"So what you're telling me is that my luggage got mixed up on the wrong plane, and it will be here tomorrow..." sighed Lucy as the service woman at the luggage terminal stared at her unapologetically. Lucy took the luggage slip and began filling out all of the required entries as they asked for her name, where she was staying in Paris, and much more. After handing the slip back to the woman, Lucy sluggishly dragged her feet to where Ryan was sitting, and he had a loopsided smile on his face while his eyes were mischievously twinkling.
"She said they will deliver the luggage to the hotel when it arrives," Lucy said, blowing a piece of loose hair from her face. Her small carry-on luggage was with him while her cute backpack was worn and secured in front of her chest. A frown was apparent on her face as she sat down next to him. She turned to him, and her eyes became misty as she pouted. "What do I do? I don't want to buy a new dress, but I'm going to have to... What time do we meet your family?"
Ryan looked at his phone, and then said, "We have five hours."
"Do you think they have like a Macy's or a Nordstrom?" she said seriously as she contemplated her options. She didn't want to spend too much on clothes. There was so much to do that was not shopping.
"A department store? Sure, I can look," he said as he typed the words 'department stores in paris france' into the mobile search bar. Immediately he clicked on the first one that popped up, and it gave him four options. "Galeries Lafayette, and a couple of other ones. Did you wanna take a look around?"
"Nah, we'll just head to that," Lucy said easily as she took her carry-on luggage handle from him. "Let's go?"
He took her her carry-on from her and then asked, "Do you have all of your essentials with you?"
She nodded, looking at him questioningly.
"Then I'm going to have our bags brought to the hotel first."
"Why?"
"Because I love driving in Paris."
"Okay..?"
"The car doesn't have enough trunk space," explained Ryan patiently as he handed a man their luggage. He then said something in French and it was all gibberish to Lucy.
She looked at him like he grew another head, and she said, "I didn't know you spoke French."
He chuckled and held out his hand for her. "I don't think we know very much about one and another."
"I guess not."
He held out his hand, and Lucy stared at it for three counts of her heartbeat before placing her cold hand in his warm one.
He nodded, and then said, "Let's go pick up our rental."
When he had said rental, she was not expecting another expensive car - an Audi R-something something. It was a number and a bug? And the car was zooming past other cars fast as the roads of Paris were winding and curving. It was still morning time - there wasn't traffic yet. Lucy's heart was traveling from her chest to the bottom of her soles to her throat as she closed her eyes. Ryan was so calm and in his zone as changed lanes. She didn't know that the French drove on the same side as Americans did. Then again Lucy probably didn't know a lot about anything...
"Enjoying yourself, huh," Lucy said, watching the suburbs pass her by.
"I am," he said. "We will be here for three weeks. Did you have a list of things you wanna do?"
She began listing things off her head, using her fingers to keep track of what she wanted to see and experience. "Mont Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, umm I think that's about it for now?"
"Did you want to go across the channel? Or south of France for wine?"
"Nah, I wanna keep things simple," Lucy said, looking at Ryan. "Don't wanna complicate things, y'know."
The GPS had taken them to a castle - or something that Lucy thought should have been a castle. The Galeries Lafayette was huge with glass-stained window dome ceilings. Immediately Lucy took out her phone and began taking pictures of herself and the building before handing her phone quickly to Ryan so he could take pictures of her being a tourist. He gently complied with her wishes. And then by surprise, she jerked him down a quick picture or three. One surprising him with a quick peck on the cheek, one with both of them laughing, and one where he just looked at her with a look that she didn't want to analyze.
Galeries Lafayette was definitely a tourist trap - there was nothing but luxury, branded items in the department store. Everywhere she turned there were big designer names, and she frowned. She should have listened to Ryan more about options, but she didn't want to make him drive once more. The roads were too crazy for her taste! And she thought California drivers were crazy...
It wasn't as if she couldn't afford the clothing or bags - she was just a big cheapo with a goal. And so in order to not be distracted, Lucy went straight into a store that sold dresses, accessories, and shoes in one place.
Her phone beeped, notifying her about a new video on YouTube. She opened the link and smiled brightly as one of her favorite girl groups had just released a new song.
"Hey," the woman said behind the changing room's door. "They just released a new song!"
"I know I just saw the notification," Ryan said, sitting on the fancy, leather ottoman. His tan chino-covered legs were crossed over one and another as he put on his airbuds and played the song. It's different... He thought, listening to the pop song that was manufactured to be a hit. His eyes stayed focused on the technicolor dance video. His favorite out of the girl group was a girl who looked like a bunny, and she was looking cute like always.
"Are you watching the video?" she gasped from the other side. "No fair. I wanna watch too."
The door opened wide, revealing Lucy in a pastel, pink floral dress. His dark eyes looked up. Lucy was always pretty, cute, and beautiful, but there was a whole another level of femininity with the dress on. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the Parisian city, but Lucy was getting a lot more pretty the more time he spent with her.
The dress she wore was a dreamy watercolor floral chiffon high-low midi dress with ruffles and a rippling hem.
He couldn't help repeating the lyrics to the song in his head as she eagerly made her way over to him, "I fancy you, I fancy you, fancy you."
"You look pretty," he said seriously. His eyes were no longer watching the video.
"Thank you," she replied, keeping her eyes on the video. After watching it briefly, she got up from the bench and made her way barefoot to a salesperson. She spoke in English, asking for block heels in a size that was comparable to what she normally wore. She began mussing with her hair and tried to see which earrings went best with her outfit. She then looked at belts and bracelets.
His eyes never left her figure, following her every step as she made faces in the mirror. He hadn't meant to love her as much as he did. He knew she knew, and he knew what she felt.
So why were they tittering on the edge of becoming something more while staying close, very close friends? He thought himself a smart man, but why was dating so complicated?
Or were they just complicated people?
Did he have to say something in order to validate what both she and he knew? Did she have to say something in order to take that one step forward into a boundary he wanted to cross into?
"I think this is it," she said to herself, looking at her appearance in the gilded mirror. Twirling once, twice, she then took a look good look at herself before firmly deciding on purchasing the shoes, clothes, and accessories.
Lucy didn't believe in buying things she only used once - that was not worth her hard-earned monies.
"I feel so fancy," joked Lucy. She shuffled back into the changing room, but she didn't miss the weight of his stare. He wasn't even paying attention to the song anymore. She took off the clothes and smiled at herself in the changing room's mirror. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, but it was because the store was too hot even though the air conditioning was on.
Paris was warmer than she had expected it to be.
ns 15.158.61.50da2
