POLAROIDS || L. PARTRIDGE [ ✓ ]

32. Paris in the Rain

AN EAR-SPLITTING TIRE-SCREECH and a blinding light that broke the barriers of the darkness in her vision came with a sudden stop a few seconds later. For a second there, the girl felt nothing but acceptance as to how ridiculous the day had turned out for her. For a moment, her heart stopped before it had a literal reason to, and it was all that fast as her adrenaline raised to tremble while the time stepped yet another second for her to realise that she had made an impact not with a metal or a car as a whole, but a warm and softer surface she soon learnt was more human than a machine.

"Sortez de la route! Tu vas me faire aller en prison!"

〔 TRANSLATION. Get off the road! You're gonna make me go to jail 〕

She gasped for air as the heart in her chest that she thought did not beat in the instance pounded like drums blasting her pulse in her ears. "Désolé, monsieur!" She yelled back. The people who witnessed this happen before their eyes muttered inaudible stuff under their breaths as they continued on with their day under the wet rain.

After the driver went to hit the road again, Y/N heard a groan from behind her. She turned to see Louis scrunching his nose and shaking his head as if attempting to get rid of the headache that came with his actions. His hand made its way on his forehead and went to touch the left side as it ached more than it should have from Y/N's head hitting it accidentally.

"Louis!" The girl exclaimed in fright and quickly stood up. "I am so so sorry," she grabbed his hand, and helped him back to his feet. Y/N trembled horribly as she felt her whole body cold from the shock.

Her teeth were chattering and her nerves wouldn't calm down making it hard for her to breathe steadily or even talk.

"I didn't know you were — " she started rambling, but realising how he was there and how Louis just saved her life, she didn't think twice when she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around the boy that assisted her from avoiding her possible end. The girl felt frail

and her knees grew wobbly.

Her breathing was far from steady as she felt herself submit to the fear that had knocked her body and soul. With the tightening sensation in her throat, she croaked out an apology once again, blinking away the raindrop that formed a waterline under her eyes. Louis didn't know if they were tears or was she using the weather as an advantage to mask her emotions.

He was quick to pull her in an embrace tighter than he had ever hugged her before. What would have happened if he wasn't there? What if he never chased after her? What if he was too late? And, what if he'd found her on the Paris ground without a beat in her chest? His hand reached the back of her neck and the other around her waist, "You're here."

"Because of you," she mumbled.

"I wouldn't know what to do if you — oh, bloody hell, I would've lost my mind," he whispered.

"Haven't you already though?" That earned a chuckle from him as they both pulled away. "This is dramatic," Y/N mumbled. "Shakespeare could never," she continued, making them both entertain themselves by the joke as if nothing had occurred — as if the girl wasn't about to die about a few minutes earlier.

Louis rested his chin on the top of her head. He could feel her shaking, "You're okay. I'm here," he mumbled, hoping to reassure her.

"I know. I can fairly see that, and bloody clearly too. I — "

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I almost just ended up in a hospital. Of course I'm fine," she sarcastically replied.