Hail and Farewell to Paris

Le Reve d'un curieux

It was about half past eight when I removed the last curler from my hair and placed it back into its box. I rose from my chair, picking up the end of my emerald green 1920s dress that trailed behind my feet and slowly took a hold of my purse that lay on the bed. Walking out of the bedroom and into the lounge area of the suite I froze as I saw Joe and Jake lolling in the pyjamas, watching a film.
Billie turned around as the door shut, his mouth widened into a grin as he saw me.
“Ava…you look amazing babe…”
I smiled, eyeing Billie up in his dashing black tux, “So do you Billie”
My eyes wandered to Joe and Jake who giggled at the pair of us.
“Why aren’t you two dressed?” I asked, grinning at Billie who grabbed his wallet and phone quickly from the coffee table.
“They aren’t coming Ava…”
“Pardon?” I asked giving both Billie and his sons a confused look.
Joey gave a false exaggerated yawn, “Tired Ava…too tired, gonna stay here, order up some room service, watch a few films.”
My right eyebrow rose as they both grinned at me. I turned to Billie who silently chuckled and gave me his elbow to take.
I shrugged and took hold of his arm,
“Well then, see you two later on”
“Okay…Bye!” They chorused as Billie pulled me towards the door and into the corridor.
He suddenly stopped abruptly and glanced around the frame at his sons,
“Don’t go awol on the room service you two…and…see you later on…”
I was sure his left eye closed in a wink before he turned back to me and shut the door carefully.
“Have you been drinking?” I asked as he took a hold of my arm again.
He looked at me for a moment in the clear light of the hallway and for the first time I recognised the signs of blurry eyes.
“Err…no”
“Billie”
He grinned, shoving his free hand through his slightly tamed hair.
“Maybe a few little glasses while I was waiting for you”
I giggled as we entered the lift, Billie was quiet, nervous, the word ‘propose’ ran across my brain like a wild lunatic, I couldn’t help it, it was wrong of me too guess, but the way that Billie kept glancing at me in the mirror once to often suggested he wasn’t just nervous about ordering from an Italian menu.
He fidgeted with his sleeves as if he suddenly realised how utterly obvious he was being,
“Err…yeah, dunno what’s gotten into the boys…I think it’s jetlag.”
I laughed shaking my head, “Yes is that what it is? Billie I don’t know what alcohol you’ve been drinking but it’s had some funny effect on you.”

His cheeks tinged lightly and I nearly melted into my heels,
“Its not that, maybe I’m just nervous about getting mobbed by every single Italian man who sees you in that barely-there fucking sexy ass dress.”
I coughed slowly lifting up the green hem line on my chest, staring at him as he chuckled, pulling me from the elevator and into the lobby.

Andre behind the bar winked at the pair of us, a smug smile on his face like he knew something we didn’t. I rolled my eyes as the doorman lifted his hat at us, pulling the heavy oak doors of the hotel entrance open. My jaw dropped and I gasped as I stared at the Gondola floating outside the entrance to the Danieli. My hands flew up to my red painted mouth as my eyes took in the rather large black boat. The insides were lush blue velvet, a small candle-lit table sat in the middle of two lush cushioned small seats. I turned to Billie whose emerald eyes gleamed at me,
“This is the reason for my little tipple”
Before I knew it I had flung myself in his arms, he chuckled as he stumbled backwards into the gondola man.
It was the infamous Heff, the boat driver who took us to our hotel on our arrival in Venice.
I grinned at him as he took my hand, helping me onto the wobbling craft as Billie looked on in slight horror. I giggled,
“Come on Billie”
“I’m coming…” he swallowed literally jumping on board, a look of relief splashing onto his face as he landed safely opposite me.
Fixing his jacket he nodded at Heff who chuckled slightly, disappearing from sight to take his position at the helm of the gondola.
Suddenly, a waiter from the hotel restaurant appeared clutching two lush dishes of food and a bottle of champagne.
I looked at Billie in a combination of shock and confusion.
The singer just chuckled at me.
It was my favourite meal, Snapper En Papilote, it was French, but some how, Billie had even talked the chef of the Italian hotel to cook it. I stared at him as the waiter finished pouring out the champagne and quickly left us, walking back into the hotel.
I remembered Billie asking me what my favourite meal was, we were lying in bed in my Paris apartment and he suddenly asked it out of the blue. I didn’t think for one minute he’d remember such a thing, I was completely stunted into silent shock.

Billie uneasily shuffled on the small chair, glancing at the water lapping at the sides of the boat.
Heff pushed the gondola from the dock and slowly began to paddle us down the canal.
“Billie…” I whispered as he took a gulp of his champagne.
“Hmm?”
“What…what on earth?”
He chuckled, “Let’s just say that I wanted tonight to be perfect…”
“But…the gondola…the meal…”
“No probs” he grinned beginning to tuck into the meal in front of him.
I watched the flame of the candle flicker as I tried to take in what was happening around me…the soft sound of the black waters hitting the wooden gondola and the silent flicker of the flame made everything seem so surreal and dreamlike. Billie looked so perfect in his suite as he swallowed a mouthful of his dish…a very authentic lasagne.

“You know…these gondolas aren’t so bad…”
I looked up at those dancing green eyes of his, a cheek full of food protruding from his jaw as he smirked at my face.
“You….are…I don’t know…just…”
“Pretty awesome yeah I know”
I laughed, finally picking up my champagne and sipping.
We turned down a few small canals, the deserted black streets of Venice making it feel that me and Billie were the only people in the world. The food had been exhausted as teh singer opened a bottle of wine from the cooler next to his leg.
Heff hummed softly as he steered the gondola under the next bridge from the endless rows of curved arches.
We talked about the boys for a moment, Billie’s eyes shining as he spoke of his sons. It seemed everything was going so well and as the night continued I put the thoughts of marriage to the back of my mind. That was until he started tapping his foot nervously under the small table…

“Ava, I want to ask you something…”
Billie stared at me across the soft flickering light of the candle in front of us. His darkened eyes reflected the dance of the fire as my heart pounded, I knew what was coming.
Every romantic moment that I had seen on screen or read in print ran through my mind like a continuous flashback of aching exotic memories. His mouth turned upwards into a closed smile and I bit my own red lips in anticipation, looking down at my china plate, I closed my eyes and slowly thought of the moment that we first met…

My eyes travelling upwards from across my Baudelaire to meet those perfect green irises so wonderfully. It felt like I had known him forever,

J’adore les jeux et mon cour bat comme un papillion,

My first instinct was correct; I could see myself in those beautiful eyes for an eternity…forever and forever….

Romeo to Juliet, Marc Anthony to Cleopatra, Paris to Helena, Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, Shah Jahan to Mumtaz Mahal, Johnny Cash to June Carter, Alfred Lunt to Lynn Fontane, Adam to Eve, Bonnie to Clyde.

Now it was Billie to Ava,
And it will always be.
Nothing compared to him, not Paris, not Venice, not Baudelaire…

My heart swelled, at this moment, I had never felt like this before, the intensity of reading a poem, the beauty of watching a classic film, the taste from a rich glass of wine, all these things were trivial to the emotions that began to heighten amongst my soul. Those eyes swept over me like a wave as he carefully, yet quite uneasily, pushed his chair backwards and bent his leg at the side of my own chair.
My glass dropped to the table and I slowly turned my head to see him staring up at me. He reached into his pocket, not breaking the intense gaze he held upon me. My eyes moved to the black box now present in his palm.
“I wanted to do this right”
His voice echoed in the distance, a ravishing jewel suddenly appeared clutched between his index finger and thumb.
“Ava, you are…too amazing for words…you’re the most beautiful creature I have ever seen…”
My eyes filled as I tried to take in everything all at once, trying desperately to record this moment in my mind forever…
“You make me feel things I can’t even describe, you are so intelligent and caring and beautiful and from the very first moment I saw you I wanted you. I love you Ava Crawford I’m so lucky to have you…”
My eyes streamed with hot tears, as the huge diamond ring, encrusted with sapphires twisted between the tips of his fingers.
“Will you do me the honour of being my wife Ava?”
I smiled at him, my damp face flushing as I leapt forwards, bringing my arms around his neck and crashing our lips together.
He chuckled against my mouth, pulling away and grinning back at me,
“Yes?”
“Yes” I nodded as he grabbed my hand, sliding the ring down my finger carefully.
“I love you” he whispered
“I love you too” I replied, staring at him as we sat on a crumpled heap of my skirts, the dinner abandoned, the night abandoned as the gondola sailed perfectly across the midnight waters of Venice.

We sat next to each other at the bow of the small boat, watching the path that the gondolier had chosen to take us. Billie’s arms came around me and I jumped as the first few notes of soft beautiful music floated into the continuous lull of the lapping water.
I smiled when I realised what it was.
This was my favourite song of all time, it was from the opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini. Charles used to hate the performed opera, so I only got to go when I was in Paris. I remember I attended by myself and this was the first opera I saw and this song, O Mio Babbino Caro was my favourite. I could listen to this song on repeat forever. I turned to see Billie grinning at me, I smiled as he kissed my cheek, our noses brushing together warmly. We were so closely encapsulated that I suddenly felt like we weren't two seperate people anymore.
He knew all about this beautiful song of course because he, as a musician, wanted to know what music I liked. I didn’t tell him at first in case he laughed at me, but surprisingly, Billie didn’t mock my love of opera. He said without it he wouldn’t be making the music he was today. This obviously made me love him even more and now that the melancholic tones were accompanying us on our midnight gondola ride I couldn’t help but feel like I was dreaming. This was too unreal, too perfect.
How did I ever became so lucky?
My fiancée kissed me tenderly, pulling me close to his chest as the music drenched the sky with an auratic romance.
“Billie…” I began, turning to him slowly, a look of wonder coming across his beautiful face.
“…thank you so much…”
He smiled, leaning forwards and kissing my cheek softly…
“For what?”
“The most perfect night ever…all those little things that you did, my favourite meal, my favourite song…conquering your fear of gondolas…just for me.”
He leaned forwards, his fingers softly brushed my cheek as his mouth ever so slowly met my jaw line. Those delicate perfect kisses making my heart pound in my chest as his strong arms held me tightly, whispering in my ear with a throaty groan he made my stomach plummet in sheer delight.

“All those little things…they are why I love you…and I do love you…I really do Ava…”
I kissed him on the lips longingly; I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel, I couldn’t wait for the words
“…Hello, nice to meet you, this is my fiancée Billie Joe Armstrong….”
To pass my lips in a pure utterance of love.

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