Getting Under Nathan

16: "Paris is the city of love."

Chapter 16 - "Paris is the city of love."

"Oh my God," Jack gasped. "I couldn't name you one boy who'd buy an anniversary gift like that."

I stared at the tickets that I'd placed on Jack's desk. "I know... Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky."

"Why Paris though?" Jack frowned. "I thought Italy was your thing?"

"Well I assume he wanted it to be different," I replied. "We've been to Italy a few times and I guess the more different something is, the more special it is too."

"Paris is the city of love," Jack reminded me with a smirk.

Taking a seat on Jack's bed, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check for messages. After opening the envelope last night to find two tickets to Paris for this weekend, I'd called Nathan immediately. We'd then talked for a good hour, which had consisted mainly of me gushing about how lucky I was. It was only now, having had time for everything to sink in, that I realized something.

"Last night over dinner," I began to tell Jack, "Nathan asked me if I had any plans for the weekend."

Jack snorted with laughter. "He was clearly going for maximum surprise by leading you astray."

"But what if I had had plans?" I frowned. "He'd already bought the tickets."

"Would you seriously cancel a trip to Paris because you already had plans?" Jack asked me. "Of course you wouldn't. No plans would be so important. And let's face it; your weekends tend to revolve around Nathan anyway."

"I guess."

"He was probably just trying to make sure you didn't suspect anything at all by tricking you into thinking he hadn't planned anything."

"Sneaky," I agreed.

"So, are you excited for tonight?" Jack asked brightly, his eyes lighting up.

"I'm more excited for the weekend actually," I answered. "Jack, I swear your whole life at the moment is revolving around this one social."

"It's gonna be fun though!" he exclaimed. "Look, I promise I won't let you get tied to any weirdo. And it's not like they can force you to be tied together. Nothing is stopping you from untying yourself and walking away."

"Apart from the fact I'll look like a spoil sport who's no fun?" 

Jack gave me a sympathetic smile. "I know this is sort of outside your comfort zone. But you might click with the person you're tied to and you might end up having a really fun night."

"But at what point do I tell them I have a boyfriend?" I asked. "This is the main thing I'm worrying about. You've joked about it yourself when you were saying that it's the perfect opportunity to pull. Being tied to a girl rather than having to actually approach a girl is so much more convenient for a guy. And I bet everyone is expecting to get with their partners-"

"Izzy, stop stressing," Jack sighed. "Nobody is gonna force you to get with anyone. If the guy seems to be coming onto you, then just mention you've got a boyfriend."

"If I mention it too early on though, then he's gonna think I'm big-headed for assuming that he wants to get with me," I explained. "And if I mention it too late then I've effectively led him on."

"So casually drop it into conversation," Jack shrugged. "If you start talking about football, for example, you can just casually mention that your boyfriend is an Arsenal fan."

I nodded. That was good advice from Jack. "Yeah. That might work."

"See," Jack winked. "I'm not just a pretty face, am I?"