Single Rider Line

4

My walk to Matterhorn feels like I'm paying for my relaxing trip down Main Street earlier today. Every guy wearing a black shirt and blue jeans sets off an alarm in my head, thinking it's my ride buddy. Too many false alarms in a five-minute walk exhaust my brain, so I take the last bite of my muffin to ease my scattered mind. It barely helps.

I begin to wonder what my ride buddy's story is. Was he here alone? Was he meeting up with a friend? Does he have an annual pass? What's his name so I can stop calling him "ride buddy?"

The sight of Matterhorn is a relief, as I look forward to hopping into a bobsled and relieving my mind of my new crush, even just for a few minutes. Approaching the single rider line, I see that there isn't anyone waiting in it at all. An unusual sight, but one I'm grateful for as I breeze through the Swiss-themed queue.

"Single rider?" Dan from Anaheim, CA asks as I stand at the front of the line. I nod and he points behind him towards the bobsled ready to depart. "You can take row five."

I smile as I pass by him, taking off my backpack to get ready to hop into the second to last seat of the bobsled. My smile instantly vanishes when I realize who is sitting in the very last seat. It's my ride buddy.

We catch eyes for a second, and I wonder if he noticed my smile disappear. It's not so much because I'm not happy, but more so that I don't know how to act around him. I hoped but didn't really expect to see him so soon, much less sit right next to him again. But there he was, with a look on his face I can't quite read. Did he even notice me the first time?

I sit down and feel a new type of anxious, because the way these trains are set up, he's directly behind me. I won't have any visual cues on if he's enjoying the ride, or more importantly, if he remembers me.

As I buckle my seat belt, I blush when I remember that the old design of the ride vehicle didn't separate riders, so they could potentially get really close to one another. The seats are individual now, and in this moment I can't decide if I'm thankful or disappointed.

We slowly move forward for final checks, which will be conducted by Claire from Anaheim, CA.

"Alright, tug on the yellow tab please!" Claire says, making a tugging motion with her hand. She gives an approving thumb up after everyone has tugged, and we make our way into the mountain.

Darkness swallows us once again, and I think to myself I might need a nightlight after today. I focus on the clicking and clacking of the lift chain pulling us up the hill, which gets interrupted by a threatening roar, followed by terrified screams. I start taking deep breaths when something entirely different startles me.

"Is this scary?" The voice is coming from behind me, which means my ride buddy is talking. To me.

"What?" I ask, my head slightly turned so he can hear me. Oh, God.

"I've never been on this ride before. Is it scary?"

I open my mouth to respond but the Abominable Snowman appears to my right. He roars loudly behind a wall of frosted ice and starts climbing up the mountain, following us.

"Yeah, kinda," I yell back, as our bobsled clears the hill and gains momentum down the mountain.

As our train gets faster, a destroyed bobsled appears to our left, and I imagine the look on my ride buddy's face as the Abominable Snowman appears once again, this time much angrier and closer, as if he could grab us.

Matterhorn isn't exactly known for being the smoothest roller coaster in the world, so I can't help but laugh when I hear a few "whoas" and "ows" behind me as we make our way down the track.

"Is it supposed to hurt this much?!" He probably didn't expect this bumpy of a ride, especially considering how smooth Space Mountain is in comparison. I laugh again because I'm already used to all this. If we were silently riding last time, we definitely aren't now.

"Think of it as a right of passage," I yell back, not sure if he can even hear me.

A few drops, turns, and another terrifying Abominable Snowman appearance later, I look down the track and see the grand finale coming up. The bobsled takes a small dip into water, which usually results in a few drops landing on your arm, but sometimes gives you a huge splash leaving you soaked. This time, it was the latter.

"WHAT THE?!" He keeps getting surprised, and I'm cracking up by now.

Our train keeps moving forward and is finally stopped by brakes, leaving us in our seats waiting for the train ahead of us to clear out. Feeling like the ice had been broken, I'm comfortable enough to look at the damage that was done behind me.

I can't help but smile, because my ride buddy has his face in his hands, clearly shocked at what he just went through. His clothes are fairly wet, but not as much as mine. It was a much bigger splash than I expected, especially for the back of the train.

Finally, he looks up and realizes I'm looking back at him, and he gives me a smile that melts me instantly.

"Well!" he says while shaking out his arms. "That definitely was not what I expected." He pauses, followed by a smirk that could kill me. "Nice riding with you again, by the way."

I can only hope the smile spreading across my face doesn't look too goofy.