Maddie subconsciously stroked Zippo after she had finished cleaning Bandit off. Bandit was close to her, his head against her leg. She looked between the animals. She almost wanted to text Laetus, but she thought better of it. She could handle this after all.
Maddie sat twiddling her thumbs for a good five minutes before she took her phone and sent a quick text to Laetus.
Where are you? is everything all right?
She was nervous on more accounts than one. Bandit was wounded, she was alone in Paris, and Laetus had left and hadn't come back for hours. What if he never came back? What if something had happened? She would never find out about it. She would be stuck here. Stuck in Paris.
Maddie gnawed her lip raw, her chest constricting uncomfortably. She didn't want to cry, but the tears were slipping out. She was so afraid. Through all the fun they had, the fear had always been hidden, but now there was nothing left for it to hide behind and it left Maddie feeling cold inside.
((Oh my god o.o I feel like legitimately guilty now XD))
Zippo crawled up her arm and onto her shoulder, letting him wipe her tears with his tail. The female was sad, and he felt it was related to what he was thinking about. But... Laetus will be back. They both had to believe that...
Zippo crawled up her arm and onto her shoulder, letting him wipe her tears with his tail. The female was sad, and he felt it was related to what he was thinking about. But... Laetus will be back. They both had to believe that...
Maddie sniffled. Zippo managed to bring her back to her senses. She wasn't sure if the drake understood why she was sad or not. She wasn't certain how intelligent drakes where.
She breathed in deeply to further calm herself. Maddie was checking her phone every few seconds. What if Lae wasn't back by morning? Would she travel Paris alone? Was that safe?
When Laetus never texted back, Maddie dialed a different number. It rang a few times and on the fourth the phone was answered.
"Ung..Maddie?" Sariah's voice was sleep-ridden. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" She paused, sounding more awake next she spoke. "Is everything all right? Why aren't you asleep?"
Maddie looked around the hotel room. Part of her desperately wanted to tell her sister all about Paris and Laetus. She had never kept a secret from Sariah, but these were things Maddie didn't think Sariah would understand -- or accept.
"I just couldn't sleep."
There was a long moment of silence on Sariah's end of the phone. Then, some shuffling. "Have you been crying?"
HUSH! <.< >.> I thought that right after I posted lool.
That was when Maddie broke down. She had never been good at keeping secrets, even when others didn't know there was a secret to be had in the first place.
In one long breath, Maddie said, "Yes. I'm in Paris with my boyfriend because some big tsunami was hitting Manta Carlos and then I asked my boyfriend to go see if everything was okay but he hasn't been back for hours and now Bandit came home and he's all beaten up and I don't know what to do."
Maddie could hear coffee brewing.
"I haven't had enough coffee for this," Sariah said with a sigh. And then, "You have a boyfriend?"
"Sar-i-ah!" Maddie whined, "did you even hear anything else I said?"
"Mmm, no. Maybe if you tried it again, in English this time if you would."
Glass clinked as Sariah poured herself some coffee. Maddie wished she was home, sharing coffee and chatting like they used to. With a sigh, Maddie repeated herself, but slower this time, to let Sariah hear it all.
Sariah was quiet through her entire cup of coffee and when she poured another, she said, "Lot of questions. Not a lot of answers. I don't even know where to start with all of that. How did you get to Paris?"