Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
LUNA TRULY CALLS THE SHOTS
W e ended up meeting up with some of the other guys from the football team and their girlfriends. Oliver looked less than amused which was an interesting thing to see. He was usually the laid back, go with the flow kind of guy. Instead, he just seemed as if he was irritated. And every time he tried to veer off in a different direction, someone called him back to the group.
After all the guys decided on a plan for the night, Oliver and I fell in step behind everyone, his hand still holding mine. I hung back, watching as everyone got in line for the ticket booth to get their tickets for the rides. Oliver and I walked up last, but I wasn’t paying attention as he got our tickets.
Instead, my eyes surveyed the area, watching everyone as they moved about in their own little worlds. The different couples, the groups of friends. Everyone looked so happy, without a single worry troubling their minds.
“What do you say we ditch these guys?” Oliver questioned me, his breath warm against my ear as he leaned close and whispered to me. “I wasn't planning on hanging out with them and don’t really want to anyway.”
“Aren’t they going to notice that we’re missing?” I asked him, lifting up on my tiptoes to attempt to whisper back into his ear. Oliver’s palm was warm as he gently grabbed ahold of my waist to help me. He ducked his head down and there wasn’t much distance between us.
His smell invaded my senses, clouding my thoughts.
Oliver shrugged before he pulled back to look down at me. “I couldn’t care less. I didn’t come here to hang out with them. I came here to be with you.”
His words sent a spark through my nervous system, but I attempted to focus on my breathing and forget he said it that way. It was hard with his warm hand still on my waist.
We lingered behind the rest of the group, watching as more distance grew between us all and the crowd around us got thicker. Oliver looked back to me, mischief dancing in his eyes as a smirk pulled on his lips. He pulled his hand from my waist and quickly grabbed mine, threading our fingers together.
“Now’s our chance!” He tugged my hand as he darted through the crowd in the opposite direction of his friends. “Come on, Luna!”
Oliver broke out into a jog, pulling me along with him. He didn’t move too quickly and kept it more at a pace I was able to keep up with. Laughter escaped the two of us as we bobbed and weaved through the other people until we were far enough away from Dylan and the rest of the group.
As we reached the edge of one of the rows of food trucks, we stopped to catch our breath. I pulled my hand away from Oliver’s as I bent my knees slightly and planted my palms against them. Oliver leaned back against the side of one of the trucks right next to me.
“Are you good?” he questioned me. He was barely out of breath, which wasn’t surprising, given how athletic he was and being a star football player.
I glanced up at him, forcing a smile and a nod even though my heart was pounding erratically and my lungs burned with every breath. “Never been better.”
Concern laced itself in Oliver’s beautiful eyes and he inched closer to me. “Take your time and catch your breath. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I stared at Oliver, an overwhelming sense of anger washing over me. It was coupled with the frustration of knowing he was right and I couldn’t stop the words before they slipped from my lips. “Stop treating me like I’m going to break, Oliver,” I told him with such desperation, I could feel it in my bones. “You’ve never treated me like that before and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop treating me like that now.”
He recoiled as if I had struck him. “Luna,” he started, his voice soft as he took a step away from me. I could instantly feel the distance between us and I regretted speaking a single word. “That’s not my intention at all. You’ve always been my main concern and you always will be.”
“Just please stop acting like we can’t do things because of my medical condition.” I stood upright, squaring my shoulders even though they wanted to sag in defeat. “I don’t need the constant reminder that my body can’t keep up like everyone else’s. Please, just let me be the one to judge what I can and can’t handle.”
“Of course,” he agreed as he nodded. “You know your boundaries and I’m sorry for overstepping.”
I instantly felt out of line for the way I reacted. This time, it was me who closed the distance between us, reaching out for my best friend. “Don’t apologize, Ollie. I just don’t want you to keep letting me hold us back from doing things.”
“Noted and stored in my brain for later,” he said with his infamous smirk. “Luna Truly calls the shots.”
Laughter bubbled from my lips and I rolled my eyes in exaggeration at him. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” he concurred with a wink. “Now that that is out of the way, can we proceed with our night?”
“That sounds like the perfect plan.”
Oliver slid his hand back into mine, effectively rendering me breathless again as we moved away from the food trucks and began walking back through the crowds of people. He led me past the different rides, only stopping once we reached the Ferris wheel.
Standing beside him, I tilted my head up to look at the massive wheel. It was slowly moving with people laughing from their bucket seats on the ride. It was made of steel, painted white and decorated in different colored lights. In a way, it reminded me of a Christmas tree. Pop music from a local radio station played in the background but I couldn’t hear it over the sound of my heart pounding.
Oliver looked at me, raising an eyebrow, but he didn’t dare question me. He was respecting my boundaries and letting me lead.
“I can do this,” I murmured to myself as we stepped in line. “Everything will be okay.”
“Are you giving yourself a pep talk right now?”
I looked over at Ollie, my lips pursed. “So what if I am?”
He stared at me for a moment, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “Listen to me, Luna. You are a fucking bad ass. I have watched you overcome so much in life, and this Ferris wheel is nothing compared to the things you’ve already done. I’ll be right by your side, assuring you the entire time that you can do this.”
A nervous chuckle slipped from my lips and the line began to move. We walked closer to the gate. “You’re right. It’s kind of silly for me to be terrified of heights and dying on this rickety thing when I’ve had my body try to kill me multiple times.”
“You’re not dying today, Luna,” Oliver assured me as he handed our tickets to the girl sitting by the gate. “And if you do, at least we’ll die together.”
My eyes widened. “How touching.”
Oliver laughed softly. “I wouldn’t be mad at it,” he admitted with a shrug. His voice trailed off and there was a thickness growing in the air between us. I didn’t get a chance to question him on it as he led me up the steps to the Ferris wheel. We reached the ride and the guy who was helping everyone took one look at us and shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t take your dog on with you,” he told me, a frown pulling her lips downward. “I’m afraid the three of you would exceed the weight limit and I don’t think we’re allowed to let animals on the ride.”
I looked at Tank and then at Ollie. “I guess we can’t ride it.”
Oliver’s jaw clenched and he shoved his hand into his pocket before pulling out his wallet. “Twenty bucks to keep the dog with you and make sure nothing happens to him,” he said to the guy as he held out a twenty-dollar bill.
He shrugged and took the money from him. “Sure, as long as he’s cool.”
“He’ll sit here and wait without a leash if Luna tells him,” Oliver told him as he squeezed my hand. “But if anything happens to him, things aren’t going to end well for you.”
The guy tilted his head to the side as he raised an eyebrow. “Is that a threat?”
Oliver smiled. “It’s a promise.”
“Sit and stay,” I told Tank as I handed over his leash to the guy who was working the ride. Tank listened and watched the two of us as we left him with the stranger. It didn’t completely sit right with me, but I trusted Oliver and that was all that mattered.
Leaving Tank behind, we climbed into the car that was supposed to keep us safe for the duration of the ride. It rocked back and forth as we got situated in our seats, and I was already holding onto the lap bar in front of us for dear life. The ride creaked as it began to lift us into the air in a circle.
Oliver leaned back, wrapping his arm around the tops of my shoulders as he pulled me closer. “It’s okay, Luna,” he murmured against my ear. “Everything will be fine.”
“What about Tank?” I asked him, using my dog as a diversion from the thought of how easily things could go badly on this ride.
Oliver shifted as he attempted to look out over the edge. The bucket rocked, and I let out a small yelp.
“Do not move, Ollie!” I practically yelled at him. My hand darted out and I gripped his shirt as I tried to pull him back down into the seat.
Oliver laughed and shook his head as he settled back against me. “Tank is fine, still in the same spot we left him.”
He didn’t bother to comment on my minor freak out and instead just sat there beside me like the rock he had always been in my life. The ride was less than pleasant and as we reached the top of the wheel, my stomach was in knots of anxiety.
“We need to get down, Oliver."
He turned his head to look at me. “We can’t do that, Luna,” he reminded me, his voice gentle as he lightly stroked the top of my arm with his fingertips. “The ride will be over soon.”
My eyes desperately searched his as the anxiety intensified inside. The ride paused and we were suspended at the top. “I need you to distract me, Ollie. If I keep thinking about this, I swear my mind is going to combust from the anxiety right?—”
His lips crashed into mine, abruptly silencing me from the anxiety attack threatening to suck me into its dark depths. He caught me off guard and at first I wasn't sure how to respond. Oliver lifted his hand to cup the side of my face and lightly stroked my cheek with the pad of his thumb.
His lips were soft and he tasted like cotton candy as he traced the seam of my lips with his tongue. Instinctively, I parted them and he slipped into my mouth, his tongue sliding across mine. He was surprising me with his actions but it was just the distraction I needed.
I focused on the way Oliver felt, and he was surrounding me, consuming me, overwhelming my senses. I moved my tongue with his as they tangled in their own dance. My breathing picked up and my heart was racing in my chest. I mimicked Oliver’s movements until it felt like I actually knew what I was doing.
He kissed me back with a reverent need, but there was no urgency. He was careful and gentle, soft and attentive. He kissed me in a way that made me feel like I could melt into a puddle at his feet. I didn’t know where things between Oliver and I were actually going. All I knew was there would one day be an end to it all and I was dreading that day more than anything.
Oliver slowly pulled away, our lips breaking apart as we came up for air. My lungs sang a joyous song as I took a deep breath, filling them with as much oxygen as I could get in in one breath. Oliver’s lips were red and parted, and his eyes bounced back and forth between mine.
“Look, Luna,” he murmured, his thumb softly stroking the side of my face. “The ride is over. We made it back to the ground.”
I stared back at my best friend, feeling confused as hell, but I forced a smile onto my lips as we both rose from our seats. Oliver got out first and helped me off the Ferris wheel. It felt good to have my feet back on the ground, even though my heart was still soaring through the clouds.
And it wouldn’t be long before it all came crashing down.