Rêveries

Chapter 80

October 13th 2009

"Dépêchez-Vous!" Hurry up! Charles shouted from further up the street. I was adjusting my backpack because the hood on my jacket was stuck in it. I was getting frustrated before Arthur helped me get my hood out.

We ran up to Charles who was keeping a quick pace, not really wanting to wait for us, but he knew Pascale would be very upset with him if he left Arthur and I behind. I was struggling to keep up even though Arthur held onto my arm and kept pulling it. I was close to tripping every other step and I was getting frustrated.

"Ralentis-toi!" Slow down! I shouted after Charles. He looked over his shoulder and then he stopped until we had reached up to him. I thought he would slow down and walk with us, but he just went around us and started pushing us forward, all the way up the hill until we reached our street.

He kept rushing and both Arthur and I complained about the pace but he completely ignored both of us. Occasionally, Charles would look over his shoulder with an annoyed look on his face before rolling his eyes that were barely visible because of his long bangs and Justin Bieber hair he was rocking at the moment.

We saw our houses at the end of the street and I could finally slow down, because I didn't care if Charles got home a few minutes before me, because then he wouldn't be in trouble for not making sure we got home safe. The hood was still bothering me. It was making my neck sweat and it just felt like it was in the way all the time, so I stopped and tried to scratch my neck and make it more comfortable. But then Arthur grabbed my hand tightly, starting to pull me towards the houses, making me run again.

I looked up and I realized why he was running. Lorenzo, who had been away with Jules in France for two weeks, stood on the driveway with Hervé. I understood why Charles had been rushing, as I bet he knew that Lorenzo was coming home.

Charles hugged his brother quickly. He wasn't that much of a hugger anymore, as he was turning twelve and thought it was lame. Sometimes he'd hug me, but he'd scoff or roll his eyes right after. Charles and Arthur didn't hug anymore, they high-fived each other, or fist bumped. I guess they thought it was cooler. But right after he had hugged Lorenzo, he had the widest smile on his face and he looked up at his brother.

"Jules a-t-il gagné?" Did Jules win? he asked while Lorenzo hugged Arthur and I as well.

"Ouais, il a gagné la deuxième course," Yeah, he won the second race, Lorenzo replied, messing Arthur's hair up and then he looked at me and smiled. I waited for Lorenzo to tell me the usual 'he'll be home soon' or 'he'll call you tonight' but he didn't say anything.

"Céline, chérie, pourquoi n'irais-tu pas dire à ta mère que tu es à la maison?" Céline, darling, why don't you go tell your mother you're home? Hervé said, running his hand over my head.

I nodded and then I ran over to my house. I put my hand on the door and I kept my hope up even though I knew it was probably useless. Lorenzo came home without Jules all the time, and mm would have told me if Jules was coming home. She'd circle it on the calendar in my room so that I could count down the days until he came back. I slowly opened the door, I kept my eyes closed until I had walked through it and then I opened it, and I saw the bags left in the hallway.

I couldn't get my shoes off faster. I kicked them off and I let my backpack fall to the floor before I ran into the house, looking in the living room, and then I hurried towards the kitchen.

There he was. He sat there at the kitchen island with his phone in his hand. His usual brown hair and his brown eyes, and when he looked up he smiled with his kind smile. I ran through the room and he got off the chair. He squatted in front of me, like he used to do when I was younger, even though he didn't really need to do that anymore because I had grown tall enough for him to just bend down a little to hug me.