"Madame, Monsieur!" My attention was immediately drawn across the café room toward Pierre, the pulp, bright eyed man that had served us last time.
Luke smiled, making his way over to Pierre, who smiled widely at us from behind the counter. It was surprising that he could recall our visit, considering his age and the fact that it had been weeks since we had last been in here. "Bonjour, cela fait plaisir de te voir. Comment allez-vous?"
He sighed, "Des affaires sont lents, donc je n'ai pas beaucoup des choses de faire, mais pas mal. Et-vous?"
"Je suis triste d'entendre que," Luke replied politely as the man shrugged, dismissing whatever they had been discussing. "Moi, je ne pourrais pas être mieux."
Pierre sent a somewhat questioning glance toward Luke while he busied himself with an order. Luke grinned at me momentarily before returning his gaze to the man. "Permettez-moi de vous présenter à ma petit-amie." Luke tugged slightly at my hand, bringing him closer toward his side as Pierre let a small laugh fall from his lips.
"J'ai toujours su!" he exclaimed. "Félicitations. Nous vous souhaitons à tous les deux tout le bonheur du monde."
"Merci monsieur, je vais essayer pour la garder aussi longtemps que possible," Luke laughed as I stood obviously at his side.
"Je ne pense pas qu'elle vais quitter de sitôt," he replied, as he gently slid a tray toward us, littered with two, steaming mugs of what appeared to be simple coffee and an assortment of pastries. Luke removed his hand from my own as he reached for his wallet, pulling a few notes out and passing them toward the man. However, he politely rejected them, driving Luke's hand away from his own.
"Non, non," he said. "C'est sur moi."
Luke smiled, "Merci beaucoup, c'est très gentil."
"Je t'en prie."
Settling on a more secluded area toward the back, a gust of warmth hit me instantly as I sat down, the radiator to the side of me contrasting to the bitter air outside. It had started out as a mild day, with only a small layer of frost visible in the early hours of the morning, but as time ticked by, the wind had picked up rather aggressively and was now causing the windows of the shop to rattle against the force.
I clamped my hands around the mug, immediately feeling the warmth seep deeper into my flesh, a deep breath being released from my lungs at the sensation.
I cast my eyes upward, only to find Luke watching me in amusement with a small smirk framing his face. He simply watched me for a minute or to, his smirk soon softening into a smile, "Adelaide?"
"Hm?"
"Do you want to talk about the nightmare? You don't have to. I just think talking things through is often the best thing, and I didn't exactly give you the opportunity earlier."
"I shouldn't have kept it from you in the first place Luke, I know that, I just sometimes feel as if I'm a burden to you," I said, avoiding his gaze. "You're so busy with work and everything, the last thing you need is me overreacting about some nightmare. It's a nightmare that's all it is, unlike the real problems you have."
Luke sighed, "Adelaide, when are you going to realise that you'll always come first? Whether that's against work or whatever, you're my priority and have been for some time, so if you're upset, then I want to be there for you. I want you to tell me what's going on inside that little head of yours, not just for your sanity but for mine too," he laughed lightly, speaking in a comforting tone. "As for the nightmares, well they clearly aren't just your average dream. I've seen the state that it puts you under and no one wants to have to go through that alone. So if you want to talk about it, then shoot, because the last thing you are to me is a burden."
"You have no idea how much I appreciate that, so thank you," I smiled."I don't really know where you're up to. I presume that it was my last one, which ended with someone clamping a hand over my mouth?" Luke nodded, urging me to continue. "Well, this one started with that someone, who later revealed himself as Bennett, taking his hand away and attempting to calm me down."
"You saw Bennett?" Luke interjected hastily.
I shook my head, "No, not exactly. I could see him, but it was as if he was out of focus the entire time, I mean it was dark anyway, but there were times that I would have been able to see his face, but it was all blurred. But I had this pounding headache, the kind that physically affects your sight and I just felt so disorientated in general."
"Bennett then explained that we needed to move to somewhere with more coverage, so after managing to get myself up, we started making our way across this pathway type thing, but as soon as we were out of our hiding position, bullets were being fired left, right and centre. I honestly thought that we had no chance of making it out of there, but I'd underestimated Bennett."
"In what sense?"
"I'd seen how quickly he'd managed to react to them, as if he'd known all along that they were there, which I confronted him about once we were being the crate. He said that he'd had his suspicions, or something along the lines of that, which is probably how he managed to wipe them all out," I explained. "I remember sitting back, taking a breath, thinking that it was all over, but next thing you know, we hear some more men metres away from us talking about Bennett and what happened in the east wing, whatever the hell that means."
"An area," Luke said, watching me carefully. "That's what I would presume, you are on a pier right?"
I nodded. "They were looking for their team or something, of whom I think had just attacked us. Bennett then hands me a gun, telling me that I know how to use it, but to hell I wouldn't if it weren't for you."
"And after that?"
"He told me to stay put and wait for him to come back, but as soon as he stepped out, the gunfire started again and carried on for a considerate amount of time until it went completely silent, a single gunshot following not long after. And well, I think you can guess what was going through my mind at that point."
"I really am sorry Adelaide."
"Hey, don't be," I argued. "You haven't done anything wrong."
"I wasn't there when you needed me though."
"You're here now. And if anyone should be apologising, it should be me, getting upset over something so silly."
"How many times am I going to have to tell you that they aren't just nightmares Adelaide? I've seen what they do to you. The last thing that you'd want to do after having one like that is to go and do shooting practise."
"You weren't to have known," I said truthfully. "But I've learnt my lesson."
"Another coffee?" He requested, motioning toward the empty cup in front of me. He didn't wait for a response and instead eagerly made his way back to the counter, sending another smirk over his shoulder as he did so.
