Fight Left In Me ✔

Chapter 35 - Strength

They reach the bar, holding hands and a loud cheer comes from quite a large group of people. Jo feels Dart getting tense as he mumbles: "Mon Dieu!" Jo squeezes his hand and smiles at the group of people. 

The guy from the reception gets up and says: "I told you she was real!" He kisses her cheeks and says: "Hi, I'm Laurent. And I can tell you a lot of embarrassing stories about Dart. So stick with me." He pulls her away from Dart and introduces her to everyone. All of them kiss her on the cheeks and she is starting to feel a bit tense. But she keeps telling herself that's just what French people do. Dart gets pulled into a group hug and they all laugh together, holding him down.

Laurent introduces her to the last guy: Pierre, who just holds his hand out to her, avoiding eye contact. She shakes his hand and says: "Nice to meet you." She sits down next to Pierre, on the lounge sofa and Laurent walks off to order drinks and food. Jo starts to feel nervous and Pierre says with a thick accent: "I bet it will be champagne and oysters. That guy never asks what anyone else wants." 

Jo laughs and asks: "What would you like then?" 

Pierre looks up at her, surprised by her question and says: "A cold beer and something salty." 

Jo smiles at him and says: "That sounds really good." She gets up and walks over to Laurent at the bar, while Dart stares at her from across the room with a worried look. 

Laurent turns around and asks: "Did you miss me?" 

She pouts and says: "Yes. I couldn't stand being without you for another minute longer." Laurent stares at her in shock and then she asks the young man behind the bar: "Did he order champagne and oysters?" The young man nods, Jo leans over to him and asks softly: "Could you get me two cold beers and something salty to eat?" The young man winks at her and drafts her two beers, creating a platter with slices of sausage, cheese and pretzels. Jo takes it from him and says: "You're a lifesaver, merci." Laurent stares at her, still waiting for his oysters.

She places a beer and the platter in front of Pierre and sits down next to him. She raises her own beer and smiles at Pierre. Pierre graces her with a wide smile and drink his beer happily. Jo makes eye contact with Dart and he looks a bit panicked. Jo smiles at him and mouths: "I'm fine. Don't worry." Jo leans back and enjoys her beer. Pierre thanks her for the beer and asks her if this is her first time in France. "It is. I'm quite nervous about it, because my French is, well non existent."

 Pierre nods and says: "You shouldn't be nervous about it though. Most French people you'll meet don't speak Dutch. So that levels the playing field, doesn't it?" 

Jo looks at Pierre and studies his face. "You're so right about that. I should look at it that way. Thank you." Jo takes another sip from her beer, when Laurent walks up with champagne and oysters, the group of guys cheer at the sight of it. Jo looks the group of men over and wonders if they are all single. 

Pierre seems to read her mind and says: "Yes. All single. Well Laurent always has a woman on his arm, but it's never serious. And we believed Dart would be the last one to ever find real love, with his job and all. And his horrible social skills when he was younger." Jo asks him if he went to school with Dart. Pierre nods and says: "Yeah, we were the nerdy, comic reading boys. That changed a little when Dart found out that  he was good at sports." 

Jo asks him what he does for a living and he seems to think about it. He then quickly lets out: "I have my own comic book series. And I create cartoons for a newspaper." 

Jo smiles at him and says: "For real? Can you show me something?" Pierre's eyes widen for a second and then he pulls out his phone to show her the main character of his comic. Jo looks at the tough looking, curvy girl and asks Pierre to tell her about her. He tells Jo how she looks normal, but gets really strong when she fights injustice. And she has a weak spot for the nerdy boys. "I love that Pierre! I would love to read some of them. Are you on Instagram?"