The Photographer - h.s

Paris

Vic

"It's really not a big deal, you probably won't even need it." Harry said as he leaned back in his seat.

"But what if I do? And this my excuse to learn something new, even if it is just the bare minimum." I fought back and raised my eyebrow. We were on our way to Paris for the next show in 2 days, and  determined to learn some French, even just a couple phrases. Harry likes to show off because he knows how to hold a conversation in French and he thinks it's so funny watching me get frustrated over the simplest phrases.

"We're only in France for a day, it took me years to learn enough of the language to talk to people, I also had Liam helping me when I was learning." He said and I shook my head and looked back to my phone reading the foreign words to myself. We were traveling on a large bus but the inside looked more like a mobile home. There was a sitting area, a small kitchen, and beds that were tucked into the walls with black curtains in front of them, that all sat on top of each other, 3 on each side of the small hallway. I sat on one side of a small booth with cushioned benches long enough to seat two people on each side, and a small table sat between Harry and I.

"Then help me." I stated and placed my phone down on the table and gave him a smug expression. "Come on, just record me reading this out loud so I can at least hear what I sound like." I pushed and he sighed and nodded, sitting up straight and pulling his phone out and placing it on the table in front of him.

"Okay, but if it's bad and embarrassing... I'm keeping it." He said as he pressed record on his phone and gave me a nod to start.

"Coucou, tu dors? Oh, j'suis désolée." I looked at him and he had an amused smirk on his face and he started to chuckle. "Bah non
Nan, c'est pas marrant" I replied, proud of myself for being able to discourage him in this new language.

"Okay, continue." He said he and leaned back against the back of the bench. I took a deep breath and kept eye contact with him as I went on.

"Ouais, t'es à la plage et maintenant..." I trailed off for a moment... I don't think that was right, and his giggling didn't make me feel any more confident about what I said. I huffed and raised my eyebrow at him.

"You just told me I was at the beach..." he said and we both started laughing as I shook my head.

"Parfait, allez." I smiled dramatically and he stopped the recording on his phone. "So... maybe I don't need French." I added and he laughed loudly shaking his head.

"I'll do all the talking for you when we go to McDonald's." He said through his laughter, referring to our conversation after his show last night about how different fast food places are in different countries. I told him we needed to go to McDonald's in all the different places we go so we can put all of them to the test.

"So, how's the French coming along? parfaitement j'espère." Mitch said as he took a seat across from me, next to Harry. I sighed loudly and placed my elbow on the table and rested my head on my hand and shook my head.

"I'm giving up." I stated simply and Harry chuckled as Mitch shook his head.

"vous abandonnez? après 1 jour?" Mitch replied and I just shrugged. What on earth did he just say?

"See, that's the problem, I have no idea what the fuck you just said." I said and the two of them began to laugh.

"You're giving up? After only trying for one day?" I nodded and pressed my lips together.

"Yeah, I've put in a very hopeful, 12 hours in this and I've decided that it's just not worth it, not when the two of you are fluent."