Chapter-14: Amusement Park

Sya's POV:

"No way! I'm not wearing this!" I protested but, of course, it fell on deaf ears. Hannah nonetheless thrust the dress back into my arms. It was so beautiful but the problem was, it was too revealing. I didn't have a problem with the whole ‘revealing' part but I did have a problem with showing my body. I had such ugly scars all over it. And a fresh one from the recent beating John had given me. In addition to that, the other old scars, although not that prominent anymore, could be still seen. I can't wear this. Kane will surely feel repulsive. He will think I'm ugly. I don't think I can bear to see the disgust in his eyes for me when all I've seen up till now is love.

Hannah squeezed my shoulder as if she had read my mind and gave me an encouraging smile.

"You will look beautiful in this dress, Sy. You know what? There are so many people out there with flawless bodies but they have very ugly scars on their souls. You have none of them, sweetie, so that's why these scars still look beautiful on you.” I looked down at the dress in my hands.

Maybe she's right. Maybe Kane will also find me beautiful with these scares.

I nodded at Hannah and she gave me a dazzling smile, satisfied.

"Okay. So now let's start getting ready." With that, she pushed me into her bathroom for a shower.

We were in Hannah's house, which wasn't as big as Kane's mansion. But it was still bigger than Helena's house and so warm and cozy. Hannah had brought me with her to get ready for our double date. The boys would pick us up at seven from here.

After I was done with the shower, I left the bathroom and Hannah grabbed my arm almost immediately, as if she'd been waiting to pounce at me once I came out and pulled me towards the dresser. After a struggle of 2 hours, which included two mental breakdowns, six screams, and a lot of shouting, we were finally ready for our dates. When I looked at myself, I gasped in amazement. The girl I saw in the mirror was so beautiful. I’d never gotten the chance to put on make-up or dress up prettily like other girls. I'd never worn a dress skirt or a blouse before either.

This was my first time wearing something like this and the dress seemed pretty good on me. It was a baby pink off-shoulder floral blouse with a white dress skirt. The skirt fell loosely a bit over my knees and a thin black belt was tied around the waist. The pink and white color enhanced my pale complexion. Hannah left my hair in loose curls and I wore light makeup for a more natural look.

"Oh God, Sya! You're looking so hot! Somebody's about to get lucky tonight," Hannah teased me, wiggling her eyebrows. I felt my stomach do a somersault. Calm down, Sya. Calm down.

In order to distract myself, I gave her a once-over.

She was wearing a white shoulder-less blouse which had a dark blue bow tie attached to her shoulder strap vertically and a dark blue dress skirt. Like mine, hers also fell a little above her knees. A big white bow tie was clasped on her waist, completing the dress. She had straightened her chocolate brown hair down with a light touch of makeup. She was looking absolutely gorgeous herself.

"Hmm. What do you think about Bryson though? I think he won't be able to stop kissing you tonight," I replied, winking at Hannah, whose cheeks turned to a dark shade of red. I laughed at her flushed self.

“Come here, Hannah baby! Let me take you in my arms and kisss you!” I said in my best, thick Bryson voice, making kissing noises and grabbing at her waist.

She laughed and pushed me away. “Oh, my darling Sya! You look ravishing tonight. Let me carry you in my arms and we shall dance till the break of dawn.” She retorted, imitating Kane's deep voice. She twirled around, pretending to waltz.

We laughed at our silly antics.

Our short, warm moment ended when we heard the sound of a horn honking outside, indicating that the boys had arrived. We looked at each other in alarm as Hannah quickly rushed towards her closet. I looked at her in confusion. Why would she run towards the closet and not the door?

A few seconds later, she came back with two pairs of heels in her hands. She handed me the nude ones while she strapped on the white ones. I stood still, heels in my hands. Hannah quickly put hers on and then looked at me. Her eyebrows creased when she noticed I wasn't making a move to put them on.

"What?" She asked.

"Am I going to wear heels?" I pressed on the last word as if it was a thing every human being should be frightened of. She frowned and looked at me disapprovingly.

"Obviously! It's not like you're going to wear sneakers under this dress," she scoffed. When I didn't reply and just continued staring at her, her face contorted into a frown. “You were going to wear sneakers, weren't you!” she accused.

I gulped and quickly shook my head. A total lie. Actually, I was really going to wear sneakers because they were far more comfortable. Plus, I had zero experience with heels and I was pretty sure I'd fall flat on my face in these.

What if I made a fool of myself on my first date? No way! I’ll just wear my white sneakers. Better safe than sorry right?

"Uh- Hannah? Actually, I'm really going to wear my white sneakers," I mumbled honestly. She stood there still, unmoving, and for a minute I thought she'd gone into shock. Then she yelled back.

"No way! You. Are. Wearing. These. Heels. And that's final!" She gave me one of her looks that said 'there-is-no-space-for-argument'. “Come on, Sy. You've fought such a brave fight all your life. A pair of heels should be easy for you. Look, I'll help you.” She grabbed the shoes from my hand and made me sit on the bed. Then she strapped them on my feet with ease. I have to say, my feet did look pretty in them.

“Now get up and walk around a bit in them. Let your feet get used to them,” she instructed, offering me her hand. I took it and got up. I tried taking a step or two and stumbled a bit but didn't give up. I let go of Hannah's hand and strode around the room, getting used to them bit by bit. Pretty soon, my balance was stable and I was taking elegant steps.

"See! I knew you could do it. It's easy-peasy lemon squeezy,” Hannah cried proudly. Then her tone took a more exciting edge as she pulled open the door of her room. “Let's go make them drool." I just chuckled at her words and we both walked out of the house.

In the driveway stood a black SUV, which I recognized as Kane's from the day he drove me home after that insane fight at the cafe. I bit back a smile as I remembered how he slammed the guy on the table. Hannah and I made our way towards the car. Kane and Bryson were standing next to it, their backs to us.

A weird sort of spirit overcame our bodies and we sort-of walked like runway models towards them. They heard our heels click on the concrete floor and both turned around. As soon as they spotted us, I remembered Hannah’s words from a minute ago because they looked like they were literally going to drool. But I should say, they looked handsome themselves. Bryson had on a black blazer lined with sequins on the arms, a navy blue t-shirt underneath, and dark jeans. His hair was styled neatly too. Kane too was wearing a black blazer but his' sequined work was on the collar. He paired it with a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Both boys looked absolutely ravishing.

Kane’s grin just got bigger and bigger as I neared. I walked over and stood beside him, smiling up at him. I thought he'd hold my hand, kiss it like they do in the movies and lead me to the car. But this man always one-ups my expectations. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and pulled me close. Then he leaned and kissed my cheek, making my breath hitch in my throat. His cologne was not helping either. It blocked all my remaining senses that weren't already filled with Kane.

"You're looking so damn beautiful that I can't even put it in words," he said slowly, his face near my neck, and a shiver ran through my body.

"W-we should get going," I stuttered when he kissed just beneath my earlobe and trailed his nose down to my neck sensually. It made my heart race abnormally. Thank God for his hands around my waist or I would've collapsed on the ground.

"K-Kane!" I mentally cursed myself for stuttering. He pulled away and pouted like a child. He had to move a bit away from me for me to think clearly. I tried to calm myself down but I was very aware of his arms still wrapped around my waist.

"I want to stay like this," he whined. I laughed and shook my head. He never acted like this but I wasn't complaining. I loved this Kane as much as I loved the calm and composed one. Bryson tapped his shoulder from behind.

"Come on lover boy. We have a date we should be heading to," he said. Kane turned to look at his friend, annoyed, while Bryson winked at me. I laughed and slid my hand into Kane's. His eyes brightened when I did that and he pulled me towards the car. On the other side, Bryson led Hannah to the front passenger seat and opened the door for her while Kane did the same for me. Hannah and I looked at each other with heart eyes before we slipped in. Our boyfriends were such sweethearts! Bryson put the car into drive and we pulled out of Hannah's driveway.

After about 20 minutes, we pulled into a sort of parking lot. There was a lot of noise in the background when Kane opened the door for me. Hannah and I looked around, curious to know where the boys had brought us for our first and double dates. I spotted a Ferris Wheel decorated with blue and pink lights in the distance. I looked at Hannah who looked back at me with the same excitement and joy.

"You brought us to an amusement park?" I asked Kane, keeping my excitement at bay. He nodded sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, probably thinking I thought this was lame.

"This was Bryson's idea! He kept insisting this would be the perfect place," he accused, glaring at him. Bryson merely shrugged and smiled, looking at an excited Hannah who was jumping up and down looking at the park walls.

I immediately hugged him, which caught him off guard for a second but he quickly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. I lifted my head up so that my chin was resting on his chest and gave him a big smile.

"I love parks! It’s been nine years since I last went to one. It was with my parents," I said, trailing off as I remembered those happy memories. Something flashed through his eyes at the mention of my parents but it was gone as fast as it came. So I shrugged it off as my imagination and we began to walk to the entrance, hands in hands.

Let's see what my first date will be like?