What on earth are you doing here?” I say as I open the hostel room door, not expecting to see either of them.
“We’ve come to get our money back.”
“Stop it, Jake.” Jessie pushes Jake out of the way to give me a hug. “Sorry, Josh, ignore him. We’ve come to help you.”
“I can’t believe you’ve come to Paris. Come on in.” I welcome them into the empty room, my dorm mates having left for the day. “How long are you here for?”
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to crash your Parisian romance. I’ve got to be back for school tomorrow and, well, the hotel will probably burn down without Jake there, so we’re only here for the day. Your trip inspired us to do something crazy and the flights weren’t that expensive, so here we are.”
“That’s very kind, but you really didn’t need to do that.”
“Josh, let’s not joke. You need our help. We couldn’t let you mess everything up now you’ve finally found her.”
“Thanks for the faith, guys!”
“Well, it’s thanks to us that you found Sunflower Girl after all.”
“Lucy,” I correct Jake.
“Sorry, Lucy.”
“No, I know. Even if you went about it in the most devious of fashions, I’m very grateful for everything you did. I just can’t believe you’re here.” I worry that the security at this hostel is so bad that two strangers can walk into a dorm.
“I hope we haven’t disturbed your plans?” Jessie asks.
“No. Not at all. I’m seeing Lucy tonight so was just going to plan something nice to do with her after she finishes work.”
“Sounds like perfect timing, then. You definitely need our help with planning that. We can make sure you remember your card for a start!” Jake teases, as he takes his coat off and perches down on the bottom bunk.
How long can they go on about that for?
“Come on, then, what’s this special something you’re planning with Lucy?” Jessie asks eagerly.
“So I’ve got a few ideas. Shall we get out of here and go and talk them through?” I say, thinking of all the beautiful places we could be in Paris instead of standing in a dingy hostel room.
“Sounds good. Where shall we go?”
“I don’t mind. It’s your one day in Paris. You can pick!”
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, we are sitting on the steps in front of the Sacré-Cœur, alongside hundreds of others, eating crêpes. We watch the stream of tourists flow past along the cobbled street in front, all stopping to get a photo of the impressive church. There is no need for a filter today with the bright blue skies overhead.
“Why don’t we come to Paris more often? How nice is this? Just sitting outside, eating food, overlooking the city,” Jessie says in a rare break from interrogating me about Lucy.
“Just think, though. As soon as the quiz airs on TV we won’t be able to do things like this anymore. We will be constantly swamped with fans,” Jake replies.
“’Course, Jake, that’s definitely going to be a real problem for us. Savor your normal lifestyle now before you’re constantly harassed for autographs and selfies.” Jessie and I laugh to ourselves.
In front of us, at the bottom of the stone steps, an Italian busker, armed with an acoustic guitar and a microphone stand, starts serenading the burgeoning crowd with his rendition of “Volare.” The crowd laps it up, all swaying along.
“How’s Jeremy, by the way? What have you done with him?” I say as the busker reaches the end of the song, and I take the last bite of my crêpe. The poor rabbit is being bundled from home to home.
“I thought you were kidding when you said he was a fussy eater. My God, I thought rabbits ate anything. Not this one. It’s OK, Izzi and Bethan are looking after him today.”
Do I trust Jessie’s housemates to look after Jeremy?
I lean to the side as a couple of policemen wearing berets and carrying guns attempt to walk up the steps, while a series of spectators head down to purchase a copy of the busker’s CD. He knows how to work the crowd and seems to be making a fortune. He gets a particularly loud ovation as he alters the lyrics of “No Woman, No Cry” to “I remember when we used to sit on the steps of Sacré-Cœur.” Jake can’t help himself from singing along.
“I still can’t believe how sneaky you were, arranging that meetup in front of Sunflowers. You know I thought I was meeting you?”
“Yes, I was quite proud of that, actually. I wished I’d seen your face when Lucy showed up. So is she as great as you remember?”
“Amazingly, yes. She’s just so easy to talk to, and we really get along. I love how she’s already done loads of cool things. She was telling me yesterday about swimming in the ocean with dolphins, and she wants to travel and see the world, and what have you.”
“You’d hate that. You can barely stand up in the shallow end of a swimming pool, let alone swim in an ocean.”
“Very funny. You get my point. We just really seem to click.”
“We can tell. Since you’ve found her you’ve barely been in touch.”
“I know, sorry. Mum has been calling nonstop today too, and I’ve not had a chance to call her back either.”
“No, I’m only joking. We are both so pleased you’ve found her and you’re happy again, aren’t we?” Jessie says, prodding Jake, who is more interested in his crêpe and the music than us.
“Oh, yeah. So when are we going to meet this mystery woman, then?” He springs to life.
“Soon. Hopefully. Don’t even think about crashing my date tonight, though.”
“We promise we won’t. You can check our plane tickets, if you don’t believe us,” Jessie reassures me.
“When do you think you’ll be coming back? Haven’t you run out of money by now?”
“So I sold Jade’s engagement ring yesterday,” I break the news to them.
“You sold it?”
“Yes, well, I had virtually run out of money after Amsterdam, and I’d brought the ring with me in case I’d need it. . . .”
“In case you needed to propose to someone else?”
“Hilarious, Jake, no. If I needed more money urgently. And when I found Lucy, I decided the time was finally right, so I took it to a pawnshop. The cash should keep me going in my luxury hostel for a few more days at least.”
A caricaturist approaches us, asking if we would like a portrait drawn, and while Jake is keen, we decide it wouldn’t be too flattering, considering we have Nutella smudged around our lips.
“Anyway, that’s enough questions about me. I want to hear what you’ve both been up to over the last week. Who was that man who answered your phone when I called you the other day? Mr. Nobody?”
Jessie looks sheepish.
“Have you not heard? About the personal trainer?” Jake jumps in, excitedly.
“Of course, that’s where I remember the voice from.” I have a sudden flashback of Adam standing over me while I struggled to complete one push-up. “So are you two together, then? When did this happen?”
“I suppose so, yes.”
“Don’t be coy. They’ve been going out since the start of the year.”
“What? Since before I started at the gym?”
“The one time you went to the gym!”
“I wasn’t going to go back there after I got knocked out in that class. It was dangerous.”
“You spent more time choosing your workout playlist than actually working out!”
“Stop trying to change the subject. How have you managed to keep this all so quiet? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess when we started going out, it was just after you’d broken up with Jade, and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Especially with Jake flaunting his new relationship . . .”
“Oi, I wasn’t flaunting it.”
“And then I just didn’t want to jinx it after that. We’re taking things very slow, and it’s not really official yet, but yes, it’s going well.” I have to lean in to hear her response now the busker has got everyone clapping along to “La Bamba.” He’s performing as if he is headlining Glastonbury.
“So the marathon? Did you only run it as an excuse to see Adam more often at the gym?”
“Well, I’m not going to lie. It did give me a bit more motivation to train.”
“I thought you were running it to raise money for those poor kids, but it was really just so you could spend more time with some ripped guy. Unbelievable,” I tease her. “What about you, Jake? When are you proposing? I could have sold you my ring!”
“Not quite yet, but everything is so great. We’re just really enjoying each other’s company, and I don’t know, is it crazy if I say I think he might be the one? Oh God, I sound like you now.”
“Look at us, all so happy.” Jessie, sitting in the middle, reaches her arms out and hugs us both as we admire the Paris skyline, and the busker and hundreds of other tourists from across the world all sing along to “Imagine.”
“It’s crazy, isn’t it? The things we do for love. I travel around Europe, Jessie runs a marathon, and you go vegan,” I say to Jake as he savors the last mouthful of his crêpe.
“Oh crap, don’t tell Jake I had this. What happens in Paris stays in Paris, right?”