Hey! I am really really really sorry that I haven't updated in what feels like years! I don't like always having excuses but I actually have one. You see I have my GCSE'S (English exams that, along with A Levels, pretty much determine your whole future :O) now and I have been revising SOOOO much! Seriously you wouldn't believe it! Anyway, Childhood Friends is on it's way and Take a Chance on Me is over (the chapter should hopefully be up soon-ish) but this is a new story that may or may not be a two-shot (probably not though). Hope you enjoy and as always R+R!
City of Romance:
"Bienvenue La Tour Eiffel monsieur et mademoiselle!'' (Welcome to the Eiffel Tower sir and madam) The French lady said to my brother and me. We were both on holiday after deciding to take a gap year together. I had applied to University and managed to receive an offer from Cambridge but I gave it up to spend more time with Mick. Anyway, I already spoke to Cambridge and they said that they would keep a spot for me next year if I still want to go.
"Merci madame. Ou est la toilettes sil' vous plait?'' (Thank you madam. Where are the toilets please?) We had decided to spend our year traveling around Europe and our first stop was France, Paris to be exact. We had made sure that we always had a dictionary with us in case we ever needed to use it, but that was only for emergency's or if Mick was hungry and I wasn't near him because I study(ied) French and Italian at school and I got A* in both my GSCE's and A Levels so I was practically fluent.
"Si vous allez à votre droite vous verrez un signe vous dirigeant vers lui."(If you go to your right you will see a sign pointing you towards it) I thanked the woman and pulled Mick off to the right. Indeed, there was the sign for the toilets. Leaving Mick outside, I went in, did my business and went back out to see my brother leaning against the wall.
He grumbled at me, "Why do all girls take so long in the toilets?"
"Mick! That is such a lie!" I said my cheeks flushing. It wasn't really embarrassing but he said it so loud and a few French families gave us strange looks.
"It isn't a lie and you know it Nins." He smirked.
I sighed at him, looked for the lift and then together we went up to the first level. This was where all of the shops were and seeing as we hadn't had breakfast that morning, Mick and I went to the café to get some crepes.
"So are you going to go up to the top Nins?"
I was a bit confused, "Top of what?"
He stared at me as if I was an idiot, "Hmm, I don't know Nina. Where in the world are we right now where you can go to the top?"
"Oh! Right yes well um I don't know I mean, my fear hasn't really gone away." I have a fear of heights you see. When we went on the London Eye I refused to let go of the bar the whole time and I started having these weird fits. It wasn't a fun time for me.
"Oh come on! What is the point of coming all the way to PARIS and the EIFFEL TOWER if you don't go to the top? Don't be a scaredy cat!"
I started feeling uneasy but he did have a point. "But Mick, it is like 320m high! If I fell off I would definitely die!"
"You won't fall off Nina. There is a massive fence that goes all the way around and there are employees there to look out for you too!" He laughed at me.
"Well maybe the fence is broken and I will end up – " I stopped because of the look Mick was giving me. "What? I'm not scared or anything I am just saying what if!"
He smirked at me, "Well if you're not scared then you won't mind coming on a little journey with me will you?" Unfortunately, before I could answer he had dragged me off into the queue for the lift and next thing I knew, I was on my way to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
"Mick! What have you done?" I whisper screamed at him.
"Oh relax Nina, it's nothing to be scared of and if you like I will hold your hand the whole time" He said mockingly. I scowled at him and waited for the lift doors to open. But when they had and I was pushed outside, I had a completely different thought. There were so many people trying to get on and off of the lift that I was pushed over right to the edge of the Tower. My face was pushed against the thin wire fence and I immediately looked down – big mistake. All I could see were row upon row of buildings that seems to be getting further and further away and there were ants which I am guessing were actually humans which emphasised how high up I was. Suddenly everything started to spin and black was appearing at the corner of my eyes. Frantically, I looked for Mick but he was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, I was getting more and more faint and I could barely make it to the wall of the shop place before I slumped to the ground. Next thing I knew, everything went black.
I woke up to a pair of strong hands holding my shoulders tightly.
"Madame? Madame vous m'entendez? Est-ce que ça va?"(Madam? Madam can you hear me? Are you ok?) A voice said to me. Slowly, the lids of my eyes opened and a blurry figure, which I am guessing was an employee, appeared in front of me. "Madame? Madame vous m'entendez?" the voice repeated. I tried to rack my brain of all the French I had been learning for the past 5 to 6 years but my mind was blank. I looked panicked and then remembered the emergency dictionary that was in my bag. As I reached for it, the man laughed at me and I suddenly realised how touristy I must look.
I stuttered at him, "Uh…je suis désole mais je ne parle pas en français. Je suis anglais!" (I am sorry but I don't speak French. I am English!) In my head I cursed myself for forgetting every single part of the language that I was nearly fluent in – Mick would have done better than me!
Once again, he chuckled at me before speaking again except this time, in a different language.
"Sorry madam, I didn't realise you spoke English. I am sure you can now tell that I too am English!" he smiled at me, and this time I laughed with him. Now I could see him clearly and to be honest I liked what I saw. He wasn't a man but a boy of around my age. He had dark brown hair that fitted around his perfect eyes and when he smiled, he revealed a set of even, white pearls that would make any girl weak in the knees. "However, now we can continue in English! Are you all right? I saw you faint when you came out of the lift towards the edge of the Tower. Afraid of heights?"
Flushing red, I slowly nodded at the boy and started to explain, "My brother – he was supposed to stay with me but we got separated in the bustle. He was the one who told me to come here in the first place, that git."
"Well if you'd like, I can wait with you until your brother comes to find you. There is a room across the hallway where you can still see the view but you aren't exposed to it as much. I can take you there if you want?"
I thought about this for a second. Mick would come looking for me wouldn't he? And how would he know where I was otherwise. On the other hand, this boy was really nice and really cute. Besides, I was on holiday!
"Ok, thanks that would be nice." We smiled at each other before he led me to the room. When we got there, he pulled out two beanbags and we both sat opposite each other as if daring someone to speak first.
"Um thank you for everything uh…" I realised I didn't know his name and he wasn't wearing an ID tag or anything so I gave him a hint at what I wanted to know.
"Oh right, Fabian. My names Fabian Rutter and yours?" Fabian. It was all in the name wasn't it. Fabian Rutter, the most beautiful name on earth.
"I'm Nina. Nina Martin. But yeah thank you Fabian. It is very considerate of you to do this for me." I replied blushing.
"Just doing my job Nina." He grinned.
Another awkward silence occurred until Fabian looked up at me and spoke,
"So what are you doing in Paris? Family holiday? School trip? University?" I laughed as he carried on listing different scenarios of my happening in Paris.
"No, none of the above! Me and Mick, he's my brother, we're taking a gap year together because he didn't get in to University and travelling around Europe so Paris is our first stop."
He nodded understandingly. "Wait, you said that your brother didn't get in to University. Does that mean you did?" Fabian queried.
I blushed a bit. I don't really like telling people that I got in to the top University in the U.K but turned it down to spend time with my brother, but I hated lying.
"Well, um, I may have got into some random one but it wasn't very good."
"Really? Where did you get in?"
'Great', I thought, 'He had to ask that!' "Um well I got into…cmbrge…" I mumbled hoping he didn't hear.
"Sorry? You got into cmbrge? I have never heard if that in my life so I am guessing you just made it up. Please clarify." He teased me.
"Fine!" I burst out, "I got in to Cambridge!"
The look on his face was priceless as I said that. I immediately wish I hadn't said where I got in to.
"Nina. You got into Cambridge, the top University in the United Kingdom and you turned it down to spend time with your brother?" he asked me shocked.
I nodded, embarrassed. His look of shock turned into a sweet smile.
"That is the most generous thing I have ever heard. It is so nice that you would give up a place at Cambridge for him. What were you looking to study there?" Fabian inquired me.
"Urm you probably won't believe me but French, Italian and Linguistics."
"No way! You're a fellow language student!" He beamed and I nodded. "Wait" he began, "If you are studying French and you must have got an A* in your GCSE and A Levels to go to Cambridge, then what was with that little escapade out there with the dictionary?" he smirked and I mentally slapped myself.
"Well I was just panicking, I mean I don't normally talk to cute guys let alone in French!" I laughed until I realised what I had just said.
Fabian laughed too while raising his eyebrows at me, "You think I'm cute?"
My face went as red as a tomato and thank God Mick chose that point to burst into the room and hug me tightly. As he did that, I couldn't help but notice Fabian's jaw tense up until he realised that this boy was my twin brother.
"Nina! I am so, so sorry about that. You see I was holding your hand when you left the lift but then some fat lady came and started shouting at me in French and by the time she left me alone I couldn't see you anywhere!"
I tried to loosen his grip on me so that I could speak, "Mick it is fine honestly! Fabian here helped me out. He works here."
Fabian gave Mick a small nod and a smile, which Mick returned to him.
"Thanks for looking after my sister mate, although it looks like you too enjoyed yourselves." He winked at Fabian who blushed and looked down to the floor.
Mick then turned back to me and said, "Well Nina, we should be going if we want to get to Notre Dame before lunch. Thanks again Fabian, I won't let her out of my sight now." Slowly, we started to leave the room when a hand suddenly appeared on my shoulder and twirled me round to face Fabian again.
"Wait Nina! Um I mean, I thought you might like this as a memory of the Eiffel Tower and your near death incident." He laughed and handed me a postcard with the Eiffel Tower on and a French baguette falling off it. I smiled and went up to Fabian.
"Merci!" I whispered to him and lightly kissed him on the cheek. Walking towards the door, I looked over my shoulder and called out, "Au revoir Fabian!"
I heard a faint "Au Revoir Nina," before I was reunited with Mick in the lift. As the lift went down, the postcard lingered in my fingers and I flipped it over to see that there was writing on the back of it. In a neat and tidy handwriting was written:
Dear Nina,
Meet me at the corner café in Montmartre by Sacre Cœur at 2:30pm.
If you feel the need at all here is my number:
077 0456 02345 (A/N: Completely made up!)
Love,
Fabian a.k.a. the cute guy from the Eiffel Tower :) xxx
I don't know whether it was the fact that I was back on solid ground again, or that Fabian wanted to see me again (he even put kisses – 3 of them!) but I stepped out of that lift with the biggest grin in the world on my face and I knew that nothing was going to get it off.
