☁︎︎• 𝐿𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑥 𝑜𝑐 • ☁︎︎

30

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

the airbnb was rugged, but homely. since wil hadn't shown me any prior pictures, it was a complete shock. the kitchen was made mostly of stones and smoothed wood, and it smelled of fresh pine and some how, smoked bourbon, with a large steel fridge enough to fit my body inside. however, definitely not wil's.

the kitchen connected to a large livingroom with an A frame wooden support ceiling. in front of the old fabric jade green sofa was a rather large fireplace with wood, not gas. to finish the area off, a window going from the tip of the A-frame to the floor was placed, overlooking a portion of vienna from the hill. it was just beautiful. 

the whole house was covered in renaissance paintings ranging from small to almost life size. each one of them made me stop in the hallway to look, and each one of them had their own unique texture. how could people afford these. 

i jumped on our shared bed and checked the time on my phone. it was only 10:00 meaning it would be 9:00 in brighton. 

"should we stay in tonight or go explore?" i said mid-stretch while rolling over to see wil unpacking onto the nightstand next to me. he sniffled wiping his nose and adjusting his floppy hair before looking at me softly.

" we could do anything you want lovely, the city is yours" he said letting out a slight giggle before tossing himself next to me on the bed and rolling me over to my side so i could face him.

"however, my nose is feeling a little bit sniffly, and i wouldn't be too keen to risk my chances of getting sick too quickly.. i mean it could be a cold.. but it could also be a fever or something way worse" 

i put my finger over his lip to silence him before his anxiety took over leading him to the worst scenarios. 

"i brought vitamins, it'll be okay. we could only go out for an hour or two, and i'll bundle you up. we have the whole week to explore too" 

i wrapped a nice warm scarf over wil and handed him some fuzzy socks, before pinching his cheeks and giving him a little kiss. he rolled his eyes and looked away blushing.

"c'mon wilby lets go explore!" i said grabbing his hand and tugging him out the door. 

"did you just call me wilby" he bursted out laughing while catching up with me. it really seemed to amuse him because he wouldn't stop laughing for a solid 2 minutes. 

"shut up" i said glaring. 

"no no no! its cute! it just reminded me of a friend thats all!" he said squeezing my hand as we got into our rental car. 

parking was of course, a hassle but we did manage to find a nice little lot about a quarter mile from the heart of the city. the smoothed stone roads made my feet quite sore, but i didn't dare pay attention to that right now. the sound of everyone around us talking in their own home language turned into a buzz as we walked down the sidewalk, i heard languages ranging from german, to croatian, to hungarian, and back to english. some american english, some irish, some british. it varied with every voice and tone. 

the street lights gave off a warm glow, and every store we passed radiated their own smell, and there was one in particular that attracted me. i came to a stop in front of a small shop that smelled of warm pastry. i tugged at wilburs arm and dragged him inside pushing on the glass door.

once inside, the outside world grew quiet as the door shut behind us. faint classical music played above us, and in front of us were two display cases. recalling some of my german i lifted my head above the counter and met eyes with a short, old lady with white curls on the top of her head, and large rounded glasses that sat neatly on her nose.

"hallo! uh, was ist das besondere heute?" (what is the special today) i asked softly 

"oh! millirahmstrudel!" she said grinning widely at us. turning to wilbur i smiled 

"millirahmstrudel is a milk cream strudel, trust me its good!" 

"anything for you" he replied in a low whisper before turning his head back to look down at the lady below him. 

"uh zwei millirahmstrudel danke" he said, stumbling with his words and pronunciation a little bit. it was cute. 

leaving the store, i bit into the strudel and pure pleasure filled my mouth. it was so sweet and creamy. i forgot how much i loved these. they melted in your mouth. i turned to wil to see that he had also taken a bit out of it, a delightful expression was set on his face, almost as if he were surprised.

"austrians know how to make their pastries" i said elbowing him slightly, pulling him out of his trance. looking slightly embarrassed, he nodded and smiled down at me. 

making our way to the center of the town, we sat down in front of the large monument i lay my head on his shoulder, and he wraps his arms around me kissing my forehead. 

"I hope i can make this trip perfect for you dear" he whispered in my ear with a low voice before continuing.

"i've been dreaming of taking you specifically here from the day i spoke to you at the cafe. you're my dream girl, i knew it from the second i saw you. you're everything i knew i wanted and i hope i can make you the happiest girl ever" he continued sniffling a bit and holding me closer. 

"wil i love you so much. you're a dream come true. thank you for making me realize what love was, truly. you are the first one to ever make me feel loved, and the first one to teach me how to love." i said with a tear in my eye, burying my nose into his warm jacket. 

back at the airbnb, i changed into my white slip and climbed into bed. the silk sheets were heaven against my legs, and my pillow was the perfect temperature. this was truly paradise. i turned on the TV, signed into my Netflix account, and turned off the lamp next to me as wil came into the bedroom from the bathroom. 

"come here" he said as he slipped under the blankets, so i made my way on top of his chest and smiled as his hands traced around my upper back. i love him, and he loves me.