“They really are, aren’t they?” Jax said, her eyes never straying from the sky.
She thinks I was talking about the fireworks. Perfect. Plus, that makes more sense anyway. Why would I be talking about her? Obviously, she’s beautiful, but I have no reason to be harping on that now when I should be enjoying the show.
As the fireworks came to an end, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to find two texts from Olivia.
Olivia: You’re at Disney with Jax?! Are you trying to steal my best friend?!!
Olivia: Totally kidding. Glad you two are getting along so well.
I texted her back asking her how she knew we were in Disney, even though the answer was clear.
Olivia: Jax told me, obviously.
Olivia: I thought she was lying at first. I can’t believe she actually convinced you to leave the state right before you start your new job!
Olivia: Totally not hating. I think it’s great.
Funny. I was so distracted by all of the fun I was having on the trip that I honestly forgot I started work next week. It wasodd since that wasn’t like me at all. Maybe I really was becoming a new Carter.
Jax bumped her hip against mine to get my attention. “What are you smiling about?”
I sighed contentedly. “I’m just really happy,” I admitted.
“I’m really happy too.” Jax put her arm around me and kept it there as we walked out of the park together. She didn’t let her arm drop until our rideshare came to pick us up and take us back to our hotel.
As soon as we weren’t close anymore, I found myself wishing we were. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I craved human contact this much. Well, actually, I could, but I wasn’t going to let my mind go there. Icouldn’tlet it go there. Jax wasn’t Marcie. She was my roommate and my sister’s best friend. She was bubbly and outgoing and everything I wasn’t. I definitely wasn’t feeling what I thought I might be. I couldn’t feel that way, so I wouldn’t let myself.
When we got back to our hotel room, I made a big deal about how tired I was so I could go right to sleep. Luckily, I actuallywastired, so it didn’t take long before I really did fall asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was feeling much better. I was sure the closeness and comfort I was feeling with Jax was nothing more than friendship. I hadn’t made a close friend in a very long time, so I probably just forgot what it felt like. Plus, we were at the happiest place on earth—the birthplace of so many great fairy tales. Of course, it was easy to blur the lines between friendship and something else. If there wassomething else, which there most certainly wasn’t.
I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t even realize Jax wasn’t in her bed until the bathroom door opened and she walked out. She was wearing short jean shorts and a blue Disney World T-Shirt that she had bought the daybefore, and her hair was pulled up in a towel. Her smile was wide, and her blue eyes sparkled when they met mine. “Good morning, sleeping beauty. Ready for another day of fun?”
I forced my eyes away from Jax to look at the clock and realized I had slept in much later than I meant to. At this rate, we’d be lucky if we got there two hours after opening time, which definitely put us at a disadvantage for getting on all of the rides we wanted to do. “Shit. I overslept. I’m so sorry.”
“All good. It gave me a chance to get a nice long shower, which felt amazing, by the way. Feel free to get one if you’d like. I’m not in a rush.” She sat down on the edge of my bed. “Not saying you need one. You look and smell perfectly fine.”
I didn’t want to waste any more time, but after getting so sweaty the day before, showering was a necessity. I showered and dressed as fast as I possibly could, then we finally headed to Hollywood Studios. After a few other rides, it was finally time to go on The Tower of Terror.
Jax spun around in circles, taking everything in while we walked through the line. “Wow. This looks so much like the movie.”
“Just wait. It gets even better.”
Her excitement had me bubbling with excitement and I found myself actually bouncing through the line. When we finally got through the first part of the line, we went into a room that was meant to look like a library.
We watched a video that I had watched so many times at this point, I had it memorized. I almost forgot Jax had no idea what was going to happen, until the fake thunder and lightning hit, and she jumped into the air. The room was so dark, I couldn’t really see what was happening, but when a hand slid into mine, our fingers interlocking, I knew it was Jax.
Obviously, it was her, because who else would it be? But that wasn’t the only reason I knew. The feelings I was trying toignore from the day before were now back in full force. As much as I knew I should drop her hand, since she clearly only grabbed mine because of the jump scare, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. When the doors opened and we walked out of that room to get in the next line, I waited for her to drop my hand, but it never happened.
We continued to hold hands all the way up until getting on the ride, which was made to look like an old elevator. Jax dropped my hand to fasten her seatbelt, but I didn’t have time to miss her touch, because she quickly grabbed it once again.
“This is kind of spooky, isn’t it?” she asked as she squeezed my hand harder.
“What did you expect?” I forced out a laugh, because I didn’t want to give her any clue about the effect her hand in mine was having on me.
“Good point.” Jax laughed too, but her laughter didn’t sound forced at all.
Throughout the ride, I found myself watching Jax instead of the scene in front of us. I loved the way she took in absolutely everything. It was a mesmerizing sight to see. I was so distracted by her that I was taken by surprise when the first drop happened, and I squeezed Jax's hand extra hard at the same time she squeezed mine.
