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“But that leaves you with just me as support,” Tarryn protested.
“I’m sure you’ll both be able to hear me screaming. Valor won’t miss anything important.”
Despite his protests, we coaxed Loïc into the middle seat.
I pulled down his over-the-shoulder harness and locked it in place before securing my own. His eyes rounded, and he started to struggle. I grabbed his hand out of instinct, but when I tried to let go, he clung to it so hard I couldn’t pull away.
“I’m trapped.” His nostrils flared, and his eyes were wild.
“The harness is to keep you safe,” Tarryn assured him. “As soon as the ride stops, they’ll open it and let you out.”
He nodded, but the terror in his eyes didn’t wane.
“If this wasn’t mostly safe, we wouldn’t do it for fun,” I added. “People wouldn’t let their kids come to the park.”
He was holding his breath.
“Breathe, Leduc.”
He drew a shaky breath, then another, and his death grip on my hand loosened. His fingers laced between mine, and they felt strange and large, especially compared to holding hands with Tarryn. I couldn’t remember ever holding hands with a man in my life, even as a child.
We waited for the ride to start—him quietly panicking, and me feeling conspicuous and embarrassed about the handholding, but also trying to ignore the weird little butterflies in my stomach. Tentatively, I rubbed my thumb in circles over his skin the way I would with Tarryn. He sighed and looked down at where our hands were joined, and then into my eyes.
“I don’t like being trapped,” he confided.
“I never would have guessed,” I teased, unable to help it. Most of my time spent with other men involved friendly mockery. I had the suspicion that if I did that with Loïc, he might not recognize I was teasing. I didn’t want him to feel bad about being nervous. I gave him a sympathetic smile. “Everyone has something that freaks them out.”
The ride started to move, and he reached for Tarryn, too.
“We’re going to go up slowly and then come down fast. The ride is designed to do it. We’ll be okay.”
“Will it be embarrassing if I scream?”
“No. You might want to wait until we’re at the top of the hill though.”
“Oh, yes. No one else is screaming yet, but I feel it in my chest. I’m ready to scream right now.”
I couldn’t help but laugh but shut it down almost immediately.
“It’s okay to laugh. I know I’m ridiculous sometimes.”
The ride clicked up to the summit. We reached the dramatic pause before the drop, and I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Merde.” His voice was so small it was hard to hear past the wind.
The train turned and headed downhill into the first loop. Loïc immediately screamed and swore, digging his short nails into the back of my hand.
I shouted for the fun of it, trying not to laugh at the string of French profanity coming from my seatmate.
Maybe taking him on a ride that went upside down had been a bad choice for his first time.
Too late now…
It was fast and twisty, but it wasn’t the scariest one we’d been on. Not exactly a starter roller-coaster, but also not one that might make the poor guy shit himself.
His swearing had gone quiet, and I glanced over to see he was smiling hesitantly. His hand was gripping mine, but he looked from the track, to Tarryn, to me, pale eyes gleaming with excitement.
Had we created a monster?
