Bumpy Road

Chapter 15

Kathy's POV:

My stomach is going to burst with the nerves I'm feeling, and it's all because of Jesse.

I feel like this is a cruel joke from Jesse. He's still his old self, and he's pretending to be nice to me, and he's been kissing me on purpose so that I will develop feelings for him and just when I get the courage to tell him how I feel, he's going to laugh at me and say that this was all a cruel joke and that he would never love someone like me. This would be his famous prank.

I felt my stomach churn at the horrid thought.

I want to believe I'm wrong.

It took us half a day to arrive at our next destination, which meant that I had twelve hours of thinking up different scenarios and feeling sick to my stomach from the worry.

Zack parked the car outside of the hotel, and we all got out of the car. The boys took our stuff out from the car while I held onto my stomach and continued to overanalyse the situation between me and Jesse.

Cleo looked around the street, and she was giddy with excitement. I followed Cleo's gaze, and all my nerves disappeared when I saw the festival.

Music filled the air as dancers moved smoothly through the crowd to the beat of the music. In the center of the street, there were performers of every type. There were jugglers and puppeteers, mime artists, and dancers. Wherever I looked, there were painted faces and masks. Food sellers waved at the crowd, and the aroma of their food perfumed the air. The women looked beautiful in their costumes. They were the colours of Rio, bold yellows, turquoise, chartreuse, and emerald red. The sequins from the costumes sparkled in the brilliant afternoon sun, and there were feathers of every colour sewn to the beautiful costumes.

The street looked extra beautiful with the yellow and orange-tinted light from the sky hitting the grass, the pavement, and the people. The night sky will arrive soon and join the party, and that's when the festival will become even more magical with the dark sky contrasting with the bright and colourful colours of the festival and people.

"Whoa!" Cleo and I said.

"We're at a street festival!"

"Let's go and join the festival!" Cleo said. She was about to run towards the crowd when Zack grabbed her hand.

"You're not going anywhere."

She turned to look at him. "Huh? Why not?!"

"You have to help me take our suitcases into the hotel."

"What about Kathy and Jesse?"

"They are going to go to the festival, and you're going to help me."

"What?! That's not fair!"

I felt a hand grasp mine. I glanced at the hand and then at the owner.

Jesse was smiling at me.

My heart sped up at the sight of him.

"Let's go."

I didn't respond as I let Jesse take me towards the festival.

Jesse and I held hands as we walked through the crowd. I stared at the dusty ground because I had a blush on my cheeks.

I'm happy that Jesse is holding my hand, but I don't think he can tell. It's under the surface and mixed with some anxiety. I'm not used to the combination. I'm afraid of what my new feelings are towards Jesse, but at the same time, I feel excited for these feelings.

"Two corn dogs, please," I heard Jesse say.

I glanced up and looked at the stall. The man behind the stall handed the corn dogs to Jesse, and he gave me one of the corn dogs.

"Your treat for being able to eat junk food again," Jesse said with a smile.

There's something about his expression that makes me truly smitten by his smile.

I smiled shyly and took the corn dog from his hand. "Thank you."

I took a bite and savoured the flavour. A happy sigh escaped through my nose.

"Happy?"

"Very."

Jesse chuckled and ate his corn dog. I stole a glance at him when he wasn't looking. He looked at me and caught me. Jesse raised an eyebrow and extended his arm and brushed his thumb on my bottom lip.

I blushed.

"There." He removed his thumb and said, "You had something on your lip."

Without thinking, I brushed my thumb over Jesse's bottom lip and felt my heart harshly banging inside of my chest.

I removed my thumb, and we both locked eyes. We stared at one another for a moment before we started laughing.

Jesse grabbed my hand again and said, "Let's go and look around."

Once we laughed, I felt relaxed and started to have fun at the festival.

Jesse and I did all sorts of things together. We watched the performers juggle, sing, and dancers, and we saw stilt walkers perform with the singers. We ate different types of foods from the stalls. Jesse let the face painters decorate his arm with different shapes and swirls with lots of colours, and I let them paint flowers on both of my arms with pastel colours. We let the face painter paint our faces with flowers and swirls on our temples. I loved our new look. We looked like a pair of teenagers having one of the best nights of our lives, and we were.

The festival got busier once it turned dark, so Jesse and I took a break from the festival and left. We were next to a tree, blowing bubbles and laughing with each other.

"Bubbles are fun," I said as I blew another bubble.

"Bubbles can always lift your mood."

"Always." I looked away from the bubbles and asked, "What did you enjoy the most at the festival?"

"Mm... I do like the paint we got on our arms."

I smiled. "Me, too!"

"What did you enjoy the most at the festival?"

"The food."

Jesse laughed. "I should have known."

As I was smiling brightly at him, I noticed his lips, and my stomach knotted up at the thought of having those lips pressed against mine.

This wasn't good. I'm not supposed to have these thoughts about him, but I couldn't help myself. I was longing for Jesse.

I sighed to myself.

I can't cope with these mixed feelings, the confusion, and the never-ending questions anymore. I needed to talk to Jesse now about our kiss.

"Jesse."

Jesse didn't respond to me. He was staring at the dark sky behind me for a second before grabbing my shoulders and turning me around.

"What the— Oh..."

The once clear sky was now replaced with hundreds of lanterns. The lanterns were illuminated like stars against the inky black night.

"Whoa..."

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me close to their chest. I recognised the colourful swirls on one of the arms. My stomach fluttered at the feeling of my back pressed against his torso. I leaned back, accepting the gesture, and we stayed like that and watched the lanterns.

I had been hugged before, but never like this. There was something so warm—something that felt right. The feeling of Jesse being so close to me soothed me more than I had expected. In this embrace, I felt my anxiety fading and being replaced by a new feeling—a feeling I'm not familiar with.

I'm afraid to admit to myself just what my feelings are.

I felt him brush my hair back with his fingers. I turned my head and looked at his features, and my eyes trailed down to his lips. His lips are beautiful, but it's the feel of them that sends my mind into a sensual state of intoxication. Without a second thought, I stepped on my toes and kissed him.