One Night

Gwen Mavens sighed and leaned back in the deep crimson faux-leather seat of the McClain Diner & Amusement Park's diner. She watched her friends Geoff and Bridgette, and Sierra and Cody all paired off like on Noah's Ark, and all disgustingly happy. But not her; Trent had been a total mistake, something that she reminded herself of every time she saw an amazingly hot guy and he showed an obscene amount of interest in her.

"This place bites…" she muttered under her breath and growled as their waitress, a girl named Courtney who loved to gripe about how she shouldn't be working in a position like this, dropped off a soda. She raised a jet black eyebrow in response. "I didn't order this."

Courtney sighed raggedly. "Of course you didn't. You were too fascinated with my life last time to order. That hot punk-looking guy over at table four sends it over. He says call him." She added a napkin with the guy's digits.

Gwen took a peek at the punk in question. The guy was hot, and he shot her an overly cocky smile when he caught her staring. He had a pierced eyebrow and three piercings in the ear she could see from this angle. His own jet black hair was styled in short spikes about three inches high on his head, at least the parts that weren't shaved military short. She couldn't make out the design in the side but then again, she was still gawking at how laser green the tips of his hair were.

He was smoking hot. In a punk-Goth kind of way—and that was right up the Goth girl's alley. Too bad had a got to formula for guys like him: Cocky + Mega-Hot= Dickhead.

She rolled her eyes and glanced at the number. Was he serious? Did he really think she was that easy? He was really cruising for her foot in his groin then.

Gwen didn't bother drinking the soda. She, instead, balled up the soda and pushed it deep in the carbonated drink, letting it sizzle itself into obscurity.

"I have to go guys… See you next Friday at the Wonder Dome." Gwen told her friends. They barely noticed and she went home to read her Mary Higgins-Watts romance set again.

Duncan watched as the Goth chick left the diner, looking irritated and dejected. He frowned. Usually, when he hit on girls, they only looked that way when he lost interest and didn't call them ever again.

"Sorry for the wait, here's your cherry cola." Courtney, the annoying waitress he'd asked to deliver his message for him, cooed.

He'd dated her type before, so he wasn't all that interested. He knew her card: she was obsessive, possessive, with OCD-like tendencies to double check his whereabouts every twelve seconds. His third—or was she his fourth—girlfriend Judy had been like her. Now Judy wasn't allowed in the same county as him thanks to the law system—he never felt thankful for the law than when his restrained order against Judy Maslow came through, though he wasn't totally okay with it.

Duncan frowned. "I ordered a Dr. Pepper. This is not my drink."

Courtney smiled at him, like he had just promised her the world and a diamond engagement ring with two-point-five kids on the way. "I know, but cherry cola's my favorite, and it's all the same. Isn't Dr. Pepper lame?" she bubbled.

Duncan narrowed his eyes at the brown haired prep-girl. "No; you see I ordered Dr. Pepper. Not this glorified carbon-based cherry bomb." He was done with this place. He'd had this happen to him before at McClain Diner & Amusement Park.

The first time, he'd ordered a shake and double cheeseburger. They'd given him a salad and some hot tap water. The second, he'd ordered a large fries and chicken melt. He received a grilled dishrag and chopped onions in a wet napkin. He drew the line at messing with his soda.

He stood and swung his leather jacket over his shoulder. "I'm gone. Mike, Cam, see you guys later, and tell Owen when he gets back from the bathroom." He nodded at his friends; Owen was a good-natured guy but a human stomach that needed constant food, Mike was a little weird with his whole multiple personality disorder, and Cameron was a homebody who lived like he was in a bubble.

As Duncan strode off, Courtney followed. "Don't you want my number? Or don't you want to give me your?"

Was she serious? Did she think that just because the Goth chick rejected him, he wanted the next available girl? He decided to play her like that violin he'd trashed last month to break up with that clingy girl—Julie? No wait, maybe her name was Jenny… "Yeah listen I've got to jet… Ask my pal Cam. He's the scrawny one."

With that he left to spend his Saturday alone.

Next Friday rolled in like a steamroller to Gwen, who trudged alone behind her friends as they went their next destination.

She groaned as she saw what it was. "The tunnel of love?" she sighed. "Isn't that a little cliché…?"

Bridgette winced. "I know I promised to ride the Mega Dread Drop (MDD) next but…"

Gwen smiled sympathetically. "Go on, you annoying love bugs. You're cramping my dark and deep mood." She pushed Bridgette and Geoff toward the line. It was short and moving fast.

Her blonde friends linked hands and waved at her as they crossed under the heart-shaped arch. She waved until they had disappeared and then trekked toward a bench by the ride. "Now what do I do for the next sixteen minutes?" she sighed to herself. Riding the MDD could only be done with another person. She was stuck out here until the love birds returned.

Duncan stalked through Wonder Dome with the weight of a week's worth of pent up frustration weighing on him. He scowled as he accidentally walked into the couples' rides section. "Shit!" he bit out.

He blamed his mood on the Goth chick from the week before. Since she'd rejected him by not calling to see him, he'd been plagued by visions of her face. The girl—Courtney—had indeed asked Cam for his number like he told her. But she'd scared the scrawny guy shitless and ended up getting his cousin, Alejandro's, number. Al's girlfriend wouldn't like that.

But even the thought of that possessive preppy getting torn to shreds by Heather Chu wasn't enough to make Duncan feel better.

As he turned to leave, his eyes caught a flash of teal and black hair in the motions of bodies. He blinked but the vision was still there. He smiled to himself. Maybe this free trip to the Wonder Dome wouldn't be wasted after all.

"You know it's a crime to be alone in the couples' section of this park right?" a smooth, deep voice chuckled.

Gwen whipped around to meet the green eyes of the hot-head from the diner. "You!"

He grinned, eyes alight with mischief. "Yeah, me. So what's a cutie like you doing alone around here? Did your boyfriend run off to find you a soda?"

Gwen unconsciously scoffed at him. "Yeah, right. I don't have a boyfriend. I'm here with my friends. They went into the Tunnel of Love. They should be out any minute-"

"Attention all patrons in line for Blainely's Tunnel of Love: the ride is currently experiencing some technical difficulties at this time. Please be patient as out Chief Mechanic Chef Hatchet attempts to repair the mechanisms. But don't hold your breath…" the announcer divulged over the intercom.

Gwen paled, which didn't bode well for her already pasty complexion. This could not be happening! The MDD closed in half an hour or less. She groaned in defeat.

"Something wrong, sunshine?" the punk asked. He raised his pierced brow in confusion.

Gwen pondered her predicament for several seconds then asked him, "Do you want to ride with me—on the Mega Dread Drop?"

Duncan blinked. Then, he heard the sentence clearly. She said ride with me not ride me, he told his libido. But he knew a way to turn that around.

Had she said Mega Dread Drop? He'd been dying to ride the barely legal ride since it opened at the beginning of summer. But his pansy friends always chickened out after seeing a few ambulances roll by with past costumers in the back crying, "I saw the light", and all that crap…

"The MDD; you want to ride the MDD?" he checked. The Goth chick nodded her dyed head. "Isn't that a little too intense, sunshine? You seem more the Haunted Castle of Nevermore type…" he voiced.

That earned him a deep mocha-colored glare. "You sound like Trent. I happen to be a huge fan of MDD, but I never get to ride it. I tried with my brother but he was too young to ride. Have to be eighteen, you know?"

Duncan grinned. "I like that ride too. I have an official T-shirt that my brothers bought me when they rode it. But they won't go with me, told me it'll mess up the order of the universe, or something."

And so I totally trashed their cars with my Harley Davidson. Priceless summer fun, but it cost me my whole bank account and my favorite CDs… Duncan perused the chick closely.

She was about five-foot-six, and her two-colored hair brushed her shoulders the way he longed to have his lips do. She was pale, probably albino, but it worked in her favor. Her lips were Cupid's bow, like his new baby sister's, but there was nothing angelic he wanted to do her lips, the way they were teal like highlights. She had a nice body, in his opinion. And she showed it, in her skin-fitting, black tank top that brushed her midriff, her low-slung boot-cut jeans with the astrological belt crisscrossing on her hips.

Duncan nearly barked out a laugh. "I'm in, if you tell me your name."

"It's Gwen…" she replied. "Gwen Mavens."

"Well, Gwen Mavens, I'm Duncan Rush. It's nice to finally know the name of the girl haunting my every wet dream."

She shot him a look and then checked the time on her iPhone. "We better hurry or the MDD will be closed."

Duncan gestured for her to go in front of him. "Ladies first."

She gave him a skeptical look but proceeded in front. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a gentleman."

Duncan shrugged as he watched her hips sway with her every step. "Hey, my mom did something right with me."

Gwen bubbled with laughter as she got out of the ride. "I can't believe that blonde puked all over her date on just the ascent!" she laughed with Duncan.

He grinned. "And then when her date returned the favor on the descent!" They slapped hands. "Priceless."

Gwen leaned back against a post and sighed. "That was wicked. I'm gonna buy a shirt for my brother. He's gonna be pissed he missed this for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon."

Duncan's easy smile got bigger. "You're actually pretty cool, sunshine."

Gwen wriggled her nose at the guy and turned back to the gift stand. "Two, please; one medium and one small." The salesman, a chubby guy with more acne and perspiration than any other man on the planet, handed her the two tees and charged her forty-seven dollars. She reached for her wallet, but Duncan stopped her.

"Let me pay. Here, my good man." Duncan slipped the guy exactly forty-seven dollars. He smiled cockily at Gwen, but oddly enough, her stomach didn't turn.

Gwen clutched the tees to her chest. "Thanks, you're…" she fumbled for a word.

"Sexy, handsome, amazing? Any of these what you're searching for?" he offered.

"Pretty nice." Gwen finished with a smirk.

"Ouch, sunshine, you don't pull any punches do you?" He mockingly clutched his chest like she'd shot him in the heart. "More harsh words have never crossed such sweet lips…"

"You sound like a poet. And how do you know?"

"That your lips are sweet?" he repeated. "Because I really want to kiss them…along with other places on you."

Gwen suddenly felt like someone had lit fire to her Converse. She was burning up.

Duncan watched pink assail Gwen's cheeks.

"Well… this is… I mean I'm just…" She was flustering; and looking damn cute while doing it. He cupped her chin and tilted it up.

"It's okay, sunshine… I understand."

Her deep-brown-almost-black eyes widened. "You do?" she breathed, her voice hoarse.

He grinned. "Yeah, I do. That ex of yours is a douche. And I'm gonna kiss you until you can't remember him."

He leaned down to kiss her and suddenly, Evanescence's Lithium, started playing from her back pocket. Shit! He watched as the languorous air disappeared and she shook her head. She mutely took out her phone. "Reality calling?" Duncan joked.

"Worse; my friends."

Gwen pacified her best friend slowly. "I'm fine… No, he isn't a murderer, unless you count cotton candy… Yeah I know it's a corny joke, but you have to calm down!"

Duncan watched as she wrung out the tassel on her phone that read Bite Me. He wanted to kick himself for letting her answer her phone. He had been so close; he could taste her lips…

She finished calming her friend and clicked off. "So…"

"So…"

"Where do you want to go now?" she asked, shocking him.

"You still want to hang out with the big bad punk?" he taunted to hide his pleasure.

She nodded curtly. "I can handle you!"

Duncan grinned and swung an arm around her shoulder. "Then have I got an attraction for you…"

Courtney checked her watch for the third time. He was late by three hours. She knew the handsome punk from the diner was a rule-breaker, but he'd promised.

Suddenly, a handsome Hispanic guy strolled over. Behind him, a Chinese-looking girl with shoulder length hair trailed in olive green short-shorts and a deep red tank top. While the Hispanic guy looked calm, the Chinese girl looked primed to kill.

The pair stopped in front of her. "Are you the signorita that called me… Courtney, right?" the Hispanic guy purred.

"I called you? I thought I called…" the words died as the hot Latin teen smiled. "I mean, yeah… I called you; for a date."

"So you're the skank trying to steal Alejandro from me!" the Chinese chick hissed.

"Heather, querida, please-!" Al said.

"No," Heather snapped. "Listen, Miss I-Think-I-Can-Call-A-Random-Number-At-Three-In-The-Morning-And-Interrupt-A-Couple's-Time-Together, I'll have you know I'm a black belt and if you so much as think of calling my fiancé's number, I'll judo your ass into the next country!"

Courtney blistered. "Why wait until the next time. Try me, hairy legs!"

And so the battle for supremacy began.

Gwen doubled over, laughing at the epic ass-whooping that the Heather chick was delivering to the chatty waitress. "Man, this is the best attraction in here. I'm sorry but the MDD takes second to this. Who knew there was a Judo exhibition today?"

Duncan chuckled. "Who knew that ditsy waitress would come in handy for something."

Gwen smiled at that. "I should have taken your number though."

"You can have it now, seeing as how we're dating." Duncan offered.

She raised a brow. "We're dating?"

He grinned. "Sure, we are. And this is our first date. Unless you thought this was a one-time-only thing?"

Gwen blushed. "Actually, I thought you were the one-time-only guy…"

Duncan shrugged. "You're not so far from the truth. But I've changed. A lot; hell, a few hours ago, I wouldn't be caught dead holding a giant lavender teddy bear."

And he looked so good holding it. She flushed scarlet, she was sure she looked blotchy all red like she knew she was.

He grinned down at her. "So, what do say, Gwen? You want to take this one night to the next level?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Gwen thought for a moment then stood on her tip toes, and pressed a kiss to his smiling lips. "What do you think?"

"I think this monkey better sit on the floor for a long while…" With that swung pulled her closer, into his arms and kissed her until she wanted the monkey, the catfight and the Wonder Dome to cease to exist.

~five weeks later~

Gwen pulled away from Duncan to place her order with their waitress. "I'll take a chicken sandwich meal with a Dr. Pepper."

"I'll take a bacon burger deluxe, hold the onions. Same drink please." Duncan winked at her.

Their waitress, a sassy black girl named Leshawna, jotted down the rest of their table's orders then swayed away. "Harold, baby, you got more orders."

Bridgette and Geoff slid back into sucking face like they hadn't been interrupted. Sierra, once again, had Cody's head pressed to her chest in a death-grip not even dynamite could break.

Gwen leaned back under Duncan's arm. "I wonder what happened to chatty Courtney…"

Duncan grinned. "My stepbrother's girlfriend lost her Jimmy Cho sandal in that fight. And it wasn't thrown on the floor if you know what I mean. Courtney had to go into the Emergency room to get that thing out of her ass."

Gwen punched Duncan lightly in the chest. "I still can't believe you set her up like that."

"She kept messing with my orders," he defended.

Not that they ever went back to McClain D the government had shut it down on the account of having gorillas manning the kitchens and too many ride breakdowns. She vaguely recalled an article about the owner having fled to Liberia.

"But still, who would have thought you and Duncan would have made it this long." Cody awed. "Sierra, you kind of cutting off oxygen…"

Gwen was surprised too; but in a pleasant way.

Duncan dragged Gwen onto his lap. "And all it took was one night."