On the road

Over drinks he starts sketching plans for the summer. "I want to see cities" he says, jotting down names on a yellow napkin: Amsterdam, Vienna, Brussels, Milan. He asks me what I want to do, I tell him I want to see airports. He smiles and strokes my hair but he knows I'm being serious.

Later he hails a cab on Boulevard Raspail and tells the driver to take us south. "Do you remember?" he asks, whispering as I lean against his shoulder. I fall asleep and dream about seagulls, when I wake up we're somewhere on the Autoroute du Soleil going back north.

I've always been afraid of the dark, even with him there to protect to me. He knows it and it makes him doubt my love for him. We're back home at 2 AM, he kisses my hand and calls me sweetheart. I'm awake all night until he leaves for school in the morning, then spend my day writing postcards and wearing his Balmain T-shirts.