Ghost City

40

A/N: Not me remembering to post 5 minutes away from Friday 💀 giving you a second chapter to make up for it 😊

"This was the best thing you thought of doing for the link?" I asked Nico while giving him a bad eye. "An amusement park?"

"What's wrong with amusement parks?" Sagacity asked as Nico and Justin chuckled.

Justin spoke up, "Damien hates them. I remember he, Nico, and I went to one once and-"

"Hey!" I said, trying to get him to hush. "We don't talk about that day." Nico and Justin burst into laughter again, and I stuck my middle fingers up at them.

Nico then chuckled, "I thought you got over that day."

"Well, you thought wrong. I'm staying in the car," I said while dipping my hand into my pants pocket for my keys.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Sagacity pleaded while making a puppy face as she stared into my eyes.

I sighed, "Fine, but I'm not participating in anything."

"Don't be like that," she smiled while playfully hitting my shoulder, and we all walked off.

"Oh!" Vanessa smiled as she pointed to an extreme rollercoaster. "That ride looks fun."

"Yeah! Let's go on that one," Aria agreed, and I palmed my face as we walked over to the rollercoasters.

"I'll be on the ground, thanks," I said as I crossed my arms.

Natalie then teased, "Afraid of a rollercoaster?"

"No," I rolled my eyes.

"Heights?" Zach frowned, and I shook my head again.

"I don't wanna talk about it," I replied as I looked away from them both.

Nico chuckled, "Dude, you're how old again? Stop being pussy."

"I'm not pussy!" I angrily muttered, causing my friends to laugh at me.

"Please?" City asked, and I inhaled and exhaled a short breath before sighing.

I agreed, "Fine. Whatever. Just this one ride."

"Woo!" my friends cheered, and I gave them all my middle fingers.

Once we were seated, I began to panic. I strapped myself and then placed the bar over me, but the tight grip I held on the bar remained nonetheless. City, who was beside me, looked over at my hand and then in my eyes as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You don't have to if-"

"I'm fine. Let's just get this one ride over with and I'll head back to the car," I said.

She then asked, "Can we hold hands?"

I looked over into her eyes, and I could tell that she suggested holding hands to comfort me, even though she pretended as if that wasn't the actual situation. Nonetheless, I allowed one of my hands to leave the bar, and I held her hand.

The rollercoaster slowly began moving, and I forced my eyelids to shut as I inhaled deep breaths. "I wanna get off!" I said as I opened my eyes, but we were already heading up the hill.

"It's a bit too late for that," Justin teased from in front of us. Fucking dickhead!

City worriedly stared at me as she rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand. "It's okay," she whispered. "It'll be over in less than a minute."

I nodded while sinking my teeth into my bottom lip. I could feel my heartbeat accelerating in my chest, and I just hoped that I wouldn't pass out like the last time I went to an amusement park.

We got to the very top of the hill, and the rollercoaster stopped, increasing the anticipation I was already feeling. City quickly brought our hands up to her mouth and placed a warm, feathery kiss on the back of my hand before smiling at me. I cracked a faint smile right before the rollercoaster fell, and I absentmindedly squeezed her hand as we went down. Our friends began screaming, but I just kept my mouth shut and watched as we went through loops after loops. The slight jerks every now and then did nothing to make me feel better, but holding City's hand kept me much calmer than I thought it would. I wouldn't have even had the courage to watch the view if I didn't feel so calm beside her.

After what felt like a preview of eternity, the ride came to a stop, and we all got off the rollercoaster. City then smiled, "That's wasn't so bad, right?"

"Right," I nodded as I stared down at our hands, which were still intertwined. I looked into her eyes and smiled, and she blushed while smiling as well.

For a moment, I thought about pulling her in by the waist and claiming her lips, but I wasn't sure if we were even on that level anymore. We technically were still broken up, and so didn't want to do anything to extenuate that. I'd just have to make baby steps to get her back, despite how much I missed her and how we used to be before the whole kidnapping situation.

I knew I needed to speak to Mother ASAP.