City of Blinding Lights

"Parlez vous anglais?"

It was a sentence that required much labor on Caleb's behalf. Audrey had drilled him in the basic etiquette of a tourist in France and had attempted to teach him some sentences that would let him get by in Paris without getting lost and then being mugged in some red light district far off from the city centre.

Audrey had even having packed a mini emergency bag for Caleb so that if he did get lost he could seek help in the tiny leather satchel bag, which included a fold out metro map, a phrase book and a t-shit on which Audrey had sown the words 'I'm an American Tourist – Help Me Out' in thread that was almost exactly the same color as Caleb's hair,

She had presented him with the satchel at their last meeting and it had indeed proved to be handy to Caleb who labored through the French phrase book with his American accent, but found himself getting to places quicker and safer.

However at present he was trying to find the address that Audrey had printed on a piece of lined paper. He was going to visit her in Montmatre as she didn't have the time to make it into the centre of town, due to a meeting with a small boutique owner who was keen to have some pieces of Audrey's designed clothes in her shop. So far Caleb and Audrey had seen each day since their meeting up in St. Germains only three days ago.

When Audrey had told Caleb that he was going to have to find the way to her apartment on his own his face went very white and his breathing became erratic.

"You're making me find your apartment on my own?" He asked Audrey in a flood of panic as he watched her draw out a map to her apartment, with neat detailed notes along the side.

Audrey had just shot him an amused glance and nodded simply before returning to her sketch. Despite more protests on Caleb's behalf Audrey remained adamant that he find her apartment on his own, and so it came that Caleb was stranded somewhere in the Paris underground having to ask a tramp that was curled up in some dingy corner if he spoke English and if he knew the way.

The tramp shot Caleb a pitying look and grumbled something in French before turning over on his side and beginning to snore.

Rather helpless Caleb pulled his phone out of his skinny jeans pocket and pressed the one button, which was the speed dial that was designated for Audrey. He could hear every inch of Audrey's amusement when she answered her mobile on the third ring. He could see her grin spreading across her face and he knew that she was laughing.

"What station are you at?" Audrey asked with a hint of amusement, before Caleb could even say hello.

An hour and a half later Caleb and Audrey were sat on the top of the roof of the house in which Audrey rented her flat, laughing at the events that had played out an hour ago where Audrey had to run to Caleb's rescue in her red heels that she had still been wearing from her meeting.

They were sat side-by-side on the roof gazing out over Montmatre and even further over Paris where the Eiffel Tower stood reaching up into the late afternoon pink sky like a delicate flower. The evening sky was slowly fading from pink to orange and despite the initial heat of the day a fresh breeze was picking up and it was enough for Audrey to shiver slightly as she was only in a tiny summer dress that was almost the same pink as the sky. Caleb noticed her shiver and without a second of hesitance he pulled off his grey jumper that he was wearing over a simple white t-shirt and passed it to Audrey.

That evening was spent on the roof sharing out a bottle of wine and then sitting with arms wrapped around each other and a blanket to share as Paris lit up in front of their eyes.

It had been three days since they had first bumped into each other, which meant that in two days Caleb would be leaving Paris and heading with his friends to Berlin. This reminder left a bitter taste in Audrey's mouth and caused her heart to fall every time she thought of his departure. It was the same for Caleb and yet he didn't want to admit that this was the case, he despised feeling needy, but it was an emotion that came with liking Audrey: needing to be with her all the time.

"I don't want you to go."

She said it first.

She hadn’t planned on attacking him verbally like that, like an avalanche of heavy boulders but it just slipped out of her mouth. Maybe it was the wine talking or maybe Audrey was just taking a risk for once.

Caleb smiled down at Audrey softly and placed a delicate kiss on her lips.

"I don't particularly want to go either…" Caleb said slowly, still not wanting to admit how much he really did want to stay, and what his chief reason for staying in Paris was.

"Then don't go," Audrey said rather recklessly slipping out of Caleb's warm and secure grasp to look at him with steady and challenging eyes. "You could stay with me, it'll be crowded but you could stay here."

Before Caleb could even work through the motions, which included the reactions to this proposition from his friends, Caleb answered in the affirmative without hesitation.

A yes had never sounded so good in Audrey's ears.