Adventureland
Chapter One
Blaine stood rather awkwardly in the gateway, squinting against the harsh light of the setting sun in spite of the wayfarers balanced on the bridge of his nose. He took in the silhouettes of the spirally loops of the roller coaster track, the flying saucer and in the far distance, the large ring of the Ferris wheel, all washed out by the vibrant orange light illuminating the park's attractions. The familiar scent of caramel popcorn and candy floss saturated the humid, stagnant air that filled his nostrils.
Adventureland - the amusement park in which he had spent a number of his childhood summers frequenting; the vast playground which he was now returning to after nearly a decade of avoidance for a summer job.
A pair of young children ran past him, colourful balloons of various shapes floating weightlessly above their heads while attached to their wrists by thin pieces of string. The kids giggled and squealed in delight whilst who Blaine could only assume were their parents lugged their belongings several feet behind. Tired as their expressions showed, the couple was smiling with true contentment at the sound of their children's carefree laughter.
Blaine sighed and trudged his way up to he ticket concession booth.
This was going to be a long summer.
The young woman seated behind the lone tickets purchase counter looked at him with borderline-psychotic levels of enthusiasm. Her bright red lips stretched taut with a grin so wide that Blaine almost felt a little threatened as she asked him what tickets he was looking to purchase. Once he explained that he wasn't interested in buying tickets, but rather, booking in for his first day of work, the mega-watt smile quickly vanished and she massaged her jaw and cheeks as she pointed him to the small cabin around the back. Turns out the maniacal grin was part of her "friendly welcoming committee" act.
When his knocks met no reply, Blaine cautiously turned the doorknob and the cabin door swung open to reveal the space inside. The office was small, more of a cubicle than anything else. The stacks of document boxes, corkboard-covered walls and dirty, worn green carpet on the floor did nothing to enlarge the already cramped space. It was a room right out of a claustrophobe's nightmare. In the corner, a small wall-mounted air conditioner hummed almost painfully in its somewhat successful attempt to churn out cooler air. Still, Blaine was grateful to step into the office and out of the languid Florida humidity.
Behind the cramped desk sat a middle-aged man, doodling mindlessly on a sheet of ledger paper with a set of headphones around his head. Even from the distance, Blaine could hear the beat of the music pounding out of the speakers, so it was no wonder that the man hadn't heard him knock on the door.
Blaine cleared his throat and raised his voice a little louder.
"Hello."
The man just about jumped out of his seat, nearly bumping his head on the ceiling of the office. Hastily pulling his headphones off his ears to hang around his neck, he tucked the pencil he was doodling with behind his ear before turning to Blaine with a bored expression on his face.
"If you're here to file a complaint I'd have you know that we're working on a suggestion box and when that's done it was be placed strategically outside the bathrooms, which always seem to be the thing that gets complained about the most. Also, I'll have you know that if it is to complain about the service you are receiving with regard to out staff, my wife is in charge of human management but she just happens to be on leave today. Otherwise, how may I help you?" He chanted off in a detached voice, almost as if it were something he had repeated many, many times.
"Actually, I'm here to report for my summer job? My name's Bl-"
"Blaine Anderson?"
"Yes…"
"Good, we've been expecting you, son." The smile on the man's face was now completely friendly. Blaine was amazed at how quickly someone's mood could swing around a full one hundred and eighty degrees. "I'm Mr. Paxton, but you can call me Greg."
Greg smiled jovially at Blaine, decreasing the space between them to reach out for a handshake. Blaine winced mentally at the firm grip that felt like it was crushing his bones.
"Well, there's no time to waste now is there?" He said warmly. "Would you like a quick tour before it gets too dark?"
"Sure thing, Sir."
"Please, just call me Greg." Greg corrected, grabbing the office keys and gesturing for Blaine to exit the office's door ahead of him. Once they were both broiling in the heat, Greg continued. "Now, Blaine, I understand you've spent many the summers on these delightful grounds."
"Um yeah. Sure. I grew up nearby so… I mean, what kid doesn't love this place?" He lied through his teeth. It just didn't seem wise to trash talk the place in front of its owner and risk losing his new job before it even began. "I have made many fond memories here in Adventureland!"
As they walked through the park, Greg seemed oblivious to the perhaps overly-forced enthusiasm behind Blaine's words. "Well that's fantastic, son. Glad you enjoyed it!" he beamed.
Not trusting his voice to not seep sarcasm, Blaine simply hummed lightly in reply.
"Okay. Well I trust you're familiar with the layout, then. Not much has changed since I bought over this place two years ago." The pair came to a halt in the small food court. As far as Blaine was concerned, it wasn't so much a food court as a couple of decaying picnic benches and two concession stands which were currently closed due to the time of day. Crows and sparrows hopped across the ground, pecking at crumbs which had been left behind from the day's visitors. Around them, rides were closing up in lieu of the rapidly setting sun. Staff members, mostly young college students like himself distinguishable by their ringer t-shirts, hurriedly set up barriers around the rides they were in charge of, probably to quickly finish up and get home. He didn't blame them.
"Seems there isn't much I can show you of this place that you don't already know." Greg's voice reminded Blaine of his employer's presence.
"I guess?" he laughed awkwardly.
"You'll be fine. I believe in you, son." He said earnestly. "We're almost done for tonight so you begin your first shift tomorrow. Be here before opening time to help set up. You should be penned into the official roster by the end of the week, but for now, you'll sort of have to be jumping all over the place. I'm really sorry for that, but I guess it's good in the sense that you'll have to chance to re-familiarise yourself with the place, eh?" Greg smiled and bumped him lightly in the shoulder. "I'm putting you in charge of the Ferris wheel tomorrow –that's a two-man operation and James called in sick this morning. I don't know how Quinn managed it alone today."
"That should be fun."
"I'm sure it will be!"
"Is there anything else, Sir?"
"Greg." The older man corrected. "Pop by my office tomorrow morning and I'll give you your lunch schedule. I'll assign you a buddy, too, just until you get the hang of things. Otherwise, I guess I'll be seeing you bright an early tomorrow morning!"
Great, Blaine thought bitterly. It's barely begun and I can't wait for the summer to end already.
"Oh and Blaine? One more thing;" Greg tossed something at his face. Catching it, Blaine shook it out – A pale blue ringer shirt with navy blue piping, and the "Adventureland!" logo on the back. "Welcome to Adventureland."
The next morning, in an almost painful, unwanted feeling of déjà vu, Blaine once again found himself standing by himself in front of the gates of Adventureland. Only this time, he lacked the comfort of his favourite ratty old t-shirt, but was wearing his new work attire – his blue Adventureland! shirt and khakis (he refused to wear jeans in the heat) with his worn-out sneakers. He had overslept that morning and had to forgo a shave, so stubble covered his jaw and his hair remained unkempt. The worse part was probably the fact that his disheveled appearance failed to bother him - Blaine was always one who believed in making first opinions count, so this lack of caring showed just how little regard he held for the job.
He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that week.
Hoisting his backpack more comfortably on his shoulders, Blaine walked through the small side gate of the entrance that was there specially for staff-use. Here goes his first day.
"It's simple enough. You wait to make sure that everyone's on, no stray limbs are hanging out, then you walk around to check that the bar is fastened and you're good to go. Glare at those who refuse to listen, otherwise there's nothing you can do to stop them. But for now, I'll do the checking, you just wait here for my 'all-clear', alright?"
Blaine nodded. The morning had gone smoothly enough – he'd dropped by the office first thing in. Greg had greeted him enthusiastically and introduced him to Mike, another employee who Blaine learnt was working at Adventureland for his third summer now. Like Blaine, Mike was working for a little extra cash to fund his university education; but unlike Blaine who was about to start his Freshman Year in New York, Mike was between his Sophomore and Junior years in a school in Chicago which name he did not disclose. Blaine didn't push for answers.
Mike had been friendly, though not pushy, and the comfortable silences the pair of new colleagues shared gave Blaine some hope that perhaps, he could have made a new friend here after all. Much to his dismay, Mike was working at the Bumper Cars, which was right across the park from where Blaine was to work at the Ferris Wheel. After a quickly introducing Blaine to the bored-looking blonde also stationed at the Ferris Wheel, Mike had to jog over to his own posting, leaving Blaine with his new workmate, Quinn.
Which led him to where he was now. He followed behind Quinn, learning her ways of opening up the ride for visitors. She chatted detachedly as her hands worked on the drill she had carried out countless times over the past few months. She was pleasant enough to Blaine, especially since he was the new guy on the job, but still her voice dripped boredom and possibly even sarcasm. Honestly, he couldn't blame her - he knew that the environment couldn't possibly help.
When the Park finally opened up for the day, the moderate-sized flock of loyal patrons made their way through the rides. Traffic for the Ferris Wheel tended to be slower at this time of the day, however – visitors tended to use the slow-moving wheel as a chance to rest their tired legs at the end of the day whilst still getting the money's worth of the attractions. So needless to say, morning demand for the generic park ride was ridiculously low.
Neither colleague made any effort to communicate – Quinn tapping away on her phone blood-red painted fingernails whilst chewing and popping pink bubblegum ; Blaine literally twiddling him thumbs and wishing he has his guitar in his hands to kill the time.
They worked effectively enough as a team, and it wasn't too long until the more experienced operated stepped aside and told Blaine that he could try operating the wheel, if he wanted. Seeing as there were only three of the eighteen carts occupied, Blaine stepped forth and operated the control panel. He was a fast learner, so it didn't take him long at all to learnt that the trick to operating the faulty start button was to hit it hard at a certain angle from the left. Quinn was sufficiently impressed.
The noon heat was sweltering and he was bored out of his mind. The heat curbed his appetite, but Blaine actually started counting down until his lunch break, just so he could have something to do. At the half hour to go mark, he was just about dying. He wiped at the sweat collecting at his brow and cursed under his breath.
"Hey, new guy!" Quinn's distinctive, husky voice called out from the distance. "Blaine!"
"Yeah?" he looked up to see Quinn standing with someone he didn't recognize behind the ride.
"Come on over, man."
"Yeah, okay!" He replied. After taking a quick swig of water and checking that there was no one nearby who seemed interested in a ride on the Ferris Wheel, he made his way towards the two relative strangers. Quinn was distinguishable from afar with her short blonde hair and red Adventureland! shirt, but the second figure was completely unknown to him. Whoever it was was tall, with broad shoulders and brown hair which was messily swept back. He too wore an Adventureland! shirt, but in contrasting green hues and as Blaine got closer, grudgingly noted that this stranger somehow managed to make the shirt look good.
"Hey," he said as he approached them.
"Blaine, Sebastian. Sebastian, New Guy." Quinn introduced offhandedly, waving her hands in lazy gestures.
Blaine grimaced at the title he was introduced with, but turned to face the stranger – Sebastian – for the first time.
Sebastian was the image of nonchalance. One hand rested casually in the pocket of his jeans, the other holding an ice-cold bottle of water by its neck. Sebastian smiled – smirked – at Blaine as his eyes scanned quickly over his frame. He made no attempt to raise a hand in greeting, but simply brought the bottle he was holding to his lips to take a sip, his eyes never once leaving Blaine's.
There was no denying that Sebastian was attractive. But the first thing Blaine noticed was his eyes. Eyes that looked to intensely green in spite of the harsh sunlight which seemed to pale out the entire colour spectrum. He stared, transfixed.
"So Blaine," Sebastian commented "What brings you to this dump?"
"I don't understand your question. Who wouldn't want to spend a summer here in this land of joy?" He replied, his voice dripping sarcasm.
Quinn scoffed, but Sebastian simply stared at Blaine, his expression unreadable apart from the small upward curl of his lips. If Blaine were to guess, he looked… calculating. Like he was trying to figure something; figure Blaine, out. After a few seconds, he turned to Quinn, nudging her arm lightly with his own. "I like this one, Q. He's got some bite in him."
"He's pretty cute, isn't he?" the two looked at him as if observing a puppy through a pet shop window. Blaine squirmed uncomfortably.
"Um, Hello? I'm right here, guys."
"We know. Doesn't make what we said any less true, though." Sebastian said "Come on, we're getting out of here for a bit. Lunch Break's starts in twenty anyway." .
"But what about the ride-"
"Don't worry about it. There's no one here, anyway. It's too hot out." Quinn interjected.
Looking around, Blaine couldn't argue with Quinn. He half expected tumbleweeds to start rolling before their eyes. He nodded in agreement and walked alongside his two new acquaintances with absolutely no idea of where they were headed.
As they walked he felt not the sun, but those green, green eyes burning deep into him.
Author's Note: So there's the first Chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it (: I'd love if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought of it! Thank you so much for reading, it really means a lot.
-J