Chapter Text
Mandy
She never liked the way roller coasters ended. Like a movie that didn't conclude the plot or a relationship with no closure, it always seemed like roller coasters halted as abruptly as her flooring the brakes on a stop sign.
The back of her head hit the seat hard as the cart reached the boarding conveyor again.
"Stay in your seats until your seat belts have been released. Exit to your right, ladies and gentlemen."
She clipped the belt off first and bounced to the ground. Regretting it only after she was hit with a wave of vertigo. She stumbled to her right, idly joining her friends' conversation.
"See Kenya? It was fun." Mae said.
Kenya fluffed her thick curls and shrugged. "It was actually not that bad."
"Yeah." Mandy agreed, still woozy.
Phoebe, pumped, took the lead and ran ahead. "Riding front row was the best! Lets do it again."
The three girls exchanged shrugs because they still had a lot of time to go considering this was the first ride they've been on. Phoebe was the birthday-girl after all. They turned into the ride again path, "We should try blue now."
"That was crazy." Kenya shimmied her body, trying to get it loose again from holding on so tightly.
"Nah," Mandy said, "You should've seen it back then, when both dragons actually dueled."
Mae whipped her head back. "What do you mean?"
Mandy looked around, "Before they made the whole Harry Potter park, this ride used to send both dragons at the same time and they used to barely touch while riding."
"What?" Kenya gasped.
"That's crazy." Phoebe agreed.
"Why'd they change it?" Mae asked.
"Because-" Mandy froze as she caught glimpse of his face, his goddamn face. He was right in front of her friends, waiting in line with his family- new, family. She couldn't believe it, didn't want to. Of all the people she thought she'd see at Universal, her dad was the last.
"Hello? Mandy?" Mae waved a hand in front of her, "C'mon you're holding up the line."
Mandy followed her friends for the four steps the line had shortened, keeping her hands on the plastic walls to guide her in the dimly lit cave.
"So?" Kenya prodded, displeased with her flightiness.
"What?" Mandy furrowed her brows, hoping they wouldn't notice her dad right in front of them.
"Why did they change Dueling Dragons?" Mandy sighed in relief that they were still oblivious. She looked at the back of his head, recognizing his full head of hair easily.
Right as she was about to answer, his hair wished around his craned neck to answer them. He always was the friendly type.
"It's because of a few accidents they had before, people were getting hit while they met." He explained, eyeing the shorter girl's Afro for too long.
"Hey you look familiar," He looked at Mae and Phoebe next to her, "Do I know you girls from somewhere?"
All her friends were speechless, Phoebe could only point behind her to Mandy, who was staring at her dirty vans as hard as she could.
"Amanda?" He whispered softly.
No one called her by her first name except for her father. She took her eyes off her shoes and met his tired eyes. He looked older, lines around his eyes and creased forehead setting in gradually. She couldn't remember the last time she saw him like that.
She gave a thin smile and a nod. "What's up dad?"
His young daughters looked at their mom, who stared Mandy down.
"Hi Danielle." Mandy waved, trying to act unaffected.
"Hello Amanda." She bit back, holding her beloved children with both arms. Mandy didn't bother saying hello to his daughters. She didn't know the youngest one that much and the oldest was a dumb bitch anyway.
Her dad cleared his throat, "Claire, Emily, this is Amanda."
The youngest one, Emily, peeked out from behind her mom's leg, "Hi Amanda."
She smiled, she liked her more than the other one already. "Hi Claire."
"Hey, uh, Amanda." Claire chewed the inside of her lip, fumbling with her long pony tail.
Mandy nodded again. "Hey Claire."
Her friends behind her stayed quiet in understanding of the uncomfortable meet up. Her dad looked like he was gonna say something more when his wife tapped his shoulder. "Sean, come on, the line."
He looked back at his very first daughter, who only shrugged, "See ya later dad."
"Goodbye Amanda." His wife answered for him, giving her that accusing whore-daughter look.
And again her dad had abandoned her for his new wife and kids.
Sean
He told himself that the unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach was from the anxiety. He was about to ride a roller coaster. When they took their seats his wife made sure to sit a seat away from him, obviously still annoyed by his daughter.
Amanda.
God Almighty, how did she grow up so fast? He stopped seeing her and her mother when he decided to get married to Danielle. And when Claire was born he lost touch completely. But how long had it been? He remembered seeing her everyday during middle school, he was one of the deans. Back then with her untamed rusty waves and freckled cheeks. Now she'd transformed into, much to his chagrin, a beautiful young lady. Just like her mother.
Sure Amanda didn't have Melinda's bright orange tendrils or green eyes. But she came out pretty nicely. His daughters always did.
When the ride was over, his kids wanted to eat. Even after paying for an overpriced lunch of hot dogs for his family, his stomach still flipped. He caught himself from looking too obvious when he was silently searching for Amanda. His wife noticed anyway.
He cleared his throat, "Emily, why don't we go on the carousel?"
He lied to himself, letting himself go all the way across the park just to reach Seuss Landing. He did it for his kid daughter Emily, not another excuse to look for his teenage daughter.
While Claire listlessly rode the carousel with her little sister, Danielle pressed a piece of cotton candy on her tongue. "Let her go already, she's all grown up."
"Yeah." He kept his eyes on his new daughters. Wondering how long it'd really been since Amanda was born.