"The first thing that strikes a visitor to Paris is a taxi."~Fred Allen
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Chapter 5: Pont de l'Archevêché:
After vigorously consuming my Croque-Monsieur, I cleared my throat. Mr. Bonnay peered up from his scribbling, “Right then, are you ready to go?”
“Oui,” I winked rising from my chair. Outside it had stopped raining, but I decided to bring the raincoat just in case.
Mr. Bonnay opened the door for me to walk through. The air was crisp, but pleasantly warm around sixty two degrees.
“This may be rude of my, but I have yet to learn your name!” Mr. Bonnay exclaimed holding his arm out for me to hold.
“Nadia Elliot,” I smiled timidly.
“Well Nadia Elliot, what brings you to Paris?”
“A graduation present, before I have to join the real world,” I felt a twinge in my heart that my childhood is over.
“Is this not the real world, Mlle?” His chuckled boomed in his chest.
“I suppose, but I need to join the workforce.” I sighed.
“Where did you go to college?”
“Washington University in St. Louis,” I beamed thinking about home.
“What did you major in?” He asked as he pulled me across an intersection. I realized I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were heading.
“Ah, Comparative Literature and Art History,” I whispered slightly embarrassed.
“Being bashful I see. Well, just because you’re not a doctor or engineer has nothing to do with your intelligence.” Mr. Bonnay scratched his chin in thought, “However, being a writer I am compromisingly biased.”
“What about you Mr. Bonnay?” Tilting my head up, I caught his smirk.
“Peirce… please call me Peirce. Surprisingly enough I went to Notre Dame and majored in Economics. Then I got my master’s degree at Princeton in Finance. Then I flew the coup and became a writer.” He abruptly stopped and turned right down an alley.
“That’s impressive…” I trailed off, “Do you mind me asking how old you are?”
He chortled, “I just turned twenty-eight in March.”
“Where are we going Mr… Peirce?” The danky alley smelled of sewage and put me on edge.
“I’m going to murder you behind that dumpster,” Peirce glared down at me with his intense hunter green eyes, before cracking a smile.
We exited onto the street. Peirce abruptly began J-walking and I had to run after him. I had a Miss Congeniality moment, when a taxi came out of nowhere and came within an inch of me. The driver honked and rolled down the window screaming, « Regarde”
« Je suis désole ! » I yelled back, to which he rudely shouted, « Mange de la merde! »
I screamed, « Ta mere est une pute, » Flipping him the bird.
When I reached Peirce he was guffawing, his hands on his knees and tears in his eyes, “Where did you learn to talk like that, petite amie?”
“Tiffani. She would have called him a wanker on top of that!”
He laughed again and led the way into the local Intermarché. Confused I followed him through the isles until he exclaimed, «Voilà »
He held up a lock and grinned. He went to checkout and I just walked after the befuddling writer in silence.
“Now we are ready!” He bellowed and began a determined march down the street. The direction we were headed would take us to the Boulevard Saint-Geirmain.
“Are we going to Pont de l'Archevêché?” I probed catching up to him.
“Maybe,” his smirk told me that we were.
“So, where are you from?”
“Ironically Normal Illinois.”
“Why are you not normal?” I teased.
“Far from it,” He flashed his pristine smile at me and my heart rate picked up.
The bridge was coming into site as we crossed Saint-Geirmain and continued on, “Why are we going to Pont de l'Archevêché?”
“Isn’t it obvious,” Peirce held the lock in my face.
“But… why? Would do you want to make a love lock with a stranger?” My brow furrowed.
“Everyone one is strange. Once I get to know you I’m sure you’ll become stranger and stranger,” He joked, “I have always wanted to do this and I finally have a friend to do this with!”
He joined the hustle of tourists and sat down with his back to the Seine, “Now we have to decorate it!”
Peirce wrote out our names and ‘Friends Forever’ on the simple brass lock in simple black marker, “There! Now you put it on the fence!”
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A/N: I got a request to update today so I did just that. I keep my promises. Anyway I decided to change Nadia's age to 22 so it would be more suiteable to be traveling by herself and I wanted her to have a college education already. Let me know what you think. Same as last time I need a request to update.
Again you have to comment saying that you want an update and I will have it up within two weeks.
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Paris In the Rain
RomanceNadia Elliot is twenty-two and alone in Paris. Fate throws her for a loop with a chance encounter with a temping stranger, who has a habit of disappearing in Paris’s rainy streets. At least she has hanging out at Le Noir Chat Café with her new fri...
