We've Got This

I was a little taken aback, so I had to take a minute to formulate my thoughts. “Tyler, I-” I started, but he was quick to cut me off.

“I know, I know. I honestly don’t want you to say it now; I want you to say it when, and if, you truly feel that way about me. I don’t want you to rush into something like that and end up backing out later down the road. I just want you to know where I stand before I go back to Dallas,” he said, wrapping his hands around my hips and rested his forehead against mine. “And trust me, I mean it. I love you,” he said, kissing my forehead.

I didn’t know how to respond, so I gave him a smile instead. “Ready to go?” I asked, moving out from between him and the dresser to grab my wallet, phone, sunglasses, and of course, our tickets. He just chuckled. “What? I’m sorry; I don’t know how to respond to that,” I said, tossing him my car keys.

When then headed downstairs once Tyler grabbed his own phone and sunglasses and put on his hat. We said goodbye to my parents on our way out the door, and we were off to Six Flags. “So, what kinds of rides are at this Six Flags?” Tyler asked once we got onto the highway and I plugged the address into the GPS on my phone.

“What kinds of rides aren’t there?” I chuckled. “Gosh, there are all kinds. There’s Batman, Superman, a newer one called Goliath. So many awesome rides,” I replied, opening my window and hanging my arm out.

“Well, what’s your favorite ride there? The one that you can’t not go on whenever you go,” he asked.

I scoffed. “Good lord, I can’t pick just one!” I exclaimed. “Can I give you two instead?” I asked. He nodded. “I think my two favorite rides there are Viper, which is a wooden coaster, and Batman. I have to sit front row on those ones every time I go.”

“What kind of ride is Superman? The one that was down in Texas was just went up and down, like a drop ride,” he said.

I gave him a shocked look. “That’s not a Superman ride! That’s like fucking Giant Drop! The Superman ride up here is called Ultimate Flight. You’re on your stomach, like you’re flying, and it’s an actual roller coaster. It’s a lot of fun.” I then reached under my seat and pulled out my book of CDs. “So, what do you want to listen to? The rule in my car is that the driver picks the music.”

He shrugged. “You pick,” he replied. I gave him a look. “Seriously, it doesn’t matter to me what we listen to. Pick something.” I sighed and flipped through the book, trying to decide on something. “Or better yet,” he chimed in about a minute later, “I want to hear your absolute favorite song. The song that you could listen to over and over for hours on end.”

I chuckled. “Well, I’ve had a lot of those over the course of my life.”

“Okay, play me the one you have now. The song that’s been on repeat for you lately,” he replied.

I nodded and pulled out my A Beautiful Lie album by Thirty Seconds to Mars and put it in the player. “Okay, this has been one of my top songs for a long time; since it came out in 2005. It’s pretty much my anthem,” I chuckled, pressing the forward button a couple times before “The Kill (Bury Me)” started playing. “But we do have to crank up the volume on this one,” I added as Jared Leto started singing.

I then turned the volume almost all the way up and started singing along at the top of my lungs as Tyler kept his eyes on the road with a huge smile on his face. I was practically out of breath by the time the song was over, but I was over-the-moon happy. That song always puts a smile on my face. “What song was that?” Tyler asked.

“That, my dear Tyler, was The Kill, by Thirty Seconds to Mars. One of my absolute favorite songs of all time,” I replied, taking a sip from the water bottle I grabbed when we left the house.

“I could tell from your singing,” he chuckled. “But seriously, that’s a really good song; I can see why you’ve loved it for so long. And, you’re a really good singer,” he added, taking my hand and kissing the back of it sweetly, making me blush a little.

“Well thank you, but singing is usually strictly for in the shower; I don’t usually let anyone hear me,” I replied. We then spent the rest of the ride just listening to music, no one really talking.

When we got there, the parking lot wasn’t even half full, but that was to be expected, since this was a private event. Plus, I wasn’t complaining; that meant shorter lines for rides. After we parked I handed Tyler his ticket as we approached the gates. Since neither of us had a bag, we got right in with minimal contact with park security.

“So, what ride do you want to hit first?” Tyler asked as he took my hand.

“Superman is one of the closest ones,” I replied as we headed past the carousel and hung a left. Before we got to Superman there was another ride, Condor, that was a really simple ride that just took you straight up and spun you, so you could look around and see practically the entire park. “Want to go on Condor first? Get a look at the park?” I asked.

“Sure,” he replied, and we headed up the walk and found a car. It was one of those cars where one person sits between the legs of the other rider. “I’ll sit between your legs,” Tyler said with a smirk as he motioned for me to get in first.

“How about no,” I replied. “How about I sit between your legs and we ride comfortably?” I suggested.

“Ugh, fine,” he grumbled, trying not to make himself laugh, as he climbed into the car before me. “Alright, come on Shorty,” he said once he was seated. I then climbed in between his legs and clipped the seatbelt. He then wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Hi babe,” he said, batting his eyelashes.

“Hey there,” I replied, turning my head to kiss him as the attendant went around to check all the cars. “Now don’t be scared, okay? It’s just going to spin us, take us all the way up once nice and slow, and then bring us back down. You’ll get a view of the entire park,” I said, faking trying to comfort him.

“Oh I don’t know sweetheart, I’m pretty scared,” he replied with a smirk. “I’m glad you’re in front; I’m nice and safe inside the car,” he added, and I pinched his arm. “Ow! You know I’m just kidding,” he said, kissing my cheek as we started spinning around.

We went all the way up once, like I said, and came back down. “So, what did you think?” I asked once we were out of the car and walking the few steps over to Superman.

“That was really cool actually; the park is huge,” he replied, as we entered the line for Superman.

Since it was still early, there was hardly any line. “Ready to experience a proper Superman ride?” I asked as we walked past all the character bio signs.

“Hang on, we need to take a selfie,” he said stopping in front of the Superman bio and pulling out his phone. “Come here you,” he said, pulling me to him and holding up his phone. I smiled as he snapped the picture and then pulled away and looked at it. “That is definitely going up on Instagram,” he said as he typed away on his phone.

“Oh boy, you’re not going to be doing this all day, are you?” I asked. “I don’t need all of your fans totally hating my guts.”

“Don’t worry about them,” he replied. “I love you, and that’s all that matters,” he added, pulling me back to him and kissing my head.

“You’re right,” I sighed. “Now, I’ll ask you again: ready to experience a proper Superman ride?”

“For sure,” he chuckled as he watched the people in front of us take their seats, and then watch their seats pull back so they were all on their stomachs. “Shit, you weren’t kidding when you said it was like you’re actually flying,” he chuckled.

“Told you,” I laughed. “Oh, and I probably should mention, this ride takes your picture,” I added.

“Oh yeah?” he said. “Where’s the camera?”

“That I can never remember,” I chuckled. “Uh, it might be by the loop, when you’re upside down, but I’m not totally sure,” I added as the previous train came to a stop in front of us and the people got off. “But it looks like we won’t have too long to find out.”

We then walked through the gate and took the two middle seats in our row; we were the only two people. Once we were strapped in and the attendants were done checking everyone, I laughed as he marveled at the floor dropping out from below us and our seats tilting forward so we were on our stomachs. “You ready?” I asked excitedly.

“Bring it!” he exclaimed as we started moving and left the station. “Good God, look at all the gum; gross,” he said as we went over the support beams on the way to the first drop.

“I know, I just try to ignore it,” I replied as we came to a near stop at the top. “Here we go!” I exclaimed as we rolled forward and the ride began. Once we were going through the loop and I saw a flash, I knew I was right that that was where the camera was. About a minute later the ride was over, and we were coming to a screeching stop in the station, waiting for the other train to leave. I turned to Tyler and laughed joyously. “What did you think!?” I asked giddily.

He chuckled at how excited and happy I was. “That was awesome!” he replied, and then we came the rest of the way into the station and our seats came back down so we could unbuckle and get off. “I’m curious to see how that picture turned out,” he chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulder as we walked down the exit path and approached the photo counter.

After a few seconds our row came up, and I busted out laughing. I had huge smile on my face with my mouth wide open, like I was laughing, and Tyler had a very similar face, only his eyes were closed. “Did you swallow any bugs? Geez, your mouth was wide open!” Tyler laughed, poking at my cheek.

“Okay, okay, shut up,” I chuckled as I shoved his hand away. “Just wait until we go on Goliath; we’ll see who’s laughing at whose picture then,” I added, walking into the gift shop that was attached to the exit path.

“There’s a lot of cool stuff in here,” he said as he looked around. “Do you want anything?” he asked, turning to me.

I shrugged. “I think I’m going to get myself a cape,” I replied, flipping through the character capes. “Who should I get; Harley or Flash?” I asked. The Flash and Harley Quinn were my two favorite DC characters.

“Well, if you get Harley I’ll get The Joker, and we’ll match,” he replied.

I nodded. Works for me,” I said as I took a Harley cape off the hook for me and a Joker one off another hook for him before heading over to the register.

I put my cape down and pulled out my wallet, but then Tyler put his cape down as well, took out his own wallet, and pushed me out of the way. I gave him a look. “You bought me my ticket, I got this,” he said, handing the cashier the money before handing me my cape. “Thank you, Tyler,” he said cheekily as we walked out.

I sighed and shook my head. “Thank you, Tyler,” I said, standing on my toes to give him a kiss before fastening the cape around my neck. I then turned and caught a glimpse of the Batman statue that was standing next to the entrance of the gift shop. “We should take a picture with the Batman statue,” I said, walking over to it.

Once I was on one side of it I saw Tyler asking someone to take a picture for us and handing over his phone. “Here, stand with your side to the camera; show off the cape,” he said, doing the same thing on the other side of the statue.

Once the picture was taken and Tyler got his phone back we looked at the picture. “That looks really good,” I chuckled. Both of our capes were on full display from the angles we were standing to the statue, which was awesome. “Now, if there’s any picture you should put on Instagram, it’s this one,” I added as we started walking.

“Done,” he said, showing me that he just put up the picture. “What’s next?” he asked.

“Batman!” I exclaimed as we walked past the Batmobile and into the line which, again, wasn’t very long. On this one we sat front row, but unfortunately Batman didn’t take your picture. Luckily for us, the theme song for Batman: The Animated Series started playing just before we left the station, and I flipped my shit; that never happened when I rode this ride.

By the time we got off Batman it was already noon. “Okay, so it’s noon now; we probably shouldn’t stay too much longer. I’m sure you need a little time to make sure you have everything packed, and Midway Airport isn’t exactly close to the house,” I said as we walked through the Southwest Territory section of the park.

“Alright, well, we can stay for a few more hours. Is there anything you want to ride in this part of the park?” he asked. I looked around and where we were in the park finally clicked, and I got super excited.

“Viper! We have to go on Viper! It’s my favorite ride in this park!” I exclaimed, taking off speed-walking in the direction of it.

The only bad part was that it was a bit of a trek to get the front of the line, so Tyler gave me a piggyback ride until we got into the station. I then went straight for the front car. Once we were in and buckled, I started bouncing off the walls with excitement. “You excited?” Tyler asked sarcastically.

I smiled. “Just a little bit,” I replied. “This is the only ride that I have my hands in the air the entire time,” I added, and with that we left the station. “The best part about this ride is that it’s wooden, so it’s a bit rougher of a ride. But that’s what makes it so much fun!” Once we got to the top of the first incline we stopped for a few moments, and it was then that I put my hands up. “Come on Ty, hands up!” I shouted, throwing my hands into the air. We then went over the top and the ride began.

Once we got off Viper we went on a few more rides, including Goliath, before heading home around three o’clock. We decided to buy the picture that was taken on Goliath, because we both had the most hilarious looks on our faces. His was a look of pure terror, because he had never experienced a wooden ride like that ever before, while mine was laughing at his fear. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh,” he said. “That was intense for a wooden coaster!”

I just kept laughing. “I told you! But it was such a rush, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “It was. It was awesome. Today was awesome; thank you for taking me,” he said, lifting up my hand that he was holding and kissing it, and then leaning down to kiss me.

“No, thank you for coming,” I replied. “And thank you for my cape,” I added as we walked out of the park and to the car.

“Ugh, I really don’t want to go back to work tomorrow,” I chuckled as I got into the passenger seat. Then in turned to Tyler as he got into the driver’s seat. “And of course I don’t want you to leave either,” I chuckled.

“I know,” he replied. “I don’t want to leave either, but I have to eventually. I need to start getting ready to head up to Toronto to train for the World Cup.” I just nodded and looked out the window. We drove home in silence.

Once we got back Tyler got his stuff together and said goodbye to my parents, and we were headed for the airport at around five o’clock. Luckily we didn’t have any trouble getting through security, so we were at his gate in no time. “I really wish you didn’t have to leave,” I grumbled, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“I know baby,” he said as he squeezed me back. “You need to come down to Dallas next time,” he added, and I nodded. Then his flight was called to board, so he had to let me go. “Let me know when you’re having surgery, and how it goes,” he said as he picked up his bag.

“I will,” I replied, trying not to cry.

“Don’t cry Jean, come on,” he said, pulling me into one last hug. He then leaned down and gave me the most mind-blowing kiss I had ever had. “I love you,” he said, before heading over to the plane entrance.

Notes