Something doesn’t feel right, so I maneuver my body until I’m slightly in front of her and widen my stance. Cory’s grip on my hand tightens, telling me my instincts are right; this guy means trouble.
“Cory Walton? It’s been a long time. How are you?” He cups her shoulder with his palm and looks down at her with a smile, completely ignoring my existence.
Cory shakes him off. “Never better, thanks. This is Nate, my boyfriend.”
The guy acknowledges me for the first time, giving me a nod before looking back at Cory. Who the fuck does he think he is? And more to the point, who the fuck is he?
“Glad to see you’re not still hung up on our situation. It hit you harder than I thought it would. Honestly, I thought you knew. Anyway, I didn’t come over to rehash the past. I wanted to tell you, you’re looking hot as fuck these days, and if you change your mind about things, you know where to find me.” Is he for real?
I take a step forward, clenching my fist. I’m about to teach this guy some manners when Cory grabs my wrist and pulls it back toward her.
She steps in front of me, like she’s my protector, and straightens her shoulders, trying to appear confident. Actually, that’s not fair. She looks confident to the outside world. But inside, I know she’s not feeling it at all by the way her hand was trembling when she touched me, and I’m close enough to have heard the hitch in her breath.
She looks the guy square in the eye and scoffs. “You thought I knew? Are you kidding me? You know what? Never mind. I won’t be changing my mind. Ever. So please, don’t bother approaching me if you see me in the future. I’m done.”
With that, she turns and walks away, but not before linking our fingers and pulling me along. I want to cheer. I want to tell her I’m proud of her. Hell, I want to ask her what the conversation was even about. But I don’t do any of that. I follow her silently, giving her the time and space to work through whatever just happened. Because make no mistake, fake confidence aside, that exchange hurt her. I could see it written all over her face and it has me clenching my fist at the thought.
When we’re out of his sight, Cory stops before throwing herself into my arms. She’s shaking slightly, so I pull her in close and rock her from side to side, kissing the top of her head. “I’ve got you. Are you okay?”
She looks up at me with beautiful, albeit weary, eyes and smiles. “I will be. That was… actually, I’d rather not get into it here if that’s okay?”
I nod and then pull her toward the exit. We’re done here.
“Where are you going?” she asks, digging her feet into the ground.
I turn to her with a puzzled expression. “I’m taking you home. Where else would we be going?”
“Ah, to the Haunted House.” She gives my hand a tug before letting go and walking back in the direction of the rides.
All I can do is shake my head and laugh.
Just like the Ferris Wheel, the line’s short. We obviously came on a good day. When we head inside, it takes all of two seconds in the darkness for Cory to scream… and for me to realize this was a bad idea. One of the worst she’s ever had. With me anyway.
After about fifteen hair raising screams, fourteen from Cory and one from me, we’ve had enough. Or at least, Cory has. I bend down and tell her to jump on my back, racing us through the end of the maze. The sooner we get this done the better, and we’re so close I can actually smell the fresh air. We’ve made it.
With a few feet to go, Cory screams out and tightens her hold on me. She thrashes around slightly and then drops off my back. What the…
“Get the hell away from me,” she cries out, taking a step back. There’s just enough light to see a man dressed as Leatherface standing inappropriately close to my girl. Suddenly, all I see is red. What. The. Fuck!
I move faster than I ever have on the field, and before I know it, I have Leatherface pinned against the wall, and my fist inches from meeting his face. His eyes widen, and his chainsaw falls to the ground with a clang. “What did you do to her?” I yell as I prepare to punch him in the nose. “Tell me, asshole!”
On some level, I know I shouldn’t be so aggressive, but I won’t let someone else get away with this. My mind flashes between Cory’s scared face and the bruised face of my mother as I prepare to rearrange his.
“Nate!” Cory screams, stopping me in my tracks. She grabs my hands and drags me toward the door as fast as her little legs will take her.I want to go back, desperate to teach him a lesson, but I don’t.
When we break out into the open air, we move quickly, until we’re far enough away from that nightmare, and then we both stare at each other in silence, breathing rapidly.
Cory’s the first to break as a laugh bursts out of her. I quickly follow with a laugh of my own, but it’s more of a nervous reaction. “What just happened?” I ask with a smile.
“You got yourself kicked out of the fair; that’s what,” someone says from behind us, freezing us in place. “You’re lucky that’s the worst that’s going to happen.”
I don’t argue or even look at the person who owns the voice. Instead, I grip Cory’s hand tightly in mine and power walk toward the exit.We’ve just reached the gate when Cory looks at me with mischief in her gaze. “Tonight never happened, right?”
I can’t stop the laugh that bursts out of me. “Correct. Do over,” I say as I press a kiss to her cheek and lead her away from the madness.
We take our time walking home after our third date fail and enjoy the comfortable silence. I calm myself down, faster than I thought I would, but still have a sick feeling in my stomach. I hate the thought of anyone getting away with assault. My mother ended up… Ugh! I can’t let that get to me. I need to focus on something else or I’m going to get angry again.
When we pass by a playground, Cory wanders in, pulling me along with her. This will do. She lets go of my hand when we reach the swings and sits down, leaning back to look up at the sky.