"Let's go to Disneyland!" My brother comes into my room at around 8 am the next morning. I would have been pissed, but a, it's DISNEYLAND he's speaking of and b, I was already awake. I've been awake for about 10 minutes now.
I sat up on my bed and rubbed my eyes, "What? Today?" I was confused. I know we have the day off, but still.
He stood at the end of my bed and nodded, "Yeah, come on, we have passes. No school. So why not today?"
Hm. I thought about it. It's a Monday, most people are in school so it probably won't be TOO packed. The weather was in the 70's. I was craving their churros, so why not?! Thank God for having annual passes.
"What time?"
"Let's leave in 20 minutes if you're able to get ready in time," he tells me already backing away to leave, "you can invite Cara or Phil or whoever. I'm inviting Troy and Nate. And dad took my car and left the Navigator so we'd all fit if we all end up going."
Troy. Ugh. It's not even an annoyed ugh. It's like a, I'm trying to get over this crush ugh. But maybe we don't all have to be together over there. My friends can do our thing and they can do their thing. I texted Cara and Phil and within minutes, they both texted back. Cara was in. But Phil already had plans. Oh well. It'll still be fun. Cara and I hadn't had a Disneyland day together in a LONG time. Probably about 5 months. We would always randomly go after school some days our junior year ad that was always really fun. So I'm excited, even if Troy goes or not. Maybe he won't even go.
But nope. 30 minutes later, Cara, myself, Nate, and Troy were all standing outside by the car waiting for my brother to come out. It was 8:45 and I'm pretty sure we could make it to Disneyland by 10, but it didn't matter, we planned on being there all day so we weren't too concerned about the time.
Finally, we were all in the car and on our way.
We spent most of our morning in California Adventure so around 12:30, we decided to make our way back to Disneyland and have some lunch. And then after lunch, we walked around a bit to let our food go down before we went on any of the rides.
And none of us really split up. Cara and I talked about meeting up with some of our friends that were maybe going to be at California Adventure a little later, but other than that, we all stuck together. There were five of us so it was always kind of awkward and we all had to rotate sitting by ourselves on a ride, but we made it work and so far, it's been a lot of fun. I would have never thought about going to Disneyland today. I kind of forgot I even had my pass.
"Shit, I have a phone interview right now," my brother told us as we all stopped to see where we should head next. A phone interview?
"Really?" Cara asked him.
He nodded, looking at his phone a little worried. "They just left me a voice-mail asking if we could change it to today instead of tomorrow so I have to call them back."
Well that sucks since we're in the middle of this huge ass park. With lots of people. Crying babies. Kids everywhere. How in the world was he going to do a phone interview? And why was he applying for a job that I didn't even know about? Hmm.
"Just go out of the park and sit on the benches out there, it's not noisy there," I tell him. The benches by the bathrooms where everyone waits for their party to come or whatever so they could enter the park.
He nods, still looking down at his phone, "Good idea," he tells us, putting it in his pocket as he scrambles to get out as soon as possible, "Go do your thing and I'll catch up with you guys later!"
And he was out. And the four of us were left standing there not really knowing what to do because Josh usually was the one in charge, telling us what rides we should go on and navigating us through the park. So we were kind of just... lost. Not actually lost, but you know what I mean.
But then Cara took over. "Who wants to go on Indiana Jones?!" Her favorite ride. My least favorite.
"Not me."
I looked over at Troy as he said that in unison with me and we both kind of just smiled and laughed at each other. What? "You don't like that ride?" I ask him as I dug my hand into my purse and pulled out my chapstick.
He shrugged, "I can do without it."
I looked over at Cara and she gave me this kind of look, like, I don't want to leave you alone with him but at the same time I do. And I didn't know how to respond with a look so I didn't. I kind of just did exactly the opposite of what I should have done.
"You guys can go, we'll wait here. Or we'll find another ride," I tell them before turning to Troy, "is that okay?"
"Oh yeah, totally, that's fine," he agrees.
Cara gave me a small smile before her and Nate went off to ride Indiana Jones. I loved Nate. He was my brother's best friend since 3rd grade and the four of us, Cara, Nate, Josh and I were seriously inseparable. Well it's been a tiny bit different this year, but most of high school it was us four. All the time.
And then it was just us two and I didn't know where to go from here. Should we just wait or should we kill the time by going on a ride that we want to go on?
"What do you wanna do?" I throw the ball in his court.
He thinks about it for a second. "Let's go on the Matterhorn, that line usually goes pretty fast." It does. Good idea. So we went there and sure enough, the line wasn't long so we were pretty much only waiting for a total of maybe 4 minutes in line.
This was actually the first time I was really going to be talking to him all day. In the car ride over here, I got shot gun so I didn't talk to him all that much. At lunch, I sat the furthest from him, not on purpose but yeah, and when we were going on rides two at a time, we never got paired up with each other so yeah, this is the first time we were going to be talking. Unless he just wanted to stand there in line and check his iPhone or whatever.
But he didn't. He didn't even have it in his hands.
"So you and your brother used to come all the time?" he asked me as we inched a little forward in line.
I leaned back on the rails and nodded, "Yeah, we actually used to live here in Anaheim until we were maybe 7 or 8 so we'd come all the time. And then we stopped for a while but in 9th grade, we got annual passes and we haven't been able to stop renewing them."
"I had a pass for a few years, but just didn't renew it one year, I don't know why, it's relaxing coming here," he laughs, "which may sound ironic, but it is."
Ugh that's exactly how I felt. Even though you're walking all around the park, getting on rides and eating and stuff, it is relaxing. It's a stress reliever. You're just having fun with people you want to hang out with here. That's why Cara and I always came here after school last year. Just to escape from everything.
And as soon as I was about to say something to him, I felt a pair of eyes on me. So I slowly turned my head to the left and saw a guy staring at me. I quickly looked away and ignored him and tried talking to Troy, but Troy saw it too.
"You uncomfortable?" he asked me low enough so the guy couldn't hear.
I nodded, scooting over a bit since the line was moving, "A little bit, but I'm okay," I tell him. I could still feel him staring and it wasn't creeping me out or anything but it was just uncomfortable. For all he knew, Troy could be my boyfriend and he was just staring at me. So disrespectful. LOL.
And it continued for maybe another five minutes.
"Hey, I think you're making her a little uncomfortable," Troy spoke up much to my surprise. I wasn't upset or anything, but I just didn't want to give him any attention whatsoever. I wanted to just continue moving in the line and get on the ride and then leave as soon as possible.
This other guy wasn't ugly. He was cute-ish, but eh. Mark and Troy were definitely cuter. I mean, just Mark. And then he sort of laughed and shook his head at Troy. "If I was making her uncomfortable, I'm sure she'd tell me something buddy."
Okay, ew. Who does this guy think he is?
"She just doesn't want to be rude," Troy tells him, pushing himself off the rails. The guy this tool was with I think tried to get him to stop saying anything, but he wouldn't.
The guy also pushed himself off the railed and stepped a little closer to us. Ugh. "Why don't you back off? You're not her boyfriend."
How the hell would he know?
But he continued, "because if you were, I'm sure you'd be all over her. I mean, look at her..." and he did. He looked at me. And it was honestly so uncomfortable. I'm not afraid of telling a guy no, but the way he was looking made me so uncomfortable I didn't even want to talk to him.
Troy didn't even say anything back, instead he turned around and inched more in the line since it was moving. This guy didn't need any more of our attention. And I didn't even want to go on the ride anymore. I just wanted to leave.
"Can I be all over you?"
Ugh why didn't he just leave us alone?!
I finally turned around and defended myself. I was fed up now. "No you cannot. Can you just leave us alone?" I turned back around and inched even more forward. I don't think I stood my ground too much, but whatever, at least I got something in.
But then he grabbed my shoulder. And as soon as he did, Troy reached for his hand and took it off. And this guy was going to swing. He DID swing, but he missed and Troy didn't. Troy punched him right in the face. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?! SHIT. UGH.
Troy backed away and moved his hand and made sure it was okay. Usually, I'm not one for any sort of violent confrontation, but I definitely feel like it was appropriate at the time. Oh my God, though. What's going to happen? People are staring. I'm feeling embarrassed. This guy is on the ground. Troy looks mortified. His friend is just standing there stunned at what just happened. And I just want to get the hell out of here as fast as we possibly could.
There was no way we were going to ride this ride now. But we couldn't just leave.
The guy finally got up and it didn't look like he was going to fight back. Instead he just looked pissed. His friend came in between him and Troy and apologized on his behalf which was incredibly nice.
"Come on, man, let's go," he told him before turning back to Troy, "let's just go our separate ways." Whoever his friend was, was a much better person than that sleazeball.
The guy still looked pissed but he listened to his friend and made his way out of the line. And once he was out of sight, I turned to Troy. "Are you okay?"
I wanted to be mad. I hate when people fought, but I couldn't. He was defending me. First, being civil and in a manner that I respected. He told him to back off in a nice way and when he was being obnoxious about it, he didn't respond. But the minute he laid his hand on me, he did what he had to do. And I couldn't be mad. I didn't want to be mad. All I wanted was to make sure he was okay.
"Yeah, yeah," he told me, stretching out his hand a bit, "I'm good, I think."
But just to be on the safe side, we probably should get out of this line. "Come on, let's go get you some ice," I turn around and start making my way through people without even giving him a chance to respond, but he followed me out of the line and we started walking to the nearest concession stand for some ice.
We got some ice from the churro stand where they had an ice chest of water and we just asked for a bag and we sat down at the nearest bench so he could ice it. I didn't care that we didn't get to go on the ride, I just wanted to make sure his hand wouldn't swell up.
"You didn't have to do that," I tell him just like in those movies where the guy defends the girl and she plays dumb about not wanting it to happen, but is secretly so happy and grateful about it. "But thank you."
He just shrugged as he adjusted the bag on the hand, "That guy was an asshole." Uh yeah, he didn't have to tell me twice.
"I know and I'm sorry you got involved. I should have said something, I just didn't want to pay him any attention."
"No, good thing you didn't say anything," he tells me and I'm slightly confused, "he didn't deserve any of your time. But I'm okay. It might be a little sore tomorrow, but nothing I can't handle."
"I still feel bad about it," I tell him, bringing my feet up on the bench and sitting Indian style. "Let me buy you a churro or something! Frozen lemonade?"
"Look, if you want to get up and get me something, I won't stop you," he tells me with a slight laugh, "but I'll pay."
I got up ad shook my head and walked far enough so he wouldn't have to give me money, "No way. Just tell me what you want. It's seriously the least I could do." He gave in and told me what he wanted.
And while I was waiting for his frozen lemonade to be done, I turned around and looked at him on the bench and he was just looking down at his hand while icing it. And it made me just think about everything. Would he have stepped in if it was Cara? Am I starting to like him more? Should I stop hanging out with him? Is he interested? Is he going to pursue Megan after yesterday? Why did he have to be so hot? So many questions and so little time. Ugh.
"Here," I handed him his drink and sat down next to him with my own drink that I got as well.
he used his empty hand to hold the drink and I looked down at his hand. It didn't look like it was getting swollen so that was good. But still, I felt really bad and embarrassed that I couldn't defend myself.
"I feel bad," I admitted, turning to him slightly, "I shouldn't have let it get to that point. I should have been more vocal and told him to leave me alone and I'm sorry. What if tomorrow it hurts more than it does right now and you won't be able to write? You're right handed, right?"
Of course he's right handed. I watch him write everyday in Chemistry. In a totally non creepy way. Well, sort of.
I don't know why he was laughing. I was being serious here. "Gabriella, it's okay. Really," he tells me, putting his drink down on the bench, "I'm sure I'll be fine. I can move it so it's not broken."
"Ok, sorry," I apologized. I was probably annoying him.
"I'm sure if it was your brother you wouldn't be apologized this much," he smiled at me while picking up his drink, "but really, it's okay. I'm good."
I looked away. I've never been in many situations like that. Dealing with jerks or bullies or anything like that. But one time when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman, this guy was whistling at me but never to the point where he was going to talk to me, but my brother didn't do anything about it. I probably would have liked him to at least tell him to stop or something. I'm independent and everything, but it's always nice to have people stick up for you.
"What?" Troy asked me, noticing how quiet I was.
But I just smiled at him, not letting him know the reason I was. "No, nothing." I took a drink of my lemonade and just sat there. He was the first guy to ever step in and defend me and that's got to count for something, right?
