Samantha sat at a wooden picnic table gripping a paper coke cup in her left hand. Her right hand lay her palm up in the table close to her. “Just a handshake?….. Why just a simple handshake?!” She thought to herself. She wrapped her fingers into a fist on the table and then took another long sip of her coke. “Is it so hard?” Locke smiled his big crooked smile down on her.
“Drinking the pop I promised you. Is it really that hard?” Locke asked while watching her concentrated face.
Samantha slowly put her hand in her lap as she looked up at Locke, who was sitting across the table.
“No,” she answered quietly. “It is actually quite nice, to have a friend here. It’s no fun all alone. Trust me.” she said even quieter looking down at her coke cup.
Samantha then smiled sadly, swirling the drink in cup.
“My dad brought me along with his new girlfriend for some family bonding, but right as we came through the gate they left me to ‘have fun.’” Samantha let out a dry, hurt laugh. “I’m used to being alone.” She added at the end talking more to herself not than to Locke. She turned her head to look up at the Farris Wheel.
Locke looked down at her frowning, then an idea hit him and he smiled “Wanna ride?” he asked calmly almost teasing her.
Samantha’s head turned to him. “Excuse me?” she asked coldly. Locke looked at her in surprised and he put his hands up to defend himself. “The Ferris Wheel I just wanted to see if you wanted to ride.” he asked again rather nervously.
“Ohhhh….” she gave him a sweet smile. “Yeah, alright.” she said. “I did come here to have fun, right?” She asked looking over at him for reassurance. Locke let out a sigh then smirked, “Yeah, of course.” He said happily standing up from the table.
Getting up they threw their drinks away as they left the cool, shaded picnic area. Both waited in line for their turn to get into one of the shaded colored baskets. The two didn’t talk much at all in line. Little glances are caught here and there between them, followed by slight hints of blushing from both. They also kept bumping into each other clumsily. It didn’t really feel like hanging out with a friend, to Samantha. She wanted it to be more, and she could swear he liked her.
“But, why is he acting all shy? He wasn’t like this before. Does he not like me now? Why is he still trying to hang out with me then?” She thought looking back over at him while he nudged a rock with the tow of his high top sneakers. She took this time to look him up and down. His tight grey shirt held the name of a band that she has never heard of, though she made a mental note to look them up later. His tan shorts looked a little big being held up by a belt and they fell around his knees, and then of course his converse shoes. She smiled to herself and looked down at her own wardrobe. She was grateful to her father’s girlfriend for picking out her best sun dress to wear. She was brought back to reality when Locke nudged her arm with his. He was already up a step and into the basket. He turned around and held out a hand to her and smiled a huge, yet sweet smile.
Samantha stepped up to get into the swinging red basket holding onto Locke’s hand for dear life once the basket started rocking. The little door closed behind them and the little bucket was a full circle for seating. Samantha scooted to the middle of the circle bench and watched Lock slide in after her after letting go of her hand once she was seated. He was looking far out into the distance and he was wringing his hands together nervously. He was acting really jittery, tapping his foot to some music she guessed he was playing in his mind.
She smiled at this. “He was just all chivalrous two seconds before and now that we are alone he gets scared again.” His eyes closed now and his head starts rocking to the music even more as he starts playing, what looks to be an air bass guitar to her. Samantha giggled a bit and then reached out and touched his arm lightly.
“What song are you playing?” She asked qualitatively.
Locke jumped lightly and turned to her as the basket swayed when the big metal beast started turning and grinding away.
“Oh,...uh.....yeah I’m fine. It's nothing really. Just a song.” He said with a big gulp of air.
He looked down at her hand still touching his arm and some color returned to his face.
“I’m just a little afraid of heights.” He chuckled nervously to make it sound like a joke.
Samantha smiled gently and reassuringly, moving closer to him, with her hand still on his arm. She never took her eyes off of him, even when he was nervously looking around. She was close enough to him that their hips were almost touching. She gently ran her thumb over the side of his arm snapping him out of his fear. Locke looked back at her hand and then back at her, amazed.
He smiled and then moved closer to her as well. Hips touching, they sat there looking at each other awkwardly until Samantha forced herself to look away out at the park. Samantha’s mind wandered at she stared at other rides they could ride together. They were halfway up around the circle when they came to a stop.
Locke, still looking at her, blushed and he too looked out over the park and became stiff bringing him back to reality of how high they were. He tried to forget about the ride and focus on the girl sitting close to him. Samantha continued to look out at the horizon, but felt him freeze up. A squeeze of her hand on his arm gave Locke a sudden chill. Samantha then took her hand away from Locke’s arm and she gently placed her head on his shoulder, sighing.
“I know you’re afraid of heights but isn’t that pretty?” She asked him calmly. Locke, gaining control of himself, smiled and, stealing the moment said, “Why yes…..yes you are.” He said smirking down at the locks of bright red hair on his shoulder. Samantha laughed but didn’t move away from him like he thought she would. He thought to himself this time. “She is stronger than I thought. This is going to be a fun day.” Instead she shifted around wrapped her arm under his and slipped her hand into his.
“Thank you.” She said sweetly. And he couldn’t see but he could just tell that her cheeks were as red as her hair.
Locke moved his left hand to cover hers so that small, delicate hand was in his strong bigger palms. He could tell the differences in their body sizes. He was around the same height as every other boy in his class but she was so small. Leaning her head on his shoulder was almost too perfect from their differences. He hoped it didn’t bother her. The ferries wheel gave a jerk and started moving again, this time without stopping. There was a breeze from the moving ride that made Locke shudder, though with such warm air, he didn’t really understand why.
He looked down again at the top of Samantha’s head, and bright, shinning hair stared up at him. He spent this time fighting with himself to kiss her. “Just a peck on her head, that’s not that bad right? Yeah but what if you move to fast.” He thought. “Just do it!” He yelled at himself. Locke slowly moved down, just as Samantha turned around,
“Hey, Locke? Do you…….” She gasped as she turned into his kiss. He ended up planting a small kiss on her forehead right above her right eye. He gasped at this and pulled away faster than he should have and almost pulled away completely. Samantha gripped his arm so he couldn’t move too far away from her. Samantha beamed up at him.
“You missed.” She giggled and sat up more to look into his eyes. Locke blushed from embarrassment and stuttered.
“What d….do you mean?” he asks nervously. Samantha smiles bigger.
“You missed.” she stated before leaning up and kissing him gently on the lips. They held the kiss without moving for a few seconds. Then Samantha quickly pulled away and turned away from Locke. They both looked the opposite from each other looking out of the big metal basket. He moved his left hand off of hers to scratch the back of his head and she used her free hand with those slender fingers to touch her mouth.
Locke sat there looking out at the park and then he turned to look at the back of her head for a bit, before gently draping his right arm protectively over her shoulders. Samantha laughed and leaned into him, resting her head on his broad chest. She took in a deep breath threw her nose and noticed his cologne drifting through the air. It was a mixture of spice and a strong musky smell. She guessed was from him and not the body spray. Whatever it was, she couldn’t get enough of it. It must have been the spray to drag girls in like some of the commercials for say.
Samantha started humming lazily as she looked out at the other colors of the park. Their basket was at the very top now when the ride came to a sudden stop and then they started rocking. Locke gripped onto Samantha’s arm, like he was helping her not to fall out. But she could tell it was for himself. Locke stiffened his body again and Samantha giggled a bit and rested her left hand on his right one gripping her arm. “It’s alright.” She reassured, stroking his hand and pushing herself gently, yet harder into his chest. “I’m right here. We’ll be down in a bit.” She said sweetly giving his hand a squeeze before taking his hand and locking her fingers in between his.
Locke seemed to calm down just from her touch. He didn’t really understand his feelings to this girl he just met earlier that day. She was defiantly different than other girls he’d been with. She was shy when she needed to be without turning him away. And then like with the kiss, she was strong. He really liked the fact that she was so small compared to his size. He liked being able to tower over most people. Plus to him it added to her cuteness she had about her. She turned around and smiled up at him.
“So Locke?” She continued with her question from before.
“Yes, Sammy?” he said sweetly, blushing only a little bit. Her mouth dropped as she lost her words again.
“Do…. you…think we’re friends now?” She asked after fishing in her mind to make a question.
Locke looked at her and then laughed his hardy laugh that sent fuzzy chills up Samantha’s spine.
“Yes, Sammy girl. I believe we’re friends. If not more from that kiss, eh?” He said a little too seductively as he threw a slow wink along with it.
This caused Samantha to gasp and turn away from him again. She had a tingly feeling that started at her knees and crept up threw her to her belly. She noticed he had a very strong effect on that area of her. She blushed even more when she realized what her bodies intentions were. She shook her head to get the thoughts to go away.
“Why do you call me Sammy?” She asked to change the subject to save her mind.
Locke chuckled, “Well, I still hold by the first thought that you are way too cute for just Sam. And I didn’t know if your name was Samantha or just Sam like you said so…Sammy.” Locke smiled again and gave Samantha a squeeze, a sideways hug. Samantha chucked politely along with him.
“Fair enough.” She blushed.
Their basket started moving again and Locke jumped but didn’t react half as bad as before. He let out a long, winded breath on the back of Samantha’s neck which made her shudder. She let go of his hand and pulled away, sitting just enough, like when they first got in. Disappointment crossed Locke’s face and Samantha noted to make up for it. Their basket finally reached the bottom of the ride. Locke got up and stepped out of the ride first, then helped Samantha by holding her hand gently.
The two walked around the banner littered path for a while. Neither could find anything they both wanted to do. They could go on more rides. Or play the carnival style games for prizes. But still, neither wanted to do anything but walk. After a while Samantha suggested they take a break from walking, having passed the same whack-a-mole booth 4 times.
“How many times did we walk around the entire park?” Samantha asked stretching and then plopping herself onto a nearby bench. Locke looked around and chuckled.
“I don’t know but doesn’t this place look familiar?” He said sitting down next to her, rather closely. He gestured with his hand a nearby water fountain. Samantha blushed a bit.
“It’s where we met.” She answered with a dreamy voice. She laughed at her own joke which made him chuckle too.
“Thank you again. For what happened before.” she said looking down at the ground.
Locke smiled looking over at her bright red hair shining with the same power as the sun itself. He looked her up and down. Something he had done many times before, but there is always something new he missed before. He noticed her messing with her wristband for that night. He took in a deep breath threw his nose. A faint smell of flowers wafted over to him from Samantha. He never really liked the way girls smelled, either flowery or fruity. But this was different; the smell seemed to draw him in even more. “It must be the heat or something.” He thought to himself looking at her hair again.
Samantha checked her watch now and again to make sure it was still working. The same little clock face ticked back at her. 4:45, the small hands read.
“Has it really been that long?” Samantha said out loud. Locke looked down at her watch and then back up at her.
“How long?” He asked confused. “Since when?” He continues to question. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Since we first met.” They both laugh a sweet, flirting laugh. They sat there looking into each others’ eyes, neither dared to look away. They both lean in to each other, ready for another kiss. Just as there lips brushed together, there was a shrill wolf whistle thrown in their direction. “SAMANTHA WILKS!”
