Sulphur jumped onto the railing, flicking her tail and Lady Macbeth popped out from underneath, where she was sitting holding out a stolen brownie. She took the brownie absently, her mind wandering, going over that night at the festival.
It had been loud. The smells could be guessed with closed eyes, and knowing they were standing on the summer-hot pavement surrounded by booths and trucks of fried or quick foods. Bess was taking a break from her booth to hang out with friends and as she was checking her phone, her left shoulder was run into causing her to nearly lose her footing and drop her phone.
"Sorry!"
After she righted herself, the shock of being run into bled away, she looked down to see someone bending over to grab her phone for her.
Déjà vu. Because the dark head bent to retrieve an item he made her drop was familiar.
"Thanks," she said. And then their hands touched. The warmth of the stranger's hand made her pulse jump and did something odd to her skin. Frowning, she looked up into the curious eyes of the guy who ran into her. And he was not a stranger. Jeremy Bracker.
And he was staring at her.
She wasn't sure he had ever looked at her before. They'd gone to the same school for years and had classes together. He had probably seen her in those classes by obligation, but this was different.
That pulse was going hard inside of her and she started to feel slightly panicked.
"What?" she snapped.
"I know you," he replied, his blue eyes looking over her face, searching for something.
She didn't like it. She felt like he was intruding on something personal, reading her diary, finding one of her secrets.
"We go to school together. And you seem to have picked up a hobby of running into me and knocking my things out of my hands."
His smile was quick. "I am great at picking hobbies."
She frowned. "Just, watch where you're going," she said as she stepped around him. But then he called out stopping her.
"Wait."
She turned. No words, just eyebrows raised.
"Do you want to go on the love tunnel boat ride with me?"
Bess's raised eyebrows quickly lowered into a look of scrutiny. Surely she hadn't heard his words correctly. "I'm sorry?"
"The boat ride," he repeated, pointing to his right and her left. "It's cool. They light it up and pair you up with someone random if you don't have anyone to go with. So you should go with me since you're my new hobby. Wouldn't want you ending up with a stranger." When he smiled, it was bold and without hesitation. It wasn't mocking and it was as if he knew she would say yes.
She looked around them slowly, the people walking past with their red white, and blue clothing, food in their hands, trying to see if she could spot a group of his friends who she would recognize, hiding smiling mouths behind hands before bursting into boyish and brutal laughter.
"I've got tickets."
Bess stared at him for another beat before she said, "And I've got to go find my friends."
"So that's a no?"
"It's a, what the hell?"
He smiled at that, taking a step closer, not deterred by her Bessness. He was tall, looking down at her like she was this curious creature that he was trying to figure out.
"What the hell?"
"Yeah. My phone is fine," she waved it at him. "Didn't break. You just barely ran into me. I'm fine. No need to take me on a romantic tunnel boat ride."
"I don't want to sit with you on a romantic boat ride out of penance."
She started walking away from him but paused. "Enjoy the tunnel of love with a stranger," she said with a smile.
