CHAPTER 4

~ 9:13 PM ~ Avenue du Bel Air, Paris ~

Later that evening, in the Girard family's art-nouveau-style apartment building, Hanna was standing in front of the foldout sofa-bed, desperately trying to figure out how the damn piece of furniture was going to turn into her bed for the night. Her host family had offered their help earlier that evening - at least that's what little she had picked up from her last conversation with them - but she somehow didn't dare approach them to ask for help due to her inadequacies in the mechanical department… not to mention the ones in the French language department. And with a host brother who was watching her every step, she was happy that she had been able to close the door behind her before she had begun to make herself at home, ready for the days to come.

Once again, she damned the day in her freshman year of high school during which she had decided to drop Spanish and continue studying French instead, all because of her irrational love for French fashion designers. What was she thinking? Instead of breaking out into a sweat, pushing and shoving at threadbare couches, she could be sitting and sweating in a bikini under a nice palm tree in the south of Spain now, working on her tan in the middle of fall.

She was well and truly stumped. Damn.

"Merde!" Came her muttered voice, rounding up the impressions of her afternoon and evening thus far.

Summoning all of her strength, she pulled at the seating cushion one last time, and finally, the mechanism clicked and gave way. Hanna unfolded the thin mattress and immediately sat down on it, breathing heavily. The second she laid down and stretched out flat on her back, she heard the prominent beep of her phone that lay on the small night table right by the sofa. She reached out to grab it and a smile appeared on her face as she realized that she had received a text from Caleb.

Ready to earn some bad girl stripes? Sneak out! I'll pick you up in 45 minutes. Bring a warm jacket. C.

The smile on her face faltered and she furrowed her brows as she thought about what her boyfriend was getting up to at 10pm. How was she supposed to sneak out on her very first night at the Girards' apartment? They were probably keeping an eye on her to make sure that she was feeling at home there, even if it was just for a short period of time.

Hanna quietly opened the door of her guest room and peered down the long hallway where four other doors led to adjoining rooms. The hall was completely dark, except for a narrow strip of light which was emanating from below the door of one of the rooms; Hanna remembered it as being the bathroom.

As she stood on her threshold listening to the muffled noises coming from behind that particular door, she caught on with the fact that with the exception of one person, nobody in the family seemed to be up and awake anymore. And whoever was in the bathroom now, must have been in the middle of getting ready for bed, she concluded upon hearing the humming noise of what sounded suspiciously like an electric toothbrush. She couldn't help but wonder whether they all would always go to sleep this early; it was only a quarter past nine! What was she supposed to do every evening after the rest of the family had gone to bed? She was left with only her phone as a means of communicating whereas usually, she would be at one of her friends' houses at this time. If only Aria, Spencer and Emily didn't live so far away from her now, she'd happily walk over to them in order to avoid being all on her own every evening.

She did, however, feel relieved about the fact that Thomas had finally left her alone when he had disappeared into his own room, where he would presumably be playing computer games all night long. Hanna thought that he looked like that kind of kid, with his slightly bloodshot eyes which had dark circles underneath them.

In a way, she was also thankful for the fact that she wouldn't have to rack her brains for French grammar and articulation rules for a few hours. Grinning, she walked back into her room and busied herself with the bedspread and linens, preparing her sofa-bed for the night, even though she didn't know when night time would actually come for her. Despite the night flight to Paris and the fact that they had arrived in the city after having had little to no sleep on the plane, she wasn't tired yet. After all, in Rosewood time, it was still the afternoon.

Once her bed had been made, she laid down and re-read Caleb's message, trying to come up with ideas as to what he might have planned for them.

Maybe a late dinner in a nice grown-up Parisian restaurant? She scratched that thought from her mind… no 'bad girl' image to be earned doing that.

Maybe a drink in a bar? Was she allowed to drink alcohol in France? She made a mental note to check up on that. There was a hint of bad girl in that conception, she thought.

She was ripped from her wishful thinking when she heard the bathroom door open and close in quick succession, followed by the shuffling of feet as somebody walked across the hallway. Marielle Girard, Hanna's host mother, peered into the guest room and found Hanna staring up at the ceiling.

"Alors, Hanna? Tu ne dors pas encore?" [Hey Hanna, you're not sleeping yet?]

"Non. Je suis pas encore fatiguée." [No. I'm not tired yet.]

"D'accord. On va toujours se coucher à 9:30 parce qu'on doit se lever très tôt," she added with an apologetic smile, feeling slightly sorry for the young blonde. [Okay then. We always go to sleep at 9:30 because we have to be up really early.]

Hanna blinked at her and nodded, pretending she had understood everything.

"Bonne nuit et dors bien!" Marielle said as she turned around to leave the room. [Good night and sleep tight.]

„Bonne nuit," Hanna replied enthusiastically, relieved that her host mom had left her with a sentence that she understood and was even able to reply to. At that, the older woman looked back at her and smiled before shutting the door again.

"Well, that was easy," Hanna said to herself, thinking that she may even have to embellish her story about sneaking out a little bit in order for her to earn her bad girl reputation with Caleb.

Hanna turned off the lights in order to create the illusion that she had gone to sleep, too. Then, she laid down on her bed again where she nervously checked the clock on her phone. In just a few minutes' time, she would finally see Caleb again. The thought alone made her heart beat a little faster. She hadn't seen him since that morning, when they hadn't even been able to kiss each other goodbye in front of Mr. Gilbert and the other students before taking separate trains to go and meet their host families in opposite sides of the city.

The conversation they'd had on the phone at noon had been good for her, in the sense that it had made her stop worrying about Caleb's well-being. But it had also made her miss him even more. Laying there in the dark, Hanna contemplated what she was going to tell Marielle and Victor or, god forbid, Thomas, in case she got caught in the hallway, clad in full gear and about to open the front door of their apartment. There was never a good explanation for sneaking out of a stranger's apartment at night without saying goodbye.

At 9:38pm, Hanna had turned the lights back on and stood in front of her closet, letting her eyes dart between the different compartments which contained her shirts and pants. She had already plucked out a white hoodie jacket with a plush lining from its hanger as it was the warmest jacket she had brought along for her trip. Then, she took all of her pants out and spread them all over her sofa-bed, eyeing their different forms and fits.

At long last, she chose her brand-new pair of white skinny jeans which Caleb had made her buy because they would make her butt look sexy. After she had put the rest of the pants back into the closet, she shut the doors and began to search the room. Eventually, she found the plastic bag that had 'miraculously' found its way to her after she hadn't been able to stop herself from doing just a little bit of shopping at the airport that morning. She pulled her new t-shirt out of the bag and tore off its tags.

When she was dressed in pants and t-shirt with the jacket still laying on the bed, ready to throw over her outfit, she squatted down on the carpet and looked at the range of shoes that she had been able to squeeze into her suitcase. There were four-inch-heels, six-inch-heels, leather boots and a pair of white low top Converse sneakers that she had hardly ever worn before.

Remembering again that she was supposed to sneak out inconspicuously, and therefore as quietly as possible, Hanna opted for the sneakers and slipped them on. Her high heels wouldn't have been a good match with that hooded jacket anyway, she reasoned while tying her shoes. She was a little sad about the fact that she felt unusually small without her heels.

She gave herself a final look-over in the mirror by her door and brushed her hair. Her long blonde locks fell loosely over her shoulders in waves.

She was ready to go. Ready to explore Paris. With Caleb.

"Perfect," she said as she looked into the mirror. "Oh, pardon. Parfaitement!" She laughed at herself. She felt so giddy with excitement, but at the same time she was almost bursting with apprehension.

Her nerves needed an outlet.

Hanna took her phone and opened up the group chat with the girls. It had been awfully quiet all evening. No messages had been posted and Hanna sadly realized that they were probably all busy getting to know their host families or watching television with them.

She tried anyway.

HELP!

Caleb is gonna pick me up in 10 and he wants me to sneak out of the house.

A mere three seconds later, Aria was the first to react.

Whoa. What is he up to?

Hanna quickly typed out a new message.

I dunno. Has he told you sth?

A second later, Spencer responded, too.

He probably wants to come by to give you a goodnight kiss on your first night in Paris.

It wasn't long before Emily joined in, too.

Yeah, he can't take you out for the night just like that. He probably wants to make good for all the kisses you didn't get to share throughout the day. ;-)

Then, Aria wrote again.

Yeah, probs a goodnight kiss. He knows you wouldn't just leave the house on your first night there.

The successive ding ding ding of her phone announced the arrival of more incoming messages.

Or would you?

Or would you?

Or would you?

All three of her friends seemed to have had the same thought, causing Hanna to question her own sanity. She hadn't even hesitated for a second when Caleb had asked her to do exactly that: sneak out. Of course she would. This was Caleb asking, her boyfriend. He was still a mystery to her sometimes, always up for a surprise. She was desperate to find out what he was up to tonight.

There was nowhere in the world she would rather be right now than in his arms. Besides, everyone else in the apartment had probably fallen asleep already by now. What could go wrong?

She let her fingers dance across the keys again.

My family went to sleep half an hour ago. I'm all alone. :-(

Emily wrote back in an instant.

Nooooo? Poor you

Spencer was quick to follow.

You're going, right?

Hanna saw that it was almost 10pm. She typed her final message to the group chat and grabbed her small tote sack.

Heading out. I'll keep you posted. Bye

Another beep caused her to look at the display one more time. Aria had posted yet another message.

No you won't. ;-) Have fun!

Hanna smiled at her friend's final message and put the phone into her tote sack along with a couple of Euro bills. Then, she switched off the lights and quietly slipped out of the guest room. She stood in the hallway and listened carefully. There were faint shooting noises coming out of Thomas' room and she rolled her eyes at the realization that she had judged him correctly. But apart from that, there was no other proof of anyone else in the apartment being awake.

Hanna felt like it was safe to leave.

She snuck out of the front door and tiptoed down the stairs. Upon reaching the ground floor, she stalled and finally caught her breath which she had been holding the entire time.

~ 10:01 PM ~ Avenue du Bel Air, Paris ~

Caleb anxiously leaned back against the giant oak tree in front of the apartment building that was going to be Hanna's new home for the next two weeks. His heart was hammering inside his ribcage; he was full of apprehension, desperately hoping that she had gotten his text, and would somehow find a way to sneak out of the house.

If she didn't, he would come back tomorrow and try again. He would keep trying until he'd had his chance to tell her what he had been meaning to get off of his chest. But he couldn't tell her on school grounds, he had concluded. This required no onlookers.

He stood with his hands buried in the depths of his jacket pockets, his eyes fixated on the inconspicuous gray door in front of him, which was now the only barrier that was keeping him separated from his girlfriend.

For a second, he looked down at the screen of his phone, checking to see if she had sent him a message, but save for the clock telling him that it was after ten already, his lock screen was empty.

Had she fallen asleep? Had she been caught already? Did she not trust him enough to be out alone in the streets with him at night? His mind was going haywire.

All of a sudden, the door in front of him opened up a little, and a familiar head of hair peered through the crack. "Caleb?" Came her whispered voice from behind the door. Caleb said nothing, but his lips instantly formed a smile at the sound of her small voice which made him think she was still doubting whether he would actually be there to pick her up. Sometimes, Hanna seemed to be so insecure and untrusting.

He revealed himself to her as he stepped out of the thick shadow of the tree trunk, which seemed to have absorbed his dark shape, as he was clad in black clothes from head to toe.

"You're here!" Hanna exclaimed happily, her voice a little too loud. He quickly hushed her by putting his index finger to his lips, before pointing that same finger to the windows above them, some of which were open in order to let in some fresh night air. She immediately understood, and lowered her voice. "Okay, Mister Big Secret, what do we do now?"

Avoiding her question, Caleb came closer, and gently nudged her away from the house. A few feet further down the street, he stopped, and checked out her appearance.

Beneath the dim light of a street lamp, he saw that, unaware of his intentions, she had managed to dress perfectly for a night out on the town with him. Together, they stood like a mismatched pair of chess pieces, with Hanna being on the opposing team to him in an all-white outfit: sexy skinny jeans, a soft cotton hoodie jacket, and sneakers. Without high heels, she was a perfect fit for the hollow of his armpit, he realized as he put his arm around her shoulder and started walking. She seemed so much more petite like that; his need to protect her from the dangers of the big city increased, and caused his grip around her arm to tighten. Shooting glances at her almost nonstop, he continually took in her beauty, enjoying the feeling of being able to hold her in his arms again, without any other students or teachers around. It was electrifying.

Hanna noticed his probing gaze. "What? Do I look okay? You didn't really give me many clues as to how I was supposed to dress."

"I missed you," He murmured as he leaned over to kiss her temple.

"Aw, I missed you too," Hanna said, truthfully.

They stopped walking, and turned towards one another in order to share a series of open-mouthed kisses.

When he broke the kiss and resumed walking, Hanna sighed, and Caleb remembered his plan. There would be more time to kiss later, he told himself. First things first.

"Do you have a t-shirt on underneath that jacket?" Caleb winked at Hanna, hoping she'd catch the element of teasing in his voice.

She did not.

"A t-shirt? Why?" She asked, warily.

"Are you still standing firm on not getting matching tattoos for the two of us? Because a t-shirt would make it so much easier to go through with that now."

"What?" She exclaimed with an incredulous, yet horrified expression on her face.

"Was that a yes or a no?" He smirked, virtually on the edge of breaking out into a fit of laughter.

"You made me sneak out of the house to take me to a tattoo artist?" She still looked appalled.

"Does that mean that you won't have my name inked on your upper arm? Or would you prefer having it on your butt cheek? 'Cause I found a guy who'd be willing to do it without our parents' permission. And he wouldn't judge."

He saw that she was struggling to hold her composure, and instantly felt a wave of shame wash over him. "Just kidding," He told her.

"Caleb!" She whined, feigning despair at his odd sense of humor. As if sneaking out of her host family's apartment on her very first night in Paris wasn't exciting and nerve-racking enough…

Her mind drifted off for a second as she imagined his cute butt cheek branded by her name; she quickly shook herself out of it and scratched that thought. But she made a mental note to ask him about the tattoo that he already had on his butt, which she had only caught a short glimpse of when she had seen him naked in the shower a month ago. It had been too short of a moment for her to remember exactly what it looked like. But she did remember that, in her eyes, it had been an unusual sight.

"Han, relax! We're not getting matching tattoos tonight. Or any night, for that matter," He clarified.

She felt herself relax, ready to conquer the city. "Then what are we gonna do instead? A late dinner? A walk by the Seine? A boat tour through the city at night? That would be so romantic…" The seemingly endless supply of suggestions ended when she saw that he had continued walking without so much as a nod or a head-shake. However, she soon became aware of the playful smile that had appeared at the corners of his lips; it made her head spin, and she feared that she had run out of ideas as to what they could do in Paris at night-time. She'd had a lot of time to think about the many possibilities that Paris had to offer. However, a short group chat session with her friends had deflated her expectations, when they had all suggested that he would probably just want to give her a goodnight kiss by the front door of her current home.

Hanna secretly hoped that Caleb would do more than that, and surprise her with some big romantic gesture. But, given the circumstances, she'd even settle for that goodnight kiss. Feeling his lips on hers a minute or so before had only made her miss him even more, despite the fact that he was still right there by her side. She was dreading the moment that she would have to go back upstairs to her bedroom again.

At long last, Caleb broke his silence as they reached the entrance of a nearby subway station. "Down for a little sightseeing à la Rivers?"

to be continued…

Curious to find out where Caleb is taking her? Stay tuned... Chapter 5 will be up on Wednesday. If you enjoy reading the story... mind dropping me a few words in a review? Thank you! :-)

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