It was a warm and peaceful night on the pier in Wildwood. The carnival had come to the docks and most of the town was there, enjoying the lights and rides while the sun set over the horizon, painting the sky with pinks and purple hues. Louise and Logan looked longingly at the rides and games as they entered the pier with their fingers intertwined. About nine years had passed since they had met and it was the night of their first anniversary as an official couple. She was 18 and he was 24. The age difference might have seemed unusual to most people, but to them it didn't matter. She had the maturity and spunk of a twenty year old – something she had had since she was ten. They had originally despised each other when they were just kids; he was a sophomore in high school, while she was 9 years old and in the 6th grade, having skipped a grade. When they met, he had teased her and stole her favorite possession – her pink bunny ears. Even to this day she still looked at him as the type of guy with exceptional bravery for being able to do such a thing. Even though she didn't like it at the time and did almost everything she could to get them back, she admired his ability to stand up to her – something most people were scared to do.
Logan glanced over at his girlfriend, taking in the beauty of her and what surrounded her. He couldn't believe that he had been so lucky to be the guy that she chose to date and spend the majority of her time with. She still adorned her classic look – pink bunny ears and a simple green dress. It was her signature style after all.
"Oh! I wanna go on that one!" Louise exclaimed, taking Logan out of his inner thoughts.
"Alright let's-" he cut himself off once he got a look at the ride she was taking about. It was the absolutely largest rollercoaster at the fair, and he had an extreme fear of rides like that. "Well, on second thought, how about you go on that one solo." he finished, dragging his words along.
"Ok whatever dude!" she responded with a giant grin spreading across her face. She always thought it was hilarious how her boyfriend was so afraid of rollercoasters, yet could stand her and her rollercoaster-like personality. Louise took off running towards the quickly growing line for the most intense ride at the park – the Turbo-Wharf. Logan smiled on at her as he watched as she made side conversation with others in line.
After a moment he started to look around and just take in all that was surrounding him, when out of nowhere who does he see walk up?
"Tina! Jimmy! What… what are you guys doing here?" he asked with surprise evident in his voice.
"Oh hey Logan." Jimmy Junior said while keeping a firm arm wrapped around Tina's waist. "Didn't expect to be seeing you here, man. We just swung by real quick to check out the fair. We were actually just on our way over to the restaurant to see Lin and Bob."
"Cool dude, it's nice to see you guys." He responded with a quick glance and smile at Tina.
"Yeah, I just couldn't pass this up. Really reminds me of our childhood, right Jimmy?" she looked up at her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Totally babe." He said pulling her into a full on kiss. After a few seconds they broke away from each other and smiled at Logan.
"So where'd my crazy sister run off too?" Tina asked with a smirk and a tilt of her head. While she had clearly grown out of her awkward middle school, puberty, boy-crazy phase, she still had some of those quirky qualities that only she could pull off. Well, without looking likes a total dork, that is. She had changed her hair since the last time Logan had seen her. It had been 7 months since he or Louise had seen either Tina or Jimmy. They both attended a small college a few hours away – called Rutgers University, where she was starting her senior year along with Jimmy. Tina still stuck with the same color palate that she had always worn; light blue top and a dark gray skirt. Except now that she was in her early 20's she filled it out nicely, having lost some weight around the middle and getting to be looking more like her mother. Logan could tell that even after these past six years with Tina, Jimmy still loved her the same as the day he asked her to be his girlfriend.
It had been at the winter formal during Tina's sophomore year in high school and she couldn't have been more surprised when Jimmy showed up just to see her. She had been standing awkwardly in the corner of the Huxley High School gym just waiting for someone to approach her. He showed up with a red rose and a very toothy smile; he had just gotten his braces taken off a day earlier. In the time from middle school to mid high school, they had remained friends and had gotten closer over time, but now he wanted to take it to the next level. With the reach of his hand, he softly asked "would you join me for this dance, my lady?" He had had some speech corrective therapy to get rid of his lisp and that did wonders for his confidence – especially in times like this. She obviously accepted with arms wide open and embraced him in a giant hug as they held hands and began to make their way to the dance floor.
"Louise?" he finally answered as he removed himself from his inner thoughts, "She hit the Turbo-Wharf a few minutes ago. You know her, always ready to take on the craziest ride there is."
"Babe, we should go join her!" Jimmy Junior said pointing excitedly at the increasing line that filed up to the rollercoaster.
"Uhhh… sure." Tina responded with quick nervous glances back and forth between Jimmy and the ride. Her boyfriend smiled and grabbed her by the hand as they ran off to join Louise in the line, getting a few annoyed looks from those who they were cutting. Logan smiled as they all looked over at him and waved eagerly.