Page 26 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze
Thank goodness there are only two people in line ahead of me when I get in line, and before I know it, I have the ice-cold coffee goodness in my hands and hum happily as a sip of the cold goodness flows down my throat.
“Now I'm ready. Let’s go.”
There’s still a way to go until the entrance. I hum along to the music from the speakers, bopping my head to the melody, all in all in a better mood now that we’re here and I have a cold drink.
We get into the park without a hitch, one of the benefits of not queuing to enter right at opening time, I guess.
Obviously, it’s not sold out if Adam still managed to get a ticket, and thank God, it looks like a pleasant amount of people in here. Not so little you feel weird for being one of the few, and not so packed you can barely walk a proper speed.
When the first merchandise shop comes into sight, I immediately make a beeline for it.
"What are we doing here?" Adam asks.
"I'm buying souvenirs for Lucy, my sister-in-law," I announce with a happy sigh and hand him my coffee. He takes it, seemingly out of reflex, as I’m heading straight for the headbands. It’s a lie. Lucy might love some of these characters but I’m totally shopping for myself. He doesn’t need to know that, though.
Goddamnit, they have so much cute stuff. I restrain myself, though. I don’t want to have to carry all of this around for the whole day. The one thing I can’t walk away from though is the shelf with headbands and hats.
I select one I like and then another that I just know Adam is going to look ridiculous in, with his overly serious black t-shirt and jeans combo. Who in their right mind even wears a dark shirt when the sun is blasting from the sky?
The lovely cashier removes the tags of my goods for me, and before Adam can even open his mouth to object, I turn around and put it on him.
"Adorable," I state dryly, pursing my lips to keep them from revealing how funny I think he looks, "Beige fluff suits you."
I still, gauging his reaction when he doesn’t say anything at first. Once I see the corner of his mouth twitching for a grin, I walk to the closest mirror and put mine on. His might be beige fluff, but mine is white with pink accents and it looks cute as hell.
"And white fluff suitsyou," he says, finally giving in to the grin when I turn around and he hands me back my coffee. “Very cute.” I scowl when he says it in a high-pitched way, just like you would talk to a small child. He reaches up to take it off, but I shake my head at him disapprovingly.
"You're not serious. I have to wear this the whole day?"
His eyes grow wide and he walks past me to take a look at himself in the mirror as well.
"Oh, deadly," I say with a serious nod. "If you're going to tag along with me for the whole day, you better bring the mood with you, or I'm going to ‘lose’ you somewhere in the park.” I lift my hands for air quotes and bite my lip. The image of him having to wait for me at the lost kids’ area is kind of hilarious.
"Alright, alright." He raises his hands defensively, his shoulders sagging. "You're the boss."
"That's what I like to hear." I grin and stride ahead. "But let me be honest with you, I'm mostly here for the vibes. Queuing for 90 minutes to ride a 3-minute ride is just not something I have the patience for. So, my first order of action is to take a stroll, feel the vibes, see if we find a prince or princess. It's Lucy's birthday soon and I want to see if one of them will record her a birthday message."
"So what's the plan?" Adam asks again.
"You're such a planner," I playfully scold him and roll my eyes. "Just go with the flow, see what you want to do. Or are you trying to stress me out?"
"I would never," he promises and raises his hands in a defensive gesture.
"I don'thave a plan, Adam. We're here, at one of the happiest places on earth, and we're going to do whatever the heck we want to do. You want to queue for a ride? Go ahead. Tell me if it has less than thirty minutes waiting time and I might tag along. For now, I’ll walk around aimlessly, try out cute-looking food and watch fireworks in the evening."
"Well, let me check." Adam pulls out his phone, and I'm sure he pulls up the app to check for the waiting times. His eyes widen the more he taps on his screen, and I try to contain my grin when he puts it away again and states, "Looks like I'm right with you."
"Splendid," I tell him with a giggle and stride ahead, my eyes dancing over the cute buildings and trying not to stumble over a child.
The first thing I see is a statue of the founder and I hurry over to for a selfie.
"Would you like me to take a picture for you?" Adam asks amusedly, already extending his hand to take my phone from me, but I shake my head.
"No, thank you. You see, it's something of a tradition." I make a duck face and snap the picture, placing the frame so the castle is visible in the background. It's the perfect shot to send to Lucy.
"It's a little game I have going on with my sister-in-law. Whenever either of us is at any of these amusement parks, we take a selfie with the statues and send it. But ithasto be a selfie."
"That's interesting," he says, but looks so confused I’m not quite sure I believe him. Whatever, he doesn’t have to get it.
