Rob: “Can’t make it, out with the boys, some other time.”
As she walked out of the school driveway and onto one of the back roads, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She’d never been stood up before and felt. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She also didn’t know what she was going to say if Rob texted her later, or what she would do in Mr. Allen’s class in the morning. She ran all the scenarios over and over in her head.
A motorcycle came up behind Rachel. She turned and saw a motorcycle slowly approaching her. As it got closer, Rachel could see a guy wearing riding boots, black jeans, a leather jacket, a faded white tee shirt and a grey bandana on his head.
As the guy lifted his helmet, Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. He was drop dead gorgeous. She’d never had this feeling before it was love at first sight. Rachel stood there admiring his face. He had the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen, it was almost as if they were glowing. He had soft, pale looking skin and defined cheekbones. His lips were a light red color, and as he smiled she saw his pearly white teeth shining through. He had long dirty blonde hair and an unshaven face. He had an irresistible Indy Rock look to him.
He was perfect.
Rachel thought he looked familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint how she knew him, or where she had seen him before. He looked mysterious, and she couldn’t figure it out.
“Want a ride?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Rachel asked.
“My fault,” he said, “My name’s Benji.”
“Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Yeah, I’m a senior at AHS,” he said. “I see you in the cafeteria sometimes.”
Rachel looked at him a little confused. She didn’t realize he was in her same lunch period, but knew she’d seen him around.
“Oh, cool,” she replied.
“So, you wanna ride?” Benji asked again.
She hesitated for a minute. She figured she didn’t have anything to lose; she might as well get a ride home.
“Sure.”
Rachel grabbed the extra helmet under his seat, and Benji helped her buckle it under her chin. She got chills as he touched her chin.. As she reached around his leather jacket a surge of excitement came over her, she couldn’t wait to wrap her hands around his waist and hold him close. Benji pulled off the shoulder and drove down the street. The noise of the bike rang through Rachel’s ears, and the sound of acceleration was thrilling.
As the bike came to a stop, the two sat there in silence. As the traffic was crossing in front of them in the other direction, Benji turned to her and said, “Wanna go somewhere?”
“Where?” Rachel asked.
“Surprise. But I know you’re going to love it,” Benji said.
Rachel was torn, she didn’t even know this guy, yet she couldn’t help but want to go with him. He intrigued her, and she couldn’t say no. She felt it was time to throw caution to the wind, and said, “Why not!”
She knew she shouldn’t go with this perfect stranger, but she couldn’t help herself. She was drawn to him and couldn’t understand why. He had a strange sort of magnetism to him, and it made her feel like she’d known him forever.
As the bike entered the highway, Rachel gripped Benji tighter. She was in heaven. She didn’t even care that she was on the back of a motorcycle on the highway. She didn’t feel any danger. She felt safe as she sat there behind him, the wind blowing quickly past her body. She wanted to talk to Benji, but it was so loud, she knew if she tried, he wouldn’t hear her. So she sat, silently, in love. As they sped away, thoughts of Rob slowly faded from her mind.
Twenty minutes later, they were pulling into a large parking lot full of cars. Rachel looked up and read the sign: “Rye Playland.” She saw a rollercoaster, a ferris wheel, and other rides in the distance. Her heart leaped. How did he know I love amusement parks? Rachel thought to herself.
Rachel let go of his waist as Benji turned off the ignition. She didn’t want to let him go. He helped her with the helmet and the two hopped off the bike and headed in through the large black metal gates that stood at the entrance. Benji didn’t say anything as they walked towards the ticket counter. He was mysterious and that intrigued her. She looked at Benji as they walked and she could tell his mind was spinning, but she had no idea what he was thinking.
Benji bought two passes and they headed through the turnstiles.
“What do you want to do first?” he finally broke the silence.
She looked around and saw a row of games, and pointed to them.
As they walked near one of the games, Rachel got excited. She hoped that Benji would win her something, but knew those games were almost impossible to beat.
She looked at the game: it was the one where you had to take balls and load them into an air gun and shoot down pins to win a prize.
“Two, please,” Benji said to the game attendant.
Rachel got ready to load her gun and the countdown began. They had 30 seconds to shoot down as many pins as they could. As Rachel loaded and shot her first Ball, she looked over at Benji. He was flying through his balls faster than she could believe. He knocked down all his pins with 27 seconds to go. Rachel forgot all about loading her next ball as she stood there, staring at him in disbelief.
The game attendant came over and looked at him and then picked up the air gun and looked at it. She looked at her and said, “You’ve got yourself a winner.”
“How’d you do that?” Rachel asked Benji.
“Do what?”
“Are you serious? You knocked all the pins down in 3 seconds. That’s nearly impossible,” she said.
“I’ve never seen it done before,” said the game attendant.
Benji shrugged and acted as if what had just happened was normal. “What do you want?” Benji said pointing to the wall of stuffed animals.
Rachel chose a pink snake and hung it around her neck.
Still shocked and confused, Rachel began to walk away from the games. In the distance, she spotted a fun house. Rachel pointed to it and said, “Let’s do that next.”
Benji looked at the fun house and quickly said, “No.”
“What do you mean, no?” Rachel replied.
“I can’t go in there.”
“Why?” Rachel asked.
Benji didn’t respond. He was staring at the fun house in a trance as his body was taking slow, steady steps backwards.
It were as if he was being repelled from the fun house. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Rachel saw Benji shake his head a few times, as he snapped back into it.
“Sorry,” Benji said.
Rachel decided to drop the fun house idea and began to wonder what was going on. She never knew of anyone who would turn a fun house down, the wobbly steps, the funky mirrors, the strobe lights and loud music. She was taken back.
“Do you think they have cotton candy here?” Rachel asked Benji.
“It’s over there,” Benji pointed.
“Where? I don’t see anything.”
“All the way down,” said Benji, “do you see the sign?”
“No, where?” Rachel said as she squinted and looked in the distance.
Benji took her hand and led her towards the cotton candy. Rachel finally saw the small sign Benji was pointing to as they neared and said, “How did you see that?”
Benji looked away quickly and didn’t answer. Rachel knew something was different about him. She was amazed.
As they got up to the window, Benji asked with a smile, “What color would you like?”
“Blue,” Rachel said. “It’s my favorite.”
Benji handed Rachel a blue cotton candy and then the two headed back over towards the rides. He motioned to Rachel to sit down on a bench
She wanted Benji to hold her hand, or kiss her, or something. She was passionately attracted to him and wanted him to get closer.
Benji kept his distance on the bench, as they looked on at all the people passing by them.
“So, where do you live?” Rachel asked, breaking the silence.
“Down the road from school,” Benji replied.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“A twin brother,” Benji answered, “He goes to private school.”
“Oh, that’s sad. Do you miss him?”
“Not really, I see him sometimes,” he said.
Rachel tried to imagine high school without her siblings, and couldn’t. Even though they annoyed her, she still liked having them around.
As Rachel took a breath and was about to ask him more questions, he stood up and began walking. Rachel got up and followed. Benji puzzled her: he was unlike any guy she had ever met. She saw that it was hard for Benji to open up to her, and felt as if he were hiding a secret.
Not knowing what to say, Rachel pointed in front of them and said, “Let’s go on the ferris wheel,” hoping that the ferris wheel was an OK suggestion. She didn’t want it to be a repeat of the fun house.
“Sure,” Benji said and they arm in arm.
As they stood on the line, Rachel looked into Benji’s eyes. He turned his head.
“Why are you so quiet?” Rachel asked.
“Am I?” said Benji.
“Yeah.”
“Sorry,” he answered, “ I’ve got a lot on my mind tonight.”
“What is it?” Rachel asked.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Not wanting to pry, Rachel stopped asking questions. She wondered what he could be thinking about. She knew they were having a good time together and she felt that he really liked her despite not having spoken much.
“So, do you always pick up random girls on your bike?” Rachel asked.
“No, you’re the first.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know why,” Benji answered as he stared into her eyes. “I saw you and I just couldn’t ride past.”
Rachel smiled and then looked away. She knew she felt the same way.