Midnight Rain - L.B.

N I N E T E E N

Then we ran down the street
in the late London light
The world froze around us,
you kissed me goodnight

Paris, France
October 4th, 1997
12:28 am | Tatum Vaughneton

Warning: Mature Content? Kinda?
Not Really?

"Wake up," I whispered, gently tapping Lorenzo's shoulder. "Enzo, wake up."

He mumbled something along the lines of "I don't wanna." before pressing his head further into his arm that he had rested like a pillow between him and the passenger car door.

The little shit did end up wanting a break and asked me to drive about an hour after it got dark.

"We're here, Enzo. C'mon, and you can sleep in a real bed. Okay? I can't carry you up the stairs."

He blinked a few times, then yawned, slowly speaking between breaths. "If you really cared about me, you'd at least try."

I rolled my eyes with a smile, climbing out my side of the car and going around to his.

I opened the door, moving in the way before he could fall out, his head pressed against my arm. "Come on, Enzo. You can sleep once we get inside. Okay?"

He sighed heavily, leaning off of me and standing up, stretching his arms over his head before nodding tiredly. "Yeah. Okay."

I opted to just grab the bags in the morning, leaving the car parked by the street beside the apartment.

I linked my arm with his, tugging him along up the stairs until we got to the front door.

The apartment was quite large. One my grandmother had lived in since before I could remember. The outside was a light pink, the shutters white, the front door red. There was a flower box at every window. It was beautiful.

I knocked a few times, Lorenzo mumbling out incoherent sentences and gesturing to random things around us enthusiastically while I nodded like I understood.

The door opened quietly, Carrie smiling on the other side and gesturing us in.

"Salut, Carrie. Thank god you're awake." I hugged her for a moment, quickly pulling Lorenzo in beside me.

"Bon retour, chérie." She nodded, shutting the door behind us.

"Hi, Carrie." Enzo smiled, eyes half closed and heavy.

"Bonjour à toi aussi, Lorenzo. It's very good to see you both again." She gently patted his arm. "Your grand-mère fell asleep around three hours ago. Vous devriez tous les deux aller vous coucher. I prepared the guest rooms for you both, I hope it's alright that they're connecting. It's just through the bathroom. And if it's alright, I'll be going home for the night and be back in the morning."

"That's fine, Carrie. Merci beaucoup. You get some rest, too. We'll be good for the night. See you in the morning." I thanked her, tugging Lorenzo with me up more stairs to the guest bedrooms.

"She's nice." He whispered, watching me open the door to his room first.

Carrie had been taking care of my grandmother for years. Since I was eight. She lived with her husband and her young son a few streets away, staying with my grandmother whenever needed.

"Alrighty, Lorenzo." I sat him down on his bed. "I'll be in the other room, but you've been here before so I doubt you'll have any troubles. Just get some rest."

He just looked at me for a moment, eyes slightly narrowed. "How come you haven't talked to me since you kissed me?"

"I've talked to you." I laughed quietly, looking down at him. "I've talked to you a lot since then. What are you on about?"