Paris Amour

Manel Belkacem-Boussaid

Mrs.Belden

Honors English 1

5 October 2014

Paris Amour

I wake up and I feel like my neck is broken. I look around to see where I am. There are a lot of people around me and my mom is next to me. I remember that I am on a plane and that we are going to Paris, France. “ Adele, we are twenty minutes away from landing!” My mom says, with a huge grin on her face. My family is from France, and everyone says I am more french than american. I guess you could say I am obsessed, I have models of the Eiffel tower, poster, Eiffel tower bed covers, 9 Eiffel tower shirts, and one Arc of Triumph  sitting on my night stand. I also speak fluent french. Often times when my teacher is absent, the school asks me to sub my all junior  Honors French 5 class. I feel the plane land, and I’m relieved because it’s seven hour plane ride from New York City.

“Papa, where are we going first?” I ask my dad, as soon as we exit the airport doors. “ Oh, ma petite, we are going to go see our family, everyones waiting to see you!”  See I’ve been waiting for this trip for what seems like forever. I miss my really stylish cousin, Madeline. She is studying fashion in college! Most of all I miss my grandma, she gets me whatever I want and makes the best food ever. The car comes to a halt and I feel the adrenaline running throughout my body.

Everyone is standing outside waiting for us outside of my grandmas apartment, which is located in the middle of Paris. I see my cousin Madeline first, and I rush over to kiss her on both cheeks, which is a french tradition. “ Bonjour, Adele, I missed you so much ma cousine, how are you? My cousin says who is  obviously excited to see me. I do the same thing with the rest of our family and we all go inside. Nothing has changed in my grandma’s house and the sweet smell of cake is in the air. Did I already mention that my grandma’s a great cook?

After we eat my cousin and I decide to go out for a walk around the city. I have been yearning for that ever since my parents booked the tickets for the plane! “ So, Adele, are you excited to see some of the most charming boys in the planet?” “What?” “ Haha, I have a boyfriend and we are going to go see him and his friends at a café near my university.” I look up startled. I don’t really talk to boys all that much. “ The only problem is that I don’t know what to say, I’ll just end up being awkward or embarrassing you and myself in front of your boyfriend and his friends. Plus I’m not even that attractive.” “Oh please! You are beautiful and I promise that it won’t be as bad as you think.”

We walk into the café and my cousin introduces me to her boyfriend. I say hi to everyone else, but then the last guy  I say hi to catches my eye. He is very cute, and I am love with his english accent. Even though he knows I can speak french, he speaks english to me and I thought that was absolutely charming of him. We order our drinks (which apparently are really good here) and we start talking. I notice that Jacques, the guy that I think is really cute, doesn’t stop looking at me. I can feel butterflies in my stomach and I try to ignore them. Am I really starting to like him?

As soon as we get home we start getting ready for bed, Madeline and I share a room. I tell her about everything that happened, as she braids my long hair. “ Oh la la, my cousin is in love!” “ I wouldn’t call it love yet, Madeline.” I say annoyed. “ Tell you what, you can come with me to the university tomorrow and you can spend time getting to know him, I’m sure he’s going to be excited to see those beautiful brown eyes again! She says.

I hear the alarm and I groan, jet lag is the worse thing ever. My head is about to explode. We have breakfast and we are on our way. We get into Madeline’s small car. All  the cars in France are small as if they are the children of the cars in America. I look at Madeline and of course her outfit is on point she always looks fancy. I look down at mine, I’m wearing  shorts and one of my Eiffel tower crop tops. I look decent.

The  university is beautiful, it looks like a one of the old chapelles in the middle of the city. We walk through a long  hallway and turn a few corners before we reach our destination.  I enter the room and I feel my mouth fly open. The room is full of beautiful clothing, and so many people are working on one thing at once, it’s all very chaotic. Madeline  runs over to her boyfriend and hugs him. I look around for Jacques  and I find him. My heart skips a beat and I feel butterflies  in my stomach. I walk over and he see’s me and smiles. His eyes are beautiful, they are this ocean blue  and his hair is blonde and shiny. He is a tall guy and I am really short so I have to look up. “Bonjour, Adele. “Bonjour!” I say back happily.

I learned a lot about  Jacques and one thing didn’t exactly make me happy. He got a great promotion in Spain to be a clothing designer, and the company is very well paying. I said that was really cool and I was happy for him but inside I felt like screaming at him and saying no. I want to be able to come to France and see him. I figured out that I really like this guy, and the best part is that he is french. I felt ruined and just plain mad. “ What’s wrong Adele, you aren’t acting like you usually do.” I tell Madeline everything and somewhere in the middle of all of it I start crying. “ Oh no don’t cry Adele, the same thing is happening to me, Francois is going with Jacques to Spain because they promoted him too. He asked me to go with him and he can get me a job in the company too, but I don’t know what to do.” For the rest of the drive we are silent and I have time to think. I think about what I want to do with my life, after all I’m 18 and after the summer is over I have to pick a college to go to. I think of going to Spain and live with Madeline, Francois and Jacques but then I also think of my mom and dad. I would end up leaving them for college anyways. I finally make a decision by the time we park. I am confident of discussion and hopefully my mom and dad approve of it, because it is very important to me that they do.

The now familiar smell of cake hits me and Madeline as we open the door, we both look at each other and smile. We find my parents and Madeleine's parents talking and we say hi and walk past to our bedroom. I tell my cousin about my decision and she approves. I take a deep breath and walk  over to the room where everyone is laughing, and I walk over to my mom and tell her to come with me. “ Mom I decided that I’m going to go to college in Spain with Madeline because she got a job, and it would make me really happy if you and dad approve of my decision.” My mom blinks twice and then hugs me. “ Oh honey, of course me and your dad are going to approve, after all you are a lady now and I think you can make your own decisions by now.”  I attack my mom  with a huge hug. “ MOM I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!”

I tell Madeline the news and she’s so excited. We are supposed to leave in July which is next month to get used to the place. We are supposed to go to Barcelona, and apparently Jacques and Francois already have everything organized over there.

The day comes and I’m both excited and sad that I’m leaving so early and I can’t spend more time in France and that I have to leave my parents so early too.  Our goodbyes are hard but it has to happen as some point.

Once we get to Barcelona I’m almost jumping with joy I feel arms wrap around my small waist  and I automatically know who it is. Jacques and I have been dating ever since I told him what I decided to do. I also decided to study designing just like my cousin, Jacques and Francois did.” I have something for you.” I turn around and I look at his shining blue eye. “ Oh?” I say. He  takes a small red box out of his pocket and I freeze. “ I know I haven’t known you that long but I do know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Adele will you marry me?” By then I was crying. “Of course!” I choke out somehow. I hug him for ages before I let go.

Jacques and I won’t get married for a while because I’m still 18. Madeline is getting married next month because while Jacques was asking me, Francois was asking my cousin. I think that its so cute that they planned it together. Madeline and Francois have been dating for quite a long time, and I’m so happy for her.  Madeline is ecstatic and we already went to look for wedding dresses. I know their wedding is going to be great!

****5 years later******

Jacques got married 3 years ago. We now have a 2 year old daughter we named her Kamille. I finished college a year ago and I got a job at the company where my husband works. Barcelona is such a great city and I love it so much.