When in Paris

(11) Eleven

Chapter 11

 

“Hey Ree! Ree! Cathreeeese!” Cathreese startled awake, twitching in surprise when she found Nathan’s face just inches from her own. He beamed down at her, “Good morning.”

 

“H-h-hi.” She yawned as she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes. There was a plate of pancakes on the coffee table and Nathan pointed to them as he backed out of the room. “Get dressed, eat fast, and meet me in the lobby. You have twenty minutes.” Then he disappeared.

 

She flung her legs over the side of the couch, stretching her arms towards the ceiling before searching around in her bag for a change of clothes. She slipped into a pair of well-worn cut-off shorts and a green v-neck tee-shirt. She didn’t like this whole limited clothes thing.

 

After tying her shoes, throwing her messy curls in a ponytail, and downing two pancakes she went to find Nathan. He was sprawled out in a chair in the lobby, looking super confident and happy as he talked to a girl with butt length, shiny black hair.

 

Cathreese wasn’t sure what to do; should she interrupt them or wait until the girl left? Nathan saved her the trouble of making a decision because his face brightened when he noticed her over the girl’s shoulder. He waved her over and she heard him introducing her to the girl as his travel companion. Cathreese’s eyes drifted to the girls face, trying to judge her reaction. The girl just smiled and said it was nice to meet them both. Then she took off towards the elevators.

 

“Who was that?” Cathreese sat down in the chair next to Nathan’s. “She was gorgeous.”

 

Nathan shrugged, brushing it off easily. “Not my type. Anyway today,” he unfurled the map that had been resting on his thigh, “we are going to see the Musée d'Orsay. Sound good?”

 

“I thought we weren’t allowed to ask stupid questions,” she teased.

 

“What do you…” his dimple made an appearance as he realized what she was saying. “Anything I want to do is good? I like that.”

 

“Yeah, me too.”

 

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“Remember when I said that I liked having you in charge?”

 

“Yeah, inadvertently.” Nathan mumbled as he buried his nose in the map.

 

“I take that back.”

 

Nathan didn’t seem to hear her as he mumbled to himself, “I coulda sworn we were supposed to go right.” Suddenly he balled the map up and tossed it in the trash, “New plan. Let’s just walk.”

 

And that’s exactly what they did. They walked through the city, seeing it in ways they never would have if every destination was just a check point on a tourist’s list. They smiled at shopkeepers, wandered through markets, took silly pictures in front of statues, raced each other through the cobblestone streets, and munched on crisps as the day grew longer.