drink, since I offered for her to walk around with us. She's really nice to talk to.

"I wanna go to the duck game!" Brax said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards it.

Rebecca quickly followed behind us, possibly running over some people's toes in the process since we were basically running.

I gave Braxton some money to go play the game while Rebecca and I talked for a bit.

"So what brought you to LA?" She asked.

"I moved here with my ex boyfriend," I said reluctantly.

"What happened with you guys," she said "if you don't mind me asking."

I've never really had this conversation before so I didn't really know what to say. "He uh, passed away a few months ago."

"Oh I am so sorry," she put her hand on my shoulder. "I know how it feels to lose someone so close to you."

She continued "My husband passed away from a car accident a few months after Hadley was born."

I wiped a tear from my cheek and pulled her into a hug. So many emotions that I've been bottling up came out. I'm not alone.

"I blame myself everyday for what happened to Ryan, even though it was totally out of my control." I said.

"Oh honey, don't blame yourself for anything. I spent months blaming myself for not getting those stupid diapers myself," she said with caring eyes "it tore me apart wishing it was me and not him."

"Yeah I-" I was cut off by screams and a crowd of people running toward us. I looked back and saw what they were running from, a Tsunami.

"Holy shit," I yelled "grab Hadley" I said as I picked up Braxton.

We both ran with our children in our arms, scared for our lives.

People were tripping and running over people, and not knowing what to do I grabbed Rebeccas wrist with my free hand and led us to a game booth nearby.

We got in the booth, behind a wall, right as the wave hit us. And that's when shit got crazy.

Hi! Sorry about the wait, I've been super stressed. I'm alright now but still struggling to get out of bed the most days, gonna try to update more often (even though I say that like every chapter).

Love y'all, stay safe, and love yourselves 💛
-Elise