What Lies Beyond the Eyes

th the trio.

”U-um… ” Sandy stammered beside me.

”Oh! Sorry! ” I told her. I realized I never let go of her hand.

”N-no its fine! Its not that! ” She nervously said, ”Its just you know… Are you going to be okay? ”

I let out an exasperated sigh. ”I should be the one asking if you
e okay. Im going to be fine. We just got to spend as little time at the top as possible and more time on the actual slides. Im not afraid to admit that going down the taller slides was kind of fun. ”

A slight grin appeared onto her once downtrodden face. Suddenly she whirled in front of me and grabbed my arm and yoinked me up the stairs. She said with her beautiful smile back onto her face, ”Lets go then! We have to go down the slides until it closes! Come on we don have that much more time! You can leave just riding one slide! ”

She snatched my hand and dragged me along with the innertube back up the stairs so quickly we ended up passing the kids again.

I smiled back at her and quickened my pace to be with her by her side. Her and Gia aren really that similar after all. Sure, they
e both bubbly and outgoing, but Sandy pays attention to others and how they feel whereas Gia tends to run all over people. Maybe thats why I wanted to help her feel better? Yeah, thats the reason. I would do the same thing for other people too. Its just the right thing to do. I used to do stuff like this all the time. And after this shell quickly move on, and Ill go back to being alone… Like I should be…?

After riding the different slides for around thirty minutes, I was left exhausted sitting in the chair with our stuff. I just had a moments rest from Sandy because she went to the restroom and the kids and I were waiting for her to return. The trio looked as exhausted as I did when I looked at them. Gia was leaning on Dannys shoulder with her eyes closed, and Danny was leaning on her head. Rom had her head on her arms on the table, and I was watching over them like a benevolent guardian.

I smiled at the pleasant scene. ”I guess they used up all of their teenage hormones huh? ” I thought to myself.

Sandy then came running up to us, still full of energy, saying, ”You guys ready to go again!? ”

Nobody budged an inch at her exclamation, and I tiredly looked at her and said, ”I don think their feeling up for it anymore. ”

”Cmonnn! ” She implored as she dragged me up from my seat by my hand, ”The park is going to be closing soon! ”

She started to pull me back out towards the slides, but I stopped in my tracks and held firm. Still holding onto my hand, she looked at me bewildered. ”Sandy. ” I explained. ”While you and I can keep going, I don think theyll be able to. Maybe we should get some food here before it closes don you think? ”

She looked back behind me to the exhausted kids sitting comfortably under the shade of the large umbrella, and she smiled to herself warmly. ”Okay. ” She surrendered before dragging me along to the concession stand in the waterpark. Luckily there wasn that big of a line, and we were going to order pretty fast. ”What do you think we should get? ” She asked me as she gazed at the menu.

I peered at the choices and shakily suggested, ”H-how about a pizza and Dippin Dots for everyone? ”

”That sounds great! ” She exclaimed as she started to fiddle with her wallet with her free hand.

Realizing that she was wanting to pay for it, I hurriedly told her, ”No, I can pay! Youve already done so much today. ”

She playfully huffed at my suggestion saying, ”Noooo! Youve been such a big help with the kids its only right! ”

”Whatll be you
e order? ” The voice of the cashier asked us from the open window. It was our turn to order. Sandy told her the order, and after she finished the cashier asked us, ”Will you two be wanting the couples Dippin Dots? Its cheaper than just a normal large. ”

Sandy, flushed, suddenly was at a loss of what to say. I tried to explain that we didn before I noticed that Sandy still had a firm grasp onto my hand. We must have noticed it at the same time because she quickly released me from her clasp, and we darted our embarrassed eyes from each other to the cashier. ”N-no…We
e not… Um no. We want them all individual. ” I clumsily explained.

It wouldve been too much of a pain to explain everything, so I just went along with it. As the cashier went into the back to get the orders, I quickly suggested to Sandy, ”Split the bill? ”

”Yep! Sounds great. ” She quickly said as she moved her damp brunette hair over her ear.

I smiled. It seems that being flustered made her lose the will to fight on paying for the food all on her own. We paid the cashier and made our way back with the food. We happily ate the remaining hours of the park away.