FicWad

Tracey and I danced along jokingly to the radio, giggling, as we went thirty-five down a side road. I had no clue what Matt and Gerard were doing, at the moment I was too giddy to care.

Someone tapped my shoulder so I turned the volume dial down. Gerard asked, "So where are we headed?"

"I'm not sure..." I replied, looking to Tracey.

"Well, Rockway Beach is open now. Wanna head there?"

Gerard and Matt both said, "Sure," at the same time. I nodded.

At that very moment, I heard the song cut out and a man's voice said, "Here's a song from a newer band. If you haven't heard of these guys, you will. Here's Green Day---"

I gasped, and without thinking, reached for the volume. The familiar riff from Welcome To Paradise began. I couldn't help but sing along,

Dear Mother
Cant you hear me whining?
It's been three whole weeks
Since I have left your home
This sudden fear has left me trembling
'Cause now it seems that I am out here on my own
And I'm feelin so alone

I looked back and smiled at Gerard, who smiled at me and mouthed, "Who's this?"

I yelled, "Green Day!"

We all jammed out to the song, up as loud as it could go, and when the man's voice from before came back on, I turned the radio back down.

"Isn't Green Day the band that you're cousin is in or something?"

"Uh--- yeah," I replied, remembering I had told them that as a cover-up the first time I'd ever talked to him, five days ago.

"That's cool, they're pretty kick-ass," Matt said. "Where are they from?"

I looked around, "Um... California."

"How long have they been around?" he questioned.

"Not long."

Tracey pulled into a parking lot behind a pizza place, we all got out and stood on the cracked pavement, the ocean's breeze playing with our hair. Ahead I could see a big ferris wheel and a roller coaster, every inch of them covered in lights. Tracey and Matt led the way to the main road. As I walked, Gerard came next to me. We gave eachother a little smile. He took my hand and we looked ahead. I couldn't stop the huge smile from breaking out on my face.

The four of us walked along for a while, past game stalls where people were trying to win something, past the roller coaster and the tilt-a-whirl.

"Let's go on the merry-go-round!" Tracey exclaimed, like a little girl. I giggled and followed.

Tracey got on a white horse with pink flowers in it's mane, Matt got next to her on a zebra. She grinned. It was extremely obvious that she had a crush on him.

I chose a cheetah, which I struggled to get on. Gerard put his hands on my waist and helped me up, then went over and go onto a jet black horse next to me. The ride started, slowly at first, the music playing to loudly to hear eachother talk.

When the ride was over, Matt said, "Man, am I hungry."

"Let's go get some pizza. You want some, Amanda? Gerard?" Both of us shook our heads, even thought I was kind of hungry. Tracey said, "Meet us at the coaster in about forty minutes?"

I took this as a hint that she wanted to have some alone time with Matt, so I said, "Okay, see ya."

Matt and Tracey walked away, arms linked.

"So what do you want to do now?" Gerard asked, pushing his hair to the side. A part of it stuck up so I reached over and fixed it. "I need a haircut," he told me.

"I think you look cute," I said.

He made a face, "Cute is what you call a chubby little baby."

I shook my head, giving him a look as I titled my head to the side, "How about, you look... sexy?" I raised my eyebrows in a flirtacious way, feeling bold.

"That's more like it," he said, his voice deeper than usual. My heart skipped. I smiled and, again, we held hands, and began strolling along.

I led him to the ferris wheel. I have always wanted to go on one, but have always had a fear of hights. I've always been afraid that the car I was in would fall off once I reached the very highest point, or that when I got up there, the ride would just... stop. But with him here, I felt like I could do it.

When we took our spot in line, he looked up at it, eyes widening for a moment.

"Afraid of hights?" I asked him.

"Uh... you could say that."

"Me too."

Gerard scrunched his eyebrows, "Then why are we going on it?"

I shrugged. After the few people ahead of us got on, it was our turn. The ride operator opened the door to a yellow car. I got in and sat down. Gerard stood just outside the door. He took in a sharp breath, then practically threw himself into the seat across from me.

The ride operator closed the door and set the latch. The wheel began to rotate.

"Holey shit, we are so high up," Gerard said, his voice sounding panicked.

We were about eight feet off the ground.

"Nah," I said, playing it cool. I was kind of freaking out, too, I guess. "Just... don't really think about it. Just look out and enjoy the view."

We kept going up, the ground and everything below shrinking. I could see the merry-go-round, the roller coaster, a big spinning ride, and the pizze place that Tracey and Matt were in. No one could see us in this little ferris wheel car, and I realized all of the things we could do in this privacy without anyone ever knowing.

In my thoughts, I almost didn't hear Gerard speak. "We're at the top."

I wasn't even afraid anymore. "It's not so bad after all," I told him.

He shook his head, "I guess things aren't always as scary as we percieve them to be."

"I guess not."

We were quiet for a moment, listening to the sounds of the amusement park.

"I'm really glad that we started talking," he said.

I nodded, sighing in happiness, "Me too. You mean a lot to me, Gerard."

"You mean so much to me, too," his eyes softened. I leaned over and kissed him, then went onto his side of the car, sat on his lap, and we began making out. The car swayed from the shift in weight.

We pulled apart and I rested my head on his, "You're amazing," I whispered.

The door opened and the ride operator said, "This is your stop, kids."

I smiled politely, feeling emberassed. Both Gerard and I quickly got out of the car to avoid further emberassment, and walked around some more, listening to the music playing over speakers, hits from this year.

My stomach growled. "I'm actually really hungry now," I said.

"Well, let's go meet Tracey and Matt and Lesley's Pizza."

So we headed back toward the small pizza place, swinging our hands back and forth.