Bubble Gum Kisses

**Kapittel 43** ***Vanessa***

**"Holy...!"** I rose from the ground, realizing that I actually slipped and fell on my butt. Now my skirt and my socks had gone entirely muddy. I raised my arms to my midrib's level to assess my current state. Dang, I was dirty all over. I should take note of always crossing the stone pathway.

"Look at you. Now you're all dirty," I heard Friso say while walking over to me. I only glared at him, telling him to shut up through eye contact before proceeding to look at myself. Heck, how do I explain this mom? Would she let me in her car seeing me like this? She was a clean freak, of course, she wouldn't! But knowing her, she would surely make a fuss the school about this.

"Let me help you with your shoes." My bubble of busy thoughts popped when I heard Friso speak again. "Wait... what no!" he already splashed water all over my shoes again before I could finish my protest. Seriously, what was wrong with him? I told him to stop already!

I tried to walk over to him, carefully trudging on the wet grass, afraid of slipping again.

"Friso, I said do... Ah!" I shrieked when I felt the earth's gravity fall on me again. One thing, I felt like a ragdoll being flung by a nasty child into the air, the next thing, I was there again, back in the mud. Again. I ended up slipping. AGAIN. Ah, you attract what you fear indeed.

"Jesus, do you ever learn?" I had to stop moping when Friso howled in atrocious laughter. "What was that?" he asked between his nefarious cackle, clutching his stomach like it was the funniest comedy skit he had ever witnessed. Fuck.

With my face red, I glared at him, grabbed a handful of wet dirt, and flung it over to his face, his rosy cheek particularly.

The sepia, boggy soil instantly splashed on his face like paint carelessly splattered on canvas. It didn't take more than a nanosecond for the devil's spawn to stop laughing and stare at me blankly, his face holding a priceless expression. I held myself back from laughing. If only I had my phone right now, I'd take a picture of him and sell it to the paparazzi. God knew how much a picture of him with that expression on would cost. The bids would skyrocket to more than tens of thousands!

"Hah, who's dirty now?" I remarked snarkily, raising my eyebrows at him. Gosh, it turned out to be a good load off my chest too. It was satisfying to launch that mud at him and see the bewildered look on his face.

"Oh, you're asking for it," he seethed through gritted teeth and aimed the hose in my direction again.

I immediately knew what was about to happen and I hastily got on my feet in an attempt to run as far as possible. However, I was hundreds of steps too late.

"What the hell!" I cursed loudly when I felt the water shoot through my back. It was cold, colder than the slob I landed on multiple times. I was certain I'd get a cold because of this.

"Bullseye!" I heard Friso made a brouhaha like he just scored FIFA World Cup's winning goal. Now, I was wet all over. It felt uncomfortable, especially now that my wet dress shirt started to stick around my body. Good thing, I had my vest on or my bra would be visible!

I swung and wobbled my arms, waving the water droplets off my clothes. Friso was still laughing like the devil's spawn he was, and I couldn't help but be irritated. Grinding my molars, I got to the storage box to see if there was anything I could fend for myself, and thankfully luck was on my side for once today. There was another hose.

I looked at which faucet Friso's hose was connected to and found that it had a free one beside it. I didn't waste any more time and dashed to it to connect my hose.

"Your face... was so hilarious! Haha! Ha... What are you doing?" he abruptly stopped laughing when he realized what I was doing.

"Giving back a favor." I copied his signature smirk, pointed the tool at him, and served him with ice-gelid, cold-inducing water. Just like how he did with my back, I hit him straight bullseye on the face.

He was surprised by my attack that he dropped his hose. He tried to get away by blocking his face and walking to another spot, but too bad for him, I hit him on every spot. "Sorry, you were a little muddy!" I said and adjusted the hose to increase the pressure so I'd get land him a sharper splash.

He began to talk and mumble words that I wouldn't understand, though I did catch a few words such as "stop," and "water."

"What? I can't hear you!" I shouted over in his direction. Hah, I was enjoying this enough that I began giggling.

"That's it!" he snapped, and suddenly charged over to me.

"S... Stand back!" I squealed and increased the water's pressure more for a stronger slosh. But he was relentless and he was running to me at full speed. He was like a bull aiming for the matador!

I shut one of my eyes, prepared for my indemnified fate when...

"Woah!" he gasped, and one of his feet went off the ground and came in the air while his other foot made a sophisticated slide over the bog. His hands raised and flung into the air and he looked like some flightless bird trying to glaze in the air. The catastrophe ended with him doing a splashdown on the knee-tall grass, butt first.

I covered my mouth with my forearm to hide the smile cracking on my lips. He slipped on the ground, and he looked hilarious!

Vanessa, don't laugh. Don't laugh or you'll anger him more, I internally told myself while holding back my laughter.

"Oh my God!" I couldn't take it and laughed at loud like a woman out of her mind. It was obvious that he was embarrassed since his face was redder than the garden's ripest apple, and his teeth were grinding, his eyes glaring at me. "I'm getting you!" he roared, and I immediately dropped my hose and sprinted shitless from my spot, and so marked the beginning of our wild goose chase.

I ran for my life, the fastest that my feet looked like a cyclone on a weather channel approaching as I ran around while Friso ran like a desperate predator that had been starved for more than a week. His eyes were blazing red and the veins on his forehead were popping.

"Don't come any closer!" I yelped, looking behind at him from behind.

"You were asking for it!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, and he began to run faster, much to my panic.

The wind caused by our marathon-like chase disarrayed the flowers and scared away the butterflies. But I had no other choice. I didn't want to become ground meat, and surely, Friso would make me become one if I stopped only for even only a second. We were like a dog chasing after a squirrel, with Friso being the dog and me being the squirrel.

It didn't take long for all my energy to go down the drain, my feet burned and my side began to hurt. I was cold yet sweaty, and I have grown too tired I couldn't afford to lift another leg for a step at any rate now. Finding a solution, I began to look around and I found that I was approaching the hose that Friso used on me.

Maybe I could blindside him by splashing water on him again. Surely, he won't get to run straight with water all over his eyes and face. I looked behind and saw that he was running as fast as he could.

Biting my lower lip, I used the last ounce of my energy to launch toward the tool, stretching my hand to reach it. Thankfully, I got to grip on the polyethylene material, and I wasted no time turning around and shooting him.

Unfortunately, I forgot that Friso was a soccer player, and had legs that could surpass average human limits. He instantly got on my spot when I only looked away for a bit!

"Give me that!" he said, approaching me. In one blink, the hose was out of my hands and I found myself running away while getting showered. "This is revenge!" he said following me with the water.

"Friso, stop!" I called out while covering my face. The water was blocking my vision, and I could no longer see properly. I couldn't even wipe it down because it was continuously pouring at me right in the face.

"I said stop it!" I urged him to stop, but all I could hear was his laughter. I didn't know in which direction I was going, and I could no longer comprehend what was happening. My feet were weak and tired that they were feeling sore. The irrepressibly strong smell of the wet organic soil was bothering me too.

"Friso, stop! Time out!" I tried to calmly talk with Friso while wiping my face.

"Look at you all angry and frowning," I heard him remark, but he didn't stop soaking me. "Your dad's gonna hate it if you frown like that," he added and I felt my mind tick.

"Don't frown like that," dad said with a weak smile, his eyes bloody yet gazing at me warmly. "I hate seeing you upset."

I groaned in pain when my head throbbed. What was that? What did I just remember? Did dad tell me something else on that day? How come I didn't remember that? What else did I not remember? The things he said and the way he looked at me, how could I forget? Why could I not recall it?!

I have to remember, it'd be unforgivable if I didn't retain every single thing that we spent together in his last time. He died because of me, and I had the gall to forget his sacrifice?

I recalled every little thing about that day. Dad. The motorcycle. The slope. The rain. The grey clouds. The crash. The blood. The odor of the road. I felt like my heart was getting torn piece by piece at every scene that flashed into my sight, embedding itself on my head like salt on a fresh wound.

It was like I was bleeding all over again. I looked at my hands and saw the familiar, viscous, sanguine liquid pouring out from what seemed to be a deep wound. Panicking at the sight of the blood, I looked at my arms and there they were... my old scars were back. I was bleeding! My body began to hurt too. It was as if someone held my limbs and contorted all my joints, tearing my muscles, and squeezing me dry.

I looked up and the russet sky had gone and came to the grey clouds. My breathing hitched, and my lungs were stuff that I could no longer breathe properly. My panic heightened and I opened my mouth, desperately trying to release a breath of air while hot tears escaped from the corner of my eyes.

I remembered it. I remembered it so vividly.

Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad with his head bleeding. Dad with his lips pale. Dad with his jaw crushed. Dad with blood pouring out from his mouth. Dad giving off his last breath when he couldn't have told me to take off the helmet!

But... he... did he smile at me and said that he hated seeing me frowning? He didn't... right? "Don't frown like that."

Oh God, he did! How could I not recall that? I was so useless, so worthless! I couldn't save dad or even the last moment I had with him together! "Vanessa...? Vanessa!"

I opened my eyes and came in face-to-face with the muddy grass with my knees on it. Gasping a sharp breath, I looked up and saw Friso looking at me with a perplexed look on his face. Droplets of water fell out from his hair and his lips pale. I looked at my hands, then my arms. There wasn't any blood in them. There were no scars too.

"Hey," he said, looking hesitant. "You..." he reached a hand to me, and I immediately slapped it away.

"I told you to stop didn't I?" I asked.

"I..." he trailed off but didn't finish what he was about to say.

"We already finished our tasks so it's fine to leave, right?!" I snapped at him and hastily got on my feet, walking out. That spineless jerk!

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my work, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**