Page 13 of A Hard Fit

Once they were inside, it didn’t get much more impressive.

“They went for ‘thrill’ as in ‘scary’ with the logo, but once you get inside, nothing is really ‘thrilling,’ is it?” Rory asked.

“Not really.” Finn shook his head as he took a few more photos. “What should we do first?”

“I don’t know,” Rory said, turning in a circle. “What do you think?”

“The big rides first? Since those lineups get longer as the day goes on.”

“The Thrillcoaster it is!”

The signature roller coaster was a great ride—three loops and plenty of scream-inducing corners and drops. They went on it twice before a line started to form.

“Okay, that was an awesome coaster,” Finn said at the exit, heart pounding from the adrenaline instead of Rory, for once.

“Amazing,” Rory agreed. “And your hair is awesome, too.” They laughed and reached up like they were going to touch it, but paused a few inches away. “It’s got even more life than usual.”

Finn chuckled and raked his hand through his curls, even though that probably made it worse. “Yeah, there is not enough product in the world for my hair once gravity is no longer working for me.”

Rory’s eyes glinted. “I like it.”

Now the heart pounding was from Rory again. “What’s next?”

They tackled the ‘Disco Thrill,’ a smaller roller coaster that ran partly indoors in the dark, aside from the disco balls and mirrors casting rainbow light across the tracks. Next was the Ferris wheel, a ride that faced the ocean and actually made use of the view. The sun sparkled off the peaks in flashes of white, the far edge of harbor green in the distance, low hills climbing up to a crystal blue sky.

“So beautiful,” Finn said, when their car stopped at the top.

“It really is,” Rory agreed. “I need to get outside more. I feel like I miss a lot behind my screens all the time.”

Finn took a breath, the salt air curling deep into his lungs. “Same. Sometimes I think about, like, finding a cabin in the woods with no Wi-Fi, setting up my easel outside and just painting for days.”

“That sounds perfect. You should do that.”

Finn turned to look at Rory. Their eyes met, held… “I should.”

Then the car jerked into motion again, and they began their descent.

All the rides had lineups now, but the one for the ‘The Haunted Lagoon’ wasn’t too long. The boats wound along a canal through a graveyard, weeping willow tunnels shading them from the heat of the day. Tombstones peeked out from the tall grass, while a few robotic crows perched on top, cawing at them.

“It doesn’t feel very haunted, does it?” Rory asked, reaching to trail their fingers in the water speckled with leaves from the trees. “It’s sort of…romantic.”

Finn pointed. “There’s a skeleton arm poking out of that grave.”

“I like skeletons,” Rory said, gaze following their fingers through the water. “Still romantic.”

Finn shifted and took out his phone for more notes. “So…the Haunted Lagoon also needs work.”

It was lunchtime when they were back on dry land. “Hope you’re hungry,” Finn said, flashing the office credit card.

“Extra hungry, in fact.” Rory patted their stomach.

They found the food court, which only had one counter offering the basic park food. “We should probably try as much as we can, right? Get a feel for what we’re working with?” Finn asked.

“I think it’s our responsibility,” Rory said.

They got a hot dog, a burger and nachos then split it all in half. Finn got a chocolate milkshake, Rory strawberry. They spread their food out before them on a round metal table under a sun-beaten red-and-white-striped umbrella.

“So whereabouts do you live?” Rory asked, going for the nachos first.

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