temptation- t.c

9. beacon of hope

~Timothée~

I was quite excited to go and see the lighthouse. What we would do there, I wasn't sure but Adeline had been adamant to get out of the house. Of course, she was late meeting us at the car. Danny and Luke were already sat in the front of his
Mercedes convertible, flirting with one another shamelessly.

It was quite amusing at dinner as it was clear that Cecilia could see Danny as a potential husband for Adeline without realising that she wasn't exactly her type. I wondered if she could tell, if she hadn't guessed already she probably would today considering Danny and Luke weren't exactly trying to be subtle to one another.

When she skipped out of the house, I was leant against the car with a surprise under my arm for her. She looked so excited in her short mint green shorts and white cropped button up blouse. Her soft trainers carried her towards me and with a leap she was in front of me, those blue eyes gazing up at me.

"I got you something." I tried to contain my smile, not allowing myself to believe it meant anything. Her smile said differently however, full of hope and meaningful glances.

"Oh yeah?" She licked her lips in anticipation as I pulled out the book from where it had been hiding and held it out. "The Great Gatsby." She gasped, reaching for it but I pulled it just out of her grasp.

"Have you ever read it?" I wondered, it was immensely popular so I wouldn't be surprised but I was hoping she hadn't.

"No but I adore Leonardo DiCaprio." It's like she said it just so I could roll my eyes. Her hands grasped the book, for someone who had seen the film and therefore knew the ending I can't see why she would be so excited.

"I think you'll like the way it's written. A lot of good descriptions and hidden gems." I shrugged to try and make it seem more casual. She looked elated though which only made my heart ache a bit more than it should.

"I'm gonna read it on the way." Suddenly her hand was on my shoulder and her lips were on my cheek, giving me a thankful kiss that I didn't deserve.

"Come on you two" Luke's voice boomed from inside the car. With one final glance, she jogged around the car and got in the other side.

It was about an hour drive, a whole hour of trying not to watch her read. I didn't expect her to be so thrilled by the idea of a book but she sat the whole way, through the loud conversations and blaring music, reading each word and savouring it as if every adjective and verb had a special meaning.

It was also kind of sad. My mind wondered to whether she had never thought to read for pleasure, maybe only for school. Or was she pretending to please me? That would dishearten me only further if the case. She was pleasing me though, the way she seemed to devour the book. Maybe she was more like her brother than I had first noticed.

When we arrived, she looked up and her face looked to me in distress.

"Do you have a bookmark? I don't want to fold the page." It was a simple request but one that made me smile with pride. Although I didn't have a bookmark so I tried to use my improv skills to think of something else. My hands dived into my pockets to find an old train ticket I had once bought when I had forgot my metro card.

"Here." I handed it to her and without another word, she put it further into the book than I had expected and closed it. It never left her hand though, I suppose she expected to sit and read it somewhere later on.

I wanted her to know about Luke and Danny. It wasn't my place to say anything but i hoped she would figure it out. Maybe giving her the book wasn't the best thing to do when I needed to her to observe.