Journey || Erik Durm

♂

ERIK:

                       MARIO'S wedding party fell on New Year's eve into New Year's day, and the ceremony was meant to unravel as the new year commenced. Our plan was to party ardently through the night until we got drunk off our asses and conceptualized oblivion, but as Lotte pulled the hem of my tie in an attempt to straighten it before the event, I had other ideas.

"I can't believe this," she muttered, shaking her head. I examined her discreetly as her lips moved to form words, their dainty texture reeling me in. "You're supposed to be some hotshot footballer," she was saying, "but you don't even know how to tie a tie," and I also couldn't stop staring at those lips-those voluminous, dainty lips, pressed in a thin line of indignation.

She was temperamental, so easily aggravated and ticked, and I was madly in love with her for those inclusive tendencies and there was no fucking way around it, no matter the redundancy.

How were you supposed to tell somebody who meant everything to you the extent of what they meant to you? You couldn't, and that was the greatest mistake God made when creating us. He placed us here, swarming fierily with unconditional love and capability, but neglected us in the aftermath, leaving us intently scavenging for ways to exhibit our love, sometimes to no avail.

In the past few months, it had starkly dawned on me despite his existence-or lack thereof-the genuine gods and goddesses in my life I had reckoned with, personified in the human form of those who meant everything to me.

And there was another goddess in front of me, murmuring a "there" as she released contact from the hem of my clothing, letting her hands limply fall to her sides, but I firmly latched onto her wrists, and somehow, due to an influx of luck, managed to land a pair of glistening brown eyes on my own.

"Erik," she said sternly, reeking with impatience. "We're already late, you know that?"

"Let us be."

"Ann-Kathrin's going to kill me!"

I took a sharp intake of breath, pulling our bodies together. Lotte's chest effortlessly collided with mine as if there existed an innate magnetizing force between us, meshing us together firmly. "I-" I looked at her, a small smile toying on my lips as I just looked at her. "-just want to see you for a second, Lotte."

"Erik," she heaved, a circle of scarlet warmth pooling into her cheeks.

"You're so beautiful."

"Erik," she drawled, annoyed.

"Lotte."

"Oh my god!"

"What?"

"We're going to be late for your best man speech! Erik!"

I chuckled, letting go of her wrists and, bringing a free hand to her chin, rubbed it. "You're so fucking beautiful."

"You already said that."

"Can I say it enough?"

"No," she answered, giggling. "I lowkey love it when you tell me that."

"Lowkey?"

"It's a slang."

"You're using slangs now?"

"Yes! I'm a gangster, yo. Everybody does it at university."

"Everybody does it so you're going to do it too?"