When You Close Your Eyes

Wrinkling his nose a little, Lionel quirked an eye open, his ears doused by the sound of his phone which sat on the end table, vibrating irritatingly against the wood. It was early, the fact that Isabelle’s alarm had yet to sound confided that it was a little before eight in the morning, and Lionel was a little irked to be awake, even if he knew it was only a matter of time before the alarm sounded, he wanted to make the most of the opportunity to spend the morning curled up with Isabelle beneath the duvet.

Sparing a small yawn into his hand, he stretched his hand out of bed before he lifted the phone up, quickly scanning the message on the screen before he tossed it back onto the end table, his arms carefully moving to wrap around Isabelle’s waist.

Isabelle, who’d been sleeping soundly, stirred a little at the feeling of his cold hands against her skin before she snuggled into her pillow a little more, a sleepy smile playing on her lips. “Buenos dias” she mumbled, her voice heavy with sleep.

Lionel smiled a little at the sound of her voice before he ducked his head, pressing a soft kiss against her bare shoulder. “Mañana” he mumbled softly.

Isabelle smiled softly at the feel of his lips against her skin before she carefully turned onto her side, her blue eyes mirroring his darker ones. She knew that they had to talk, after the previous night, she knew that there was no avoiding it, but she wanted to put it off for a little longer, even if it was likely to have made things more complicated between the two of them, she didn’t want to disturb the sense of calm and familiarity which filled the room.

“You know, eventually, we’re going to have to get up”

Isabelle, who’d drifted off a little, startled at the sound of Lionel’s voice before she nodded, offering him a soft smile. “I do know that” she confirmed softly “But, for a little while longer, I’d like to just lay here. Do you think that that is something we can do?” she posed, her fingertips gently pushing some of the blondish hair off of his forehead.

Lionel watched the movement of her fingers for a couple of seconds before he reached his hand up, capturing hers before he pulled it to his lips, allowing him to kiss her fingers lightly. “I think that we can probably manage that” he teased, an impish grin on his face.

Isabelle rolled her eyes playfully before she carefully cuddled into him, something which encouraged him to wrap his arms around her again, holding her close for a couple of seconds before he ducked down, pressing a soft kiss against the top of her head. “You know, we still need to have a conversation” he mumbled, disturbing the comfortable silence that had settled around them.

He didn’t want to press her, if he knew one thing about Isabelle it was that she had a tendency to be awfully stubborn when she wanted to be, but he knew that they couldn’t avoid the conversation forever, even if it to signal the end of their relationship, he knew that they couldn’t keep ducking away from it.

Isabelle, who’d been tracing the pattern of the tattoo on his arm, startled a little at the sound of his voice before she shook her head, a soft sigh falling out of her mouth. “Do we really need to do that right now?” she posed softly, her blue eyes peeking up at him.

“We need to talk eventually, Isa” Lionel countered softly “And, after last night…”

“It was wonderful” Isabelle interrupted softly “Last night, it was great, Leo, but it doesn’t mean that things have put themselves back together” she added, her expression softening a little.

Lionel mulled her words over for a couple of seconds before he shook his head, a small sigh falling out of his mouth. “I just don’t want to screw this up, Isa” he mumbled softly “This, us, we’ve been doing this for a long time and I don’t want to jump into a rash decision only for one of us, in a couple of months, to change our mind” he added gently.

Isabelle allowed his words to linger for a couple of seconds before she shook her head. “It wasn’t working, Leo” she murmured softly “We weren’t working and I…I don’t know that anything has changed” she added, chewing on her lip softly.

Lionel opened his mouth to respond but was cut off as the sound of a knock at the bedroom door filled the air, causing Isabelle to push herself to her feet, moving to collect his shirt which had been tossed onto the bedroom floor the night before. “Last night was great, Leo” she murmured softly “I mean, for the first time in a little while, things felt good, but you have to know that one night isn’t going to fix things” she added before she ducked into the hall, greeting her mother.

Lionel watched her out of the door before he shook his head, allowing it to fall back against the pillow as a small frustrated noise fell out of his mouth. He knew that she had a point, whether he wanted to admit it or not, one night was never going to be enough to fix things between the two of them, but he had been hoping for a little more progress, even if things weren’t likely to be entirely fixed, he had hoped that Isabelle would warm to the idea of the two of them attempting to put things back together again.

Listening to the sound of Isabelle’s voice on the other side of the door, he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before he shook his head, wordlessly promising himself that he would do whatever it took to ensure that he and Isabelle didn’t let go of what they had between them too easily.