Shutter ➳ CITRUS

Eight - Balloon Ride And Rainy Night

Mei's POV

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Yuzu surprised me in a lot of ways today. She arrived while I was still in my bathrobe, that's a fucking surprise for sure. Then she brought me to a hot air balloon festival. On a motorcycle.

I normally don't like surprises, I just don't have time for them. I always wanted to be in control. But Yuzu seems to bring out a more carefree Mei; someone who doesn't mind trying new things and actually enjoys them.

Now she's holding my hand on our first date. Hell, this never happened to me before. Not that I have a lot of things to compare it with. Her hand feels gentle yet firm and strong as she playfully swings our hands in the air.

This is definitely the first date I'll never forget.

I felt Yuzu squeeze my hand and I looked up to see we already arrived and Udagawa's standing over the balloon with two other guys.

"Hey, how's lunch?" Udagawa greeted when he broke away from the conversation with his friends.

"It was great, thanks," I smiled back quickly. He's actually nice, the guy's got manners.

"You ready for the ride?"

"Sure."

"Come on then." He ushered us with his hand. Yuzu and I followed him. "Hope you're not afraid of heights ladies?" he asked as he patted his two other companions to get to work.

"No, I'm cool. I've ridden twice already, it's Mei's first time," Yuzu answered.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine," I assured him, glancing at Yuzu who grinned.

"I'd give you fifteen minutes up there," he said leaning on the gondola once we got in. "It's gonna go up two hundred feet. It's anchored so don't worry about flying off." He winked playfully in my direction and I allowed myself to smile. "Alright, enjoy the ride ladies, don't try to jump off."

Udagawa adjusted the fire and one of his friends untied one of those huge ropes. He gave us a small wave and stepped back. Next thing I know, the balloon's soaring high. Despite my assurance that I'll be fine, the sudden change in altitude made me grabbed on the closest thing to steady myself, and that something happened to be Yuzu.

"You alright?" she asked me, placing her hand on the small of my back.

"Yeah," I breathed, smiling reassuringly at her. I went to stand over the edge, leaning over. There are a lot of other balloons in flight, the sky's now full of them. I looked down and got a bird's eye view of the scene below, hundreds of people walking around.

Yuzu took her camera and started taking pictures on the nearby suspended balloons, snapping the shutter in quick manner and checking the result on the LCD. I like watching her when she uses her camera. It's really fucking sexy. She turned to me and took a shot; she smiled when she dropped it back to hang on her neck. I smiled back, somewhat used to it. We stood side by side on the edge, holding on to the gondola as we exhaust the time of our ride.

"It's beautiful up here," I said offering her a smile.

"Yeah," she agreed, scooting closer to me. Yuzu's arm slowly wrapped around my waist and I found myself relaxing on the touch. "Now I'm kinda glad the balloon guy has a crush on you."

I rolled my eyes. "Whoring your date out for a balloon ride, huh?"

Yuzu laughed huskily, her hand squeezing my waist for a brief second. "I'm only kidding."

We were silent for a while, enjoying the solitude of the ride. I sneak a glance at Yuzu; the sexy funny girl with beautiful green eyes I first met is gone and in her place is a child with how excited she looks. She's looking around with a euphoric grin on her face. She must have the sense that I was staring at her because she turned to look at me.