Alana's POV
A 12 hour flight and a couple of naps later, we made it to Paris at around 4 p.m. Shawn and I got settled into the hotel and decided to book a reservation at a restaurant for an early dinner. I looked at my outfit in the mirror after taking a shower and curling my hair. I was wearing a black long-sleeved bodysuit, on top of that, a baby pink skirt, grey knee-high socks, and black classic vans.
Shawn came in, buttoning up his shirt. He was wearing a white button-up shirt tucked into a pair of black pants. He looked up at me, pausing. "Wow"
I looked at him, smirking. "What?"
"You look. Wow"
I went up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Not so bad yourself, handsome" He leaned in, giving me a small kiss, smiling into it. He pulled away, looking at his watch then showed it to me. "It's almost time for dinner. Let's go"
Shawn and I were in a taxi heading to our next location. I was looking outside the window when we stopped in front of the Eiffel Tower. Shawn tipped the driver and we stepped out of the taxi. I looked over at him as he grabbed my hand. "The Eiffel Tower? We're eating here?"
He smiled. Pointing near the top of the tower with his pointer finger. "Right there" We went up an elevator that took us to a restaurant filled with people. We went up to the receptionist giving them the name of our reservation.
The lady looked at her computer, until she said, with a thick French accent, "Ah! Reservation. 2 for Mendes" She grabbed two menus then led us to a private room that had a large view of the city. "Your waiter will be right with you"
Shawn pulled out the chair for me and I sat down, he went to sit across from me. I looked at him in awe. "This is. You didn't have to do all this"
"Hey! Be quiet. We're only in the 'City of Love' once in a while. We should do what we do best"
"And what is that?"
"Be in love" I smiled at this, giving him a soft grin. We spent the next couple of minutes deciding what to eat, then a waitress came over to our room. "Bonjour! What would you like to have?"
Shawn went first, ordering a chicken dish and a some water. "And for you, mademoiselle?" The waitress asked.
"Je voudrais le plat de boeuf et limonade" I said. The waitress looked at me, surprised. Shawn did also.
The waitress spoke up. "Oh! Tu parle français?"
"Un petit peu. J'ai étudié le français pendant quatre ans au lycée"
"Votre français est très bon"
"Merci!"
"I will get you two your meals in a little bit"
Shawn looked at me, patting my hand across the table. "You speak French?"
"Yeah. A little bit"
"What did you say to her?"
"I told her I wanted the beef dish and lemonade. Then she asked me if I spoke French. I told her a little and that I studied it in high school for four years. Then she told me my French was very good"
"I'm amazed. The only thing I ever learned during French in high school was if I could go to the bathroom"
I chuckled. "That phrase can come in very handy"
"Yes it can" He said, giving me one of his signature smiles.
Our food came about twenty minutes later and we devoured it like we've never eaten food in our lives. Every single bite eaten was like melted butter, exceptional.
The sun was starting to set and Shawn and I were looking out at the view of the city. He faced my way in his seat, looking at me as I looked at the view.
"Alana"
"Hmmm?" I asked, looking at him.
"I wanted to give you something. It feels as if our relationship is going really fast but I think it's going at a healthy pace. So, I wanted to give this to you" He pulled a small box, big enough for a ring, holding it out to me in his hand, then opening it. I ring, with a medium sized diamond in the middle, sparkling at me. I looked at the ring, then to Shawn.
"What is this, exactly?"
"A ring" He said, slowly.
"I don't understand. Are you proposing?" I gave him a confused look.
Shawn's eyes widened as I said this. "Oh! No. I should have been more clear" He put the box down, grabbing both of my hands in his. "It's a promise ring. To symbolize that no matter how far we are from each other or how hard things get, we'll still end up together in the end"
"Wow. I'm. Speechless. Obviously I say yes but. That ring. It must have cost you a fortune"
"I'm going to tell you something that someone wise once said to me. 'Nothing has a price when it comes to you'. Can you guess who said that?"
I grinned. "Me"
"Alright then. Put it on!" He took the box and took out the ring, holding my left hand in his and slipping the ring onto my ring finger. It fit like a glove.
"A perfect fit" He smiled.
"Where. How did you know my ring size?"
"What can I say? I'm talented"
"Did you really guess?"
"No. I asked Elle"
I laughed. "Elle will always be our savior. You still have yet to meet her, by the way"
"Yes I do. I need to thank her in person for everything"
I held up my hand, watching as the ring sparkled in the sun. "Do you like it?"
"I love it! Thank you"
"Look at the inner part of the ring"
I slipped it off, bring the ring closer so I could see. Engraved into the silver band was 7/11/2019.
"July 11th? The day we met" I smiled at him.
He smiled back at me and stood up, taking my hand. I stood up, putting my hands around his neck, his on my waist, as we began to sway to absolute silence. "I almost forgot one more thing" Shawn spoke up. "In movies, when guys give girls promise rings, the guy usually adds 'never take it off' as one of the promises. We're going to add that in"
I chuckled. "Gosh, I love you"
"I love you more"
As if we were in a movie, a group of people with violins and an assortment of other instruments came in and provided us with music to sway to.
"Did you request this?" I asked.
"Nope" He said as he continued to dance with me.
The lyric, 'sunrise with you on my chest', became a reality as Shawn and I laid in bed, watching the sun rise. The view of the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room was stunning, especially during the night when all the lights were sparkling.
"Shawn?"
"Yes honey?"
"Thank you for being in that arena when I forgot my phone"
"Of course. Something inside me told me to stay a little while and enjoy the quietness of the arena. I'm glad I went with it"
"Maybe it's fate?"
"Maybe. Either way, you're in my arms right now and that's the only thing that matters to me" I lifted my head from his chest, leaning in for a kiss. Deep into the kiss, my phone started ringing on my nightstand. I looked over at it then at Shawn.
"It's my MOM!"
"Your mom? Answer it!"
"She wants to FaceTime" After saying this, his eyes widened and we started scrambling. "Here wear this!" He said, tossing me his red hoodie. I put it on, grabbing my phone from the charger. I watched as he struggled to put on his pants.
"You don't need pants. She's not going to see it! Just put on a shirt or something!" He put on a white shirt on the floor and sat next to me on the bed. By the time we finished struggling, the call ended so I had to call her back.
It rung for a bit but she finally answered. "Hi sweetie! Hi Shawn!"
"Hi" We both said, smiling.
"Are you two alright? Your hairs are a mess" I looked at the little box on my phone screen and saw that our hairs were disheveled.
"Oh!" Shawn said, looking towards me. "We just woke up. It's currently six in the morning over here"
"Ahhh. That makes sense. Oh. Sweetie. What's that on your neck over there?" Having no idea what she was talking about, I turned over to Shawn so he could check. He looked at my neck and in his eyes, you could see something was wrong but he was not showing any facial expression.
"Hm. Alana. It um. Seems like you have a rash"
"A rash?"
"Yeah it must be the air quality over here. Very polluted"
"Oh" My mom said. "Take better care of yourself, alright? I'll talk to you in a little. Your father is asking me to order pizza for dinner"
"Alright, mom" Shawn and I both said goodbye and I put the phone down back on the nightstand.
"A rash?" My eyes widened. "Did you give me a hickey?"
"Mmm. Maybe. Just a little one" Shawn said, unconvincingly.
I got up from the bed, going up to the mirror, and looked at my neck. A concerning portion of my neck was a dark red/ purple color. I turned around, facing the bed. "A little one?!"
"Uh huh" He nodded his head.
"Shawn Peter Raul Mendes. How the heck am I going to cover this?" I walked over to the bed, going under the covers.
"I know the perfect solution"
"And what is that?"
He went over me, putting both of his arms by the sides of my body, and leaned in, kissing the part of my neck that wasn't marked.
"Oh. My" I tried rolling away before he could make it worse but he just started tickling me. The rest of the day was spent like this. In each others arms, laughing, watching movies, and eating delicious food.