Lila walked out of the school building warm sunlight bathing down on her and making her smile.
The warmth of the sun reminded her of being in Genoa and on the beach with her cousins and friends as they messed around building sandcastles, splashing through the ocean waves or just simply sitting on the sand chatting.
Despite the fact she had got used to Paris life she still missed Genoa-home- dearly.
"Lila?" a voice said cutting into her thoughts and washing away her memories of home.
She turned to the person with blinking eyes "What?"
"I said, see you tomorrow" Sabrina laughed.
"Oh right, bye," Lila said.
"Bye, Lila oh and Nathanael," Sabrina said with a wave as she ran down the steps and to the waiting police car. Her father was collecting her.
"So that was an eventful day...at least everything's cleared up now," Nathanael said standing beside Lila, hands in his pockets.
Lila nodded with a smile. Then she glanced at Nathanael her smile fading.
"Now you!" she said
Nathanael gulped wondering what had made her mad.
"You have to promise me not to hide your feelings anymore!"
Nathanael glared, the usual stubbornness taking him over.
"Nath, I mean it, if you feel sad or angry you need to tell me," Lila said, hands on her hips. "I think it's only fair after all I've kept my promise of no lies"
Nathanael sighed "fine, I won't hide my feelings anymore, I promise"
Lila smiled and nodded in satisfaction. Then she grabbed his hand and with sparkling eyes said "Now it's time for an adventure!" before he could protest Lila was pulling him down the steps.
Nathanael nearly tripped she was going that fast. They were on the pathway when Nathanael finally spoke.
"W-where are we going?" he asked as he ran behind Lila.
Lila suddenly stopped making Nathanael bump into her back. He took a step back with blinking eyes.
Lila turned around to look at Nathanael with a grin "I don't know" he said.
"How can you have an adventure if you don't know where you're going?"
Lila shook her head, her long brown locks falling gently around her like Nathanael had asked the most foolish question she had ever heard.
"Oh, tomato, you still have so much to learn"
Nathanael raised an eyebrow "What?"
"Part of the adventure is finding out where you're going, you have to follow your instincts-Your heart!"
"I don't know...knowing you it'll be risky" Nathanael said.
Lila rolled her eyes "That's the whole point"
Soon she had grabbed his hand again and was pulling him along the Parisian streets.
Zigzagging through the people walking along the pathway, in search of adventure."
"So where is this adventure?" Nathanael asked.
Nathanael and Lila were strolling through a park hand in hand.
Lila pouted "No idea...Italy had far much more adventure than Paris!"
Nathanael chuckled "that's probably because you grew up there"
Lila nodded "Yeah" then she spotted an ice cream cart and her eyes widened. she turned to Nathanael with a grin "Let's get some ice cream!"
Before Nathanael could respond Lila was running towards the ice cream cart pulling Nathanael along with her.
"L-Lila wait!" Nathanael said as he stumbled keeping up with her.
Lila slowed down a little and gave Nathanael an apologetic smile "Sorry"
Nathanael smiled in thanks when she slowed down.
They soon reached the ice cream cart that belonged to André, who was famous for his delicious ice creams.
He smiled when he saw them approaching "Ah how nice to see such a young couple in love!"
Both Lila and Nathanael's faces flared into mad blushes.
"W-what N-No we... I'm not...i mean..." Nathanael rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to stutter out an answer.
Lila began to anxiously ramble "Nathanael is just my friend...I mean I wouldn't mind...ah I mean..."
André saw what was happening and smiled "It's okay I understand"
They both stopped their rambling and looked at André with wide eyes. Blushes were still obvious on their faces.
"Now I suppose you want some ice cream, yes?"
Both teens nodded, smiles appearing on their faces.
"Great I got the perfect combination for you two," André said, a bright grin appearing on his face.
He began to perfectly scoop out three different scoops of ice cream placing them in the chocolate wafer striped cone.
"For the pretty miss," he said handing Lila an ice cream that was first topped with a blue ice cream-blue moon, in the middle was a scoop of red strawberry ice cream and at the bottom was a scoop of purple blueberry ice cream.
"Thank you," Lila said as she accepted the ice cream with a smile.
Then he made an ice cream of green tea ice cream at the top, the middle was a scoop of chocolate ice cream and the bottom was a scoop of orange ice cream "and this is for you young man" André said handing over to Nathanael.
"Thank you, Monsieur," Nathanael said as he accepted the ice cream.
"Here I'll pay," Lila said reaching into her bag with her free hand to grab her purse.
Nathanael glared at her "No way, you always pay! I'm paying this time!"
Lila smiled "Okay, you can pay" she could sense Nathanael was in a stubborn mood.
André smiled and glanced at Lila "He is quite the gentleman"
Lila giggled "Yes he is"
Nathanael rolled his eyes at their teasing and took out some money and paid for both their ice creams.
"Nathy, how about we sit over there to eat our ice creams," Lila said pointing towards a bench shaded a little by the branches of a sycamore tree.
Nathanael nodded as he took the spoon in his cream and used it to scoop up a little bite the green tea ice cream.
They both thanked André again before walking off to enjoy their ice creams while sitting down.
André smiled as he watched them walk off "My Ice cream has always made hearts come together...but I wonder if they will ever realise it?"
Lila sat down on the bench alongside Nathanael.
"This ice cream is actually really delicious," Lila said using the spoon to scoop up a bite.
Nathanael grinned "even better than the ones you got in Italy"
Lila rolled her eyes knowing he was teasing "Yes" she answered.
"That's good at least we French are successful at one thing" Nathanael smirked as he continued to tease.
"Yes, at least you are successful at doing one thing better than Italians, it would have been so embarrassing for you if we beat you at everything," Lila said with a smirk before taking another scoop of ice cream to eat.
Nathanael laughed.
"you want a taste of my ice cream?" Lila asked.
Nathanael looked at her "Um if you're okay with that"
Lila laughed "Of course you dork" she took out the second spoon that was on the other side of her cream. she scooped a gentle scoop of blue ice cream and then grinned at Nathanael.
"Wait are you going to feed me?" Nathanael asked a light blush appearing on his face
Lila gently nodded "Of course," she said as she held the spoon out for Nath to take some ice cream.
Nathanael blushed but finally let Lila fed him the ice cream.
"That actually tastes nice," he said.
Lila smiled "Here take some more" she took another scoop of her ice cream using the spoon.
Nathanael felt heat appear back on his face in the form of a blush but he nodded anyway "Okay"
Lila smirked as she held the spoon out to feed him again. he moved to take a bite but then Lila spread the ice cream on his nose with a laugh.
"Lila!" he complained, but he grinned showing he wasn't that annoyed.
He wiped the Ice cream off his nose as Lila continued to laugh.
After they had finally finished their Ice Creams Lila looked up at the sky with a thoughtful "it will be sunset soon"
Nathanael glanced at her before looking at the sky "Yeah it will"
Lila grinned and stood up with a determined glint in her eyes
"Now is time for a real adventure" she declared.
"and what does a real adventure entail?" Nathanael asked.
Lila looked at him with bright eyes and mischevious smile "That's what you're going to find out"
she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the bench and soon they were running off again.
"Lila, this is crazy!" Nathanael hissed as his eyes darted around keeping a search for people that might pass by. He was sure they were doomed for trouble.
"I know!" Lila laughed, her green eyes danced with excitement. "Aha, got it," she said as the lock on the door finally became unlocked.
"Where did you even learn to pick locks?" Nathanael asked in a loud whisper.
Lila shrugged "an old friend taught me" she shoved open the door and turned to Nathanael with an excited grin. "Now c'mon we don't have all day"
Nathanael sighed before reluctantly following her inside.
The reason they were going inside the building was that they had been passing it when Lila had decided she wanted to see the sunset from the building's roof. Lila had tried to find a way up on the outside but it, unfortunately, appeared to them that the only way up was by going through the actual building.
Nathanael had tried to warn Lila off breaking in but Lila, being Lila, didn't listen to reason.
So that was how Nathanael and Lila came to be trespassing someone's building.
Lila ran up the stairs of the building giggling to herself. Nathanael followed close behind, he was nervous to find anything about this situation funny.
After what felt like forever! There had been a lot of stairs. They finally arrived at a metal door leading to the roof.
Lila tried to push it open, it didn't open. She tried to shove it open using the side of her body as a stronger force, it still didn't open.
Lila let out an irritated sigh. The door was stuck and obviously hadn't been used in a long time.
"Maybe we should just forget about it" Nathanael said, wanting to get out of the old building before he was carted off to prison.
"No, we've got this far," Lila said. She took a few steps back and gently pushed Nathanael out of the way.
Before he could ask what she was doing Lila went running at the door and kicked it.
It flew open and crashed against the brick wall outside with a Bang!
Lila laughed happily as she ran out onto the roof.
Nathanael cautiously followed her out. Not straying too far from the doorway.
He found himself smiling as he watched Lila be her usual silly self. His nerves slowly faded away.
Lila performed a graceful twirl her hair flying around her. She stopped with her back turned to Nathanael as she looked up at the sky with a giggle.
Lila Rossi stood before him, hands on her hips as she looked at the view of the Parisian sky in flame with the vibrant sunset as it streaked the sky with oranges and golds. She finally turned to him, absolutely beaming.
"Look at this amazing view, tomato and to think we almost missed cause you wanted to chicken out!" she teased. His heart stopped in his chest.
Nathanael wasn't sure what it was that made him finally realise. If it was the way the sky shone behind her creating a glimmering halo, framing her and her beauty or maybe it was the way she smiled at him with sparkling eyes lighting up his whole world. But right then, his heart swelled and he realized... he was in love with Lila Rossi.
Nathanael gasped to himself as he realised. His cheeks colouring red. He had no idea how he had missed the fact he was in love with his best friend.
Sure, he always knew she was beautiful it would take a fool not to notice that but he supposed he liked her for more than her liked her because she was confident. She was easy going and fun. She showed many times how passionate she could get about things or people she cared about and in the rare moments, she finally decided to show her softer side she was kind, compassionate and generous. Nathanael even realised he even liked some of her qualities that others might not like such as her bluntness or recklessness.
While Nathanael was thinking all of this and trying to calm his beating heart. He kept sneaking glances at Lila as she watched the sun began its descent, turning the sky a beautiful display of coral and pink. It was a simply beautiful sight that would attract anyone's attention but the beautiful sight that Nathanael was more focused on was Lila.
He wished he could freeze time right at that moment. He wanted to capture it forever so he could treasure this memory forever. He knew he was going to get straight to painting this when he got home.
"It's beautiful right?" Lila asked, staring at the sky with wonder.
"Yeah," Nathanael said all the while staring at Lila.
Lila finally turned back to him and caught him staring. Nathanael quickly looked away and up to the sky, as his cheeks darkened red. He didn't catch the light blush appearing on Lila's face or the small smile.
"So shall we head back down?" she asked.
"Uh y-yeah," Nathanael said.
They walked back through the door which after some pulling Lila finally closed, Nathanael had offered to help but Lila was too determined to do it herself so she refused his help.
They began walking back down the stairs in a much slower and much quieter way than they had gone up them.
Nathanael was freaking out. He had no idea what to do or say around Lila now. He knew he couldn't confess though, last time he had told a girl he liked her, though he never planned it, he had got akumatised. So there was no way he was risking it.
'I know I promised Lila not to hide my feelings from her anymore but she meant feelings of sadness, frustration or anger. Not feelings like...love, right?' Nathanael thought as he walked behind the Italian girl reaching the end of the stairs.
They walked out of the old building and came out into the evening air. Birds flew way above in the air chirping to each other as they made their way home to their cosy nests.
Lila gave a sigh before turning to Nathanael "Okay, Nathy. I'll see you tomorrow!" she said before turning and walking off in the direction of home.
Nathanael looked up at the darkening sky, the first few stars trying to peek their way through the Paris sky, and smiled.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow" he called after her. Then he set off home as well.
Nathanael arrived at the door of his apartment and fished the keys out a pocket inside his blazer. He opened the door and went inside dumping his bag near the door and putting the keys down on the sideboard.
He walked into the kitchen in search of food, one thing to know about Nathanael is that he is always hungry and if you offer him food he will gladly accept as long as it doesn't have mushrooms on it as he hates mushrooms.
He once ate two burgers and a whole large pizza all by himself. This had worried Lila and also made her jealous as he never got fat, yet she had to watch what she ate.
Nathanael's head was full of thoughts swirling around his head. He knew he needed to calm himself down.
'I need to paint' he thought as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, slamming the fridge door closed and rushing to his room forgetting all about his quest to find food.
Nathanael got out an A4 page, he cleared his desk of the books, sketchbooks, random pages and pens that were littered over it. Finally placing the page on the cleared desk.
He opened a drawer and brought out his set of acrylic paints. He took a paintbrush and gently dipped it into the pink paint he had created by mixing red and white together.
He made the first delicate stroke across the white paper and then he let his feelings out as they turned to colours across the paper. By the time he was finished his page was stroked with a mixture of golds, yellows, oranges and pinks that combined together to create a glorious sunset.
He carefully added a figure in the middle so the sunset framed around them like a halo. The figure slowly turned into Lila as Nathanael used a smaller paintbrush to add in the details.
Nathanael finally set his paintbrush down and looked at his work. For once he was actually proud of his work of art. His feelings for the girl shone clearly from it, anyone could pick up he had feelings that were more than friendship for the Italian.
He sighed. There was no way he could show anyone especially Lila this artwork. Even though he was proud of it he couldn't let anyone see it unless he wanted to confess his crush on Lila.
He sighed yet again and flopped down on the top of his grey covers on his bed.
'How am I going to go to school tomorrow and act like we're just friends...I can hardly talk to people I like...she's sure to notice and then she'll reject me and she'll avoid me forever!'
Before Nathanael could continue with his inner turmoil his bedroom door creaked open.
"Nathanael, I was going to order some food in so what do you want?" His mother asked.
Nathanael quickly sat up from lying on the bed and shouted "Get out!" he leapt out of the bed hoping she wouldn't see the painting.
"Wh-what, why?" his mother said. When she saw the painting and a huge smirk spread across her face.
"Ohh~ what's this?" she giggled.
Nathanael went red in the face "get out, get out, Get Out!" he shouted pushing his mother out the door.
She laughed "Fine, I'll leave you with your paintings" she winked.
"You're so annoying!" Nathanael whined, his face getting hotter. He was about to slam the door in her face when his mum stopped him "Wait you didn't tell what you wanted to eat"
"I don't know..." Nathanael said, glaring at his mother.
His mother smirked, "How about Italian?"
Nathanael glared at her as his face turned red "Leave!" he hissed, slamming the door in her face.
He could hear his mother's laugh outside his door and as she went down the stairs. He glared at the ground.
'Great, this is just what I need...she's never going to shut up now!" Nathanael thought as he fell down on the bed face first.
"My life is over" he muttered.