𝐹𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑂𝑛𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑠

Roller Coasters

I took a sip of water, trying not to chug it. It was so hot out, which was expected of a summer at an amusement park.  Thankfully, the forecast said it was going to calm down in thirty or so minutes. I looked up, checking the line in front of me. The wait said only 10 or so minutes, and I was pumped. Historically, I didn't have the best experience with roller coasters, but screw it. Roller coasters were great!

"You waiting in line too?" Someone in front of me asked. I glanced up, finding a pretty girl with green hair. "I've been waiting forever."

"Oh, uh, yeah," I agreed. "The lines are crazy today. But it is summer. And we are in an amusement park." She laughed at that. 

"I guess it would make more sense to come on a Tuesday during the school year, but it doesn't have the same effect when you don't wait in line with a million 12 year olds." She considered. The line shifted forward, moving us along. 

"Hey, what does that sign read?" I asked her. She leaned forwards, peering over the tops of some heads.

"Singles will be paired. I guess they put that there so they don't get sued for assault or something the Karens of the amusement park world will complain about."  I glanced ahead, mentally paring people up. The ride allowed for two people to go at a time, so I guess it made sense  to pair people up to keep the lines moving. "You riding with anyone?" She asked, snapping me back to the present. 

"No, I came here with some friends who aren't really into roller coasters." She nodded. 

"I came here with two of my best friends who started dating three weeks ago and are still in that gross cutesy stage, so I'm third wheeling. As far as I know, they're in a photo booth, doing couple photos."

At this point, we were only a minute away from the ride. A ride assistant came towards us, gesturing is along. "You two riding with anyone?" We shook our heads no. "Great, you'll be riding together." We stepped onto the platform, preparing to get on the slingshot themed attraction. 

We stepped up, following the operator to the seats. Sitting down, I started to feel jittery. I mean, this thing was supposed to shoot me three hundred feet in the air. Once we were strapped in, we started to rock back and forth. 

"You good? You look like you're gonna puke."

"Fine. Just nervous." The craft kept rocking, back and forth, back and forth. "Is this thing ever going to take of-AHHHH!" I shrieked. The pretty girl shrieked too, but for very different reasons. She laughed, enjoying the thrill of being shot hundreds off feet upwards. I continued screaming, primarily out of sheer terror. 

"You sure you're fine?!" The pretty girl screamed over the wind. I shook my head vigorously.

"Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope NOPE NOPE NOPE." I muttered, barely heard over the whipping of the wind. 

"Here!" She yelled, grabbing my hand, holding it tightly. I could just barely feel the ride slowing down, but it was still going approximately 500 miles an hour. After a moment, it started settling down, slowly lowering us.  

"Never doing that again." I said, still a bit frozen. She laughed. 

"I get that. But, if we were to do something else here, that wasn't a scary roller coaster, would you be less shrieky?" She asked as we touched down. I grinned at that. 

"If it involves sitting down and recovering for the next twenty minutes, I'm game." We stood up, regaining balance. She grabbed my hand, pulling me up. 

"My name is Alex, by the way, and I like you. Let's go do cute couples stuff!"