“And the way he lurched forward like — hurgh!” Daniel clutched his stomach and retched, ballooning his cheeks.
Carmen threw her head back in laughter at his mockery, but Raph didn’t find it as funny. The three stood to the side of the tunnel exiting their plane, allowing other people to stroll past as they waited for Mr. Stone.
Raph scowled. “Come on, now, man! It wasn’t that dramatic! I made it into a bag. Y’all act like you’ve never thrown up on a plane before.”
“Because I haven’t! That was my first plane ride, too, and I feel fine,” Daniel said, smiling.
“Same here. I tried to show you how to get prepared.” Carmen shrugged. “Maybe you should’ve accepted the help.”
“Well you can’t talk too much shit, Daniel. At least I had all the room I could want.”
Daniel scoffed. “Oh, don’t remind me. That lady in front of me wouldn’t sit still! I had to lean my screen forward and sit like this the whole flight to see cause she kept leaning back. At this rate, I’m gonna end up hunchbacked, too.”
Alarm blazed through Carmen’s face. Daniel followed her glare. The lady who had sat in front of him passed by just as he said that, and threw a mean look, uttering words in a different language.
Daniel didn’t have to understand them to feel shame. Mr. Stone finally came through the tunnel behind a family of three, and stepped past them to catch up.
“Apologies, everyone. I had some…technical difficulties leaving my seat.”
“Sounded more like the guy next to you had technical difficulties,” Daniel said. “I mean, he—”
Carmen smacked him in the arm. At that moment, the guy who had sat next to Mr. Stone paced down the corridor, footsteps loud and heavy, like a human wall trudging past.
Daniel facepalmed. “Can I not talk about anyone without them showing up in front of me?” A lightbulb went off in his mind, and he grinned at Carmen and Raph. “Anyone ever think Jesus should’ve trimmed his beard a little shorter?”
Carmen snickered. “That isn’t funny!”
“Made you laugh!”
At the tail end of the disembarking line, they followed the crowd into the terminal itself — a maze of maroon carpet, butter-yellow walls, and a ceiling with the texture of thin vertical slits split by fluorescent lights. Daniel hoped for an inkling of a beautiful view outside of the terminal, but rain clouds obscured the world outside the windows, save for the lights of planes taking off.
With Mr. Stone leading the way, they made it through baggage claim to get their bags. Daniel suggested catching a Swift to get back to the hotel, but instead, they piled onto the tram with dozens of other people, scrambling for seats within the sleek modern interior. Public transit was nothing new — he’d seen enough back home — but he noticed Carmen squirming in her seat, glancing down at the ominous stain on the cushion before she ultimately opted to stand.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
He stood, too, at just the perfect moment when the tram exited a tunnel. The french countryside whizzed past — rolling auburn hills glistening in the rain, sprawling vineyards underneath the rumbling gray sky. Small rivers intersected the picturesque landscape, scraping by like the droplets of rain quickly scattering along the train wall.
They dipped through another tunnel, traveling underneath the city of Paris itself. Carmen followed the train’s path on her map, noting the historical landmarks they passed underneath, like the Notre Dame, the Seine River, and the Eiffel Tower itself.
“Where are we staying, again, Mr. Stone?” Carmen asked.
“We’ve been booked for a hotel within the Le Marais area, covering the third and fourth arrondissement.”
“Aaron-what?” Raph chuckled.
“Arrondissement,” he repeated. “The city’s divided into twenty municipal districts. This one’s known for being safe, friendly, fun, and having about six different metro stations, which makes transport within the city quite easy.”
“Can’t we just drive from place to place, though?” Daniel asked.
Mr. Stone looked at him, chuckling quietly. “Drive?”
“Yeah…? With a car?”
“That requires having a rental in the first place.”
Carmen gasped. “We don’t get a rental?”
“Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be included with the program, with our destination being such a walk-friendly area.”
“Then how are we supposed to get everything to the hotel?”
As the train doors slid open at the station, Mr. Stone rose to his feet, wheeling his suitcase behind him. “I hope you three enjoy walking with a lot of weight.”
----------------------------------------
Mr. Stone wasn’t lying in the slightest — above ground, they entered a walker’s paradise. Everywhere Daniel looked, brick roads were filled with people happily strolling from cafe to cafe, from place to place. Stylish boutiques and cobblestone roads lined the trendy avenues, though the structure of each building screamed that it had been there longer than he could ever know, and that it would remain long after he did.
Once they reached their hotel, Daniel searched for an elevator, but found an unfortunate answer. The only elevator in the entire building was for maintenance; for the patrons like them, they had to carry their bags up all five flights of stairs.
Carmen used Chip in his muscular form to help with carrying her heavy luggage. It kept her arms free, but any weight he held still stressed her body, so she wasn’t any freer from the strain. Raph didn’t have any help at all, and neither did Daniel. By the time he reached the third floor, he could’ve filled buckets with the sweat that had gathered along his eyebrow and underneath his jacket. Though Paris had been nice and cooler than home, in such a tiny stairway, carrying such a heavy bag of luggage, it may as well have been a heatwave.
Just when it felt like his arms were ready to fall off and take the next flight back home, they made it to the fifth floor. Mr. Stone and Carmen headed towards their individual hotel rooms, while Daniel opened the door to where he’d be sharing with Raph.
His eyes darted to the bed — white with two sets of purple and orange pillows. As if they shared a single brain cell, Raph had the same idea. He followed Daniel’s lead as he dropped his luggage and immediately jumped onto the bed to test how close they’d be. Even with stretching his legs out, Daniel could comfortably fit on his half without touching Raph at all.
But, Raph’s height got the better of him. His ankles hung from the bottom of the bed. When he curled his knees to make them fit, the back of his ankle grazed Daniel’s heel.
A shiver ran up Daniel’s spine.
Mr. Stone knocked before peeking his head in. “Please remember not to get too comfortable yet, boys. We’ll be heading out for lunch in about ten minutes.”
“Okay…” Daniel sat back up, shaking his head. Behind him, Raph had the same look of disdain on his face.
This wouldn’t be a good night.