Roller Coaster
view galleries“You good?”
Until she heard his voice she had thought she was alone. She turned round, twisting as much as she could, restricted as she was in her seat. He was slightly plump, a round face with thin hair. The type easily forgotten, but somehow she had a feeling that she knew him.
“I guess.”
“At least we are not too high up.”
She looked over the edge of the car. Perhaps ten metres, but she knew that when you looked down you always guessed much less than it really was. She tried to work it out logically, she thought it looked like about the distance down from the second or third floor. At about two metres a floor that would be much less than ten metres. Maybe even not too high to jump down but she certainly didn’t want to try it.
“Yeah, high enough.”
She didn't know why she said that, she wasn't scared of heights but the man suddenly appearing sitting in the last of the row of seats disturbed her. She had definitely been the only person in the queue for the wonderful JetStream roller coaster. It was the end of the day in the middle of the week. She had come because it was only a small detour from her usual route from the station to her house, and because she had made a resolution to try new things. Now here she was, stuck on a roller coaster. There had been no roller coaster disaster, simply the car had not gone fast, then it slowed until it stopped. There had been no squeal of metal on metal, no warning of imminent danger. In fact she had just thought it a lame roller coaster until it had actually stopped. Even then she thought it would start again any moment, part of the ride and all.
“D’ya think they will take long?”
There was something strange about the man. He had a rabbit in the headlights look. Like she had caught him doing something he shouldn’t be doing.
“Nah, it’ll be sorted any moment now and in ten minutes we will be laughing about it at the Hope.”
“Hopefully.”
That was freaky, he said the pub she usually drinks in. And she had responded with her usual joke, as she would have with her cousins.
She couldn’t recall seeing him at the Hope, but there must be hundreds of people who drink there. And she didn’t go that often. And it was the closest to the park. It wasn't freaky.
They would probably offer her a free ticket, she could take her niece, she was only about eight. She would like lame roller coasters.
She wriggled about in her seat trying to find a comfortable position. The seats were not designed for relaxing. Perhaps if she had been on a better roller coaster at a good park then the wait would have been more comfortable. Perhaps if she had been on a better roller coaster in a good park the roller coaster would not have stopped.
She looked down again, she could not see any paths, just some tall fences or maybe the backs of buildings. She could not see any people.
“Should we shout?”
“Maybe”
She felt a moment of awkwardness, like she was waiting for the man to make the decisions. Like she would wait for men! She cleared her throat loudly to let him know she was about to call.
“Hello, can anyone hear me? The roller coaster has stopped with people on it. Hello”
Only the second hello was shouted loudly in a querying sing-song way.
“We’re on the JetStream.”
She felt a little buoyed by calling out but her bum was getting uncomfortably numb. She suddenly worked out what was wrong with the man. She spun about quickly.
“Your retaining pole is up!”
Once again he had a startled look. An embarrassed look.
“Um, ya.”
“Mine isn’t. It is pinning me down so tight my bum is going numb.”
“Oh.”
The man was creepy. His voice was expressionless, guarded. She had never heard his voice before but she had seen him. At the leisure centre, he often swam at the same time as her. Nice even stroke, breaststroke and crawl.
The car shook, they were moving at last. No, the man was moving. He was clamber over the seats to get to the front.
"Hey"
He leant over her shoulder, though she knew he was looking at the retaining pole she still had the feeling he had leant over her shoulder to look at her breasts. She must stop being paranoid, he was just trying to help her.
"So, if I get you free does that deserve a kiss?"
"What are you like?"
"Just trying to be a regular hero."
She rolled her eyes.
"Alright then."
He put his hand on the seat between her legs and leaned across her until he was folded over her. His chest against hers, his body rubbing against hers as he jiggles the mechanism. She thought she would rather sit with a numb bum than have this man all over her.
"Maybe we should just wait for them to get us."
"It OK, I got it."
There was a satisfying click and the bar sprang loose. The man lifted his face to hers, he smiled, clearly waiting for his kiss. His hand was still on the seat between his legs.
She smiled sarcastically and kissed him on the cheek. It was a bit greasy with sweat.
"Thank you."
"All in a day's work for Damsels-in-Distress 'r' us."
She smiled. It is funny how a few words can change everything. When the man said Damsels-in-Distress 'r’ us she thought him clever. She decided she had misjudged him, he was just being helpful in a tricky situation. He was holding out his hand, she took it and let him lead her back over the seats. There was a scary moment when he guided her into the tracks behind the car.
"You sure this safe?"
"Ya, you can see a ladder just back there."
He was right. It was easy. Walking along the track was easy when holding his hand. She went down the ladder first. She waited for him at the bottom.
"Thank you, you were my hero."
"So how about that drink?"
"Um, sure. Don't you think we should first let them know about the roller coaster being broken?"
"I am sure they will figure it out, unless you want to go on it again?"
"No way."
She was relieved to be off the roller coaster, and she likes this emboldened version of the man.
"Ok, why not?"
He turned, she followed.
"I am Sam, and you are?"
"Jules."
They walked in silence in single file along a track that weaved beneath the coaster. It was like an animal track, they had to duck and weave between the tall bushes. For a moment she was lost in a childhood memory wondering if she was the hunter or the prey.
She was surprised when they came to a kissing gate. He had stopped half way.
"You know what you got to do to get through, don't you?"
He presented his cheek to her.
"Of course."
She took his face in her hands and slowly drew his lips to hers. Slowly. Their breaths intermingled before their lips touched gently, their heads twisting as their mouths fitted to each other, like they had kissed many times, like they were suddenly enraptured. His hands slid round her back to her bum, he pulled her to press against the gate, to press into his body. He pulled them tight only for a moment, then let her go, and their lips parted.
For a moment they smiled, their smiles so close they could have kissed again, but instead she spoke.
"I have been through many a kissing gate."
"I could tell."
"Oi, don't be cheeky."
"Just saying, and you don't get many kissing gates nowadays."
"That's 'cause you don't get many deer wandering about in Berringford."
"More's the pity."
"Hunted to extinction?"
"Ya, you used to be given a bow and arrow when the ride was new."
"Stupid ride, don't know why I was on it anyway."
"Something to do?"
"Sure, not that I ain't got better things to do."
"Of course!"
"Oi, now don't you start again with that nonsense."
"Alright."
"Cheeky."
"Listen, my flat is up here, I just need to pop in before going to the Hope. You wanna come up or shall I meet you there."
"Ok"
"Great"
And she was following him. She was doing this. She wasn't even sure she had made the decision until she was walking up the stairs behind him. She was going into his flat based on one sentence with the words Damsels-in-Distress 'r' us. He had been her hero, but he got a kiss for that. Now she was stepping into his flat because of one clever remark.
"Would you like some wine?"
"Sure."
She leant against the kitchen door as he got the drinks. He had to wash the glasses, they didn't match. The wine was from a box.
She took the wine he offered her.
"It's the next door."
She led the way into the room. A double bed, a sofa, a cupboard and a TV, in that order as she looked round the room. She walked round the bed and turned to him.
"Cheers!"
She drank half the wine in the glass and put it down on the bedside table, there were no other surfaces. She took his face in her hands as she had done at the kissing gate and they were kissing.
This is why I am doing it, she thought to herself, because the kiss was so good I'd have to see if the more was just as good.
She allowed herself to fall back into the bed, he let her fall, then knelt above her, one knee on either side of her hips. She pulled a pillow under her head.
"You got condoms?"
"Ya"
He leant over to the bedside table, opened the draw and produced the foil wrapped durex. She took it from him, placed it next to her on the bed then stretched back, her hands above his head.
She examined his fingers as he undid her buttons, quite thick fingers, reasonably trimmed fingernails, a plaster on his little finger of his right hand. He undid her shirt, then her jeans. He was going too quickly. She wanted it to be like the kiss.
She needn't have worried. Once he had undone all her buttons he gently caressed her skin. He slipped his finger underneath the edge of her bra and ran it gently along. She lifted her back and unhooked her bra, then with a deft movement she pulled her shirt and her bra up and away, and she was half naked.
He first touched her breasts, then he took a nipple in his mouth. He pinched one nipple and he nibbled the other. It was rougher than she was used to but it was OK. OK for a strange day.
The mood seemed to change. He seemed to be pawing her more than caressing her.
She had got it wrong and she wondered how to change it back to the bit she liked. She should not have let him take control. She should be the one touching and he the one lying down. She reached for his cock. She undid the button, she pulled down his zip, she put her hand in to feel him.
It is glorious touching a hidden cock for the first time. The moisture of precum on the tip, circumsized, the direction of the bend, the thickness, the smoothness. It is better to discover a cock with your hands than with your eyes. She thought this cock would be a good one. She had a good feeling.
He stood up, she leant back. He dropped his jeans and boxers, his cock creating a tent in his long t-shirt.
She smiled.
He attacked her jeans, getting them off with brute force, pulling and yanking until she found herself naked lying flat on her stomach with him straddling her thighs. He licked his thumb and started to probe. He licked his thumb again and probed again.
She looked to the left, she couldn't see the condom. He was probably putting it on with one hand. Hopefully.
He replaced his thumb with his cock. It was a nice size for this position. She liked this position even though it was very passive and submissive. Each thrust pushed his cock down against the front of her vag, against her g-spot. A good sensation, with a bit more foreplay it would have ended in an orgasm.
It ended in him pulling out and coming on her back.
Weird.
He rolled off her into his back. He had the unrolled condom in his hand. He must have taken it off to come on her back.
Weird.
She got up.
"Is the toilet the other door?"
He nodded.
She waddled to the bathroom, cleaned her back, pissed and came out wearing a towel.
He was dressed.
"I kinda got this thing to do can I meet you in the Hope in an hour?"
"Oh sure."
It was strange. She wondered whether to dress like lovers, brazenly, or like friends, discreetly. She chose brazen but quick. She lined up her clothes before removing the towel.
* * *
She saw it when they were leaving the flat, he had a staff pass for the park. She worked it out as they went down the stairs, he hadn't been her hero, he had been doing his job. And the clever comment, the line that had hooked her, was probably something he said several times a day as he evacuated stranded riders from their dilapidated roller coaster.
When he leaned in to kiss her goodbye she offered her cheek. She offered a flat joke about first being last and last being first. She left him confused as she skipped down the road. She wondered if he would wait a long time at the pub. Perhaps she wouldn’t go to the Hope for a while.
What a bore.