We were off the roller coaster and headed to the food court when my curiosity just couldn't take it anymore.
"May!" I exclaimed, turning around to face her. "Do you really not have an Uncle Jackson, or whatever?"
Her eyes were wide and she looked pretty surprised, like I startled her. "Hey, don't scare me like that!"
I slowed down so that we could walk next to each other as we made our way to the food court. Which was easier said than done, considering how crowded the park was.
Surely enough, Steven was nowhere in sight. As if he had just gotten on a yacht and left without a trace!
"Sorry," I finally said once we stopped at a hot dog cart. "I was just wondering…"
I trailed off as we ordered food. May didn't look particularly interested in talking about what happened with Steven. We sat down at a big table, full of other kids from our class.
"Hey, Brendan!"
Oh, now Wally decides to make an entrance? Typical.
"What rides have you gone on?" I asked him casually, pretending like I wasn't so antsy to learn more about Steven.
"My partner and I were behind you in line for the roller coaster!" he explained. "But you looked pretty busy talking to May's boyfriend."
I rolled my eyes. Wally just didn't want to be around if I got mad! I glanced over at May, and she was smiling. I felt angry, but two could play this game—especially since Wally just gave me an opportunity to bring it back up.
"Oh yeah," I smiled my biggest, cheesiest, fakest smile. "He was a great guy, I'm glad I got to meet such an interesting person as May's boyfriend!"
Unsurprisingly, May's face dropped a little in confusion. "Steven really isn't my boyfriend," she explained. "But I think he had a crush on me in grade school."
Grade school, that was forever ago! I felt my face perk up, but was suddenly confused myself. Why did I care so much? Like May said, we hardly talked to each other.
I looked up to say something to Wally, but he had already dragged his partner to some other activity.
"What do you want to do next?" May asked, as if none of the Steven stuff had even happened.
"We can ride the Ferris Wheel," I suggested. "That's all we really have time for."
May agreed a little hesitantly and we headed across the park to the Ferris Wheel. Some of our classmates had the same idea and we waited behind them in line.
"Look how tall it is!" a girl in front of us exclaimed.
I hadn't really noticed it myself, but now that I really examined it, it was almost intimidating. I turned to look at May, who seemed a little pale.
"We don't have to ride if you don't want to" I assured her.
She waved the thought aside. "No, I'll be fine."
After a few minutes of impatient waiting on my part, it was finally our turn to get on. I let May get in first, and then followed. As I sat down, I blushed at the romantic implication of Ferris Wheels, and felt silly for not remembering it sooner. This is what they did in all the movies!
I glanced over to May, who was still a little pale, but she smiled back at me, a huge, cheesy, obviously fake smile. The one that I always give. It worried me
The Ferris Wheel started taking us up, and I heard May sigh. She was glancing around us, with a worried look on her face.
"It'll be okay," I assured her, feeling guilty for not stepping out of the line earlier.
"Yeah, it's just—"
She was cut off by a slow, but loud, creak.
Surely enough, the Ferris Wheel came to a halt when we were three quarters of the way to the top. Not quite as romantic as they always show it in the movies, and frankly, I was worried about May.
May looked at me, her eyes huge from fear.
"They'll get us down soon," I told her half-heartedly. I honestly had no idea how long these things took.
"Yeah," she agreed blankly. Her fear of Ferris Wheels was a lot worse than I thought.
I sat back in the seat carefully so it wouldn't rock and looked down. I could understand why she was so afraid; it was a long way down. My eyes were fixated on the ground when I felt May put her hand over mine.
"Don't look down," she said. "That makes it worse."
I looked back up and stared right into her eyes. She was right, I had a great view right from my seat.
While I was gazing into her eyes, I felt the Ferris Wheel start to move again.
"Hey, they fixed it!" I exclaimed.
May's eyes lit up as we slowly made our way to the top, and then back down. There were some ride attendants there to help us off and apologize for the wait.
I glanced over to May, and she looked a lot happier than she did earlier. Then, I noticed our whole class was at the Ferris Wheel, waiting for us to get off so we could take the ferry back home.
My dad approached us from the crowd.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked, patting my arm. "We were so worried!"
I smiled meekly at him and shrugged. "Yeah, it was a little scary."
May nodded in agreement and looked back at me. Our class started heading back to the ferry, but she grabbed my arm and kept me back a bit.
"I had a lot of fun today," she smiled. "We should hang out again, sometime!"
I nodded in agreement and chuckled lightly. "But maybe without Ferris Wheels."
"Or boats," she smiled sympathetically.
"Or Steven!" Wally said from in front of us.
We looked at each other and laughed. She grasped my hand again as we walked to our seats in the ferry.
"Let's be friends for a long time," I said as we sat down.
"Yeah," she agreed, looking back at me, giving me a genuine smile.
And I smiled right back.