Laced • Luke Dunphy

I

"Zero to hero, in no time flat," I sing loudly, titling my head towards Luke.

"Zero to hero, just. like. that!" Luke does the same and sings the next part, accompanied by the finger snap.

"When he smiled the girls when wild with.." Luke and I continue, leaning forward, indicating Phil to do the thing.

"OOHS AND AAAAAAHS," he sings, cocking his head back as if to answer us.

"And they slapped his face on ev'ry vase," I go on.

"On eeeeev'ry vAHse," Luke twists to look at me, as if offended. We laugh and finish the song. Claire rolls her eye playfully, Alex has her nose in a book and Haley is busy texting.

We sing a few more songs before Sleeping Beauty's castle comes into view. Luke and I screech in excitement, the songs completely out of our minds. The cries pull Haley out of her trance and she lets out a small squeak as she sees it.

Alex lifts her head slowly, looking at us, as if asking what was going on. Phil starts chanting "Disneyland" because Alex seems uninterested by the castle, and the three of us join in.

"Okay, okay!" Claire says, turning the radio off and waving her arms, trying to calm us down as we arrive at the park. We get out and buy our tickets. The guy in uniform lets us in and Phil drags us over to the nearest gift shop.

"Let's buy it all," I whisper in Luke's ear and he giggles. We look around in amazement and go off, grabbing every hat or funny glasses we can find and putting them on.

"Hey! Hey, Jamie, look at me," Luke calls somewhere on the other side of the store and I run over. I laugh as I see a huge pair of Minnie Mouse ears topped on his curly hair and he snorts noisily when he sees a big stuffed Winnie the Pooh tucked under my arm.

"Hey, this would look so good on you," I snigger, picking a child's pirate costume off a hanger next to me. I hold it up to him, sizing him up, and he poses.

Phil calls us and we follow the sound of his child-like voice. He's holding up 3 small Mickey Mouse ear hats and smiling broadly. We buy them, put them on and walk out proudly.

"Oh god, Phil, really? Every year?" Claire groans as she sees us, making Haley giggle and Alex roll her eyes, trying to stifle a smile.

"We look great, Claire," I say, grinning at her. She smiles back down at me and admits they do look good on us.

We start walking, pointing towards different attractions and talking about the shapes of the clouds. Soon enough, Luke and I are ahead of the others, doing our own thing, greeting every character we meet on our way.

I hear Claire and Phil talking under their breath. Luke is talking with the Evil Queen so I tune into the conversation going on behind us.

"Phil, honey, we love her, the kids love her, she's been like another member of the family since she was 4," Claire says quietly.

"Yes, but.. what about her dad?" he answers hastily.

"He's obviously not a good person, I mean he left her and her mother when she was born. God knows where he is now. Did you even see him at the funeral? Don't tell me you forgot that morning, the way we found her standing there."

"No, it was traumatic, I can't imagine what she went through. Shouldn't we ask the kids before asking her?"

"Of course... let's just enjoy ourselves right now." The subject changes and I tune back into the pranks the Evil Queen is helping Luke plan. I pipe in with ideas and she seems impressed.

We finally decide on Splash Mountain and go a few times before we change rides. I don't say anything to Luke but I think he can tell something's wrong, although he doesn't say anything. I give him a small smile in the line to the Haunted Mansion and he returns it.

"C'mere," he opens his arms and I grasp him around the waist, his head settled in between my Mickey ears.

"Thanks," I mumble into his chest as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. He doesn't say anything, just rubs my back.

I reach up slowly and ruff up his hair, making him laugh, the line in front of us advancing and we go forward. We finally reach the front door and enter.

We meet up with the others at the castle around midday for lunch. We walk around for a while, trying to find a good restaurant and end up finding a simple hamburger café.

After an hour of chatting and eating, we finish and continue walking around, getting on rides, buying sugary snacks and Disney themed trinkets, talking and taking pictures with the characters.

After a few hours, the sun starts going down and the park closes. I suggested going in winter, because there are fewer open hours so fewer people want to go, giving us have more time to do things.

"That was great," Alex says, smiling like a goof and I grin down at her from my position on Luke's back. It feels nice when Alex isn't sarcastic or being a smartass. Don't get me wrong, I love her like she's my own sister but she's always working, never letting herself go. Today was good for her. Haley too, she's always on her phone. But today she was really present, like she was actually here with us.

"We should come more often," Luke suggests innocently. I giggle, hanging onto him for dear life.

"Sure," Claire says tauntingly, looking between me and her son.

"I'm telling you, if those two don't end up together, cut off my arm." Phil says under his breath and Claire slaps his shoulder. I pretend not to hear and Luke probably doesn't. Knowing him, he had most likely gotten distracted by something or other. I lean my forehead against the back of his and smile into his curly hair.

I would never admit it, but the idea of us together gave me butterflies.