"ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕤."

━

♬  ᴵ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵐᵉ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ⁻ ᴸᵃᵘᵛ   ♬

━

Ｍａｓｏｎ

I felt like I was going to puke and no, I wasn't just being dramatic. I honestly felt sick to my stomach.

"Mason?" Turning around, I found Miles staring at me, confused. "Why are you just standing at the top of the stairs?"

"I'm gonna throw up."

He chuckled. "Mase, everything is going to be fine. You're not going to throw up but you can't just stand here all day."

"Are you sure?"

Shaking his head, he walked forward until he was right in front of me. "Stop freaking out Babe. It's just Alex. Okay? Everything is going to go great and if not, well, then, I'll beat him up." He paused, thinking. "Okay, I'll get Sutton to beat him up but that's besides the point. Nothing's going to happen. You're going to have an amazing time."

"Unless I die."

"Why would you die?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Anyone could die at any moment, I mean, you know, my Dad and all and I don't know. I don't think I can do this."

"Mason?" Alex's voice floated up the stairs, though we couldn't see him.

My knees nearly gave out as I jumped back, gripping on tightly to Miles' bicep. "Holy fucking shit. I can't do this. Nope, not happening. Not today Satan."

Peeling my hand off of his arm, Miles brought me in front of him, each hand gripping my upper arms. "Calm your shit. You're going and whether or not you're ready, it's happening right now. Woman the fuck up, walk down those stairs and pretend that you're not about to vomit everywhere. Got it?" I nodded, not know what to say. "You bet your fucking ass you do, now go get em' tiger!" and with that, he slapped my butt making me jump.

"What the hell was that?"

"Sorry, I got a little too caught up in the moment."

"Ok, I got this, I can do this." I nodded in an attempt to reassure myself though the both of us know my words weren't doing diddly squat.

"Yeah, you do!" He practically shouted.

"Why are you yelling?"

Both of our heads snapped towards the new voice. Alex was standing a step below us, looking at the two of us, confused.

"Oh!" Miles practically shouted once again. "I mean, we, I just, we were, I, you know what, it's none of your damn business, don't you know not to interrupt a girl's personal conversation?"

"Uh, you're not a girl." He spoke, seeming unsure of his words.

Miles rolled his eyes. "I was talking about Mason, dumb ass. Anyway, who the hell are you to tell me I'm not a girl? I can be a girl if I want."

"I didn't, I just, I'm so confused right now."

"Damn straight you are. Now quit yapping and take Mason on a date. She looks amazing, don't you think?" My face was burning crimson as both of their attention was now solely on me. "Gosh Alex, don't be a fucking dipshit and just stare at her. Tell her how great she looks."

I shook my head, "You don't have to sa-"

"You're beautiful."

I didn't have much time to think about the fact that Alex had just blurted out that he thought I was beautiful before Miles squealed like a prepubescent girl. "How cute are you two! Okay, I'm going to walk away now and the two of you go on with your little date. Have fun and don't forget to be safe, if ya know what I mean." he giggled and practically ran away.

Alex snorted and shook his head. "I think my dad dropped him on his head too many times." I couldn't help but laugh, which caused a small smile on his lips. "You think I'm kidding?"

I paused, looking at his just as we reached the bottom of the steps. "Aren't you?"

"My Dads always been clumsy." He shrugged, opening the door for me.

"You're joking."

"I mean, kind of. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I do know that he's dropped each of us at least once."

I covered my mouth in an attempt to stifle my laughter. "No."

He nodded, stopping beside his car and once again, like a gentleman, opened the door for me. "I'm sure it's a lot more common than you think."

"Dropping babies? Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree with that." I snorted, climbing in the car and muttering a quiet, "Thank you."

Jogging in front of the car, he was quickly sat in the car beside me and turning the key in the ignition. "Okay, so maybe you're right. We were probably dropped far more than most children but hey, we turned out okay. I mean, well, some of us, kind of."

I shook my head smiling as we began down the road. "So, are you going to tell me where we're going?"

He smiled, shaking his head. "Sorry."

"What is with people and keeping everything a surprise?" I huffed, slumping back in my seat slightly and crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're cute when you're angry." In a matter of seconds, my entire face was flaming. I had never really been one to receive compliments, so I sure as hell didn't know how to act when I was given one. He chuckled at my reddening face. "You're cute when you blush too." My hands immediately covered my cheeks in an attempt to hide the deep blush that was now consuming them. Which of course, only made him laugh more.

"You're so not funny." I deadpanned. I glanced at him as he continued driving without replying. Truth be told, he was hands down, the most gorgeous man I had ever had the privilege of seeing. And I wasn't just saying that because I had a crush on him and what not. It was wholeheartedly the truth.

After a bit, he reached over, turning on the radio. "What do you like to listen to?"

"Mm, a little bit of everything; for the most part."

"Here." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it over to me. "You can go on Spotify and pick something. The codes zero, eight, one, five."

I quickly typed in the code and tapped on the Spotify icon and began scanning through the different playlists he had already made. I will admit, a lot of the songs on here weren't songs that I would have thought he would listen to but on the other hand, Alex always seemed to be full of surprises. Forgoing his playlists all together, I went to the search bar, quickly typing in one of my favorite artists.

Scrolling through multiple songs, I finally settled on a classic. As soon as the song began to play through the speakers, I locked his phone and set it in the center console. We came to a stop at a red light and I immediately felt Alex staring at me. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, I turned to face him, confused as to why he was looking at me weirdly. "Sorry, do not like him?" I grabbed his phone. "I can change it."

Just before I could start typing in his passcode, he grabbed it from my hand and set it back down, smirking slightly. "No, no. I just, I didn't expect you to listen to this type of music?"

I snorted unattractively. "What, Eminem?" He nodded, still staring at me weirdly. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to not judge a book by it's cover?" I teased.

"She did but that doesn't mean I don't do it."

"Oh, so you're admitting that you've judged me?"

"What? No, no. No, I didn't mean that. I just meant that everyone judges everyone at some point don't they?"

I shrug, "I mean, I try not to. I get what you're saying and I'm not saying that you're a bad person for doing so and I'm not saying that I never have. All I'm saying is that you never know what people are going through or what they've been through. Not always, but most of the time, there's reasons why people act the way they do and treat others the way they do. Sometimes people act out in the wrong ways because they were never taught the proper ways to react because no one ever cared enough to teach them. I don't know, I guess that sounds kind of stupid. I just try to give everyone a chance, regardless of how they treat me or how they've treated me in the past and that's probably my biggest downfall but I don't believe that you should ever just hate someone. I mean, well obviously in certain circumstances, there's exceptions. I'm getting off topic here and going of a tangent. I'm sorry about that." By now, we had obviously started driving again. I looked out the window, feeling embarrassed at my little speech.

"You're something else, Mason Miller." He smiled, shaking his head ever so slightly.

"Uh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Instead of answering me, he just smirked and pulled into a parking spot. Only now did I realize that we were in a car park, surrounded by cars. How the hell did I not notice we were here before? "So now that we're here, are you going to tell me where exactly 'here' is?" Without answering, yet again, he climbed out of the car and was opening my door just as I finished undoing my seatbelt. I stepped out, adjusting my clothes before looking up, only to find his eyes directly set on me. "You know," I began as he continued to not answer a single question and we began walking. "I don't if you believe that girls actually like mysterious guys or the whole, let's surprise a girl even if she says she hates it because she secretly loves it is true, but I can one hundred percent tell you that all of that is nothing but utter bullshit. I mean, let's be honest here, who the hell doesn't like to know what's going on? The type of people who enjoy surprises are the type of people who pour their milk before their cereal and those kinds of people just can't be trusted."

"I pour my milk before my cereal." I came to a dead stop, staring at him as he continued walking not noticing that I had stopped. A few seconds later, he stopped turning to face me. "Why do you look like someone just stole your ice cream?"

"For one, if someone stole my ice cream, you can best believe that they'd be losing a hand and two, I don't think I can continue on with this date any further."

He stepped forward, looking confused. "What?"

"What kind of person pours their milk before their cereal? Psychopaths, I tell you. And I hate to break it to you but I am not about to willingly go on a date with someone I can't fully trust."

Relief washed over his features as he stepped closer until he was right in front of me. "You're a knob head, you know that?"

I scoffed in feign offense, my hand raised to my chest, "I can assure you that you aren't winning me over with your unkind words."

He laughed loudly and honestly, it was a beautiful sound. One that I had never had the pleasure of hearing but also one that I could only hope to hear more of., "Please, forgive me and just so you know, I was talking about pouring my milk before my cereal."

"Oh, thank God." I dramatically sighed. "You had me worried for a second."

He smiled, pulling his bottom lip in between his teeth and honestly, I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt as if I could pass out at this very moment. How the actual fuck, could he manage to get more attractive? And then you look at me, plain ole' me, no doubt a bit below average. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought I was his little sister. It'd make more sense than him being on a date with me.

Gosh, I was so lame.

Without warning, his fingers laced with mine pulling me from my inner thoughts. I started down at our hands, intertwined with one another as my stomach erupted in a swirling mess. We continued walking, towards the entrance, neither of saying a word.

Only when we were waiting in a queue did I look at my surroundings. Craning my head back, I looked up at the massive sign overhead that read Six Flags. I'd never heard of his before but by looking past the sign, I could only assume it was an amusement park of some sort. "Six Flags?"

I questioned, finally looking up at Alex. Worry consumed his face. "What? Do you hate it or something?"

I smiled, shaking my head and raised my hand to shield my eyes from the retina-burning sun. "I've never been."

His worry soon turned to shock. "You never been to Six Flags?"

"I've never even heard of Six Flags."

He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it as we moved forward, coming up to the ticket booth. A beautiful girl sat perched behind the window, smiling brightly at us, or more so Alex, with a perfect set of bright, white teeth. "Welcome to Six Flags, how many tickets can I get for you today?"

God, even her voice sounded beautiful. Was that a weird thing to say? Maybe but it didn't make it any less true. Disappointment flooded me as Alex instantly released my hand. As shit as it was, I couldn't blame him. This girl, Maggie as her name tag read was a solid twelve point five while I, on the other hand, was a four, maybe five if I was having an exceptionally good day but I mean, that's still kind of pushing it. God, I sound like such a loser.

Why couldn't I be one of those girls who's confident in herself regardless of societies standards or what anyone said of me? Maybe I'd get there one day. One could only hope. A sudden weight across my shoulders made me look up, confused. Alex smiling whilst taking two wrist bands from the girl who now, looked somewhat disgruntled as her eyes focused on the placement of Alex's arm.

I, on the other hand, was bursting with excitement. His arm tightened on me as walked away. "You shouldn't doubt yourself so much." He mumbled, leaning his head closer to mine. I stopped walking, yet again, looking up to him, confused.

"What? How'd you..."

"You're easy to read, Mason."

"Really?"

"Not always but when you're doubting yourself, you get this look on your face."

"Oh."

"What were you thinking about anyway?"

"Nothing." I answered almost immediately.

"I believe we've already been through the fact that you're terrible at lying."

"I was just thinking about pretty she was is all." I mumbled, looking around, uncomfortable.

"Liar. You were thinking about how much prettier she was than you." Okay, so he thinks it too. "Which is completely untrue."

"She was beautiful." I mumbled still refusing to look at him.

"She was." he agreed, "but that doesn't make you any less beautiful, Mason." I nodded, kicking the dirt below my feet and shrugged. "You don't have to believe me now but one day, I will make you believe. For now, however, what do you want to do first, games, rides or food?"

I couldn't help but smile, looking back to him. "Let's do rides, food and then games." He nodded in agreement, removing his arm from around me but quickly, wrapping his fingers between mine once again. 

━

authors note, 

I didn't update last week and for that, I'm truly sorry. Things have been hectic around here. My son started T-Ball and has practice every Monday & Wednesday and then a game every Saturday. Plus, we celebrated Easter last weekend, a week early, with my grandparents because of whatever reason and I just never got around to updating and I've been feeling guilty about it all week. So please, do forgive me. I'm going to try and update again this weekend. I feel like I'm always saying that but aside from a T-Ball game tomorrow & Easter on Sunday, which will just be at home, I have nothing planned. So, hopefully, I'll manage to get another chapter up for you guys. 

I hope you like the chapter and thank you all soooo very much for reading, commenting and voting. As well as being patient. I really do appreciate and love each and every single one of you. So, THANK YOU!

M