I wait for Louis in front of my house, sitting on a wooden bench. I haven't been able to do anything since breakfast. I was pissed that I had to sacrifice a part of my day to help him. I was angry at Maman for forcing me to do this.
But mostly, I was nervous. I continuously rubbed my palms against the fabric of my shirt to dry off my sweat. I kept looking at my left hand. The one that he touched. I didn't know how to feel about that whole situation. Earlier today, I washed it five times. I told myself that the water would wash away any part of him on me. Louis made me feel uncomfortable. I had to stay as far away from him as I could.
I look at my watch.
1:29
He could come out at any minute. I start to frantically tap my foot against the gravel soil. What were we supposed to talk about on the way to the village? Would he even answer if I asked?
I search through my brain and try to think about different conversation topics.
Favorite movie?
Favorite singer?
Favorite color?
Great. I can only think of lame questions teachers ask their students on the first day of school. I shake my head. Why am I even making a big deal out of this?
I don't care about him. I don't want to get to know him. I'm helping him because Maman wants me to.
I lean my back against the bench and look down at my watch once more.
1:31
The fucker's late. I am giving up a part of my day for him and he can't even show up on time. What if he never does? Am I being stoop up? Did he decide to go without m-
"You ready?"
I snap out of my thoughts and turn my head to where the voice came from.
Louis, casually leaning against the front door, adjusts his cheap black sunglasses on his nose with one hand and ruffles his hair with the other.
I don't answer and peak down at my watch instead.
1:32
"You're late."
"We said around 1:30? Didn't know we were on a tight schedule Mister.." He looks at me from down-up. "Curly." He ends up stating with a hand gesturing towards my hair.
Why the nickname? He's getting too comfortable, which is making me uncomfortable.
"I go by Harry, if you could please respect that." I reply, irritated.
He only laughs and takes a few steps towards me.
"Yeah whatever."
I thought he was going to stop in front of me. But instead, he continues walking towards the fence that led to the backyard.
He has his back to me. I stay seated on the bench, not quite understanding what he's doing.
"Well are you going to follow me? Or do I have to take you by the hand?" Louis says with a hint of mockery in his voice.
"The bikes. Right." I say while standing up and quickly walking to him.
We both hop on our bikes and head to the village.
We remain silent during the ride. It feels weird. I want to break it, but I don't know what to say. I chose not to.
I look ahead of me. I catch myself glancing at him from time to time, to make sure we're going at the same pace.
He's looking at the colorful fields. He seems to be taking it all in, as if he wanted to remember every single detail. From the bumps on the dirt road to the brightness of the fields, every look that Louis takes seems calculated, as if there was a reason hidden behind each one.
He doesn't bother me like this, when he's silent and calm.
I then notice something on his right thigh, as the fabric of his red shorts lifts itself slightly. It looks like black ink writing.
A tattoo?
I squint my eyes to take a better look. I lean in, close.
We were t-
"Watch out!" Louis screams. I divert my eyes away from his thigh and look up at him.
Shit. I was about to crash my bike into his.
I quickly straighten myself on my bike and look in front of me.
"Sorry" I say.
"Just watch where you're going." He responds, more serious than I thought he would be. He covers his tattoo by pulling down his shorts.
Fuck. He saw me look.
For the rest of the trip, I keep my eyes on the road, pretending he doesn't exist. It's awkward.
...
We end up arriving to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence ten minutes later. I can feel that he's still mad. I shouldn't care, but I simply can't stand the tension.
"Look" I stop pedaling and get off my bike.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know your tattoo was personal. I should've asked your permission to look." I mumble quietly.
"Whatever. Just get me to the Ciné Palace." He answers, still serious.
"Yeah, follow me."
He gets off his bike and walks besides it, with his hands still on the wheel.
It's in moments like these that I wish I could just stop overthinking about everything and simply move on. I can't deal with people being angry with me. It makes me anxious.
I walk with my head low, and my back curled up on itself. My throat tightens and it gets harder and harder for me to swallow. I feel Louis' eyes on me, following me from behind.
His pace quickens until he reaches my level.
"Hey" He says, softly. "I'm not mad. It's just that my tattoo is something very personal to me. Don't look at it again and we're all good. Okay?"
"Yeah. Okay." I answer. I let out a long breath that I didn't realise I was holding.
He gives me a small encouraging smile. I find myself smiling back at him.
Hum... What the fuck are we doing? Are we really smiling to each other?
I clear my throat and point towards the building in front of us to divert his attention from me.
"There it is".
The Ciné Palace. An old beige building situated in the town square. It blends perfectly with the others around it. It has green vines attached to it, as well as four white windows. The paint's chipped in many places. You could hardly tell that a theater room is hidden behind those walls.
We're on the far-left side of the town square, near the shops and the cafes. I walk to the middle, where a big tree sits with benches surrounding it. I lean my bike against one of them and head to the Ciné Palace. Louis follows me closely.
"Pardon, nous aimerons parler avec le concierge. Est-il disponible?" I ask to a man working there, with my head poking through the main entrance door.
"C'est moi. Mathieu." He holds out his hand for me to shake.
"Enchanté,"
"Harry. Enchanté"
I invite Louis inside.
"This is Louis. He's the one who wishes to speak with you. He's English and doesn't really understand French." I gesture to Louis.
"Nice to meet you Matthew" He says while shaking his hand.
Louis takes off his sunglasses and looks at me. The smile he had earlier has disappeared from his face.
"Hum... Could you please leave us alone? I wish to speak privately with the concierge."
I look at him, surprised. I leave without saying anything.
One minute you're all nice to me and the next you're back to being all secretive and serious?! I thought we were making progress. Guess not.
I think back to the smile we shared moments ago. He was just using me so I wouldn't bail on him. Fucking dick.
I look at my bike.
I have a decision to make. I can either be his little bitch, and wait for him to come out, or I could just leave.
Maman is going to be so mad at me for this.
I run back to my bike, hop on it and pedal away without looking back.
You think you can use me Louis? Have fun finding your way back to the cottage.
Chapter 4 done!! How are we liking the story so far?!
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for 900 reads!!! I can't believe it! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my fanfic!! It means sooooo much to me:)
p.s. This is what the town square looks like:)