So, if you completely forgot this existed, I don't blame you. Sorry it's been so long. On to the story...
**Cam**
We all crowded around the deck to disembark into Marseille, and I did everything in my power to not even glance in Claire's direction. She probably did need space to figure out what she wanted; since when was Derrick good at giving advice about girls?
To distract myself, I tried to remember the schedule that had been slipped under the door the night before. I think it looked something like this:
The Dreamer
Day 3
9:00: Wake up!
9:30: Breakfast
10:30: Basilique Notre Dame de La Garde
11:30: Palais du Pharo
12:30: Walk around Old Port (please buy lunch!)
2:30: Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne
3:30: Aix en Provence (explore & please buy dinner!)
8:30: Board bus back to ship
9:30: French music party in the green lounge
11:00: Sweet Dreams! (Tomorrow: Genoa & Pisa!)
Day 4
9:00: Wake up!
9:30: Breakfast
10:30: Cattedrale di San Lorenzo
11:30: Galleria Nazionale
12:30: Explore the Main Square and Fountain (please buy lunch!)
1:30: Biosfera
2:30: Casa della Famiglia Colombo
3:30: Board ship to Pisa
4:30: Leaning tower
5:00: Battistero (optional)
6:00: Piazza dei Cavalieri (please buy dinner!)
8:30: Back to the boat
9:00: French desserts buffet, historical slideshow (optional)
11:00: Sweet dreams! (Tomorrow: Rome)
I was really excited for this day. I hadn't been to France yet; staying on the boat the day before didn't count. Marseille had some really cool buildings and a fun port, but I was most looking forward to the trip to the nearby city of Aix en Provence. The last time I'd gotten to walk around a city with the open squares and great architecture, I'd really screwed it up with Claire. I needed to create a better memory to associate small, cool, European cities with.
Massie came over to talk to me and I did my best to laugh and joke with her as we got off the boat. I knew I must have been doing a good job because she was laughing the whole time, but my heart just wasn't in it. Even if I hadn't been watching Derrick's back, even if I didn't have a massive crush on Claire, I probably wouldn't have jumped at the chance to be with Massie. She was undeniably gorgeous and generally kind, but the attraction just wasn't there.
I tried to think of a way to let her know this without coming across as rude, but it was hard. I had gotten myself into a lose-lose situation: if I was rude or just generally ignored Massie, Claire would see me as a bad person, but if I spent time with Massie, Claire would keep thinking I didn't like her.
Once we hit land though, I decided to try and forget about all the complications and just enjoy myself. I was in France for the first time, and it looked gorgeous so far! I was glad to see Derrick snapping away with his camera. I let out one of those happy sighs as I took in the views, and prepared to let go and just have a nice day for once.
**Claire**
I chatted with Derrick, artfully avoiding the topic of why I was so tired this morning as we stepped off onto the dock. Massie and Cam were in front of us, talking and laughing. It was good to see him finally relax and sort of be himself. He obviously wasn't as goofy as Derrick, but at least he was proving to have a sense of humor when it really didn't seem like he did before.
It did sting a little that he had clearly warmed up to Massie, but I couldn't blame him. She was Massie Block, and I'd yet to meet one guy who could resist her.
When we arrived at the Basilique Notre Dame de La Garde, my eyes widened in awe. It was so grand. Derrick snapped a few pictures of me in front of it and Massie jumped in to one, making him grin. The inside was even more spectacular though. The high domed ceilings were gold and the marble columns were decorative. Walking through it and hear the tour guides telling interesting stories pushed the thoughts of Massie and Cam to the back of my mind for nearly the whole tour.
At some point though, I glanced over and realized that he was just as much in awe as I was. And it is rare that you find guys our age who can appreciate something like this. Some of our group had sped through the tour and were waiting outside in the sun, but I was glad Derrick stayed with me as we wandered through, even though I could tell he wasn't as engrossed as I was. Neither was Massie, although she was her usually outrageous self, chatting up the tour guides and other tourists.
Cam was sort of distancing himself from that, but I didn't know if it was because he was embarrassed, or just so wrapped up in the tour. Why did he have to be so perfect? This would be so much easier if he was just like the guys Massie usually goes for. Sighing, I focused in on what the tour guides were saying and tried to ignore all thoughts of Cam for the rest of the day.
**Massie**
The church and the palace were really cool, but I just wasn't as into them as Cam seemed to be. Instead I spent the time being outgoing and friendly with the other tourists there, making lots of new friends. Still, I was relieved when we finally were released to wander around the port for lunch. We passed a couple of restaurants before choosing a cozy café to settle into.
We started off with the normal chatter, commenting on how cool the port was and how perfectly blue the water looked. Eventually though, I sort of ran out of things to say, and he fell back into the normal routine of not making any effort to start conversation. I let it sit for a while, figuring that while we both ate our sandwiches, it probably qualified as a comfortable silence. I mean, I tended to be outrageously outgoing to navigate social situations, so it was nice to relax a little and chill out. But if this was what they called a comfortable silence, why did it feel so… uncomfortable?
I was relieved when we left the café to walk around, passing other large ships and stopping to dip our toes in the water. As we wandered back to meet the group, I saw Derrick and Claire walking with their elbows linked in front of us. Cam let out that kind of sigh where you don't even realize you're sighing, but when I looked up to see what it might be about, he was staring out to sea.
Before boarding the bus for our next destination, I playfully knocked Derrick out of the way to stand next to Claire. I wanted to hang out with her because it'd been a while since we'd toured any of the sights together. I did realize however that Cam didn't follow me over to where they were standing. I'd assumed he'd want to because obviously Derrick is his best friend, and I was pretty sure he and Claire had bonded at some point earlier. Instead, Derrick gave him a long stare before shrugging and leaving us girls alone.
"How was your morning?" Claire asked, before turning her head to where Derrick went, next to Cam.
"It was pretty good! That church was so magnificent!" I answered, knowing she was into that sort of thing and wanting to hear her take on it.
"Yea! Can you believe…" she went on about it and I listened carefully, learning a lot more about the beautiful building than I had from all the tour guides and informational signs.
**Derrick**
Cam was, for once in our young lives, relying on me for girl advice and it took all I had not to feel smug. I mean, I was getting the girl advice from the girl he happened to like, so how could I go wrong? Even if I did though, his girl advice always sucked anyway so it wouldn't be too big of a deal.
He told me as we walked around the city for dinner that he had been avoiding her all day. While back in New York I would have teased him like crazy, I knew that this trip was changing us. I knew how he felt—it was so hard being close to Massie when I knew she was still so hung up on Cam. Massie was so… perfect. But not in the way I saw most New York girls I hooked up with; she was more complex in such a way that I really wanted to get to know her. Whenever we were together she seemed to shed a layer of her outrageously outgoing skin and just be herself, which Claire said was a very good thing, but she still hadn't even stopped to think twice about me romantically, which was frustrating.
Why was this so difficult? Most of the guys and girls had paired off, so when Cam and I invited Josh and Plovert to a guys night in the city, they turned us down to hang with their girls. Just great.
We grabbed a quick dinner and then wandered around the square. Cam kept repeating how nice out it was, and how cool these European cities were and that this was by far the best one… after the first time he said it I just tuned him out, until I realized what he was doing.
"Cam, buddy, don't do this to yourself. Just actually enjoy this place, ok? Don't keep comparing it to the Poble Espanyol. If you're trying to erase your bad association with that place, go back when you and Claire get married and kiss her for real or something. This is messed up, seriously. Give her a couple of days and enjoy Europe. Then in her own time she'll come around." I hadn't meant to snap, but I couldn't help it. I realized that while he passed up most of the girls who wanted him, this was the first time a girl he wanted wouldn't give him the time of day. Bad luck with one girl and he was all mopey?
He was glaring at me, and I was glaring at him, and it was like a staring contest until Cam almost walked into a lamppost 'cause he wasn't watching where he was going. We cracked up laughing, and just like that all the anger and frustration dissipated. One nod and I knew we both agreed that at this point, we had to enjoy Europe and just let the girls come to us.
Thanks for reading! I can't promise that the next update will be soon, but I can promise it will happen at some point; I'm not dropping this story. Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the first month of school!
Hugs, Sky