Draco couldn't believe his eyes. He looked at his smart watch, and then at Lila's phone. They showed different dates, and different times. He felt a surge of confusion, and disbelief.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked, incredulously. "It's April Fools' Day, right? You're trying to prank me, aren't you?"
Lila sighed, and shook her head. She had told him this before, but he never seemed to remember. He was so forgetful, and clueless. She liked him, but sometimes he frustrated her.
"No, Draco, it's not a prank. It's the truth. You forgot to change your watch's timezone, again. We're in Paris, remember? It's five hours ahead of New York. Look, it's March 31 here, not March 30. See?" she said, showing him her phone.
Draco felt his cheeks heat up, as he realized his mistake. He took out his own phone, and checked the date and time. It matched Lila's. He felt embarrassed, and stupid.
"Sorry, I forgot. I'm not used to this. It's so weird, being in a different place, and a different time. It messes with my head," he said, sheepishly.
Lila smiled, and touched his arm. She felt a spark, and hoped he felt it too. She had a crush on him, ever since they met three years ago. He was her best friend, but she wanted him to be more.
"It's okay... I understand. It's not easy, moving to a new country, and adjusting to a new culture. You're doing great, though. I'm proud of you," she said, sincerely.
Draco looked into her purple eyes, and felt a warm feeling in his chest.
"I learned from the best, after all." he replied, with a grin.
He liked her, too. She was his best friend, and more. She was smart, and kind, and beautiful. She was always there for him, and supported him. She made him happy.
He wanted to tell her how he felt, and kiss her. He wanted to be with her.
But he didn't know how to say it, or show it.
He was too shy, and too scared.
He was too much like his mom.
He made enemies too easily, and struggled with friends.
He looked away, and saw his phone's cracked screen. It reminded him of his past, and his pain. It reminded him of his family, and his sister.
His sister, who had broken his phone, and his hopes of sanity after the big move.
Three years ago, he had found out that his mom, who he thought was dead, was actually alive. She had divorced his dad, and taken his twin sister, Amira, and his little brother Oliver with her. He had never known he had a twin sister, until he met her at school. She was his enemy, before she was his sibling. She had accidentally smashed his phone, before she knew they were related.
They had hated each other, until they learned the truth. They had reconciled (or that's what the family thought), and reunited. They had become a family, again.
But they had never stayed together.
His mom and dad had never gotten back together. They had remained apart, and so had he and his sister. They had lived in different towns, and different states. They had seen each other only on holidays, and special occasions. They had kept in touch, but not enough. Despite all the trouble she caused him, he wished they could all be together, as a family.
But they couldn't.
His dad, Ashton Winters, had moved them to Paris, for his work. He was the CEO of a big company, and he had to oversee some projects there. He had taken Draco and his older sister, Ashlyn, with him. Ashlyn was going to college there, and Draco was going to high school.
They had left their mom and sister behind, in New York. They had said goodbye, and promised to visit. They had hoped to see them soon.
But they hadn't.
They had talked to them on the phone during the flight, and video chatted with them. But it wasn't the same. It wasn't enough.
He wanted to see them, and hug them. He wanted to be with them.
But he couldn't.
He was stuck in Paris, with his dad and sister. And Lila.
Lila, who was his friend, and more. Lila, who was his crush, and maybe his future, looking at him, thinking of what to say next. He looked back at her, and smiled.
Maybe he could be happy, here. Maybe he could be with her.
Maybe he could be like his dad.
Maybe he could move on, find a new hobby, make it big.
She and her father, who was a good friend of Ashton's, had come to the airport to welcome the family to the famed 'City of Love'. She turned to look at both their fathers, who were standing there, chatting. He was the manager of the new Paris branch, specifically appointed by the CEO.
"So... what now?" Lila asked. "Is there anything you want to see in Paris? My dad said I could show you and your sister around."
"I would really want to try authentic French food. I don't know about Ashlyn though. She's always on the phone nowadays, talking with this guy in her old class at school. I think she really misses senior year."
Upon hearing her name, Ashlyn glanced up from her phone and saw her brother talking. "I do... you'll start to miss your middle school days back in New York too, you know, bro?"
"Not one bit. Those days were only ever traumatic. At least we didn't have the media follow us all around this time." Draco chuckled. "I'm actually glad we didn't take a private jet or anything, and we flew second-class, in casual wear."
"Yeah... when we left, I was texting one of my friends, and someone started reading out some of it. Luckily for me we were only sending each other memes. It could have been worse."
Lila smiled as she watched the two siblings talk about their problems with the media. She really couldn't relate to it though, but she fantasized of it at times.
The three of them kept talking for a while, until it was time for them to head to their hotel room. Draco smiled slightly as he waved to her from the taxi, a dreamy look in his green eyes. He didn't want to leave, but had to. As he had recently realized, it was late.
|•|•|•|
A few months of schoolwork, weekends and international video chats had passed since that day. Both siblings had made many new friends, but Draco had not let go of his crush. He had no idea how to frame his sentences, in both French and on his confession, how to confess to begin with, where to do it, how to do it, or even why he was doing it, sometimes.
As he did half the time, he was seated at his desk, texting Lila.
"So... how's Paris treating you?" she asked.
"Pretty good, actually. I love you..." he replied, unaware of the great error his autocorrect had made.
"...what?" she asked, her cheeks flushing at the sight of his text.
"What happened? Did I make a huge typo or something?"
"I think so..." she replied, and copy-pasted his message in the chat.
Draco's eyes widened with shock. "OMG I'M SO SORRY!!! It's my autocorrect... I don't know how that happened." he typed, frantically.
"Oh..."
"What do you mean, 'oh?'"
"Don't laugh, and don't freak out, okay?" she typed. "I actually like you... and the reason I said 'oh' was because I was sad it was an autocorrect error, and not really true."
Draco gasped. He didn't know how to reply to this.
He stared at his screen, and felt a mix of emotions. He was surprised, and happy, and nervous, and scared. He liked Lila, too. He had liked her for a long time. He had wanted to tell her, but he never had the courage. He had always been afraid of rejection, or ruining their friendship.
But now he knew she felt the same way. She liked him, too. She wanted him, too. She had told him, and he had seen it.
He wanted to tell her, too. He wanted to tell her he loved her, and he meant it.
He typed a few words, and then deleted them. He typed a few more, and then deleted them. He typed a few more, and then stopped.
He looked at his message, and hesitated. He wondered if it was enough, or too much. All his thoughts seemed to have a mind of their own, each one panicking as if the sky was falling.
He took a deep breath, and pressed send anyway. Romance never did make sense to begin with, so why should his text?
Besides... there were thousands of shrieking fangirls who would kill to be in Lila's place...
But neither would be like her...
|•|•|•|
Ten years had passed since that fateful day. Precisely ten years. No more, no less.
"China has threatened to bomb Hong Kong. The United States is supporting the latter in their fight for independence from the People's Republic, and Russia is supporting China, as they did for them in the 2030's, in the annexation of the former Ukraine."
Draco yawned as he listened to the news on his car's radio. It was politics, as always. When was it not, he thought to himself. He sighed, and looked down at the steering wheel. He was in a rush to reach the hospital. "We'll be there, soon enough..." he said, as the sounds of hyperventilating from the back seat grew louder.
"I can't... how did your mom do this four times?!" came the shriek. "How did anyone's mom do this?!"
"Technically three..." he replied, looking into the rearview mirror.
"Whatever! Just hurry up already!! And turn off the depressing radio, for crying out loud!"
As calm as he tried to seem, he was just as emotionally tensed as she was physically. Until a few months ago, he had no idea she could scream so loudly.
He reached over, and turned off the radio. He didn’t need to hear more about the world’s problems, when he had his own. He was about to become a father, for the first time. He was excited, and terrified. He didn't want to be like his own parents, and divorce out of fear.
He glanced at the back seat, and saw her. She was there, in pain.
Lila's shoulder-length black hair was tied into a messy ponytail, and her fair skin was visibly wrinkled. Her purple eyes seemed to have lost their glow.
"Think happy thoughts..." he said, passive-agressively yelling, in a way. He didn't know how to react at all. There were still five minutes to get to the hospital, and tourist traffic around the Eiffel tower was high, as always. He had moved to France permanently for college and beyond, even though his father and sister, who had graduated, moved back to New York.
"How am I supposed to think about anything except the fact that I am in pain right now?!"
"...Good point."
"I'd normally roast you for your stupidity, but honestly, I don't have it in me today."
"Thank you... saves me some extra trouble."
Lila smiled back, weakly. "If I don't make it through this, I take back every time I snapped at you."
"That's the only normal thing that's happened in my life, honestly."
He looked at the road, and saw the hospital sign. He felt a surge of relief, and hope. They were almost there. They were almost done. They were almost parents.
He drove into the parking lot, and found a spot. He turned off the engine, and got out of the car. He opened the door for Lila, and helped her out. He wrapped his arm around her, and supported her. He grabbed their bags, and walked with her. He entered the hospital, and looked for the reception.
They were ready.
|•|•|•|
"I cannot believe it..." he said, in complete awe.
"I can't believe that I can, considering how you were separated from your parents and two of your siblings when you were four, reunited with them, and met me when you were twelve-"
"Not to sound rude, but I don't want the history lesson... instead, I want to look into the future." he replied, squeezing Lila's hand gently, as she lay on the bed, exhausted. Who wouldn't be, after giving birth?
As if on cue, both turned to look at the door which had just been opened by a nurse, holding a small baby delicately in her arms. Their baby.
"Perfect timing, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it is. What are we calling her?"
"I dunno..."
"How about... Alyn?"
Lila thought for a minute about his suggestion. "I like it." she replied. "Alyn Winters. That's adorable."
"I just wish she wasn't born in such a terrible landscape, what with a whole World War III about to spark. The last two were terrible." he replied.
"Killjoy..."
The nurse gently placed Alyn on a small wheeled bed. "Would you like to hold her?" she asked Lila.
"Yes..." she replied. The nurse strolled the bed to her, and handed her the baby.
"Hi," Lila said to her. "We're your parents..."
"Yep." Draco added. "We're at a complete loss of words, to say the least. But I promise, we'll try our best to not be an absolute pain."
"Just don't break your dad's phone and you're good."
"Shut up, you know I'm over that!"
|•|•|•|
To read more of Alyn's story, read my story 'Not Your Ordinary War'. To read more of her parents' story, it's 'Not Your Ordinary Future'. But to gain context on both, Not Your Ordinary Fairytale.
Yeah, I have too much free time.
I absolutely mess up at writing potentially heart-touching moments like these. I've done my research and am trying my best to improve.
Moral of the story - I'm never trying my hand at romance again. 🙂
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