Jimmy had really been looking forward to taking his friends on a VIP trip to Retroland for winning the candy-selling contest. But after "creative adjustments" he was now stuck there with Cindy Vortex. Of course there had to be at least another three-dozen people in the park he didn't know, all enjoying themselves. He and Cindy had barely managed to get in and make it to the trolley without killing each other.
It was strange sitting next to someone who had tried to purchase him a short while ago for the use of who-knows-what, but all the same he tried to lighten the stifling mood, "Want some gum?"
"No!" She yelled back, her volume making the cramped area seem even more overcrowded.
They soon reached the ground and before even leaving the trolley area, it was full-scale war. "Just because we tied and had to come here together doesn't mean you have to follow me around Vortex!"
"Don't flatter yourself Neutron! I thought that you might need some company for when they wouldn't let you on the big kid rides." She sneered at him, purposely standing on tiptoe and looking down at him for effect.
"Nobody could enjoy your company no matter how miserable they were!"
"Just because I'm not dumb enough to be your hapless sidekick doesn't mean other people don't want me around!"
"Well go find them, 'cause I don't want you!"
His throat felt much more sore than it should have as he stomped away. The way it burned made it feel as though he had been screaming at her for days. Soon he was at the Bat Outta Heck, feeling much better to be soaring on a roller coaster and forgetting only momentarily that he was alone. As he got off of the roller coaster, he discovered that it really wasn't much fun without friends with him and at this rate he would ride all the rides available to him quickly. Without spending time talking to Sheen about the effects of raising his arms in the air on a roller coaster, or talking to Carl about the effects of amusement park stimuli on a llama, Retroland lost some of its luster. But he felt that if he didn't use the VIP pass to its full extent and stay until the park closed, he was somehow losing to Cindy.
So he walked around aimlessly going on all the rides he was tall enough for at least five times each. Eventually he wandered into the arcade and only became more depressed trying to look up at the screen for Doom Bringer, unsuccessful even on tiptoe.
Cindy sauntered up behind him and rested her elbow on top of his head. "Having fun, I see."
Jimmy pushed her elbow off his head and his hair, depressed a moment ago, rebounded to its normal shape. "I thought I said I didn't want you around." He said, unsure of whether to be smug or to clench his teeth together.
"'You say what you mean, but do you mean what you say?'" She asked smartly.
"Lewis Carol, huh?" He replied, sure of what she meant, but not want she wanted from him.
"Come on, there isn't much you haven't seen yet, but it's not very fun without someone else is it?" She asked abstractly.
"Do you suppose that's why Ms. Fowl made the results a tie?"
She half-mumbled, "No, I rather think she has a plot to get us together." She was blushing horribly and the lights from all the video games highlighted it. "Oops, I mean… It just seems like… you know… sometimes…"
"Mere coincidence, there's no way Ms. Fowl could plot anything that sinister." He chuckled, half at his own joke and half at the fact that Cindy was still blushing.
Since Jimmy felt that he'd had enough of the rides for a while, they walked around the arcade to the section devoid of video cabinets. Cindy was obviously much more interested in this lot as he could tell in her approach to the Whack-a-mole box. She lugged Jimmy over to it and indicated that he should be the second player. Jimmy was enjoying the tricks of reacting to something completely randomized, even if he couldn't reach all of the mole holes. But Cindy was definitely having more fun as she caught every single one, tripling his score and ending by twirling the mallet with a flourish. She reached for the ticket reward first and Jimmy expected her to keep all of them for herself, but she split them neatly in half and handed him a share.
They walked a little ways away and Cindy's hand-eye coordination failed her at the UFO Catcher. "Which one were you trying to get?" Jimmy asked. There were so many little stuffed animals in there he hadn't been able to catch her eye on any particular one.
"It's not important or anything, just thought I'd try." She said meekly looking at the ground and sort of rubbing the toe of her shoe into the ground. He kept watching her with a smile that said he'd try to weasel it out of her and wouldn't move until she gave up. "Fine! I was trying to get that bunny in the middle…" She looked embarrassed for a reason Jimmy couldn't imagine.
He looked into the tank and couldn't see it at first because the middle was sunken in a little. "Where?" He peered around, trying to get the best angle. Cindy grasped under his arms and gave him a bit of a lift so he could see where she was looking. "Oh, no problem." He looked around, examining the rest of the tank before putting in a couple of quarters and expertly tapping the controls, it was just like mechanically adding chemicals from behind a shield, just in case of course. He soon had the bunny in the prize tray and handed it to Cindy. "Here you go."
"Thanks…um…Ji…you didn't have to…well…"
"I know, don't mention it." He saw that she'd been blushing practically since they met up and realized that maybe it would be a good idea if she really did never mention it.
They walked around a bit more and were starting to near the exit of the arcade, but Cindy took him instead into one of the photo booths near the exit. He had to admit he felt a little better that both of them had to stand on the bench to reach the lens. "Alright, make a funny face." Said Cindy pulling the same face that she had for Granny Neutron, Jimmy imitated the look he'd seen himself do when Cindy and he had switched bodies and Cindy called him a cross-eyed-blue-faced-nose-picker. After the first picture was taken and they could see it on screen both of them laughed so hard that they missed the warning for the next picture and they were caught on film simultaneously clutching each other and their sides laughing happily. The warning went off for the third picture and Jimmy didn't really know what to do, he was sort of waiting for Cindy to tell him since this was her project. She didn't exactly let him down, but he still didn't know what to do as she threw an arm around his shoulders. She had a big smile on and squeezed his shoulders a bit. He settled for putting an arm around her waist and using the other for a peace sign.
They walked out of the arcade and realized that both of them had exhausted their enjoyment of the rides and just walked around the park. Even after a snack break and another long survey of the grounds, there was really only one thing that Jimmy and Cindy hadn't been on. One thing that you just couldn't ride by yourself. It was the Ferris wheel. The slowly rotating carriages and bright lights illuminating the spokes of the wheel had never seemed so ominous before.
Although they had left behind any significant light with the sun set hours ago, Jimmy could swear she was blushing as they simultaneously realized the Ferris wheel was the only thing left.
Since Cindy was frozen in fear, with no sign of resuming a more natural color, he offered, "Shall we?"
They were able to procure a carriage almost immediately and Jimmy was somewhat relieved that he hadn't had the chance to get nervous while waiting in line. Being in the carriage though was something else…
Sitting across from each other made it almost impossible to avoid looking at each other.
"Such an exquisite sight complemented by this audience." Just jumped out of his mouth, and immediately the carriage stopped.
"Are you eating more of that book gum?" Asked Cindy in a nagging sort of voice, but sincerely asking since she hadn't been watching and instead doing her best not to look at him.
He wished he had that excuse and wondered if he should lie about it, "No." He whispered, as the carriage got moving again. "What did you try to buy me for?" He whispered, and the car stopped again.
"What? The same thing Sheen wanted to buy you for." She seemed amused and panicked at the same time, voiced by her shifting eye contact and the way she shrunk into her seat.
"Sheen probably just wanted me to help him rehearse episodes of Ultra Lord and do his homework for him. And I don't think you'd want either of those."
"Well you're right that I'm not Ultra Freak, but why wouldn't I want you around to do my homework, or build me a lab or something?"
"Because you wouldn't. You're always competing with me because you want everyone to think you're smarter, if you'd bought me to do your homework people would think you had more money than sense. And I'm sure that's not what you want." He winked at her, and when the wheel started moving again and Cindy was so shocked by both developments that she was nearly launched into Jimmy's lap. When she recovered her seat, he continued, "So what is it that you wanted? Maybe you don't have to buy me to get me to help you with whatever it is." He put forth jovially.
The doors were opened as the carriage stopped and they were finally allowed to leave the Ferris wheel. They silently made their way back to the trolley and were soon back to the front of the park and leaving.
Jimmy was walking away from her, looking for his mom's car, "Jimmy, wait. There is something that I wanted your help with. I want my memories back."
"What do you mean? You're not suffering from amnesia." He said, putting his chin in his hand to think and giving up on looking for his mom's car.
"I mean when you took my memories of when the Yolkians came back. Even though Libby told me what happened in those couple of days, it's pretty annoying to be the only person in Retro Ville who can't actually remember it." She said with a hint of annoyance even though she was trying to ask for something.
"Oh… I'm sorry, but I can't." Even though he knew full well that he wasn't sorry she couldn't remember all of it. "You can't know how to get into my lab."
"All that because I learned how to get in? I've been in there plenty of times anyway." She yelled.
"Well I can't have you just wandering in whenever you want…"
"You can't take away my memory just because it's inconvenient to have me around!" She was really screaming now.
"That's not it at all. I promise I'll bring you along on more of my adventures okay? Now would I say that if I didn't want you around?" He said in a pacifying tone, his throat still sore from earlier.
"I guess not." She replied thoughtfully.
"Good, it wouldn't be any fun without you!" He said whole-heartedly to her as he ran towards the parking lot leaving her there as her mom brought the car around to her.