Chapter 34 – A Date and Truths
After a while riding through the evening traffic, the city lights fading behind them, Dante finally parked at the date location. The amusement park entrance glowed with colorful neon signs, the air filled with the scent of cotton candy, popcorn, and distant fried food. Screams of excitement echoed from the roller coasters, music thumping from speakers, and families laughed as they hurried inside.
Alice looked at the place, her eyes widening with pure joy, and gave a happy smile before saying:
"Seriously? An amusement park?"
Dante looked at her, smiling warmly under the flashing lights.
"Well, I thought a lot. From our conversations and everything I managed to learn about you, I saw that you're cheerful, lively. So I thought a date at the amusement park would be better than a boring date at a restaurant or spending hours sitting in a crowded cinema watching a movie."
Dante thought quietly, watching her excited expression: And also, since you're a vampire who only drinks blood, taking my vampire girlfriend to a restaurant isn't a very good idea. That would only make her uncomfortable, having to eat human food to spit it out later because she's in a place full of people. she doesn't eat, it would be way too weird.
Alice looked at Dante thinking: And since she can't know that he knows she's a vampire, he just chose this place because it's the only one where she could have fun without eating, without looking strange in the middle of the crowd.
Alice then looked at him, smiled brightly, and said:
"Thank you. I loved your choice for our date."
Dante looked at her and, since he can't know what that "thank you" means, he also knows that she knows he's a dragon. But besides that, he also knows she wants to hear him open up and tell her because he wanted to, not because she had a vision and found out, forcing him to tell.
Dante also feels the same: he wants her to say who she is of her own free will, because she trusts him.
Alice then pulled Dante's hand enthusiastically and said:
"Well, let's have fun now."
She then pulled him to the attraction. She took him to the bottle knockdown game, the booth lit with bright bulbs, bottles stacked in neat pyramids.
Dante paid the guy and looked at the three baseballs on the booth counter and thought: So these are the ones responsible for humiliating so many boyfriends who wanted to impress their girls. What formidable opponents. Our battle will be more than legendary.
Alice looked at Dante staring at the baseballs like they were a great enemy and smiled at the scene, even more knowing Dante's identity. This scene became even funnier.
She then held his left hand tightly and said:
"I want that white fluffy dragon plush on the wall."
Dante then looked at the cute white fluffy dragon plush hanging high on the wall and said to Alice:
"Alright."
He then threw the first baseball with the strength of an ordinary human. The bottles wobbled but didn't fall.
Dante then threw the second. This time they wobbled more. And at that moment Dante, with his dragon eyes glowing faintly in the dim light, saw some wires well hidden. In the lack of good lighting, you wouldn't even notice.
Dante then threw the third with more strength, hitting the bottle perfectly, breaking the wires with a sharp snap.
The guy who was watching was shocked and stood up from his chair to look closer.
Dante looked at him and said casually:
"Dude, I want that white dragon. Get it for me."
The guy, still not knowing what happened, grabbed the dragon and handed it to Dante.
Dante looked at the cute white fluffy dragon in his hand, handed it to Alice, who hugged it tightly and smiled wide.
Dante looked at her and said:
"So, did you like it?"
She put her hand on her chin thoughtfully and said:
"I liked it. He's so cute."
Alice then looked at Dante and said:
"But I wanted a plush with a black dragon with blue markings."
Dante was shocked hearing that. He then smiled and said:
"Well, but that dragon you mentioned is too scary. I don't think he'd make a plush as cute as this one."
Alice held Dante's hand tightly and said smiling:
"It doesn't matter. Even if everyone thinks it's scary, I'll still want a plush of him. Because to me he'll always be cute and he'll protect me, right?"
Dante smiled with a tired face and said:
"Yes, you're right. He'll always protect you. So rest assured. I'll get you a plush like that."
Alice smiled and kissed him softly.
Dante also hugged her closer and returned her kiss, the park lights twinkling around them.
After a while, they separated. She said smiling:
"That was my thank you for the dragon plush."
Dante said smiling:
"If I'm going to get a kiss for each plush, be prepared to stay here until the park closes."
Alice smiled and said:
"Well, we still have a lot of places."
She then pulled Dante toward the roller coaster, the massive structure rumbling as cars zoomed overhead.
The vendor, who heard Dante saying he'd stay all night at his booth, finally came back to life when he saw them leaving, shaking his head in disbelief.
After Dante and Alice played on several attractions—laughing on the bumper cars, screaming on drops, dante cotton candy that the park was getting close to closing time, they decided to go on the last attraction: the Ferris wheel.
Sitting in the slowly rising cabin next to Alice, the city lights sparkling below like stars on the ground, Dante looked at the real starry sky above and said:
"You know, Alice, I'm a nerd. And in all the fiction works I like, I don't know why, but all the romance protagonists decide to confess to the girls they like. in this place I can't understand ? After all, if he confesses and she refuses, they're stuck in a cabin for several minutes with a horrible atmosphere in the air."
But Alice smiled gently and said:
"Well, maybe they do because they think they'd never have the courage again to open their heart if it wasn't at that moment. So they do it because they don't want to leave a regret."
Dante smiled and said:
"Well, you saying that makes what I'm going to say now seem less stupid."
Alice, smiling, said:
"So does that mean I'm going to get a love confession?"
Dante replied:
"Well, I just thought I should tell you. After all, there are certain things that, even if the person already knows, it's totally different when the person says it."
He then lay down with his head on her thighs, feeling the gentle sway of the cabin, and started talking about his secrets.
Alice, even though she already knew everything, smiled softly and listened patiently as he told it all, her fingers gently running through his hair.
Dante finished and she smiled and said:
"Well, since you were honest, I should be too."
She then started telling about being a vampire, about her past, about her gift that allows her to have visions, about how she had a vision with him for the first time.
Dante listened in silence while holding her hand tightly, the cabin reaching the top and pausing there.
After a while, she finished and said:
"Well, that's everything."
Alice then asked:
"So, what do we do now?"
Dante smiled and said:
"Well, now I ask you: Alice, will you be my girlfriend?"
Alice smiled and said:
"Yes, I accept. I don't want you stuck in a Ferris wheel cabin with a bad atmosphere."
Dante, hearing that, laughed and said:
"Then thank you very much."
Alice then lowered her face and started kissing Dante, who responded eagerly, the kiss deepening under the stars.
When things were heating up, hands wandering, an employee opened the cabin door and said:
"The ride has stopped. You need to get out."
Dante, smiling breathlessly, said:
"Well, looks like we have to continue later."
Alice replied, cheeks flushed:
"Looks like it."
They then got off the Ferris wheel, the park lights dimming as closing time approached.
Dante, seeing the park was about to close, said:
"Well, why don't we go to my house?"
Alice smiled teasingly and said:
"Well, no happy ending on this date. Even though I know about your other girls, I got really mad. So today you're going to have to sleep alone to learn."
Dante, hearing that, smiled defeated. What could he do? He was wrong.
They then got on the bike and Dante drove toward Alice's house, the cool night wind rushing past.
Alice hugged him from behind and said close to his ear:
"Just come back safe from that idiot quest of your grandfather's and we can do this, okay?"
Dante smiled and said:
"Alright."
After an hour of riding under the stars, they finally arrived at her house door.
Dante got off the bike, took the helmet off her head gently, and said while resting his forehead on hers:
"If you need help, you can say it. The dragon will always protect you, right?"
Alice, smiling softly, said:
"Yes, my cute little dragon will always protect me."
They then kissed one last time, slow and tender, before Dante got on the bike and said goodbye to her.
Alice then entered the house and came face to face with her sister Rosalie wanting to know how the date went.
On the road, Dante accelerated while thinking:
Well, it's one more responsibility for me. But I don't mind, because this will give me motivation not to let those Olympus shits end the world.
He then accelerated, because now he only had one thing to do: find Percy Jackson at Camp Half-Blood.