Status: this is an au and i will definitely make a non au
Metro.
Chapter 3.
The car ride was long, and you didn’t end up seeing the city lights until after dark, but it was a fun journey anyway. Pavel had felt the same comfort as you have as he sang horribly to popular songs, even danced a little making you giggle like when you first met your partner.
He pointed toward the oncoming city “You don’t get a view like that anywhere else. A beautiful explosion of Life” You gazed at him and he seemed mesmerized by Moscow, as if this was the first time seeing it. You smiled to his reaction and at the exact moment he turned his gaze to you, the same starry eyed look on his face. He wasn’t expecting for you to already be staring or even smiling and you weren’t expecting him ti look at you the way he looked at his city. You both weren’t expecting to hold each other’s eyes for this long and both looked away simultaneously.
Finally there came the awkward silence you’re supposed to have with a stranger. Then came a painfully unpleasant silence upon entering the lively city before he had made preparation cough for a question, considering Pavel felt a bit uneasy after that stare. She’s supposed to have a boyfriend, someone she loves to stare at like that, Pavel thought. He quickly used the subject of her partner to stop from exciting himself. “So… Your boyfriend, what kind of work does he do?” it was good he brought up your boyfriend because for a moment you were adamant to wanting to forget him. “He’s a… He’s a musician.” Answering his question you posed one to yourself, wondering if he made any money from being an entertainer.
Turning around a corner, you started recognising the area a bit more. You weren’t sure if he was going to drop you off at a station or what the other plan was but just when you were going to have to ask to be dropped off at the station he had posed many other questions.
“Ahh, musicians usually get the ladies. Why did you go alone to the country? Musicians usually work nights, don’t they?” You felt like Pavel was trying to accuse your partner pf being a bad boyfriend but swept it from your head. “Yeah they usually do but he had a photographer from a record company come to the apartment and stuff like that.
Pavel raised his eyebrows, he was sure now with, not only the knowledge of her boyfriend being a musician but also a growing name musician, that he can’t really be trusted, especially if he ditches his girl to go to the country alone to take photos of himself.
From the corner of your eye you could see Pavel’s small gesture of amazement and turned your full body towards him defensively. You were a bit taken aback at the disapproval but smiled in disbelief. “What? What’s wrong with dating a musician?”
He cringed at the foreseeable future that it was going to go all downhill from here, and so he thought, might as well say everything I got to say. “It’s not all because he’s a musician—“ you scoffed in bewilderment, you couldn’t believe this guy you just met and he’s trying to tell you your boyfriend’s a bad guy. “It’s the fact that he left you go to an isolated place where dangerous things can and did happen, alone so he could take photos of himself.”
You could almost see where he was coming from but you’ve done much worse before you met Alexey, and besides, this was a big thing for him. But you didn’t want to have to justify yourself and asked that he stop the car, despite the location. He did as you said but locked the door just as you were about to exit.
You glared at him to see what he was up to but relaxed when his expression was complete worry. “I’ll stop the car but I won’t let you out, not in this neighbourhood at least.” Pavel knew this because he not only grew up here, but many of his clients, who were also drug dealers and all sorts of abusive people lived here, as well as himself.
You looked around, from the inside and were glad he warned you. A group of men had walked passed and slammed on the car, gesturing provocative hand signals before Pavel had yelled and pestered them off “*Fuck off you grubs!*”
After the men passed you grudgingly returned your seatbelt into place and sat back. “Fine.” You were glad but also frustrated you had to stay in his presence a bit longer. Pavel dropped you off at the station as you wanted, despite his best interest to drop you at your apartment.
You wanted to wait until he left but he insisted he stay until your boyfriend arrived. You dreaded Pavel meeting him but you couldn’t shake him off. You called Alexey numerous times, until the fourth try he picked up. All the while you feared Pavel was just staring, thinking the worst of Alexey as he began to talk. Pavel felt sure something was up with this guy, and had made a mental not to put his second occupation to good use.
Finally getting a hold, he answered sounding almost puffed and jovial. “Hey, can you pick me p from the station?” A moment of cold silence passed before he answered, claiming he was across town at the record company office. You could start to see where Pavel was coming from, already feeling the see he had planted of suspicion begin to grow.
You kissed your teeth to exaggerate your annoyance and hung just before he could start yelling at you. Alexey absolutely despised when you did this gesture, but you gained a vengeful satisfaction whenever he himself was being irritated.
You looked around and sighed before facing the soldier with a blank face so he couldn’t see how truly pissed you were with everything. First your camera, then a total stranger telling you your boyfriend isn’t the greatest guy, in fact an adulterer, and your boyfriend almost even proving it.
Nonetheless, you pushed back those thoughts and remained as composed as you managed and apologetically asked Pavel for a ride home. By this point, Pavel knew not to say or even do the smallest gesture, and wasn’t going to let her walk home alone, especially in this cold.
Despite it just being a few blocks down, the absence of the comfortable feeling had made it seem like you were travelling the whole city. When he finally arrived at your apartment building, he sat in silence with no farewells. Pavel felt a strange guilt that he didn’t want to leave as it was and spoke out just as you were going to get out of the car.
“Look… I’m sorry. Sorry for what I said, sorry for what I did… would you let me make it right?” his eyes, his sad, sad eyes glistened with the orange streetlights. You wanted to say no, but you felt compelled to say yes.
You let a long moment go by before you gave him your answer.
He pointed toward the oncoming city “You don’t get a view like that anywhere else. A beautiful explosion of Life” You gazed at him and he seemed mesmerized by Moscow, as if this was the first time seeing it. You smiled to his reaction and at the exact moment he turned his gaze to you, the same starry eyed look on his face. He wasn’t expecting for you to already be staring or even smiling and you weren’t expecting him ti look at you the way he looked at his city. You both weren’t expecting to hold each other’s eyes for this long and both looked away simultaneously.
Finally there came the awkward silence you’re supposed to have with a stranger. Then came a painfully unpleasant silence upon entering the lively city before he had made preparation cough for a question, considering Pavel felt a bit uneasy after that stare. She’s supposed to have a boyfriend, someone she loves to stare at like that, Pavel thought. He quickly used the subject of her partner to stop from exciting himself. “So… Your boyfriend, what kind of work does he do?” it was good he brought up your boyfriend because for a moment you were adamant to wanting to forget him. “He’s a… He’s a musician.” Answering his question you posed one to yourself, wondering if he made any money from being an entertainer.
Turning around a corner, you started recognising the area a bit more. You weren’t sure if he was going to drop you off at a station or what the other plan was but just when you were going to have to ask to be dropped off at the station he had posed many other questions.
“Ahh, musicians usually get the ladies. Why did you go alone to the country? Musicians usually work nights, don’t they?” You felt like Pavel was trying to accuse your partner pf being a bad boyfriend but swept it from your head. “Yeah they usually do but he had a photographer from a record company come to the apartment and stuff like that.
Pavel raised his eyebrows, he was sure now with, not only the knowledge of her boyfriend being a musician but also a growing name musician, that he can’t really be trusted, especially if he ditches his girl to go to the country alone to take photos of himself.
From the corner of your eye you could see Pavel’s small gesture of amazement and turned your full body towards him defensively. You were a bit taken aback at the disapproval but smiled in disbelief. “What? What’s wrong with dating a musician?”
He cringed at the foreseeable future that it was going to go all downhill from here, and so he thought, might as well say everything I got to say. “It’s not all because he’s a musician—“ you scoffed in bewilderment, you couldn’t believe this guy you just met and he’s trying to tell you your boyfriend’s a bad guy. “It’s the fact that he left you go to an isolated place where dangerous things can and did happen, alone so he could take photos of himself.”
You could almost see where he was coming from but you’ve done much worse before you met Alexey, and besides, this was a big thing for him. But you didn’t want to have to justify yourself and asked that he stop the car, despite the location. He did as you said but locked the door just as you were about to exit.
You glared at him to see what he was up to but relaxed when his expression was complete worry. “I’ll stop the car but I won’t let you out, not in this neighbourhood at least.” Pavel knew this because he not only grew up here, but many of his clients, who were also drug dealers and all sorts of abusive people lived here, as well as himself.
You looked around, from the inside and were glad he warned you. A group of men had walked passed and slammed on the car, gesturing provocative hand signals before Pavel had yelled and pestered them off “*Fuck off you grubs!*”
After the men passed you grudgingly returned your seatbelt into place and sat back. “Fine.” You were glad but also frustrated you had to stay in his presence a bit longer. Pavel dropped you off at the station as you wanted, despite his best interest to drop you at your apartment.
You wanted to wait until he left but he insisted he stay until your boyfriend arrived. You dreaded Pavel meeting him but you couldn’t shake him off. You called Alexey numerous times, until the fourth try he picked up. All the while you feared Pavel was just staring, thinking the worst of Alexey as he began to talk. Pavel felt sure something was up with this guy, and had made a mental not to put his second occupation to good use.
Finally getting a hold, he answered sounding almost puffed and jovial. “Hey, can you pick me p from the station?” A moment of cold silence passed before he answered, claiming he was across town at the record company office. You could start to see where Pavel was coming from, already feeling the see he had planted of suspicion begin to grow.
You kissed your teeth to exaggerate your annoyance and hung just before he could start yelling at you. Alexey absolutely despised when you did this gesture, but you gained a vengeful satisfaction whenever he himself was being irritated.
You looked around and sighed before facing the soldier with a blank face so he couldn’t see how truly pissed you were with everything. First your camera, then a total stranger telling you your boyfriend isn’t the greatest guy, in fact an adulterer, and your boyfriend almost even proving it.
Nonetheless, you pushed back those thoughts and remained as composed as you managed and apologetically asked Pavel for a ride home. By this point, Pavel knew not to say or even do the smallest gesture, and wasn’t going to let her walk home alone, especially in this cold.
Despite it just being a few blocks down, the absence of the comfortable feeling had made it seem like you were travelling the whole city. When he finally arrived at your apartment building, he sat in silence with no farewells. Pavel felt a strange guilt that he didn’t want to leave as it was and spoke out just as you were going to get out of the car.
“Look… I’m sorry. Sorry for what I said, sorry for what I did… would you let me make it right?” his eyes, his sad, sad eyes glistened with the orange streetlights. You wanted to say no, but you felt compelled to say yes.
You let a long moment go by before you gave him your answer.