TEMPTRESS

V.

ANGÈLE JOSÉPHINE MONET LAURENT CHASTIN - TOULOUSE, FRANCE 1968

Toulouse. The air was warm, the sky was transcendent, the very rich architectural heritage ranging from large Romanesque and Gothic churches to neo-classical facades. It was beautiful. The pink and blue city. She threw her luggage on the bed of her usual room, the bed creaking as the brown luggage hit the soft mattress. She went to open the window, letting the humid and dusty air out into the dark night as she ran her hands through her hair looking around, figuring out what to do next.

She walked out of her room and past the portraited walls and the books hung up in the bookshelf towards the stairs. She jogged down the stairs, bumping into Adrien who was smoking a cigarette and reading a book as he paced around the room. "Tu lis quoi?" She asked, peering over to read the cover as he lifted the book so she could see better. Paludes by André Gide. He ambled away back into the reading room and crashed onto the red couch.

He seemed to be truly concentrated, so she went back up the stairs to find her twin. He was in his beige-coloured wall room, resting on his bed, listening to the radio as he laid his head against his pillow. He laid there shirtless and in swim shorts, his back facing her. She was about to walk out but the floor creaking revealed her figure by the door to him. "Reste." He whispered, peering over his shoulder, his hazel eyes scanning her up and down.

She licked her lips and closed the door behind her. "What are you listening to?" She asked and carefully hopped on the bed, taking her shoes off.

"France Gall." He answered.

"Ah." Angele said feeling stupid for not recognizing her familiar voice on the radio. "France Gall." She repeated.

Alexandre turned his body around, facing her as she looked up around the room, admiring his posters of famous musicians, actors, and artists. The couple laid there in silence as they listened to the songs playing and the comments made by the French radio personalities. "Let's get drunk?" He whispered in her ear after a while.

"What?" She laughed.

"One second." He said with a hurried tone, rolling off the bed, falling onto the ground and picked himself right up before rushing out.

He jogged down the stairs and into the kitchen where there was a wine cellar filled with different sorts of wine. He picked up a random bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau and picked up three wine glasses. He skipped into the reading area where he found Adrien passed out on the couch, his book on top of his chest slowly rising and falling. He left his brother to sleep not wanting to bother him after being tired from the seven-hour drive.

"Et voila!" Alexandre said as he closed the door setting down the glasses and opening the wine pouring it into two glasses.

"Is Lou not joining?" She asked and thanked him for the glass. He noticed she had changed out of her slacks and into her white silk nightdress. She looked almost angelic—no, she was angelic.

"He's asleep." He answered. "He looked cute while he was sleeping peacefully." He poured himself a glass and walked towards his nightstand, turning the volume of the radio up and opened his drawer, searching for his sky-blue pack of Gauloises.