Rachel

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WHENEVER MY PROFESSORS asked me to create a painting about love in the past, I kindly refused and asked for another assignment. In turn, they threatened to fail me, so I always had to flip through the pages of a local magazine or a fictional book to get inspired. I’d have to listen to a long playlist of love songs until I heard the right note.

Unfortunately, those pieces were never my best work, and each time my professors said something along the lines of, “Surely, you’ve felt passion for someone in your life, Miss Dawson. Surely you can bring out that love in your work.”

For years, that topic was my biggest weakness, but after dating Ethan—even for such a short time so far, I knew I would never have that problem again. That no matter how long we lasted, I could always look back and remember our recent nights of spending hours in the hot tub, our mornings making loud love in the kitchen, and the weekends of never-ending dates that made me feel like this was definitely my first real romance. My first true love.

“Rachel?” Ethan waved his hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Rachel?”

“Yeah?” I looked to my right and realized he was standing in the pier’s parking lot.

“When do you plan on getting out of the car?” He smiled and unbuckled my seatbelt for me. “Tonight would be nice, but I can wait until tomorrow if you like. If we wait that long, I won’t be able to take you to Blue Falls in the afternoon, though.”

I laughed and stepped out, shutting the door behind me. “I didn’t know you were serious about bringing me to the carnival. We came here all the time when we were young, remember?”

“I only remember leaving with bruises because we fought the whole damn time.” He pressed his hand against the small of my back. “They’ve changed a lot of this since you’ve been gone.”

He purchased our tickets at the entrance, and we walked down the boardwalk hand in hand. The only things that remained the same were the Ferris Wheel and the paddle boats that lined the dock. All of the former snack machines were now replaced by full-blown food stands that featured funnel cakes, cotton candy, and fried sweets.

I could still remember all the times we chased each other across the pier as kids, and I was wondering how the hell I’d never managed to guess that the guy who would become my first real boyfriend was my enemy next door.

Leading me toward the rides, Ethan stopped in front of a bright blue food truck that read, Gayle’s: New Specialty Sweets. Inspired by Carter & Arizona James. The menu on the side door was full of waffles and breakfast themed-desserts, and for some reason, the word “Crack” was posted on all the tins of waffle batter.

“Before we get on any rides, I need you to finally try this so I can make sure that you’ve had it at least once.” He held out a few bills for the attendant. “Can I get two hot chocolates please?”

The attendant began making our cups, and I stared at the menu.

“Isn’t there a café near our campus named Gayle’s?” I asked.

“There is, but you have to wait for at least an hour to get a seat. They have the best breakfast and desserts in the country.”

“Better than the waffle place we used to stop at before school?”

“A million times better.” He smiled and handed me a cup, motioning for me to take a sip.

I braced myself to hate it, to feel justified in rolling my eyes each time he insisted on ordering this instead of coffee when we were growing up, but it was love at first sip.

“It’s okay,” I said, taking an even longer sip. “It’s still not as good as my coffee.”

“Would you like another one before we get in line for the rides?”

“Yes, please.” I downed the rest of it as he laughed and ordered me another one. “Can I ask you something, Ethan?”

“Of course. Anything.”

“In your letters, you said that you took ‘plenty’ of girls out on dates,” I said. “You said you brought quite a few of them here, especially during your junior year.”

“And?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Well, earlier today, when we were in the pool, you said I was about to be your first date to the pier. You said you never brought another girl here because you didn’t want to give her the wrong impression...Which one is it?”

His lips curved into a smirk. “It’s the latter.”

“So, you purposely lied in some of your letters to me, too?”

“I might’ve lied about the locations, but the dates were real.” He handed me a fresh cup of hot chocolate and looked into my eyes. “I was trying to compete with all the places you said you got to see with the guys on your ship. Somehow the pier was as close as I could get in comparison to places like Japan, Morocco, Portugal, and Italy.”

“So, you were jealous?”

He smiled. “I didn’t know I was jealous...”

“Do you know that now?”

“I know that you’re mine now.” He kissed me, making me blush all over. “Nothing else matters.”

His lips met mine one more time, for so long that I knew everyone around us was staring, and by the time he pulled away from me, the nightlights on the pier were aglow.

We walked to the Ferris wheel and stood in line for half an hour, not saying anything—just letting the laughter from everyone around us fill the air. When it was our turn to get onto the ride, he motioned for me to slide onto the seat first, and then he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

The cart slowly rose into the air, and I felt my heart racing a mile a minute. From the top of the wheel, I looked out over the pier—at all the twinkling lights and soft rolling waves below.

“Rachel?” Ethan gently threaded his fingers through my hair.

I didn’t answer.

“Rachel?” He placed his hand under my chin and turned my head to face him. “You’ve barely said anything over the past hour. Why?”

“Because I’m still trying to process what the hell has been happening over the past couple of weeks.  That, and I can’t believe I’m dating the guy who burned my collectible Wonder Woman.”

He smirked. “It’s way past time for you to get over that.”

“Are you over what I did to your Captain America?”

“I’ll never be over what you did to my Captain America.”

“Well, then we’re even.” I leaned against his chest, smiling. “And Ethan?”

“Yes?”

“Stop running your fingers through my hair.”

He smiled and ran his fingers through my hair for several more seconds, locking his eyes on mine. “Do you really mean that?”

“Not at all.”

He tilted my chin up and kissed my lips. “I thought so.”