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The Eternal Ride

James R. Green

    As the tech walked over to the control stand to start up the ride, I could feel the wheel turning in motion before I could muster up enough courage to yell at him to stop, lest I endure this unwanted stranger approaching the empty Ferris Wheel cabin dangling directly in front of mine. It was either that or endure the walk of shame towards the ride’s exit. Overthinking how much ridicule I’d receive because of the impatience radiating off the fully seated cabins of riders. I held my breath hoping he doesn’t notice me or, if all else fails, his cabin’s gate doesn’t properly lock and he falls out.
    “Phew! Just in time.” He hardly exhaled. It wasn’t enough for me to take it personally, but I did anyway. Keeping my head turned to the side as if my attention was more drawn by the view of being15 feet off the ground, ‘high enough’, I begrudgingly thought. He hadn’t seen my face fully to notice me just yet, ‘hopefully not until the ride ends’, as I never allowed myself to face him. Tonight he was merely a stranger, and so he shall remain one.
    “Full moon tonight, eh? ....Guess that would explain the overcrowding of Floridians on this ride, 1e laughingly sparked a conversation. What he said was sort of funny, but I wasn’t budging. The old comparing the crazy Florida people to werewolves joke, ‘how original’, I guessed. His facial expressions were all the same, grown, yet not much bigger than he was three years ago when I spotted him down my old middle school hallway slipping some notes into my locker’s vent.
    “Pretty cool.” I subtly replied with the driest response I could come up with to buy me some time until I could get the hell off this thing.
    His eyebrows raised in confusion, more-so curiosity.
    “Uh, yeah...You’re not from around here, are you....?” He pauses to give claim to his suspicion.
    “Hmm, wonder what gave me away?” I uttered under my breath. My head still turned to the side, as if I enjoyed the view I was only impatiently observing. All the while hoping he doesn’t recognize my voice from three years ago.
    “I can tell, I mean I’ve been here long enough to simply smell an out-of-towner, and you fit the scent, outstandingly.”
    I ignored him for what seemed like forever until the awkward silence became too much to bear.
    “...Virginian...” I reluctantly answered, with a slight groan in my tone.
    “Virginian!? Wow! I have a little niece from Virginia, matter of a fact, she’s running around here somewhere...”
    So, I have a soft spot for kids, and the fact that he mentioned his niece was around and not on the ride with him caught me completely off guard. It had me immediately worried, to the point where I wanted to school him so badly on his terrible uncle skills, but at the same time, I didn’t want to be fucked with. Lightly chuckling at my suspense, I just laughed it off.
    “What’s so funny?” He pressured me.
    ‘Uh oh, did I just laugh out loud?’
    “Oh, nothing...” I quickly countered. Like I was the only one who heard myself laugh. At the same time, I’m almost sure he’d like more than anything for it to be easy for him to get under my skin, but I couldn’t fathom allowing myself to let that happen, “...it’s just that, if I was you, I wouldn’t let my little niece roam around this whole festival of crazies by her lonesome, just sayin’.”
    He chuckled back at me. Leaving me confused, and super curious, as to why he thinks anything I just said was comical.
    “...Unless, of course, she’s tagging along with her mother, too.” He wisely hinted.
    “Oh... well, I mean... in that case....” My sense of concern diminished in an instant. My tongue felt as though it had been tied in an actual knot.
    “It’s alright. It’s relieving to find another sensible person here in Jax.” He complimented.
    “Is that right?” I begged to differ.
    “That’s right.”
    “So, who’s the other sensible person?” I pulled the string. Like I was his puppeteer. We weren’t going around fast enough, and I knew something had to give. One way or another. Might as well get it over with.
    “Excuse me?” He says, in utter disbelief of what he’d just heard.
    “You heard me,” I uttered a little louder, he heard me very well.
    He scoots over a bit from the left to the left side I was on in an attempt to catch a glimpse of my face. To see who’s got the smart mouth. “Oh my god! Leahy! It is you!”
    Halfway to the top, the wheel still wasn’t turning fast enough.
    “Don’t act like you didn’t know it was me this whole time! You knew the moment you set foot past that gate!”
    “I swear, if I knew it was you, I would’ve brought it to your attention earlier! I just can’t believe it’s you! After all these years!”
    “And I can’t believe I’m sitting across from a grade-A liar, and stalker.”
    I tested him.
    “Okay, umm... what the hell are you talking about, ‘stalker’?”
    The ride reached its peak, and, to our amazement, it gets stuck.
    “That note you stealthy slid in my locker! ‘I can’t wait to see you again... I’m already missing you, baby girl.’.”
    “Hahahaha!” He suddenly heckled.
    I quickly interrupted his laughter, “it still creeps me out to this day. So, to put it mildly, I was never interested in you, Nathan. Not then, not ever. Sorry.”
    “Leahy, Leahy, Leahy....”
    “What!?” I shouted, finally facing him, after snapping around quick enough that my lengthy blond hair followed in pursuit.
    “How do you think I know your name?” He questioned, switching the subject with a personal hint.
    “Shit, I don’t know! You’re the stalker, you tell me!?” I ranted, in retrospect.
    “I know your name because my actual seventh-grade crush, Maria, whose locker was right next to yours, told me it after I grew a pair and had to beg her to tell me your name so this conversation we’re having right now wouldn’t be happening!” He enduringly stated while steadily smirking due to an unexpected case of second-hand embarrassment.
    “Oh... well, I mean... in that case....” Once again, my sense of concern was diminished in an instant, except this time I didn’t mind my tongue being tied up for the rest of the night.

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