Chapter 23 #2
I was going to treasure this fucking bulldog until the end of time.
Seriously. No one had ever won something for me before.
A few flashes went off beside us, but he didn’t seem to care that this moment was going to wind up all over social media.
It hit me, as a group of us swarmed the cotton candy booth, that I never had to worry about him treating any relationship we had like some dirty secret.
Should have known that would never be an issue with him, with that no-fucks-given attitude of his, but I’d known too many people who behaved one way behind closed doors and another when all eyes were on them.
“Cotton candy on a stick!” Kit declared when we reached the booth. “Can I get a rainbow swirl, please, with all the flavors?"
“Same,” Rebel said from the other side of him.
“I’ll pass,” I replied when the guy asked what flavor I wanted because with that much sugar at this time of night, I’d never get to sleep.
“You can have some of mine,” Kit offered, holding a piece out to me.
There was no way I could decline, not that I wanted to. It was every bit as sticky sweet as it looked and coated my tongue after it finished melting, but I appreciated the gesture.
“Neither of you is going to sleep tonight,” I cautioned them as we headed off towards a twisting spiral roller coaster located nearby.
“So? There are better things that we can do with our time,” Kit replied, happily plucking another piece from his stick and popping it in his mouth.
His lower lip had a light blue tinge to it, like the piece he’d just eaten, and I wondered how many more colors it would turn before the end of the night.
“Like bouncing off the walls and beating each other with pillows,” I remarked, recalling the way they’d gone after one another at the hotel.
Every pillow in the room had been displaced by the time they lay gasping and sprawled across the bed, laughing and staring at the ceiling.
“Bouncing can be arranged,” Kit shot back before stuffing another piece of cotton candy in his mouth. “But I think I’ll leave the walls out of it.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Rebel said.
For a moment, Kit looked perplexed, then he grinned and stuck his multicolored tongue out at Rebel.
Rebel just shrugged. “I’m game if you’re offering.”
Oh, these two.
I wasn’t going to win a comeback war with either one of them.
“The crash is going to be spectacular when all that sugar wears off,” I pointed out. “You’re going to be dragging when it comes time to load up on the bus in the morning.”
Their response was to each shove a wad of cotton candy in my mouth to shut me up as more flashes went off.
One of them had even managed to get some on my nose, which just left me with sticky fingers when I tried to rub it off.
I don’t know how the hell they managed to consume all of that sugar on the short walk to the roller coaster, but damned if they didn’t throw their empty sticks in the trash on their way to get in line.
Since we were near the middle, there was time for Kit to eye the coaster and start creeping left until Rebel reached past me to catch his sleeve.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Rebel asked.
“To see a man about a drum kit," Kit said, eyes wide.
Despite that, Rebel didn’t let go. “Yours is awesome.”
“Never hurts to have a backup,” Kit replied, trying to smile.
“You really don’t want to go on it?” Rebel asked, letting the shirt sleeve fall from between his fingertips.
“Debating,” Kit admitted.
“TikTok,” Rebel said as we reached the front of the line.
Kit huffed, shook his head, and then climbed into the seat, with Rebel following behind him.
“Fine, but this is the last thing I go on unless it’s as tame as bumper cars.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d ever gone on the bumper cars with me and Johnny,” Rebel remarked as they were locked in place.
“You suck.” Kit grumbled.
“Just name the time and place.”
Kit groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes; whatever else he was going to say was lost when the ride started, carrying us on a slow uphill climb, ending in a dramatic pause before the coaster plunged downward, spiraling into the first twist.
“Oh. My. GODDDDDD!” Kit bellowed. “Holy Shit!!!!”
Two more spirals followed, then a curve and a double loop before another climb. Three times around, four, I’d noticed them giving us a longer time on each of the rides since there were no lines to contend with.
I doubted Kit appreciated that much with the way he was screaming and threatening Rebel.
“And the winner and grand champion of the holy shit contest of the night is Kit,” Rebel declared when the ride came to an end. “You just shattered the record Steel set earlier tonight.”
“I hate you so hard right now,” Kit moaned as he shoved at the restraint the moment it released.
“Hard is a state I can work with,” Rebel replied, chuckling as he followed him off the ride.
I couldn’t hold back my chuckles, especially when Kit flipped him off. With my bulldog tucked in the pocket of my duster, I followed them into the night, ready for the next leg of this adventure.