Rebel Love Song

Sammi and Jeremy came to pick Lily up half an hour before Jake and I were supposed to leave. Jake was still in the shower and I was getting dressed.

“So what are you wearing?” Sammi asked.

“I have no idea.” I said. So far I had a pair of black jeans and a bra on and that was it. She dug around in my dresser for a minute and came up with a very tight, yet still family appropriate shirt.

“Works for me.” I pulled it on and looked through the assortment of lip rings I had. I ended up just taking out the studs and going ringless. I stuck my feet into my Vans and I was ready.

“Okay, we’re gonna bounce now. Call me later, okay?”

“So you can get all the juicy details?” I laughed.

“Well duh.” She looked at me like I was stupid. “We can keep Lily overnight if you guys are coming home late.”

“I think you might have to. The kid is just like me and Jules, she hates being woken up.” My heart tightened at the thought of her.

“Have a good time.” She gave me a hug and headed out to the car where Jeremy and Lily were already waiting. “Use a condom!” I shook my head and closed the door, wondering why I was friends with her.

“Was the queen bunny telling us to be safe?” Jake came out of his room. He was wearing a tight black longsleeve with a v-neck, ripped jeans and Vans. I think my heart stopped beating.

“Uh yeah.” I had to physically make sure my jaw wasn’t hanging open. “Ready?”

“Yep. You look great by the way.” He smiled down at me.

“Ditto.” I’m a great conversationalist. “So, where are we going?”

“Well, I believe the normal first date is a movie, but all you do is sit and stare at the screen. So we’re going somewhere more fun.” He winked and led the way out to the car.

“I like the sound of this.” I bounced my leg nervously, glad I hadn’t picked the boots with the chains. Otherwise I’d be jangling all over the place. I kept up the movement the entire car ride, until we pulled into a parking lot. “A carnival?” I couldn’t keep the sheer excitement out of my voice. I loved carnivals.

“I thought you might like this.” He pulled into a parking spot and we headed off into the carnival. This was one of the ones where you bought tickets at the front booth and then used them to get on the rides.

“Where do you wanna go first?” I asked when we had our tickets in hand.

“That one looks like it’ll make me throw up.” He pointed at a ride with 8 arms called the Scrambler.

“Then we’ll go there!” Before he could protest, I’d grabbed his hand and was dragging him towards the ride.

“Ready?” He pulled the safety bar over our heads.

“Oh yeah.” I had this thing for fast rides. The adrenaline rush is just incredible.

The name of the ride didn’t lie. The arms spun and acted like a slingshot at the same time. If I wasn’t slamming into Jake I was hitting the side of the car. It was fun and I was incredibly dizzy afterwards. I felt like a little kid again, being here. After a while, we decided to take a break from the rides and rest a bit on a bench.

“Oh my God, they have funnel cakes.” Jake said, pointing at the booth.

“I’ve never had one. What do they taste like?”

“You have never had a funnel cake.” He stared at me. “You poor deprived child. Come on, I’ll get us one.” He held his hand out to me and I took it. We’d been holding hands for most of the time anyway, but it was nice that he was showing that he wanted to.

It looked like a donut that had gone through a shredder and then topped with powdered sugar. We went back to our bench with two forks and a pile of napkins to eat it.

“Since you’ve never had one I’ll let you take the first bite.” He said. I smiled at him and used my fork to cut off a piece.

“Oh my God.” I almost moaned. “That’s fucking delicious.”

“I know right?” Between the two of us, we demolished the funnel cake. We were both covered in powdered sugar afterwards.

“Hey, you have some powdered sugar on your nose.” I stuck my finger in the pile left on the plate and swiped it down his nose. He stuck his tongue out at me. “Aw, come on. I’m cute.”

“Yes, yes you are.” He grinned. I handed him a napkin and started wiping at my own face. “Am I clean?” He had a spot of sugar on his lips.

“You missed a spot.” Suddenly feeling bold, I leaned forward and kissed him. “Got it.”

“Thanks.” He sounded a little breathless. It was almost eleven according to my phone. It was a nice night, cold but clear. We were walking around, holding hands still when I spotted the Ferris Wheel.

“We have to go up.” I said.

“Of course.” We got in line and got the last open car. The wind was blowing up here and I shivered a little. Jake put his arm around me, pulling me up against his side.

“Thanks.” I leaned my head on his shoulder and looked out over the whole carnival. I felt his lips brush my temple and I smiled. We had a great view from where the car had stopped. It was just nice to be held by someone again. My last boyfriend hadn’t worked out because he didn’t like how much I was traveling and working. With Jake, he’d be gone more than I would.

The car started to move again and soon we were back on the ground. The carnival was closing up so we got back in the car. Jake had the radio on and when the commercial finally ended, “Livin on a Prayer” came on.

I started dancing in my seat and singing along. Jake was singing too, although he couldn’t dance while driving.

“We sound better when we haven’t been drinking.” He said when the song ended.

“My boobs must have been hanging out then, cuz we were getting a lot of applause.”

“Either that or they were drunker than we were.” All too soon we were home.

“I had a really good time tonight.” We were standing in the hallway outside our rooms.

“Me too.” Jake shuffled his feet a little. “Good night. Sleep well.”

“Sweet dreams Jakey.” I stood up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek gently before heading into my room, where I proceeded to cuddle my pillow and squeal silently.