“Is
this safe?” Mathias asked dubiously as they were strapped in, seatbelt across
their waists. Arzen smiled but tightly held on to the bar of their ride, both
of them awkwardly pressed together, bodies so close in a manner that he would
usually find thrilling. But in this case, he was dubious of the ride – the
Octopus, as Arzen had called it. She seemed relieved when the line only took
five minutes, and was laughing at the expression on Daniel’s face when he and
Elaine were strapped in, both of them flushed from the close proximity. “Arzen,
I don’t like the feeling of this ride. It’s giving me vibes.”
“Jive
vibes?” she tried, smiling widely in the process. He rolled his eyes at the
pun, but couldn’t help a smile nonetheless. “Chill out. I’ve been riding this
thing since seventh grade, and I’m still alive. The first time may be…scary,
but you’ll be begging to ride with me again when this is over.” She hummed
quietly as the ‘tentacles’ of the ride rotated, lifting them feet higher into
the air. Mathias’ blue eyes widened.
“So
what exactly does this do?”
“It
rotates, bringing us up and down. But that’s not all. The carriages-” and she
let out a loud squeal, Mathias yelping in surprise as their own red carriage
spun around, “-they spin. They spin a lot,” she finished, laughing to herself
because of the sudden shock and the look on the ginger’s face.
“This
is ridiculous, we have to get off-”
“You
can’t.”
“What?!”
“You
can’t,” Arzen repeated calmly, flashing him a smile. From above, they could
hear Daniel’s protest and Elaine’s laughter. Arzen looked up and grinned at the
sight of the blonde trying to escape, and he soon quit, seeing his shoulders
slump miserably next to Elaine. Maxine, on the other hand, was holding on to a
screaming and whooping Liam. “Men. Say they can do anything, but strap them
onto an octopus and they act like they’ve seen a ghost.”
“That’s
just cruel,” Mathias complained, but his face blanched once they went higher.
The carriage threatened to spin.
“We’ll
argue later on,” she replied, one hand on the bar and the other discreetly
travelling down and looking for his hand, “Today, we scream.”
