I Lost Her

"Well," Riley sighed as she looked at the closed down merry-go-round. "This was unfortunate."

I ignored her words and hopped over the little black gate that wrapped around carousel.

"Landon!" she whisper-shouted as she looked around for any sign of people.

"Riley!" I mocked, a smirk plastered on my face.

"You can't just do that. There's a gate there for a reason. What if we get caught?" she worried.

"Will you relax and just live a little? If we get caught, so what?"

"I'm not going over that face," she told me as she crossed her frail arms.

"Come on. You wanted to bring me here, we're not just going to leave. Don't be a baby," I teased.

She didn't say anything or move for a long moment. "Fine." Riley went to climb over the fence but struggled.

"Here, give me your hands."

She did as I told her to and was able to hop down off the fence and land on the same side as me.

"See, nobody saw you," I told her, motioning to the area around us.

"I guess you're right," she smiled. "Do you want to sit in this bench thing?"

"Why the hell not."

I let her move in front of me and followed her over to the seats on the carousel. I took a seat a few inches away from her. We just sat there, silent, for at least a good ten minutes. I don't think it was because neither of us knew what the say, but mostly because we were just sort of enjoying each other's company. At least that's how it was for me, I can't say the same for Riley.

"I could stay out here forever, you know."

"I don't know if I'd go that far. It's cold as fuck out here, but the whole scenic view thing is..," I paused as I tried to think of the right word.

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah, that," I agreed. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"You can't just sit here and enjoy the moment, can you?" Riley joked with a smile. "But to answer your question, I'm not sure. I was thinking about maybe going to the mountains."

"The mountains, really? It's the middle of winter and you want to go where it's even colder? You're out of your goddamn mind."

She giggled before answering. "It's really pretty. You take the ski lift up and you can see the whole town and the harbor. You can take these little trails through the woods, too," Riley told me before shrugging. "It's just quiet and calming up there."

It actually didn't sound as bad anymore. I thought we were literally going to put on fucking boots and hike the whole way up there and make it an all day thing. Much to my relief, it wasn't that complex.

We sat in silence for a few more moments before I spoke up, turning to look at her. "Tell me something I don't know just by looking at you."

Riley blushed when she saw that my gaze was on her. "I teach ballet classes," she offered.

"No offense, but that seems kind of stupid to me. I mean, you put on leotards and tutu's, which can't be comfortable, and then you parade around to elevator music."

She lightly smacked me and I gripped my arm, feigning pain. "Have you ever even seen a ballet, Landon?"

"Oh yeah, loads of times," I told her in a sarcastic tone. "Will you take me to one of your classes one day?"

"Will you wear a leotard and tights?" Riley threw back before tucking a strand of her behind her ear, smirking a bit.

"Fuck no. Do you know how demoralizing that is to a guy?"

"I was just kidding," she giggled. "Although, I do have to admit it would be quite a site. But I don't see why you can't come to a class one of these days."

I purposely gave her a goofy grin so I could hear her laughter fill the air around us again. "Anything else?"

She was silent, seeming to think of what she wanted to share with me. "I'm ambidextrous, I love old movies, and my blood type is the rarest of them all."

"The rarest blood type? Isn't it kind of scary knowing that if something happens you might not be able to get blood because nobody has that kind?" I asked her.

"It's terrifying," she admitted. "But I try not to think about it."

"I probably wouldn't either. But on the bright side, at least you're more interesting than most people I know."

"Oh, thanks. I think I'm sort of dull and boring, though," she explained. "How about you? What's something I wouldn't guess right off the bat?"

All I could come up with were really inappropriate and somewhat offensive things. I thought back to when I was a kid and life couldn't get any better than what it was before I came to my answer.

"I've never sat on the right side of a car, I'm allergic to apples, and the fastest I've ever pitched a ball was ninety-three miles an hour."

"Isn't that fast good enough to be in the pros?"

"I'm just a kid, I'd never make it. Besides, being a professional athlete was never my dream, it was my dad's. That's half the reason he's pissed at me--because I quit playing ball and stopped going after his dream."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Riley told me as she reached out and held onto my hand that was resting on my thigh. I looked down and smiled. "What's your dream? The one thing that you want most in life."

"It's kind of stupid," I told her, laughing at myself for how ridiculous I was being.

"You can tell me, I can keep a secret."

I took a deep breath. "I want to find happiness again, wherever that may be. My dream is to just be happy, that's it. And I sound like a girl with all this mushy gushy shit, but whatever."

"It's not mushy and gushy, Landon. I think it's great. Although, I want you to be happy already instead of trying to find it," she replied. "Maybe if you stop trying so hard, stop trying to hunt it down and capture it, maybe one day you'll wake up with a smile on your face and the world will be right in your eyes."

"I don't think anyone's ever told me something like that," I admitted. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Riley replied with a slight smile.