18. Macie

Chapter eighteen

Macie

" I don't want my seatbelt on." Lev, thankfully, did not have on a shark suit, but was instead in the proper uniform. His shoulder length, curly black hair was pulled back at the base of his neck, showing the rows of silver hoop earrings that started at his earlobes and then traveled up the rim of his ears. Today, he wore black mascara and silver eyeshadow, and he had his hands in the air as if about to plummet down the hill of a rollercoaster. "I want to feel free!"

At the front of the training classroom, Lev sat in a roller-coaster car and Melanie stood beside him looking as if she wanted to cry. Her panicked eyes met mine. "Is this going to happen?"

They were performing a mock situation where Melanie played the part of the employee checking ride restraints while Lev role-played the difficult visitor. I stood in the back, watching the dramatic scene unfold. "Yes, you will have difficult guests. Now, think back to our training videos. What should you do in this situation?"

Melanie gathered her confidence. "For the safety of you and our other guests, we require that all restraints be worn during a ride."

Lev leaned from side to side, his arms still in the air as if the car was in motion. "But I want to feel one with the universe. How dare you try to confine me!"

Okay, to be fair, in my three years of working here, no one had said those words to me, but I had guests who'd screamed at me for less.

Melanie's neck flushed red. "What do I do now?"

Honestly? The lead ride operator would have already stepped in because with Melanie being fifteen, the only job she'd be able to do was to literally check to make sure all the restraints were securely buckled. Also, truth be told, the mechanics and electronics of the ride wouldn't allow the train to leave the station without all restraints clicked in. But Melanie needed to take her job seriously, so I didn't tell her that. Safety was our main priority. "Tell the guest that the ride cannot leave the station until all guests are secured by our safety measures that are in place for their safety and for the safety of our other guests."

Yes, that was a lot of safeties in one sentence, but that was the whole point we needed to drive home to guests—we were there for their safety.

"For your safety and for the safety of our other guests, the ride can't leave the station until you're strapped in," Melanie said to Lev.

Lev whipped his head around as if seeing the crowds of people waiting on him. He pressed his hands to his chest. "Am I causing the delay?"

Melanie's face scrunched up in confusion. "Yes?"

Lev turned to the nonexistent car behind him. "I'm so sorry, but you have to understand, I want to feel free."

"Ask him nicely to disembark the ride," I said. Actually, at this point, the lead ride operator would have already asked the rider to disembark.

"That not fair," countered Lev to Melanie, even though she hadn't said it yet. "I worked hard to jump the fence to get in here without paying. I even tore my favorite shirt. I'm not going quietly!" He jumped onto the seat of the train car. "This is a travesty! Unite with me, fellow riders! Speak out against the tyranny of seatbelts! Rise! Let's show them who really is in charge!"

"In a calm and kind voice, ask him again to disembark the ride," I instructed Melanie, but in real life, the ride operator would have already called me, security, and after that statement, possibly, the police. "And tell him you're going to call security."

"Yeah, you are," said another employee in training watching the show. Giggles popped up about the classroom.

Lev's eyes widened with joy. "Oh, can I do that? Can I be part of the security team?"

"No," I cut that idea off immediately. "You're going to be a ride assistant just like Melanie. Melanie, that was a good job. Our main priority is the safety of our guests, even if they aren't concerned with their own safety. We handle all situations with calmness and kindness."

Melanie beamed with the compliment.

"Lev, you were a very good and scarily accurate example of a difficult guest."

Lev exited the car and bowed. The class broke out into timid applause and Lev ate it up. "I'd like to thank my freshman year theater teacher who told me I was born to play unique characters and told me I had done so well that I never needed to take her class again."

I snorted to myself because Lev was unbelievably Lev. "Okay, everyone. That's it for today. Tomorrow we will begin training on actual rides. Make sure you please clock out before you leave and check your lockers to make sure you take all your personal possessions home with you. Demarius," I called to him as he rose from his seat. "Can you come here?"

He gathered the notes he had been taking through the safety course, possibly the only person who had done so, and came over to me. "Everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect," I said as Lev and Melanie called "Bye" to us. Demarius and I waved at them and told them to have a good evening. As the rest of the group trickled out, I continued, "You marked on your application that you preferred to be in games. Games is a hard gig to land because everyone thinks it's less work."

"Is it less work?" he asked.

"You have to handle cash. Customers can still be rude, and you need to be a good salesperson, but you could do an amazing job. Personally, I think you'd be a fantastic ride operator, not just a ride assistant."

"That sounds like a lot of responsibility."

"That I totally believe you can handle. On the complicated rides, there'd be a lead operator with you. On the less complicated rides, like the kiddy ones, there would be a senior supe hanging in your area, but trust me, those rides are incredibly easy to run. Strap a toddler in, push a button, the ride goes around once."

"Can I be honest with you?" Demarius surveyed the room like he didn't want anyone to hear what he had to say. I shut the door to offer him the privacy I believed he craved.

"What's up?" I asked.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't want to be responsible for people's safety. If I'm in charge and someone gets hurt…" He trailed off. The hurt on his face, in his eyes, caused the ache that constantly lived in me to pulse.

"There are built in precautions into the computers. We are there to help guests get on and get off. We are the last line and super extra line of defense. Yes, we need to take our jobs very seriously on the off chance that something with the computer—"

Demarius raised a finger. "That one off chance. That once-in-a-million-years chance will happen to me."

I paused as I sensed something else brewing inside him. A lot like all the emotions brewing within me. "As much I hate losing you from the rides department because you would be phenomenal at it, I'll get you on at games."

Demarius gave me a hopeful smile. "You can do that?"

"There's some people who owe me favors."

Demarius gave me a huge grin as if he wanted to hug me, but instead he pointed both index fingers at me. "You the woman."

Yes, I was, or rather, I used to be.

Demarius left, I put the room back in order, turned off the lights, and joy blossomed through me at the sight of Relic leaning against the wall waiting for me. Relic, of course, looked incredibly sexy in his jeans and white T-shirt, an ensemble he must have changed into after his shift. His blond hair had this right mixture of rebellious and tamed, and the muscles in his arms were so well-defined, it was difficult to quit staring.

My heart skipped a few beats at the idea of kissing Relic. Since the night of the party, we had kissed again and often. We had attended a few more parties just to have some time alone-ish together in the backyard. His lips lifted at the sight of me, and he drank me in as if he were memorizing the sway of my hips. Did he feel it? This heat building between us? This constant feeling like my skin needed his touch? Did he also think of us kissing as much as I did?

"How was training?" Relic asked as he dragged his eyes from my body to meet my gaze.

He was an operator in The Clover Patch, which was our kiddie section of the park. No one ever volunteered to operate rides there because, you know…small children who pee on rides and annoying parents who argued that their newborn infant really was tall enough to ride by themselves. But Relic told HR he loved working with children.

"Adventurous." I clocked out.

"Lev in class today?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Psychic," he answered, but then added, "I saw him and Melanie as they left."

Relic walked beside me as I emptied my locker, and then we made our way to my car. I loved the cadence in his voice as he told me how the frog ride broke down three times during his shift. I laughed because the frog ride was always broken, and it needed to die in a hole.

I had been nervous about returning to work, about being around so many people, how I would feel being out at night, especially in a car, but Relic's constant and steady presence eased my fears just enough that I not only remained functional, I found myself enjoying my job again, too. He had given me a gift I had no idea how to repay.

"Want to swing by Game Space and get a bite before I drop you off?" Relic asked. "I can't stay long as I need to get home so my older sister can head to work."

I felt like Melanie with how I beamed. First thought: he asked me out on a date. Second thought: he was hungry, and we were only friends. Third thought: I didn't care if the second thought was true because I wanted to spend more time with him. "Sure."