C H A P T E R 4 0
?Just enjoy where you are now.?
"Ashley," Heather breathed out. "What're you doing here?"
Ashley eyed us suspiciously.
"I can ask you the same thing. Anyways, I'm here to find you because Rachael is looking for you for God knows what reason so you better find her and talk to her right now before she goes berserk."
Our synchronized sighs of relief followed. Ashley didn't hear our talk.
Heather nodded. "I'll go find her right away."
Heather left and with a small smile in my direction, Ashley left for her room too. I closed the door and rested my head against it. That was close. If Ashley had heard us, we were bound to get in big trouble.
The next morning I found Ethan in the hotel lobby with his phone and laptop surrounding him. As soon as he caught sight of me, he instantly snatched his phone and held it protectively against his chest.
I chuckled and made my way to where he was sitting.
"Don't worry, I won't damage your phone." I said, taking a seat next to him.
"I can never trust you with that." For extra measure, he pushed his phone into his pocket.
"What're you doing?" I asked as I eyed up the files in front of him and the various tabs open on the laptop.
Ethan glanced at the laptop and shrugged. "I don't have much work to do today and that's kind of boring. I don't know what to do. I'm looking for any meetings or any other work I have in Paris but I think I did most of it yesterday."
"Seriously?"
"What?"
"Why do you like to work so much? You're such a workaholic." I gestured at the table to prove my point.
"I'm not. I just don't know what else to do right now and just because I like to work a little too much does not mean that I'm a workaholic."
"Did you even have a little fun in the time that we've been here?"
Ethan cleared his throat and I could see the beginning of a smirk forming at the corner of his lips. "It depends on what you mean by fun."
I threw a backrest pillow at him which hit him at the side of his face. "Not like that, you shithead."
Ethan let out a laugh. "Well, then no I didn't have fun."
I pointed a finger at him. "That's because you don't know how to have fun."
"Then teach me."
I stood up and looked down at him. "Get up."
"What? Why?"
I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. " I'm going to make sure you have fun for once in your life."
"Okay? Wait, let me drop my things in my room."
I saw a man who was part of the hotel staff walk by and stopped him. "Here, take it to Ethan's room. Thank you." I said, shoving the laptop in the man's hand who looked confused for a bit. I gave him his room number and he left to complete the task.
I turned back to Ethan. "Now let's go."
Ethan followed me out of the hotel. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know. Do you know this area? If I take you anywhere will you be able to find the way back to the hotel."
"I guess. I mean I've been here a lot of times and I think I'll be able to find the way back." He didn't sound perfectly sure about that but I decided to ignore that.
"Good," I grinned at him. "And anyway, you have your phone so you can call your driver if we get lost."
"Right. Just don't try to damage my phone." The fact that he wasn't teasing and was actually serious about it made me roll my eyes at him.
I hit his arm playfully and to my surprise, he hit me back softly on my arm.
We walked on the street for a bit before Ethan spoke up. "Where exactly are we going?"
I shrugged. "I don't know yet. How about we go to the Eiffel Tower?"
"We have been there a thousand times."
"But I haven't gone there for almost two years now!" I protested.
"Fine, let's go." He sighed.
We took a cab, much to Ethan's dismay, to reach there.
Ethan wanted to take the elevator but I simply pushed him towards the stairs. When he grunted about all the walking he would be required to do, I made a jab at him about his fitness. This seemed to rile him up as he suddenly started skipping up the stairs a lot faster.
"What happened? Can't match my speed?" He taunted, seeing me panting for breath.
"Hell no," I said in between gasps. "Race you to the top."
With that I pulled myself up and started running up the stairs to catch up with him. He was confused for a few precious seconds during which I gained on him.
We bounded up the stairs, making sure we didn't run into people or step on them. There were a lot of people, many of which were moving at a snail's pace making me feel aggravated. I was soon starting to lose sight of Ethan.
After what felt like forever, I finally reached the top only to find Ethan causally leaning against the railing. I groaned.
"You really shouldn't race with people you don't have a single chance of winning over."
"You were just lucky."
"Yeah? How so?"
"The people in front of me were moving so slow!"
Ethan laughed, offering a hand to my hunched up figure. I stood up straight, ignoring his hand and looked at the world below.
I had never been here. This was my first time of being on the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing. The sight was breathtaking and I didn't feel like getting off of the tower anytime soon.
There was a big set of binoculars and I grabbed it before anyone else got their hands on it.
"Wow. It's beautiful."
Ethan didn't say anything as he just stared out into the distance with his arms resting on the railing.
We spent about an hour up there, talking and taking in sights until Ethan eventually had to drag me down.
If permitted, I would've spent the whole night there.
It would have been amazing to sleep under the stars and above the vibrant city lights.
I would've felt on top of the world. But sadly all good things must come to an end and mine did a lot sooner.
After we got down, I was hungry. Ethan suggested we go back to the hotel because apparently this was enough fun for him but I wasn't going to go back just yet.
I dragged him to a local eatery and Ethan's face was worth a picture. I knew eating in a small restaurant wasn't his first choice to have food at but he sat down on a chair nonetheless.
"I hope they have good food or I'm out of here." He said, surveying his surroundings.
"Don't worry, I think you'll love it here."
We ordered some local delicacies and although initially Ethan was hesitant to take a bite but when he did there was no stopping him.
His healthy food diet flew out the window as he mindlessly ordered more food and gobbled it up all. Even I didn't eat as much as I saw him eating, like a pig, might I add.
This side of Ethan, who loved the food a small restaurant he would otherwise not glance at offered, who raced me to the top of the Eiffel tower and who wasn't always talking about work was a fun side of him I didn't knew existed.
I was more than glad he was having fun which did not include him working.
When we were done, we paid for the food and set out walking on the busy street. It was a little past three in the afternoon.
"What's next?"
"I googled a while back about what else we can do and I was not disappointed. There's a lot remaining to see. For now, we are going to The Contemporary Art Museum of The City of Paris," I announced.
Ethan grimaced. "I'm not into art."
"Too bad you don't have a choice."
We reached the museum which was totally free because it was a municipal museum. It was just a few minutes walk from the tower. It showcased permanent as well as temporary modern art from 20th century till present day.
The museum was so vast and so beautiful that we spent a few hours just looking through all of them. Ethan didn't seem all that interested at first but then at the end I was the one who had to forcefully drag him out because he whined about how it ended so early.
"You act like a kid. Have you never seen a museum before?" I asked when we got out.
"No, I was never interested in it." He stopped walking and narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't act like a kid."
"Oh, of course not," I said sarcastically which he chose to ignore.
"So, since when were you interested in these kind of things?" Ethan asked after a few minutes of silent walking.
"I just did," I shrugged, lying through my teeth.
"This is so not like you. I mean two years back if you had taken me to have some 'fun' with you, I would've assumed you'd take me to watch a movie, or worse, take me to a mall for shopping.
Nothing close to roaming the streets, visiting places like the museum or even the tower, eating at a small restaurant," he said shaking his head.
"That is so not you. I can't help but notice that you are nothing like how you were before. "
"People change," I said, avoiding eye contact as I was sure I would find it uncomfortable and hard to lie to his face.
He gestured to me. "Such a drastic change in two years?"
I didn't answer. Instead, I was saved by a local cotton candy seller. "Look, cotton candy."
He looked at me weirdly. "Yes, I'm aware it's cotton candy."
"You idiot, I mean let's go and get some."
"Cotton candy? Are you crazy. Do you even know how many calories there might be in it."
"You just ate a truckload of food a few hours ago." I deadpanned.
"You used to be the one freaking out about the calories."
"You won't get fat by eating just one cotton candy."
"It wouldn't seem like that but it would take ages to get rid of that fat."
I huffed, annoyed. "I can't believe I'm fighting over eating a cotton candy. Can you let loose for at least a day?"
"Aren't we a little too old to eat cotton candy?"
"No one is too old to eat cotton candy. Now let's go," I didn't give him time to protest as I dragged him by his arm and towards the stall.
Once we got our cotton candies, I shoved one in his hand and took a bite of mine.
"This is getting really weird."
"What is?" I asked.
"This is not you."
"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.
"A day with you didn't feel like a day spent with Juliet.
Now don't give me that 'people change' reason.
I'm really curious. It feels like this is a totally different person.
Juliet, are you hiding something from me?
Because if someone had told me you'd be like this one day, I would've laughed in their faces and told them that they probably just visited a parallel universe. "
I stopped walking, my cotton candy long since gone in my stomach, and with as stern a face I could muster, turned to Ethan.
He stopped too, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. He had barely taken five bites of his cotton candy and I knew just what to do to rethink his words.
I reached out my hand for the cotton candy and smashed it in his face, the cotton candy caking his whole face and a little of his hair.
"I think this was confirmation enough for you to know that I really am Juliet Jenson, your childhood frenemy."
Ethan opened his eyes, giving me a glare. "Yes, it was, and now you're going to die."
I expected that attack and before he lunged at me, I backed away from him. He rubbed at his face to get some of the crushed cotton candy off of his face.
And then he was after me. I sprinted our of the streets and into a park which was filled with little kids and their mothers.
Ethan was hot on my heels and there were many times when he almost caught up with me but I pushed myself to run faster.
Mothers in the park looked annoyed at us and kids complained about how we zoomed past an ongoing game way too many times.
Eventually I got tired and so did he. When we rounded up to a water fountain, I stopped momentarily to catch my breath.
"Can we take a break?" I asked, glancing over at his hunched over form on the opposite side of the fountain. He was panting for air too and with a glare my way, he lunged for me again.
"Sure, after I kill you."
I groaned as he advanced towards me. We circled the fountain a few times and then suddenly he changed his route and went in the completely opposite direction, directly at me.
I yelped as I lost my footing, Ethan practically pushing me didn't help either and with a loud splash, I tumbled into the fountain clutching Ethan at the last minute and bringing him down with me too.
The water was extremely cold and within seconds it felt like I was in a restaurants freezer. I groaned and pushed him off of me.
"Look what you did, jerk," I wailed, looking down at my soaking clothes. A few more minutes and I was sure I'd be a human popsicle by then.
"It's not my fault you're so clumsy."
In response, I splashed him with more water.
"What the hell, Juliet!"
"That's what you get for-" my next words dissolved in the water which entered my mouth and I choked on it, desperately spitting it out. It took me a few seconds to realise he had splashed me back.
"How dare you!" I screeched, madly splashing water in the direction I hoped he was.
"Stop!" I heard Ethan shout over the water.
I slipped once again in the ice cold water and gasped.
I heard Ethan laugh and I kicked his feet from underneath him and he fell right on top of me.
"Couldn't you have fallen somewhere else?" I groaned under his weight.
"Nope. Luckily fate chose for me to have a soft landing."
"Get off," I pushed at him. I quickly jumped out of the water and looked back, startled at hearing a loud scream.
"Not my damn iPhone again!" Ethan shrieked, sounding as if he was going to cry as he looked down at his wet phone which now flaunted a big crack on it's screen along with several other cracks branching off of it.
"Does it still work?"
Ethan looked up at me as if asking if I was stupid. "Of course it's not working."
"I-I'm s-sorry," I said through my chattering teeth.
Ethan sighed and pocketed his phone. "Let's go back to the hotel."
I shook my head. "We are quite far away from the hotel and I need to get out of these clothes like right now."
"Let's just find a clothing store, buy some clothes and change into it."
"That is a good idea."
The sky had started to darken and we were back on the streets. People looked at us weirdly and it was quite some time after we finally found a clothing store. It was small but it didn't matter as long as it promised warm, comfortable clothes.
We walked up to the counter and the one behind it looked at us as if we were beggars. Ethan slammed his wallet down and carefully took out the dollars which were soaking wet. He laid out all the money he had to let it dry.
Then we went our separate ways, with me towards the woman's section and him towards the men's.
I quickly picked a dark blue hoodie because it was freezing out there.
I quickly changed into the clothes, dried myself off with a towel which the store lady was as so kind as to give me.
Setting my hair free on my back to let it dry off, I skipped towards the counter again where Ethan was already there with black jeans and a dark blue hoodie.
Once we paid for the clothes, we set out again, walking silently side by side.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, hoping the next second that he didn't hear me.
"It's okay. I'm sorry too, for acting so immature."
"You don't have to say sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn't have done that to you with the cotton candy."
"I guess we are both equally at fault here."
Silence fell between us and I racked my brain for a topic when I suddenly remembered the highlight of the day.
I grabbed his hand and led him to where we were supposed to go. He questioned me but I shut him up.
"Yes, that's where we are going," I said, pointing at the place when it came into view.
"A boat cruise?" He asked.
"Yeah, come on. It'll be awesome."
We paid for the cruise trip and soon set out with other people on the boat cruise across Seine river.
It was such a stunning sight from the boat.
Paris looked a lot more livelier and enchanting at night with all the lights.
We passed a lot of notable places. The air was cool and a nice atmosphere surrounded us as I let the moment soak in.
I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to see this sight again so I let this absorb into my memory.
This was one of the best days of my life, the day I felt so carefree and detached from any worries.
The whole cruise was a short journey to see the most panoramic views of the city landscape and places famous worldwide. It ended too soon.
Ethan had a huge smile on his face even after we got down from the boat.
"I'm hungry," he said.
"So am I."
"Then let's go."
"Where should we go for dinner?"
"How does dinner on the Eiffel Tower sound?" He asked.
"It sounds amazing."
So we went back to the tower, not racing to the top this time and taking the elevator. There were less people than before and even in the restaurant.
58 Tour Eiffel restaurant was so beautiful, located on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. We were given a table at a far corner away from the small crowd where its elegant ambience wrapped us in it's warmth.
There was soft lighting and minimalistic furniture which upscaled its beauty, but of course it was nothing compared to the tower.
I enjoyed a scrumptious dinner with Ethan and I couldn't help but wonder how we became such good friends.
My first impression of him was so wrong.
When you become his friend, he was like a totally different person, he was the real him.
When we were at war with each other, he acted like a jerk but he really was not one.
After dinner, we finally decided to call it a day. We decided to return back to the hotel, especially after I pointed out how everyone must be worried sick over our absence for the entire day.
"Besides we don't want Heather clawing my eyes out for stealing her boyfriend for the whole day. I really hope she doesn't do that."
"Don't worry, she'll do nothing like that."
"I hope so."
After a few moments, I came up with an idea. "Hey, let's ride to our hotel on bicycles."
"What?"
"Yeah, look there's a bicycle shop right there," I said, pointing to one across the street.
"Yeah, not happening."
"Please. Come on, I promise this is the last thing." I pleaded.
"I'm really tired," he whined.
"Wow, and I thought you were a manly man."
"Being tired has got nothing to do with my manliness. And besides we just had dinner."
"Yeah, like more than half an hour ago."
He groaned, finally giving in. We started racing down the streets on our newly bought bicycles.
We didn't know where the hotel was as Ethan so inconveniently forgot so we kept on asking for directions and finally after another half an hour, we reached the hotel.
I felt exhausted and could say the same for Ethan.
We wasted no time in bounding up the stairs, having no energy to inform someone of our arrival and without much of a goodbye, we turned towards our respective rooms, no doubt, to throw ourselves on the bed and sleep away all the tiredness. I know I did.
I can't believe it's Chapter 40 already!
I can't wait to finish yet another book.