”I do have good taste,” Gwen teased, not noticing how little he was paying attention to her. That wasn’t unusual, though, as she tended to talk people’s ears off more than she realized.
The moment the ride started, Gwen was in the zone. Before she knew it her arms were up, her eyes wide, and she was laughing and cheering like a maniac. The roller coaster got more intense as it went along, only adding to her glee. Each drop gave her that adrenaline and free fall feeling that she craved like a junkie.
“That was so awesome!” she cheered, throwing her arms in the air as they exited the seats. Gwen didn’t even realize how awful the ride was for Rowan until he spoke up. She was still riding the adrenaline high.
Once his words sunk in, her face fell a little. While she didn’t understand how someone couldn’t love a crazy ride like that, she also felt bad for taking him on something that made him feel bad. He seemed to be fine when they got on, so she’d assumed he would like it.
“Sorry,” Gwen apologized, pouting out her lower lip a little.
“I didn’t know roller coasters made you sick. Maybe let’s try one of the carnival game things instead of a ride?” she suggested, pulling the pamphlet out of her pocket once more. There seemed to be a laser tag game over by where the destroyed cake booth was. However, not wanting to do the walk of shame by that booth to get to the laser tag, Gwen decided they’d take the long way around.
Along the way, she couldn’t help but gawk at all the souvenir booths and games. So much pink filled her vision that she thought she was wearing rose-colored glasses. Her intrigued gazing was interrupted by someone tapping her shoulder rather aggressively.
“Huh?” Gwen turned to see a guy in an obnoxiously sparkly red suit standing next to her. He had a handlebar mustache that was curled up at the ends and his face was decorated with bright red and pink makeup. The getup looked like a character right out of a cartoon.
“Say, little lady, want to participate in the kissing booth? Just step right up, pucker up, and get the best kiss of your life! What do you say?” his voice sounded like an announcer at a sporting match.
“Um…” Gwen stammered, feeling overwhelmed. She’d only kissed one person before, and that was in her childhood. A boy from a neighboring farm to her home had become friends with her brothers, but seemed to show interest in her. He’d led her out into his family’s corn fields, held her hand, and they’d exchanged a quick, embarrassed smooch. Of course, her nosy brothers had found out and told their mother, who didn’t let the boy come over again.
“Well, I-” she began to say, but the suited man was already pushing her towards the booth. There wasn’t much she could do at this point, so she decided to just suck it up and make the best of the situation. Everything had a silver lining in her eyes, so this couldn’t be that bad, right?
Following a series of bad strokes of luck over the past few months, Gwen was again placed in the most unfortunate of circumstances. As she reached the booth, she leaned forward over the table, scrunching her eyes closed as she waited for the kiss to come. Maybe this would be a great learning experience, or maybe the kiss would spark a lifelong romance with a stranger. That was a nice fantasy, perfect to distract from what was to come.
Gwen was not expecting the beard. It was so scratchy that she couldn’t even focus on the fact that she was being kissed. The hair felt like someone had shoved a puppy in her face, and not even a soft one! Instinctually, she jerked backwards, stumbling a few steps. The man that had peeked out from the curtain stroked his long, dark beard and gave her a wink. He disappeared behind the curtain in a blink.
Looking around for Rowan, Gwen returned to his side, completely frazzled. The red-suited man was nowhere to be seen, so she couldn’t ask him what the hell he’d dragged her there for. This wasn’t how her second kiss ever was supposed to go! It wasn’t supposed to be some weird bearded guy at a theme park!
“That was really weird.” Gwen snuggled deeper into her hoodie, trying to hide the embarrassed blush on her cheeks.
“Let's go play some laser tag, okay?” she suggested to Rowan, trying to avoid discussing what had just happened.