Chapter 8 – Paris 3
EPOV
"Emmett, don't…I bet they're still sleeping since they haven't shown up yet."
I tried to reason with my brother, but something in the fresh sea air he'd been inhaling this morning and the fact that he loved having a laugh made my stopping him an impossible feat. I had already unceremoniously been woken up with a loud bang and a booming 'Greetings from London!' accompanied with Rosalie's giggles. And as it now seemed, Alice, Jasper and Bella were in for the same treatment.
Before he reached the door, Emmett turned to us with a finger over his lips. Yeah, like we needed to be quieter, I thought rolling my eyes at Rosalie, while she shook her head, smiling. Emmett rubbed his palms together, sneaked to the door and banged it open. I was able to glimpse through the doorway just in time to see the consequences of Emmett's loud surprise attack.
Alice, who had been curled up against Jasper, screeched a shrill scream and popped her head up so unexpectedly that Jasper was unable to dodge; her head hit his jaw with force. But Bella's reaction was even more drastic. She snapped awake with a gasp of surprise. Apparently she wasn't anticipating being so near the edge of her bed so she quickly found herself on the floor next to her bed. The book Bella had been reading reacted to her falling off the bed, following her and hit her in the face with a loud smack.
"Ah, Emmett. I see the boat to Calais survived your presence." Jasper said with a sarcastic tone, rubbing his jaw while I hurried over to Bella, to help her up. I lifted the book off her, noticing happily that it was the Pride and Prejudice I had bought her.
"Are you okay?" I asked giving her my hand.
Bella nodded briefly, pulled herself up with my help and turned towards Emmett with an annoyed expression.
"A bit early for a house call, don't you think Emmett?"
Emmett shrugged her comment off. "Pfft, Rosalie and I have been up for ages. It's time for you to do the same. Besides it's not that early."
Alice glanced the time then and shrieked. "It's almost ten! How on earth didn't you come earlier? We have tons to do today!"
With that she started to run around the room as if she were fast-forwarded. Occasionally she would say something to Jasper about hurrying up, grab some clothes, urge Bella to get ready…This continued for about five minutes, before Alice shut herself to the bathroom with a defiant bang. Jasper shrugged at our inquisitive looks.
"What can I say? Alice isn't one to waste time."
"Yep", Bella chipped in from her bed. "We'd better get ready. How 'bout we eat brunch in that corner café we were in yesterday? We'll meet you in ten."
After ten minutes, they actually did appear, Jasper still looking a bit tired, but the girls extremely presentable – thanks to Alice, I assumed. Bella was wearing a pair of short jean shorts with a black t-shirt. She had obviously convinced Alice to let her stroll around in flats, hence the black ballet flats on her feet. Bella was still ruffling her damp hair that threatened to wave out on her, as she had explained to me yesterday. I smiled at them.
"Are you guys awake yet? Jasper looks questionable…" I let my voice trail.
"Oh, shut it", Jasper retorted, trying to conceal a huge yawn.
"So, what are we doing today? My first day in Paris, I'm so excited." Rosalie squealed. Alice started squealing right along with her.
"Oh, we just have to go shopping today! I can't wait for you to see the new Chanel totes they just released! They're just too divine. And the summer line is much larger here, they even have those adorable eggshell halters!"
"I think Alice might be even more excited than Rose, to finally get agreeable shopping company." Bella chuckled next to me.
"I don't even doubt you." I said to her and than raised my voice to speak to everyone. "I think breakfast would be in order before you guys hit the mall."
We all agreed on that and left for the café Bella and I had eaten in yesterday, after our Louvre trip. It was considerably more crowded now as it had been and we were barely able to find a decent size table for all of us.
A waiter came to serve us then, a twenty something man with dark hair and heavily rimmed square-shaped glasses. He smiled at us warmly and came to stand next to Bella's chair.
"Bonjour! I'm Julian. What can I get you?" He said all this barely glancing at us, only having eyes for Bella. I watched her blush, but still smile warmly in return.
"I don't know about these other guys but I'll have a Latte, some orange juice and a French omelette." Bella said with a friendly tone, then looking at us. "What are you guys getting?"
After taking our orders, Julian left but not without giving Bella a wink and a rueful smile. I grimaced as I looked after him.
During breakfast Emmett and Rosalie told us about their time in London, and after that we told them about Paris so far. My eyes constantly wandered off to Julian staring at our table, or Bella to be precise. He would circle the table like a vulture, with that irritating smile on his face and wait for Bella to look up and notice his staring. He would then flash that stupid grin of his, making Bella blush each time more vigorously. She certainly wasn't used to that kind of attention. And I certainly didn't want her to be bothered with such. After we had finished, Julian came to give us the check. I snapped it from his fingers and quickly paid up, before he could start chatting again. But alas;
"So, did you enjoy your breakfast?" He asked, again with that sleazy grin.
"Yes, thank you. The omelette was to die for." Bella replied with a smirk.
"Yes, thank you, Julian. Here's the check for you. Have a pleasant day." I interrupted, trying to sound as polite as possible. I think I must've failed a bit when I saw Alice grin at me knowingly, lifting her eyebrow. I just ignored it. In stead I watched Julian give us a polite smile and walk away after one last look at Bella.
"See Edward, not all the waiters in Paris are impolite." Alice taunted me in a low voice when we left. But honestly, I wished that this one had been.
"Wow…" Bella said, tilting her head up as far as possible.
"I know…" Rosalie and Alice sighed in canon.
Several hours of shopping had been executed by Alice, Rosalie and a very unwilling Bella, and now we were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower – the thing we all had been craving to see since arriving. Of course, we had waited for Em and Rose to come as well so we could all see it together.
And there it was: 324 meters of iron, probably the most well-known sight in the entire world. We marched to the ticket booth with Emmett in the lead. He immediately started to examine the prices.
"Oh, look how much cheaper it is to take the stairs! Who would want the elevator anyway?"
He looked at Rosalie's raised eyebrows and her unbelieving stare.
"Excuse me, Emmett dear. Do you honestly think I'm walking a zillion stairs in this dress? Are you completely insane?"
I looked at Rosalie's dress and it truly seemed that she would have problems if she were to climb over 500 steps. Emmett sighed.
"Honey, I'll keep you safe from freaky perverts walking behind us. How about that?" He smiled in a way I knew for a fact he had practiced for hours in front of the mirror, just to get his way if needed. Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I'm counting on you, Em."
"Woohoo! The stairs it is. We need six tickets to the Eiffel tower via the stairs. Oh, and elevator tickets from second to third floor."
He paid up and gave us the tickets. "Did you know it's even cheaper if you're under 25? Are we lucky or what? Now, come on, I want to count the steps."
Rosalie took the lead when we started to climb the crowded stairway. Emmett followed her very closely, keeping his promise as it seemed. Alice, Jasper, Bella and I followed, me keeping the rear.
"Oh this is so lame, they've already counted them!" Emmett's whining rang from a bit higher up after fifty steps or so. And truly, someone had marked the step count on the wall. Jasper and I snickered at Emmett, who was apparently moping right now.
We had almost reached the first balcony when I heard some urgent whispering behind me. I turned around and saw a group of teenage boys craning their necks past me. I frowned when it suddenly hit me – they were staring at Bella's ass! I growled at them angrily. It made them look up all scared and fall back a few steps. I, on the other hand, took two steps at once to put me on the step immediately below the one Bella was using, to give them fewer chances to ogle at her. Honestly, the nerve these French guys had!
"Dude, don't think I didn't see that thing with the French dudes over there." Emmett pulled me aside when we were waiting for the elevator to the top floor after 'a zillion steps' we had climbed. "You obviously like Bella, so do something about it will you?"
Emmett did this sometimes. He tended to get all big-brotherly on me every time a girl was involved. And though I appreciated him looking after me, I truly hated it sometimes.
"Emmett, it's not as simple as that. I'm not sure if I really, really like her. And I certainly don't know if she likes me."
"That's total bullshit Eddie-boy, and you know it. You like her, it's as simple as that." And with that he walked away to the elevator, which had arrived. I followed them all in. I pondered Emmett's words. The thing is that I was starting to like Bella. At least, I was pretty sure I was. But we had never discussed things like that in our otherwise thriving conversations. I didn't even know if she had a boyfriend.
The elevator doors popped open and let all the passengers walk out of it to the top balcony, about 300 meters in the air. Our group suddenly paired up all around the balcony edges, leaving me and Bella alone, looking at the darkening park below us.
"It's so beautiful, worth climbing all those steps." Bella sighed
"I know, and you didn't even fall once." I teased her.
Bella looked around, locating our friends in different corners. Both pairs were hugging. She sighed again.
"It's so romantic in here, especially after the lights are lit."
"I agree." I paused for a moment then, but decided to take a big leap. "Too bad your boyfriend couldn't come with you." I didn't dare look at Bella, so I fixed my eyes on the glistening Seine on my right.
"Umm…My what?" Bella stammered, I could almost hear her blush. "I don't have a boyfriend."
My spirit soared up, more so than it probably should. "Oh…" But then my courage failed. "The view looks so amazing from up here, huh?"
From my peripheral vision I saw the curious glance and a slight frown Bella gave me before answering in a normal tone. "Yeah, I know, I guess it's almost too good to be true."
I spent the rest of our time there prattling about inconsequential stuff, and dodged every single subject that would lead us to the awkwardness I had brought. Bella seemed fine, though, and answered in the same light manner she had done earlier today. Still, something seemed odd, out of ordinary. But I was not quite brave enough to deal with it now.
"You guys, I think we should get going, the last elevator down leaves in five." Jasper announced. He and Alice were already beside the elevator. "We could go grab some dinner, you know, eat out?"
"Uu! And discuss our plan of action." Emmett added.
We took the elevator all the way down, since Rosalie right out refused to walk the stairs back down, vehemently defended by Alice, who looked a bit tired due to all her walking today. Jasper spotted a nice, quaint little restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. It was like all those restaurants in old French movies, with chequered tablecloths, candles and accordion music played by an old man wearing a beret.
"So fellows", Emmett began after he had received a steaming plate of ravioli in front of him. "Where are we heading next?"
Phew, that was that. It took me so much longer than I thought, to get enough inspiration to write this. I'm sorry for the updating brake. I'm currently in the middle of a hectic end of the year so updates can be a bit scarcer.
I know what will make me write faster, though….Yeah, you know it – reviews! This story has gotten over 1900 hits, so I'm expecting some reviews. More than I can count on my fingers, if you please?
Isabella Juliet