A/N: Yes, it's a two-fer day here in 'American Girl' land. There is also an explanation within the story which tells where the name for the story comes from. Enjoy!
BPOV
We walked down the aisle of the train car we were in, his hand still intertwined in mine, and we tried to find a decent seat. Towards the front of the train we managed to find an empty set of four seats, with two on each side facing each other and we threw our bags in the aisle seats and sat against the windows, looking outside at the train station before facing each other.
"Sorry I was late," I said feeling slightly remorseful. I was up late the night before sending emails back and forth with Angela, asking her opinion on what I should do about Edward's proposition. She was all for it obviously, and she thought it was kismet because he came looking for me. She recommended that I just go with the flow, but to make sure I was safe if we had sex. I sent my last email telling her to get her mind out of the gutter just before one in the morning. So, when my alarm didn't go off and I realized it was already half past nine when I finally woke up, I was in a panic. I had the world's quickest and coldest shower in the bathroom and then tossed on the first outfit I could find. I didn't have a chance to look cute today. I pulled my wet hair back into a ponytail, tossed my big red backpack, which I now affectionately called 'Clifford' and sprinted from the hostel. I hadn't even eaten breakfast by the time I ran into St. Pancras Station and was looking everywhere for Edward. I bought my ticket to Paris and took the stairs to the platform two at a time. I was tired, wet and out of breath. I'm sure I looked very attractive to Edward. When I called out to him and kept running towards the train, I was pleasantly surprised to see the huge smile that filled his face at seeing me. For the first time, I felt like I made the right decision.
"It's not your fault your alarm didn't go off. Remind me to set our alarms at future destinations," he laughed as he pointed at my bag. "So, what's up with the Canadian Flag? I've been meaning to ask you since I saw it at baggage claim a few days ago."
"That is proof that my mother is clinically insane," I laughed as I fingered it reverently for a moment, realizing how much I missed her already. "She didn't want me to have an American Flag because she thinks Europeans don't like Americans. Her theory is that everyone likes Canadians, so for her it was a safety net of some sort."
"Do you even know anything about Canada?" he asked with a smirk.
"Yes. I know the capital is Toronto and they love hockey, maple syrup and there is an abundance of moose," I said with a straight face. I actually didn't know much about Canada, but I made a mental note to look up some stuff next time we were near a computer so I wouldn't look like an ass if people asked me.
"Actually, Ottawa is the capital and if I'm not mistaken, there aren't as many moose as you think there are," laughed Edward as he turned to look out the window as the train finally started moving.
"Well fine then Mr. Know It All, you can be a Canadian with me and answer all the questions we get asked, which I doubt will be any." Edward smiled at me, this adorably crooked smile, which made me immediately think that I would do anything for him, which in turn made me cringe somewhat. I pulled two granola bars out of my bag and offered him one. "Don't they call Canada, America Junior on the Simpsons? See, I know that."
"Thanks. I only had a muffin this morning in my mad dash to get here to meet you," he said happily as he grabbed the bar from me eagerly.
"Well, this is the extent of my meals for the day. I think I have some old cookies my mom made in there too, but I might just throw them out at the next stop." I replied as I ripped open the package and greedily took a bite. We sat in silence for a while and watched England pass us by and I kept a close eye on Edward. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes while listening to his iPod. It was endearing. Sometimes he would even mouth the words to the song, which was a habit I knew all too well.
When we were about an hour into our trip, I realized I should tell him something fairly important. "Edward," I said cautiously. "I don't want to go to Paris."
"Then what the hell are we doing on this train?" he asked as he cocked his eye brow and looked at me very suspiciously.
"Well, I want to go; I just thought I would go at the end before I headed back to London in August. What would you say if I said we just stay there tonight and then hop another train tomorrow to like Belgium or the Netherlands?" I asked curiously. He looked a little frustrated that we were going to Paris, when I really didn't want to yet.
"You do realize this train stops in Brussels in about twenty minutes. Why don't we just hop off and spend the day exploring Belgium?" he suggested with a smile. I nodded my head eagerly and watched as he leaned his head back again and started to sing quietly to himself.
"What are you listening to?" I asked as I patted him on the knee to get his attention.
"American Girl by Tom Petty," he said with a grin.
"I don't think I know it," I replied in frustration. I loved Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, how was it I didn't know this song. Edward handed me one of his ear buds and I leaned close to him, as I put it in my ear and listened intently. I did know the song after all, and I smiled as I mouthed the words to myself.
Well she was an American girl, raised on promises. She couldn't help thinking that there was a little more to life, somewhere else. After all it was a great big world, with lots of places to run to. Yeah, and if she had to die trying she had one little promise she was going to keep….
"The song reminds me of you," said Edward with another crooked smile and I immediately blushed, suddenly feeling desperate for the train to pull into the station in Brussels, Belgium.
I pulled my travel book out of my bag and tried to find exciting things to do in Brussels for the rest of the day. After all, by the time we arrived it would only be around twelve thirty in the afternoon. My first instinct when we pulled into the station was to find something to eat. So we quickly grabbed some sandwiches from a café at the train station and ate them while we walked the streets trying to determine where to go. As we were walking, we conveniently passed the hostel that I was planning to stay at, so we went in, booked our room and dropped off our luggage. It felt nice to only have to carry my small purse and camera case, rather than 'Clifford'.
"So, what museum or gallery are we heading to now?" asked Edward as we strolled back onto the street and he grabbed my camera, snapping a picture of me in front of the hostel.
"Um, well the Royal Museum of Fine Arts is a few blocks away, and they apparently have a Rene Magritte retrospective going on right now," I said, even though I wasn't really feeling up to it.
"Yes, but the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate is only one block this way," said Edward as he pointed west down the road we were already one.
"Do you think they offer free samples?" I asked with excitement as we agreed to explore the Chocolate Museum.
"They better, otherwise this totally isn't worth it and we'll head on over to the Lace Museum," laughed Edward as he glanced back down at the map he was holding. "Maybe we can hit the Magritte exhibition after the chocolate fest," suggested Edward with his now signature smile. I just nodded my head in agreement and walked happily with him down the streets.
EPOV
I have no idea how I convinced her to go to a chocolate museum in the heart of Belgium, but I didn't care. I probably flashed my smile at her, which Alice said had to ability to bring any woman to their knees, and she agreed eagerly. When we finally found the building, which was a very old white building, it looked more like someone's home than a chocolate museum. We headed inside, where I paid our fees, even though Bella fought me tooth and nail on the subject. We laughed almost the entire time they taught us about the fabrication of cocoa and chocolate, even though it wasn't an overly humorous topic.
"It's just surreal to be in Belgium right now learning about chocolate," laughed Bella as we neared the end of the tour.
"Well, isn't this what we are supposed to be doing? Wandering the continent, doing and seeing things we may never get to do again?" I asked as I bent down towards one of the displays and practically drooled at all the chocolate within in it. Bella got more interested when we stopped and watched a chocolatier making pralines, and she smiled happily as he offered her a sample, which she graciously shared with me.
"He was so flirting with you," I laughed as we walked from the museum when we were finished.
"Who?" she asked sounding very surprised.
"The guy making the chocolate at the end. He didn't even offer me a sample, you did." I said, trying to show her what she clearly couldn't see. "I hope this doesn't continue the rest of the trip otherwise my jealous side might get out."
"You're jealous because he gave me a praline?" laughed Bella as she stopped dead in her tracks and waited for my reaction. Of course, my first thought was 'hell yeah I'm jealous. You're fucking hot, and all mine for the next two months'. But I couldn't say that.
"Yes. I don't want you to be getting all free shit when we go places. That's not exactly fair." Good save Cullen.
"And what about when the ladies we meet start offering you free samples or their phone numbers?" asked Bella as she put her hands on her hips. "Am I allowed to get jealous?"
"You can get whatever you want Bella," I said with a laugh, before I grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street. "There's only so much daylight left, let's go find Magritte."
After a quick twenty minute walk, we finally stumbled across the Museum of Fine Arts, where I sneakily paid for our tickets again before dragging her into the exhibit.
"Don't we have to pay?" she asked in frustration as we started down the first hallway. "I'm not in the mood to be arrested in Brussels."
"Oh calm down. I sweet talked the cashier and she let us in for free," I lied with a laugh. Bella looked at me with even more anger in her eyes. "I paid for the tickets. Relax."
As we walked contentedly through the galleries, Bella explained various things to me about the paintings, drawings or sculptures she found most interesting. She was particularly fond of a grouping of paintings which were made up of small little dots and the technique was called 'pointillism'. I laughed at her because up close, it looked like dots. When Bella gently pushed me away from the large painting, you could finally make out the scene.
"It's like one of those crazy pictures where you have to stare at it for hours to see a moose or a boat or whatever," I laughed as I watched Bella roll her eyes. The sculptures held my interest more, but it was probably because most of the females were naked, and the moment I saw a bronze cast breast, I immediately looked at Bella's. Thank god she never caught me; otherwise I would be a very lonely guy in Belgium.
We finally left almost two hours later, once Bella had spent a considerable amount of time exploring the Rene Magritte exhibit. I thought his work was actually interesting, probably because it was kind of weird. "Wanna do dinner?" I asked curiously as we walked out of the museum and it was starting to get dark.
"Only if I can pay for it," she said with a smug grin. I nodded my head and relented. I didn't like the idea of her paying for anything when I had so much money at my disposal. So, I determined that I would just have to be sneaky and pay for things when she wasn't paying attention, which was often, because I often caught her staring at the people on the streets or the architecture of the buildings. It was adorable.
We ended up in what I assumed to be Belgium's' only McDonalds. I couldn't bring myself to argue with her as she ordered her Big Mac meal, biggie sized with a root beer, because I found it even cuter than when she stopped to look at columns on certain buildings. I had to laugh even more because there was a Pizza Hut across the street and I figured she would probably want to go there tomorrow for lunch.
"So, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?" I asked curiously as she took a sip of her drink and I threw a French fry in my mouth.
"Well, since we only booked the hostel for one night, I think we should head over to Amsterdam for a few days," she suggested. "What do you think?" Of course I wanted to go to Amsterdam. They were famous for their cannabis coffee shops and the red-light district. Then again, Bella probably didn't want to go to either of those places. I might just need to sneak out at night when she was asleep.
"Yeah, sounds perfect," I said as I took a big bite of my burger and smiled back at her happily. As we walked back to our hostel a little while later, I was tempted to reach down and hold her hand. I know I had promised her that this would be strictly platonic, but even when I agreed to it I knew I was lying through my teeth. Suddenly, her soft voice broke me from my train of thought.
"Just so you know I'm going to be dragging you to the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House for sure. I'm not really sure what else to do, so we'll just decide as we go along. Maybe they have a chocolate museum where I can get free samples at," she laughed as she glared me. She still didn't think that guy had been flirting with her, which shocked me because she was a stunning girl.
When we finally got back to our hostel, it was just after eight. We checked into our room and we both laughed because it was a set of bunk beds. "I call the bottom bunk" yelled Bella as she threw her bag onto the bed easily. I just nodded my head in agreement, because I didn't really have much choice. We wandered back down to the lobby where Bella and I hopped onto neighboring computers. She was busy sending emails to her family back in the states, while I checked out the legal drinking age in Amsterdam and plotted how I would get Bella to come out with me at night and let loose a bit.
As I glanced over at her, I noticed a few stray hairs fall down into her line of sight, so I pushed them back gently behind her ear. "Thanks," she said sweetly as she went back to her typing. I was screwed. She was the most adorable creature I had ever encountered and I started to wonder what I would do without her in two months.
I hopped onto my email account and sent Alice a quick email to let her know I was still alive and get her advice. If anyone could help me, it would be my baby sister.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoys the new story and doesn't get too mad that they don't go to Paris. I think it's one of the most romantic cities in the world, and since they are still on a friendly basis, I didn't want them heading there just yet. We have to get through the flirting and fun before we can bring on the romance.
