LOVE BUG

CHAPTER 32: HOME

She inhales one last deep breath, the pressure drawing her to Nathaniel already crushing her lungs as he walks closer to her car.

'A good lawyer can convince anyone', she repeats under her breath, but the hardest one she has to convince is herself.

Nathaniel greets her with a wide smile, outshining the glow of the sun. "Bonjour, Anastasia."

This single word, followed by her name wrapped in his calm voice, has her already swallowing, trying to put her bouncing heart in its right place inside her ribcage.

"Hi."

Nate is also gulping in front of her bashful smile, yet the jump of his heart is so different as he's missing the sweet melody of his full name on her lips.

"You came on foot?"

Her distant and practical attitude could dishearten him more, but on the contrary, the light crease between her eyebrows and the faint blush on her cheeks make his chest swell. This is exactly Anastasia, his angel, down-to-earth and pragmatic, yet sweet and passionate too.

"I parked behind there." He points to his right. "So no one can see... – It's safer."

He, too, can be practical. He has thought thoroughly about this. He's been thinking a lot since he's last seen her, and he has considered every detail and every possibility, even more after her text a few hours ago.

"And how's your arm?"

"Fine, I'll be able to remove the bandage in a few days," he reassures her as the same contradictory sensations are arising inside his chest in front of her concern, and he swings his arm back and forth to confirm what he's just said, and also to take the opportunity to grab her hand.

He hasn't planned this simple gesture, yet it feels so natural as the soft touch of her skin is tingling a path along his arm and soothing at the same time the remaining burn that he would never admit is still throbbing there.

"It's just behind." He pulls her towards the direction of the glowing rays of the setting sun.

This is not what she has planned. The light contact of his hand is already too much, and she is losing control as she lets him lead her.

"And you, how are you?"

"Um... fin–" Her words, and maybe more, get lost in a gasp.

Behind the few trees, which have been hiding the sun, appears a clearing and the blazing sky on the horizon, and the green of the nature around is eclipsed by the spectacle above. 

Red, orange, pink and yellow are melting in the pale azure, like an iridescent fire in a peaceful and pure firmament, and it echoes in every fiber of her body, particularly in the sweet sparks igniting from their intertwined fingers

"It's beautiful." She turns back to find him already staring at her, and this time, her shallow breath is taken by the contrasting soft intensity in his penetrating eyes.

"Beautiful..." She can see herself getting lost entirely in those chocolate shades, burning slowly like the colors in the sunset, and she averts her gaze one second away from melting. 

"But I don't know if it's the best place to talk..." Her smile is a mix of so many emotions, just like the shivers along her skin, and the only thing that she is sure of is that they aren't because of the chilly night falling.

Coming here maybe hasn't been the best idea... Maybe she should have just avoided him forever. Yet she is not like that. She will solve all those questions, no matter how scared of the outcomes she is and how many arguments she has to lay to convince both of them of the safest verdict.