"Who keeps texting you?" I asked Alani as we drove from our motel to the amusement park. Her phone was dinging nonstop, and the noise was giving me a headache.

"Nobody," She said.

"Well, it's obviously someone unless your phone is glitching."

"Just this guy that I'm doing a project with."

"What guy?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't," I said, and it was true. Alani could text whoever she wanted. It was her loud typing that was bothering me. The girl's nails hit her screen with so much force. I was surprised it hadn't cracked yet.

"Look, we're here!" She exclaimed as Wonderworld came into view. After I parked the car, we hopped out and walked toward the entrance.

"This is so exciting," Alani squealed as we approached the ticket booth. After acquiring two general admission tickets, we went through security and headed inside.

"Where do you want to go first?" I asked.

"I want to ride the biggest rollercoaster first."

"Why? That will only make all the other rides seem lame," I said.

"Good point. Let's do that one," Alani said, pointing toward the Ghost, which was right next to us. She sprinted to get in line, nearly knocking over a middle-aged couple. While Alani could be reserved and shy, she was also a force to be reckoned with when she wanted something.

"An hour wait?" She asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yep. Waiting in line is a part of amusement parks. An hour isn't even that long. It's typically longer."

"This sucks," She whined, crossing her arms like a four-year-old.

"You're cute when you're angry," I said.

"Stop it."

"You look like an angry koala."

"I guess koalas are pretty cute."

"Let's play a game to pass the time."

"What game?" She asked.

"The get to know each other game."

"You made that name up."

"Whatever. It's like we played before. We take turns asking each other questions."

"Don't you think we're asking too many questions?"

"Never," I said. Alani was a peculiar person, and I loved learning more about her.

"Okay, but that doesn't even sound like a game. A game has a challenge and a winner."

"Just go with it."

"Okay," She sighed. "Who is your best friend?"

"Nelson. I've told you about him."

"The one that plays football?"

"That's him. Who's your best friend?"

She hesitated before saying, "You."

I paused for a second. I hadn't considered that Alani thought of me as her best friend.

"What about your roommate?" I asked.

"I do more fun things with you. I love Nadia so much, but we don't spend as much 'fun' time together."

"I'm honored," I said, feeling bad that I hadn't said Alani was my best friend. Nelson had been in my life for a few years, though, and I only met Alani last week.

"You should be. And why are those people cutting the line?" She yelled when she saw people moving to the front.

"Those are the fast pass holders. They pay extra to wait in a shortened line."

"Assholes," She sneered, crossing her arms again.

We played the "game" for the next hour until we were almost at the front of the line.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking over at Alani and her shaking hands.

"Great."

"You sure?" I wasn't an expert when reading people, but anyone would know that Alani was nervous. She was bouncing on her feet, shaking, and massaging her hands.

"No. I'm freaking out!"

"Why?"

"I didn't think this through."

"Think what through?" I asked.

"This whole rollercoaster thing."

"You're nervous about the rollercoaster?"

"Yeah," She replied.

"You were practically racing to get in line an hour ago."

"As I said, I didn't think it through."

"Alani Davis didn't think something through?"

"Shut up," She said, a small grin threatening to present itself.

"Okay, well, do you want to get out of line?"

"No. I can suck it up."

"Okay," I said as we inched closer to the ride. Screams of people on the rides around us overtook my ears, and the smell of popcorn cluttered my nose. It had been a while since I had been to an amusement park.

"What if we fall out?"

"These rollercoasters are constantly running, and nobody ever falls out."

"That's not true. I've seen videos on Youtube of people falling."

"Why are you watching videos like that in the first place?"

"It popped up, and I was curious."

"Okay, yes, it's happened, but only a handful of times."

"That doesn't help."

"What will help?"

"Can you hold my hand?"

"Of course," I said, grabbing her hand. I don't know why I didn't think of offering it sooner. It was because I was an idiot when it came to comforting people.

"It's almost our turn," She said, squeezing our hands together. Sweat from her hand was glazing my own.

"Your hand is sweaty," I said.

"Deal with it."

"Okay," I said in surrender. Upsetting her was not a good idea when she was already nervous.

As we walked onto the rollercoaster platform, Alani's hand continued to shake.

We got strapped into our seats and waited for the ride to begin, still holding hands. It was hard since the seats were placed further away from each other, but we managed.

As soon as the worker motioned that the ride was ready to begin, Alani tensed.

"It's okay," I whispered.

The ride moved. It inched higher and higher until we were at the top of the ride. The rollercoaster went speeding down as screams filled the air. At first, Alani squeezed my hand, but she let go and waved her hands in the air about ten seconds in. I smiled as the ride went up and down and spun around. The air running through my hair made me feel alive. My hair would be a train wreck after this, but I didn't care one bit.

When the ride slowed down, Alani had the biggest smile plastered on her face.

"Having fun?" I asked once the ride came to a complete stop.

"Let's do another one," She said, jumping in her seat.

As the worker pressed a button and released us from our seats, Alani stepped off.

"Wait!" I said before she could get any further.

"What?"

"Don't you want to see our picture?"

"They take your picture during the ride?"

"Yeah," I laughed, pointing toward our screaming faces on the screen. The wind was smashing Alani's face, and my hair was a disaster.

"I look hideous," She said.

"Everyone looks hideous in rollercoaster pictures."

"You're supposed to say that I look great in the photo."

"I'm not gonna lie!"

"Hey!" She said, hitting my arm.

We laughed as we walked toward our next ride.

*****

Three hours and four rides later, we sat on a bench in the amusement park, taking a much-needed break. Standing on your feet all day was tiring.

"Do you want to get dip n dots?" I asked.

"What the fuck is that?" Alani said.

"It's like little ice cream balls."

"Sounds weird."

"All the more reason to try it. Come on," I said, already walking toward the cart.

"What flavor do you want?" I asked, motioning toward the menu.

"I'll take cookies and cream," She said.

After acquiring our cold treats, we went back to the bench.

"What kind did you get?" Alani asked, eyeing my ice cream.

"Cotton candy."

She paused before saying, "Can I try it?"

"Why didn't you get cotton candy if you wanted to try it?"

"Because I didn't know if I would like it."

"Fine," I said, holding out my dessert.

She dipped her spoon into the dots and brought it back to her mouth. I watched as her face lit up.

She hesitated before saying, "Can I have another bite?"

"Alani!"

"What?"

"You should have gotten your own."

"Please?" She said with puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip.

"Fine."

She ended up eating more of mine than she did her own.

After we finished eating, we continued to ride more rides until we felt headaches coming on and decided it was time to stop.

"Let's play this," Alani said, pointing toward a ring toss game.

"Nobody ever wins those."

"Excuse me. Do you remember who you are talking to?"

"Ah, yes. The queen of arcade games."

"That's right," She said, handing the worker a dollar.

She gathered the ring in her hand and tossed it. My mouth flew open as the ring landed around the bottle. The worker did a double-take, making sure she saw right.

Alani threw the rest of her rings and made all but one of them, leaving her with the choice of whatever prize she wanted.

"Let's get the giant alpaca," I suggested as Alani looked around.

"Nah. Let's get the unicorn."

"Whatever you want," I said as she grasped her new friend.

"What should we name her?"

"Uni?" I said the first thing that popped into my head.

"Boring."

"Horny?"

"That sounds terrible for several reasons," She said.

"Let's name her Dip n dot."

"Okay. I can get behind that. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, are you?"

"Yeah, this headache is killing me."

"Okay, let's go," I said as we walked to the car.

We got in the car after stuffing Dip n dot in the trunk as if we were kidnapping her.

"Are you planning on keeping that in your dorm?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because it's going to look like a zoo. Don't you also have that giraffe?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about Rocki."

"Rocki?"

"That's what Nadia and I named her. And It'll be fine. They'll fit," She said as I drove back to the motel.