Should've Stayed Away- Joseph Descamps

twenty one

I glared at him as he walked through the dimly lit and open train station, our tickets in his hand. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm going to Paris with you."

He briefly turned his head towards me but continued in his stride, the poor lighting above making his features look darker, more tired. I tried my best to keep his pace and ignore the occasional person walking past and looking at us curiously.

"You're walking next to me aren't you?", I didn't have to look at him to know he was smirking. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance but kept my gaze focused on the train coming closer and closer to our stop. The rest of the city just visible behind it though it was slowly becoming too dark to see much of anything clearly. Paris with Descamps this late at night, how I let him talk me into this I don't know.

One second I was working, wiping down the glass and the next Descamps was sitting there waiting for my shift to end. Then he was dragging me to the train station, buying the tickets without bothering to mention what his plan was.

"It's an hour train ride and it's already eight, you do know I can't be out all night right?" I huffed out in annoyance before sitting down next to him on the cheap plastic seats of the train. No one bothered to look at us, each one of the passengers too busy getting on or off the train to care.

Descamps slouched back in the seat and shook his head, "Break the rules for tonight."

The night air bit at my exposed legs as soon as the train doors opened, the people inside that had mostly stuck to their newspapers flooded out. Descamps stood and lightly pushed me out in front of him until we finally made our way out of the crowded train station.

I glanced around the clean and beautifully constructed train station,"What could all these people be doing so late?"

People bustled along the sidewalks right past us like we didn't even exist, their footsteps echoing against the stone as they hurried about their evening errands. The  whir of a passing bicycle and the distant strains of jazz music drifted through the air, emanating from nearby cafes and nightclubs.

"You'll see, Paris is so different. Everything is open until morning and no one cares what you do as long as you're quiet about it"

I felt his hand grab onto him and tried my best to ignore the pleasant and familiar warmth it brought with it, "So what are we doing here?"

He shrugged, "Whatever we want. No one here knows us, you don't have to pretend to hate me" Descamps finished with a teasing lilt to his tone. A small smile tugged at my  lips much to my dismay and instead of meeting his gaze, I looked away and the tall buildings around us.

I turned my head back to him, "I'm not pretending."

"Come on, don't lie" He smirked, he saw right through my teasing. As much as I hated him at times, I knew deep down how much I liked him. He just understood me, everything about me he knew without me having to express it. 

Orange light from the street lamps above us shone down, making his brown hair seem reddish. I stared, he never wanted me to be anyone else. He saw me be rude, selfish, cheat, lie and he didn't care. The eyelashes above his brown eye fluttered lightly, he always somehow knew I never meant any of it. 

I swallowed the nervous lump forming in my throat, "Take me somewhere exciting, I didn't ride a train next to sweaty you just so we could stand on a street."