Chapter thirty-two: Excitement and serenity

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Harlee

πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–

The long-awaited week had finally arrived.

On Monday morning, I sprung out of bed and hurried to get ready for the day.

The first memory we were going to relive was one of my fondest ones.

James and I were going to go zip-lining at the Winnington Aerial Park that day like we had for our eleventh birthdays just two years ago. The park only opened up in the summertime, right on the first day of June.

James had been very hesitant to ride the zip line at first.

But just like always, I was able to convince him.

And once I did, he ended up loving it almost as much as I did.

I sighed happily in the mirror, remembering how much fun we'd had that day. Hopefully, today would be just like that.

The curls in my hair were a bit mussed from my slumber. I'd redone them the day before, but now I wondered if I should touch them up or comb them out since I'd be flying through the air. After a moment, I decided I would keep them but put them in two pigtails so they wouldn't be in the way. James had seemed to really like my curls, and that made me want to wear them more often.

After I was all dressed, I skipped downstairs for a quick breakfast of a granola bar. My parents were awake and bustling through the kitchen, making coffee and waffles. I sat down at the table to spend some time with them before we all headed our separate ways.

It's too bad parents don't get a summer vacation, I thought as I watched Dad sleepily pour java into his mug.

"Your excitement has you up pretty early, huh?" he asked.

My phone began ringing in my back pocket before I could answer him.

Panic shot through me that it might be James canceling on me last minute.

I glanced down at the caller ID.

To my relief, it wasn't James.

It was Farrah.

She was probably calling about the party again.

I'd successfully avoided her at swim practice Friday and the rest of the weekend, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this up. I'd been avoiding her ever since the party out of reluctance to hear her brag about what she'd done to Rachel. Although her motives may not have been malice, there was no way she wasn't going to be raving about how she'd one-upped her. And I really didn't want to hear any of that.

I sent her a quick text saying I was busy and that we'd talk later. She responded with a sad emoji and an, Okay. I wondered if the sad face was because of me or about something else. I sent her another text saying, Is everything alright? to which she didn't respond. I sighed and shoved my phone back into my pocket. We'd definitely have to talk later.

While finishing up my granola bar, I answered my dad.

"I was so excited I could barely sleep. James and I haven't truly hung out together in over a month, you guys. We're going to have such a fun time today. It's going to be just like old times," I gushed excitedly.

Mom and Dad exchanged concerned looks with one another.

I sat back in my seat and raised my eyebrows at them.

"What is it?" I asked worriedly. I hoped Mom wasn't bailing on driving us and paying for our admission; I'd made it a point to ask them about the plans for the week ahead of time, so they could be prepared.

But the looks on their faces told me it wasn't about the ride or the money.

"It's good that you and James are going to be spending some time together..." Dad started.

"But?" I prompted knowing by his tone he had more to say.

"But," Mom repeated.

"Just try to remember things probably are not going to be the same as when you were eleven. There's really no such thing as 'just like old times.'

People change, and even if you recreate memories, it doesn't mean you can rewind time."

Dad nodded his head in agreement with her statement.

I felt annoyed with my parents for being so negative about the situation. Here I was feeling happier than I had in over a month, and they were just raining all over it. Of course, we couldn't rewind time.

But that didn't mean we couldn't rekindle our friendship.

I voiced this to them, but they still didn't seem to get it.

"But that's just it, Harlee, some friendships simply can't be rekindled," Dad explained to me as he refilled his coffee cup.

The sureness in his voice that James' and my situation was hopeless worried me. Was I wrong to try and save our friendship after all?

"I don't understand; why are you two so against me trying to fix things? It's almost like you don't want us to stay friends," I said to them with a catch in my voice as I spoke.

Mom noticed how upset I was becoming and quickly reassured me, "Not at all. You two have had an amazing friendship. It's just based on what you told us and how James hasn't been around, it almost seems like you're the only one trying to fix things."

"And if the effort isn't mutual..." Dad pointed out then didn't finish his sentence.

I nodded my head understandingly. I had felt the same way a few weeks ago. At first, it seemed like James didn't care at all about our friendship, especially since he'd been the one trying to end it. But the conversations we had had recently, especially the one from Thursday night, showed me otherwise.

"James does want to fix things. He just hasn't been as aggressive as I have about it," I told them, standing up from the table, "We talked at our windows the other night...just like old times." I smiled as I repeated the phrase.

"That's wonderful to hear. We weren't trying to be negative; we were just trying to make sure you understood that. I just know how torn up you've been over it all and don't want you getting your hopes up for them to be crushed again is all," Mom said to me.

"Yeah, if anyone is rooting for you guys to stay friends, it's us two," Dad chimed in. "You two are...what is it you kids use to describe something ideal these days?" he asked.

"Goals," Mom answered for him.

I giggled at the fact she knew some of my generation's lingo.

"But if all else fails, just remember," Dad reached out to hug me.

"You'll always have us as friends," Mom finished.

I giggled again at their corniness and embraced the hug. "Thanks, guys."

But things are going to work out, I thought optimistically.

I'm going to make sure of it.

"Ready to be daredevils, again?" I asked James as he walked out of his front door onto his porch.

An eager smile overtook his face, and I knew then it was going to be the fantastic day I'd been hoping for.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he answered. "I had to hype myself up for it since it's been two years since the last time, but now I think I'm all set." He gestured to a grape soda can I hadn't noticed he was holding. "These are great for early morning energy."

"Soda for breakfast?" I asked, giggling as we headed across his yard toward my mother's car. She was going to be dropping us off, paying for admission, then heading to work for the day. The aerial park was located a few blocks away from Town Centre, so after zip-lining, James and I planned just to venture around there until she got off instead of interrupting her workday.

"Yeah, I needed the sugar rush." He shrugged.

His eyes stayed locked on me for a second; then he gently tugged one of the pigtails in my hair.

"You kept the curls, huh? Your pigtails look pretty," he complimented.

I struggled to hide the blush that was forming on my cheeks at the fact he'd noticed.

Stop being weird, I commanded myself mentally. Just be normal.

Finding my voice, I quietly replied, "Thanks."

We walked up to the car, and James opened the door for me.

It was something he always did, but this time it just seemed different.

Especially since this time, he held his hand out to me to help me into the car. I gave him a smile and took his hand, then climbed into the car. He got in beside me then closed the door.

"Time to go be daredevils," he declared.

"Yeah!" I cheered happily.

My mom came outside a few seconds later, and then we were off.

The ride to the aerial park was filled with excitement. The way James and I talked and laughed together was almost like there wasn't any wedge between us.

Almost.

James still seemed to be keeping me at arm's length in some ways.

I found that especially rang true when it came to eye contact. It would often feel like he wasn't looking at me but through me instead.

Like he was there but wasn't really there.

We were standing in line to wait for our turns to ride the zip-line when he'd zoned out on me again. Mom had paid our admission and left for work only ten minutes ago, but we'd been waiting in line for what felt like forever.

"James...James!" I called out to him.

He came out of his daze and looked at me.

"Yeah, what's up?" he asked, trying to play it off like all was casual.

Not wanting to start drama, I played along.

"Um, we're up," I said, pointing to the female employee that was waiting for us. James realized we were at the front of the line, and we walked up to her.

"Hey, there I'm Addison, but you can call me Addy," she introduced herself, shaking both of our hands.

"I'm so glad to have you riding with us today. Let's go get you both harnessed up, okay?"

I smiled at her friendliness and motioned for James to come along. She directed us toward the zip-line we'd ridden two years ago, The Wild Ride. When we reached it, I noticed there were two zip-lines in the park that hadn't been there before. One of them was labeled The Death Trap, and it looked way more exciting than the Wild Ride.

"You know, I don't remember The Death Trap from last time, how long has it been here?" I asked as Addy buckled me into the safety harness. James was quietly waiting beside me, probably still trying to hype himself up.

"We actually just got that one this year," she informed me, "It's the scariest line we've got here, and it goes so fast you can hardly see what's happening."

"Cool," I remarked, feeling intrigued.

"Yikes," James mumbled.

"But you two would have to wait until you're eighteen to ride on it; it's for adult riders only," she told me.

"Oh, okay," I said, feeling a bit disappointed.

"I gotta go get you both a helmet; then, I'll strap him in with you. Just wait right here, okay?" she said.

"You got it," James smiled.

"I think we should sneak onto The Death Trap, James," I said once Addy was out of earshot.

James gave me a bewildered look then realized I was being serious. He rapidly started shaking his head. "Harlee, no. Absolutely not," he said firmly.

"Why can't we?" I folded my arms. "I thought you wanted to be daredevils."

James pointed toward The Wild Ride and said, "We're about to fly through the air at top speed with nothing to catch us if we fall. Isn't that 'daredevil' enough for you??"

"Oh, please, this ride is for children." I nodded toward the smaller kids and preteens around our age lined up for the zip-line.

James glanced at them then looked back at me. "We are children," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Not really. Next week we'll both be thirteen. In Jewish culture, thirteen would mean we're both adults."

It was James' turn to roll his eyes.

"Stop trying to find a loophole in the rules, Harlee. Even if that were a good argument, we're both still twelve. Let's just ride on this one, okay?"

"Okay, well, you can do that," I told him, unbuckling and removing the harness. "But I'm going to find my way onto the Death Trap."

"What? Harlee? Harlee!" he whisper-shouted at me as I walked away from The Wild Ride.

I walked over toward the line for the Death Trap, where there were very few adults waiting for their turn to ride.

The fact others were so afraid to ride it only intrigued me more.

"Adults don't even want to ride it; they should leave it to us kids," I smirked.

James hurried up beside me.

"You are going to get in so much trouble," he said, panting, and I felt a little bad for making him have to run after me.

"How?" I asked. "It's not like I'm breaking the law or something. The sign right there says 'ride if you dare." I pointed to the sign I was referring to.

James looked over at it, then back at me.

"And I dare." I shrugged, taking a step forward.

James looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

Then his face turned serious, and he glared at me.

"They're not even going to let you on. You're under eighteen, Harlee.

You have pigtails in your hair, and you're so small you couldn't even pass for an adult if you tried," he said, still sounding worried.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." I stepped forward again.

He gently grabbed my arm, turning me to face him.

"I have everything to worry about because you and I both know you'll scheme your way into riding it. Harlee, this isn't like last time when you were just trying to get me to face my fears. This is just you being reckless."

I felt frustrated at how difficult he was being.

Although, I knew he was probably right.

Maybe, I was just born without the natural fear of danger other people had. Because honestly, things like that just didn't scare me like they did everyone else.

My eyes wandered back over toward The Death Trap. The attendant for it seemed to be very attentive to who he allowed on.

Even then, he was shooing away a group of teens (that looked old enough to ride in my opinion) because they didn't have IDs handy.

"I care too much about you to let you do something that dangerous, Harlee," James said quietly, bringing my attention back to him. He looked embarrassed at the confession but continued anyway.

"Look, if we can just ride the zip-line for our age group today, I promise on the day of my eighteenth birthday we can come back together."

My ears perked up at his promise.

The fact that he believed we'd still be friends at that age got rid of any worry I had left that he'd given up on us.

The Death Trap lost my attention at that point.

I realized I didn't need the adrenaline rush from that particular zip-line to get my thrill for the day. All the excitement I needed was to be with my best friend forever.

"Alright, I won't try to sneak onto The Death Trap," I giggled, throwing my hands up in surrender. "There is no way even I was getting past that attendant anyway."

James sighed with relief and smiled at me, "Thank you."

"I hope you plan to keep your promise, though," I told him.

"Or else, I'll tie you to The Death Trap in your sleep on the eve of your eighteenth birthday, and you'll wake up in mid-air."

James' eyes widened and then he smiled.

"I promise, I promise. Cross my heart and hope not to die," he said.

I laughed, and we headed back toward the Wild Ride, where Addy was waiting for us.

"Where did you guys go?" she asked, handing us our helmets.

"Sorry, we just had to sort something out," I told her.

Addy nodded her head and started buckling us back into the harness together. "Is everything all good now?" she asked.

"Yup. All good," James responded as she finished strapping us in.

"Well then, you're all set. See you in a sec," she said, letting go of the trolley, giving us a gentle push down the zip-line.

We started soaring through the air and screaming.

But ironically, I felt more at peace right then than I had in ages.

I was with my favorite person in the world, flying through the sky.

It was both excitement and serenity at the same time.

πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–πŸ–

Ο™: Κœα΄€α΄ α΄‡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ α΄’ΙͺᴘʟΙͺΙ΄ΙͺΙ΄Ι’?


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net