Cute Short Stories

You could stay

He said he would be a bit late... I needed to stop worrying that he was just going to stand me up in the middle of the mysterious city of my dreams. I kept fidgeting on the spot as I was waiting for him at Gare du Nord, the train station in the 10th district of Paris. I was finally here and I could feel my heart swell at me being here just a week before my 20th birthday. I was staying in France for a year as part of a language program,  a rash decision on my part since my French skills were notoriously below average. But with the pandemic on a roll for the third year now, I thought I had to take a chance like this when it presented itself. With my mask on and my fidgety hands in the pockets of my black coat, I wandered in the train station waiting for him.

Five minutes after, my phone rang. I picked it up but didn't recognize the number. I frowned as I accepted the call and answered with an unsure hello.

"Allô." The gruff heavily accented voice replied back. It had been almost two years since I last heard his voice so it took me by surprise. "Um, where are you?"

"Hi, I'm at the entrance of the Gare." I replied, heart beating in my throat. Get it together girl.

"There are 3 entrances at the Gare that I can think of, so something more descriptive would be nice." He chuckled.

I smiled as I tried to list everything I could see around me.

"And what are you wearing?" He asked, my cheeks blushing for a second as I answered: black coat, red chemise and blue high waisted jeans.

"Anything else?" I asked jokingly.

"For now, no. I see you." As he said that I lifted my head, watching him approaching from the other side and then shifted my gaze. Be still my heart he looked as handsome as I remembered. A blue shirt clung to his very fit upper body, making his deep blue eyes pop. His hair was a bit longer on the top as it stayed in dark blonde waves, a little chunk falling on his right eyebrow. I was surprised as he came right in front of me, eyes bright and looking around. He wasn't holding my gaze.

"I am sorry I was late." He says as my eyes meet his. I wanted to hug him, but he wasn't making a move, to either hug me or kiss my cheek as the famous French greeting 'La bise' suggests. Was he still upset with me?

"Well I was late first so I'll forgive you this time." I joked smiling, even though you couldn't tell from the mask. His eyebrows furrowed in response.

I would admit, I was devastated when we stopped talking. It just wasn't working for us, trying to blossom a romance when you had only spent 2 days in each other's company. The situation got even worse when plans fell through for me to visit Paris. We were both in a bad place at the time and left things horribly. I would expect however for him to have left that behind as it was about 2 years ago. It was just not the right time and the right situation.

"Bon, bienvenue à Paris." He said. "I'm afraid you won't find it as perfect as in the movies, but it is a charming city."

"Hope so." I smiled looking forward to live out my hopeless romantic dream. And from the coldness of his actions, it was becoming more and more hopeless by the minute.

"How is the program?" He asks as we make our way from the Gare up to a nice looking street.

"So far so good but I've only had a week of classes."

He nods as he starts walking, me following his lead.

"This area... is not the best." He mentioned.

At that I look around noticing the numerous police motorbikes and the armed forces around.

"Wow that's intense. Why so many cops?"