City of Blinding Lights

It is a truth universally acknowledged that we all expect our happy endings to our stories.

Whether romance, drama or tragedy we are all holding our baited breaths because we know that soon we can smile again and all will turn out for the best, our frowns will be replaced with coy smiles and our tears will dry up and laughter will ring from our mouths instead.

Audrey Tateman had gone to Paris not with the intention to fall madly in love, but the great power above her obviously had other plans intended. She had spent the most beautiful four weeks with a boy who had come to mean her all and she could not have been more joyous about it.

Yet in every good romance there is a goodbye scene.

Audrey had watched enough old black and white films to know that the female lead would stand on the train platform, in a smart retro dress with a handkerchief pressed to her red lipsticked mouth as she watches her lover dressed in a beige trench coat and trilby with a battered suitcase in hand, board a train that was bound God knows where.

But in the twenty first century these scenes played out rather differently.

The train platform was replaced with Charles de Gaulle airport Terminal One, the smart retro dress for skinny jeans paired with gladiator sandals and a boy's jumper. The red lipstick was swapped for a thin layer of cherry flavored carmex and the lover in question was not wearing a beige trench coat or a trilby hat. In fact Caleb disappointed all vintage expectations and wore bright high top Nikes with a blue American Apparel hoodie.

The only thing that the old black and white films and the current situation held in common was the fact that the female lead was in tears.

Caleb had warned Audrey even before he has shut and locked his suitcase, that he didn't want her crying at the airport. Audrey had only nodded with a weary smile as she pulled one of Caleb's jumpers, that she had accidentally on purpose shrunk, over her green t-shirt, and despite having double pinky promised again on the metro on the way to the airport Audrey's eyes were already flooded with water before Caleb had even thrown his overweight piece of luggage on a shaky trolley.

She stood close to him as he queued to check in with his ticket and American passport in his slightly shaking hands. The tears threatened to spill when the lady behind the check in counter asked if Audrey was flying with Caleb. A strangled 'No' was the only thing that Audrey was capable of producing before biting her lip hard to stop the tears.

The ground control woman shot Audrey a sympathetic look, having seen this kind of scenario almost every day of her working life.

After a rather labored check in, with Caleb having to pay excess baggage fares due to his insistence of being able to squeeze another pair of shoes into the already overfilled suitcase, he looked up at Audrey rather at a loss as what to do now.

She was stood there dressed as immaculately as always, but she seemed to be shaking and had to keep blinking in order to the tears to stop falling.

"I don't want you to go," she managed to wrestle out, her voice straining substantially under the stress of holding back the floods of tears, but one little tear had made it's way out and plopped onto the linoleum covered floor of the airport, leaving its tiny mark.

"I don't want to go either," Caleb said softly, putting his carry on luggage on the floor and then place his hand on Audrey's cheek, despite the current situation Caleb was smiling.

"I've got something for you," he said lightly and pulled a slightly creased white envelope from the back pocket of his ridiculously skinny jeans.

Audrey looked at him with confusion written across her face but took the envelope from him nonetheless. She ripped it open on the spot and pulled out a laminated Access All Areas pass.

"It's for Warped. For when you come," Caleb said with a steady smile on his face, knowing he had to keep this smile fixed on his face, or it would cause further complications to the delicate balance of emotions there were in.

Audrey's face broke out into a massive smile and some of her old radiance returned, the remaining tears in her eyes not falling down her cheeks. She leapt forward and threw her arms around Caleb gratefully.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated delightedly and kept looking at the laminated piece of paper in her hands and back up to Caleb. She was about to say something when the final boarding call for Caleb's flight was announced.

"Just so you know," Caleb said choosing his words carefully. "When you came back to the US and to see your parents to tell them about your clothes and fashion in Paris, I'll be there for you if you want," he said with that smile of his.

Audrey nodded emphatically.

"I'll need all the back up support I can get," she said with a wry smile, thinking of the six mental boys who would be more than willing to watch her back when she decided to drop the bombshell on her parents about her career choice.

"If they kick up a fuss, you can always just spend the rest of the summer with us on Warped," Caleb offered, hoping that the invitation in that sentence wasn't as obvious as he feared.

Audrey didn't say anything; she just stepped closer and rested her head against Caleb's jumper clad chest. He instinctively wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulder, the reality sinking in that he wouldn't be seeing her for God knows how long. Her home was now in Paris and he was always going to be on the move with the band at Warped tour, it seemed almost impossible to plan anything.

"When you're ready, come back home," Caleb said into ear as he bent down to plant a soft kiss on her cheek.

She would come home when she was ready to face all those demons in the form of family members, and when she was ready to stand up for herself and what she wanted. It was an odd seed of hope that Caleb had planted for Audrey, and as they parted with one last heartfelt kiss, she didn't cry.

Instead she stayed strong and waved at him, watching him walk towards a stewardess who took his passport. She didn't cry because she knew she'd see him again, because n all likelihood she would be on a plane to Dallas in less than two weeks and joining a manic bunch of boys in a tour bus for God knows how long. After all, she might as well make us of that Access All Area pass.

As Caleb walked onto the plane, with one final smiling look behind him to Audrey, she felt as though she had something to look forward to, and that was seeing Caleb waiting for her in the arrivals at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport sometime in June, where their story would start all over again.