What Happens in Paris...

...While Shopping

Drake

Riding through the streets of Paris on the narrow backseat of the SUV with Kate was an interesting experience. I had to slouch down on the seat to avoid banging my head on the roof, but it was all worth it to have her sitting next to me. Hip to hip, thigh pressed to denim thigh, with my arm stretched across the top of the seat behind her, all I had to do was turn my head to get a whiff of her hair or nuzzle the side of her neck. Whenever I did either, she'd giggle and place her hand on my thigh. Damn if it wasn't a turn on every time she touched me. If we were alone, and not just sitting a foot away from Maxwell and Hana, there's no doubt we'd be doing some heavy kissing by now. But for the sake of decency we had to keep ourselves in check. Paris may be the City for Lovers, but I didn't feel like getting kicked out of our cab and violating some kind of unknown public decency bylaw or something.

Maxwell and Hana were doing their best to ignore us by pointing out different sights on either side of the vehicle as we passed them. I was impressed by Hana's french speaking skills, although I didn't understand a word, it sounded nicer coming from her than Kiara. 

Although I've been to Paris a few times, I'd always avoided doing the touristy stuff. Probably because of the language barrier. But now that I had Kate to experience things with, I kind of wish I could take her places and we could make new memories. It would be to our advantage to have Max and Hana as our guides today.

Looking out through the tinted glass I didn't recognize where we were, but the traffic was moving slower and I could see shops and cafés along with crowds of pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Kate seemed eager to get out of the cab to explore, and she was leaning forward in her seat to see the stores that Hana was pointing out to her. 

Maxwell turns in his seat to look back at me, "Ready to get out and watch the girls try on pretty stuff?" He smirks and winks at me.

I lean forward and pat Max on the shoulder, "As long as you're buying, sure."

Hana gets the attention of our driver, Henri, and says something to him in French. "Merci Henri. Pouvons-nous réserver le voyage de retour dans une heure?" (Thanks Henry. Can we reserve a return trip back in an hour?)

He nods and then once he finds an empty space at the curb, he parks the SUV. 

I stumble my way out of the cab,  bumping my head twice, and join everyone on the sidewalk. "So where are we going?"

Kate grabs my hand and I can't help but smile at her as I lace our fingers together. 

"Aww, you two look so cute." Hana giggles.

I cringe, "Well don't make a big deal out of it."

Maxwell pats me on the arm before taking up a position ahead of us with Hana as we head down the sidewalk. "But it is a big deal, big guy. In all the years we've been hanging out, this is the first time I've seen you out with a girl on your arm."

Kate squints in the sunshine as she  looks up at me, "Really?"

I loosen my grip on Kate's hand and feel self conscious as I tuck my hands into my pockets instead. "..uh, no comment." 

I glare at Maxwell's back as we meander our way around other tourists, Kate has to quicken her pace to keep up with me. When she grabs my arm, I slow down and apologize. "Sorry. Max kind of caught me off guard."

"It's ok, Drake. I understand." She tries looping her arm through mine, but it's awkward, so I go back to holding her hand.

"C'mon," I say, sidestepping around another group of window shoppers and tugging her along with me, "We better catch up with Max and Hana before we lose them."