Midnight • (Zayn Malik)

spring break: arrival in Paris

"Are you sure you would not like to stay with me?" Steele asked all of us, but mostly Monte.

"We don't want to crowd your home. Besides, my mother already has the hotel here paid for," I smiled, "of course I can always make a few calls if you want," I directed towards Monte.

"No, no. Luna is right Steele, you do not have enough room," Monte reasoned, "This vacation is for us and we should have the full tourist experience," Monte smiled to us.

I could tell he would really like to spend more time with his brother even though he didn't want to admit it. I bit my lip in thought for a few minutes.

"What if Steele came to stay with us at the hotel? That way you get to spend more time with him and we aren't taking over his house," I suggested.

Steele shook his head solemnly, "I wish I could but I still attend school. The hotel is much too far away."

Right. I forgot Steele was only nineteen.

"I'm sorry Monte. I tried," I shrugged and rubbed my hand on his shoulder.

"You must visit often instead," Steele smiled easily at us before giving a slight nod to Monte.

Monte's lips slipped into a smile that I could see in the rear view mirror. We would definitely have to cheer him up after we got situated in the hotel.

"The Keppler, oui?" Steele asked me and I nodded in response.

Bright sunshine was reflecting off of Steele's shiny black car and flooding into the cobblestone streets. There were endless buildings on either side of us, much like in London, but with a different taste to it. More French-y for the lack of a better word. London reminded me of a nice cool, cloudy afternoon, whereas France reminded me of the exact opposite afternoon. Maybe it was the Hollywood perception of Paris that I had in my head, but so far my eyes were proving it all to be true.

Steele pulled up right in front of an official looking black door with clean cut bushes on either side and a hangover sign that read "Keppler" in bold white letters. The hotel's name was all across the windows of the building and I guess one would never have to worry about finding this place. It was a beautiful building though, nonetheless, and it definitely satisfied my minimalistic obsession. White and black, such a wonderful scheme for literally everything.

"Do you need assistance with your luggage?" Steele asked politely.

"You have helped us so much already. I am sure the hotel employees will take care of it," Monte told him gently. I knew it was going to be hard for him to say goodbye to his brother. They seemed especially close.

We all got out of the car to get our suitcases from the back and the trunk of the car which took us a good fifteen minutes at least. We tried to make it a one trip deal. I started walking after Violet and Sienna and nearly dropped all of my luggage at the sight of the hotel lobby. It was so top level design I could practically smell how expensive this place must be. It was beautiful though, don't get me wrong. I hardly had any time to take it all in before everyone was shoving me towards the front desk. There were so many patterns that were all over the place but were still cohesive, it was hard to focus. The man behind the large wooden desk smiled and gestured for me to sit down on the cream leather chair. There were no arms on the chair so I settled for awkwardly placing my hands in my lap.

"Nommers'il vous plaît," he told me.

I stared at him blankly and began to panic, looking around for Monte and thought that he was probably outside still talking with his brother.

"Uh... parle no French?" I tried, cringing at how absolutely horrible that sounded.

He let out a gentle laugh and his eyes sparkled, "So you are American, oui?"