Chapter Three:
Kiko parked the car outside of an amusement park and got out. Garrison stared at the roller coasters as he opened the car door and stepped out into the blaring noise.
“I hope you have the money for this.” Garrison muttered.
“I do.” Kiko stretched. “My whole family has season passes and I’ve got them all in my car. We can get in easy.”
“Great.” Garrison shuddered. He did not like roller coasters and most theme parks.
“Come on.” Kiko grabbed Garrison’s hand and dragged him to the entrance. Barely anyone was there. Kiko showed his passes and they were admitted into the park. “This place is actually kind of cool, but better when there isn’t many people here.”
“You have really good English for having been born in Japan.” Garrison commented.
“Well,” Kiko blushed a little. “My mom was an American Japanese who married my dad and became a citizen of Japan. She only knew English and my dad knew only a little bit of English. She learned very little Japanese, but my dad grew to excel in English. I speak Japanese, but English is actually my primary language. My Japanese was reserved for going out. At home, I spoke only English with a little bit of Japanese snuck in.”
“That’s kind of neat.” garrison laughed, slightly shocked that he was starting to enjoy himself. “You like English or Japanese more?”
“Japanese sounds better and makes more sense.” Kiko walked towards a stand where there were maps and show times. “But English has a better range of vocabulary. I think I like Japanese more though.”
“It sounds kind of strange to me.” Garrison admitted.
“Do you know what English sounds to someone who speaks only Japanese?” Kiko asked and Garrison chuckled.
“Probably pretty bad.”
“Worse.” Kiko grabbed a map and schedule and then started to lead Garrison off. “Come on! This date seriously needs to get started!”
“Date?” Garrison did not like the sound of that. “Don’t say stuff like that! People will look at us sideways!”
Kiko rolled his eyes.” Come on, Aisha-kun! Let’s go!”
“Hey, don’t use my first name!” Garrison jogged after Kiko. “Don’t do that!”
Kiko laughed as he grabbed Garrison and pulled him to a theater. “This is the orca show. It’s one of my favorites!”
He sat down in the front row and forced Garrison to sit down next to him. The theater began to fill, but not many people were really there. Before the show started, a few men came out to sell snacks and goodies. Kiko bought a giant bag of caramel corn and two ice drinks. Garrison found himself blushing a little. He was glad that no one he knew was there otherwise him sharing a bag of caramel corn with Kiko would have appeared plain wrong. The show started and it did not take long for them to get drenched by the splashing orca and then Garrison was shocked when he was actually picked to go up and pet the orca’s smooth and rubbery side. He even got to feed it a fish, but then his hand smelt like a seaside fish market.
Kiko laughed about that for a full five minutes after the show ended. He revealed then that he had snuck his digital camera and taken a picture of Garrison feeding the orca. Garrison chuckled at the sight. He looked a little appalled with the fish dangling in his outstretched hand.
They hit a crazy water ride, figuring that they might as well get wet while they already were, and then soaked up the heat of the sun while watching the bird show. Kiko was picked this time to go up and stroke the eagle’s soft chest and then feed it a scrap of meat. Garrison took a picture with Kiko’s camera and showed it to him later. Kiko seemed enthralled by the bird’s satiny feathers.
Garrison won a teddy bear at a bottle knockdown after playing it fourteen times and loosing and then he tried for a stuffed cat at a different game, but never won. Then they slipped into the middle of the sea lion show.
After the sea lion show, Kiko was finally able to force Garrison onto a roller coaster. Garrison screamed the whole time. They bought the picture that the ride had taken. Garrison’s face was contorted in horror and restrained joy. Kiko was just exhilarated!
They charged through four more roller coaster rides and then barged into a photo shop where they could be pictured with a shark attacking a boat. They had the greatest time posing in various and hilarious positions all over the scene. Afterwards, they went through the shark exhibit and then returned to gather all of their photos. They bought every one in several different sizes and styles.
Then they ate seafood for lunch and talked about a variety of things.
“So, you’ve never been on a coaster ride before, Aisha-kun?” Kiko asked, playing with the remnants of his food.
“Never.” Garrison rubbed his head. “I’ve always been too afraid to. I don’t like heights too much, but, I’ve just figured out that, on a roller coaster, I’m going too fast to really care about how high up I am. I’m more worried about the damn thing flying off the tracks.”
Kiko chuckled. “Well, yes. I used to be the same way. I love them now. You seem to too.”
“I do.” Garrison admitted. “So, what are we going to do next?”
“Let’s go to the dolphin show and then the tiger one.” Kiko advised as he glanced over the show schedule. “Then we’ll go to that Goldmine ride that I saw. It opened only three weeks ago and I’ve been itching to go on it.”
“I don’t know about that one.” Garrison did not like the looks of the rickety wooden roller coaster. It didn’t look very stable.
“Oh, you’ll be fine.” Kiko laughed, tossing his plate and drink in the trash. “Let’s hit this show though! Okay?”
“Okay…”
Garrison aloud himself to be tugged off to the dolphin show and then to the tiger show before finding himself hollering on the Goldmine ride. He and Kiko then got henna tattoos on their hands and allowed an old man to draw a caricature of them both flaunting peace signs. After that, they snacked on cotton candy, jumped on two more rides, and fed the giraffes before deciding to end the day with a basic tour of the animals at the park.
As the sky grew dark and the two headed for the exit, Garrison had to admit that he had enjoyed himself.
“It’s kind of fun to do something random and out of the blue. “ He sighed. “I liked that. Thanks.”
“Douitashimashite, Aisha-kun.” Kiko unlocked his car and got in as Garrison followed suit.
“You keep using my first name with that dumb -kun at the end.” Garrison muttered, strapping himself in. “I don’t know much about Japanese, but don’t they use the last name when talking to someone that’s not their friend?”
Kiko laughed at Garrison as he started the car. “They use their family name! Japanese put the family name before the given name…like Garrison Aisha instead of Aisha Garrison…and, yes, by using your given name I’m being friendly. I like being your friend, Aisha-kun.”
“All right.” Garrison smiled. “But you have to be careful to only use Aisha when it’s just the two of us. No one at school knows that is my real name.”
“Oh.” Kiko smiled a little mischievously. “All right.”
“I’m serious!” Garrison yelped.
“Don’t worry.” Kiko laughed as he pulled out of the parking spot and headed for the highway home. “I’ll keep your little secret, Aisha-kun.”
Garrison blushed as he stared at Kiko through the streetlights as they bleeped through the windshield of the moving car. He looked so pleased and gentle all of a sudden. He quickly looked away and tried to focus on the lights outside as they whizzed by.
At a stoplight, Kiko turned to him. “Aisha-kun, I like you.”
“Uh?” Garrison felt his cheeks reddening even more. What did Kiko mean by that? “Oh, uh…um…I like you a little too, Kiko-kun.” He paused then quickly added, “Like a friend.” He did not want Kiko to get the wrong idea.”
“Good.” Kiko smiled and the expression radiated in the car. “Then we can hang out at school, right?”
Yes…” Garrison swallowed. “Yes, that’d be nice.”
The light turned green and Kiko screeched away from the stop.
“Easy!” Garrison jumped. “You don’t have to be such a maniac!”
“Oh.” Realization flooded Kiko’s face as he suddenly remembered that Garrison had been in a car accident that had killed his parents. He slowed down. “Sumimasen.”
“It’s okay.” Garrison breathed, resting his head on the seat.
It did not take long for them to find Garrison’s quaint house and then Garrison felt strange just leaving Kiko. It was not as if they had gone a date like Garrison would have with a girl, but he had still gone somewhere with the boy and felt like he needed to part some special way different than if he had gone out with his regular “friends.”
“Um…” Garrison tried to think of something to say. “Um…I’ll pay you back.”
“Don’t insult me!” Kiko laughed, waving off the idea. “It’s totally okay! The ticket was practically free and all that other stuff was easy since I had so many coupons!”
“I know, but…” Garrison felt uneasy.
“Just take care and let me be your friend.” Kiko reached across Garrison and opened the door on that side. Garrison’s heart leapt at the feeling of Kiko’s warm body momentarily pressed against him, but he did not know why nor did he want to. “Now, get outta here before your aunt begins to worry. It’ll be difficult to cover this one.”
“Yeah.” Garrison’s face began to heat up again as he set a foot out of the car. He grabbed the teddy bear he had won and hesitantly handed it to Kiko. “Maybe, your sister would like this or something. Or you.”
Kiko blushed. “Arigatou, Aisha-kun.”
Garrison growled out of the car and said good-bye then watched as Kiko skidded away. He took a deep shaky breath and headed for his front door. His heart was pounding and he did not know why. There was no good reason. It was not as if he had gone on a date with a girl or anything, but he could not get rid of that hyper feeling that fluttered in his chest.
When he got inside, he was not surprised that his aunt was in bed. She usually was in bed around two o’ clock in the afternoon and did not get up until eight when he was on his way out the door. He locked the door behind himself and went to his room where he quickly changed into a pair of comfy pajamas before crawling into bed. He lay there for several hours and thought about his day then he finally drifted off with Kiko’s happy voice ringing in his head: “Arigatou, Aisha-kun.”