THEFT - (A Chris Brown Fan Fiction Love Story)

Chapter 33

I get out of the car and open Chris' door. He's so thoughtful - and although I am still seething slightly that Arthur and Stephanie are here, I'm not going to let either of them ruin tonight for us.

Tonight is our night.

I position myself on his lap and kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He kisses me back and we transport ourselves into our own little paradise. A paradise which Arthur and Stephanie are banned from entering and are legally bound to comply with the prohibition.

They can go fuck themselves as far as I'm concerned.

I rest my head on Chris' chest. "Are we actually going on one of those hot air balloons?"

"Yeah," he whispers as he looks down at me. "You scared?"

"No. Because I'll be with you."

He kisses my head.

If we die, we die together. Ha.

Chris gently pushes me off. "Let's go."

I get up and I instantly feel Stephanie's eyes on me.

Whatever.

She takes Arthur's hand in hers and begins to walk over to the hot air balloons. I wait for Chris to get out of the car and we then follow them.

As we approach the balloons, they seem to be enlarging every second. They're so big and I wouldn't be surprised if they had difficulty taking off. The fields that they're stationary in are surrounded by really tall trees, making me wonder if the balloons have ever got stuck in them before.

"I'm sorry I invited them," Chris says to me. "I thought it would be fun but I guess I was wrong."

"Don't worry about them. It's not like they'll be in the same one as us."

"Yeah, I only booked one hot air balloon. I've had it booked for a while."

"What? They're riding with us?!" I ask, horrified. I can't bare to think of Stephanie glaring at me for that long. And she'll throw me off the basket.

"Yep," Chris smiles sympathetically. "I didn't realise you weren't friendly with Arthur anymore."

I nod. "He's a dick."

"I wouldn't go that far," Chris defends him. "And I booked it before Stephanie turned into a bitch. I had it booked while you were still in hospital - and I'd even talked to the nurses about taking you out in your wheelchair if you were still admitted."

Now that's cute.

I take Chris' hand and we quicken our pace to catch up with Stephanie and Arthur, who are already stood underneath all of the balloons.

"Faye, this is amazing! It's so beautiful!" Stephanie squeals.

Shut up.

Chris talks to the member of staff and then gestures for us to get on one of the balloons. Chris and I get into the basket with ease. However, Stephanie starts apparently having a 'panic attack' (which, for the record, is absolute bullshit because I started getting them when I was 16 and I know what a real panic attack looks like) because she's scared of heights and Arthur doesn't know what to do with her.

"Stephanie -"

"No, Arthur! I'm scared! I don't want to go on!"

"But -"

"Just give me a minute, Arthur. Then I'll find some courage from somewhere."

Chris and I glance at each other. He can tell that it's just an act as well.

Suddenly, Stephanie is fine and they both, as well as the hot air balloon operator, get into the basket.

"It's going up already!" Stephanie screams like a child.

I really don't know how Arthur manages to put up with her.

Chris wraps one arm around me as the balloon slowly leaves the ground and swings slightly and gently into the night sky. We move to the other side of the basket in order to get away from Stephanie and Arthur and, when we become motionless, I feel his lips against mine.

"I love you," I whisper, kissing him back.

"I love you too."

"Chris, I need to tell you something," I admit. "It's not exactly bad - but you need to know about it."

"What is it?" he inquires, concerned.

"I'm beginning the divorce process with James. Jonah's a lawyer so I was talking to him yesterday. He's going to be representing me in court."

I can't see Chris' face, because the night's pitch black now, but I can tell there's some kind of expression on it. It could be a grin - or it could be a frown. All I see is his silhouette nod.

I change the subject. "It's beautiful up here."

"Agreed."

The balloon's flames pick up and I can see Chris' face now. He's observing the starry sky and has his free arm resting on the basket's edge in a very calm way.

He coughs. "Do you think we'll get married one day?"

I smile. "I don't think we should rush into it. But I can see it happening, yeah."

"How come you and James never had kids?"

Well, James never wanted any. He thought having kids was pointless and that they would only add to 'Earth's surplus population'. We had a bit of a scare when we were nineteen and we thought that I was pregnant - but it was a false alarm. James' parents used to always ask me if I was pregnant whenever I saw them; they were so desperate to be grandparents. I just used to smile and shake my head.

"James didn't want any."

"Did you want kids?"

"To be honest, not with James. I could never picture him being a good father."

"Mm, me neither," Chris sniggers. "He would just be the sperm donor."

"Can we stop with this conversation, please? I really don't want to talk about James' sperm," I laugh.