Fluctuat nec Mergitur

Chapter 14

"Someone's texting you." Lauren tossed my phone at me. "Something about guitar."

"Must be Juliet." I unlocked it, looking at the text from a half hour ago.

"She asked for your number?" Lauren looked at me skeptically.

"She had a question." I shrugged, picking up one of her pamphlets. "That's my job, isn't it?"

"If you say so," Lauren looked back down at her papers. "But she must really like you if she wanted to contact you out of hours."

"Whatever you say." I let the pamphlet drift down onto the mattress. "Hey, you do know that there's no such thing as the Fourth of July anywhere but America, right? Just a forewarning."

"Of course."

"And we are not even going to mention it." I stated. "There's also no Halloween, no Thanksgiving, and thank God there's no such thing as American football because I never want to think about redneck tailgating ever again."

"It wasn't redneck tailgating." She objected.

"I hate American football." I shook my head. "Bastille day is July fourteenth."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't make yourself look like a fool, even if it's three weeks till." I shrugged. "Act like you've lived here all your life and scorn the tourists."

"I'll try to remember to forget July Fourth." She smiled vaguely. "Go talk to Juliet."

*

I sighed and gave Michael a petrifying glare that said don't even come over here. It must've worked, because he immediately about faced.

"I'm sorry, what?" I turned my attention back to Juliet, who had been talking.

"I asked if you liked movies." Juliet leaned on the desk.

"I haven't seen a movie in a long time." I raised my eyebrows, clicking through the computer, as is how all lessons end. "That is, one that I understood.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't speak English very well. I saw a few movies in California, but I didn't get what they were saying, and I don't think I've ever seen a movie here in France." I explained, taking the card she handed to me.

"Why not?" Here she goes again. Why this? Why that?

"I'll explain later. It's a little, uh, traumatic." I don't like telling stories about how my parents died.

"Well, they're showing The Artist in the park tonight if you want to go." She offered.

"I'm broke as all hell." When Lauren goes to college, a lot of what I'm earning will go toward tuition and textbooks.

"It's free." Juliet smiled softly.

"If you don't mind hanging out for another half hour while I finish my shift, then sure." I returned it, standing up.

"Great." She nodded. "And for the record, I probably speak less English than you do. I'm kind of screwed for next year though, because I take a class that's fully in English."

"I'm pretty lacking." I frowned. "You should talk to my sister. English is her first language."

"I might actually have to take you up on that."