“Have either of you ever been up in a hot air balloon before?” the man running the ride asked as he walked us through a quick explanation of how everything worked.
We both shook our heads.
He grinned. “Well, this should be fun then.”
Theo shifted slightly beside me. “Do we need to worry about motion sickness at all?”
“Not usually.” The guy shook his head. “It’s a really smooth ride. Most people are surprised by how gentle it feels.”
That was reassuring.
I think.
A few minutes later, we were climbing into the basket.
I ended up on the right side, Theo just to my left, close enough that every nerve ending in my body was intensely aware of him and all the places that werealmosttouching him.
The pilot reached up and pulled the burner.
A loudwhooshfilled the air as a burst of flame shot upward.
The balloon gave a slight tug.
And then?—
We lifted.
“Whoa,” I said, my balance shifting just enough to make me grab the edge of the basket.
“You ready for this?” Theo glanced over at me, his eyes bright with a mix of excitement and amusement.
“I hope so,” I said with a small laugh as the ground kept drifting farther away.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Thirty.
My heart started beating faster as the houses and trees below shrank into something that looked almost unreal.
This is fine,I told myself.Totally fine.
People did this all the time.
Plus, I hadn’t heard of hot air balloons crashing on a regular basis, so statistically speaking, we were probably safe.
Hopefully.
I tightened my grip on the edge of the basket.
And then the world tilted just slightly and my vision blurred.
Oh.
Oh no.
A wave of vertigo hit me out of nowhere, my stomach dropping as I suddenly became very aware of how high up we actually were.