Jo Goes To Paris

Chapitre Sept

“Tell me more about you.” Arturo asked.

Johanna sighed, stretching her arms. His bed was comfortable, warm and soft. She looked at him, lazily.

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything.”

“Well you pretty much know quite a lot. Johanna Seymour, almost 30 and freaking out, my best friend’s name is Chocolate and the second best is Amber… I’m an English publicity agent, I have a cat…”

“No, no, no!” He smiled. “I know all that. Tell me something different. How about High School? Were you a party-person?”

“Me?” She laughed. “Hardly! I was the shy-type, the one who was always in a corner with a book. I had a fascination for Science Fiction and Fantasy works when I was 17. Needless to say people thought I was weird.”

“I could swear you were the type of party-animal.” He said.

“Not at all. My first party was my Prom. It was a magical night when my crush was my date and became my boyfriend.”

“First boyfriend?”

“Not really. Third.”

“Weren’t you shy?”

“Not that much!”

“Naughty.” He jested. “And what did you read?”

“Well, I remember I read all the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was into some Pratchett.”

“Terry Pratchett? Are you serious?”

“I know it’s weird, but…”

“No, I think it’s amazing! I’m a huge Pratchett fan. And I’ve read all J.R.R Tolkien’s works as well.”

“Oh, so we are both weirdos!”

“Not at all, my dear. We have refined tastes. I don’t know what you think, but I’m pretty sure all the kids in my school who made fun of me are somewhere in Italy working hard to pay their bills, while I am in Paris with a beautiful woman by my side and some French chocolate on the bedside table” He stretched his arm to reach the chocolate and put one in Johanna’s mouth. “So, I say screw them.”

“Well, now that you’ve mentioned…” She replied thoughtfully. “I may have turned out well. Better than them, actually.”

“Of course you did. You’re smart, how could you not have?”

Johanna laughed. “That’s new…”

“What?”

“A compliment.”

“Don’t you get that a lot?”

“From my mother, occasionally…”

Arturo looked at her with a serious expression. “Don’t tell me you don’t hear that frequently…”

“Honestly, no.”

He took her hand. “Then listen to me now. You are one of the most beautiful, interesting and smart women I’ve met.”

Johanna felt a funny sensation, a warmth spreading in  her chest. She looked down.

“Are you blushing?”

“No.”

“You blush at a compliment?”

“Well... Don’t judge me, but I’ve never heard that before.”

Arturo looked at her for a few seconds. “I think you should be reminded of that every day.”

Before Johanna could say anything, his cell phone rang. He took it, looked at the screen and sighed.

“I have to take this.” He sat up quickly. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Alright.” She replied, a bit disappointed. Perhaps it was one of the many girls he saw. Johanna shook her head, reminding herself that was only for fun, a vacation passion, nothing more.

And since Arturo had left the room, Johnna quickly took her own cell phone off her purse, and sent a message to Amber. “I AM IN HIS BED NOW!  ;-)”

Laughing, she switched off the cell phone. “This will torture her a bit. I will be killed once I get back to the hotel…”