Hey all, I got the urge to make my own story. This is just something I wrote to appeal to me, but I figure there's others like me on this board who this will appeal to. I do not claim this will be everyone's cup of tea, but hey - if someone else enjoys then I'm glad.
The story can be a little... trauma-dumpy, and I did not write it as an explicit piece so there isn't anything... like, overtly sexual in this. Save that for the sequel, maybe. Story isn't real though, made up. I split it into two parts so if you specifically are reading for "the balloon part" and don't care about the story build up as much, you can skip ahead to part II.
Here's to healthy relationships and communication.
---
Part I
“And here’s Steve with the weather!”
“Thanks, Tammy. This holiday is going to be a scorcher with temps in the high 80s, so even when it’s dark out there make sure you’re wearing protection!”
I zoned in and out as the tv continued to blare. They had called for showers only two days ago, but the sun shone brightly through the window, as if taunting the weather man for daring to predict such a thing. No, Mother Nature would cooperate this year. To the joy of all, nothing would put a stop to the festivities.
Well, almost all. For me, this news just made me sink deeper and deeper into my seat, the cushion threatening to swallow me whole. With a sigh I flicked off the news, and began running through my mind of what I’d need for tonight. The neighbors tended to go overboard with… them, much to my terror.
Earplugs? That’d help. Headphones? Sure. How about both at the same time? Yeah, that’d do it.
“Oh well, could be worse,” I thought, “I could be at that party with Jen. A Fourth of July party… Now that’s the opposite of where I’d like to be.” I had only started dating Jen earlier that year, so she still didn’t know about the horrible fear I felt this time of year. Truth is, I’m scared of any noise that’d cause me to jump in fright. Fireworks, balloons, you name it. In the end, I was able to weasel my way out of it by pretending that I was sick the day before. She was apologetic, but she went off to the party by herself.
“At least she’ll actually have fun. No way would she be able to enjoy herself if I were there.”
Now I was having my own party, a pity party. I slapped myself awake mentally. C’mon! You survived this day over 20 times already. What’s another one? It was already five o’clock. Time to fix myself an early dinner, and hide away in my room with some good relaxing music, maybe watch some of my favorite show, and make the best of it. Nobody would see my cowardice. After all, it wasn’t like I was going to be having guests. Hell, I never changed out of my pajamas. Thank goodness it fell on a weekend this year!
With that I went right to work, throwing spaghetti in a boiling pot and meatballs in the oven to cook myself a nice Italian dinner. With some sauce from the fridge, I would be good to g-
*Ding-dong!*
“That’s weird.” I thought to myself as I made my way to the door. “It can’t be Jen, the party’s going to last until evening for fireworks. It can’t be over already!”
But lo-and-behold when I opened the door that was who greeted me. “Surprise! Didn’t expect you to still be in your pjs at this time of the day! Huh? What’s with that face?”
At this I caught myself, as my mouth hung opened and my eyes opened wide. It wasn’t seeing Jen that caused this though, but what she brought with her. Clasped in her hand was a giant bouquet of balloons, probably 7-8 of them, all red, white, and blue.
“Well, I guess you did call and say you were sick. I probably shouldn’t stay here too long, but I just had to check up on you… And, like, deliver these.” She gave my a fun wink at this line, and before I could stop her she had already made her way into my home, the balloons trailing her, bobbing up and down.
“W-What are you doing here?” I managed to get out.
“Oh, I couldn’t concentrate on all of the festivities when I knew you were here feeling like this. In the end, I decided to leave early. But I also had the idea of grabbing these as, you know, ‘get well balloons’ before I left. Don’t worry, I asked if it was alright. The others were worried about you too. Where do you want me to put them?”
Jen walked around, trying to find a little corner to stash them in. I just asked her to put them in my room. Figured out of sight, out of mind was better for tonight than out in the main living room, at least for right now while I was eating. Speaking of which…
“Hold on a sec, I’m making spaghetti and meatballs. Would you like any before you go?”
This turned out to be a mistake. As I checked to make sure my meal was done and spooned it onto my plate, Jen began to look at me quizzically.
“Spaghetti and meatballs? When you’re sick? Shouldn’t you be having soup or something?”
My body froze. Oh crap, had I just given the game away?
“You don’t seem very coughy or sneezy either. Okay, be honest with me, are you really sick?”
I thought about lying for a second. “No, I’m totally sick, Jen, and it’s best you stay away *cough-hack-cough-hack*! I’m just gonna stay in bed the rest of the day, believe me! Oh, you haven’t heard? Spaghetti and meatballs is the real food for the soul!”
But I couldn’t do that to her. We had only dated for a short time, but I knew the type of person Jen was. Lying would only make things worse between us. No, this had to come out eventually. I should just suck it up and be honest with her.
I gave one big sigh to ready myself, and I began.
“Okay, you caught me, I’m not really sick.”
“Why on Earth would you pretend to be sick?”
“I… I didn’t want to go the party.”
“Not go to the party? Why not? All of our friends were gonna be there. Did you not want to go… with me?”
“NO! Jen! I-I love you, I really do!”
Jen was now on the verge of tears. I took her into my arms and held her there. We stayed like that for about 30 seconds, and then we made our way to my couch, where we both sat down.
“You know, it’s really mean to mess with my feelings like this. I was really worried about you.” She looked up and gave a slight smile that made me love her more. “So… why did you not want to come to the party?”
I was already emotionally drained and we hadn’t even reached the actual bombshell. The pit in my stomach grew deeper.
“Well, it’s just… this day is rough for me. I… I’m afraid of fireworks, and really anything that makes a bang. Those balloons you brought in? Even they made me really nervous. That’s why I asked you to put them in my room.” I paused.
“You… pretended to be sick because you’re scared of fireworks and balloons?”
“Yeah, I know it sounds kinda funny to be scared of something like that. Balloons can’t hurt you.”
“Funny? That you’d go so far to hide this from me… it’s obvious how important this is to you. I’d never laugh at something like that.”
We embraced again, this time her drawing me into her arms. In them I spilled my remaining plans for the evening, and my foolish desire for everyone’s fun to be ruined by rain. She quietly let me go.
“Well, I’m sorry for bringing you the balloons. Just goes to show you should’ve been honest with me in the first place.” She made as if to go, but then stopped herself.
“Would you rather… I stayed with you tonight… So you aren’t alone? We’ll get through it together.”
Earlier that day I thought it would be better for nobody to see me in such a state, but by now nothing could be better. “You know, I like the sound of that.”
---
Part II
The rest of the night went surprisingly well. After dinner, we sat on the couch and watched our favorite program together until the sun set and our program was interrupted by a BOOM from outside. It had begun.
Jen gave me a look, and I rushed up to be ready before any more came. I had to brave the red, white, and blue balloons that were not moved out of my room, but my adrenaline would only stop when I had both earplugs and headphones on. My mission was a success though, with the last audible BANG of the night being heard as I shuffled to get everything on straight. After that, it was nothing but pure, silent bliss. With Jen I felt safe. She let me know when it seemed like it was all over, and I was overjoyed with the feeling of making it through another year. Jen, in the opposite of her initial plans, ended up staying the night. But tomorrow was Sunday, and both of us were tired and went right to bed, sharing a bed for the first time in our relationship.
I woke up first, the balloons confusing me with their presence before memories of the previous night flooded back in. I thought it’d be best to slide out of bed and make breakfast while letting Jen sleep in, as thanks for her understanding and helping me through this. However, a visitor soon joined me in the kitchen.
“Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.” I cooed. Jen was still, understandably, groggy.
“Don’t. Not until I have some coffee in my system.”
I somehow suspected Jen wasn’t a morning person with how late she usually stayed up, so I had an emergency cuppa already prepped. I passed it to her.
“Thanks.” She took a long, smooth sip of the coffee, miraculously managing to not slurp.
Breakfast was soon set, and as we chomped into our meal, she began a… proposal.
“So this morning I was lying in bed, thinking.”
“A dangerous thing.”
“Oh, shut up. And I saw the balloons. Now, this is only if you’re comfortable with it, but… would you like me to try to help you with your fear.”
I suddenly lost my appetite. I set down my fork.
“N-Not, like, try to get rid of it completely. But, you know, make it manageable. So it’s not ‘feigning sickness to avoid a party’ levels of bad. Not like we have anything else going on today. Again, only if you’re okay with it.”
I pondered. I was about to decline when I remembered how safe she made me feel last night. If anyone was going to help me with this, it was Jen. Screw it, let’s do this.
Hearing me accept, Jen brightened. She began to gulp down her meal, and not too long after, we made our way back to the bedroom, still in our pajamas.
Even entering made me sweat out of nervousness (or was that the summer heat already getting to me?) Before I could back out, Jen turned and shut the door. It was unlocked, I could still leave at any time, but it was like a subconscious lock was put on it. I wouldn’t leave until I at least messed around a little with the balloons.
Jen made her way over to the bouquet, which made thumping noises as they crashed into each other. She picked out a red one. My own heart began to beat faster as she held it close to her. Then she turned to face me.
“I promise I’m not going to burst it. In all of this, no balloons are going to burst. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.” With these words she untied the string, and began to pick at the knot. Now that I took a closer look at it, I could see this balloon was rather large from what I remembered balloons being like. The red balloon twisted and squealed, and I was about to be overwhelmed when finally the knot gave and the helium began rushing out. Before it was all gone, Jen took the end and gave it a quick suck.
“See! Nothing to be afraid of!” she shouted in her high pitch. Hearing Jen’s voice so… wacky and different was enough to diffuse the tension, as I began to laugh. The rest of the helium had left the balloon, and it had returned to a modest, not-dangerous, un-blown form. Jen was right, like this there was nothing to be worried about.
But then Jen picked it up. A quick wink later, and she stuffed the nozzle right back in her mouth. Now the tension began to rise again as the balloon was given new life.
One breath… Two… Three breaths. Jen stopped here.
“You’re doing great. We still have a long way to go, but just keep your eyes on me.”
And it was true, as nervous as I was I could see the remaining balloons in the corner, and I could see the one she held in her hands right now was nowhere near the size of the ones over there. This balloon could take more.
And more it took. A fourth breath… In… out… The balloon was really expanding now. I began to lose track of how many breaths were being put in. Now I was getting nervous. This is a really big balloon!
Finally it reached the size it was at before. “Phew.” I thought, “Scary, but doable.”
“Great job getting this far and not covering your ears.” Jen said. “But we’re still not done.” At this, my heart sank.
“Feel it.”
The latex skin shone in the sunlight streaming in. It looked so… fragile. Could I really touch something like this? Yet, I stuck a hand out, gradually touching more and more of it.
“Think fast.”
Jen then tossed it to me. Catching it might as well have been me catching the game-winning touchdown with how stressed I was. To my surprise, however, the balloon did not feel as fragile as it had looked. It was rather squishy to be honest with you. My fingers sank into the soft rubber, but the balloon held. I… felt the desire to hold it tighter. Not too tight, mind you. Just… tighter.
Jen looked on with pride. “Balloons can take more than you think they can, if they’re good quality of course. Don’t worry, I saw what they used for the party, and one of them’s gotta be… you know... about this type of stuff. They said they had their own balloons already. Anyway… can I have it back now?”
Part of me didn’t want give it back, but I relented and threw it back at her as payback.
“Watch.”
The next part blew me away as Jen sat on top of it, holding the nozzle shut with her hand. If I wasn’t so mesmerized I would have DEFINITELY covered my ears here. To my amazement, the balloon held.
“See? You can even bounce on them when they’re soft like this. Don’t worry, I won’t actually bounce. That’s for later.” She gave me another laugh, this one more worrying, but she did get off and the balloon filled right back into shape, looking no worse for wear.
Seeing my bewildered face, she looked at me and leaned in, giving a quick peck on the cheek. The hand not holding the balloon closed took that same cheek in its palm, and began to stroke my face.
“You’re so much braver now than you were yesterday. I really am proud of you. Can I ask you to be brave one more time?”
I slowly nodded yes. She leaned back again, and once again added a breath to the balloon. And another. And another. And another. She didn’t look like she was going to stop. The balloon continued getting bigger and bigger. Now a neck was starting to form!
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I covered my ears with both hands, and squeezed my eyes shut. Words of doom began to fill my brain.
“How could she do this? Betrayed again by someone. This is why you shouldn’t tell others. She said she wouldn’t pop it, now look! You’re an idiot!” Tears began to well up.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. Jen was looking at me, her hair falling around her face messily. The balloon was in her hand, but behind her, away, and I could now make out she was trying to talk to me.
“Hey! Hey! Are you okay? I’m sorry, I overdid it. This is too much for one day. I promise I wasn’t trying to pop it, I just wanted to show you how much space was left. I got carried away though. I’m sorry I almost broke my promise. You can see it didn’t pop though. Here.”
She took the nozzle one more time, but this time let some air out, the pressure accidentally hitting me in the face. The balloon was soon once again empty.
“I-I’m sorry too, Jen.” I said. “You said you weren’t going to pop it, and I should’ve trusted that. Thank you for this. It makes me feel a little bit better.”
Jen smiled. “That’s the idea!”
Jen took the rest of the balloons with her when she went back to her place. I finally had the peace and quiet that I wanted from the start. But, you know, there was a little piece of me that kinda wanted to know when Jen would come back… and when she came if she would bring the balloons again.
The story can be a little... trauma-dumpy, and I did not write it as an explicit piece so there isn't anything... like, overtly sexual in this. Save that for the sequel, maybe. Story isn't real though, made up. I split it into two parts so if you specifically are reading for "the balloon part" and don't care about the story build up as much, you can skip ahead to part II.
Here's to healthy relationships and communication.
---
Part I
“And here’s Steve with the weather!”
“Thanks, Tammy. This holiday is going to be a scorcher with temps in the high 80s, so even when it’s dark out there make sure you’re wearing protection!”
I zoned in and out as the tv continued to blare. They had called for showers only two days ago, but the sun shone brightly through the window, as if taunting the weather man for daring to predict such a thing. No, Mother Nature would cooperate this year. To the joy of all, nothing would put a stop to the festivities.
Well, almost all. For me, this news just made me sink deeper and deeper into my seat, the cushion threatening to swallow me whole. With a sigh I flicked off the news, and began running through my mind of what I’d need for tonight. The neighbors tended to go overboard with… them, much to my terror.
Earplugs? That’d help. Headphones? Sure. How about both at the same time? Yeah, that’d do it.
“Oh well, could be worse,” I thought, “I could be at that party with Jen. A Fourth of July party… Now that’s the opposite of where I’d like to be.” I had only started dating Jen earlier that year, so she still didn’t know about the horrible fear I felt this time of year. Truth is, I’m scared of any noise that’d cause me to jump in fright. Fireworks, balloons, you name it. In the end, I was able to weasel my way out of it by pretending that I was sick the day before. She was apologetic, but she went off to the party by herself.
“At least she’ll actually have fun. No way would she be able to enjoy herself if I were there.”
Now I was having my own party, a pity party. I slapped myself awake mentally. C’mon! You survived this day over 20 times already. What’s another one? It was already five o’clock. Time to fix myself an early dinner, and hide away in my room with some good relaxing music, maybe watch some of my favorite show, and make the best of it. Nobody would see my cowardice. After all, it wasn’t like I was going to be having guests. Hell, I never changed out of my pajamas. Thank goodness it fell on a weekend this year!
With that I went right to work, throwing spaghetti in a boiling pot and meatballs in the oven to cook myself a nice Italian dinner. With some sauce from the fridge, I would be good to g-
*Ding-dong!*
“That’s weird.” I thought to myself as I made my way to the door. “It can’t be Jen, the party’s going to last until evening for fireworks. It can’t be over already!”
But lo-and-behold when I opened the door that was who greeted me. “Surprise! Didn’t expect you to still be in your pjs at this time of the day! Huh? What’s with that face?”
At this I caught myself, as my mouth hung opened and my eyes opened wide. It wasn’t seeing Jen that caused this though, but what she brought with her. Clasped in her hand was a giant bouquet of balloons, probably 7-8 of them, all red, white, and blue.
“Well, I guess you did call and say you were sick. I probably shouldn’t stay here too long, but I just had to check up on you… And, like, deliver these.” She gave my a fun wink at this line, and before I could stop her she had already made her way into my home, the balloons trailing her, bobbing up and down.
“W-What are you doing here?” I managed to get out.
“Oh, I couldn’t concentrate on all of the festivities when I knew you were here feeling like this. In the end, I decided to leave early. But I also had the idea of grabbing these as, you know, ‘get well balloons’ before I left. Don’t worry, I asked if it was alright. The others were worried about you too. Where do you want me to put them?”
Jen walked around, trying to find a little corner to stash them in. I just asked her to put them in my room. Figured out of sight, out of mind was better for tonight than out in the main living room, at least for right now while I was eating. Speaking of which…
“Hold on a sec, I’m making spaghetti and meatballs. Would you like any before you go?”
This turned out to be a mistake. As I checked to make sure my meal was done and spooned it onto my plate, Jen began to look at me quizzically.
“Spaghetti and meatballs? When you’re sick? Shouldn’t you be having soup or something?”
My body froze. Oh crap, had I just given the game away?
“You don’t seem very coughy or sneezy either. Okay, be honest with me, are you really sick?”
I thought about lying for a second. “No, I’m totally sick, Jen, and it’s best you stay away *cough-hack-cough-hack*! I’m just gonna stay in bed the rest of the day, believe me! Oh, you haven’t heard? Spaghetti and meatballs is the real food for the soul!”
But I couldn’t do that to her. We had only dated for a short time, but I knew the type of person Jen was. Lying would only make things worse between us. No, this had to come out eventually. I should just suck it up and be honest with her.
I gave one big sigh to ready myself, and I began.
“Okay, you caught me, I’m not really sick.”
“Why on Earth would you pretend to be sick?”
“I… I didn’t want to go the party.”
“Not go to the party? Why not? All of our friends were gonna be there. Did you not want to go… with me?”
“NO! Jen! I-I love you, I really do!”
Jen was now on the verge of tears. I took her into my arms and held her there. We stayed like that for about 30 seconds, and then we made our way to my couch, where we both sat down.
“You know, it’s really mean to mess with my feelings like this. I was really worried about you.” She looked up and gave a slight smile that made me love her more. “So… why did you not want to come to the party?”
I was already emotionally drained and we hadn’t even reached the actual bombshell. The pit in my stomach grew deeper.
“Well, it’s just… this day is rough for me. I… I’m afraid of fireworks, and really anything that makes a bang. Those balloons you brought in? Even they made me really nervous. That’s why I asked you to put them in my room.” I paused.
“You… pretended to be sick because you’re scared of fireworks and balloons?”
“Yeah, I know it sounds kinda funny to be scared of something like that. Balloons can’t hurt you.”
“Funny? That you’d go so far to hide this from me… it’s obvious how important this is to you. I’d never laugh at something like that.”
We embraced again, this time her drawing me into her arms. In them I spilled my remaining plans for the evening, and my foolish desire for everyone’s fun to be ruined by rain. She quietly let me go.
“Well, I’m sorry for bringing you the balloons. Just goes to show you should’ve been honest with me in the first place.” She made as if to go, but then stopped herself.
“Would you rather… I stayed with you tonight… So you aren’t alone? We’ll get through it together.”
Earlier that day I thought it would be better for nobody to see me in such a state, but by now nothing could be better. “You know, I like the sound of that.”
---
Part II
The rest of the night went surprisingly well. After dinner, we sat on the couch and watched our favorite program together until the sun set and our program was interrupted by a BOOM from outside. It had begun.
Jen gave me a look, and I rushed up to be ready before any more came. I had to brave the red, white, and blue balloons that were not moved out of my room, but my adrenaline would only stop when I had both earplugs and headphones on. My mission was a success though, with the last audible BANG of the night being heard as I shuffled to get everything on straight. After that, it was nothing but pure, silent bliss. With Jen I felt safe. She let me know when it seemed like it was all over, and I was overjoyed with the feeling of making it through another year. Jen, in the opposite of her initial plans, ended up staying the night. But tomorrow was Sunday, and both of us were tired and went right to bed, sharing a bed for the first time in our relationship.
I woke up first, the balloons confusing me with their presence before memories of the previous night flooded back in. I thought it’d be best to slide out of bed and make breakfast while letting Jen sleep in, as thanks for her understanding and helping me through this. However, a visitor soon joined me in the kitchen.
“Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.” I cooed. Jen was still, understandably, groggy.
“Don’t. Not until I have some coffee in my system.”
I somehow suspected Jen wasn’t a morning person with how late she usually stayed up, so I had an emergency cuppa already prepped. I passed it to her.
“Thanks.” She took a long, smooth sip of the coffee, miraculously managing to not slurp.
Breakfast was soon set, and as we chomped into our meal, she began a… proposal.
“So this morning I was lying in bed, thinking.”
“A dangerous thing.”
“Oh, shut up. And I saw the balloons. Now, this is only if you’re comfortable with it, but… would you like me to try to help you with your fear.”
I suddenly lost my appetite. I set down my fork.
“N-Not, like, try to get rid of it completely. But, you know, make it manageable. So it’s not ‘feigning sickness to avoid a party’ levels of bad. Not like we have anything else going on today. Again, only if you’re okay with it.”
I pondered. I was about to decline when I remembered how safe she made me feel last night. If anyone was going to help me with this, it was Jen. Screw it, let’s do this.
Hearing me accept, Jen brightened. She began to gulp down her meal, and not too long after, we made our way back to the bedroom, still in our pajamas.
Even entering made me sweat out of nervousness (or was that the summer heat already getting to me?) Before I could back out, Jen turned and shut the door. It was unlocked, I could still leave at any time, but it was like a subconscious lock was put on it. I wouldn’t leave until I at least messed around a little with the balloons.
Jen made her way over to the bouquet, which made thumping noises as they crashed into each other. She picked out a red one. My own heart began to beat faster as she held it close to her. Then she turned to face me.
“I promise I’m not going to burst it. In all of this, no balloons are going to burst. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.” With these words she untied the string, and began to pick at the knot. Now that I took a closer look at it, I could see this balloon was rather large from what I remembered balloons being like. The red balloon twisted and squealed, and I was about to be overwhelmed when finally the knot gave and the helium began rushing out. Before it was all gone, Jen took the end and gave it a quick suck.
“See! Nothing to be afraid of!” she shouted in her high pitch. Hearing Jen’s voice so… wacky and different was enough to diffuse the tension, as I began to laugh. The rest of the helium had left the balloon, and it had returned to a modest, not-dangerous, un-blown form. Jen was right, like this there was nothing to be worried about.
But then Jen picked it up. A quick wink later, and she stuffed the nozzle right back in her mouth. Now the tension began to rise again as the balloon was given new life.
One breath… Two… Three breaths. Jen stopped here.
“You’re doing great. We still have a long way to go, but just keep your eyes on me.”
And it was true, as nervous as I was I could see the remaining balloons in the corner, and I could see the one she held in her hands right now was nowhere near the size of the ones over there. This balloon could take more.
And more it took. A fourth breath… In… out… The balloon was really expanding now. I began to lose track of how many breaths were being put in. Now I was getting nervous. This is a really big balloon!
Finally it reached the size it was at before. “Phew.” I thought, “Scary, but doable.”
“Great job getting this far and not covering your ears.” Jen said. “But we’re still not done.” At this, my heart sank.
“Feel it.”
The latex skin shone in the sunlight streaming in. It looked so… fragile. Could I really touch something like this? Yet, I stuck a hand out, gradually touching more and more of it.
“Think fast.”
Jen then tossed it to me. Catching it might as well have been me catching the game-winning touchdown with how stressed I was. To my surprise, however, the balloon did not feel as fragile as it had looked. It was rather squishy to be honest with you. My fingers sank into the soft rubber, but the balloon held. I… felt the desire to hold it tighter. Not too tight, mind you. Just… tighter.
Jen looked on with pride. “Balloons can take more than you think they can, if they’re good quality of course. Don’t worry, I saw what they used for the party, and one of them’s gotta be… you know... about this type of stuff. They said they had their own balloons already. Anyway… can I have it back now?”
Part of me didn’t want give it back, but I relented and threw it back at her as payback.
“Watch.”
The next part blew me away as Jen sat on top of it, holding the nozzle shut with her hand. If I wasn’t so mesmerized I would have DEFINITELY covered my ears here. To my amazement, the balloon held.
“See? You can even bounce on them when they’re soft like this. Don’t worry, I won’t actually bounce. That’s for later.” She gave me another laugh, this one more worrying, but she did get off and the balloon filled right back into shape, looking no worse for wear.
Seeing my bewildered face, she looked at me and leaned in, giving a quick peck on the cheek. The hand not holding the balloon closed took that same cheek in its palm, and began to stroke my face.
“You’re so much braver now than you were yesterday. I really am proud of you. Can I ask you to be brave one more time?”
I slowly nodded yes. She leaned back again, and once again added a breath to the balloon. And another. And another. And another. She didn’t look like she was going to stop. The balloon continued getting bigger and bigger. Now a neck was starting to form!
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I covered my ears with both hands, and squeezed my eyes shut. Words of doom began to fill my brain.
“How could she do this? Betrayed again by someone. This is why you shouldn’t tell others. She said she wouldn’t pop it, now look! You’re an idiot!” Tears began to well up.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. Jen was looking at me, her hair falling around her face messily. The balloon was in her hand, but behind her, away, and I could now make out she was trying to talk to me.
“Hey! Hey! Are you okay? I’m sorry, I overdid it. This is too much for one day. I promise I wasn’t trying to pop it, I just wanted to show you how much space was left. I got carried away though. I’m sorry I almost broke my promise. You can see it didn’t pop though. Here.”
She took the nozzle one more time, but this time let some air out, the pressure accidentally hitting me in the face. The balloon was soon once again empty.
“I-I’m sorry too, Jen.” I said. “You said you weren’t going to pop it, and I should’ve trusted that. Thank you for this. It makes me feel a little bit better.”
Jen smiled. “That’s the idea!”
Jen took the rest of the balloons with her when she went back to her place. I finally had the peace and quiet that I wanted from the start. But, you know, there was a little piece of me that kinda wanted to know when Jen would come back… and when she came if she would bring the balloons again.
Love, love, love!!
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