Chapter 2: Come Fly With Me
"Champagne!" Jantel said, sipping the drink in front of her as the plane hummed underneath us. We were 8 hours into our overseas flight and Jantel was 3 drinks in. I shook my head at her and went back to the book in front of me. When school is in session I never get a chance to read, so when summer break happens I try to read as much as possible. Jantel shook her head back at me.
"I can't believe you are reading. You literally teach reading to 5th graders from August to June. If I were you, I wouldn't want to look at a book for at least a month. I'm so glad I teach Social Studies." She said, taking another drink.
"You do realize we are heading to some of the most historical sites in all of the world, right?" I said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I teach American History, and I am currently getting as far away American History as I've ever been. I'm a happy girl." Jantel looked away from me, signaling the end of the conversation, and turned her attention to Beth. "So, how is Mark? Is he excited about seeing you?" A smile crept across my little sister's face as she looked up from her phone.
"He is wonderful. Perfect, handsome, amazing, and whatever other words that mean just plain great." Beth beamed as she spoke of her long-term boyfriend. "The internship has kept him busy, but he will be done when we arrive in London. Then he will be bumming around with us" This trip had multiple motives because my sister's boyfriend was in London doing an internship. We had made plans to bring him back to America with us. I knew that she would be so excited to see him, and honestly so would I. Beth and Mark had been together since they were sophomores in high school. They had broken up for a year in college before getting back together. He was essentially a part of the family already.
Beth continued to talk about Mark to Jantel as my thoughts wandered to my own dating life. I had been single for the past two and a half years. My last relationship had been, for the lack of a better word, painful.
It was the classic tale of romance gone bad. Best friend turned high school sweetheart, he and I had tiptoed and played around the idea for years. It wasn't until college came that we finally took the steps into a relationship. It had been a whirlwind. His touch, kiss, and presence had made me weak at the knees. I did everything he wanted, and he became the focus of everything I did and wanted. The boy of my childish fantasies had become my first love.
Sadly, all good things come to an end. Four years into our romance, he revealed his true colours. One of his fellow physics students, a woman whose name I do not care to remember, eventually caught the snake's eye.
There were obvious warning signs. Late night study sessions, forgotten promises, and the ever stereotypical strange woman's clothes in his dorm room that "had to have been mine." It was not my best moment when I went to see him, to make up after a dramatic fight and found him in her arms on the small twin bed. I'm not proud of the actions that followed: screaming, crying, throwing his clothes out my dorm window, and keying his car. However, I recovered eventually, even though it took the better part of the school year. Not to mention lots of drinks with Jantel.
After time had passed, I found it was easier to focus on my job and do my best for my students as a single woman. Yeah, it could be lonely, but you learn to manage. This trip had taken a lot of my time to plan, so I just focused on that instead of my lack of a love life.
"Mags?" Beth said with slight concern. "What's wrong?" I realized my face had contorted to a frown as I relived treacherous times from my past. I knew that my little sister always felt guilty when she gushed about her love life. She was constantly concerned that it was drive me to depression if she was in love and I was not. I have assured her of my contentment in life, but it never worked. I quickly gave her a smile.
"I'm fine! Just tired of this darn seat!" I wiggled around, attempting to get some feeling back into my rear end.
"Just a few hours left, and then we will be staring at the Eiffel Tower!"
By the time we arrived in Paris, it was 10am Paris time. However, I had barely slept. I'm not sure if I was restless, uncomfortable, or excited but sleep just kept eluding me. I could tell that I was not the only one struggling as I watched Jantel and Beth shuffling next to me through the airport.
"Why did we say we were going to sleep on the plane and start sightseeing the minute we got here? That was a horrible idea." Beth said rubbing her eyes.
"Don't look at me. We know this has Little Miss Organized and Ambitious written all over it." Jantel sneered at me.
"Oh shut it." I mumbled, too tired to come up with a witty and intellectual come back. We dragged ourselves through the airport and retrieved our luggage. We made our way through the crowds of people, making our way through the double doors that would open into the streets of Paris.
When we finally made it, we looked out into the city of Paris. A smile crept across my face, one that I could tell was spreading the the cheeks of my best friend and sister. I spoke quietly, as not to disturb the moment we had looked forward to for so long. "We finally made it." And I knew, the next 5 days were going to be some of the best in my life.
I tossed and turned in the strange Parisian bed. Even though this was my last night in it, I was sure it had gotten more and more uncomfortable the more I had slept in it. Our time in Paris had been an absolute dream. We had shopped, eaten, and experienced Paris to our heart's content. As we ended our time in a small Parisian restaurant near our hotel, I knew we all were wishing we had just planned to spend all 10 days in Paris. However, the trip was already planned and London was calling us away.
We had packed quickly hours earlier, hoping to take the extra time saying goodbye to our home away from home in Paris. And we had. I had begrudgingly made my way to bed at midnight, leaving Jantel with a few Parisian friends we had made, so I would have some sense of things when we traveled in the morning. Unfortunately, my mind just seemed unable to rest. I was hoping that Beth, who had left earlier in the evening to phone Mark, would have enough sense for the both of us the next day. I grabbed my cell phone and checked the time.
01:37
I sighed and sat up. I saw my sister sleeping soundly, but there was no Jantel sleeping on the couch. I panicked, I had left her downstairs hours nearly 2 hours ago! I had just assumed she had come up when I was dozing off. Snatching the phone off the bed side table I went to google "how to alert the police in Paris," but saw a text message from her that I had previously missed.
Out w/ Henri. :D Don't wait up.
I rolled my eyes. Henri had been a waiter we had met on our first day. Jantel was adamant about having a Parisian fling and decided Henri was hot enough to do. Literally. She had been spending late evenings with him. I hadn't minded, I enjoyed having the time with Beth, especially before we were joined by Mark in London.
I quietly grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my phone. I knew sleep wasn't coming easily, so I thought a little Netflix might help. I had absolutely no clue what to watch, so I posted on Facebook to get some suggestions.
Maggie Korwin: Can't Sleep. Anyone have any Netflix suggestions to keep me occupied?
Greg Jones: Check out Chopped. It's my favorite show. Plus it can help you with your cooking skills. HAHA
Maggie Korwin: K Not funny.
Ginny Kirk: Every since Evelyn came, all I watch is cartoons. If you get real desperate you can check out Hotel Transylvania 2, it was a hit in my house.
Abigail Brown: Check out Sherlock. I know you. You will love it. Thank me later. Plus the guy who plays Sherlock screams your type.
Sherlock? I do love a good mystery. I thought to myself, and typed it into the search bar. I clicked the first option, seeing two men looking quite solemn. A Study in Pink. I clicked the first episode and it started. I saw the episode was 90 minutes long and realized I would never be able to stay awake that long. I'll just watch the first 30 minutes, then I can watch the rest tomorrow.
Jantel burst through the door causing me to jump a full foot off the couch.
"Where have you been?" I whispered to her just as she whisper/shouted to me "Why are awake?"
"I was with Henri! I texted you. He wanted to give me a proper Parisian goodbye!" She said with a smirk. I decided not to ask what a proper Parisian goodbye was because I really didn't want to know what my best friend had been doing for the past 3 hours. The backwards shirt told me plenty.
"I was watching something on Netflix. Apparently I lost track of time!" I shrugged at her.
"Must be a good show. What was it?" Jantel whispered as she made her way to her suitcase to change clothes.
"Sherlock." I said. I looked down at the screen and realized I only had about 5 minutes left. That was a really fast 90 minute show! I thought to myself. I had been enthralled with every action and movement of the characters that I hadn't realized the time had gone by so quickly. Not to mention, Abigail had definitely been right about the guy who played Sherlock. He was the actual definition of what my type was. Getting to stare at him during the show definitely added to the appeal of watching Sherlock.
"I've heard of that! Any good?" She said, heading into the bathroom.
"Yeah." My answer was short and quick so that I could finish the episode before she came out. I watched as John and Sherlock discussed the shooting at the end of the episode. I giggled at their banter back and forth about the cabbie and giggling at a crime scene.
"It must be pretty good to have you that captivated." Jantel said looking over my phone. I hadn't even realized that she had come out of the bathroom. "Who is that handsome creature?" She said eying the screen.
"Sherlock? Benedict Cumberbatch. The guy in the Star Trek movie, and that one movie that was nominated for an Oscar. Uh… Imitation Game." I said turning off my phone.
"Oh yeahhh. The guy with the funny name." She laid on the bed as I pulled the covers back on my body. "MMm. You know how I like my men tall." I laugh, shaking my head at her comments.
"You know, he looks exactly like the type of guy you would date." She said as she snuggled into bed. I chuckled to myself, surprised that I apparently had such an obviously type of man. As Jantel began to doze off, I stared at my iPhone screen for a bit longer, gazing at the paused image of Sherlock and Watson. At least my type is pretty damn hot. I think to myself. I shut off the screen with a smile on my face. Who doesn't like going to sleep with a nice looking man on your mind?
