“I'm not fucking wearing those,” Ranger says, but then I shove a pair of pink ones with a bow on his head. He narrows his eyes, but doesn't protest. The twins choose matching ones, the same rainbow pride ears that Tobias had on last night. Spencer goes for these creepy Haunted Mansion ears with a black top hat, while Church settles for ones with a crown.
Of course he does.
I grab a pair with a blue and white polka dotted bow, and a bouncing daisy. It's as ridiculous as it is fun. Monica would hate it.
“We should probably pay for these,” I say as Church starts walking off. He pauses and glances back with a grin.
“Don't worry too much about it,” he says, and then continues on. I glance back at the woman behind the register, but she just smiles at me.
“Mr. Montague is a very special guest,” she tells me, and then the twins are dragging me down the street.
“It's your call,” Spencer says, walking backward and watching me with that all-consuming gaze of his. “Where do we go first?”
“Fucking pirates,” I say, and the twins grin.
“Aargh, pirates!” They each snatch plastic swords from a basket outside a gift shop and hop on some benches surrounding a tree, brandishing the weapons at one another.
“On-guard, my dear brother,” Micah shouts, and then the two of them start a fairly epic sword match with their makeshift weapons.
“See what I mean?” Spencer says, giving me a look. “Like I said, one set of twins is more than enough.”
The twins continue their fierce battle, leaping off the benches and using fences and trash cans as platforms and shields. None of the employees bother us, not until we walk down the curving stone pathway inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and approach the gently bobbing boat.
“Welcome, Mr. Montague and friends,” she says, “climb on in.”
Tobias smacks Micah in the ass when he's not looking, declares a victory, and then takes the seat next to me.
“There's plenty of room for three,” Micah argues, but then he just gets in the center row with Spencer, Ranger and Church in the back.
“I'm so freaking excited,” I whisper as the boat takes off through the water, into a dark area with a makeshift swamp, complete with faux alligator, creepy hut, and a rocking chair with an old man in it. The ambiance is dead-on. Frankly, the trip to Disneyland is worth this ride alone.
“It gets better,” Micah whispers, leaning over the seat and licking my ear. I shiver, and Tobias smacks him with his sword. But now we're heading for the first drop, and the ride is really getting started.
I'm dumbstruck as we make our way through, the light from the faux cannon fire flickering across our faces as the infamous Yo Ho (a Pirate’s Life for Me) song plays. As soon as the ride’s over, I’m ready to do it again.
The guys—who’ve all been to Disney World, apparently, as well as Disneyland—humor me, letting me drag them from ride to ride until the sky is dark, and the lights of Main Street, USA are shining.
“One more ride on pirates, and we can take a break?” I say, and Micah stands up, offering a hand.
“Let’s do this, milady.”
Tobias joins him, and they each take my arm on either side. The other three boys look perfectly comfortable stretched out on the patio of the restaurant balcony; it even overlooks the water feature where the nightly shows usually play. Tonight, however, it’s just us, so there’s no performance, but I am more than okay with that.
“You guys go,” Ranger says, and my eyes stray over to Spencer.
“Go,” he says, nodding his head in the direction of the ride. “I’ll finish these fries, and then we can go back to the hotel.” His mouth curves into a seductive smile. “It’s my night, after all.”
“Unless I decide I’d rather have Church as my guardsman,” I joke, flicking a ketchup soaked fry in his direction. Miraculously, he manages to catch it in his mouth before the twins lead me off toward the ride.
“This whole day has been awesome,” I tell them, my voice low and soft. I don’t mean to sound emotional, but months away from them has made me appreciate their friendship even more. True, we’ve only known each other, what, nine months? And several of those were spent with me being an asshole, and them being bullying jerks. Still, I missed them in ways I never missed Cody or Monica. “One of the best in my entire life.”
“Really?” they ask together, looking down at me with matching expressions of surprise.
“Really.” Micah climbs into the boat first with me following, and Tobias squeezes himself in next to us. We take off, bobbing gently through the waters of a make-believe swamp, a sea of faux stars above our heads that twinkle like the real thing. “If I get back into Adamson for senior year,” I whisper, “I want to lay a blanket out and look at the stars. They’re hard to see here. But I bet the view on campus is amazing … I never bothered to look before.”
