Rêveries

Chapter 54.

"So... you and Charles..." Anthoine whispers to me as he, Evie and I are waiting for Charles to finish up with the fans in the lobby. I look at Evie who shakes her head as if to say it wasn't her who told him, but I guess it's a traveling rumor by now. I bet Pierre hasn't been able to keep his fucking mouth shut. You know what? It might as well have been Charles at this point.

"It's..." I nod my head slowly as I look over at Charles taking some pictures with fans who I purposely avoided because I never know who hates me and who doesn't, "It's... yeah," I shrug.

"That's so unspecific," Anthoine tells me with a quick shake of his head.

"It's... just..." I end up huffing as I don't know what to say, I don't know how to describe it when we're not boyfriend and girlfriend, I don't want to tell him we're not when he might feel that we're not, but we're going to be eventually so we might as well be? "Can't you ask whoever told you in the first place?" I ask when I give up on trying.

He shrugs, "Why? You're right here," He says and I just sigh.

"They're a situationship at the moment," Evie says, grabbing my phone to hold it up in front of him, turning on my screen to show the new lockscreen I picked out on the plane from Schweiz. The photographer had captured a photo of Charles and I when we were dancing. My arms over his shoulders and his hands on the small of my back. It's taken from somewhere behind me so you can see Charles' smile and just the profile of mine. "But they're getting there," She says before giving the phone back to me.

I love that photo, but I find myself blushing when other people see it. Anthoine smiles, though. Not that I thought he'd be judging, but maybe he'd find it a bit cheesy. It kind of is, but Seb sent it to me as soon as he got his hands on it and I just loved the idea of being reminded that his smile, that gorgeous smile, was for me at that moment. So I changed it, asking Evie if she thought it looked good, but I felt too nervous to ask Charles so I'm not actually sure he's seen it.

Charles comes up to us and we get into the elevator. As soon as the doors close, he kisses me, and I just wrap my arms around his torso and put my head on his shoulder for the ride up. Anthoine glances at us and holds back a smile. I like that he's better than Pierre. He's France's only hope, the only hope for me ever liking French people — except for my brother who was practically French, given he's born in Nice, but I'll make an exception for him. And Anthoine.

The room Charles and I share is decorated in a light shade of purple, and my favorite thing is the purple orchids they've used to decorate with all over the room. The bathroom is white and next to the sink there's white orchids instead of purple. The balcony is my favorite part and it's overlooking one of the pool areas. I open the doors up and I step out and lean on it as I look out, because oh I love balconies. When I move out and into my own place, I'll need a good balcony or I'm not taking it.

When I turn around, Charles has his phone held up towards me, and I think he's snapping photos. I frown and go towards him, seeing that's exactly what she did. Awful pictures. He smiles as he looks at them and then he leaves a quick peck on my forehead.

"Ne faites pas cela," Don't do that, I say, trying to take the phone from him, but he just keeps pulling it away from me.

"Je l'envoie à ma mère pour lui montrer que tu es bien arrivé," I'm sending it to my mother to show her that you have arrived safely, he says as he types on his phone. I sigh and give up, because there are some fights I know I won't win. When he's done, he drops his phone on the bed and I see something that makes my whole body feel like it's swelling. His home screen is a picture I haven't seen before, but it's of us in the pool in Alassio on Evie's birthday.