Chapter Three: Live In The Moment

Sometimes "Virtual" Becomes Reality...

The sun shining in the window, birds chirping cheerfully outside and the smell of farm fresh eggs frying, lingered in the air greeting Ethan as he awoke early Saturday morning. Eager to see Shelley and spend an entire day with her, a smile stretched on his face from ear to ear as he hopped into the shower.
Thoughts of the two holding hands, riding roller coasters, sun shining and the wind blowing through her long dark hair occupied his mind. He had waited for this day for weeks.
Jumping out he tripped as he reached for a towel. As he grabbed, he pulled so hard trying to catch himself that the entire towel rack became dislodged from the wall and came down with Ethan hitting the floor!
“Oh my God”, he said as he realized what just happened. “Dad is going to kill me!”
He tried to put it back on the wall but to no avail.
“Wow, I hope this isn’t some kind of hint as to what my day will be like. I don’t need some kind of clumsy curse following me around when I have Shelley to impress”, he said out loud.
He quickly threw on his best jeans and t-shirt and ran down stairs.
“Hey, mom did Shelley call yet?” he asked eagerly.
“No, no phone calls yet this morning”, she replied. She turned around with a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. She put the plate in front of Ethan. “You need to eat. She will call you soon enough.” She smiled at him and turned around to make another plate. Just then Connor ran in, grabbed Ethan’s bacon and ran off.
“Hey!” Ethan yelled as he chased Connor through the house.
“Hey, you two! Connor, there is more bacon where that came from. Give Ethan back his bacon.” She said.
“Mom”, Ethan started, “I kind of broke the towel thingy in the upstairs bathroom when I got out of the shower. I tried to grab the towel on there and I tripped and everything including me fell to the floor. Dad is going to kill me!”
“Dad is going to kill you for what?” asked Mr. Fairchild from behind Ethan.
Ethan turned around slowly.
“I was reaching for a towel and I tripped in the upstairs bathroom and the towel rack came off the wall and down with me to the floor. I tried to fix it but I can’t.” Ethan said calmly.
“I’ll take a look at it. Are you ok?” His father asked. “I’m sure I have some things in the shed and the garage I can use to fix that. Don’t be afraid to tell me anything son. Everything is fixable.”
Ethan wondered just how true that statement was when all of the sudden the phone rang and he leapt to the phone to answer it. Unfortunately, Connor was already there, phone in hand.
Ethan grabbed the phone out of Connor’s hands.
“Hello? Shelley?” he inquired.
“Hi, Ethan. We are leaving right now to come pick you up. Are you ready?” her sweet voice floated out of the phone to Ethan like music from a violin.
“Yes, sure.” He answered while trying to focus.
“Ok, be there in a few,” she said as she hung up.
Ethan hung up the phone and ran back upstairs to make sure he had everything he needed and to check just one last time in the mirror to make sure everything was in place and a-ok.
Minutes later, Ethan ran outside with the honk of the horn.
The ride to the amusement park was comfortable with Mr. and Mrs. Perkins conversing to themselves, Shelley’s brother and his girlfriend in the back and Ethan and Shelley holding hands just listening to everyone else’s conversations. Once in awhile, Shelley would look at Ethan and let out a little giggle with that million dollar smile and he was once again completely dumbstruck.
Upon arrival, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins gave instructions for everyone to meet for lunch at the Eiffel Tower at 1 pm and they all went their separate ways.
“What do you want to do first?” Shelley asked.
“Let’s go get in line for The Beast”, he replied. “I always start my day at Kings Island with The Beast.”
The Beast was a huge, winding, fierce coaster and was world famous. Ethan had been riding it ever since he was tall enough to do so and he wasn’t going to stop now. The line was long, but not as long as it had been on other occasions. He and Shelley made small talk about school, Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, and other the other teen fascinations. It made the time fly by fast and before they knew it, they were at the front of the line.
They climbed aboard and were fastened in. They heard a boy yell, “all clear” and the coaster lurched forward. It raced through twists and turns, through a tunnel, up and down. They screamed with delight and suddenly, there was a FLASH. A camera had been installed to capture rider pictures as they screamed in terror and delight.
At the end of the ride, someone announced they could pick up their pictures of terror at the Picture Hut.
They walked around, played a few games and Ethan even won a Pink Panther stuffed doll for Shelley. It was shaping up to be an excellent day!
They rode the red racers backwards a few times, and then walked to find Top Gun. Top Gun named after the movie with Tom Cruise was one of Shelley’s favorites. It wasn’t too scary and music from the motion picture soundtrack played while you waited in line.
“I love that ride! It’s one of my favorites!” Shelley screamed as they climbed aboard the coaster.
“Mine too”, replied Ethan knowing full well that he considered Top Gun a girly ride for chicks with crushes on Tom Cruise.
They screamed and wailed until the ride came to a stop and they got off.
As they walked down the long, winding wooden path back toward the park, Shelley suddenly tripped and as Ethan caught her, their eyes met. Time ceased to exist, and Ethan could hear his own heart beat. It was now or never. He went in and his lips pressed to hers gently, yet passionately.
“I’m going to tell mom and dad what I just caught you doing, Shelley!” a voice came from out of nowhere.
It was Shelley’s brother and his girlfriend Shannon walking up the wooden path to get in line. Of all the times they could have met up, why did it have to be now?
“Yeah, whatever”, said Shelley. “I’ll just tell them how Shannon climbs in your window almost every night at midnight.”
“NOT!” yelled Dave as he and Shannon disappeared into the line.
“Sorry about that”, said Shelley. “Big brothers!”
“Oh, ok”. Said Ethan. “Big brothers aren’t THAT bad” he retorted.
He was more disappointed than worried, disappointed that Dave and Shannon had interrupted the first kiss. Then he wondered how long it would be before he would get another chance.
An hour later they all met in front of the Eiffel Tower to decide on lunch. Shelley and Dave made evil, threatening eyes at each other but neither said a word to their parents.
LaRosa’s Pizza was the best food you could sink your teeth into when at Kings Island. They unanimously voted and headed that way. Shelley and Ethan grabbed their slices and sodas then chose a cozy spot near the fountains to sit and eat. Everyone enjoyed the pizza, sunshine and the mist of spray off the fountains. It was a gorgeous Ohio day and perfect to spend with Shelley. Ethan could think of nothing else he was rather be doing on a Saturday.
Once they finished their meal, Mr. and Mrs. Perkins laid out the plans for the rest of the day while insisting that everyone put on a thick layer of sunscreen as not to burn in the sun. Everyone was to meet at the front entrance way around 5pm to make dinner plans and decide what time to go home.
The rest of the day, Shelley and Ethan rode rides and then they walked toward the bumper cars when suddenly Ethan noticed the Antique Car ride.
“Nice” he thought. “I can make my move.”
They boarded the Antique Car ride which basically consisted of antique cars that followed a rail path through a small wooded area and back again.
“I have had a great day, Shelley”, he began.
“Me too”, she replied.
The two grabbed each other’s hands as the car rounded a small pine covered area. Once they were behind the pines, Shelley instantly grabbed hold of Ethan and laid one on him. He was stunned! He was planning to be so smooth and Shelley attacked him! He couldn’t control his surprise and began to laugh. Shelley sat back and stared at him in confusion.
“What are laughing about?” she asked impatiently.
Hearing Shelley ask just made it worse. He couldn’t stop laughing because he had never seen nor thought this side ever existed in her.
She sat there with her arms crossed waiting for an answer. The more she huffed, the more he laughed. It was terrible! He tried to stop laughing but just couldn’t. When the car stopped, Shelley jumped out and ran off in anger and irritation.
“Stop Shelley”! Yelled Ethan. He ran after her. He didn’t mean to upset her and the kiss was great but he just couldn’t stop laughing.
By now, the laughter had subsided and Ethan was only concerned with Shelley’s feelings.
She finally stopped by the Viking Ship. Ethan caught up to her and she stood there looking away from him toward the ship.
“I am so sorry, Shelley. I wasn’t really laughing at you. I just thought...” He started.
Shelley interrupted. “You just thought what? It wasn’t good enough? Was there something wrong with the way I kissed you? What was just so funny, Ethan?”
“Shelley, I have never seen that particular side of you before. I was planning on kissing you when the time was right on the cars but instead, you surprised me and kissed me. That’s all. There is nothing at all wrong with you or the way you kiss. I am sorry I hurt you.” He explained.
“Oh, ok, she replied. Well, now that we’ve stopped, and you aren’t laughing, let me try again. She pulled him in and kissed him. Slowly, softly at first her mouth moved over his. His knees went weak. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer. His mouth moved on her in return and grew stronger. Neither had ever felt like this before. They slowly pulled apart, eyes locked on one another and neither saying a word. Ethan’s brain was complete mush except for one word: LOVE.
Shelley let out a cute little giggle and they grabbed hands and started walking toward the front gate. Ethan could have never imagined he and Shelley Perkins would have spent such an awesome day together and he hoped there would be more.
They picked up their “screaming” picture from the Picture Hut and Ethan let Shelley keep it. They really did look good together he thought. She did too.
Five o’clock came fast and everyone was exhausted. They decided to head back and stop to eat somewhere along the way.
Somewhere between Kings Island and home, Shelley, Ethan, Dave, and Shannon all feel asleep. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins did not want to wake them so they just drove home.
It was near 7 pm when they awoke all the kids in the driveway. It took Ethan a couple minutes to realize that he was with Shelley and they were in the van parked in her parent’s driveway.
“Wow, what time is it”? He asked.
“It’s close to 7 pm,” Mrs. Perkins answered. “Are you kids hungry or do you just want to grab something inside?”
“Seven? Seven!” cried Ethan. “I have to go Shelley, he said. Stinky, Jonathan and Josh are getting ready to leave for the concert! I can’t believe I almost forgot about the concert!”
“I can give you a ride”, replied Dave.
“Thanks man”, answered Ethan. They jumped in Dave’s car and headed to Jonathan’s. But when Ethan rang the doorbell, Jonathan’s little sister, Stephanie came to the door and told Ethan they had already left, about a half hour ago.
Ethan was so upset and trying to figure out what to do! He didn’t want to miss his favorite band and he didn’t want his friends to be mad at him either.
After an exchange of $5.00 for gas, they were on there way to the arena. Ethan was sure the show had already started but he hoped the guys wouldn’t be angry.
As they drove up in front, he jumped out and with a hearty ‘thanks’ he ran as fast as he could for the doors. The sound of the first act could be heard resonating everywhere.
Ethan pulled out his wallet to retrieve the ticket he was sure he had placed there a couple weeks ago.
Just then it hit him like a ton of bricks; Jonathan took all the tickets and put them in an envelope for safe keeping since he was driving to the concert! Ethan’s face went pale with fear. If he couldn’t get Jonathan to answer his cell phone, he would never get inside to see 24!
Ethan called Jonathan’s number over and over but to no avail. He begged the guy at the door to let him go in to get Jonathan and retrieve his ticket but the ticket man would hear nothing of it.
“Produce a ticket now or you’re not going in.” he said sternly.
Just then Ethan saw a scalper selling tickets.
“I got your 24 tickets here!” he hollered.
“How much?” asked Ethan. He knew he would have to buy a crappy ticket if he was ever going to go in and sit with the guys.
“Fifty-five.” The scalper replied.
“I don’t have fifty-five”, he said in disappointment. “I only have forty-five.”
Ethan hung his head low and began to walk off.
“Forty-five for you kid. It’s not like I am selling these nosebleeds like crack here.” The scalper handed him the ticket and took his money.
“Thanks!” yelled Ethan as he grabbed the ticket and ran.
He handed the ticket to the door man and ran inside. He tried to remember the section of seats he and the guys had tickets for. He ran all over the arena bobbing in and out of doors for at least thirty minutes and was about to give up when luckily Stinky came out from the men’s restroom right in front of him.
“Stinky!” he yelled.
“Hey man, where were you? Jonathan is pissed dude. You were not there when we left and he said he wasn’t even going to call you.” Said Stinky.
“Yea I know. I thought we would have been back in time for me to catch a ride with you guys but I fell asleep or I could have called. I did run by Jonathan’s house but you had already left.” Explained Ethan.
“It’s cool dude. You might wanna explain that to Jonathan though.
The two walked up the stairs and around the corner to their row. Just then Ethan felt a rather large hand grab him by the arm.
“Let me see your ticket, son.” It was one of the security guards.
“I’m just about to get it, said Ethan nervously. “My friend is holding it.”
Just then Jonathan turned around to see the guard yanking Ethan.
“Hey!” he yelled. “I’ve got his ticket right here”, said Jonathan as he handed it to him. The guard looked at it, took the other piece and bid them a ‘farewell’ and ‘enjoy the show’. Ethan and Jonathan stood there for a minute but in true best friend fashion, both started yelling and screaming as 24 came on stage. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
24 ‘til Death rocked the arena like there was no tomorrow. All the boys yelled so much that they were hoarse and their ears were ringing loudly. Even if they could yell to each other, they more than likely couldn’t hear one another.
Ethan may have had the worst luck in the world sometimes, but he never let that stop him from having a great time.
“I have the best friends in the whole world and today was awesome,” he thought to himself as they walked out from the arena. 24 rocked the house, Jonathan had forgiven him, and he even got a kiss from the hottest chick in school!
Ethan could hardly sleep that night. The music was still playing in the background of his mind while he lay there thinking of Shelley.
“Today was the most perfect day of my life,” he said out loud as he began to fall asleep, and sleep he did without a care in the world. But just two rooms away, trouble stirred its’ occupants and by tomorrow, Ethan’s entire world would be turned upside down.