Page 144 of Hat Trick
“Oh, we should try that. Forget about my leg.”
“Keep your pants on, Mitchell.”
I wave to the ride attendant. Our vehicle lurches forward, and I squeal when we roll out of the station and start up a hill.
“Jesus. The track isn’t even straight.” Riley holds me closer to his side. “And look at all those marks on the side. What if we go off the rails?”
“You need to live a little! That’s the whole point of this. Look how high we are!” I lift my arms above my head as the beach comes into view ahead of us. “I better hear your scream, Mitchy.”
We fly down the first hill, and Riley lets out a yelp next to me. He slides into me when we come around the first hill, elbow jabbing my side and making me burst out laughing. Our car shakes and rattles, and when we go down the second decline, he’s screaming his head off.
“I feel so alive,” he yells, and it’s my turn to smash into him. He puts a hand on my thigh to keep me in place, and he howls with laughter. “Holy shit. I wouldn’t care if we went flying off.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” I yell back.
We match each other’s screams for the duration of the ride. Tears are streaming down my face from how hard I’m cackling, and when we pull back into the station, I fall out of the vehicle and onto the platform in a fit of hysterical giggles.
“Ignore her,” Riley says to the attendant who watches us like we’ve lost our minds. “This is normal behavior.”
“I’m going to pee my pants. You sounded like a kindergartener playing dodgeball.” A fresh wave of laughter hits me as he helps me to my feet and leads me down the ramp that dumps back into the park. My sides hurt, and I wipe under my eyes. “Can we please go again?”
“I think my throat is going to be sore for weeks.” He coughs and touches his neck. “Am I twenty-six, or am I going through puberty?”
“You have to admit that was fun.”
“It was insanely fun. What’s next, Armstrong?”
“Carnival games! We’re knocking things out left and right.”
“I’m going to have to get Maverick a disgusting birthday gift to say thank you.” Riley puts his arm on my shoulder and I loop my arm around his waist, my palm slipping into the back pocket of his jeans. “This is unreal. It’s some apocalyptic shit walking around without anyone else here.”
He picks a ring toss game first, ignoring the attendant’s protest that everything’s been paid for and slapping down a twenty-dollar bill. After fifty rings, he’s nowhere near landing on the clear bottle for the grand prize, so we shift over to a water racer game where we sit side by side and try to hit the targets in front of us.
Riley reaches the top first, and he picks a giant stuffed ice cream cone as his prize that he hands over to me as soon as it’s in his possession. We move to the lone hot dog stand that’s open where we take a selfie that he sends in his group chat with the guys. His phone starts chiming immediately, and he blushes when he silences the text message notifications.
“You’re a popular guy, Mitchy.”
“Ethan is very happy we found the hot dogs, and everyone else has some commentary about how we’re spending our day off.”
“Good commentary?”
“Embarrassing commentary.” He wipes a drop of mustard away from my mouth and smiles. “But fuck ’em.”
“That’s the spirit.” I take another bite of my hot dog and gesture to the rest of the rides. “What else do you want to do? We have hours to go and so many options.”
“The go-karts,” he says.
I grin, not caring about the piece of bun stuck to my gums. “Our stomachs are going to be fucked up.”
“Is there any other way to do a theme park?” He pops the last of his hot dog in his mouth and tugs on my arm. “Let’s go, Lexi baby.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon going from ride to ride. I kick his ass at go-karts, but he makes me pay for it by spinning us around the Tea Party attraction like a madman. After a visit to another roller coaster and a second ride on the Cyclone, we grab two ice cream cones and take our time walking down the boardwalk.
“Want to finish with the Ferris wheel?” I ask. “Technically it’s part of a different amusement park, but Maverick paid for it too.”
“Gift cards really aren’t going to cut it for a gift this year.” Riley stops us in the middle of the sidewalk and hooks his finger in the belt loop of my jeans. “Thank you for doing all of this for me. It means a lot, and this is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time.”
“We’ll get to some of the other things on your list.” I give him a one-armed hug, but he pulls me close. Tips my chin back so our gazes meet, and the sun setting behind his head makes him look like he has a halo. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”
