Preston's P.O.V.
"Preston, Preston, Preston, come on!!! Get up!!!" Lachlan was squealing excitedly, bouncing on the end of my bed on his knees while trying to wake me up as fast as possible.
I squinted angrily at him through tired eyes but sighed happily when he started giggling madly at the fact that he was annoying me. He stopped bouncing for a few seconds and crawled up the bed to lie beside me, his fingers digging into my ribs as he tried to tickle me.
"No! No, no, no, no, alright, alright I'm getting up Lachlan." I sat up in the bed and pulled him with me, pulling my blanket up over my shoulders. "So what's got you so excited?"
He grinned, flopping backwards onto the bed and dragging the blanket that I had off my shoulders with him. Something told me that he had either had coffee or sugar for him to be so hyped up and I and the other boys had learnt a longggg time ago that you should never give Lachlan coffee, ever.
"We're going to Six Flags today!!!" I rolled my eyes but I was happy for him. He was like a toddler a lot of the time, excited about the simplest of things and was entertained by the smallest so it was easy to keep him busy, so this was something big for him.
"Everyone's going?" He nodded, taking my hand and pulling me from the bed. I sighed. He was going to be a hyperactive child for the rest of the day until we finally got to Six Flags, so I might as well give him a run around.
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"Rob! Over here!" Vikk was bouncing up on his toes, trying catch the attention of Rob and Jerome, who had travelled in a separate car because one couldn't fit the whole group.
Mitch was standing off to the side with his nose in his phone, waiting for his boyfriend who had travelled separately, and shifting from foot to foot nervously. We could all the screams from the park behind us and Mitch was already visibly nervous because of the noise, and his boyfriend helped calm the anxiety.
Jerome made a beeline for his boyfriend when he and Rob caught wind of where we were standing and took his hand. Rob gave Vikk a friendly shove and Lachlan waited impatiently for the others, running ahead and coming back to my side every few seconds.
He was bouncing up and down on his toes, full of energy and fun, dragging me with him before turning and waiting for the others. Vikk was laughing at Lachlan's over excitement but Rob was also a tad bit energetic too and was tugging Vikk back and forwards too. They were the only two not together but they acted like it most of the time if not to stop third wheeling the rest of us. Mitch and Jerome hung out at the back.
As soon as we entered the park we were pulled around all of the rides, none of which I went on. I was happy to wait in line with Lachlan, while he, Rob, Jerome and sometimes Vikk went on all of the rides but I absolutely refused to go on any myself.
"Come on Preston, please? Come on one ride?" I shook my head firmly.
"I'm quite happy watching you guys go on, I'd rather stay with Mitch." He gave me his best puppy eyes, his sky blue eyes looking right into my soul. Still, I shook my head.
"Please Preston?" He pleaded, tugging on my hand.
"No Lachlan, I don't want to." I kept my voice firm and he frowned but finally nodded.
"Okay, that's fine." It was only a few minutes later that he ran off with Rob to another ride, leaving me alone with Mitch. He had seen my conversation with Lachlan and reached out to squeeze my hand gently.
"It's okay, I understand. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
I still felt guilty though. I often tried to get Lachlan out of his comfort zone so he was able to do more things without me or some of the other boys around and I felt bad that I couldn't get out of my comfort zone myself. It didn't take long for me to decide to go on the next ride with Lachlan, to prove that I could do it.
Mitch saw the look in my eyes and sighed, not bothering to try and convince me otherwise.
Once Lachlan and the other boys returned from their go on a ride, hair windswept from the fast rollercoaster and faces plastered with smiles. Lachlan was still bouncing but much less so than he had been, his energy having been exasperated by all of the excitement.
I took his hand and pulled him to the side, whispering up into his ear.
"I'm going to come with you on the next ride, but don't make it a big ride please." He nodded happily, wrapping me in a big hug. I could hear his happy laughter in his success and he took his hand, dragging me over to a medium sized rollercoaster with Rob and Vikk. Jerome stayed back with Mitch, as to not leave him alone.
It took about 10 minutes to get to the front of the line as it didn't seem like it was a particularly popular ride compared to some of the biggest ones but once we were in the seat and strapped down I started to regret my choice. Lachlan noticed my discomfort because he squeezed my hand and looked up at me.
"It's gonna be fine okay, nothing's gonna happen." His accent had suddenly become thicker than normal, very telling of his worry for me. I nodded, still not totally reassured.
I yelped when the cars took off, squeezing Lachlan's hand tightly. At first it wasn't bad although my heart was pounding so much that I could hear my heartbeat in my ears but once we started going up, that was when the ball dropped.
Lachlan must have seen the terror in my face as we climbed up until we were almost 75 metres above the ground because he leaned over in the car and hugged me tightly.
"See it's okay, we're completely safe." I tried to keep my breathing even but it quickly turned into a scream as we dropped down the steep slope and my anxiety rose.
The cars just kept going, getting faster and faster and faster until I didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted to get off. I closed my eyes but that just made it worse because I couldn't see where we would end up next, so I had to choose between knowing where we were going or my fear of heights, also not helping my situation.
Lachlan kept trying to talk to me but I couldn't hear him over the howling wind that rushed by us. After a few seconds he gave up and just squeezed my hands tight, letting me lean against him as I tried to calm my racing heart.
The rollercoaster was long, long enough that after about two minutes I realised that, wait, it wasn't that bad. I was able to lift my head just as the car slowed to climb another slope and I could finally bring myself to look around and sort of... enjoy it?
Lachlan loosened his grip on me and grinned, nodding at me as if saying 'I told you so.'
And then the drop came.
I heard the screams of excitement from behind me and the happy scream from Lachlan and just rolled my eyes and joined in. And for the last 30 seconds of the ride I was finally able to enjoy it, Lachlan's hand squeezing mine as he told me that it was okay.
As we slowed to a stop at the end of the ride and stepped out of the car, Lachlan smiled shy at me.
"I'm sorry that I pushed you to do that, I didn't realise how scared you were." I shook my head.
"It's okay, I push you out of your comfort zone all of the time, why shouldn't you do it to me? I honestly should be thanking you." I was laughing, pushing my windswept hair back even further. His lips curled up in a happy smile.
"You up for another one?" He said cheekily. I shoved him playfully, catching him quickly to stop him from falling over.
"No! Don't push your luck here!" There was another cheeky giggle and he moved around to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and his chin resting on the top of my head.
"Thanks Lachy, for pushing me today." He smiled.
"No problem but I don't think I'll do it again, I hated seeing you so terrified." He squeezed me tightly. "I love you."
"I love you too."
