Isla and the Happily Ever After (8 page)

“Well…be careful.” It sounds so lame. “I mean, the leaves haven’t even changed, and you wouldn’t want to miss that. Though they
are
prettier in New York—”

“I’ll be careful.” His voice is deliberate. He smiles.

I fiddle with a curl in my hair.

Two desks away, Emily Middlestone leans over. She’s wearing a pair of designer glasses that I’m sure are fake. “You know, that’d be really stupid if you got kicked out in your last year of school.”

Josh’s expression wipes blank. “Yeah, Emily. That
would
be stupid.”

Professeur Cole bursts into the room and grinds to a halt. “Am I late?” she asks Josh.

He shakes his head once. “Nope.”

“Well. How fortunate that you have finally learned how to tell the time.” But her smile is sly. She marches up to her podium, and I take my seat.

The one directly across from Josh.

We glance at each other with more openness throughout the week, but there’s still a shyness between us, an unwillingness to look or talk for too long. Our relationship has yet to be solidified. Anticipation – of
something
– hovers in the air. At night, it takes me hours to fall asleep. I place the beer stein on top of my mini-fridge, beside my bed, so that I can see it from my pillow. Proof that he’s thinking about me, too.

He doesn’t visit my room. His afternoon detention runs until dinner, and he still isn’t eating in the cafeteria. And then, after dinner, opposite-sex visitation hours are over. He’s cut back on rule breaking, and apparently that’s one he’s not willing to risk any more. So I continue my usual schedule of homework and studying, and I try to bite back the analysing. Kurt has been giving me dirty looks.

On Thursday, before government, Josh removes a pen from between his teeth. “So. Saturday. I’m out of detention at eighteen hours. Anytime you want to meet after that…”

Paris runs on a twenty-four-hour clock. Eighteen hours is six p.m. My stomach butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. “Yeah?”

He points the pen at me. “You know that because you asked me out, you’re the one who has to pick the place, right?”

Throat. Dry.

Dry throat.

All of the dryness in my throat.

Josh places the pen back between his teeth and then immediately takes it out again. “Whatever you suggest.” He grins. “I’ll say yes. You’ll definitely get a yes. If that helps.”

My response is another hot blush.

The rest of my school week is spent in freak-out mode, a situation that leaves me with a new-found respect for guys. Sébastien planned and organized most of our dates. It’s an alarmingly high-pressure job. Kurt reminds me that it’ll be Nuit Blanche. White Night. A night that never grows dark. The first Saturday of every October, museums and galleries open their doors for free until dawn. The tradition started in Saint Petersburg, Russia, travelled here, and has continued to spread around the world. But – even speaking as someone used to its decadence – there’s still no greater city than Paris for an all-night festival.

I’m not the only one watching the clock. At precisely
vingt et une heures
– just as the numbers on my phone tick from 20:59 to 21:00 – I hear a sound that’s instantly recognizable: two light knocks, down low. My nerve endings jolt. Yesterday, I told Josh
when
to arrive but not
where
we’re going. Mainly because I hadn’t figured it out yet.

Three years of anxiety flood throughout my body. What if I’m wrong? What if this isn’t what I’ve always wanted?

What if it is?

I open the door.

Josh is knee-bucklingly sexy. It’s the first cool night of autumn, and he’s dressed in a striking wool coat. The collar is turned up in that self-confident yet unkempt way that only artists can pull off. I’ve seen him wear this coat before, this beautiful going-on-a-date coat, but this is the first time that he has worn this coat for
me.

“Youlookamazing.”

But the words tumble from his lips, not mine.

I’m wearing a swishy dress, and my hair is in neat, pretty waves. My mouth is painted red. Maman once told me to place the boldest colour where I want people to look. I bite my bottom lip. “Thanks. You do, too.”

Josh tucks his hands into his pockets. His shoulders rise nervously.

My breathing is shallow. Like I can’t get enough oxygen. “So I thought we’d go to the Pompidou? They have an exhibition of this weird photographer from Finland. He’s supposed to be totally nuts, and I thought it might be interesting, but I don’t know, maybe that’s stupid, we can do something else if you want—”

“No.”

Blood rises to my cheeks. “No?”

“I meant we should go. That sounds cool.”

“Oh.” I swallow the goose egg that’s been stuck in my throat. “Okay. Good.”

There’s a long pause. Josh takes an exaggerated step to the side. “Unfortunately, you
will
have to leave your room.”

I laugh, and it sounds like I’ve been sucking helium. “Right. Been a while since I’ve been on one of these. A date. I forgot how they worked.” I close the door behind me, internally exploding with humiliation. We’re only two steps down the hall before my door jack-in-the-boxes back open.

Josh slams it shut with a move that’s both calculated and knowing. “Oh, man. It really is too bad that some asshole broke your lock.”

Finally, I laugh. Genuine and normal sounding. And then my date says the best thing that he could possibly say: “It’s okay. I haven’t been on one of these in a while either.”

My smile triples in size.

Josh grins. “Just give me your hand.”

“W–what?”

“Your hand,” he repeats. “Give it to me.”

I extend my shaking right hand. And – in a moment that is a hundred dreams come true – Joshua Wasserstein laces his fingers through mine. A staggering shock of energy shoots straight into my veins. Straight into my heart.

“There,” he says. “I’ve been waiting a long time to do that.”

Not nearly as long as I’ve been waiting.

Chapter nine

The Centre Pompidou is the modern-art museum, a huge box of a building that looks as if it’s been turned inside out. Its inner structure is exposed and colour-coded: green pipes for plumbing; blue for heating and cooling; yellow for electricity; and red for safety. The bold primary colours clash with the noble grey elegance of the rest of the city. For some reason, that makes me like it even more.

I wouldn’t have minded the walk here – my sushi place is right around the corner, not to mention the Treehouse – but Josh took one look at my heels and led me straight to the nearest taxi stand. I
am
wearing my tallest pair. He’s still over half a foot taller than I am, but I know I can reach his lips if he tries. I hope he tries.

The museum’s lobby is silver metal and blinding neon. As we pass the information desk, Josh takes my hand again. Our palms are sweaty. It’s heaven. We ride the crowded escalators up, up, up beside a wall of steel and glass. The glittering streets of Paris stretch all the way to the horizon. We talk about the shiny little nothings we see – people and cars and cathedrals, even la Tour Eiffel – but it’s not that we don’t have anything meaningful to say. The feeling is that we have
everything
to say.

And where do you begin with everything?

We switch escalators from level four to five, and I ride backwards on the stair above him. Our eyes are level. We’re laughing, I’m not even sure why, and he’s holding both of my hands now, and – suddenly – he’s leaning in.

This is the moment.

Josh hesitates. He second-guesses himself and pulls back. I lean forward to say the timing is right, I’m ready, let’s do this thing, and his smile returns and our eyes are closing and his nose is bumping against mine and –
blip!

We jump. His pocket blips again.

“Sorry,” he says, flustered. “Sorry.” Our hands unclasp, and he pulls out his phone to silence it. And then he bursts into an unexpected laugh.

Everything inside of me is throbbing. “What is it?”

“He got a job.” Josh shakes his head. “He really got one.” He holds up the screen, and a snapshot of a guy with mussed hair and a polyester vest grins back at me. He’s giving the V sign, the English finger. It’s his best friend, Étienne St. Clair.

I smile, despite our thwarted kiss. “Where’s St. Clair going to school now?” For reasons unknown to me, Josh’s friend goes by his last name.

“California. Berkeley. He said he was getting a job at a movie theatre, but I didn’t believe him.” Josh shakes his head again as we grab the final escalator. “He’s never worked a day in his life.”

“Have you?” Because not many people who’ve been to our school have.

Josh frowns. He’s ashamed of his answer, and it comes out like a one-word confession. “No.”

“Me neither.” We both hold the guilt of privilege.

Josh glances at his phone again. I lean in and examine the picture closer. “Oof. That’s one seriously ugly uniform. Does anyone look good in maroon polyester?”

He cracks a smile.

The escalator ends. Josh types a quick reply, silences his phone, and returns it to his pocket. I wonder if he told St. Clair about our date. I wonder if I’m newsworthy.

We head towards the galleries, but the mob inside the top-floor restaurant gives us pause. The tables have been removed, and an army of svelte models in frizzy white wigs, white lipstick, and marionette circles of white blush are manoeuvring trays of champagne through the swarm of bodies. Josh turns to me and cocks his head. “Shall we?”

“Why, yes.” I respond with a matching twinkle. “I believe we shall.”

We slip inside, and he grabs two flutes as the first tray whizzes by. We’re the youngest people here, by far. It must be a private party. The clamour of excited voices and the outlandish, kaleidoscopic music make the room unusually loud for Paris. “It’s like New Year’s Eve in here,” I shout.

He bends down to shout back. “But not the real one. That glamorous, fake one you see in films. I always spend the real one watching television alone in my bedroom.”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Josh hands me a glass and nods towards one of the restaurant’s giant decorative-aluminium shells. We duck underneath it. The noise becomes somewhat muffled, and I raise my glass. “To the new year? Our new school year?”

He places a dramatic hand across his heart. “I’m sorry. But I can’t toast that place.”

I laugh. “Okay, how about…comics? Or Joann Sfar?”

“I propose a toast” – Josh raises his glass with mock gravitas – “to new
beginnings.
”

“To new beginnings.”

“
And
Joann Sfar.”

I laugh again. “And Joann Sfar.” Our glasses clink, and his eyes stay carefully fixed upon mine in the French tradition. My smile widens into a grin. “Ha! I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“You held eye contact with me. I’ve seen you pretend like you don’t know how things go around here, but you do know. I
knew
you knew. You’re too good of an observer.” I take a triumphant sip of champagne. The pristine fizz tickles the tip of my tongue, and my smile grows so enormous that he breaks into laughter.

Thank you, France, for allowing alcohol to be legal for teenagers.

Well, eighteen year olds. And we’re close enough.

Josh is amused. “How do you know I wasn’t looking at you simply because I
want
to look at you?”

“I’ll bet you speak French better than you let on, too. You never use it at school, but I bet you’re fluent. People can play dumb all they want, but they always give themselves away in actions. In the small moments, like that.”

The bubbles seem to go down the wrong hole. He coughs and sputters. “Play dumb?”

“I’m right, right? You’re fluent.”

Josh shakes his head. “Not all of us grew up in a half-French household.”

“But I’ll bet you’re still good.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Thankfully, he’s amused again.

“So why do you pretend not to know things?” My fingers play with the stem of my glass. “Or not to care?”

“I
don’t
care. About most things,” he adds.

“But why play dumb?”

He takes another sizable gulp of champagne. “You know, you ask really tough questions for a first date.”

A painful blush erupts across my face and neck. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I like girls who challenge me.”

“I didn’t mean to be challen—”

“You aren’t.”

I raise an eyebrow, and he laughs.

“Really,” he says. “I like smart girls.”

My blush deepens. I wonder if he knows that I’m the top student in our class. I never talk about it, because I don’t want people to judge me. But it’s true that his ex-girlfriend was smart, too. Rashmi was last year’s salutatorian.

Josh says something else, but the noise level in the restaurant has been increasing, and it’s finally reached its maximum volume. I shake my head. He tries again, but I still can’t hear him so he takes my hand. We down the rest of our drinks as we squeeze through the revellery. He plunks the empty glasses on a passing tray, leads me past a final throng of partygoers, and we emerge gasping and laughing into the hall.