You're thirty and on your honeymoon. You wake alone so you're not quite sure its real until you inhale a deep breathe and smell the boggy scent of the seine flowing just below the open balcony door. You plant your hand beside you to roll over and search of Chyler but the sound of crinkling paper beneath your palm pulls you up short. You read her scrawling handwriting went to the market be back love you. You lay still and fall back asleep in minutes.
When you wake again, you hear a pretty song in French. You have no idea what is being said you just like the whispery way Chyler is singing along under her breath as she puts away groceries. She strolls into your view. Nit picking at flowers in a vase. She's wearing a black silk one shoulder short sleeved top and a cherry red suede mini skirt. Black knee high spike heeled boots and a thin gray scarf around her neck. Her dark hair falling on her shoulders.
"You look pretty." You shelve the dirty thing you almost said and smile at her.
She looks over her face clean of any make up. "Oh you are awake."
"Real pretty."
"Thank you." She grins "Mornin' baby."
"Good morning Pretty Baby." You get up and follow her out on to the balcony where she sit's a vase of what you think is freesia down on a little table.
She leans on the intricate wrought iron of the balcony.
"Can we just stay this way forever?" she murmurs looking over her shoulder at you the breeze picking at her hair. You walk over standing behind her you place your hands on the iron at her sides. Trapping her body with yours. You smirk at the little thrill it gives you. You kiss along her jaw line. "Being married is what that means Chy." you tell her smiling but it doesn't shake her suddenly serious mood. She turns in your arms facing you. "I'm tired of all the drama John. Becca and Leland. Vince. Randy. It's never ending." she's trailing the nail of her index finger down the center of your chest. You try mightily to concentrate on the conversation. "We're going to fix it you know, and what we can't well we just don't give a fuck about deal?"
"But we have to go back to hating each other in a week." you want to hear none of it no mention of work or Monday should touch this tiny bit of paradise. You kiss her to shut her up. Because you want to and it feels good. Because you can.
You sense the moment her brain down shifts from fast paced, "I have so much to do and worry about." to "Oh! Sex!" idle. Everything slows, her arms wrap around your neck and she kissing back. Slowly. She's forcing you to back pedal into the bedroom. You totally do not mind.
You are pushed back onto the bed and you let her have control because the truth is kind of like being at her mercy. You like sitting back and being in the moment. The brush of her lips against yours the fall of her hair tickling your face.
Clothes fall away revealing a body you know better than your own, a body you've mapped out with your mouth and hands. Your hand falls to her hip to steady her she's straddling your lap. Your thumb brushes a scar on her hip left behind while jumping a fence with your baby brother. You smirk against the soft skin of her neck.
"What? I can feel that you know?" there is a laugh in her voice as she leans back to catch your eye.
"Nothing, I was just thinking that Leland probably doesn't know you have this scar here." your thumb brushes it. "Or that you got it running from the Jenkins kid's party when Danny busted it up."
"It was my own fault for going to a party in my almost brother's jurisdiction. Still, it hurt like a bitch. Can we shut up about my almost brothers and past lovers its killing the mood. Jesus that was like a title to a bad country song." she laughs uproariously as you fling her over pining her beneath you. You love that laugh and that she's yours.
You hike up her skirt and get down to work. "I'm so glad that cow gave his life for your skirt 'cause damn girl…"
She chuckles "How long have you been waitin'-" her question is cut off as you find your way home. "Oh shit. Never mind." you laugh against her collarbone setting the pace.
Later when you are both worn out. You look at your cell phone and note the time. Nearly noon. Chyler flips on the tv, Legend Of The Fall is playing with bad French over dubbing that sounds like James Earl Jones and Gerard Depard due had a baby.
"Seriously baby how many times have you seen this?"
"In French or English?"
"Combined."
"Like eight. I like it."
"Tristan is a douche to Suzannne."
"Yeah. But I cant be mad at him he's just to gorgeous."
You chuckle in spite of yourself. "Uh huh, didn't you promise me crepes?"
"Love, honor, cherish, yes. Life time supply of crepes not so much. Besides, I'm a sucky creper. Is that a word?"
"Uh, I'll look it up?"
She rolls her eyes at you as if random conversation is out of the ordinary for you two.
"Come on, if I'm going to make lazy American crepes you get to stand around and look useful."
"Lazy American crepes?"
"Remember the French boyfriend you've never met but hate on principal?"
"Yes I loathe him." You deepen your voice on the word "loathe" making her giggle in a sweet girlish way.
"Ruby taught me to make them by turning a skillet upside down and spreading the batter with the back of a spoon. At the time it was cheaper than a street vendor. Jean-Paul called me low class." she says pulling your shirt over her head.
"French douche bag." you mutter following behind her. Stomping down stairs to the kitchen.
-/-/-/-
You ponder starting a food fight but the quiet is to perfect to ruin. She's moving around gathering up ingredients.
"Eggs butter, salt and… Sugar…what else?"
"Can I help?"
"sure can you crack eight eggs into a bowl and beat them for me and then melt down a fourth cup butter for me in the microwave?" she asked over her shoulder. As she moved to get milk and flour. "Whatever you do John don't combine them honey."
"Ok got it." you work in companionable silence for a bit and she catches you smiling. "What?" you watch her add this and that eyeing batter and stirring in cocoa powder. "Its just this kinda stuff is what I was looking forward to when we got married."
"I've made you crepes before John, Chocolate okay?"
"Fine. I just meant like doing simple things with you." "Me too." She kisses you lightly. "Can you hand me the Pam its on your side of the kitchen." your gaze sweeps the vastly out dated kitchen with its 1950's stove. Until your eyes land on the red and yellow can. You toss it to her. "Wouldn't it be easier to use the inside of the skillet?" you say eying the cast iron skillet overturned on the lit burner. "In theory yes but Ruby always got them stuck or burned them that way so I do to because this was what I was taught. She turns on her ipod in its dock so that its playing lowly. She sets about making crepes you eat them just as fast as she makes them. Foregoing the redi-whip she has set out.
"Hey save me some!" She gripes and your taunting laugh is cut of by the sharp cut of her gaze. "Ok I'll stop being a pig." she starts swaying to a David Gray song as she makes more crepes.
"Dance with me." you offer your hand. "Now? But I'll burn the crepes." you toss the pan into the sink problem solved and pull her to you as the guy on the ipod is lamenting how this year's love had better last. The two of you are so close you might as a well be one person. You are barely moving swaying and turning slowly. You think of how comical the both must look. You dwarf Chyler in your white shirt and her shiny boots. You wear nothing but sweat pants but can't make yourself care even if someone walked by the kitchen window. "When you kiss me on that midnight street sweep me off my feet singing aint this life so sweet." you lift her off her feet turning in a tight circle before putting her back down. Something strikes her in that moment you can see it. You don't know quiet what is or if she'd even tell you. "I love you, John."
"I know, Thank you." the perfection of the moment is marred by the trilling of Chyler's phone. "Leave it." You plead.
"Can't that's Sean." She reaches blindly behind her grabs it answers. "Hello."
"Yes, Hello you giant cock block!" you shout toward the phone. You move to kiss her neck intent on the childish effort to make a hickey trail. She inhales but not sharply as you suck on the skin where chin meets neck. You give her points for composure.
"umm hum yes I'm having a lovely time." you smirk into her skin.
"You needed something Sean?" She sounds bored.
"You're going to what? Hang on," Sean's going to ask Lacy to marry him!" She directs at you with a look of happy shock. "Yes, I think she'll say yes! Are you kidding! No I won't say anything, Yeah I'll start sketching now.
I will love you too. Here's Johnny." she hands you the phone.
"He wants advice. Be nice. Make me a crepe, I want to go to Jardin de Tuileries today sound good to you?" She leaves you phone and creping materials in hand as she goes to get dressed.
"Any place with you sounds good baby."
"You have no idea what she's talking about do you man?" Sean says.
"Not a clue. Ok so I help you figure out the best way to propose you help me figure out how to make a crepe deal?"
-/-/-/-/-
It turns out Jardin de Tuileries is what amounts to Parisian park near the Arc de Triomphe. You sit near a giant fountain on a bench next to Chyler as she sketches. "Lace for Lacy do you think? Or is it to cliché?"
"you can ask her later." you kiss the palm of her free hand. Thinking to yourself just for now this is perfect.
-/-./-/-
You're eighty five and smile as they all peer into the window of that tiny kitchen. "We lived here for a little over a year Chyler wanted to have Tatum in France and so we did."
"its so tiny and quaint Dad." Tatum says awestruck. "We made do." comes the reply.
-/-/-/-
AN: I used all real places and music. I own nothing but my characters. Music can be found on my tumblr: Meghan84 (dot) tumblr (dot) com no spaces.