Beautiful Heist

1. I Want Adventure...Of The Non-Life Threatening Variety

One

I Want Adventure...Of The Non-Life Threatening Variety

For any eighteen-year-old, waking up in Paris would be one of the highlights of their teenage years. They were away from hounding parents and in a totally different time zone, getting some travel miles and experiencing different cultures before heading off to college in the fall. Don't get me wrong. Living in New York City exposed you to plenty of different cultures, but there was something about being in the thick of it, not just a replicated version like Chinatown or Little Italy.

One I didn't want to be in the thick of? The culture of the typical teenage girl.

While in Paris, it was amplified by a thousand. When you were rooming with three very appearance-conscious, fashion-frenzied girls, your personal space was crowded with their high heels and lipstick colors and curling irons...

And I knew I didn't fit into that world at all, which was just fine with me.

"Is that what you're going in, Emmy?" Amber Clarke questioned, looking me over. I was lounging back in my tiny twin bed. She and her two friends, Lissa and Megan, had been getting ready for the past two hours. I was finished in less than twenty minutes. "You wore almost the exact same thing yesterday, except you changed your shirt."

I looked down at my Converse, jean shorts, and plaid button-up I had open with a black tank top underneath. "Yeah, what's wrong with this?" I asked, and then looked pointedly at the four-inch heels on her feet. "Unlike you, I actually read the trip packet they gave us, which clearly outlined the suggested clothing and footwear. Is that what you're wearing?"

After staring at me for a few moments, she rolled her eyes and went back to expertly putting on her lipstick in the mirror. No one had to say a word about me leaving. I was grabbing my backpack and heading for the door a minute later, wanting to get out as soon as possible.

Pulling my hair up in a ponytail, I walked down the hallway to the room of the one person I could stand on the trip.

"I'm coming in, so you guys better not be naked," I called as I opened the door, hand barely covering my eyes. Seeing no nakedness that wouldn't have been proper for a lady, I was in the clear and leaned casually against the doorframe.

"You know, you could have knocked," Drake said, rolling his eyes and smiling at me as he grabbed his backpack.

I grinned back and winked at Josh, Michael, and Garrett, who he was rooming with. "But then I wouldn't have been able to say I accidentally walked in on you guys while you were getting dressed. That would have made a great story to tell my kids someday."

Drake laughed, blue eyes twinkling with amusement, and strode toward me. He looked like he'd gotten enough sleep, even though he snuck back into his room at three o'clock that morning. We stayed up watching movies in my room after Amber and her friends snuck out, leaving me all to my lonesome. "Yeah, and scar them for life? I can just imagine what your kids are going to be like..."

"They'll be yours, too, man," Garrett laughed.

This time, I was the one to roll my eyes. "In your dreams."

"No, in everyone else's," Drake said as he draped an arm around my shoulders.

"Why don't you two stop keeping each other in the friend zone and start going together already?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know everyone's expecting you two to be married with a bunch of kids at the ten year reunion."