I'll Love You Forever And Always

19. Can't Help Myself

The sour scent of the alcohol that had been consumed the night before came wafting in the room Athena was sleeping, and woke her up. It was quite warm under the duvet, as she woke up covered under cold sweat. Someone had been so kind to close the blinds as they knew it would help for the hangover caused by the night before. The bedroom she found herself in was one she had never been to before. It was quite big, not very much decoration, mostly plain.

Athena laid there for about an hour staring through the sealing, thinking about everything. Finally she decided to get up. With a throbbing headache she slowly got to the door. When she opened the door she was hit with a wave of sunshine glancing over her. In the far distance she saw someone cleaning, slowly picking up rubbish. It was most definitely Alex. He was wearing a plain white shirt with some sweatpants, he's hair hanging loosely over his head, not gelled back like he always did. With the bright sun breaking in the windows of his house, lighting his figure up like he was on stage. Alex stole everything's light, he was the bright spot of the sober earth.

"Ey hello" Athena smiled rather exuberant at the sight of him.

"Oh god" Alex gasped "Ye gave me a heart attack. How'd ya sleep?"

"Pleasingly good, the hangover is quite big, me head hurts like hell" Athena declared

"Ya need summat? I'll go make some coffee, I haven't eaten anything yet, so we can eat together" Alex offered

"Yes please" Athena smiled

So Alex went and made coffee as Athena got ready. He started making crêpes. When Athena was ready she came to help Alex since he had already burned three. When Athena offered to help he ordered her to go sit down, but she was not going to do that. She quickly grabbed some batter with her hands and smeared it on him

"Yer going to pay for this Athena" Alex swore as he grabbed the spatula and scooped a mayor load of batter and ran after Athena with an evil grin. Running around his house like to madman. You could even hear their giggles from outside. Their happiness was the only thing that counted as they were in the times of their lives, nothing mattered more than having lived, having enjoyed their time together because you would never be prepared for what the further had to come, but they never feared because the two lived in the moment, nothing else than then. All that could pass in a blink of an eye, you would not pay to close of an attention and you just hadn't completely lived life at its fullest, you wouldn't have truly lived. That was the biggest fear, what tomorrow had in store.

Panting and sweating the two began eating the crêpes Alex had made after their little morning workout. Talking about nothing in particular, but for hours long. Once finished Athena offered to help wash dishes and clean Alex's house up but he kept on refusing. When Athena finally had found a way to convince him he was still rather opinionated that she shouldn't do any work, but Athena helped anyway.

Alex had already cleaned a pretty big part up, but there was still a rather big amount to clean up. Alex had started cleaning the kitchen whilst Athena was doing the living room. Slowly everything began to look like it's old self. When Athena was ready with the living room she began cleaning outside, it was there that it was the biggest mess. Suddenly she heard some unsettling noises coming from the lavatory, so she went back in for a closer look. It was Alex trying he's best not to led anything out at the sight of someone puke.

"Could ya please clean it up" he smiled innocently "Please, I'll do something in return"

"Okey fine" Athena rolled her eyes. So she slowly cleaned it up trying not to do the same as the person did last night.

After the lavatory was clean again she went back outside. While she was cleaning out the pool Athena heard the door open and caught up on Alex trying to sneak up on her. They've been cleaning all day, the sun was starting to get ready for bed again as she lowered herself back to her home. The sky turning in a beautiful painting, a part blue stretching out in to pink and that in its turn stretching on it to the bright yellow ornament lighting up our days.

"Wow Athena it looks cleaner than it's ever been" Alex complimented "Could I hire ye by any chance?" Alex tuned in and started helping, only a bit was still needed to be cleaned and everything was ready.

After everything was clean the two collapsed on to the grass. Alex pulled out his pack of cigarettes that always accompanied him and offered Athena one.

"Oi I'm gonna order some take out ye want some?" He asked

"Yeah sure that's great" Athena answered while lighting up her cigarette. Alex did the same, the flame they used was their only source of light. When the flame was in Athena's face it would show her most defining features, and Alex was completely taken away by it. Both just sat there smoking in the night, nothing spoke more than the silence between the two.

When the take out arrived Athena wanted to go eat it in a special place. So they took what would be needed and left. Alex offered to drive but he didn't really know where there were going so he let Athena drive in his car, her dream car.

"D'ya know? I've always dreamt of having this exact car?" Athena mentioned

"Really? I've always wanted yer car it's not to big and extremely comfortable" Alex continued

"I think we'd better exchange cars don't we?" She laughed

Alex had completely no idea where they were going but he completely trusted her, with everything. Whilst in the car Alex kept on sneaking bites of the food and saying it was going to get cold if it wasn't eaten immediately. Cruising through the whole city they arrived at a cinema. Confused Alex got out of the car.

"What are we doin here?" He asked

"Just wait you'll see" Athena ensured

The cinema was closed but Athena still got the two in. They silently climbed the stairs till they came to the very top of the building. Once they arrived they still needed to climb a bit on top of the roof to get to the spot. Athena stopped at a chimney. When they sat down the view was indescribable. They were on top of the city, on top of the world. Being able to see the night like city like that was very rear. It was a full moon, and she was shining bright but the lights of the city lit on by night elves were covering her pale crescent look. The streets were alive like no before, everyone busy with their own special life. The traffic was moving like small ants before an upcoming storm. People laughing and wandering down the streets seeking for new adventures. A cool spring breeze serenading the evening. The city was alive like no before, their city. The night was young, there were still many things yet to come. Both fell in silence by the enchanting look of their city.

Both snapped back in to reality and started eating there long desired meal, chatting and laughing as always. Alex had brought a couple cans of Dandelion and Burdock, Athena had never had it before so Alex forced her to taste. Everyday they would learn more and more about each other, getting more intrigued everyday.

"What yer favourite word?" Alex asked

"Hm, I don't know" Athena answered "Petrichor, the distinctive smell that the air and the ground take on after it rains. That's one of my favourite smells. And the word petrichor describes it perfectly"

That kind of question they would ask over and over to each other both very interested in each other's answers.

Athena was studying Alexs every move like she always would do, but something changed she looked at him a bit different, she noticed all the little things he would do, all the small subtle things. Alex wouldn't always look straight at Athena while he was talking, he would stare straight in to the night, avoiding any eye contact. But he looked very comfortable, completely at ease when he was with her, only the tranquil feeling of the night. One thing Athena hadn't yet picked up on was that Alex was now staring straight back at her right in to her eyes. When she noticed she did something unbelievably, she went in and connected her lips once again with his.