If Clouds Could Lie

01 ~ Champagne Problems

(Before I start, I want to give a huge 'Thank you' to my friends László, Kristýna, Ila & Laura. I'm so grateful for you, besties. <3 )

time & place: winter of 2014, France

The boy sat there with a grim look on his face. He was drowning in his hurt, wondering what would have happened if the events of the last few hours had never happened. He didn't know if it was worse to watch a bustling group of teenagers going for a night out or the ones who were quietly sleeping in their seats.

"Hello. Is this seat available?" She asked him with a friendly smile. "Sure." He replied distantly and kept looking from the window at the fading landscape lit by a few gloomy lamps.

And so the two strangers were sitting in that silent emptiness. The girl pulled out a book and started to read beneath the weak train lights. The boy kept looking at the countryside, trying his best to hold back the tears that were coming out of his eyes. The girl next to him reminded him, with her sweet smile and light-coloured hair, of his almost fiancée.

"Are you alright?" She said worriedly, looking at him. He turned his head slightly so he could see her face for a moment. "Yeah." He sadly answered as he looked down at the floor, letting his curls hide his red eyes. "It doesn't seem like it." She sighed sadly.

The boy pulled a polaroid photo of him and an unknown girl out of his jacket pocket. Underneath the picture were the words: Laura & Olivier, together forever. He looked at the photo and tore it apart with a few hand movements. "Nothing lasts forever." He said.

The girl was a bit startled when he began to tear up the photo. She watched him for a moment and then decided to ask.

"Uh, well..." She was just stuck and didn't know how to continue. He chuckled, lifted his head, and raised his brow. "Well?" He said, wondering if she would continue.

"So, are you feeling better now?" She asked and smiled softly. "More or less." He nodded his head and, for the first time looking into her eyes. The girl gazed into his ocean blue eyes too. If she'd looked into them any longer, she would probably have drowned in his eyes. So she quickly shook her head and offered her hand to the boy.

"I'm Celina." She smiled. He accepted her hand and squeezed it. "I am Olivier."

Two people who now knew each other weren't sitting in that silent emptiness, but they talked instead. Celina was trying to avoid the topic of other people as carefully as possible. She knew that the boy must speak about his secret by himself. After a while of conversation on the night train, they discovered that they were going to the same place. Their destination was a small village on the edge of the country, where sandy beaches were now covered in snow.

The train slowly approached its final station, so Celina and Olivier slowly began to say their goodbyes. In the relatively short ride, they had become close. Olivier discovered that she is a freelance artist. She, in turn, found out that he is a cake maker who had started his career in this very village. Celina used to live here with her beloved grandmother. When the train stopped, they both got out quietly. They smiled at each other and awkwardly hugged. After that, they each headed in a different direction.

"Wait!" He shouted to walking Celina. "Would you like to meet at the White Horse café tomorrow?" She turned and smiled. "Why not? So tomorrow, four o'clock?" She suggested, and he just nodded his head in agreement wordlessly.

The next day they met in a café.

"Well, hello!" He smiled as he saw her coming.

"Hey!" She gave Olivier a quick hug. They both pulled their chairs back and sat down. Celina was awkwardly hiding behind a menu. When the waitress came and they had placed their orders, Olivier decided to break the silence. "You're probably wondering what happened last night, huh?" He said, trying his best to hide the grief in his voice. "If you don't feel like talking about it..." She paused and then looked into his blue eyes.