𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 - 𝐿.𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑏𝑦

4.

Lee is such a good guy.

He decided to take me up in his balloon while we were traveling.

"So, how does this thing work?" I asked as he led me inside.

"Well, it's complicated-" I decided to cut him off there.

"Then I don't want to know. My brain can't handle complicated things, sorry." I answered.

"It's alright." He climbed up on the rim of the balloon and looked out at the distance.

"Be careful!" I said. He better not fall off this balloon. I thought. I bet he's done this a million times. I don't have to worry. I don't think so.

"I'll be fine. I'm just checking the view. I get a better sight from up here." He leaned out more. God, that's scary and it isn't even me. He really has a lot of courage. He jumped back down and grabbed another pole in the middle of the balloon. He was really good at this.

"Do you want to try?" Lee asked me, his face really close to mine.

"Oh, no. I could never. I'm dreadfully afraid of heights. I wouldn't even try." I said, sitting on the seat by the edge of the balloon. I wouldn't dare look down.

"Well, it wasn't that good of an idea to become friends with an aeronaut." He stuck out his hand. "Come on. I'll teach you. It'll be fun." He smiled and I took his hand. He led me to the middle of the balloon and grabbed the silver bar that he swung on before. He took my hand and pulled me up. His hand was warmer than mine. Magnus followed me from behind as he fluttered onto one of the poles.

Oh jeez. He better catch me. Why am I so scared? It's just a little drop.

"What if the balloon tips when I jump? I mean, I'm not that heavy, but what if I mess something up and make us go off track. What if I die?"

"You'll be fine. First, you're not going to die. Two, I'm much heavier than you, by the looks of it, and I don't move the balloon at all. If you would have let me explain to you how the balloon works before, we wouldn't have this problem." Lee laughed and moved closer behind me.

"Sorry, I just can't handle math. It's another one of my fears." I said, looking out at the horizon. It was beautiful.

"Now come on, want me to jump down to catch you?" Lee asked, going next to me, his foot hanging over the edge. I trusted him.

"Of course. I'll need that." He jumped down when I finished my sentence and stood under me.

"Ready to jump in-" He started, but I cut him off.

"Wait! I'm not ready." I said, moving my foot back and forth, getting ready to jump. If he makes me jump off the balloon into the sky next, I'm gonna kill him. He waited and looked at me. He seemed patient. Like, really patient and polite. He's a really good friend. "Okay, I'm ready. Wait, why are we making such a big deal out of this? I can't believe I'm so scared of jumping down less than three feet. I'm so pathetic."

"Don't worry about it. Once you do it a few times, you'll be a natural." Lee answered.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and jumped down. My feet hit the floor of the balloon softly as his pair of hands wrapped around my waist. I giggled and he smiled at me. "That-that wasn't so bad, actually. I shouldn't have made such a big deal out of it. Sorry."

"Like I said," he responded, turning him to look at me, "don't worry about it. I remember when I was afraid of heights. The last thing I'd ever thought I'd do would be an aeronaut. I grew up in a family of people who loved to be in the heights and loved the sight of the sky, but I wasn't one of them." He sat down on the balloon bench, right where I was before. "Then, my mother took me up in a balloon, without my fathers permission of course. I realized, being in the sky wasn't so bad. Once I learned I wasn't going to die, I loved it." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Why couldn't she take the balloon without your fathers permission?" I asked, sitting down next to him. I became very intrigued by this story. If he knew about my life, then I think I should have the right to know about his.

"My father," he paused, "my father wasn't the nicest guy, kind of like yours. He hit me a bunch, and whatever. I- I don't like talking about it." He leaned back and continued to smoke his cigarette, occasionally puffing out bunches of smoke. I found that good looking. He looked really bad ass, honestly.

"Sorry that I asked." I said, twiddling with my fingers.

"It's fine, Y/N. It's okay. You were curious and I understand." I am still curious. What did his father do to him? Is his father still alive? "Now I have to check to see if we're still on course. You can jump around a bit if you'd like, I don't mind, now that you enjoy it." He threw his cigarette out of the balloon and got up. Hester followed him to the control panel.

"I really don't feel like it. I don't want to get sick." Get sick? What was I talking about? How the hell would I get sick?

"Get sick- okay. You just relax. I'll get us back on course." Then the balloon suddenly shifted to the right. I looked out at the horizon again and saw the group of Gyptians rolling carts and their supplies up steep hills.

"How come we aren't down there?" I asked.

"Because John told us that he needs someone up high, or two, for that matter, up high so we can check our surroundings."

"But, how do we tell them?" I sat next to Lee as he still worked the control panel, pulling levels and smacking compass looking thingies.

He looked at me for a second and clicked his tongue. "No one told me about that. But don't worry we'll be fine. No one is going to try and kill us."

"If you say so." I laughed and turned back to the sky. He better not be lying to me. If he jinxes something bad, I won't be happy with him.

I focused back at the sky. I know that I'm looking at it so much, but I can't stop mentioning how beautiful it is. The mixes of the yellows and oranges blend perfectly together.

I looked at Lee. His back. I couldn't stop looking at it. The leather jacket reflected perfectly well with it. I shook my head to stop fantasizing.

No. I can't fall in love again. I did once and it wasn't pretty. I hated it. I doubt it would be much better with just a friend of mine. I bet he would friend zone me anyway, I mean, look at me. He turned around, looked at me and smiled.

Yup. I'm falling in love.