It was a slow week.
That’s the best I could describe it.
Despite my vow to just forget about the situation unless Liam confronted me about it, the kiss was still on replay in my head and, more often than not, I would have a momentary lapse in time where I’d completely forget what I was doing and just kind of stare off into space questioning my purpose in life. My entire family noticed, but only James knew the actual reason and he had to kick me in the shin a few times at dinner to make me stop. I told my parents I was just groggy from my weird sleep schedule and that I was thinking about Paris, even if the only thing of Paris I was thinking about was Liam kissing me on the Eiffel Tower.
And then it was Saturday morning and we said goodbye to our little London home until October. Mom and Dad decided to stay behind, excluding a few sporadic visits while James filmed in France and Italy. It was kind of sad to leave yet another place I’ve grown accustomed to, but my fairly empty passport looked lovely with another pretty stamp.
The flight was short and pleasant enough, James being sure I was aware that Liam, Ava, and Gemma were coming on a later flight. He stressed on the ‘Liam’ part. Carson was on our flight though and, as usual, that left us an hour of fun and conversation.
“No, no, no, what you have to do, is if you ever become invisible, is go to a mime in Paris and then either attack them or dance with them or something, but the crowd will give that mime so much money because of how well he did. All because of your invisibility,” Carson said, making sure I understood the importance of invisibility even if it wasn’t my superpower of choice.
“Well, you can do that, but being invisible doesn’t appeal to me,” I told him, shrugging passively.
“How does it not appeal to you? It would be so fun!”
“As much fun as flying or shape-shifting or…” my mind went blank as I went through common superpowers that I found interesting.
“Flying? You can get on a plane.”
“But like, fly to the mall or something. I’m lazy. If I could just jump up and fly to the mall that would be so cool.”
“What if it’s raining?”
“Umbrella.”
“While you’re flying?” Carson tested.
“Wet suit?”
“Might weigh you down.”
“Well, then, I would… I’d… dang you Carson, I just want to fly, okay?” Carson laughed, putting his arm around my shoulder.
“Oh Cammie, you’re so cute when you don’t know any comebacks.”
“And you’re a flirt, get off,” I said, shoving his arm back into his lap.
“Hey now, that hurts. I’m a nice guy.”
“Yeah, too nice, Mister Dales.”
Carson made a face. “Mister Dales? I am not my father. Or grandfather. Ew, never call me that again.”
“As you wish, Mister Dales,” I repeated just to annoy him. Making fun of Carson was so much more fun than fretting about Liam.
“As you wish means I love you! Cam, I’m not ready for that commitment.”
“What?” I asked, ultimately confused.
“Haven’t you seen Princess Bride?”
“Maybe, a really long time ago, I don’t remember liking it very much.” Carson stared at me in disbelief and disgust.
“You didn’t like it? It’s a classic! It’s perfect!” He raved. “We are watching that on our day off. I’m getting everyone together and we are watching Princess Bride because it’s the best. James, don’t you think Princess Bride is an excellent film?” Carson leaned over me to look at James sitting across the aisle and James merely raised an eyebrow.
“I like Princess Bride. It’s the best kissing movie I’ve ever seen.” Carson appreciated that response, because he laughed, quickly fist-bumping James, but I didn’t get the joke or the reference.
The pilot announced we would be making our descent into Paris shortly and all of us snapped on our seat-belts.
Paris sounded so exciting for as long as I could remember. The shimmering Eiffel Tower, the intricately designed buildings, the dainty cafés were all contributing factors of how wonderful I imagined it. Then, on top of that, in nearly every movie ever people fall in love there, they get whisked off their feet by some Hottie McHotterson and everything is perfect.
And here I’m going to Paris after the most confusing event in my life happened and I highly doubted it was going to change in this city. I had already decided I wouldn’t be confronting Liam about it. If it was killing his conscious, then he could come to me and let me know what the heck that stupid kiss meant - if anything.
I slapped my head. Stop thinking about him. Stop thinking about the kiss. Just forget it ever happened. No person in their right mind could forget a kiss like that though and that was my issue.
“Did you just hit yourself?” I looked over to see Carson eyeing my carefully.
“What? No. I thought I felt… a bug.” Smooth, Cam, real smooth.
“You’re not a very good liar.”
“People rarely are.”
“I lie for a living. But seriously, Cam, why’d you hit yourself?”
“Just thinking really dumb stuff.” That is for sure.
“About… what exactly?” Carson was becoming too curious for his own good and I didn’t like it. The last thing I needed on top of Liam drama was a person who wasn’t James involved.
Suddenly, the plane jerked forward as we touched down and I thanked the heavens that it did. Carson gave me a look letting me know that that wasn’t the end of our conversation and I got a gut feeling that I wouldn’t be able to hold it in anymore if he was going to be so persistent. The plane taxied around the tarmac until it finally halted and we were allowed out of our seats to grab our things. Being at the front of the plane definitely was a perk because we were off in no less than five minutes. Before I could even turn out of the gate, a big, burly man roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me over.
“Ow! Let me go!” I snapped and, without thinking, turned and punched his hand that was still wrapped around my bicep.
The man laughed. He actually laughed.
“Camille Everett, right?” The man turned to face me and my eyes narrowed as I tried to remember where I saw him before.
“Hey, Ian, there you are!” James said, rounding the corner with Carson. What took them so long?
“Just had to catch your sister before she dove head first into paparazzi outside,” Ian told James and I remembered who he was.
“You’re the body guard that didn’t believe me when I said he was my brother!”
Ian laughed again. “Still spiteful from that?”
“No,” I grumbled although I definitely was.
“Your sister’s funny, James. She’s got spunk.”
“What, am I supposed to be all nice and polite when someone forcefully grabs my arm and pulls me over?”
“No, I guess not. Sorry, Camille, I just didn’t want you being blinded by cameras. Now, if you’ll all follow me, there’s a car out back. Your bags will be dropped off at the hotel” Ian said, beginning to walk down a different way. James heaved his giant duffle bag over his shoulder as Ian pushed the doors aside where I saw a giant black van or SUV type vehicle. It looked indestructible. As far as I knew, James, Carson, and I weren’t royalty. We loaded up into the car and Ian got in the front, immediately driving off.
In all those movies of Paris, you could see the Eiffel Tower from pretty much any spot within the city.
The movies lie. Big time.
The entire drive I couldn’t see it and it wasn’t like it was dark or something, it wasn’t even noon yet. Eventually I saw the little tip of the tower and I got so excited, I shook James awake.
“Are we there?” He croaked, rubbing his eyes.
“I saw the Eiffel Tower, James!” I said excitedly.
“Seen it,” he said, rolling back over to sleep.
“Buzz kill.” I saw him grin and then settle back in. “Ian, can we go to the Eiffel Tower? I want to see it up close.”
“Sorry Camille, we have to get these superstars here to the hotel and then straight on to shooting.”
“And what am I supposed to do? James, James what am I doing while you’re shooting?” He groaned, realizing I wasn’t going to let him go back to sleep.
“You can chill at the hotel. Maybe you could come to set today, but I don’t know what we’re doing. We seriously might just be going through things and familiarizing ourselves with stuff.”
“Can I have a driver and go explore Paris?” I asked, putting on my best hopeful smile.
“You can explore Paris when we go film in cool places. Do you really want to go to all the sights alone?”
“I suggest you don’t, Cammie, unless you happen to be fluent in French or know what you’re doing,” Carson told me.
“I took three years of french, plus a year of spanish if that does me any good,” I said, shrugging.
“Three years of french is not fluent,” James told me.
“Just chill at the set for today, Cam. No need to be in any rush. We’re doing some indoor filming today, just real casual and then, when you aren’t jet lagged, we’ll go explore Paris. Okay?”
I slumped in my seat, not wanting to give in, but knowing I probably should, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Fine.”
“Perfect. I’m pretty sure Liam, Ava, and Gemma are going straight to set when they land,” Ian said and I felt my stomach drop. I had forgotten that going to set meant Liam. My eyes widened as I looked towards James and he gave me a supposedly reassuring look that meant, essentially, ‘get over yourself.’
I could do this. Sure. No problem. Liam was the same ol’ guy that I’ve gotten to know over these past few months, nothing has changed. We didn’t kiss and everything was going to be completely okay.
The van pulled up to the hotel and we checked in, quickly dumping our things in the room, barely taking a second to freshen up. James didn’t even bother. He knew he’d get cleaned up at set more or less.
“Cam-ee-uh Alex-awn-drah hurry up!” He drawled in a really bad French accent, waiting rather impatiently by the door.
“Yes master!” I called back sarcastically as I wiped my hands on the towel. If I could pee as fast as a boy, I swear, life would be so much better. I hurried out of the bathroom, picking up my purse and stuffing it with my Monster, sketchbook, and pass.
“Cam, are you going to be okay today?” I turned to see James looking much less impatient and suddenly more concerned. He was referring to me seeing Liam and I knew what he meant. I hadn’t seen him since the kiss and that was a week ago.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I’m pushing it to the back of my mind and I’m going to enjoy Paris.” Maybe if I sounded confident I wouldn’t be as worried as I was.
James nodded and then gestured for me to walk out. Soon we were in the van with Carson and Ian, snapping pictures as we passed century old buildings. Every now and then I’d catch a glimpse of a monument, but it was never enough for me to get overly excited.
“We’re here,” Ian announced from the front seat. I looked out to see a building, absolutely stunning with the slightly yellowed exterior, surrounded my molding and intricate designs. Ah, yes, I think I’d like Paris very much so. We got out of the van and made our way into the building to find the entire bottom floor full of lights and tables and racks of clothing. My body went into sensory overload as I tried to take in the amount of people crammed into such a tight space.
“Cam!” I turned and saw Finch coming straight towards me and my face instantly lit up.
“Lisa!”
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you tired at all?” She asked me.
“Not at all, it was only an hour long flight. No big deal,” I said.
“Well, you can follow me. I’ll take you upstairs.” I followed Finch without a question as James and Carson disappeared from view in the makeup room and I was in the mood for some coffee.
“I swear, Cam, you have a sixth sense for coffee,” Finch mused as I made a beeline for the table holding all my coffee needs.
“It’s a drug, I swear,” I said, pouring my cup and adding sugar and cream.
“Come on, I’ll show you where you can sit and be out of the way.” I scuttled beside Finch, taking in the grand room we were in. This building looked like such a tiny apartment from outside, I was so surprised to see how much room there actually was. I was directed to a corner with two fold up chairs and a little TV sat upon a table.
“It’s like you know I’m coming or something,” I said.
“Because we do. Now, I have to go make sure everyone else is in order. You know where the coffee is, the toilet is down that hallway to the right. Anything else, just yell at someone,” Finch told me and I laughed.
“Will do, thanks Lisa!” She fluttered away to complete what ever her duties were – I don’t think anyone quite new still – as I pulled out my Monster, deciding I better go over my pictures from the past few weeks. I should have brought my laptop and uploaded the photos, my memory card was getting way too full. I sorted through my photos, scrutinizing each one, attempting to not make the mistake of deleting one that I actually liked. Curse this tiny screen, I couldn’t make out the subtle differences well enough.
“Let’s go! I want to get this scene done today!” I heard the director yell from downstairs and I was so glad it wasn’t me he was yelling at. I could hear footsteps approaching and I glanced up to see the director and some of the crew making their way in the room. James and Carson were right behind, dressed in suits and ties and I was dreadfully curious as to what their scene was going to be today.
“Oh hey, Cam!” I turned and saw Ava walk in wearing a cocktail dress, her hair styled appropriately
“Hey! I thought you were on a later flight?” I asked and she nodded.
“Yeah, we were, but it was a bit early. Anyway, we have to go get staged.” She did a quick wave and I could feel my heart speeding up inside my chest. Stop it, why are you freaking out? Stop.
Then I saw Gemma bound in the room, hair glowing behind her and I found myself sulking. She was so pretty and it just wasn’t fair.
“Gemma, you forgot your coat downstairs,” a voice called and I felt my entire body clench as the footsteps came closer.
Liam rounded the corner and I couldn’t breathe again. My eyes were locked on the back of his head as he didn’t notice me and I tried to hide behind my hair and camera.
I couldn’t do this. Nope. Big problem. Liam wasn’t the same ol’ guy that I’ve gotten to know over these past few months, everything has changed. We definitely kissed and nothing was going to be completely okay.
------------------------------------------
Well that was barely over a week so yay me!
Camille is feeling a little annnxxiiiooouuuusssss. Oh the drama.
Hope you liked it and if you did, let me know with a vote or comment :) And if you didn't, remember I'm always open to hearing how I can approve.
Have a fabulous day and stay classy,
-Kate