💋One night in Paris💋

Cold, dark and empty.

Joe's POV
Once I had gotten back from Ireland I was a bit lost. Sure the wedding was fine but it was quite ironic considering I had witnessed a man marrying the love of his life just forty eight hours as I had met mine. It may seem forward or 'far out' as Dianne would say, but I honestly do believe that she was the love of my life. When I saw her in the airport, vulnerable and appearing to feel out of place, I immediately felt the urge to help her. Not just as a stranger but as someone who had felt this connection to her. Obviously I was attracted to her a great deal but I had a feeling in my stomach that helping her would be the start of something else, I guess I just didn't realise it at the time.

It surprised me at how close we had become in twenty four hours. I hated to see her cry, I was over the moon to see her in deep happiness and that cute little dimple in her cheek that appeared every time she smiled would send my heart racing. I don't think I would ever forget what happened that night though, how her skin felt against mine and how the taste of her lips could last forever but you'd still want more of it it eventually ended. She made me feel things that I hadn't felt before.

To be honest, I wasn't all that lucky in love. I hadn't had a girlfriend and the closest thing I had was in high school, but that soon ended when she fell for someone else which left me devastated. From that moment on, I had always had the mentality that even if I did like a girl, she would always find someone else and ditch me for him. That guy I can presume would be tall, dark and handsome, three things that I wasn't. I was short, shorter than most guys my age, and I had light brown hair, blonde even as some would often describe it. And as for handsome, that's once again a bit 'far out'. I didn't have low self esteem and liked to think I was decent, but at the same time I always had insecurities which flooded my mind like violent never ending waves, a tap of doubt releasing them all into my mind. I wasn't the most muscular of men, and I'm pretty sure you could see my ribs denting below my pale skin, and being my shade of pale hasn't made it easy for me to date when girls desire men with tanned skin.

But the way Dianne looked at me, she made me feel like a man and that I was worthy of love, worthy of a girl. I don't know if I'll ever be worthy of a girl as perfect of her but the look in her eyes when her honey ones met mine, they gave me hope that I wasn't all that bad, that maybe I had a chance in the game of love. Lucky wasn't a word that could describe my love life, and as much as I'd like to say I was lucky to meet Dianne, something told me that something else brought us together before it ripped us apart, maybe...just maybe, that same powerful force would bring us back together again.

I hope.

I slid the key in the lock before entering my apartment in the centre of London. It was cold, dark and empty, what a lovely atmosphere to come back to compared to the livelihood of Tom which made the hotel far from empty or the warmth that coursed through my veins that Dianne created or the light in her eyes which could brighten up any room, now the apartment just seemed dull, but it was still home. I placed my rucksack by the door before slowly making my way into the open space that separated the living area from the kitchen. I took a deep sigh, running a hand through my hair which was slightly greasy and was untameable.

"Hey bru, good wedding?" Byron, my roommate asked, emerging from his room. He was dressed in a tracksuit and was looking at something on his phone. I nodded, us sharing a brief hug before making our way over to the sofas, both sitting down on them and slumping back.

"Yeah, the wedding was...was great." I said, my mind not on the wedding but the trip to Paris, what I would give to be there again, with Dianne.

"Oh that's good." Byron said, sitting up a bit more, he looked at me, concerned. "Are you Alright, you seem a bit quiet." I stayed silent for a few minutes. The silence was heavy in the air, and I knew that it couldn't last forever.

"Byron?" I asked, resting my hands in my lap and slouching over, he came and sat next to me.

"Yeah bru?"

"Something...happened. It wasn't what I planned at all, and it's complicated...but I need to talk to someone." I said, he nodded and put his phone away.

"I'm all ears, it's obviously troubling you so fire away." He said, I sighed, this was going to be hard to say, and hard to say emotionally, hearing it out loud would be such a difficult task, but I knew I needed to.

"So that morning, at the airport. There was...there...there was this girl, and she was really vulnerable. She...her boyfriend was deporting her." I start, Byron raises his eyebrows, he looked surprised but I don't blame him. He nods and gestures for me to go on.

"So I called the police, they came but I got into a thing with the guy, he ended up punching me and knocking me out momentarily which wasn't fun, he said that I would pay, and that was a promise." I said, slightly nervous about the entire situation. Byron placed a hand on my shoulder.

"He can't make you pay Joe, he knows nothing about you, don't sweat it." I nod.

"So I helped her and agreed to go with her as she had one night before Australia, same with me and Ireland, so we spent one night in Paris." I chuckled, remembering how excited we both were to visit a place we had never been before, and I was even more excited to see the world with her.

"Oh cool, was it fun?" he said, the mood brightening a bit, my mind suddenly shifted to the coffee shop and touring around, getting soaked in the rain in the city, all the memories we had made, together.

"Yeah, it was...but I...I had, I fell for her. We...we agreed it was a one night thing but to be honest, I wanted so much more." I said, looking down at the floor, Byron nodded and looked at me.

"Oh, I'm really sorry Bru, but you could always reach out to her, you know?"

"I know, but I partly feel so naive for falling for someone that much, in such short time, it scares me." I said, Byron sighed and got up, I was intrigued to hear what he had to say, I slowly lifted my eyeline to his.

"You're not naive, Joe. I've known you long enough to know you don't fall for people that much so whoever she was, she was special, and I'm sure you'll find your way back." He said, I got up and hugged him, what he said filled me with some hope, I just wonder if he was right.

"Thanks Byron, Thank you."