Chapter 22 – Wesley
“You’re going to love this place,” Chelsea says as we approach the amusement park. “I know… at first you’ll think it’s such a cheesy old amusement park compared to what you’re used to in the big bad city.”
I gulp, feeling as if my stomach is practically tied in knots. I’m more nervous than I usually get during a big play-off game. But I try not to let it show.
I’m not about to tell Chelsea that I’ve never been to an amusement park. That I’ve never ridden a roller coaster.
“And I know it’s not super big or glamorous,” she continues. “But it has an old fashioned charm.”
My stomach lurches so I don’t say anything. Plus, it’s kind of cute to hear her chatter on about this place, which she obviously likes a lot. It’s touching that she wanted to bring me here, even though it would definitely not be my choice of places to go with her.
“If you’ve ever wondered what a ‘quaint’ amusement park might look like, this is it,” she rambles on. “And even though it doesn’t have many roller coasters, the few that are here are actually really fun. They don’t have a lot of bells and whistles like all the new rides at all the big parks, but that’s part of what makes them fun. They’re just made well, you know? They stand the test of time.”
“Uh huh,” I answer, without really answering.
I don’t want to give away any sense of my fear.
I’m Wesley Reynolds, fucking fearless football leader. And I intend to stay that way in everyone’s mind, most importantly Chelsea’s.
But as she points to a looming roller coaster and says, “The Beast! That one’s the best!” I feel like I’m going to hurl.
Trying to change the subject from the huge free falling roller coaster up ahead, I ask her, “So how do you know so much about this amusement park?”
“Oh, I’ve come here since I was a kid.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah, at first my mom took me when I was a kid, so that was fun of course. But then I came back a lot as a teenager. It’s more of a hangout for younger people, and I knew every nook and cranny. Still do, really. Because now and then I like to come back and reminisce, and ride all my favorite rides all over again.”
I wonder who else she’s come here with. Guys, I mean. As I try to put that image out of my head, though, all that’s left to think about is the roller coaster. I really don’t know which one is worse.
As we walk towards it, I decide it’s time for a new plan of action. Hell, if I can change plays on the field, I know I can do it at a fucking amusement park.
“Let’s not hit the rides just yet,” I tell Chelsea.
She gives me a funny look, but I just shrug nonchalantly and say, “We can’t do the most exciting thing first, or we’ll be bored for the rest of the day.”
“That’s what you think,” she says. “But how do you know the roller coaster is the most exciting thing we’re going to do all day?”
She gives me a sexy wink, and my knees go weak for new reasons.
“That’s a very good point,” I respond.
I like this sassy side of her.
But not enough to ride that damn roller coaster.
“What do you have in mind instead?” she asks. “Do you want to grab a bite to eat?”
So I can throw it up? I think.
But I say, “I was thinking I’d win you a stuffed bear at the shooting range game, or something.”
“I like the way you think,” she says, and I take her hand as we head over to an area full of games.
It’s mostly full of kids too little to ride many rides, and I feel like an idiot for making us come here. I should just man up and go on the damn ride with her. But when I even think of trying to do it, my age old fear comes back. So I concentrate on shooting the target in the game I’m playing, although apparently I’m no good at it because my score is really low.
“I think I might need a practice round,” I say, grinning confidently to hide the fact that I feel like a fucking idiot. “I’ll win you multiple stuffed animals, as soon as I remember how to play this game from my youth.”
Chelsea shakes her head, with a flirtatious look in her eyes, and says, “You never need to practice anything. You’re just good at it. You must be too caught up in your secret date. But fine. I’ll go get us some cotton candy.”
Damn, she’s hot. And I can’t help but watch her walk away. I notice that all the other guys are doing the same thing.
Then, just as I’m about to turn back around and try my hand at this game now that she’s not here to distract me, I see one of the guys reach out and grab Chelsea’s ass.
“Hey!” she says, spinning around to slap his hand. “Stop it!”
He quickly reaches up and grabs her arm.
“What’re you gonna do about it, little girl?”
I’m there before I even realize what I’m doing. It’s just instinctive. I wind my arm back and sock him right in the nose.
“Umph!”
He falls to the ground with a thud, letting out a noise that’s as unattractive as he is. He’s fat, ugly and disgusting, and I’m glad I knocked him out. Chelsea doesn’t deserve to be treated like a piece of meat, or manhandled by that moron.
I only have a second to see her grateful, dazzling smile before I feel a punch to my own nose. Stunned, I look around to see that a friend of the moron is trying to take me out.
No fucking way.
I return his punch, but I soon feel another one from someone else. Two people are punching and kicking me. I’m surprised the moron has so many friends.
I swing around and quickly knock down both guys. Then I spin around again, wondering if there are any more. In the meantime, one of them gets back up and comes at me yet again.
“Break it up!” someone shouts, blowing a shrill whistle that’s even harder on the ears than the one that Coach Thompson uses.
It’s the cops— or at least some wannabe amusement park security guard cops— and they start walking me out, along with the other two guys. The first guy is having some trouble getting up. I really knocked him out cold.
My first thought is of Chelsea. I can’t leave without her. I look around and see her hurrying to join me from the crowd. Good.
My next thought is that I can’t get arrested. I’ll be kicked off the team. But luckily the guards just walk me to the turnstiles and say, “Get out of here and stop causing trouble.”
“But he didn’t start it…” Chelsea protests, until I look in her direction and whisper, “Shhhhh.”
I don’t want to press my luck. I’m glad I’m not being punished too severely.
And secretly I’m glad to be getting kicked out of the amusement park and basically being told not to return. It’s like a wish come true, and Chelsea will never have to know why.
She’ll continue to think of me as a badass, and we can move right on to the “most fun” part of the date that she’d mentioned earlier. With the fear of the roller coaster off my mind, my cock rises to the occasion, ready to explore something more intimate than a public amusement park.