Alpha's and Eiffel towers [On Hold]

-||11|| a night to remember

I dropped myself onto our couch, finally some peace. Anna and Jackie had left a short while ago, but not before turning our hotel room upside down. I didn't resent them for it; I knew all too well they were doing everything in their capability to make this night as memorable as they could. Over time my guilt feeling over not joining them had started to heap up. They did urge me a few points during their metamorphosing, but I'd given them the same answer every time. I wish I could forget about the past and walk out that door with them but said past kept catching up with every thought of joining. I loathed myself for it, but I knew deep down that it was for the better.

All of a sudden, a knock originated from behind the front door. I couldn't quite wrap my head around who would come to our room; the girls should already be ordering their first shot by now. Maybe Jackie left her phone around here, which was a highly plausible scenario for an inattentive girl like her. With that expectation, I opened the door, only to see Max, dressed with a big grin standing in the portal.

"How in the world did you find my hotel room?" I asked while mimicking his facial expression. "Well, I told Nino to find out by examining Jackie and report back to me as soon as possible," he revealed as if that was not stalker-y at all. "I thought you were going with them?" I stated while going out of the way to let him in. He took this invitation and only while passing I saw a rather hefty sport sac he'd been carrying in his hand. "I was, actually," he started while dropping the bag between his feet," but I felt guilty for you being alone, so I went and got these for you." He unzipped the sac and hoisted up a pair of midnight blue rollerskates. "Where did you get those?" I questioned bewildered," and how did you know my size?". He grinned rather contemptuously and handed me the shoes. They didn't feel quite as hefty as they looked and were of much higher quality at my ones back home. "There's a store close to me that specializes in them," he replied while reaching and exposing a black pair for himself," the size was just a guess." I beamed, even though I was trying to hide my excitement; this night was about to get a whole lot more interesting. "Is rollerskating in public even legal in Paris?" I asked while putting the skates down. "Don't know, but now it is," he said mischievously, and I shook my head smiling. He is so sweet, maybe even too sweet. Still, I wanted to give him a chance, a well-deserved one.

"Get your room key, we'll go on the Champs," He said, but I felt something that was resenting that idea. I knew I'd typically give an arm and a leg just to stand on wheels, but my energy seemed to have dropped quite a bit in the last few minutes. I didn't know what it was, but he'd noticed it almost simultaneously when I did. "Hey," he said, breaking through my thoughts," we won't go if you don't want to." I shook my head before he could finish; I was not going to pass on an opportunity like this one, Jackie would strangle me. "We can go get you something first so you won't fall asleep on those and start hurling down the Champs-Élysées," he said rather teasingly, and I couldn't hold back a smile. Come on Jane, you've canceled once already, you can do this.

I swiftly pocketed one of the keycards from the table and let the door lock behind us. I just had to focus on what was about to go down; I'd felt regretful for having to leave my skates behind, Max got rid of that nagging feeling almost instantly. We descended and stepped into the lobby, entering the sight of my teachers. Fortunate for us, they were too busy joined together over a hired pool table. I thought I saw one of them notice us, but their focus was too concentrated on those balls rolling over that green fabric. We left the hotel and walked onto the Champs-Élysées, which was -due to nightfall- stunningly lit with adverting shops and restaurants. It wasn't quite as busy as I'd expected, but a few people were still strolling around the place. Up the street I saw the wide plaza with there on Arc de Triomphe, triumphantly watching over the rest of the raisings. In the meantime, Max had pointed out an empty bench, and I'd followed him towards it. "Honestly, how did you find our hotel in the first place?" I asked while untying my shoe. Max rolled his lips and took a moment to respond, which made me only more suspicious. "Well... your hotel houses a lot of schools from Belgium, and the only thing I could do was just wait and hope you'd show up. I nodded, for some reason, my mind approved of this alibi, as weird as it sounds.

While I was putting my shoes inside of the bag, I heard him sigh. "You know, I honestly don't know how to rollerskate, I just wanted to do it because... you told me you like it," he suddenly confessed, and I raised an eyebrow. This moment felt like a spot that Anna would've been able to give me on a piece of paper, so like every plot of a cliché novel. "It's like standing on two skateboards at once," I explained while tying up the laces of the left skate. I couldn't believe the quality of these; they put my 30 dollars second-hand pair to shame, even though I love those to death. These were far from cheap skates. "No one skates on two different boards, Jane," he said laughing, and I smiled. "It's simple, just try to stand up first," I said and stood up, quickly finding my balance. He looked at me as if I was walking on water, but then slowly handed me the bag and tried to shift his weight onto the skates. Seeing him shaking like a baby lamb made me almost cry from holding back laughter. "Simple?" he repeated, his face plastered with fear, yet finally being able to find his stability. "Okay, now put your feet in a V with your heels together and shift your weight from foot to foot," I taught and all of a sudden I noticed a peculiar glow over his eyes. "You mean like this?" he said, awkwardly balancing on his left skate. Before I could answer, he sped forward, neatly making a circle around me and repeating that process.

Goddamit, he skates better than me.

He came to a halt right before me, and a joyous simper plastered on his face. "You dirty liar," I said stubborn, trying to hide my smile. "Sorry, the only entertainment I had when I was young was my dad's old rollerskates," he said while taking the bag from me and hoisting it over his shoulder. "So miss, what can you do?" he asked, holding his facial expression. I raised my eyebrows and got ready to make some speed. I started to skate towards the Arc, picking up momentum on the way up; all the while trying to avoiding the other pedestrians smoothly. I heard Max catching up to me, and turning my head, I met his goofy grin. I slowed down and made a turn on my toes, his eyes locked on mine. "So, where were you planning on going?" I asked, and I saw him move his gaze to somewhere behind me. "Well, there's almost no one under the Arc de Triomphe," he said daringly, and I turned around. The plaza was almost empty, something that didn't seem possible or such a tourist trap like Paris. "Maybe there's a reason? Maybe something's wrong?" I said skeptically without moving my eyes. "Maybe, or it means that we were meant to go there." I looked at him questioningly, but he seemed rather pleased with making that last statement. Right before I wanted him to clarify, he yelled:" Last underneath the Arc is a poubelle!" whereafter he cautiously but with high speed started to cross the street. "A trash can? I don't think so!" I replied before following in his footsteps.

I just knew this was the start of a night to remember.