Happy World (6 page)

“You’re wrong. Charlie Taylor holds that title. Me? I’m invisible. I always have been. I always thought that was okay. I mean, I actually believed that if I did a good job, obeyed all the rules, then someday somebody somewhere would notice me, and I’d get a shot at doing what I really wanted to do. Now I realize I’ve just been fooling myself.” He raked Rory with a scathing look. “The truth is, some people get it all, and the rest of us get jack shit.”

Rory put up his hands as if to ward off Kyle’s angry glare. “Whoa, what did I do? If this is about getting that kid down from the bridge, I already apologized for breaking the rules, remember? I thought we were cool about it.”

“It’s not about that. Well, it is, but that isn’t all of it. Charlie Taylor complained that you hit on him, and then embarrassed him when he shot you down.”

The indignant laugh Rory barked said it all. “That’s ridiculous. He came on to me, and then he insulted you! You were there -- you heard everything.”

“I know. I told my boss the same thing, but it didn’t matter. Charlie Taylor is the Happy World golden boy. His character brings in the big bucks, and his face has become synonymous with the character. As far as the Powers That Be are concerned, his word is gospel, and everyone else better grab a pew in the Church of Charlie, or else.”

“That fucking sucks, man.” For a minute, Rory looked as if he were ready to punch somebody. His face darkened, and his lip curled over his teeth. Kyle fought the urge to take a step back. “What’s that got to do with you? It was me he was complaining about. You didn’t do anything to him.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m your trainer. Whatever you do wrong looks bad for me. So please, whatever you do, follow the rules from here on out, okay? This job may not mean much to you, but it does to me. Next week ends your training period. After that, you can pierce your nose, tattoo your forehead, and run naked through Fairytale Land for all I care.”

“Yeah, sure, sure. Whatever you say, boss,” Rory said. “Shit. I can’t believe Taylor is such an asshole.”

“I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen,” Kyle said. He looked away for a minute, then looked back. “Listen, Rory. You need to watch your back. Charlie has it in for you because you blew him off. Going to his boss was just a warning.”

Rory snorted. “I’m a grown-ass man, Kyle. I’m not afraid of Charlie Taylor. Bring it on. In the meantime, I’m going to be a textbook employee. Oh, and one other thing -- you’re not invisible. I can see you just fine.”

Kyle blinked. Was that a sudden flash of heat he saw in Rory’s eyes? Don’t be stupid. He’s just mad about Charlie.

“At least promise me you’ll stay away from him until your training is over. I just don’t need anymore grief, okay?”

To his relief, Rory nodded, even though Kyle got the feeling Rory’s heart wasn’t in it. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”

Somehow, even though Kyle was sure he’d misread Rory’s heated look, and had doubts about Rory keeping the promise to steer clear of Charlie, he still felt a little better about the situation, and even managed to summon up a smile. “Come on. There are trash cans in Wild West Land with our names on them.”

They walked along in companionable silence for a while, following the brown line on the wall leading to Wild West Land. One sentence kept spinning round and round through Kyle’s head. “You’re not invisible,” Rory had said. “I can see you just fine.”

He knew Rory was just being pleasant at best, or at worst, sucking up so Kyle would be more lenient the next time Rory screwed up, but it was still nice to hear. He glanced at Rory out of the corner of his eye. For a moment, Kyle let himself wonder what it would be like if that fiery flash he thought he saw in Rory’s eyes earlier was real, and was meant for him.

Rory was smoking hot, but more than that, he was intelligent, funny, and even if he drove Kyle batty most of the time, Kyle had to admit working with him made the day fly by. Kyle knew that if Rory ever showed the least bit of interest in him, Kyle would either drop dead from shock, or throw Rory to the ground and have at him right there and then, and screw the rules. Not that it would ever happen in Kyle’s lifetime, but man, it was nice to dream.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t cool to fantasize while on the job. His cock was already pressing against the zipper of his white costume pants, which weren’t entirely opaque to begin with. One drop of precome seeping through his underwear would bleed directly through the cotton-polyester material, leaving a stain that would make it plain Kyle was just a little too happy, even for Happy World.

He had to stop thinking about Rory, and in particular, Rory’s body. A glint of metal on Rory’s wrist caught his eye, and he jumped at the chance to take his mind off his salacious thoughts. “Rory, I told you before about that bracelet. You can’t wear it onstage. Take it off and put it in your pocket.”

Rory huffed, but made no move to take the bracelet off.

Kyle frowned and stopped walking. “Rory? Did you hear me?”

“I did. I’m not taking it off. I can’t.”

“What do you mean, ‘you can’t’?” Kyle asked, feeling his erection wane as his temper rose. “You have to! It’s against the rules, and you just promised to--”

Rory stuck his wrist in Kyle’s face. “It’s a medical alert bracelet, okay? I’m diabetic. Are you satisfied? You know, you should think about taking your nose out of that fucking rule book once in a while. We’re people, not animatronics, Kyle. Sometimes, the rules don’t fucking apply.”

Kyle felt himself flush. How could he have been so stupid? You know how. You never bothered to look at the bracelet. You just assumed Rory was breaking the rules again. “I... I’m sorry, man. If you’d just told me in the beginning--”

“I don’t talk about it with strangers. Frankly, it was none of your fucking business, Kyle. It still isn’t,” Rory retorted.

Kyle watched Rory walking away with stiff, angry strides toward the entrance to Wild West Land. Jeeze, can you ever open your mouth without sticking your big, fat foot in it?

Then again, how was I supposed to know Rory would be so sensitive about his condition? If he’d just told me it was a medical alert bracelet, I never would’ve questioned it again.

As he slowly followed Rory to Wild West Land, Kyle wondered if he’d ever get Roarke Stafford figured out.

Chapter Six

He’d overreacted and now Rory was even more pissed than he’d been a minute ago. He knew he should slow down and wait for his trainer, but he couldn’t make himself stop.

What the fuck did it matter if Kyle saw him as anything more than a problem he had to fix? Rory wasn’t here to make friends, and he sure as shit didn’t care if Kyle took the time to see Rory as a person, not a Trainee. Rory had plenty of friends, and none of them were as strait-laced and uptight as Kyle Forester.

None of them had eyes quite that warm shade of brown, either. Or hair that looked soft enough to make Rory want to run his fingers through it.

Wait, what? He wasn’t thinking of Kyle that way, was he? One little shower fantasy was hardly enough to make Rory go all warm and fuzzy over the guy. But here he was, waxing poetic over the shade of Kyle’s fucking eyes, of all things.

Maybe that’s why he was so mad. Okay, this was stopping now, then. Rory had heard enough psycho-babble from his mother to know that anger was just a sure sign of stronger, hidden feelings. Cut out the anger and the other stuff should go away, right?

Rory stopped short and Kyle nearly walked right into him. Rory hadn’t realized Kyle was so close on his heels; he must have hurried to catch up with Rory.

He forced a smile. “Hey. Sorry for snapping. I’m tired, it’s hot, the usual. We cool?”

Kyle regarded him with an unreadable expression. “Sure,” he said slowly. “We’re cool. Sorry I harassed you about your bracelet. I… I wish I had known what it was.”

“Now you do.” Rory shrugged and held up his wrist. “Had diabetes since I was a kid. Used to be embarrassed by it, especially since I’ve always had to wear this thing. As a teenager, I wore it as an anklet for a while so I could hide it better. Now I don’t care.”

“Uh-huh.” Kyle studied the bracelet from where he was but made no move to see it close up. “Okay, well. Sorry again.” He seemed subdued and unwilling to meet Rory’s eyes.

Rory made himself grin. “No problem. It’s over. So, Wild West Land? What’s our mission here?” If he steered the conversation back around to work, they’d both be safe. And besides, he was feeling slightly guilty for almost getting Kyle fired. The least Rory could do was pretend to be a good boy until next week.

“We need to start at the Buffalo Bill Shootin’ Gallery. From there, we’ll do a clockwise sweep of the area before lunch.” Kyle sounded more sure of himself when in trainer mode.

“Lead on, boss.”

Kyle did just that, winding his way through the Happy World guests that populated the western-themed land. There seemed to be an abundance of cowboys and pioneers that were dressed in “authentic” Old West wear, as well as a wide stretch of riverfront that was home to the Park’s steam powered riverboat, Old Glory. Rory thought he might like this land the best, especially when they passed an impromptu gun fight between a cowboy and a sheriff.

They came around the corner of a merchandise store selling coonskin caps and the like, and there, standing amidst a crowd of eager tourists with autograph books, was Charlie Taylor.

No, no. Daniel, not Charlie. He was in character as Daniel, which Rory thought was kind of weird over here in Wild West Land. Daniel the Dragon Slayer didn’t really fit the Wild West theme.

Rory said as much to Kyle. “What’s he doing over here? Isn’t Daniel more of a Fairy Tale Land dude?” Not like it really mattered; Rory saw Happy Hamster all over the Park, so it stood to reason that they all just roamed through whatever land they were told to be in.

He looked behind him to see if Kyle had heard the question and found Kyle partially hidden by the corner of the merchandise store. The look on his face was not what Rory would call thrilled. “Maybe we should go the other way.”

Rory could feel his brow go up. “Seriously? Why? Because of that d--” He successfully cut himself off before the rest of the word “douchebag” could pass his lips. “Dork?” he finished.

“I don’t want to cause any more trouble.” Kyle nibbled on his bottom lip and glanced worriedly at Charlie. “There’s been enough.”

Rory leaned against the artificial logs that made up the side of the store and studied Kyle closely. “Your whole life has been about avoiding trouble, hasn’t it.” Rory didn’t phrase it as a question.

“What’s wrong with that?”

Rory shrugged, not caring if the movement made his white costume shirt rub against the wall. “Didn’t say anything was wrong with it. Just trying to get a better handle on you.”

Kyle looked startled. “Why?”

Rory wouldn’t mind knowing the answer to that, himself. Probably better to ignore the question. Instead, he pushed off of the wall and twirled his broom around a couple of times. “Come on. We’re just doing our jobs, right?”

“I… guess.” Kyle looked as if he’d rather slide into a crack between the logs, but he straightened up as well. “Yeah. Just doing our jobs.”

“Then let’s do it.” Without giving Kyle another chance to slink off in a different direction, Rory headed straight for the walkway where Charlie was signing autographs in his crowd of admirers.

The autograph thing was another one of those Happy World traditions that Rory didn’t understand. Every merchandise store sold little blank books for the bargain price of $6.95 -- Happy World truly believed there was a sucker born every minute -- and Rory had seen not only children carrying these things around, but adults as well.

Rory and Kyle hovered around the edge of the crowd, sweeping up the inevitable garbage the excited guests were dropping in their haste to get closer to Daniel and his breeches. “So, what’s the deal with the adults and the autograph books?” Rory asked, sweeping up some popcorn. “I get why the kids want one, but their parents too?”

“Collector’s item.” Kyle picked up a bit of paper with his claw, but kept his back to the crowd in what seemed to be an effort to stay anonymous in case Charlie looked up.

Rory frowned. “How is that considered a collector’s item? Every single freaking kid in this Park can get Daniel’s autograph. And their moms can, too.”

“Sure,” Kyle agreed. “Daniel makes an appearance at least once a day. But have you seen Henrietta Hamster?”

Henrietta was billed as Happy Hamster’s girlfriend, and she was easy enough to find in the television cartoons that Happy World produced on a mass basis. Rory had seen plenty of little girls wearing pink T-shirts imprinted with Henrietta’s fuzzy face. But he couldn’t recall ever seeing the hamster costume roaming the Park. “I guess not.”

“Right. She only comes out two or three times a year, usually at holiday time. Getting her autograph is a big deal.”

“But what do they do with it? Sell it online or something?” Rory couldn’t figure it out.

Kyle shrugged and picked up another piece of litter. “Some might, I guess. But most people keep them so they can brag about it on the message boards.”

“Message boards?”

“That’s what I hear,” Kyle mumbled. His cheeks were stained pink, and Rory watched him concentrate hard on making sure he got every kernel of spilled popcorn.

Rory stepped closer, a real grin creasing his face. “Kyle?” he teased. “Do you have Henrietta’s autograph?”

Kyle didn’t answer. Instead, he kept his back to Rory and continued to study the ground intently for trash.

Rory stepped closer. “Kyle. Who else’s autograph do you have?” He followed Kyle’s broom with his own, pushing little pieces of paper out of reach so Kyle would be forced to pay attention to Rory instead. “Huh? Do you have… Floppy?” Floppy was a sweet little brown rabbit that often followed Happy Hamster on his many adventures. One ear flopped over in an endearing fashion, and even Rory thought he was kind of cute.

Kyle snorted and Rory thought he might have detected a bit of laughter. “Floppy isn’t a rare character. You can see him a couple of times a week. And he makes appearances over at the Rabbit Warren in Fairy Tale Land.”