THEFT - (A Chris Brown Fan Fiction Love Story)

Chapter 33

Life's like an elevator; you have to stop to let people off on your way up. You can't always control who comes in and out of your life - and you lose some and gain some.

I want to forget that Stephanie and Arthur ever boarded the elevator. I certainly don't want to pick them back up on another level. But Chris has invited them to come with us to wherever he's planned. We're in the car right now, with Chris driving, Arthur in the front passenger seat and Stephanie and I in the back. Chris had insisted on Arthur sitting next to him. Probably because he wants Stephanie and I to bond more.

I wish I could be somewhere else. Just Chris and I on a road trip or something. I don't want to be sat next to a hideous brute disguised by bows and frills. I don't even want to breathe the same air as her. But she's just another disgusting character I've come across in my life that I shouldn't pay any attention to, even if that means completely ignoring her when I'm in the same car as her. I don't care what she thinks of me because I don't care about her.

"Looking forward to our outing, Faye?" she says in the cheeriest expression I have ever heard.

Oh, has nothing happened between us, you stupid bitch? Acting like everything's cool?

I bite my lip until it starts to hurt.

Then I bite my tongue.

I really feel like telling her what I'm thinking but I don't want to show that she's got to me. So, after biting my lip and tongue, I distract myself by talking to Chris.

"Where are we going?" I ask him, looking in the wing mirror at him. I can still never quite believe that I'm actually going out with Chris. He's so handsome; so beautiful. I skim his tattooed arms and smile when I come across my favourite tattoo.

"It's a surprise," he grins, returning a look back to me via the wing mirror.

"I don't like surprises," I tell him, pouting.

"Too bad. It's staying a surprise."

"Surprises are the best. The unknown always leaves me excited," Stephanie says.

I look out of the window at the setting sun. Its orange, warm glow reminds me of the view from Michael's office the other day - apart from there are no skyscrapers here. It's still pretty, though. The sky is beginning to darken and the trees are slowly becoming silhouettes, giving the scene a movie feel.

And having the tension between Stephanie and I would be so good in a movie, don't you think?

"Faye, how's work going?" Arthur asks me.

"Fine, thanks," I grunt. "Chris, are we nearly there? We've been driving forever."

Chris doesn't reply and I groan in my head when Arthur continues conversing with me.

"What projects are you doing?"

"This and that," I inform him dismissively. "Chris?"

"About ten minutes, Faye."

I sit in silence for the rest of the journey. I can feel Stephanie's eyes glance piercingly at me every now and again. Stupid bitch.

"We're here," Chris says fifteen minutes later. I hadn't realised until now that I'd had my eyes closed and I open them quickly as the car engine stops. "Well, what do you think, Faye?"

Wow. WOW.

A hot air balloon ride?!

It looks incredible. There are so many hot air balloons here, all fastened to the ground currently, and the now pink sky towers over them in an endearing kind of way... like a huge, beautiful safety blanket. It looks so romantic.