Tilte: At the End of the Serenade Status: Complete Characters: Anon, Reeda Rating: SFW Classification: One-Shot Author: PumpkinBrain Summary: Anon wins a competition on accident and gets two tickets to Disneyland. He asks the group chat what to do, and Reeda offers to go with him. Anon finds this fun, saying he's down to clown on Disney with Reeda. But she seems less than enthused at his jokes. “The fuck?” That’s the question I asked myself as I was going through my mail. What was normally a bunch of spam junk and incorrectly addressed packages was now… something with actual substance. Something with purpose. Said ‘substance with purpose’ was this envelope from ‘The Walt Disney Company’. It was addressed to me, and upon tearing it open, I saw that there were three slips of paper inside. Two identical, one different. It was the different one that caused me to have such a reaction. Mostly because… “You and a friend have won a free, two-day trip to Disneyland, expenses paid!” I read out-loud. What? What the fuck? I was… so confused. If this was fake, it made sense, it was a scam or something. Weird scam, but a scam nonetheless. However, if this was real, then… what the hell? I don’t remember ever entering a contest, let alone giving out my name and address to a random company. Though all was explained by some small text at the bottom of the page. ‘We would like to thank Volcano High School for partnering with us during this sweepstake event!’ Oh goddamn it. Now the mega corporation has my social security number, and it’s all because I’m a student at the fruity pebbles school. Fucking fantastic. I growled, and tossed the sheet to the side, going back to the envelope. I removed the supposed ‘two tickets’ and looked them over. Scam or not, they… looked pretty realistic. Were these real? They couldn’t be. But… I had to find out, right? Taking out my phone, I scanned a QR code on the bottom of the ticket. I prayed for it not to be malware as it redirected me to a website labeled ‘disneyland-dot-disney-dot-go-dot-com’. And… upon opening up another tab for a google search… it was legit. That was the actual, on-brand, not fake website. …Holy shit. I actually won two tickets to Disneyland. So obviously, my first instinct was to laugh incredulously. Fucking Disneyland? What was I, five? Ohhh yeah. Lemme go on ‘it’s a wonderful life’ or whatever the fuck that ride is called as I suck off Michael Mouse. Sounds like a grandiose time. A supercalifragalisticexpialadotius time. Hahaha. Fuck. I can’t believe a high school gave these out. Who do they think we are? We’re nearly adults! I remained laughing as I swapped applications over to the messenger, and texted out a group text to the only friends I really had. I didn’t get along with some of them, but eh, I’m sure they would find this shit funny. Anon: hey guys Anon: guess what After hitting ‘send’, I sat around and waited for… probably around two minutes after that. Either I was being ignored or they were all busy. Prolly the latter thing. It was, what, late afternoon on a Thursday? They were probably just barely getting home. It seems someone did get home, though, because after a few more minutes… my phone dinged. Reeda: sup bro Ah, Reeda. I like her. She was probably my first actual friend at Volcano High aside from Naser and Naomi, but I don’t necessarily count them. I consider them friends now, but they were definitely both… forced, into befriending me. But Reeda wasn’t. She saw me, talked to me, interacted with me, and said we were ‘bros’, all within five minutes of sitting next to her and Trish in math. I think that was the fastest I’d ever made a friend. That’s not exactly saying much, considering I’ve been a loser for most of my life, but hey! I had friends now! Better late than never, as they say. But anyway, anyway—back to the Disney shit. Anon: i got 2 all expenses paid tickets to Disneyland Anon: in the mail Anon: from some sweepstakes i didnt enter Anon: what should i do with them lol Reeda: what Reeda: are you serious Anon: yea Reeda: dude Reeda: can we go? Anon: you sure Anon: kek Reeda: sure Reeda: could be fun :^) Stella: what’s going on Anon: if you really want to go Anon: hey stella Anon: im sure we get days off from school for it cuz volcano high was partnered with disney Anon: for some reason Reeda: o yea i saw that Anon: what Anon: where Reeda: jingo had a sign in his door Reeda: did you not see it Anon: guess not Reeda: eh whatever Reeda: but dude fuck yea let’s go Anon: alright lol Anon: should be fun Anon: we can make fun of it Perfect. Reeda: yea haha Anon: talk to you more at school Stella: seriously what are you talking about I switched my phone off, and went about the rest of my day. Most of which consisting of lying in bed and shitposting, eating queso-flavored ruffles chips in-between posts. It was honestly a life of luxury. And now that I had real friends, it wasn’t as pathetic. I wasn’t lazy and alone—I was relaxing after a long day. There was a difference for once. …But I wondered what had happened in that conversation. Did Reeda actually want to go to Disneyland? Was she just bored? Did she want to go to make fun of it with me? I didn’t know. Maybe she had a crush on me. That’s a fun thought. Haha… Ah, whatever. I crossed my arms behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling. For whatever reason she decided to come along, I’m sure it would be fun. Me and Reeda had shot the shit in math so many times, and hung out at so many food joints during her music gigs that going to Disneyland with her isn’t… isn’t really any kind of big step. It was just a fun trip with a friend. What could possibly go wrong? )()()()()( ‘Death to the ones at the end of the serenade—!’ The music played through my headphones. I silently nodded my head to the beat, enjoying myself. Because… before anything had even fully set in, me and Reeda were on an empty bus, headed towards Disneyland. Apparently the school could only afford to have two students attend the park, foregoing giving out any other tickets to anybody. I didn’t mind that, but… it was a strange idea. A strange thing to consider. There were THOUSANDS of students at Volcano High. THOUSANDS of people that could’ve gotten these tickets. And it went to the ONE human, who didn’t even know the sweepstakes existed. What are the astronomical odds of that? If I did the math, it would probably be insane… but I’m too lazy to do the math. Shrimple as. I turned to Reeda, sitting next to me as she played with a tear in her pants. The sounds of Green Day continued to play through my left headphone, the right one being left unused so as to leave one ear open. You know, in case Reeda wanted to talk to me. Common courtesy and whatnot. I did want her to talk to me, actually. I was desperate for it, due to one simple fact: my playlist was getting stale. And also I liked hearing her voice. But more importantly, my playlist was boring me! Hers too, probably. We were both bored. We had been driving for probably around eight hours, and the both of us were getting cabin fever. I would’ve asked for some weed or carfe or something to stave off the boredom, but she didn’t pack any, she said. Said she wanted to see the park in its entirety. I didn’t really get it, though it didn’t really matter now, because we were both suffering due to her reasoning. But… apparently, we were almost there. Thankfully. I couldn’t wait to get off that goddamn bus… When we finally pulled into the so-called ‘Pinocchio’ parking lot, the bus stopped in around fifteen reserved parking spaces. The pressure released from the sliding door, and the bus driver started shouting. “We’re here! Offa the friggin’ bus!” He yelled in a distinct accent. The expected ‘friggin’ had finally come. “Who is this guy,” I muttered as I stood up and stretched. Figured I could get the joke-ball rolling. “A descendant of Carldewskii?” Reeda chuckled as she stood up as well. “Iunno, bro. Prolly.” She shrugged. She scratched her ass, yawning at the same time. Guess she was tired. “Let’s get off this bus though. These seats are makin’ my ass cramp up.” I nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. We quickly shuffled off the bus, taking care to remember our luggage. And, of course, to only get mad at it not moving the way we want to a couple times. As one does when retrieving luggage from anywhere ever… haha. As we stepped out into the warm Anaheim air, I sniffed deep and smelt… well, nothing. It smelt like a parking lot. I was kinda disappointed but I don’t know what I expected. The ocean air? Are we even near the ocean? “Yes.” Reeda said, walking up behind me. I jumped slightly, but she spoke before I could. “Alright, so…” She muttered, pulling something out of her back pocket. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it was a map. “If we go in this direction,” She pointed off somewhere. “the shuttle bus should pick us up and take us to the main entrance of the park. After that, we get on the tram and drop our stuff off at the hotel. Then we take it back…” She looked down at the ground. “And then we can go from there.” She folded it—the map—back up and stuck it in her tank top. I quickly averted my eyes from her… uh, BOOBIES. Anyway. “Sounds good.” I nodded, and then chuckled as we began to walk. “I wonder what the hotel is gonna be like. You think Mickey Mouse is gonna watch us sleep?” “Haha, right?” She chuckled. “It’s probably super creepy dude.” “I don’t doubt it.” I shook my head. “Disney fans do get off at the idea of Mickey dick.” I laughed. It wasn’t very funny, but eh. Reeda looked away, and then stuck her hands in her pockets. “Disney fans are so weird, bro…” She trailed off. “You can say that again.” I replied. …We settled into a relative silence after that, continuing our walk all the way to the bus station. As we got closer and closer, more and more people started to show up. And lemme tell you, if I considered Volcano High to be a big congregation of cereal mascots, this was a fucking cereal EVENT. So many colorful people all over the place! Dinos of different colors, species, sizes… and a few humans, too. It was pretty diverse. Good thing I’m not really racist anymore, otherwise I’d be going crazy… well that’s a lie, I’m still racist, but I guess I’m more open to the idea of dinosaurs now. Given I’m currently walking with a really cute one. Wait, what? —As we waited for the bus, our bodies not protected from the sun at-fucking-all, I felt myself relax a little. I don’t know why, but I was tense. I was tense the whole bus trip here, and up until this point I was STILL pretty damn tense. But now… I wasn’t. My shoulders didn’t feel as heavy as they did before. I sighed to myself. “You alright?” Reeda asked, punching me on the shoulder. “Scared to see some Disney characters, bro? Abandoned by Disney too creepy for you?” “No, shut up.” I laughed, flicking her on the arm. “Nah, I—I dunno. I just feel more…” I tapped my foot. “Relaxed? Now? I-I guess?” I explained, shrugging. “I was kinda tense earlier.” “Huh.” She replied, seemingly confused. Her cute head-tilt amplified this. “That’s weird. Shouldn’t be tense. We’re going to Disneyland!” She chuckled. “The happiest place on Earth, brah.” I smiled as the bus pulled up. “Yeah, that’s true.” We all piled on, and once again, we were waiting on a bus. Except, this time, it was crowded. And kinda smelly. Disney fans vro… haha. Ehhhhhh…. fuck. I’m bored as shit. I hate the bus. Said bus moved through a relatively normal route, and I watched as we passed by the park. Wait now. That’s cool. The park looks huge! Wow! I can only imagine how big DisneyWorld is. Wow… man. It was honestly pretty dope. But you would not catch me dead saying that. What was I, gay? I was not gay. Anyway, after a few more minutes of sitting around doing jack-shit, the bus pulled in front of a big glass building. All the people ‘ooh’-ed and ‘aah’-ed at the sight, which… I felt was kinda weird. It was just a normal-looking hotel. It was nothing compared to what we saw on the way here, guys. The palm trees in front were kinda neat, but I can’t say the hotel was super fancy. Who knows, though. It’s probably nicer on the inside. Though, as the group began to stand up, I noticed how Reeda was distracted by something. I tapped her on the shoulder. “Reeds?” “Huhwha-?” She asked, snapping out of it and turning to face me. I nodded up, and she looked flushed for a moment. “Oh—sorry. Saw a squirrel.” She giggled mirthfully. “Fair enough,” I chuckled, and stepped out into the aisle. “Let’s go, though. Sooner we get our stuff into the hotel, the sooner we can go and laugh at Disney shit.” A few parents gasped at my coarse language, and I sweared internally. Fuck. I forgot this was a family-friendly spot. Reeda just laughed, though. “Dork. Can’t swear at Disneyland.” She said, standing up and shaking her head. Yeah, yeah… As we grabbed our luggage for the second time that evening, we walked out of the bus and onto the ground again. Relatively short trip, which I can appreciate. Relatively short trip… as opposed to the original bus ride. How long were we on that bus? Eight hours? Five? Three? Who the fuck knows. Argh. I just know it was too damn long. Especially because we had to wake up at like, what, seven in the morning? Blows dick, man. Or whatever… Me and Reeda stepped into the hotel lobby, and I felt myself relieved ONCE MORE! This time, due to the air conditioning. It was actually pretty hot out, and the air conditioning was a grace from God. A grace from Raptor Jesus himself. But shit… I had to prepare myself for walking around the park for a few hours. Even if all I’m doing is shittalking and goofing around, that doesn’t make the sun any less hot… damn it all to hell. This trip just keeps getting worse and worse. I need to man up. God. Reeda and I walked up to the guy at the front desk, and he gave us a bright smile. “Hey you two! How can I help you?” He asked, putting his arms up on the counter. He was a human. African-American, to be specific. There’s that racism coming back. Haha. But he seemed nice. “Hey, man.” I nodded. “I got this ticket thing here—“ I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. I unfolded it as I handed it over to him, “Should allow us to stay here, or something? We… won the trip. Don’t really know all the rules, you know?” I chuckled. “Ah, of course.” He nodded, grabbing the paper out of my hand and scanning a barcode on it. “You were the Volcano High contest winner, huh? Nice job!” He chuckled. “Cool of you to bring your girlfriend along. This’ll be something the two of you will never forget.” I blushed. “She’s not my—!” She blushed. “He’s not my—!” The guy laughed, putting a hand to his stomach as he tossed his head up into the air. He guffawed, if you will. “Ahahaha!” He belted out, and I looked to Reeda for some strange kind of confirmation—if what he had said was real. Reeda shared my confused and embarrassed expression. It was weird, seeing Reeda embarrassed. She was almost always chill… “Oh, I’m just messing with you two. Here are your room keys—it’s gonna be floor three, room 307. Any other questions?” I shook my head, still a little tossed up. “N-No, sir.” Well, in that case, have a magical time, and enjoy our park!” He exclaimed, tipping his hat. I nodded, and grabbed the keys. “Th-Thanks, man.” I coughed. I feel like I’ve been getting messed with a lot on this trip—and it’s only been five minutes. “Have a good one.” I walked off shortly after, Reeda in tow. Our bags were being dragged behind us as we walked to the nearby elevator. Thank fucking God, we were nearly done with all of this pre-park exposition nonsense. Why can’t this be more like Highway 35, where we have the cool parts start within five minutes…? Ugh. Real life is fucked. I want to live in the cinematic movie world. Anyway, when we got to our room, I pulled out my room card and unlocked the door with a simple motion. The latch… unlatched, and I pushed open the door with one hand. When we stepped inside, I took note of how… nice it was. I figured VH would’ve stuck us with some crappy motel, not… a resort-level hotel room. This hotel is actually really goddamn nice. The walls were painted white, a mural of Daisy Duck painted on one side of the wall. There was an entire separate area for a kitchen, and the bathroom was directly to our right. Only one, but that made sense. Two beds, though. I walked slowly inside, and then began to read a brochure that had been stapled to the wall. Apparently there’s a bar, free breakfast, entertainment, and a huge pool with a water slide. I didn’t bring my swimsuit, though, so I think we’re gonna have to forego swimming. Which… was good. I don’t think I would be able to handle Reeda in a swimsuit anyway. I think she’s, what, 36DD? That’s— “What’s this about bra sizes, dude?” Reeda muttered, lightly pushing past me to get farther inside the hotel room. I attempted to sputter out a response, but she just chuckled. “If you wanna admire some hot chicks, this ain’t exactly the place. Most of the women here are moms, brah…” I pointed at her. “Maybe I like older women!” “Well in that case, should I hide my mom from you?” She snorted, throwing her suitcase on one of the beds. Two in total. “She looks a lot like me, so I don’t know if I can trust you to control your urges. Especially because you think that I’m so damn cute.” I blushed. Too much! “Oh, hardy har.” I scoffed, heaving my own suitcase onto my bed. “Let’s just go to the park already. We’ve been waiting long enough, I wanna see what’s up.” I cracked my knuckles, turning to face her once again. Ignoring the mild blush she also had, I made eye-contact as she zipped her suitcase up more. “I’m down to clown if you are.” She shrugged. “Trust me,” I sighed, turning to face our hotel room’s only real exit. “I’ve been down to clown for over an hour. I just wanna get out there already.” And get out there we did. No more dilly-dallying, no more putting it off, no more asking my internet monkey friends for Disneyland advice—it was park time. After hopping off the shuttle, we made our towards the park through the entrance. Said entrance being… Main Street U.S.A. It was a pretty neat little place, if I’m being completely honest. Cobblestone floor, old-fashioned looking areas, signs that explained landmarks. There were shops lining the walkway, some of which being art galleries and smaller attractions. I, of course, had to make a comment. “What the heck is a silhouette studio?” I asked, walking past the sign. I waited for a reply from Reeda, but upon not getting one, I whistled. She jumped slightly and shook her head. “Sorry. Uh, I’m not sure. You wanna check it out?” She smiled. “Eh, not really.” I shrugged. She frowned slightly, but I ignored it. Probably just a lack of an expression. “Doesn’t interest me.” “A-Alright.” She muttered. “How about we check out the Disney Gallery? I’m sure they’ve got some neat stuff in there.” I chuckled. “Sure. We can take a look at the gallery.” I answered. “Sweet!” She cheered. I involuntarily raised an eyebrow, and she backpedaled. “I mean, cool. Let’s see what junk they have in there.” She chuckled an empty chuckle. A stoner chuckle. I smiled. That’s more like Reeda. “Can’t be too good, it’s Disney, after all.” “…r-right.” And… this basically continued all day. All throughout Main Street, all throughout Fantasyland, all throughout Tomorrowland… and I didn’t even touch Toontown. I completely refused to enter it because I thought it would be ‘for kids’. Too kid-like. But get this. Every time I refused a store, or refused a ride… Reeda would help keep her sanity a little bit more. I was actively helping her, and it was odd to me. She would always seem oddly cheerful at the idea of being here. It was making me concerned for her. She was always such a chill person, such a normal person, so why did Disneyland turn her into some cheerful little kid? Was she being brainwashed? It just didn’t look right to me. I don’t know why… I thought she would hate this place. That’s what I figured would be the case. So why wasn’t she acting like it? …as the day was ending, we decided to stop somewhere and get dinner. I don’t remember the name of it but it was in some Wild West town. It felt like a saloon, kinda. It was pretty neat. But you wouldn’t catch me dead complimenting anything at Disneyland. They gave us big mugs of root beer and stuff, though, so I guess it wasn’t all bad around here. The root beer tasted pretty good. As I took a sip of the root beer, I turned to face Reeda. She was playing with her pants again, something she had been doing all day. “Hey, Reeds.” I said, trying to get her attention. She snapped up. “H-Huh? Oh, hey. What’s up, dude?” She asked, sounding calm. Normal. Good. “…Was it as bad as you thought?” I chuckled. “Was what—“ She started to ask, before it kicked in. “Oh, you mean… Disneyland.” I nodded. “Yes ma’am. What did you think of it?” I asked. “I thought it was pretty goofy. Some stuff was cool, sure, but this definitely feels like a kids’ park.” I laughed, taking another sip of root beer. “Uh…” She trailed off, and then sighed. “Yeah, no, you’re right. It’s for little kids. I don’t know why I agreed to come along. I guess I thought it would be more… iunno. Gnarly.” She looked downtrodden. “Hey, what’s the matter?” I asked. “…That’s kinda what we signed up for. We were coming so we could make fun of it.” “I know!” She snapped slightly, turning to look me in the eyes again. She quickly blushed. “I’m sorry—I, it’s.” “That’s alright.” I answered, and then went silent to allow her to continue. “No, it’s nothing. It’s just… I dunno.” She played with her pants. “Knowing we were here to make fun of it doesn’t make it hurt any less…” She whispered. I tilted my head. “What?” I asked, leaning in close. I had heard something about hurting less, but… I didn’t know what for. I didn’t hear her properly. “Nothin’, bro.” She shook her head, giving me a laid-back smile. “Don’t worry ‘bout it.” She chuckled. Another empty chuckle, as if she were high. But… she couldn’t have been. She didn’t bring any drugs… I shook my head. I was overthinking it. This was my bro. Of course she was okay. “Alright. If you say so, man.” I shrugged. She winced at the usage of the word, and I was left… confused. I had called her man before. Why did it matter now? Argh… This was all just… so confusing. I would have to figure this out before tomorrow. So much of… everything, I guess, just felt totally wrong. Like I was picking all the bad options in a visual novel—setting off all the wrong flags. Or… no, is the term RAISING the wrong flags? Whatever it means, that’s what I’m feeling. I’m picking all the bad options. But… I don’t know what to do about that. I haven’t done anything wrong, at least, in my eyes. I don’t… I don’t understand. “When do you?” Reeda asked, leaning her head on her hand and letting out a disappointed sigh. “What?” I asked again. “You’re mumbling.” “Fucking forget it, Anon.” She snapped. A bit of a growl peeked through in her tone. I raised my hands up in defense, shocked by the language. “Woah!” I exclaimed, and took another swig of root beer. I spoke as I swallowed, distorting my voice a bit. “You sure you’re alright?” “Yeah.” She nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m tired.” She chuckled. “Super, duper tired.” “You wanna head back to the hotel after this?” I asked, putting my arms on the table. “I can put on a movie, or something. We don’t have to spend all of our time out here, y’know?” …she slowly smiled. “Sure. We can watch a movie, bro.” She took a drink of her own root beer. “I get first pick, though.” “Ah, what?” I asked, laughing mirthfully. I wasn’t actually mad. And then I said something without thinking. “Oh, alright. But only because of how cute you look right—“ I slapped a hand over my mouth. What the fuck? Where the fuck did that come from? Damn it. I watched as a blush spread over her face, and she coughed. “Uh, al-alright.” She laughed nervously. “Let’s, uh, let’s watch Monkeybone…” “I’ll see if it’s on-demand.. haha..” I tugged on my collar, and she tugged on hers. Was it always so hot in here? Haha… uh. Anyway, thankfully, our food arrived shortly thereafter. I did a shitty joke where I said grace in Mickey Mouse’s voice, and even though it sucked, Reeda laughed. We even got into a conversation about what it meant to say grace, and it stayed rather unbiased and logical. So… I guess everything’s alright between us now. That was kinda weird for a bit there… but at least it’s over. …right? Well, sadly… no. Later that night, as we were getting ready for bed, the vibe was… just as off-putting. Everything felt wrong—off kilter, or something. I didn’t.. I don’t know how to describe what the mood was. I felt relatively normal and happy, but Reeda looked… dead. Like she didn’t want to be where she was. And… obviously, I was concerned. So I bothered her again. “Are you alright, Reeda?” I asked, spitting out my toothpaste. “Yeah. Fine.” She sighed, putting her toothbrush back in its holder. She then tugged on her shirt color, and scratched her hair. It was weird to see her without a hair band. She was adorable, though. She wore a too-big white tee-shirt and pajama pants as her sleep gear, and… she looked so fluffy. She looked so soft! I was gonna die! Wait— “Totally fine.” I need to get back on topic. “You.. well forgive me, but you don’t sound fine.” I chuckled, putting on my deodorant. It was smart to put some on before bed. “You sounded pretty weird at dinner, too. Said you were just tired. Are… are you sure? I mean, if there’s more to it, th—“ “Jeez, Anon, drop it!” She yelled. I backed up slightly at the sudden raise of her voice. Yet again, she had gotten mad at me. She had never been mad before. She realized quickly what she did, and practically shrunk in shame as she pressed the top of her snoot. “N-No, I’m sorry. Just. I think I need to sleep. Can we sleep?” “I thought you wanted to watch Monkeybone?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Forget Monkeybone. We can watch it some other time. I just…” She trailed off. “I can’t. Not tonight. Okay?” “…alright.” I nodded slowly. “Let’s just… Uh, let’s sleep, alright?” “Thank you.” …And that was only the start of this weird behavior. Snappiness, irritability. She was either tired or completely pissed at me. And as I lied in bed that night, I could only consider the possibilities. What could have made her so angry? Was it Disneyland? Was she hot, suffering from heat stroke maybe? Or… was it me? Were my jokes not funny enough? Did I ruin everything with shit jokes and depression? Or maybe she thought I liked Disneyland too much, and was mad at me for lying? I can’t say I didn’t enjoy some of it, but I definitely tried to keep the cool persona I had going on. I just… what could it be? Those thoughts ran rampant through my head for what felt like hours. It was only after a long while did my brain finally zonk out and let me sleep, but I can’t say it’s one of the best sleeps I’ve ever had. Mostly because it wasn’t even complete. Yeah, if you can believe it, I got woken up somewhere in the middle of the night. Who the hell woke me up? I know it wasn’t me, especially because of that… That… That crying? Crying. Someone’s… crying. Who… wait, shit. Reeda? Is… is she crying? What the… I slowly removed myself from my cocoon of blankets as I stood up. I wore only boxer shorts and a tank top, but this should be good. She should still only be in her pajamas, so I don’t exactly have to get all gussied up, especially not for a late night crying sesh… whatever said crying sesh may be about. But that’s what I’m here to do. I need to find out, and, hopefully—comfort her. This had to be why she was acting the way she was before. This was it… I followed the sound all the way to our one bathroom. The light was on, but the door was nearly closed. Didn’t want to wake me up, probably. Didn’t work… but that’s probably because the room didn’t end up soundproof. Maybe if she had shoved some sheets under the door, or if she had left the hotel room or something. Maybe then I wouldn’t have… fuck, I’m getting off-track. I pushed open the door slowly, and took notice of Reeda. She was… disheveled. More-so than usual. Her shirt had tear stains on it, and her mascara—which I didn’t even know she was wearing—was actively running down her face. She was also not wearing her usual hair band, like I mentioned before, so her hair was shaggy and all over the place. It would’ve been cute if the undertones weren’t so heart-wrenching. Combine all of this with a look of pure devastation—and now shock—, you’ve got a recipe for disaster. But… I need to fix this. This can’t be a disaster. We’re supposed to have fun. “R-Reeda?” I asked, pushing the door open more. My voice was scratchy, so I cleared my throat. “Are you alright?” I whispered. And… all she did was shake her head. “Do… do you wanna talk about it?” Head shake again. “Do…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what else to ask. But… maybe an action can speak louder than words? I walked slowly over to her, and sat down next to her on the wall of the bath. I then wrapped my arm around her, and she leaned in closer to me, clutching me like a lifeline. She began to sob into my tank top, and I had to question whether or not it was smelly. I hope not, that would ruin the moment a bit. She needs my comfort and affection, not my stink-of-the-day… But… in order to do the comforting, I had to get some information. “Did… did something happen today?” She nodded her head. “Yeah.” She whispered, her voice sounding broken. It nearly split my heart in two. “Something did.” “…was it me? Did I do something?” I asked. “N-No, it’s…” She trailed off. So… I took my time to interject. “Were my jokes not good enough?” I asked, half-joking and half just… being a fucking idiot. She removed herself slightly from me as she looked into my eyes, confused. I had to send this home. “Disneyland is kinda pathetic so… my material wasn’t great.” I joked. I was attempting to lighten the mood. But… it had the exact opposite effect. Rather than giggle and lean more into me, Reeda backed up, and stood up quickly. Her expression morphed from one of sadness to… one of anger. I quickly stood up as well. “What—“ I asked, before a punch to the face sent me sprawling. “AGH!” “Sh-Shut up, Anon.” She choked. “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!” The pink raptor screamed. “Stop it! Stop it with—! Stop it with the Disneyland shit!” She yelled, throwing her arm to the side in a ‘cease’ movement. I continued lying on the ground like an idiot, absolutely confused. It… everything had happened so fast. One minute, we were hugging, and the next… I was on the ground. Where had this come from? What… what did I do wrong? Did she not like my jokes at all? Did she… why did… “God, you really are dull.” She laughed. “W-What? Reeda, what the hell are you talking about?” I asked. I wasn’t even mad about the punch. I just… I had to know. What did I do wrong? “How can you not see it?” She whispered, her voice tearful. “See WHAT?!” I yelled. “I LIKE DISNEY!” She stomped. The room went silent. Everything went silent. Even my breath hitched. I… I wanted to say something. But I couldn’t. So… Reeda spoke for me. “I… I love Disney, Anon.” She admitted. The tears continued to stream down her face, but it was an odd juxtaposition due to how she clenched her fists at her sides. “I’ve loved it since I was a little girl. Going to Disneyland… it’s been my dream for years. My family could never afford it. So when I… when I saw that you won tickets, how could I refuse the opportunity?” She slowly stopped yelling, and crossed her arms. As if she were embarrassed. “I know it’s childish, but… I figured we could have a good time. I was… I was especially happy to be going with you.” She blushed, and looked down. “But… no. It’s over. You… you completely ruined Disneyland. Because you were just so FUCKING negative.” She spat. And then she chuckled. “My childhood dream… ruined by a fucking human. A human I thought I could trust.” She wiped at her eyes. …I began to process all that she said as I slowly stood up off the ground. It was embarrassing to be lying there like a dead fish while she poured her heart out to me. I… I had to say something. I had to reply. I had to defend myself. I had to fight. I… I had… I had to apologize. “Reeda, I…” I began to speak, my voice croaky again. “I’m so sorry.” I said, plainly. Flatly. But… it was honesty. “I… I had no idea. I didn’t.. I didn’t know you liked Disneyland. I only said all that shit so I didn’t look lame.” I admitted. “I found a lot of that stuff cool. The jokes were… I just… I just thought that was what we were doing.” I shrugged. An apology and a justification. Nice one, Anon. “Why… why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve stopped.” “Because I didn’t want to fight.” She shook her head. Then she snorted. “Look at where that ended up…” “Why didn’t you want to fight?” I asked. “If it… if you were defending your childhood, I would’ve understood that…” She looked away. “I… I didn’t want to upset you. I didn’t want to even risk that.” “…but. Why? Why didn’t you… I would’ve understood…” I fought again. She had to know. “I understand that,” She huffed. “But my point stands. I didn’t want to make you upset by fighting back.” “Well, I appreciate that, but if it was something so important to you… wouldn’t it have been worth it to make me a little upset?” I asked, logically. Uh oh. Women hate that. “Not to me.” She whispered. “What?” I muttered, having heard her perfectly. “Why. Why not.” I asked flatly, doing a hand gesture. I had been so confused for so long, and we had been dodging this shit for too much time. I had to get it out there and just ask. “What is so hard about me as a person that makes it to where you don’t want to upset me THAT bad?” “…because I…” She rubbed her shoulders, and started scratching at her arms. “Fuck!” “What—What?” I asked, walking up closer to her. I was worried now. “Stop fucking—stop saying what!” She yelled, scratching at her arms again. “Fuck! Ugh, my.. goddamn it… I need fucking… carfe…” She grunted in-between breaths. “Oh.” I whispered, suddenly understanding. “Is… is that what this is about?” “N-No? Oh my God, Anon, you jackass!” She yelled, pushing me away again. Less powerful than last time. I just grunted. Tears continued to flow down her face as she looked on at me. “Anon, you fucking idiot… I like you.” She confessed. She scratched at her arms again, and growled. “Ugh. Feel like I’m gonna fucking puke…” “Oh, do you want me—“ Wait. Wait. Backpedal. Step back. Every word in the dictionary for a fucking RECORD SCRATCH. “Wait. What did… what? Excuse me?” “What?” Reeda asked. She had been getting more and more disheveled as the conversation went on. She was beginning to look like an addict. And… I guess, sadly, she was. We would have to discuss that. I don’t want her going down that path. But… we can consider that later. Not to say it’s not incredibly fucking important, but I think I need to figure out my present situation first. “…did you say you liked me?” I questioned, my face suddenly feeling hot. I was… even a little giddy at the idea. “Yes, Anon, I did.” She narrowed her eyes. “But now I’m reconsidering..” She sniffled. She was slowly getting less and less angry. “Wait, wait…” I muttered, walking up to her. “Hey, I didn’t—fuck.” I sighed. “Really?” She just nodded, and flung her arms up into the air. “You clearly don’t care about anybody but yourself, so why should I bother giving you the time-of-fucking-day?” She chuckled. But then she just frowned again. “I really liked you, Anon. Part of me still does. But I… if this..” Fuck, quick. Think. I have to fix this. Not even just because she likes me—I can’t let her have that opinion of me. I’m not like that. I’m not a hater all the time. …I can’t let her get away because of my stupid mistakes. “Reeda, wait.” I interrupted her. “I don’t. Okay. Look.” I breathed. “I’m… I’m sorry. Okay?” I stopped, and let my voice sound more sincere. “I’m… I’m sorry. I’m not like that. If you like Disney, that’s okay. That’s perfectly okay to me. But… look.” Idea. “Okay? How about this. We have one more day of Disneyland. Everything you want to do, we’ll do it.” She sniffled. “You really gonna backpedal now?” She spoke, her voice cracking and breaking. “No, I’m… I’m not backpedaling. I’m… Reeda, I… I like you a lot too. And I can’t let this get away from me because of me acting like a fucking idiot.” I spoke, echoing my previous thoughts. She turned away. Uh oh. “So you’re just doing it to get in my pants? Is that it?” She wiped her snout. Her tail stood ramrod. Huh? “No, Reeda.” I muttered, and grabbed her shoulders. I ignored the tail for now, instead opting for some… forceful eye-contact. “I want to make… I want… I want to make tomorrow special for you. For you and me. Okay? We’ll do it again. We’ve started over. Everything I made fun of, we’ll do it. I promise.” She whimpered. “…even toontown?” “Even toontown.” I chuckled. Soft chuckle. Good-sported. But then she looked away again. “How… how do I know that’s all you want?” I looked down at the ground. How could she know? What could I say? I could… maybe.. I breathed in. I looked back up at her, and rubbed her shoulders. “Reeda, do you trust me?” “You haven’t given me much reason to.” She whispered, her eyes still wet. “…I don’t want.. I don’t have ulterior motives. Okay? I… I just want to see you happy. It… it’ll be special, okay?” I spoke, softer than I had in my entire life. “I just need you to trust me.” She looked conflicted. I saw her eyes darting around to various parts of the bathroom—as if she were trying to look at anything but me. As if she were trying to avoid thinking about the situation. But… I knew she was. She was considering her options. And eventually… she settled on one. She turned her eyes back to me, and nodded. “Anon...” She whispered. Her tail drooped. “I trust you.” She nodded again, and then closed her eyes. And, to end off the night, I slowly wrapped my arms around her. She began to cry softly into my shoulder, the stress of the night still not fully out of her system. I didn’t blame her. I honestly felt like crying a little bit myself. I pat her on the back, and looked at my hand. A tag sat on the outside of the shirt. I couldn’t read it, but… it told me that her shirt was inside-out. Wonder if that’s purposeful… whatever. I continued to rub Reeda’s back as she cried. And it… it was such a terrible sound. I hated hearing her cry. I had to fix this. …Reeda needed to smile. )()()()( The next day, I sat on the edge of my bed, a small notebook and pen in my hand. I was going down a list in my head of everything I had… well, to be blunt, of everything I had made fun of. Everything I had made a shitty joke about in order to impress Reeda, not realizing I was ruining her entire life. Which I was totally doing. Thinking back on it, I feel pretty goddamn stupid for not seeing the signs… she had been upset all day. She got sad every time I made a shit joke. And I, what? I thought she was being brainwashed when she was happy? What the fuck was wrong with me? I’m fucking… God. I’m dumb. But anyway, anyway, so far I had: -secret final destination -pirates of the Caribean (Caribbean?) (caribian?) -space mountain (looks cool actually) -Tom sawyer (might be closed) -that art gallery thing -new orleans squarre for lunch -small world? -splash mountaine Off to the side, I had a few Reeda doodles. Because of course I did. They always ended up on my homework these days, it was only fair I threw a couple onto my magic list. But… end of the day, I think my list is mostly complete? The lines for these things will take a long-ass time, so this should line up to around a good full day at Disneyland. I would hope. But even if it didn’t, it’s… not like I could remember everything in the first place. Even if all we really did yesterday was wander around the park and laugh at stuff, it was hard to really get a lock on the name and location of everything. So I would have to hope Reeda had a few ideas herself. She definitely should, if last nights convo was anything to go by. …I giggled. Like a little girl. I’m sorry, it was just… it.. she. Bros. She liked me. She said she had a crush on me. But… I fucked it all up. I stopped giggling as I realized I was being a jackass again. Fuck. I cucked myself, basically. Unless I can repair our relationship today. But even then, it felt… scummy, I guess, to want to improve her day just so she would forgive me and regain her crush on me. Which is why I tried not to consider that idea. I knew it to be fake. I knew it to be a false ideology; an intrusive thought. Because at the end of the day, life wasn’t about me. If Reeda chose to leave me behind, that was her choice and her choice alone. I had to respect it. I had to understand it and learn to live with it. She didn’t like me, she didn’t like me. But I can at least do this. Even if she does make that choice… I can at least make her last day at Disneyland a good one. Not because I want in her pants, not because I want a girlfriend, but… because it’s the right thing to do. Because I… because for once in my life, I had to be a good person. And this was how I would do it. I nodded to myself, and stood up off my bed, the springs creaking as I did. I would’ve been worried about that had I not already been planning to wake Reeda up, haha. Taking my time, I walked slowly over to her bedside, and then… took a look at her sleeping form. She looked so… relaxed. It was a far cry from the version of Reeda I had seen last night, this version being more inline with what I had come to expect out of the carfe-loving girl. But… I guess not everyone is always who they say they are, for better or for worse. In this case I think I got lucky. Emotional Reeda feels… human. Or, no, bad vocabulary choi— “Anon, you’re muttering.” Reeda whispered, groaning slightly as her eyes fluttered open. “You woke me up.” She huffed in faux-anger as she slowly sat up. I could tell it was fake because of the slight smile she had on her face. Which was… good. She wasn’t too angry about last night. I then backed away from her bed, expecting her to remove herself from the confines of the comfortable mattress at some point. But she never did. Taking my cue, and realizing I was an idiot, I spoke up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you. Well, no, I did. Just not like that.” I chuckled. “Sorry to mutter.” “That’s fine.” She nodded. “So what’s on the agenda today, guy? Gonna make fun of some more stuff?” I slowly shook my head. “No. That’s over, Reeda.” I muttered. “I told you that. We’re gonna have a good day.” I swore. She looked away slightly, and I took the opportunity to put my hand on her shoulder. She moved her head back to me and made eye-contact. When I had her beautiful eyes on lock, I gave her a soft smile. “I won’t make you regret trusting me. I promise.” She looked down at the bed, and then slowly nodded. “Alright. Let’s get ready to go, then. Earlier we get over there, the more rides we can do.” She said, matter-of-factly. But I knew she was putting up a front. That small smile, the crack of her voice; she was excited. She wanted to get over there because she wanted to ride as many rides as possible. She couldn’t pretend with me. And… I couldn’t pretend to be blind to it anymore. So, with that in mind, I slowly got dressed in my actual clothes, and within the hour; we were sitting on the same tram as yesterday, on our way to the park. I think we were also in the same seats. Funny coincidence or intentional choice? Who knows! I sure didn’t. When do I know anything. I certainly didn’t know how Reeda felt about anything yesterday. I’ve… learned not to trust my conscience. Not to trust my brain. Truthfully, it should be distracted. And… I was perfectly content to stare out the window and watch as we approached the park. But lemme tell you, the sounds of excited children and already-tired parents around us really made everything that much more fun. However, a sound I didn’t like was… the sound of fabric tearing. “Shit!” Reeda whisper-yelled. I quickly turned my head to look at her, and took note of how she was playing with something on her lap. Looking down, I saw that she had… done something to her pants? Or torn them or something? But they were already torn. Why was she upset? “What happened?” I asked. I may have already had a good idea of what happened, but it wouldn’t hurt to get the real reason. “It’s—it’s nothin’.” She sighed. “I just tore my threads, is all.” “But aren’t they already torn?” I asked—like a dope. “Yeah, stylishly.” She snorted. “This is just… not… whatever. That’s why I said it was nothing. It’s stupid.” She looked away, going back to playing with her pants. Just… a different part now. “If you care about it, it’s not stupid.” I muttered. All she did was give me a look, and then go back to what she was doing. I sighed inwardly. Fuck. I would have to try harder. She’s still not a big fan of… well, me. At least, at the moment. Hopefully I can sway her opinions of Disneyland and… uh, myself, by the end of today. I should be able to. No, fuck. I have to. She has to have good memories of this place… I gripped the paper list in my pocket, rubbing it between two fingers. It brought me comfort, and I didn’t even have to read it. I knew where we were going first, so I didn’t have to look at it just yet, to explain that away. But this list… this list is my list of destiny. This is my macguffin. My final shot. As the tram squealed to a halt in front of Main Street U.S.A, I wiggled my shoulders and let out a slow sigh. I gotta get the wiggles out, or whatever it was my old kindergarten teacher used to say. Something about getting rid of the nerves. Pray for me, Mrs. Barnum. I’m finally doing something useful with my life, like you always talked about… I stepped off the tram a few moments later, and breathed in the nice air once again. Okay. New mindset. No more making fun. No more hating. Whatever REEDA wants to do, you do it. Even if it’s something you think is weird. Even if it’s something you think is stupid. You… you fucking do it. No. Matter. What. Capische? Capische. I slapped my face, and turned my head to face the pink raptor. “Alright. Where to first?” I asked, knowing she wouldn’t give a straight answer just yet. It was a game. A mind game. And… she shrugged in reply. Hook, line, and sinker. “Alright. I got an idea, in that case. Let’s go.” I chuckled. I then pat her on the shoulder, and nodded in the direction of where I wanted us to go. Our first destination: the Disney Gallery. Reeda seemed indifferent as we walked past the sign and through the doors. I would have to change that… Walking inside, I took note of the… lack of any kind of reception desk. I still thought that was really weird. We had been inside once before, and I had took note of it then, but even now I’m still confused by it. Did they just… did they trust random strangers that much? To just let priceless pieces of art be completely accessible to the public? Actually wait. I’m fucking… I’m retarded. There’s a simple solution to this. None of this is the original artwork. It’s all replicas. Why would they trust kids with original art? Well, either way, replica or not… some of it was pretty cool. And I would be getting a tour in 3… 2… 1… “Oh, hey… check this out, dude.” Reeda whispered, grabbing my arm lightly and tugging me over to some artwork. I knew it. She couldn’t resist. The artwork itself was… of what looked like goofy and.. a younger goofy? “This is from A Goofy Movie, which is… my favorite movie. The two of them are cooking soup in their car.” She explained, trailing off and starting to blush. She was losing confidence. Employ defense measures! “Oh, really?” I said, looking at the art. They were making soup in a car, like she said. “Why is it your favorite?” “No idea, bro.” She shrugged. “I guess I just like the relationship Goofy has with his son, Max—“ “Is Max the kid?” I interjected with a question. “Max is the kid.” She nodded. “But, uh, yeah. I don’t know. I guess I just like watching Goofy be a good father. It’s… sweet.” She smiled. She looked down at the ground, and then back up at the art. “It reminds me of my own dad, I guess. I dunno.” I looked at the art, and then over to Reeda. She looked saddened, downtrodden. Oh. Oh! “I’m… sorry, for your loss.” “Pfft, what?” She laughed, snapping her head towards me. “Dude, my dad’s fine.” “Then why were you…” I trailed off, allowing her to somewhat finish my sentence. When she didn’t go for it, I continued. “I mean, you just looked so…” “Did I?” She asked, looking down at herself, as if she would see what I was talking about. “My bad. He’s not dead, it’s…” She put a finger to her… chin? “See, he works away from home most days, so it’s just… well, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him consistently.” She explained. She turned to face the art again. “Iunno. Sorry, I’m… bad with emotions. I just miss him, is all. We’re close.” She chuckled. “We used to, uh… we used to go on trips like that all the time. Not really anymore.” She frowned. “But he’s the reason I really like Disney stuff. We would watch it on this little DVD player thing that he had. It… it was a good time.” She smiled thoughtfully. “You liked going camping with your dad?” I asked. “Or, whatever’s going on in this scene?” I said, chuckling softly. She chuckled as well. “Yeah, I did. But… I… uh, let’s move on. Getting too sad for my blood, you feel?” I nodded. “Thanks for sharing, though.” She didn’t say anything, instead electing to give me a small nod. I’ll take it. She’s opening back up to me already. The plan is somewhat working. We have the rest of the day—let’s see if everything ends up paying off. Hopefully, by the end, everything ends up alright. Our next stop, though, should really kick things off. Because next on our list was space mountain. Located in TomorrowLand, I remember seeing it and thinking it looked pretty cool from the outside. Of course, I made a joke about Logan’s Run, but can you blame me? It looks like a structure out of that movie! Bah, whatever. You’ve probably never even watched that movie. It’s too old for your liberal taste… A-Anyway, we made our way over to Tomorrowland, a noticeable lack of any kind of pep in our step. I tried to find some enjoyment, but Reeda still looking absolutely miserable was… making that hard. It made me actively hurt inside to see her so… empty. She wasn’t chill. She wasn’t high. She was just.. dead. And I hated that. I hated it so much. And I think I hurt even more because I knew that—I knew that it was my fault. I had done that. I was the reason she was unhappy. But no more. She would be happy. She will smile. Either that or… or I die trying. No matter the cost, I’ll make her happy! As we walked through the giant structure, I found myself looking over the railings and down at the cool solar system tables. People and dinos alike ate some food I couldn’t really make out—but it was making me kinda hungry. I dunno. We continued walking, the beginning of the line finally making itself known. …Damn it. If there’s one thing I don’t really like, like one thing that I genuinely hate about this place—it’s the lines. They’re always so long, and there’s always nothing to do… But we had to wait. God fucking damn it… … After what felt like an hour, it was finally our turn. The line had slowly gone from outside to inside, and all the purple lights and shit around us was… well, to be crude, so damn cool. So goddamn cool. Glass walls surrounded us as bleeps and bloops played throughout the area. We followed the line down narrow corridors, finally coming upon the actual ride part. We sat down in our chair, and I turned to face Reeda, a smile on my face. As she looked at the stuff around us, I noted her slight smile. She was holding it back on purpose, but… I knew she wanted to smile. Of course she wanted to smile. The happiest place on Earth? You’re goddamn right… When we got strapped in and sent off, I felt my heart lurch into my chest with excitement. The people in the cars in front of us began to cheer as they went off. “For your safety, remain seated with your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the rocket. And watch your children. You are cleared for launch.” A voice over an intercom said. It then said the same thing in Spanish, and our rocket began to move… the music queued in, and the intercom started again. “8-77, this is mission control, we are initiating power transfer in 3… 2.. 1…” The tunnel lit up blue, and everything began to flash and whirr. It built up, blue rings flowed around us… and then it was red… and then it went dark… and then…!! “3… 2… 1… liftoff!” “WOAH!” I yelled, the ‘rocket’ immediately speeding up. “Haha!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms into the air. Holy shit! This is so fast! And the music is kickass! We went around a turn, and then another, everything was so dark but everything was so cool—! “AHAHA!!!” I turned to face Reeda, and could barely see her. But I knew she wanted to do it. I knew what she needed to do. What she… in her heart, wished to do. “REEDA! ARMS UP!” I yelled, and grabbed her arm, giving her a light shake. “No, I…” “NO EXCUSES!” We went around a turn, and then I yelled again. “REEDDAAA!!” “F-Fine.” She chuckled. She put her arms up into the air. “Woo.” “Put HEART INTO IT!” “WOOO!!” She screamed. And then the laughing came. We turned again, and she busted a gut. “AHAHA!!! WOOO!! OH MY GOD!!” “WOOOO!!!” I yelled in reply. I turned to face in front of me, trusting Reeda to do something next. I lifted my hands back up, and we turned again. “WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” We yelled, at the same time. At the same… goddamn… time. Because finally, She was smiling. )()()()( SPLASH “Ach!” I yelled, and the ride jerked to a stop. Everything splashed all around, and I groaned. Argh. I’m all wet! The bars released from the ride, and I stood up. I removed myself from the raft, walked through the water, and stood over in the sun. Someone followed behind. “AHHH!! Dude!!! That was so fun!” Reeda yelled, cheering as she climbed out of the circular raft. She sprayed water all over me as she ran over to where I was. Me, well, I was attempting to wring out my clothes. But I still found it in me to give her a wide smile. “New favorite? Or did you like Space Mountain more?” I asked, subtly showing off how I had been paying attention. She blushed slightly, but maybe that was just a trick of the light. Her smile remained, though. “Yeah, definite new favorite. Water rides are fuckin’ dope.” She said, practically yelling her swear. I laughed as I looked around nervously. Some parents covered their kids’ ears. Reeda was unaffected, though. “What’s next? I know you have that goofy-ass list, so what haven’t we done yet?” “Relax, relax.” I laughed, pulling out my goofy list. “If I remember correctly, there’s one ride left that we can maybe ATTEMPT to get into. These lines have been ridiculous, after all. It’s already nearly night time—“ I muttered, looking up at the sky as I did. But then I went back to my paper. “—but we should be able to get one more in, if… if you’re down for it.” “Why wouldn’t I be?” “Well… remember: this is your day. If you don’t want to do a ride I suggest, you don’t have to.” She put her arms on my shoulder, and leaned her head into me. She began to mutter something. “I would complain, but I can’t, because everything you have on that list is perfectly written to be stuff that I like.” She nuzzled my cheek. “So I can’t really say I have a problem with it, brah.” I blushed furiously. “R-Reeda, are you feeling okay?” “Sure am.” She giggled. She then pulled away, and faced forward. “Now come on. I’m tired of water. Let’s go somewhere cool!” I sat there in stunned silence for a few seconds before shaking my head and groaning softly. “Women.” I whispered, and raised an imaginary coffee cup. I then chuckled at my own joke, and went back to my list. Let’s see here… -secret final destination X pirates of the Caribean (Caribbean?) (caribian?) X X space mountain (looks cool actually) X X Tom sawyer (might be closed) X (was closed) X that art gallery thing X (GOOD START) X new orleans squarre for lunch X X small world? X -splash mountaine I crossed out ‘splash mountaine’, and looked back over my list. And… shit. I was wrong. We had done everything. There was only one place left, and it was… something I had been dodging all day. Not purposefully, of course. But because I wanted it to be our last destination. It was somewhere special, somewhere I’m sure she would like. Somewhere I knew for a FACT… that she wanted to go. Because she had… she had sounded so desperate when she said it. Like it was her one wish in the world. So, that’s where we were going. “You ready to go to our final destination, Reeda?” I asked, shoving my list back in my shirt pocket. “Huh? Final?” She asked, confused. “Dude, whaddya mean? I thought we had one more ride?” I shook my head. “There might be rides there we can do, but we did all the rides I had planned. Unless there’s another one you wanted to do.” I suggested, leaving the option open. “No, we covered pretty much everything I was interested in.” She winked. But then she turned back on serious-mode. “So if it’s time to head over to that secret thing you’ve been hiding from me all day, I’m all for it.” She said, giving a small nod. “Sounds good. Trust me, you’ll love it.” I nodded back. She’ll love it. I hope. She grabbed my hand and turned her head to make eye-contact. “You hope?” She chuckled. Damn. Muttering… “…what have I said before?” She spoke, soft and… as quiet as a mouse. “I trust you. Okay?” …She trusts me. I nodded. “Alright. Let’s go, then. I… personally, think you’ll love it.” I smiled, turning my head to the side in a smug manner. She just nodded sweetly, and I began to lead us away from the cold water. People were coming down again, I didn’t wanna get splashed. And I don’t think she did either. Soon enough, we were out of… honestly I forgot what this area was called. It was like a mountain range or something. Consummation Critter land or… or something. I don’t know. I guess I could ask—Reeda does have that map in her boobs—but that’s pointless at the end of the day. We were in the Magic Kingdom. Or maybe it was FrontierLand? Fuck. Whatever! Where specifically didn’t really matter. Because within… shit, twenty minutes? We had made the trek to our final destination: ToonTown. As we walked under the bridge, my smile widened at the sights before us. People and dinos milled about, kids yelled in joy, and I looked in awe at the buildings in our sights. Stylized roofs, structures, buildings; some things I couldn’t even make out, but was excited to go and check out. I wonder if there are any rides still op— “Roger Rabbit.” Reeda muttered, interrupting my thought process. She grabbed my arm and began to somewhat drag me. “We gotta do the Roger Rabbit ride, dude. We gotta.” “O-Okay, we can do the Roger Rabbit ride.” I chuckled, attempting to catch up with Reeda. I would much rather hold hands and walk alongside her than be dragged, haha. I may have no idea what Roger Rabbit is, but if she wanted to do it, I was down. When we got there, the line moved somewhat fast. Or maybe it just felt that way. I don’t know. I felt noticeably less excited about this ride than the others… maybe I was getting tired. It had been a bit of a long day, even if it WAS fun. But I guess that’s what they say, ‘an eventful day makes a tired young man’. You know? Everyone knows that quote. Now… did I make that quote up? I might’ve. I might not have. Who am I to say? Your mom. When it was our turn, we sat down in the small seat, and got strapped in. Before we knew it, the countdown started, and then we were off. We went around a corner, and we were shown the sights. Roger in a spinning car with a bunch of green goop on the ground, coming from barrels. Most likely toxic waste from this so-called ‘gag factory’. Huh… “Hey, Reeda, what’s a gag factory?” “What?” Reeda asked, whipping her head towards me. She had stopped messing with the steering wheel in front of us; which was spinning us quickly in a circle. Thank God, I was getting motion sick. Anyway, she had whipped her head towards me. “Have you never seen Roger Rabbit?” I shook my head. “No.” “Then why did you—why did you come along with me, dude! I figured you knew!” She asked, shocked by this revelation. “Well, I mean…” I shrugged. “You seemed excited for it. I’ve been going along all day, you know? All I’ve done is suggest rides.” I chuckled. She stayed silent, choosing to just… look at me. But then she smiled softly. “That’s true.” She giggled, and looked away. Had it not been so dark I would’ve been able to see her blush. “But the gag factory is where the dip is created. Dip is this fluid that can basically erase toons, which are living cartoons in the world. Like Space Jam.” I nodded at that. I knew space jam. “Basically, the climax of the movie takes place in that factory, and it’s revealed that the human villain is actually a toon. It’s a whole thing—you’d have to watch the movie, brah. It’s dope.” “It sounds pretty neat—“ My voice was interrupted by a flash of lightning. “Ach-!” Reeda busted out laughing. “Gahahaha! Scare you?” “Uh, no—“ I laughed nervously. Then the car turned the corner, and a swirly yellow portal was at the end of the hall. Reeda took her cue to begin spinning us in circles again. “Aaagh!!!” “Hahaha!” We continued on our straight line, and she continued spinning the car. After a few more minutes, the ride ended, and I felt like I was going to lose my lunch. The ride wasn’t even that fucking difficult to be on—but goddamn it, Reeda really liked spinning that fucking car. Driving me crazy. But… in a good way, I guess. I wasn’t angry at her or anything. But as the doors swung open, I definitely didn’t enjoy her laughing at me as I swayed back and forth on solid ground. She continued to laugh as I growled. “Oh, yuck it up.” I muttered. I was holding the bar as she walked up behind me. “I feel like I’m gonna puke.” I whispered, giving me a sense of deja vu. “Hahaha… oh, Anon.” She smacked her hand on my back. “Relax. You’ve been on plenty of rides today, dude. You tellin’ me you’re gonna lose your lunch on this one?” She snorted. Then she realized something. “Wait. How long has it been since you’ve eaten, actually?” “Not since New Orleans.” I shrugged, turning to make eye-contact. She looked noticeably less green than I was. “Well, you wanna get some food?” She asked. I gagged. “M-Maybe later.” I laughed nervously. “Oh, no—sorry.” She said, sounding genuine as she put her hand back on my shoulder. “We don’t have to. You wanna go outside, get some fresh air? We can talk to the mascots.” She suggested. I figured she was suggesting it more for herself than for me, but I can’t say it wouldn’t be nice to talk to Donald. “Sure, let’s go.” I nodded. “Lead the way.” She wrapped her arm around my neck, in a way that helped me stand a little bit. I nodded my thanks as we walked outside. The fresh air was a nice change of pace—the stuffy air of the ride was something I didn’t miss. Did they even have an AC in there? Probably not. The hot weather out here is MUCH better, as sad as I am to say… whatever. I’m getting off-track. We had walked outside, and we started our quest to locate a random mascot. And it was… harder than I thought it would be. You figure those guys would be everywhere, but no. Eventually it became more principle to just… find a damn mascot. We didn’t even want a picture, we didn’t want to talk, and my queasiness had long since left—we just wanted to find a mascot. We wanted to find ANYBODY. It was starting to feel like an abstract horror game. Walking around a park full of people, with no employees anywhere. Feels like some kind of shitty SCP. Dinos and humans, walking around, all of them faceless and nameless. You’re in an endless search for something you don’t even know exists. Sounds like a game Markiplier would play… Though… eventually… ladies and gentlemen… we did it. We successfully located a mascot. Granted, there was a line of people, but still. We found a mascot. I turned to face Reeda. She turned to face me. We looked at each other, and we considered each other. We viewed each other’s thoughts. We spoke to each other telepathically. “…I’m not waiting in that line.” Reeda shook her head. “Me neither. You wanna take a photo from back here?” I said, cheekily pulling out my phone. “Fuck yeah.” She chuckled, and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I did the same, and held up my phone in selfie mode. I made sure to get Donald inbetween us in the background, and I took the snapshot. “HEY! NO PHOTOS WITHOUT PAYING!” “SHIT!” I yelled, nearly dropping my phone. I quickly shoved it into my pocket in a panic. “CHEESE IT!” Reeda screeched, letting go of me and booking it in the opposite direction. I laughed as I followed behind. The workers yelled at us as we ran away, but we didn’t care. We just kept running and running around the cartoon village. We were losing our breaths, but we just laughed and laughed… the mascots we couldn’t find earlier even began to chase us too. Fuck. We really had to get out of there! But we were having so much fun—! Reeda continued to laugh as she hid behind a barrel at Goofy’s Gas. She waved me over, and I ducked behind it with her. We watched as a crowd of workers ran right by, and we had to hold back our giggles. “Idiots!” Reeda whispered. I leaned in close, noting the smell of lilac. “Right??” I chuckled, a blush slowly appearing on my face. Overall… …we were having the time of our lives. )()()()( …The night was nearly ending. The restaurants and rides had all closed. All except this one, at least. I don’t recall the name, but it was something more geared for adults on vacation. So… perfect for us. I’m sure Reeda would’ve preferred ‘Daisy’s Diner’, but this would have to do. At least we could order TBone steaks. Thank God for the ‘all expenses’ meal card. Volcano High really put out with this one. I’m sure they expected us to get pizza and chicken wings, not thirty dollar steaks, but fuck them. They gave us a card. Imma use it. …But as I cut my steak, I looked up at the girl sitting across from me. Reeda. The stoner raptor girl that… I had somewhat fallen for. And the girl that I hoped had still kept some feelings for me. Yeah, I know what I said earlier. I wasn’t doing this to earn her affections. And that was still true. But… but what kind of man would I be if I didn’t hold out a bit of hope? If I didn’t hope that the girl I crushed on liked me back? I wouldn’t be a man. I wouldn’t be a sigma. I would be… a soyboy. Or whatever. A chud. A wojak. All the shitty buzzwords of modern era. I… would be all of them. Because honestly, I hoped Reeda still liked me. I really, really did. I guess I would never know if I didn’t ask, but… I can’t just ask. So. I guess I can be a little secretive. A little deceitful. Just this once. “So, Reeda.” I spoke, after chewing my bite of food. My plan was already set in motion. “Yeah?” She asked, putting her own bite of food into her mouth. “What’s up bro?” She spoke, her voice muffled by the food. “Did you have a good day?” She swallowed her food, and gave me a blank stare. Like she was trying to decipher me. But then her face softened. “I did, Anon. I really did.” She smiled. “Did you?” I nodded. “Yeah. I’m… I’m glad you had a good day. Yesterday and… last night, they were..” “Yeah.” She sighed. “They were… they were bad.” “I’m still sorry, you know?” I replied. I was. I really, truly was. “I know.” She nodded. She gave me a smile. “I really do appreciate it. You really did your best today.” “Right.” Time to segue. “Thanks. And… I remember something from last night. You… you said you liked me.” I looked down at the table. “Was… was that true? Or did I just dream that up.” She blushed. “N-No… I said that.” She picked at her food, and then a small smile formed. “I do think those feelings have returned a little…” “Really?!” I asked, somewhat excited. Then I realized. “Wait, I mean—“ She snorted, interrupting my rambling. “Anon, it’s alright. You’ve done more than enough today. I think you’ve earned this.” She leaned across the table. “Stop me if you’re not into it, but… I think you should finally get a reward.” She whispered. She leaned in closer, and I leaned in as well. And then… We kissed. Her lips tasted like peppermint, oddly enough. Thankfully she didn’t taste like carfe or weed, haha. Even if I didn’t mind her stoner persona, I’m pretty sure the dosage she was taking could kill a human, so kissing her would be genuinely hazardous to my health. But… not here. Not today. Not in this restaurant, not at this location, not during these past 48 hours. There was no risk. There was… there was only care. Only affection. Nothing else mattered in my world at that moment—just the pink raptor sitting across from me. This kiss was everything I had dreamed of. When she finally pulled away, I missed her touch almost immediately. But she just smiled. “More to come soon, Anon.” Then she blushed. “If… if you’re down, for that. If you’re down to—“ She moved around in her seat. “If you want to date—“ “Reeda, yes.” I laughed. “God, I would love to. You don’t even have to ask.” “Oh, g-good.” She smiled nervously. And then she grabbed my hand again. A waiter approached our table, but we didn’t notice. We had gotten lost in each other’s eyes long ago. )()()()( The day was finally winding down. After such a long journey, so much text and so many words, so many rides and so many pictures taken—the day was finally coming to a close. And… all-in-all, that was a KICKASS day. I got good food, rode cool rides, saw cool sights, AND got the raptor gf of my dreams? What more could a guy ask for? Well, there was one more thing I wouldn’t mind having. And that was related to the raptor gf. There was something else nagging at the back of my mind. Some details about last night that still weren’t adding up. But I think she already had that handled. “Anon?” Reeda muttered, walking out of the bathroom. “You still awake?” I grunted, turning over in my bed. I sat up slowly as I looked around. I didn’t realize Reeda was still awake. Guess I was way more tired than I thought… either way, I had to give a response one of these days. “Yeah, I’m awake. ‘Sup?” “…can I talk to you?” She asked, walking over to my bed and sitting down on the side of it. “It’s important. I promise.” I shook my head. “Important or not, I’ll listen.” I said. “Always.” She smiled softly. “Thank you, Anon. I’m starting to remember why I fell for you so hard.” I blushed. Furiously. “Sh-Shut up.” I laughed. “You’re embarrassing.” “Of course I am.” She nodded. “It’s what I do, brah.” She turned her head away, still smiling. “Anyway, Anyway.” “Anyway, yes, sorry.” I looked down at the blanket. I gripped it nervously. Is she breaking up with me? Already? I hope not… She turned back to me. “I, uh…” She put a finger to her beak. “It’s… it’s about today. I just… I wanted to say thank you, again.” “That’s no problem.” I smiled, my fears assuaged almost immediately. “I told you why I did it. I wanted to see you happy. And… I’m happy to say that I succeeded.” “It’s just…” She put a hand on the mattress, rubbing circles with her fingers. Talons? Fingers. But fuck. Uh oh. “I… I didn’t know how to feel about you this morning, to be honest.” She sighed. “I didn’t trust you. I said I did, but part of me… part of me refused to believe you could pull it off.” She chuckled softly. Then she frowned. “But I was wrong. And… I’m sorry.” I reached across the blankets and grabbed her hand. Something she had been doing to me all day. Her eyes moved to make contact with mine, and I gave her a smile. “Don’t apologize. Never apologize. I… yesterday.. I fucked up. I fucked everything up.” I shook my head. “I’m the only one to blame for the bad day we had yesterday. So… I had to make it up to you. The feelings you had confessed to me last night… or not, I… I knew I had to redeem Disneyland for you. I had to make it a good day. I… I had to see you smile. Either that or… die trying.” I spoke. Once again, deja vu hit me… She rubbed my hand, and looked away, a blush apparent on her pink face. “I… I appreciate your hard work, Anon.” Her face darkened. Her voice cracked. “It means so much to me.” She sniffled. “Back… back when I was a kid, I always wanted to come here. I begged my dad, year after year, wondering when we would be able to come.” She spoke, opening up more and more. I got closer to her as she began to cry more. “But… that day never came. Dad got busier and busier, and… we drifted. We stopped watching movies, I grew up, he started watching golf and… I picked up smoking. It… we both just spiraled.” She then turned to face me. “I never expected to get here. I never expected to be able to experience this. And… it’s all thanks to you.” I gripped her hand tighter as a tear rolled down her face. “I’m… I’m happy to be the guy, Reeda.” I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She giggled, and giggled, and giggled. And it… slowly turned into tears. She began to hiccup. “I’m… I’m always so ashamed. But I can’t—I don’t… I don’t want to do it anymore.” She shook her head. She then grabbed the hem of her shirt, and pulled it over herself. I looked away momentarily as she flipped it inside out, and put it back on. When I looked back, I saw Mickey Mouse ears on the shirt. “Being able to… to wear this shirt, now, and know I’m not gonna be judged… to know that you’ll support me…” She wiped at her eyes. “It means so much to me, Anon.” She slowly moved her body towards me, and put her hand on my face. She wrapped her other arm around me. Then… she brought our lips together. One more time. [Archivist's Note: There is an image here of Anon and Reeda kissing. It can be found elsewhere in this archive with the same filename as this file.] Once again, it felt like fireworks. And… it didn’t last nearly long enough. When she pulled away, she kept her arms wrapped around me as she crawled into bed. She wrapped herself up in the blankets as she leaned her front into my back side. It felt weird to be the little spoon, but… I can’t complain. She leaned her face into my back, and whispered. “I… I love you, Anon.” She cried. But this time… the tears were happy. “I really do.” “…” I stayed silent. But… fuck it. “I… I love you too, Reeda.” I whispered. She giggled, gripping her hands against me tighter. … “And by the way, they’re 38DD.” She whispered. I blushed. Fuck! [POST-NOTES] Thanks for reading! I had some fun writing this. It was definitely a pain in the butt to try and get all the locations accurate, but hey, end of the day it made the story better. Hope you Reeda fans liked this one! Big thanks to theum (theumslayer on twitter) for doing the art. Its kickass! ps: ive never been to disneyland shoutout my buddy thade for helping me with that shit