After ✔

21

He points to the ferris wheel, and my eyes immediately sink to the ground. 

He recognizes that look. I have it one too many times.

"Bad memories?" He says in a low voice.

My hands can't stop shaking because of the roller coaster ride that ended just five minutes ago, but it's an excited kind of shiver that I can't describe.

"Good ones." I sigh. "I mean... I don't really..."

Dani gives me a quick half-smile. He points to the card. "We still have a lot of points remaining."

He makes me follow him to the gigantic ferris wheel. It doesn't take long for us to get in, and once that's done, Dani sits comfortably on one of the seats with his legs out in front of him.

"Tell me what happened."

"What?"

"Play out the conversation. Guide it. How did it start?"

Maybe that isn't such a bad idea.

Hesitantly, I get up and walk to the edge of the cart. "I remember looking out and saying it was beautiful."

Although it isn't the same view of the fields and the hills, it is quite something.

Lights dot the skyscrapers and huge buildings in the distance, a soft darkness falling on them before the snow does.

The moon hangs like a giant light bulb above us, it's light appearing and disappearing as it plays hide and seek behind the thick clouds.

"Well, shit." Dani chuckles. "Did I say something cheesy like, 'Not as beautiful as you.' And proceeded to make out--"

"No!" I cut him off. "The ferris wheel stopped."

"How even more romantic." He says dramatically. "What happened next?"

Our cart is moving slowly, and is halfway to the top by now. From here, you can see the whole park.

"You started shaking the cart really hard. When that didn't work, you simply leant back and lit a cigarette."

Dani starts laughing. "Man, I seem like such a fun guy."

I narrow my eyes. "More like dangerous."

"You're making me want a cigarette right now. Anyways, continue." He scoots closer to me.

My shoulders rise a little before they fall. "I asked you how old you were."

"Nineteen." He replies. "Held back a year."

"That's exactly what you said then. But it didn't make sense, because you were on scholarship at our school. And you said--"

His eyebrows join together, and I can see he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "You were stuck on a ferris wheel with a hot guy and all you could talk about was school?"

I scrunch my nose at the word hot. I hadn't thought of it like that.  "You were also pretty decent at times."

He snorts. "Was I?"

I want to lean back, but I realize there would be no space between Dani and I then. Instead, I concentrate on the quiet that looms. We're high enough and the sounds down below are muted.

"You were." I reply.

He leans forward, and he's so close that his lips tickle my ear.

Get up, Val. Don't make this harder.