For about two days now we knew we were going to Six Flags. Honestly, it wasn't going to be all that exciting. We were just going to go because they were free tickets- and why waste them? I thought maybe there would be some nice views from the tops of coasters or the sky lift. Or some hijinx on the log flume picture, maybe even some cool- and I mean air conditioned- indoor rides. But no, I found myself trapped on a Safari ride with a bunch of assholes behind me. A few of them had shitty dye jobs, coming from a girl with blue hair with a blue haired friend.
"Could they get any louder?" I whispered to my friend Lucy. It was rare for me to be the angry one of my friends- but once you start making fun of the animals, its game over.
"I don't know, Lev- it's a little funny," Lucy disagreed. So, I just went back to listening to the tour guide and looking at all the animals. Finally, we got off that godforsaken truck and onto a "campground" where there were baby bears and reptiles and an anteater- and a few other not as important things. The boys behind us just stayed on our original truck to go back to the park. We were finally rid of them.
Until we got to the "haunted" Houdini House. They were in the row in front of us. And on the Green Lantern ride? They were the first rows. Superman coaster? We finally didn't see them, and continued to lose them for a little while. But on Skull Mountain, an indoor coaster where you're paired up with a stranger if you're the odd friend out, I got paired next to the Death Metal KISS Wannabe. He was screaming the entire time, just like every other ride, and on this one got a little too handsy.
We all got off together because me and Gene Simmons sat next to each other and Lucy teased me, "I didn't know you had a thing for piercings."
"Lu, I have a headache. I don't need this," I replied.
"Well, how about we go on Congo Rapids to cool off?" Erza suggests.
"Juvia would be very happy with that," she, Juvia, said with a smile.
"Congo Rapids sounds great," the blond said to the pink haired boy.
"Yeah, that'd be great!" the dark haired kid put in.
"Do you all want to go together?" a boy with blue hair, almost the same shade as mine, and a face tattoo.
"Yeah, why not?" Yukino answered, "It seems like we're headed the same place. Might as well ride together!"
"This is true, walk with me," the blond moved forward and put his arm jokingly around Yukino. She just laughed and pushed it off, while blushing.
"So, you guys are?" the blue haired guy asked.
"Erza, Levy, Lucy, and Juvia," Erza said, pointing to each of us, "And that was Yukino." The tickets were Lucy's father's, so she invited her friends. We all got along pretty well, even if I wasn't as acquainted with Lucy's other friends, I knew we were all in the same boat except her.
"Jellal, Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel- that was Sting," blue-hair/face-tattoo clarified. He was Jellal, Gene Simmons's name was actually Gajeel. Gray was the dark haired guy and Natsu was the one with pink hair. After the clarifications, Erza and Jellal walked to catch up to the two that already left. Natsu and Lucy had started talking a few moments ago and hadn't stopped, so when Erza and Jellal walked away, they absent mindedly followed. Juvia followed behind Gray- very close, without talking- to the ride. And I just puffed out my cheeks and heard a laugh. At least, that's what I thought it was. Gajeel was laughing at me, but it was a strange thing to come from him. I rolled my eyes and walked off with Gajeel on my heels, still yucking it up.
Congo Rapids, if you don't know, is an outdoor ride at Six Flags. It is a large, circular float that seats twelve and goes down "rapids". Its almost like a log flume and goes lower as you go farther, so you encounter the rapids. The ride can either leave you bone dry or soaking, ringing wet. And I loved this ride. But it got to the point I couldn't take it anymore. It was as if all the girls had paired themselves with the men. Every group of friends has the one friend who is a little less than the rest. Like there is always the one cheerleader who is less pretty, one goth chick who is less dark. I'm the "less than" friend. I am shorter and less physically blessed as the other girls, so when the boys had their picks of the litter, I got paired with their reject. Long black hair, communicated in grunts, didn't speak, had more piercings than a pincushion and just looked over me.
I was proud of myself- I didn't snap until we got on the ride. There were the ten of us and two random people. Gajeel and I sat on opposite sides of the raft from each other and he stared at me while we boarded. When the raft was released into the water he winced and it was all over.
"The fuck are you doing? Are you serious? You didn't scream enough on Skull Mountain, of all places?" I asked. Skull Mountain was a dark indoor ride and was fast, but not scary. It was probably one of the easiest rides at the park, besides the baby rides.
"Or are you going to call out to the mermaids like you did the ghosts in the Houdini House?" I continued, "And when the mermaids come over, are you going to make fun of them, like the Water Buffalo? Oh, no. I know- you're going to try to make a move on someone else-"
He cut me off and yells back, "You have no idea, bitch. I don't do fast drops like that shit. I did not 'call out' to the ghosts or make fun of the animals. When I touched you on Skull Mountain, it was an accident."
"Then apologize for accidents!"
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again. Get over it! And don't act like no one else on this boat is trying to make a pass at anyone else."
"Hey!" Natsu yelled.
"Don't bring us into it!" Sting added.
"Oh, is that why you've been following us all day?" I yelled.
Gajeel tried to argue, "We weren't following you! You weren't on half the rides we were! I didn't see you before Safari-"
"We weren't here before Safari!"
"Either way, I only saw you there, and on Skull Mountain. Get over yourself."
"You were on Green Lantern and the Houdini House with us! You were screaming on Green Lantern-"
"Its a roller coaster!" Gajeel cut in.
But I just talked over him, "And kept fucking around on the Houdini House."
"There were so many other people taking and yelling. Do you even hear yourself?" Levy was saved from answering when the raft hit the first few rapids. They bounced, but no one got wet until the last wave- Gajeel, Natsu, Sting and Yukino got soaked. Levy was about to laugh at him, when she saw Juvia was wet and Yukino was soaked.
"She's mad cause you guys made fun of the animals and she's a secretary at a veterinary clinic," Lucy said. Levy just now looked at everyone else in the raft. Yukino was pushing Sting playfully, Juvia was hanging onto Gray as he watched the fight. Lucy looked ashamed next to me, the couple next to us was laughing and ignoring the fight, Erza was whispering to Jellal and smiling, but Natsu was about ready to jump into the fray and Gajeel's clothes may have been steaming, he was so heated.
"Are you serious?" Gajeel yelled, "I didn't even do any of that shit!"
"They can't hear us and they're just animals. If they did hear us, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. They can't understand us," Natsu argued.
"I thought it was kind of funny," Lucy helped him out.
"Its a point of contention for a lot of people," Erza said, "If you apologize for it, Levy will apologize for being stubborn."
"Like hell," Gajeel and I said at once.
"Jinx!" I yelled as I went down an incline backwards. I meant to whisper it, but I felt the rush of cold water around me. It felt good on the hot day, but it came at a weird time. And this wasn't just one wave- it was three. The first hit Juvia, Gray, Lucy and I, the second hit Lucy, me, and the other couple, the third hit the other couple, Jellal and Erza. I heard laughing from the other side of the raft as the ride ended. Gajeel was laughing and, originally, I thought it was directed at me, but he was looking at Lucy.
"She looks like a wet rabbit," Gajeel choked out. Natsu immediately started howling with laughter, then slowly the laughter seeped into the rest of the raft- except Lucy.
"Hey! It's not funny!" she yelled. Her clothes were sticking to her from the tanning sunscreen she put on, and it was funny.
"Sorry, Lu. I thought it was kind of funny," I answered with a laugh.
"Oooh, cold," Sting called from across the raft. Even the other couple was laughing. I kind of felt bad for them- they didn't sign on to this, but got it anyway. The conveyor belt that brought the raft back to the beginning picked up the raft and we went up the belt.
"Well, we don't know you guys, but it's been a wild ride," the guy said.
"Yeah, now we have a great story to share," the woman agreed.
"No problem," Natsu said with a smile. We all disembarked the raft and walked off. I caught up to Gajeel.
As I walked by, I heard Lucy say, "Yeah, well, at least they can leave."
I tried to apologize, "Gajeel, I-"
But he cut me off and said, "Where to next?"
"Nitro?"
"We went on that already," Gajeel said.
"We can go again," Gray said. Next to him, Juvia beamed, not wanting to let go of him.
"Let's do it," Yukino said.
"Then something to eat?" Erza asked.
"We just ate," Jellal said.
"I could eat again," Natsu smiled and patted his stomach.
"You could always eat again," Gray said, "You guys can, and maybe we'll catch up with you."
"Someone give me their number, and we'll hook back up later," Sting held out his phone. Yukino took it and typed in her number. She saved it, closed it out and locked his phone when she gave it back to him.
"We still going on Nitro together?" I asked.
Gajeel shrugged, "Why not?" So, we went on the ride together, and split up after the forty five minutes for that. we shared a lot of laughs in line and had fun on the ride. The guys went to try out some other rides and the girls and I ate at the closest food building. We talked about the strange turn of events of finding some guys to hang out with. We figured we would go on Bizzaro by ourselves after we ate. Sting texted Yukino that's where the guys went and the girls didn't want to have to drag them on a second ride again. But after the ride, Juvia nearly threw up in a trashcan, and the girls decided to go home. Yukino tried to call Sting, but couldn't get through to him and left a voicemail. So, we left on our own. It was a pain to find Lucy's car, but we finally found it, thanks to her star car antenna topper and her astrology bumper stickers. The car was a light blue, convertible Volkswagen Beetle. She kept the hood up for a little while and Juvia sat in the backseat with a bag, Erza was next to her, in the center and Yukino was behind me. I sat navigator and Lucy drove.
"You okay back there Juvia?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, I just wished Six Flags was closer to home," she said. We lived about two hours from here. They rode listening to music and it started to rain about ten minutes into the ride.
"Oh," Yukino said as she picked up her phone, "Hello?" I pulled the visor down and flipped up the mirror cover to see Yukino behind me. She was on the phone and held her other ear. I turned down the music and Lucy looked over. I mouthed, "Yukino's on the phone" while gesturing. Erza and Juvia glanced over at Yukino.
"No problem…. Yeah, we left just before the rain. Juvia wasn't feeling well…. Tell Gray she's okay. She didn't puke, just... almost did," Yukino said. Juvia perked up immediately.
"Tell Gray Juvia says hello!" Juvia squealed.
"Tell- … Oh," Yukino put the phone to her shoulder, "Sting heard you. He's telling Gray." Yukino went back to her phone.
"Sti- Gajeel?... Yeah, okay," Yukino leaned forward and held the phone out to me, "It's for you." She sounded confused, but I saw Lucy smile from the corner of my eye.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Yeah, hey. Where do you live? Yukino has the same area code as us and Sting is hitting on her and won't ask the damn question," Gajeel asked. I heard Yukino tell everyone they were on a ride when she called and didn't check the message until they were out of the park.
"In Magnolia. Why?" Yukino was still talking to everyone else and said they left because of the rain.
"So do we. In Fairy Tail."
"Really? How did we not recognize each other?"
"We go to Onibus High. Magnolia High was farther from our complex. Shit. I knew it."
"So what now?" I asked.
"Found the car!" Jellal said in the background.
"Hold on," Gajeel put his end on mute.
"They live in Magnolia," I said to the rest of the car.
"Really?" Erza asked.
I nodded, "They go to Onibus. Because they live in Fairy Tail."
"Oh, so that's why we didn't know them!" Lucy said.
"Hello?" I heard a voice from the phone.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"You're on speaker, Levy," Natsu informed me. He sounded about as sick as Juvia.
"Cool, I'll put you on speaker," I said.
" You're on. Are you guys on your way home?" I ask when I put it on speaker.
The quality wasn't as good, but we could still hear them, "Yeah. We're driving in Sting's orange Jaguar," Jellal said.
"You don't sound happy," Erza noted.
"Its so gaudy," he replied.
"Hey! Lector is wonderful," Sting replied, "You'll hurt his feelings."
"An orange Jaguar?" Yukino was putting something together, "Sting do you live in Magnolia, too?"
"Yes and no. I live in Sabertooth, so its a toss up," he replied. Sabertooth is on the border between our two towns.
"So do I! I thought I recognized that car! Remember guys, in the parking lot?" Yukino said. I did remember, actually.
"Oh yeah, we parked next to you!" Lucy said.
"Weird. I guess we really have been trailing each other all day," Erza said.
"Look, honestly? That may have been on me," Sting replies.
"Wait what?" I ask.
"I saw Yukino and I suggested we go on Safari with you and then I overheard your conversation about where to go next and if we hadn't gone there yet, I suggested the same place. But after that, we lost each other when we went to eat. Skull Mountain was an accident."
"You fucked me over asshole!" Gajeel yelled, "You know I fuckin hate roller coasters but you brought me on anyway! You were the one who made me sit next to Shrimp on Skull Mountain!"
"Ah! Dick, I'm driving!" Sting said.
"Shrimp?" I yell.
"Anyway, do you guys want to meet up back at town? We can all beat up Sting together or share a meal."
"Sure, where at?" Lucy asked.
"Who's driving?" Sting asked.
"Me," Lucy answered.
"You know how to get to that little diner near Sabertooth- 8 Island?"
"Yeah. We'll have to stop at home first. We're still soaked. I also can't get there from the way we get back into town, but we'll be there soon."
"Yeah, we're drenched, too. We'll meet there at-" everyone looked at the clock and did their own math in their head.
"About eight thirty?" Sting finished.
"That gives us about forty five minutes to get changed," Lucy looked in her rearview mirror, "Everyone okay with that?"
"Juvia needs hours to get ready for Gray!" Juvia said. Everyone else nodded.
"You'll look fine Juvia," Gray said- he sounded exhausted, but his words made Juvia happy.
"Eight thirty is fine," Lucy said, "See you then."
"Bye Luce," Natsu said from his sickened state. The poor guy almost puked on every ride, and now the car, too. I sat back in my seat and looked forward to the dinner we'd have as I hung up the phone and gave it back to Yukino. She sat in the back texting the whole rest of the ride. But, I did get a text about a half-hour later.
i guess we were following you -gajeel
yeah, seems like it -levy
don't sign off as levy. i like shrimp better
i don't
too bad. so you work at a veterinary clinic. can you adopt there?
no, but we do have a list where you can
i need that list
why
i like cats
I hesitated to say anything back, but after a few minutes I texted: i'm sorry about yelling
we're good as long as you get me that cat
For the first time, I spent about two hours texting someone. I couldn't wait for the meeting at the diner. Hopefully we'd all see each other a lot more in the future. Who knew Gene Simmons was so easy to get along with?