The Girl of The Sun

twenty

My things are pretty much unpacked, I have my bed spread and room decor all layed out. Our rooms come with a nice closet, a vanity and a desk. I get ready for the first day of touring the city, which we meet at the front of the campus at 8:00am. I decide to wear my favorite lavender floral mini skirt, a white cami top and my favorite jean jacket. I give both my parents a call before I leave, telling them how much I love Paris already and I can't wait for them to see it once they're able to come and visit me. I give Chai a kiss on the head, grab my black strap purse and run out the door. Amala, Harper, and I sit on the tour bus together at the upper deck. For a summer morning, it's a little chilly outside and as the wind blows, chills run up my arms and legs. I have a disposable camera with me, ready to take as much pictures as possible. Today, we're touring the Louvre Museum, the Eiffel Tower and the Luxembourg Gardens.

The first stop is the Louvre. Architecture at its finest, the pyramid shaped greenhouse left me in awe. We walk into the building where we're given museum passes on a lanyard to wear around our necks. We approach the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace; how bright white they still are, like they were made yesterday almost. The girls and I walk towards the Liberty Leading the People and The Raft of Medusa, which seemed to be the most powerful to me. I always wondered why they made Medusa look bad, I understood her. People get upset when you don't tell them about your story, if you don't come out and say something right away, then they accuse you of lying when you do. The world is so quick to turn against women, for anything. This world is terrifying if you're female, and I want to create a world where it's perfectly okay to just walk out in the middle of the night instead of worrying you might not come home. We women deserve better, even the ones in stories. Then there was the Mona Lisa. A huge swarm of people surrounded her, all of us squeezed our way in, and as I get closer the clearer it gets. It's weird to go from seeing this in pictures to looking at it in real life, it's so beautiful.

We head into the tour bus and go to the Eiffel tower, where in front of it is this long grass field. We all take pictures of each other to post on our Instagrams and I take about a million on my disposable camera. We take the elevator up to the top of the tower, as it looks over the city, I feel as if I am on top of the world, this is the finest place to be at right now. I pull out my compact mirror and reapply my natural brown lipstick, feeling classy and womanly while doing so. The tour guide/teacher passes around lunch in these cute red plaid pouches, that carry an apple, a tomato and mozzarella panini, and apple juice in a glass bottle. Amala, Harper, and the girls we met last night eat right next to me, all of us get along so well, my bonds with them are already so strong. But I get a little sad, I wish Estrella and Mariah could see this, I wanted to share this once in a lifetime moment with them too.

     Finally, the Luxembourg Gardens. The outside makes me feel so sophisticated, like I should have a silk hair scarf around my hair. A tall white statue sits in the front, it's surrounded by bright green grass and a melting pot of flowers. We wonder off into our own groups, once again. Us girls all poke fun with one another and observe all of the different flowers we haven't seen before.

A group of boys about our age pass us by right across from us, as we all gawk at them for how undeniably handsome they all are, they're all dressed so professionally, they must be from wealthy families. One however oddly has a familiar face, like i've seen him before but don't know where, deja vu I'm assuming. A few of the boys stop and talk to Cher, Emily, and Harper, so I decide to wonder off. I'm walking towards a different part of the garden, when I notice someone about 10 feet across from me, walking to the same place I was. We both look at each other, causing my cheeks to turn a bright pink. He's a gorgeous young man, he's fit too, I can see his muscles appear through his rolled up sleeves of his white dress shirt. He smiles at me, his tongue pressing the side of cheek. I walk a little faster, and he still follows. A long wedge of bushes and flowers comes between us, but through the openings I can still see his face. It's chiseled and defined, his short dirty blonde hair so fluffy and soft, I just want to run my fingers through it. I stop at a large opening of the bushes, he stops too, as we look at each other in the eyes, my heart and stomach is filled with butterflies that came from him, not from the garden. I smile, exposing my teeth, and turning my head back slightly to laugh.

"Are you following me sir?"

"Maybe, I just wanted to look at the most beautiful flower here." His deep British accent makes my knees weak.

"Oh really, and which one is that exactly?" I cross my arms and smirk.

"I'm looking at her." I'm hardcore blushing at this point, it's so noticeable. I can't quite remember who he is, until I notice the gold watch around his wrist. It's the Beau Fleur, the boy who bought me the ring on the cruise ship last summer, that I'm still wearing today.

  "Do you remember me?" I ask while playing with the ring.

"How could I forget a girl like you?— You look ravishing Fabiana Dove, I must say my breath was taken when I first saw you, I thought I was dreaming. I was a bit worried I would never see you again."

"Well that's very sweet of you Beau, you look great yourself. How've you been?" We meet at the end of the almost never ending bush, and walk along the garden together, very close.

"I'm doing pretty well, I've been here visiting the home in Paris and have been with some friends today. How about you? What brings you to Paris?"

"Well I go to the Fashion Institute of Paris, technically I live here now." Beau's eyes light up, we both stop where we're at.

"What happened to your boyfriend?"

"We're no longer together, it's been a while since we've been broken up. I'm looking to start over, now that I'm here. I'm ready to move on." Beau takes my hand up to his mouth and kisses it, causing my knees to shake a little.

"Well how about I show you more around France. Once your tour is over, I'll take you with me. I have a lot I can show you." The tension between us is so strong, I'm sure other people around can feel it too.

"I would love that, my tour will be over this Friday. Next week I'm completely available. I'll just be hanging out in my dorm until the semester officially starts in the fall."

"Perfect. So, fashion school huh?" We continue waking along the garden for what seems like hours. We also stop at a flower stand, he talks to the seller in french, making him look even more attractive, any bilingual man can get any lady he wants. He buys me a bouquet of white roses, the fragrance of them is so delicate. I check the time and it's time to meet back on the tour bus.

"I wish I could stay with you longer, but I must get back to the dorm. Here's my number."  I hand him a ripped old book receipt from my purse and wrote my number on it. He grabs my hands.

"Come to dinner with me tomorrow night. I'll pick you up at about eight o' clock. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," I stand on my tip toes and kiss him on the cheek, " I'll see you tomorrow, thank you."

"I get onto the bus and before I walk in, I look back, and there's Beau smiling back at me, with his hands in his pockets. I'm blushing right back as I hold the bouquet up until my eyes. I can see how this looks dangerous, but I have a safe feeling about him. One that makes me feel all sweet and hot at the same time. I don't know if it's the little things he does or the way he looks so deeply into me but I would lie if I said I wasn't attracted to him, something about him made me want to pull closer and closer.