outside

chapter 15

"Woah, you okay there, love?" Van asked, grabbing my arm so I didn't fall.

"Yeah, I'm just terrible at walking in heels." I chuckled, stopping abruptly to take them off. Van raised his eyebrows at me and gave me a look as I continued down the streets barefooted.

"What?" I asked.

"You can't walk down the streets like that!" He hollered.

"Why not? It beats walking in these shoes!" I fought back, holding the death traps up in emphasis.

"You're going to cut your feet. Oi, jump on!" Van crouched down in front of me, his arms swung behind him, ready to catch me.

"Are you seriously offering me a piggy back ride?" I laughed.

"Dead serious, now get on." He insisted. I sighed and hopped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and clasping my hands together on his chest. His arms slid under my thighs and I instantly blushed at the contact. My skin burned everywhere that he had touched. I'm not really sure why, though, since I was wearing jeans and he didn't even touch my bare skin.

"Are you sure about this? I'm not exactly light..." I questioned. He guffawed.

"Are you bloody serious? It's like carrying my five year old cousin on my back!"

"Hey, love birds! Wait up, would ya?" Benji hollered from behind us, interrupting our squabbling. Van stopped walking and turned around to wait for the rest of them.

"We've got about an hour left before we have to leave. Do yous want to go to a pub or somethin'?" Bondy asked, his right arm snaked around Maddie's tiny waist. My heart dropped at his words. An hour. One single hour before I wouldn't see Van or the lads ever again, probably. They'd forget all about me by the time the rest of the two month tour was up.

"What if we go somewhere else? I'm getting tired of pubs, ya see." Larry offered. I snapped out of my solemn daze and glanced around the streets, trying to find something to do. My eyes landed upon a gelato shop across the street and I instantly became excited.

"Can we go get gelato?" I asked, squealing a bit. Gelato was freakin' delicious.

"What's that?" Van asked me. I gasped.

"Oh my gosh, you don't know what gelato is?" I questioned. How could he not know?

"Nope, never heard of it." He shrugged.

"We have to go get some now. It's one of the best things ever, my grandpa used to make it homemade." My grandpa was quite the chef, if you couldn't tell.

"If that's what you want then, love." Van replied, running across the street.

"Van!" I squealed as he picked up speed, afraid he was going to drop me. I tightened my grip around him while he laughed as he ran, setting me down once we reached the other side.

"I wouldn't let you fall, Kat. Ever." He said, staring into my eyes. I felt as if he meant something different but I was too shy to speak up and ask, so instead I looked down at the ground and blushed. The others eventually caught up, being smart enough to go find a crosswalk before crossing the busy street, and we walked into the gelato shop together. Instantly all of the different scents of sugary cream filled my nose and I inhaled deeply.

"God, I love that smell." I said as I walked over to the counter, staring at all of the different flavors.

"This looks exactly like ice cream." Van snorted next to me, clearly not impressed with what he saw.