Collecting Polaroids |Slowburn|

Chapter 11

Parea - Greek:  A group of friends that get together to enjoy nothing else but sharing their life experiences, philosophies, values, and ideas.

Isla's POV

"Mierda," I mumbled, trying to get my camera to autofocus.

"What happened?" Saskia asked. We had decided to do a photoshoot in front of the Eiffel Tower... at midnight. I wanted to do it right when the lights came on but Saskia insisted it would be more of an adventure if we went at midnight.

"It won't stop auto focusing on the wrong object."

I always had this problem and it annoyed the hell out of me. The camera focused on the blinds behind Linette instead of Linette herself. I heard Mathieu talking to Linette about something but I was too focused on getting the stupid camera to focus.

"Then who's going to drive us?"Linette asked.

"Isla?"

"Huh?" I looked up, hearing my name.

"I can't drop you guys because my car is at my parent's house."

"Oh looks like we can't go," I said, glad to get out of the situation. I wanted to sleep.

"No!" Saskia said loudly. "Ask Elliot."

"Sure," Mathieu shrugged, despite my frantic hand motions telling him not to.

I heard low voices talking before Mathieu shouted that we'd leave in 5 minutes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I found myself sitting beside Elliot for the second time.

"Do you mind holding this?" he asked, getting into the drivers seat. He held out a Sony camera with a small lens attached.

"Sure," I nodded, taking the camera and setting it in my lap gently.

"Wow see guys. I made this a family outing," Saskia said from the backseat.

"For once you're right. Mom and Dad with the camera's in the front seats and us as the models," Yann grinnned. I rolled my eyes, a smile forming on my face.

It was a 15 minute drive through the nearly empty streets of Paris. I sat up straighter in my seat as we neared the landmark. My mouth fell open slightly as I finally got a full glimpse of the stunning tower. Despite the late hour, the surrounding area of the Eiffel Tower was crowded with people - about 200.

The smell of coffee hit my nose as I exited the car. A bakery had the smell of fresh hot chocolate and churros wafting out of it. The group hurried towards the tower, exited to see it after so long.

"Saskia slow down," I heard Linette laugh, running to keep up with her as the blonde sipped through the crowd. I was about to follow when I realized Elliot was still by the car. He had grabbed a jacket from the trunk and was locking the car.

"Why are you still here?" he asked, coming up to me.

"I was waiting for you."

"You didn't have to do that," he said, taking his camera from me. I opened my mouth to say something, but decided against it. I hurried after him, coming to walk beside him. There was a nice summer breeze that cooled me down. A stark contrast to the high heat of the day.

"You're so freaking slow, even the grandmas who cut in line at the supermarche are faster than you," Saskia complained, grabbing my arm. I frowned , a bit annoyed. The converstation - if you'd even call it that - with Elliot had thrown off my mood. I was just being nice by waiting for him. Plus I had his camera.