Hey, ok, I don't
know how historically accurate I am in this. I don't know if they could take pics from log flumes in the early 70s,
but it's such a minor detail…so could we just like
look over that please? Thanks!
Chapter 5
J knocked crisply on the Yoast's
door. A somewhat disheveled Coach, still
in his robe and holding a coffee mug, answered. "Morning, Coach!" J chirped. Coach's face was a stew of surprise (you didn't
dare even talk to J this early without a death wish), sleepiness, amusement,
and a tad of annoyance.
"Why...good
morning, J. May I ask what you
are doing here at this hour?"
"I'm taking Alan out for his
birthday, Coach, remember? I already
told you all about it," responded J cheerfully.
"That you did, that you did,
J." Coach chuckled. "Well, Alan's still asleep, but you're
welcome to go and wake him." J
smiled brightly,
"Thank you!" and swept
past him to Alan's room.
***
Alan was having an ok dream when he
felt familiar lips softly brush against his cheek. He allowed his eyes to open and J filled his
vision. "What a way to wake
up," he said, voice brimming with warmth. J flashed a dazzling grin,
"Aww, Alan, you're sweet, but
it's time to get up!"
"Up?"
Alan sputtered, "but--Jules--you—it's still dark!" J reached into his closet, pulled out a
sweatshirt, and threw it at him.
"So? Road trip!" Alan glanced at his clock,
"But it's
"
One and a half minutes later, Alan
came out of the room, and J set upon him. "Great! You're
done! Here's your jacket," she
handed it to him, "now let's roll." Still not awake, wondering how J could be up this early and not be
biting anyone's head off, and overwhelmed with the flurry, Alan followed her
out the door, giving up on thinking. "Bye Coach!" he called behind him.
"Have a fun time,
kids!" Alan climbed into the passenger's
seat, for J was already in the driver's.
"Don't you want me to
drive?" J stuck the key in the
ignition.
"Of course
not! It's
your birthday! Well...sort
of. Anyway, I'm
chauffeuring. You relax. Oh, and here," she fished something out
of her coat pocket. "Eat on the
way." The blond teenager looked at
the granola bar in his hand.
"Aww, Jules, you made breakfast!" The corners of J's mouth curved upward,
"That I did. When you're done,
why don't you go back to sleep. We've
got a bit of a drive." Alan
finished off the last of his granola bar and tugged the pillow he'd been sitting on out from beneath him.
"So that's what this
was." J shook her head and smiled,
"Sweet dreams." With a contented sigh and a heart bursting
with love, Alan situated himself comfortably and surrendered to Hypnos.
***
"C'mon sleepyhead, wakey-wakey! You've been snoozing for 5 hours, it's time to get up! Oh Alan, just get up! We're here!" Alan, who'd been awake since J first tried to get him up, made his eyes flutter open. He squinted at J, pretending that his vision was blurry. She was leaning over him, the sun behind her streaming through the windshield, silhouetting her features.
"An angel," he whispered in awe. J rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep the grin off her face.
"Funny, Alan, real funny. Now you heard what I said, let's go!" J backed up and climbed out of the already open door on her side. Alan yawned, unbuckled, and got out of the car.
"Is that salt air I smell?" he asked, stretching.
"Yes it is," J replied, grabbing both their coats from the car. "That's why I had you dress warmly. The beach is gonna be cold with all the wind blowing off the sea. At least it should be reasonably deserted." Alan took his jacked from J, still trying to clear all the cobwebs that Morpheus had left in his mind.
"You drove us all the way to the beach?" J took Alan's hand and led him in the direction of a rise off to the right.
"Oh ye of little faith. Don't look so surprised. My Dad and I come down here every summer, you know that." Her face clouded slightly. "He says that Mom loved it. They spent their honeymoon here." Alan's response was to pull J closer. After a few minutes of silence, they reached the top of the hill and stopped. There was the ocean. Alan gazed around, and the beach was bare except for various seagulls and a handful of other people sparsely scattered up and down the coast.
"It's beautiful, J," he breathed, admiring the pounding serf, sucking tide, and white-capped blue-green waves.
"I knew you'd like it," J said with a smile.
***
The couple spent the next two
hours strolling along the coastline. When they became hungry, J ran back down to the car, returning with a
basket and a blanket. "Lunch
courtesy of Gerry's mom," she informed Alan as he helped her lay out the
blanket.
"When'd Mrs. Bertier make lunch for us?" Alan inquired as he munched on a BLT, his favorite.
"Yesterday after school when I went to hang out with Gerry (this is when he was still recuperating). They asked me what plans I had for your birthday, 'cause of course I had to top last year's somehow, and she promptly made lunch upon hearing that I really didn't have many plans for food yet." Alan laughed,
"Well, I'll have to give her my compliments."
"You know, you slept like a baby on the way here," commented J, taking a bite out of an apple. "When I stopped for gas, which you slept through completely, the guy behind the counter asked me if you were on meds or something because you were out so cold. This huge truck went by us that was so loud that it disturbed the kids of the woman behind us, and they started screaming. But you slept through the entire thing." Alan scratched his head,
"What I want to know is how you manage to get up so early and not kill anyone for breathing wrong."
"Ha ha." J thought about the question for a moment. "Only for you," she responded, eyes glittering.
***
Finishing lunch, Alan and J made their way back to the car. As they were putting the things from lunch away, Alan remarked,
"You know, I don't think I've seen you with your hair in a braid for years." J pushed a few stray wisps behind her ears.
"It's to keep it out of my face."
"It's pretty." J smirked, thought Alan noted the blushed tint to her cheeks.
"Aren't you being the charmer today. Next you're gonna tell me that I should wear it this way more often." Alan shrugged his shoulders,
"Only if you want to." J smiled, biting her bottom lip.
"Now, I like that answer," she said in a playful tone, sauntering closer to Alan.
He gathered her in his arms. "Well, like you said, I'm just full of flattery today."
J giggled and teased his nose with hers. "But it's your birthday date. I'm supposed to be the one flattering you."
Alan grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. "Okay. I'm waiting. Commence flattering."
J kissed the bridge of his nose. "Did I mention how adorable you are when you're sleeping?"
Alan caressed her cheek with his hand. "Anything else?"
"And have I told you that I love you?"
Alan smiled, "yup. But you just did again."
"Uh-huh!" J broke away from Alan. "Now get in the car." Alan proceeded to follow her order.
"You sure you don't want me to drive? You've gotta be really tired, I'll let you rest on the way back."
J grinned mysteriously and jingled the keys in her hand. "You ain't gettin' these just yet, buddy-boy. What, did you think we were leaving already?"
Alan buckled up, "I didn't know."
J started the car and began to back out of the parking space. "We still have half a day left! Now, don't fall asleep, because we don't have far to go."
***
True to her word, J stopped the car after 5 minutes of driving. "Here we are. Don't forget your jacket, you might want it." Alan nodded as he grabbed his coat and got out of the car. A goofy grin alighted his face when he saw where J had taken him.
"The boardwalk!" he exclaimed.
J shook her had, a smile plastered to her features. "Yes, the boardwalk. Now," she put her arm around Alan's and began walking with him, "tell me why you love it so much. I know that you do, I just don't know why."
Alan shrugged his shoulders as he strolled with her. "I don't know. I guess being on the boardwalk just makes me feel like a little kid again. Oooh, can we go to the carnival, can we, please?" Alan turned to her, eyes sparkling in excitement and face pleading after spotting the carnival.
J nodded, grinning widely. "It is your birthday." J and Alan didn't go to the carnival right away, however. Upon making it up to the boardwalk, they decided that it would be "so much cooler" if they waited till it was dark, when the lights from the rides would have the greatest effect. Instead, they sauntered all the way up and down the boardwalk, stopping at various stores and other places, including, of course, the arcade.
After having his fill of winning at skee-ball, (J had gotten tired of watching him and his countless victories awhile ago) Alan wandered around the arcade until he found J. It didn't take long, because anyone with a trained ear could hear where she was from miles away. She was battering the brains out of plastic crabs in one of those annoying albeit fun and addicting bashing games. (ya know, where those moles or crabs or alligators or whatever pop out of the holes and you have to smack them with padded mallets. What are those called, anyway?)
Tugging on her arm, he said, "C'mon, let's go. Before you break something." J snapped out of whatever zone she was in and reddened at the ferocity of her attack on the crabs.
"Yeah,"
she replied. "we
should…go now," and allowed herself to be led out of the arcade by
Alan. The two played
mini-golf, poked around many stores but didn't really buy anything, and had a
"fun" time getting chased by seagulls. This happened right before they went into the
carnival, when they bought some funnel cake. Needless to say, they didn't get to eat much of
it and had to end up finding something else to have for dinner. (an: those seagulls can be vicious, man. *shakes head* I saw them attack this lady once. She was
walking along with a funnel cake on a plate and they just swooped down and
picked at it. The lady
squawked and dropped it, running away. The descended upon the funnel cake like raptors. It was rather unsettling…oh yeah…the
story. Sorry *sheepish grin*)
After that adventure, Alan and J decided to seek refuge in the carnival. The entire night consisted of one dragging the other off to any ride that caught his/her fancy. Or, them both agreeing on a ride and scampering off to it hand in hand. They went on the log flume bone dry and left it drenched. J insisted that they buy the picture of them coming down the hill, for, "our faces look all smushed and warped. It's hilarious." They beat each other mercilessly on the bumper cars, and made a quick trip to the bathroom after the Scrambler. After that ride, it was the consensus pronouncement to take it slow for a little while.
J won Alan a big white fuzzy teddy bear at one of those games where you throw the baseball and knock things down. In turn, Alan used his master skee-ball skills to win J a goldfish. A fast run back to the car to stow away the prizes, and the couple went prancing around the carnival some more. Finally, they had time for only one more ride before the place closed. Alan pulled at J's arm. "Hey Jules, let's go on the Ferris Wheel! We'll get a gorgeous view of the beach and boardwalk." J chewed on her lip, looking uncomfortably at the top of the aforementioned ride. Alan's eyes softened. "Ohh, that's right. You don't like heights. We can just pick another ride."
J set out her jaw. "Uh-uh, no way. We're going on the ride, it's your birthday and you wanna go on it so we're going."
"No, Jules, I forgot, we don't have to—"
J grabbed Alan's hand and dragged him to the Ferris Wheel. "We're going. I'm not scared, I can handle it. We're going." Yet, Alan noticed that J refused to look anywhere besides straight in front of her, and her grip on his hand was tight. They climbed into the chair, and J seemed only to tense more when the operator lowered the metal belt over their waists. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as the ride jolted and moved upwards.
After the first cycle, J managed to open her eyes, but she had unconsciously scooted closer to Alan and maintained a death hold on his hand. Trouble came, however, after about the third rotation, when the Ferris Wheel came to a halt with Alan and J right at the top. J's face drained to a paper white. "What is it? Why aren't we moving? Why did we stop?" she asked frantically, wanting to glance down to see what was going on, but too frightened to.
"It's alright," soothed Alan. "This happens a lot. They'll start it back up before too long. I'm right here, you'll be fine."
J struggled to keep her face nonchalant. "You make it sound like I'm scared. Well, if that's what you're thinking, I have news for you, bucko. I'm not scared in the slightest. Alan tried his hardest not to appear amused, and succeeded. For despite her declaration, J's voice quavered, and she was clinging to him by this point.
"You don't have to worry about me thinking any less of you, or thinking that you're not tough, 'cause I know how strong you are. Everyone has things that unnerve them," stated Alan. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Look at me and getting up in front of people." J let go of Alan a little so she could view him more properly.
"Aw, Alan, you're the sweetest. D'ya really mean that?"
"Of course I do," Alan softly responded. J smiled a bit as she allowed herself to drown in his deep blue eyes. Similarly, Alan was basking in the warmth of J's hazel orbs. Drawing closer, their lips softly met. J was in the process of wrapping one arm around Alan's neck and the other around his shoulders when the Ferris Wheel jerked back into movement. J and Alan were flung forward in their seats. J nearly screamed, whereas Alan again had to fight not to laugh (he found the timing of the whole thing rather humorous).
Despite all of her fears, J made it off the ride safely with Alan. The pair returned to the car and prepared to leave. As J was unlocking the car, Alan asked, "so what are you going to name your goldfish?"
J's brow furrowed. "Hmm. I don't know." She picked up the goldfish bag to get a good look at the pet, in hopes of finding a name for it. As she stared at the fish, she got a funny look on her face.
"What is it?" queried Alan.
"Um, Alan, I think it's dead." Alan jogged around the car and took the fish from J, studying it.
"I think you're right."
"What a jip!" J's face was a mask of mock-fury. "Giving away damaged prizes." She glanced around. They were parked right next to the beach. "We need to bury it." Alan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Here? Now?"
"Why not? We've got enough light from the boardwalk." J shrugged, "besides, what better place? Have you no respect for the dead?" Alan couldn't find any argument against that, so he consented. After a short, solemn funeral and burial, the couple was ready to go. Or so Alan thought. J still had one more surprise left before they were allowed to go home.
When they got back to the car, J reached into the trunk and pulled out her guitar. "Time for your birthday present."
Alan was shocked, "but I thought that today was my birthday present."
"Nope," corrected J as she took her guitar out of its case. "Today was your birthday date. This is your present." She began tuning her instrument.
"But you're my gift." Alan said warmly. J gave him an award-winning smile, but was persistent.
"You're the sweetest, really. But there's no use arguing. I've already wrote the song."
A smile played about Alan's lips. "You wrote me a song?"
"Well, sort of," J answered. "You wrote part of it." Before Alan could reply, J began playing a soft, sweet tune. Taking a deep breath, she began to sing. Before long, Alan recognized the words. They were the same ones that he had used to tell her how he felt in the letter. But the words seemed transformed when set to J's music. They were even more true and beautiful than before. When J finished, she glanced up at Alan for approval.
"It's wonderful…thank you," he answered, enveloping her into an embrace.
"You wrote the lyrics, I wrote the music." J responded. "Now we have a song. One that's truly ours."
So didya like it? Review then! Please! Pwease? Or we'll hunt you
down and throw artificial sweetener packets at you. Those of you who review get sugar! Easy decision, no? so go review!
