Bucket Hat 3

Chapter 9

Now they were walking along the sidewalk outside with the streetlights as their light for the night.

Jesy looked at Leigh and how she kept her hands in her pockets as she walked briskly down the pavement. "Okay, okay . . ." Jesy held her hand. "We're gonna walk like this okay? Like so. Follow me." She walked slowly.

Leigh-Anne ended up agreeing to walk that way and they were now moving farther away from the apartment building.

Just the sounds of the night were in the air. A few cars passing by on the roads farther away from where they were and the noise of a flickering light in the distance. The air was cool and Jesy felt pretty chilly out here.

Leigh-Anne sighed eventually. "Sorry for acting that way a while ago Jesy. I was being very immature and silly. I didn't mean to ruin our board game." She looked at Jesy to say this.

Jesy looked at her now. "It's . . . no problem. It's fine. I get it. I mean if I were you I'd be pissed too. They're . . . belittling you . . . and it's my fault. Sorry."

Leigh-Anne shrugged. "It's okay. Worst things have happened."

Jesy remembered the horror stories of Leigh's childhood with bullies now and she felt her eyes welling up. Nooooo! She was so . . . weak. "Hey, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about . . . the stars." She looked up. "Wow there are loads of them out tonight. Look babe."

Leigh looked upwards and immediately smiled. "I think that one and that one and that one and those there, if you look very closely they'll make a doggie being walked by his owner. Can you see it Jesy? In fact it looks just like your dog. Your dog who's our dog. Your dog Reggie. Look Jesy." She pointed.

Jesy did not see any of that. "Uhh . . . how the hell do you always end up seeing all of that stuff? Like, every time we look at the stars you always see like a list of stuff while all I can ever make out is maybe a lame shape like a heart or something."

"The heart is my favourite shape!" Leigh clapped before pointing up again. "That's you, that's me and in the middle is a big heart."

Jesy squint her eyes while looking up. "B-b-but . . . it's just a cluster of stars. It has more chance of being a pile of vomit than all the stuff you're saying it is."

"If it's vomit Jesy . . . if it's vomit then it's the vomit of a fairy." Leigh-Anne smiled at her.

Jesy looked at her with a raised brow. "Fairies throw up stars?"

Leigh nodded. "They're pretty." She looked up and pointed. "Twinkle, twinkle little star . . ."

Jesy liked how easy it was to cheer her up. "You know, when I saw my picture of world domination in the stars that time, I never imagined that this would be a part of it."

"What? Having a walk with me?" Leigh tilted her head.

"No not that." Jesy pouted dramatically. "Having people hate me. This sucks." Her shoulders jerked as she tried to not sob.

"Awww, aww, aww . . ." Leigh hugged her tight. "My sweet Jesy." She kissed her on the nose. "If anyone hates you it's not because you're bad but because . . . um . . ." Her eyes wandered. "You're good." She smiled at her.

Jesy looked unimpressed. "Thanks for that babe."

Leigh nodded but then let her go to look to her feet. "I know it's hard Jesy. It's also very weird. People are weird because at a certain point they love us both with all their hearts and now they just . . . well they see us both differently and it's annoying."

Jesy looked at the bracelet. It said that Leigh was frustrated. "Yeah, people are weird and we shouldn't try to understand them because they'll just send us in circles." She held the girl's hand and the bracelet showed that she was happy again, instantly. Aww. Baby.