SCOTT'S POV
Julie was all irritated and I was loving it. When I saw her with her family, I even believed for a moment that fate was giving me a little help by bringing her to me. I never believed in fate. For me all this is nonsense, but she was here, wasn't she? And that had to mean something. Fate or not, I just knew I was going to take advantage of this chance as best I could.
- Let's go, Julie!? - I asked for the tenth time. We had already gone around the park about five hundred times and I was trying to convince her to go on the Ferris wheel with me. Every time I mentioned the idea of forcing her to go, she started to shake, but she quickly hid it.
- No way. - She said, looking at the Ferris wheel that was in motion. When it stopped up there, Julie swallowed hard and looked back at me.
- I think I'm going to go. - She turns towards the park exit, but before she can take more than two steps I grab her arm, stopping her from moving.
- No, you won't. It's just a toy, Julie. You won't die in there and if that happens I promise I'll write a really cute text to read on the day of your funeral. - She rolls her eyes and pushes me with her arm as she walks past me. I laugh at her face and she looks at me over her shoulder with a not very happy expression, or rather, not at all happy.
- You're just making things worse. - She crosses her arms and gives me a furious look.
- A challenge. - I say and her eyes widen as soon as the words leave my mouth.
- Huh? - Her face is taken over by a confused grimace.
- I dare you to ride the "monstrous toy" - I make air quotes and she rolls her eyes.
I can't help but smile at the scene in front of me. Julie has her arms crossed, one eyebrow arched, her forehead slightly wrinkled and her glasses hanging on the bridge of her nose. She lifts her glasses with the tip of her finger and I continue.
- If it's with me, you can dare me to do whatever you want. - I conclude. "Whatever you want". Usually these words in the same sentence as the word challenge make me apprehensive, but that wasn't the case now.
Julie doesn't have a perverse mind to the point of thinking of something embarrassing, so I'm fine with it. Although I just gave her the chance to get revenge for every humiliating moment I made her go through, and thinking about it, if I were in her place I would take advantage and take advantage of it a lot, I would think of something extremely embarrassing. But since we're talking about Julie, the weird nerd who is still a virgin at 18 and who has probably never kissed in her life, the most that can come out of her innocent head is something as innocent as playing hopscotch with a bunch of kids.
- Do you accept? - I ask, a little worried about her silence.
I've been standing there for almost five minutes, waiting for some reaction from her, and so far, nothing. Did she think the same thing as me and see this as a way to make me pay for everything I did to her? Of course not, even though she's the most intelligent person I know, she wouldn't be planning something like that. As I said, she's innocent, damn innocent.
Julie lifts her glasses up by the bridge of her nose with her index finger, putting them back in place. If I'm not mistaken, it's been ten, or was it eleven? I'm not sure, but ever since I proposed, Emma has been playing with her glasses as if they were the most fun thing in the world, and that was already making me want to grab the damn glasses and break them right in front of her to see if she'd stop doing that move that was already pissing me off.
Maybe this is her way of expressing her nervousness, and maybe her way of expressing her nervousness makes me really nervous. I don't know why the hell, but that was irritating me. I wanted her to go with me on that damn ride and see what would happen, but every second she was silent made me want to turn around, leave, pretend I didn't know her for today and tomorrow do what I always do, tease her and have fun seeing the look of fear mixed with anger that had become my favorite look when referring to her lately. However, my rational or irrational side, I don't know, alarmed me, alerting me that this was all to win a bet and that when I won, because I would win, I'm sure, in addition to the car I would see Jack's shitty face handing me the keys. I pushed aside the urge to leave her there, alone, while I snuck out so she wouldn't notice I was missing and focused on what was really important, the bet, the bet. I repeated these words in my mind a few times before asking again.
- Do you accept?
- Okay. - She speaks so quietly that I have to get closer to hear her properly.
- Okay? - I ask.
- Yes, I accept. But you have to promise me that if I can't do it, you won't force me to do anything. - She says and once again fiddles with her glasses with her finger. I look away before I end up doing something stupid and continue.
- Do you already have my challenge in mind? - I ask. She looks at me and then looks away again.
- No. - I nod in agreement and a silence falls between us.
- Let's find the others. - I break the silence and head towards the place where everyone was before I left.
I didn't need to look back to see that Julie was following me. As soon as I saw them, I slowed down and waited for Julie to follow me. When we arrived, the conversation stopped and everyone's eyes were directed at the girl who was next to me. I look at Julie and the tension emanating from her body is noticeable from miles away.
- This is Hanna, my sister. - Julie gives a shy smile, but Hanna, unlike Julie, was an extremely outgoing girl, so she quickly pulls her into a hug, making the nerd more uncomfortable than she was a few minutes ago. I decide to continue with the introductions, which were boring as hell.
- You already know Leo and Mark. - She smiles and they smile back. - This is Jack, you must have seen him around the college hallways. - Jack gives a cynical smile and I feel Julie shrink beside me. She gives a brief nod and looks back at me.
- This is Kathe. - I had already discovered the name of Jack's new conquest. Despite his cynical way of not caring about the world, the guy wasn't one to take and leave, when he got into a relationship he went all in, so much so that his last relationship lasted more than a year. So if he was after Kathe it was because he was really interested in something more than just a simple fuck. I look to the side and see Penny's face
- And this is Penny. - Penny gives Julie a mocking smile after looking her up and down. Julie smiles back with the most genuine smile possible.
- And this is Julie, she studies Medicine in the same room as Leo, Mark and I. - I say finally and take a breath. I look at Julie to see if she was okay and her expression was like she wanted to crawl into the first hole she saw.
- What are we going to do now? - Mark asks and each of them starts saying something different at the same time.
- Wait, one at a time. - I say in order to end the discussion. It's as if I was in the middle of a bunch of kindergarten children.
- I'm hungry, I want to eat something before going on some ride. - Hanna says.
- I agree, I'm starving. Leo says, rubbing his belly and everyone else agrees with him.
- Then let's look for a place that sells food and then we'll decide what to do next. - I say and everyone nods.
- There's a food stand behind the carousel. - Mark says and we all head to the place he indicates. Penny insists on sticking to my arm, I was too tired to protest, so I let her be.
When we got to the food stand, I took Penny away while everyone ordered what they wanted. I looked around and saw Julie lost, observing everything around her. I approached her, standing by her side.
- Don't you want anything? - I ask and she looks at me scared. - Sorry, I think I scared you.
- A little. What did you say? - She asks confused.
- If you want something to eat or drink.
- A juice.
- Okay! I'll get it for you. - I say but she stops me before I can move.
- It's not necessary, I can do it myself. - She protests and I feel a sudden need to respond in a very rude way.
I take a deep breath and remember the real reason I'm putting up with her "great" company.
- But you can't pay. If you don't want me to buy it for you, I'll pay and you'll give me your money back tomorrow. - I drool even though I know that this story about not having money was nothing more than a lame excuse.
- I have money. - She says quietly as if she were confessing to a crime.
- So why did you lie? - I ask even though I know the answer.
- Because I was scared. Satisfied? - She was already irritated again. She's terrified of Ferris wheels and stubborn as she is, it took her almost forever to admit it or rather for the words to come out of her mouth without her even realizing it.
- Very. - I wink at her and go buy the juice. I order one of each flavor, pay and leave with two glasses in each hand.
- Here. - I place the glasses in front of her and she looks at me with an irritated expression.
- I didn't ask you to buy it for me. - She refuses and crosses her arms trying to look more intimidating than she really is.