Alpha's and Eiffel towers [On Hold]

-|| 14 || respiré

When I'd actually dressed and tied Anna — way too big — sneakers, I headed down to the lobby where I expected to meet him. This time more people had already awakened, mostly tourists who weren't part of our school. They did look up to the sound the door to the stairwell made when opened, but a lot of attention wasn't wasted on me. I sat down in the same spot as yesterday, close to the entrance. After a few minutes of entertaining myself with a simple-minded game on my phone, I heard my name being called from the other side of the lobby. Mr. Jones waved me over after I'd located where the voice came from, and since. I didn't want to get a 0 for Physical Education, I walked over to him. "Jane, who's that boy that was with you yesterday?" He asked rather seriously and I lightly raised my shoulders. "Someone we met that's helping us explore the city, sir," I answered formal and polite, still thinking about how his mood thoroughly affected my grade. He crossed his arms slowly and lowered his voice," Are you sure you're handling this safely, Jane?". I looked at him with a confused look, he didn't sound like the teacher I'd grown to hate.

Normally he liked to yell at us for the pace we'd run the mile in, but he was weirdly worried about me all at once. "Y-... Yes, I think," I answered cautiously, he was holding something back. "Jane," I heard behind my back and I turned around quickly. Max stood in the doorway of the lobby, his expression dropping when he noticed mr. Jones. "I am okay, sir. I know how to take care of myself," I told him before I turned away and walked over to Max, who'd grown a smile once again.

"Hey, sorry that I'm late," he said while walked into the outside world. "It's okay, I wasn't waiting for too long," I responded, keeping eye contact while walking shoulder to shoulder. He gave me a small smile before he sunk back into a more concerned expression I hadn't seen him wear yet. When we got to the end of the street leading to the Champs, I almost felt intimidated, something this place hadn't recalled before. "Shall we get breakfast first?" he asked and I nodded. As if he had read my feelings from my eyes, he placed his arm over my shoulders and pulled me a little closer. I didn't complain, but it did recollect the strange feeling his touch seemed to give me. It warmed me so much my heart wanted him to never let go of me.

This time we walked up, towards the Arc. The street was busier than before, which could explain the itch of fear that was now seeping away second by second. "The boys have Anna's number, they'll pick them up when Joah en Finn manages to get a hold of their hangovers;" he said and I laughed truly fr the first time today. "Man, then I don't expect anything to come from Jackie today," I followed up. He softly drew circles with his fingertips onto my shoulder while his attention was elsewhere. He was less talkative than before, more nervous, almost. Something was wrong.

"Is everything okay?" I asked after building up the courage for minutes on end. He took a deep breath and moved his eyes upon me once again, "yeah." His short answer didn't lessen my concern, but maybe he'd open up over a baguette or something.

We reached a classic café in one of the many allies of the Champs-Élysées. It was hidden behind some buildings, but the exterior radiated of warmth. The inside was rather vacated, other than a man at the bar with a slopy newspaper between his fingers and his coffee damping softly beside him. We chose a table a little away from the window and Max ordered something in French. With not taking those into consideration, no words had been said for a while, yet it was only me this time that still had a clear head. Something was bothering him, and even though I didn't know him, it hurt me to see him like this.

"Jane," he started suddenly and I softly turned my head towards his. He fell silent yet again as if someone had remote-controlled him into a paused state. His eyes stayed still on me, he seemed to render incapable of speaking. "Are you sure everything is okay, Max?" I asked, hoping to get him out of the trance. He closed his eyes and slowly took a breath. "Respiré," I heard him mumble to himself, making me feel guilty for just being in his presence.

My head traveled back to last night, could any of my actions have transported him into this state of mind? Did I maybe rush him too much? What did I do wrong to see him suffer like this, or is it my fault at all?

I tried to focus myself back on the here and now, I couldn't change anything about the past. He still seemed to be fighting with himself, but it got interrupted by our breakfast being served. The smell of the food alone made me travel elsewhere, I didn't expect to get so heavily distracted by it.

"I need to tell you something important," he said, his eyes wearily staring at his plate. I nodded softly and put all my attention in his hands. "And, I didn't want to tell you this, but I have no other choice," my concern grew with every word he managed to speak. Maybe I was his sidepiece, maybe he already has a girlfriend. A kind of jealousy cooked itself up inside of me, which I deemed to be unfair. I've only known him for maybe 48 hours,

These weren't real feelings.

"Jane, we didn't just meet each other accidentally," he said and I couldn't help to raise my eyebrows. "Well, out meeting was definitely not a cliché, I don't know anyone that could run over someone as you did," I said teasingly and his rather serious expression broke into a smile, yet only temporarily. "That is true, but.- there's more to it, more than you can imagine," he responded, silencing his voice towards the end. "Tell me," I said, leaning a little over the table," I am not afraid."

—
Eyo!
I am already on vacation right now (picture of my doggo included)

Yes he's a supermodel with his own Instagram account (I have no life)

I hope all y'all's corona-cations go well!
Oh and thank you for voting, I never ask for it, but seeing that notification def makes me happy :)

Don't fail this day,
Speedystayshere