James
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"How could you have said this ride is for babies?!" I yelled to Harlee as we glided through the air and above the trees of The Winnington Aerial Park.
Our first adventure for our week together was to go zip-lining.
Mrs. Ramirez drove us over early that Monday morning before she drove to work and gave us some money to hang out around town after the park closed. We ran into a little trouble at first, because when we first arrived, Harlee had wanted to sneak onto The Death Trap zip-line, a zip-line that was only for adults. The Death Trap was said to be the scariest ride in the park, hence why Harlee was so adamant about sneaking onto it.
Fortunately, I was able to talk her out of it, hinging on the promise I'd ride it with her once we were both eighteen.
To my surprise, she agreed to it.
Normally, she was the one that talked me into things, so it felt pretty victorious to finally talk her out of something.
There had been a few times I had before that incident, but for the most part, the process went the other way around.
"I didn't say it was for babies! I said it was for kids!" she clarified, yelling back against the wind. "And, to be honest, I forgot how intense it was!"
We passed over a small lake, and Harlee excitedly screamed.
I had forgotten how intense it was as well.
How had we survived this thing before?
And how on earth was The Death Trap scarier than this?
"Hey, James, do you have your phone on you?!" she asked as the zip-line started nearing its end.
"No, I left it in your mom's car! Why would I bring a phone on a zip-line with me?!" I asked, baffled by her question.
"Why wouldn't you???" she asked, sounding genuinely shocked. As we slowed down for a bit, she started pulling something out of the bottom of her shoe then slide her foot back into the sneaker.
I rolled my eyes at her craziness when I realized it was her phone.
Only Harlee, I thought.
"They technically told us to leave these behind! But you know I had to break at least one rule today!" She held the phone up to take a picture of us despite my protests for her to put it back in her sneaker.
"Harlee! Put that back in your shoe!" I told her.
"No way! And miss a chance to get a photo of this?" she said back.
"If someone sees us, we're gonna get banned or something!" I warned her. "Plus, what if you drop it?!"
"So? It's just a phone, James!" She laughed. "Dropping it wouldn't be that big of a deal!"
"Yeah, well what if it landed on someone's head?" I pointed out.
"At least then, it wouldn't break!" she said back then laughed again at that.
I couldn't help but smile at my best friend's antics.
"You're insane!" I replied, finally laughing with her.
Harlee giggled. "Thanks! Say, sky-high!" she squealed, holding her phone up in the air to take a selfie of us.
"Sky-high," I said weakly, feeling worried she'd drop her phone and smash it to pieces.
"You're not loud enough!" she prompted me.
"Sky-high!" I yelled, smiling as Harlee snapped the photo.
"Perfect!" she cheered triumphantly then lowered the phone to observe the photo. She was nonchalant as ever while she looked at it as if we weren't at least a hundred feet in the air.
A few screams and selfies later, the ride finally slowed to its stop on the landing dock where other riders and different attendants were waiting for us. One of the attendants unharnessed us, and we walked over to take a seat and catch our breath after the adrenaline rush.
"And we thought that bike ride the other week was scary," Harlee remarked, collapsing onto a bench.
I hesitated at first but then sat beside her.
Don't act weird. Everything has been fine. Just be normal, I told myself mentally.
"Yeah, remember that promise I made you before the ride today?" I asked her.
"Yeah?" she said, fixing one of her pigtails that had come a bit loose during the ride.
"That will be the next time I ride a zip-line. At eighteen," I said definitely. "Maybe, by then, I'll have developed some courage," I sighed, my legs still shaking from the ride.
Harlee frowned and gave me a gentle nudge.
I tried not to seem fazed by the physical contact.
"Hey, we've talked about this; you are brave. Anyone that can talk me out of doing something dangerous has to have guts," she joked.
When I didn't smile, she persisted. "Is this about Jasper again? I bet he has never ridden the Wild Ride before. I once heard he's afraid of heights."
I scoffed at that, "Yeah, right. Last time I checked, Jasper Collins isn't afraid of anything at all," I said, lowering my eyes and picking at a hangnail. I felt stupid for even bringing it up at the time.
We'd been having fun; why did my insecurities always have to get in the way of everything?
Why couldn't I just have a good time and be normal?
"Everyone's afraid of something, James," she said then was quiet a moment, before adding, "Even me."
I glanced over to see her green eyes staring right at me with a zeal I'd never seen in them before. Before I could ask her what she was afraid of, she decided she wanted to take another selfie.
"I want to have as many pictures as possible of this week," she smiled happily as we posed for the selfie. I understood why she wanted photos of the week, but I had a feeling we wouldn't need them.
Something in me just knew we would always remember it.
After we left the park, we headed into Town Centre to get some lunch together. Harlee had told me she'd only eaten a small breakfast that morning, and I had been too nervous about zip-lining to eat at all. So we both decided a meal would do us some good.
She and I were making our way to one of our favorite fast-food joints, Sammy's Shakes and Sandwiches, when we were interrupted by someone.
"Sparkly Harlee!" a familiar female voice called out.
I heard Harlee mutter something under her breath as we turned around to see Farrah waving to us from down the sidewalk.
It wasn't too surprising to run into her, but when I saw who she was with, my jaw almost dropped. Evan was standing beside her, looking humiliated at the fact we'd seen them together.
Harlee and I exchanged confused looks but politely walked over to them.
"Hey, Farrah, hey Evan," Harlee greeted them, her tone sounding a bit displeased.
Farrah seemed to think Harlee was pleased though because she wrapped an arm around Evan and started raving excitedly,
"Evan and I have been having the best day together! First, we went to the spa, and Evan was so patient while I got my mani-pedi," she stared at him adoringly whilst patting his arm. "Then, Evan took me to the movie theater, and he let me pick out a movie and sat through the entire chick flick with me without that much whining! And now, we're about to go get some lunch!"
Evan just stood there expressionless as Farrah was beaming.
I didn't know what to say to that.
But I kind of wanted to murder Evan.
How was he going to criticize me for leading Hyland on when he was doing the same thing to Farrah?
It was obvious Farrah seriously liked him. Meanwhile, as she gushed about their date, he was standing there wearing the most uninterested countenance like he'd rather be anywhere else...on earth.
He was dating a girl he knew he didn't have feelings for.
From the outside looking in, I realized then just how unfair it was for me to have done that same thing to Hyland.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were on a date," Harlee said, attempting to smile at her friend. I could tell it was a fake one, and that she was just as opposed to what was happening as I was. Any doubts she may have had about Evan's lack of feelings for Farrah were long gone after what I'd told her about him liking Rachel Thursday night.
"We are!" Farrah chirped.
"No, we are no-" he protested, but Farrah cut him off.
"Except, Evan doesn't want to call it that," she explained,
"He says, 'it isn't good to assign labels so soon after we've kissed.'"
I nodded my head but stayed silent as Farrah continued gushing to Harlee.
"You said, you were too busy to text, so I'm so glad I ran into you! Guess where we're going tomorrow," she said, pulling Harlee aside.
I walked up to Evan as they chatted and whispered to him, "What happened?" trying to be understanding. I had a feeling if Evan hadn't wanted to call their day out a "date," then he was probably dragged into it. As flattered as he'd been by the kiss and by the leather jacket she'd given him, there was no way it made him fall head over heels for Farrah Harrington. Whether she realized it or not, Evan was only trying not to hurt her feelings when he was nice to her.
It had been that way for a while, and I was dumbfounded she still hadn't picked up on it.
Evan sighed and started explaining,
"She showed up at my house this afternoon, asking me to hang out. She said, now that we've kissed, we need to make things official, but I said I wasn't ready for any of that. We're just hanging out around town. It's not a date," he stated again even more firmly this time. I could tell he was very annoyed by the way Farrah was making it seem like they were a couple.
"Now that you've hung out with her one on one, what do you think of her?" I asked, already knowing what his answer to my question would be.
Evan scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "That I was right to not want to date her," he said, sounding certain in his reply.
I gave him an understanding nod.
"And that I need to get out of this as soon as possible," he continued.
"And that I've ruined things between Rachel and me," he sighed.
"Maybe not." I shook my head at him.
"Why? Did she say something to you?" he asked, eyes hopeful.
"Well, no, but I had thought I had ruined my friendship with Harlee and look at us now. We're hanging out and having fun just like old times," I told him.
Evan seemed to think about this for a moment then shook his head.
"But what you and Harlee have is unbreakable. Everyone knows that. Rachel and I only just met."
His statements about Harlee and me made me feel hopeful about her and my friendship. If we were truly "unbreakable," then maybe all would still be alright when I finally told her the truth.
Right then, the girls walked back over to us.
Evan shook his head at me as a command, not to discuss it any further.
"Also, James, don't think you're off the hook with the whole Hyland situation," Farrah said, turning to me. "She told me about how you dumped her."
"Farrah!" Harlee admonished.
"You and Hyland broke up?" Evan asked.
I sighed and rolled my eyes at Farrah for bringing that up.
Even more reason to dislike her, I thought.
"We are not 'broken up' because we were never a couple," I explained to her. "We're just taking a break to figure things out for a while."
"Like you did with Harlee and your friendship?" Farrah said, sounding distrustful of me.
My mouth gaped open at her bluntness.
I couldn't believe she'd just said that.
Evan tried to step in before she could guilt me any further.
"Okay, Farrah, I think that's enough," he said.
She ignored him. "It's not enough to me," she said, glaring at me.
"You need to be better about the way you treat girls, James Whitmire. You've hurt two of my best friends already,"
"Farrah." Harlee silenced her with a glare.
Farrah didn't look regretful, and I knew she had no reason to be.
She was right after all. I had treated both Harlee and Hyland unfairly.
Although unintentionally, it was still wrong.
Which was why I'd been trying to make it right.
"No, Farrah has every right to be angry with me," I said. "I haven't been the best friend to anyone lately, and I'm genuinely sorry for that."
Farrah seemed taken aback by my apology, but like she didn't want to show it. "See, I'm right then." She jutted her chin out at me. Then she glanced down at her rose gold phone and said, "Come on, Evan, we're going to be late for our lunch reservations. Bye, Harlee, call me when you can." She strutted off dismissively without even seeing if Evan was following behind her.
"Sure." Harlee waved her off.
"I guess I better go. See you guys later. It's great to see you two hanging out again, by the way. At least, something is right in the world," Evan said, unable to keep his agitation toward Farrah out of his tone.
We said goodbye to him as he hurried down the sidewalk after her.
"Lunch reservations? Can't we just go get some fast food?" he asked Farrah, sounding exhausted.
"No, don't be so mediocre, Evan," Farrah argued back.
"Does this reservation place at least have hamburgers?" Evan sighed.
"No, finger foods for our first date, silly!" she said, giggling.
"Farrah, it's not a date!" Evan said back.
"They will make such a lovely couple," Harlee said sarcastically.
I laughed weakly, still feeling bad for Evan. We started to head toward Sammy's again, but this time in silence. I also felt embarrassed by the encounter after how Farrah had made such a spectacle of me and how Harlee had had to rush to my defense. Whether I deserved it or not, it was still humiliating.
Harlee picked up on my emotions and apologized for her friend,
"Sorry about Farrah, by the way. She can be a little headstrong sometimes."
"A little?" I scoffed.
"How did you even become friends with her in the first place?" I asked genuinely curious about the matter.
It had confused me since the first day I'd seen them hanging out together why someone like Farrah would be interested in being friends with someone like Harlee.
Not that there was anything wrong with Harlee, of course.
But the two of them were polar opposites.
Then again, so were Harlee and I.
"Because," Harlee started as I opened the door to the fast-food joint for her. "She's not so bad; It just can seem that way." She walked inside, then I followed after her, letting the door close after us.
"What do you mean?" I asked as we searched for an empty booth.
The place wasn't very busy, fortunately, so that didn't take long. Harlee slid into a booth, and I made it a point to sit across from her instead of beside her.
She looked a little saddened by the action but didn't say anything about it.
If only she knew the reason why I was afraid to get too close to her, maybe she'd understand.
"I mean, she's never been anything but nice to me. She's a handful; that's for sure, but she's not evil. Now, her best friend, Amy Tristan, that girl is evil," she explained.
I nodded my head, supposing Harlee was probably a better judge of her character since she actually knew Farrah. The way Farrah protected her friends was admirable for sure, even if it was kind of intimidating at times.
"What were you guys talking about just now?" I asked, handing her a menu. It was past three by then, and I was famished. I felt glad Mrs. Ramirez had given us a fair amount of cash to spend on lunch.
Harlee sighed and scanned the menu as she said,
"She was telling me how she hadn't meant to hurt Rachel during the party by kissing Evan. My first mind had been right; she just likes him so much. She even told me to apologize to Rachel for her, and that it hadn't been her intention if she'd upset her."
My eyes widened at this information. I was genuinely stunned that Farrah had been considerate of Rachel's feelings.
"Wow," I said. "Maybe, you're right, and she's not so bad."
"She really isn't," Harlee smiled fondly then frowned.
"I just worry how she'll take it when she realizes Evan has feelings for Rachel and not her," she sighed, sounding worried.
"Same," I agreed as a waitress walked over to us.
We ordered our lunch, and Harlee wanted to try the new quadruple dessert sundae on the menu, so we asked for one of those as well.
"That is a lot of ice cream for one girl," I remarked, staring at the massive-sized sundae on the menu.
"It sure is. You don't think I'm eating it alone, though, do you? You're going to have to share it with me," she said.
Her statement made my palms start sweating.
Sharing food was like indirect kissing.
How was I supposed to do something like that without becoming a nervous wreck?
You've shared food with her before, stupid; stop overthinking everything, my inner voice commanded.
"Uh, James, are you okay? We don't have to share the ice cream if you don't want to, but it's not like I have germs," Harlee's voice said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
She must have noticed the internal battle I'd been having.
I quickly made a joke to try and cover it up.
"You're just trying to have it all to yourself," I teased her.
Harlee laughed, and I quietly exhaled.
She didn't know.
She had no clue.
So I simply needed to stay calm until I was ready to confess it to her.
"I'm gonna try it. I don't care," Harlee stated.
She and I were enjoying our lunch and discussing our upcoming trip for later in the week to our favorite amusement park, SkyCoasters. Currently, she was telling me about her plan to sneak onto amusement park rides only for taller kids. She wanted to make up for not getting to cause trouble today, I supposed.
"Alright, and what if they tell you to take off your seven-inch boots? Don't you think other kids have tried that before?" I said, eating a curly fry.
"I'll refuse to take them off," she replied simply.
"What if they call security and...and detain you?" I asked.
Harlee laughed, "That's why I said I'd bring a water gun. He'll reach for his handcuffs, and I'll spray him in the face, and then jump on the ride."
"And get arrested when you come back down," I said back, realizing by now she was kidding. "Attacking an officer is illegal, I believe."
She sipped her lemonade and shrugged like breaking the law was just part of her daily schedule.
"Send me a postcard from jail then." I shrugged back, grinning playfully.
"Wait, you'd actually let me get arrested, James?" She cocked her head to the side smiling.
My face began feeling hot, but I tried to conceal my nervousness.
Harlee's porcelain smile seemed to always have that effect on me.
"No. I'd never let anything happen to you," I said, my voice a whisper.
She didn't hear me, because she asked, "What?"
I locked eyes with her and tried to find the courage to say what I'd just said louder.
"I said I-" I started.
But I was interrupted by the waitress that had just come back to our table.
"One quadruple dessert sundae for you guys," she said as she set the large bowl of ice cream on the table.
"Thanks!" Harlee told her.
My eyes widened at just how big the sundae was. Remembering we were going to share it, made my palms start sweating again. I quickly wiped them on my shorts as the waitress set our plastic-wrapped spoons on the table.
"No problem. Enjoy!" she said sweetly then went to attend to different customers.
"This looks so freaking good, doesn't it?" Harlee said, opening her plastic spoon, still smiling at me.
I tried to smile back and remind myself she was oblivious to how nervous I was. "Yeah, I'm a little full though from lunch. So, I'll probably let you
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