Une lumière dans l'obscurité

Le voisin est étrange...

The neighbor is strange...

~~~

  Arthur set a box down in his room, huffing loudly. "These boxes are heavy!", he thought irritably. Of course, the moving van had been delayed, and hadn't gotten to the house until the next morning. And, thankfully, Arthur wasn't starting school until Monday (and it was Saturday, today). A neighbor had come by last night (and they spoke English, thank god) bringing some welcome dish called "cheese soufflé." Arthur had no idea exactly what was in it, but at least it had tasted good.

  He walked back outside to grab another box, when suddenly a car gunning it could be heard down the street. He looked up to see a car zoom by, and park in the neighbor's driveway (not the one who had brought the good food that night, but the one on the other side of them). A girl who looked about 18 or so got out of the car and walked inside the house. Arthur stared for a moment longer, then shrugged. He took a couple more boxes inside, and began taking some of his stuff out (praying that none of it had broke).

As he did so, he heard talking in the other room. It was definitely in French; and one voice was unfamiliar, the other voice was his mother attempting some butchered French. Eventually it switched to English, the stranger attempting to speak it. Arthur sighed, got up, and walked into the living room. His mother was standing there, talking and laughing with a tall, slender... Very... Pretty boy who seemed to be about Arthur's age. He had mesmerizing blue pools for eyes, and wavy blond hair that went almost to his shoulders. At first glance, he almost looked like a girl (especially with those tight clothes he was wearing).

  His mom stopped talking and looked over at Arthur. "Oh, there you are! Arthur, meet Francis! He's our next door neighbor, and in the same year in school as you." Arthur rolled his eyes. "Really, mother? What're you doing, trying to set up a play date?" He sighed and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Francis." The taller boy stared at him blankly for a moment, as if he was waiting for Arthur to do something. Arthur glanced at his mother, confused. She shrugged. Arthur whipped his head around as he felt Francis grab his hand and shake it a couple of times, face still emotionless. "Bonjour, Arzhur," he said with the heaviest French accent Arthur had ever heard.

  Arthur felt his face flush red, remembering some of the tips that a friend (who had once visited France) had given him before he moved here. "Try to always speak French; the people there get pissy and think it's rude when you don't even try." Arthur cringed as he let go of Francis's hand. Great, pissing off the neighbors was a great start to his life here. He wasn't exactly prepared when Francis started speaking again. "Your mozher says you are... zhir- zhirteen years?", he said awkwardly. It took Arthur a minute to realize that Francis had said "thirteen years."

Arthur nodded slightly. "Oh, yes - er, oui. And you?" Francis stood there for a moment, looking like he was thinking. "Fourteen," he finally said. The two of them stood there in an awkward silence momentarily. Finally his mother gave Arthur a pat on the shoulder. "So, I'll let you two talk!", she said happily, before walking away.

Francis looked down at his feet, saying nothing. Suddenly his head snapped up. "You come from England?", he asked suddenly. Arthur blinked a couple times. "Er.. Oui. Have you always lived in Paris? Or no?" Francis frowned slightly. ".....Oui?..", he said, sounding like he was guessing. Arthur giggled a bit, then caught himself. "Why're you giggling?", he thought, face turning red. Francis smiled for the first time in the conversation, laughing slightly.

  The two of them exchanged awkward snippets of small talk before Francis stopped attempting to converse, and so did Arthur. They both just stood there, before Francis cleared his throat. "Au revoir," he said as he raised a hand in an obvious farewell. "Au revoir," Arthur said back, with the world's worst accent. Francis began to turn away, but then stopped. "I will see you... In school?", he stuttered out. Arthur smiled slightly. "Oui."

~~~

Le voisin est étrange...

  As Francis walked back to his own home, he mentally scolded himself. "If I had known they only spoke English, I would've never gone over!" He grimaced as he opened the front door. He had made such a fool of himself. Plus, he couldn't pronounce those stupid English words correctly! And it didn't help that the British boy was totally cute - wait, what? He felt a blush rising to his cheeks as he walked into his bedroom.

  He didn't like like Arthur. First of all, he had just met him. Second of all, he was a bit strange. Third, he was kind of rude. And cute. Especially those green, gorgeous eyes- Francis bit the inside of his cheek, attempting to cut off his thoughts. "Stop acting like this is one of those romance novels you read," he thought angrily. He sat down on the edge of the bed, sighing.

  "....now what?" Francis sighed and grabbed his French-to-English dictionary. He better start brushing up on his English before school on Monday...

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