Wonderful

Two weeks had gone by and I had tried my hardest to convince my father to give Pilot his job back. Every time I asked or dropped a hint, he would simply shake his head and tell me to go read a book or something.

I wasn't going to give up. Not because I wanted ice cream, but because I wanted to see Pilot around more. He was interesting. All the sarcasm and energy and, well, fun was all completely new to me. Seeing him around just made my day seem so much more eventful. I hadn't talked to him since we met, but I'd see him standing on the beach throwing sand at seagulls and I didn't have to pretend to be happy.

I managed to take a couple pictures stealthily from my balcony. By the end of the first week, I had about five new snapshots to add to my wall-- all of him. I guess you could say he was my favorite subject.

It was a fairly nice day when I ran into him face-to-face again. He nodded at me and continued walking past me. I felt my heart skip a beat when I looked at his shoes, covered in seaweed with sand and shells stuck to them. I lifted my camera and took a quick picture. He glanced back at me and gave me one of those little smiles I liked so much. I wanted a photo of that, too.

"Hey, uh... Audrey, right?" He asked.

"Adella." I corrected, observing him some more. "You're Pilot, right?"

He nodded in approval. "Yep." He awkwardly stepped closer to me.

"I've been trying to get you your job back, but I haven't had much luck." I smiled sheepishly at him. He shrugged.

"That's alright." He chuckled. "Um, what have you been up to... as of... lately?"

This was always the hardest question to answer. I could never think of anything. I sighed and responded as honestly as I could. "Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, really. Aside from sitting at a table and listening to rich people talk... nothing." I laughed. He shook his head.

"You need to get out more."

"Yes! I do!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up.

"Have you ever been on a roller coaster?" He asked. I shook my head. "Um, a club? A bar? A baseball game?" He listed different things normal people do. I answered 'no' to all of them.

After a while, he gave up. He looked at me in disbelief and I felt like the most boring organism on the planet. "We're gonna change this," A smile twitched the corners of his mouth. "What are you doing tonight?"

I froze and my stomach did back flips. I had another dinner party. But my parents told me this one was important and I couldn't be there. I'd be locked up in my room anyway. And this was an opportunity to actually have... God forbid... a good time. I looked up at him.

"Nothing!" I replied. "I'm not doing anything!"

"You think you could sneak out tonight?" He winked and, I swear, I almost melted with excitement. I nodded. "Alright, meet me at the dock at... say... 6:30." With that, he walked away, leaving his giant footprints in the sand. I sighed and picked my camera up in order to get the picture before the waves smeared them away forever.



With one more tug, I pulled my sheets over a couple pillows I had set up. Should my parents disturb me, they would think I was sleeping. It was the classic trick, used in every movie ever made. I stuck my foot out my window on a ladder I had managed to swipe earlier. Why people didn't find it suspicious, I had no idea. I quickly climbed down and landed noiselessly in the sand. After glancing through the window at my parents, I sprinted over to the dock, where Pilot was sitting patiently.

"Hi," I smiled. He got up and led me to his beat up car. We got in and started it up.

"So what do you want to do first?" He asked once we were speeding into town.

"What do you recommend?" I stared out the window.

After a couple seconds, he spoke. "Close your eyes. I'm going to surprise you."

I did as he said and we talked about random things such as waffles, colleges, movies... anything that just happened to pop up until the car came to a stop. "Keep your eyes closed!" He demanded, getting out of the car to open the door for me. He led me up to the door like a blind person and, when we were inside, he permitted me to open my eyes. When I did, I was almost blinded. Neon lights were flashing everywhere and there were tons of people.

"Where are we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. A couple sounds much like thunder erupted and I jumped, looking in that direction.

"This is called a bowling alley." He said sarcastically. "Okay, now let's go introduce you to the feeling of happiness."