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"RISE AND SHINE BOYS," Erin yelled, turning on the overhead lights in the room, "we have to be off this boat in forty-five minutes."
Rudy groaned and rolled over, "Five more minutes, please."
Erin walked over and hit him with a pillow, "C'mon, we're in Paris for God's sake. Get up!"
Rudy grabbed the pillow from her hand and swung it back at Erin.
"Rudy, stop" Erin laughed, trying to grab the pillow from his hands, "I just did my hair, and you are going to mess it up." That didn't stop Rudy, though.
"Hey, love birds, would you please cut it out and get ready." Dylan, Rudy's younger brother, sneered while watching the whole interaction go down between Rudy and Erin.
"Watch it, Dyl." Erin snapped back, throwing the pillow at him making Dylan throw the pillow back at Erin, which escalated to a full pillow fight.
Ollie, Erin's younger brother, walked in the middle of the pillow fight, "Can we not fight right now, it's too early for this."
"Fine fine," both Erin and Dylan stopped their pillow fight, and everyone finished getting ready.
After they were all dressed and ready to go, Rudy, Erin, and their brothers met their parents in the lobby.
"Does everyone have their passport and key card?" Erin's mom double-checked.
"Yes," Everyone responded in unison.
"Okay, let's go to Paris then!" Mrs. Addison shrieked.
The two families got off the boat and were immediately immersed in Paris.
"Okay, we have to be back on the boat by five," Mr. Pankow looked down and checked his watch, "so we have plenty of time to see all the cool tourist spots." Mr. Pankow announced to his family.
"Wait, Rudy, do you have cell phone service?" Erin asked, looking down at her phone.
Rudy looked down at his phone and checked, "Yeah, do you?"
"Yes! I haven't had service in so long." Erin said, dramatically clinging to her phone.
"Sweetie, the ocean does not typically have great service, so it makes sense now that we are back on the real ground that we would have service. It doesn't matter anyway. You are not going to waste your day in Paris on your phone." Erin's mom responded, giving her daughter a look to put her phone away.
"That goes for you, boys too," Mrs. Pankow said. All four of the kids made a sad face and reluctantly put their phones back in their pockets.
"Where to first?" Erin piped up, looking over her father's shoulder as he fumbled at the map.
"I think we should go to the Eiffel tower before it gets late in the day, and the crowds show up there." Mr. Addison responded. "Which is this way."
The two families walked through the streets of Paris, and as they got closer, they could see the top of the Eiffel tower.
"Ooh, honey, I can almost see the Eiffel tower!" Mrs. Pankow said in an excited tone.
After a few more minutes of walking, the Eiffel tower was straight in front of them.
"Everyone turn around and smile," Mr. Addison yelled, pulling out his phone and taking a quick selfie.
The parents stood in line to order tickets while the rest of the group walked around the area.
"Rudy, can you believe we are in Paris?" Erin asked, admiring the beautiful landscape.
"I can't. It all seems so surreal." Rudy responded.
Mrs. Pankow signaled for the kids to come over to where they were, "Here is your ticket!" Mrs. Pankow started handing each person their own ticket.
The group made their way to the elevator and watched as the door opened. The entire elevator was made out of glass, which made Rudy extremely nervous. The families and even more people piled in the elevator, Rudy and Erin stood next to each other.
Erin noticed that Rudy tensed up as the elevator went up, "Still scared of heights?"
Rudy chucked a little, "Uh, haha, yeah. The glass floors aren't really helping much either."
Erin grabbed his hand innocently and smiled, "Then just don't look down,"
Rudy let out a small laugh, "Oh, really? Didn't think of that one."
Erin continued to hold Rudy's hand, squeezing it every now and then, as the elevator continued to ascend into the sky. Once the elevator reached the top floor of the tower, the families instantly went to take pictures.
"Aw, look!" Mrs. Addison said, "That sign says the City of Love." Mrs. Addison pointed to a pink sign in the distance with hearts around it.
"Aw, that's so cute." Mrs. Pankow agreed.
"Hey, Erin! Can you take a picture of your father and me?" Mrs. Addison asked, handing Erin her phone.
"Ooh! Us too, please!" Mrs. Pankow asked.
After taking pictures of the parents, Erin noticed that Rudy stayed as far away from the edge as possible, while the rest of his family, kept looking over the edge, so she stood back there with him.
"I bet this is like your worst nightmare being up this high," Erin joked.
"Yeah, something like that." Rudy said, obviously trying to ignore the fact that he was thousands of feet in the air with nothing but an old piece of metal keeping him from falling to his doom.
The parents wanted to capture every moment, noticed that Rudy and Erin were standing together.
"Hey! Erin and Ru, smile!" Mr. Pankow stated.
Rudy wrapped his arm around Erin as she leaned in for the picture.
"Aw, you two are so cute together!" Mrs. Addison said not realizing the implications behind that statement.
"Can you send that to me, Uncle Andy?" Erin asked.
"Yeah, of course!" Mr. Pankow responded.
The family took pictures up there for about thirty more minutes before they decided to head back to explore Paris.
The two families spent the rest of the day walking around and eating all the food they could consume. It was getting was about four-thirty in the afternoon, so the families decided to go back to the boat.
"Anyone want the last Croissant?" Dylan asked, opening the white paper bag they had acquired from a French bakery.
"I think if I eat one more Croissant, I might explode," Rudy complained, grabbing his stomach.
"Oh, hey, Uncle Andy, can you send me those pictures from earlier before we lose cell service?" Erin asked.
"Yeah, sure." Mr. Pankow responded, texting the pictures to Erin.
Erin's phone buzzed, signaling she had received the pictures from Mr. Pankow. But right beneath that notification was also a five misread text messages from Jairus. She could feel as her face immediately turned pale. She was too scared to open it, afraid of what insults he would have to throw at her this time.
Rudy noticing Erin's change in demeanor, asked, "Hey, is everything alright?"
"Uh, um, yeah, I'm fine. Just a long day, I guess." Erin lied.
