Better by Carey Heywood

Author:Carey Heywood [Heywood, Carey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-02-17T10:00:00+00:00

I sleep most of the way to Paris. I awake to Adam shaking my shoulder. I blink my eyes open and glance around. We’re in a parking garage. When I don’t immediately move to get out of the car, Adam shakes my shoulder again.

“Mmmkay,” I grumble, getting out.

“It’s Paris. Aren’t you excited?”

I raise one arm above my head and stretch. “There’s only so much excitement I can muster within five minutes of waking up.”

He opens the trunk and pulls out his camera case. “Should we go to a café first?”

I have always wanted to sit at a sidewalk café in Paris with a coffee and some french bread. I grin as I nod, already feeling more awake.

As we walk out of the underground parking lot, my jaw drops. In front of us is the Arc de Triomphe. I can see people standing around and underneath it, but it’s in the center of a busy roundabout.

“How do we get over there?” I ask, eyeing the traffic.

He laughs and points to what looks like an underground subway entrance. “No need to run across the street. There’s a tunnel.”

“What’s that line for?” I ask, looking at the swell of people queued up for something.

“To stand on top.”

My mouth drops. “No way! I didn’t know you could do that.”

Our flight to Africa leaves in the morning. We decided ahead of time that we would skip some things if the lines were long.

I pout and look back at the line. I didn’t know you could stand on top of the Arc de Triomphe.

When we exit the tunnel, we are right under it. From up close, the stonework is amazing.

“What are all the names for?” I ask, tilting my head and shading my eyes from the sun.

“To commemorate those who fought in a battle.”

I’m not hip on French history. “Which one?”

He pauses his camera raised just halfway to his face before he shrugs. “Not sure.”

I laugh and follow him as he takes shot after shot. I pull out my phone and take a couple for myself.

“Did you want to go up top?”

I shake my head. “The line is too long. Since we parked near here, can we check it out again before we head to the hotel?”

“Sure.”

We go back into the tunnel and take the underground pathway to the other side of the street, away from where we came, and we sit down at a sidewalk café.

“Once the food is out, will you take my picture?”

Adam nods as he glances at the menu. The tables are tiny and set stadium-style, facing the sidewalk. After he reads the menu to me, I tell him what I’d like, and he orders.

Once our food comes, he has to push our table forward and slide past me to take my picture. I feel very Parisian once I put my sunglasses on and sip my coffee for the picture.

As appealing as it would be, we don’t linger. There are too many things to see. We have tickets for a double-decker red tour bus that we can hop on and off of at each of its stops.

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