Waves, Sunsets, & Coffee

Chapter 8.1

"Did you guys know there's an amusement park just half an hour drive away?" Alec says out of the blue as he was on his computer.
The group's currently spending their time in doors as they decided to have another drunk night and now, they're either eating or resting their hangovers.
I was smart enough not to drink too much, knowing the consequences.
"You guys wanna go?" Alec asks and the group groans.
"Come on! I wanna do something today!" Alec pleads and Emma throws a pillow straight to him.
"Can't you see we're dealing with shit right now?" They say.
"Not my fault you guys decided to drink too much. Again." He argues.
"I mean, I'm up to go. We're already here, so why not discover what this place has." I tell the group and Alec fists pumps the air for having one person on his side.
"Plus, you know how Alec won't stop talking about going there until we actually go there. So, you want to spend your whole day here with Alec or spend the rest of the day at the park?" I say, knowing they can't stand a non-stop talking Alec.
"Fine!" Emma says and they started to get ready.
"Can I invite Ares?" I asked, since he's been ignoring my texts yesterday, saying he's busy and has things to do.
"Yeah go ahead." Emma says.
I called Ares who wasn't picking up so I tried again, and after a few rings, he finally picked up.
"Hey." I start.
"Alex, you need something?"
"The group wanted to go to the park. We're driving there in an hour. You want to come?" I asked, hopefully he'll say yes because I needed to talk with him, and honestly, I kinda miss him. Somehow.
"I don't want to bother your group."
"They wanted you to come too, you know. Please Ares? I know you miss me." I teased him and I heard him sigh on the other end of the line.
"Alright. I'll be there." He says and I smile.
"Thank you. See you." I say and ended the call and went to change clothes.

We were ten minutes into the drive when Alec stopped the van on the side of the road.
"Why'd you stop?"
"I kinda... forgot the way there..." he says and we groan. He invited us to come and he doesn't know the way? God Alec.
"Can you guys search it up?" He suggests.
"We're in the middle of the road with pine trees on both sides Alec! We don't have phone reception." Enzo says.
"Just turn back to the gasoline station we passed by earlier." Liam suggests when I stop him.
"Hold up. I got one bar. I'll try to call Ares, see if he can pick us up." I say.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"We're kinda... stuck in the middle of nowhere 'cause Alec forgot the way to the park. Can you meet us in the gasoline station just outside town?" I asked Ares.
"You planned to go to a place and you don't know how to get there?" He says and I laugh.
"That's what we told him."
"Well sure. I'll be there in five."
"Okay turn back to the gasoline station. He'll meet us there." I say to the group and Alec sheepishly smiles and apologizes.
"Hey, thanks for coming." I say as Ares pulls up in front of us.
"Yeah no problem. So, you guys good?" He asks and I nod.
"Well, lead the way." I say and Ares nods as he starts the engine and goes first to the road.
I was just about to go back to the van when Enzo shut the doors and Alec pressed on the gas, leaving me behind.
"You shits! Fuck yall man. Come on!" I shout but they continue to drive, and luckily, Ares saw what happened and drove back.
"Get in." He says and laughs that my so-called friends decided to leave me hanging.
"I'm so going to kill them once we get there." I say as I strapped myself in.
"Relax Alex. They're your friends, what do you expect." Ares couldn't stop chuckling at what just happened so I smacked him in the shoulder for having the audacity to laugh.
"Okay okay!" He exclaims.
"You were ignoring my texts and calls yesterday. I never got to explain wha—" I say when he cuts me off.
"Look Alex, you don't have to explain anything to me alright? What happened was between you and Liam that I have no business in. Don't worry about it alright? It's all good." He says, offering me a smile as he plays some music.
A familiar song by Bruno Mars plays, to which I forgot the title too.
"Oh her eyes her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining." Ares sings and I was surprised that he had a fairly decent voice.
Is there anything this guy can't do?
"Woah woah woah. Is this for real?" I say, teasing him.
"Are you in love with me now?" He teases back and I roll my eyes at him as he continues to sing.
"When I see your face. There's not a thing that I would change 'cuz you're amazing. Just the way you are."
After a couple more karaoke, thanks to Ares over here, we finally reached the amusement park as I prepared to kill each one of my friends, starting with Enzo, who was the mastermind of leaving me behind.
"You!" I say, catching Enzo's attention.
"Oh shit. Move!" He says, pushing the others away as I chase after him, ready to break one or maybe a few of his bones.
I was so close to jumping on him when I felt arms around me.
"Let go of me Liam!" I say as my nose flares to Liam who refuses to let me loose.
"Alex shh." He tries to calm me down by counting from one. I didn't think it would work but soon, I wasn't struggling from his hold.
"I'm going to let you go now. So don't do anything stupid." He warns and he slowly releases from his hold. I stay in place, not doing anything stupid. Yet.
"Geez. Sorry Lex. I just had to." Enzo gets closer and I roll my eyes.
I tried to play it cool and when he got too close, I quickly jabbed him in his stomach, making him groan in pain.
"Not cool!" He says in between breaths.
"Try being left behind by your friends!" I say when Ares pulls me away from him.
"Okay... why don't we just go inside huh?" He says.
"She has some serious anger issues..." I heard Enzo whisper to Alec who chuckles from behind so I was about to charge at both of them again when Ares steps in between.
"Alex, let's go." He says, putting his arms in front of him and I soon gave in. I decided they're not worth my energy, so I let Ares lead the way.
"You alright?" He asks.
"Fine." I responded.
"Come on. I know what will cheer you up." Ares says as he excuses us from the group and brings me to a small stall, and immediately, my nerves calm down as the aroma of caffeine hits my nose.
"So, you alright now?" Ares asks as I took a sip from the drink.
"Absolutely. Now let's get to the rides!"
We went back to the group who was just lining up on the biggest and highest roller coaster in this park.
I guess it's really "go big or go home" for this group.
"Hey, you guys go ahead..." I heard Ares say from beside when we were just lining up.
"What...?" I asked when I noticed him looking up the coaster and gulping as the ride went down from the top.
"You don't like heights... do you?" I say and he sighs, shaking his head no.
"Yeah... not really..." He says.
"Alex, come on!" Liam gestures as it was our turn to get in the cart.
"Ares!" I called for him but he already went out of the line.
"I'll meet up with you after the ride." He says before turning away and Liam pulling me in.
I sat beside Liam as I watched Ares walk away.
"Fear of heights I'm guessing?" Liam says and I nod.
"Didn't see him as that kinda guy." He says and I nod once more.
"Me neither."
The seven of us went on the same ride twice as the adrenaline ran through us. We really love anything that brings our heart rates up, and that's what makes this group a bunch of reckless college students when we choose to be.
"You remember that time I took you to the small city fair? It was your first time riding a roller coaster and you vomited after the ride!" He recalls the memory and laughs hard as I pushed him.
"Shut up. Don't bring that up." I say as I roll my eyes.
"Okay okay, how 'bout the time you—" Liam keeps on reliving old memories of the time when I was still young, and incredibly clumsy.
We were walking towards the food stalls since Ares texted he was there.
"Ares hey!" I greet him.
"Want some?" He says, offering me a box of doughnuts which I don't hesitate and took a bite.
"Mhm. This is good."
"So, had fun?" He asks and I nod with my mouth still full of doughnuts.
"Mhm yeah. You missed out a lot. But hey, we're going to the bump car next. You're coming, and don't say you don't like bump cars. Everybody loves bump cars!" I exclaimed as I pulled him towards the line.
"Someone's excited." Ares comments as I couldn't contain my excitement.
"It's been so long since I went to a bump car. Not since..." I pause, remembering the last time I went in one of these... it was with my father.
"Alex?" Ares cuts me off my thoughts.
"Well, not since I was young! Let's go!" I managed to cover it up as I ran to the nearest bump car and strapped myself in. Ares does the same and the others, waiting for the buzzer to start.