Surviving (Surrender 2)

Finn

I’m not quite convinced of her answer, but I’ll take it. We’re not going to ruin our day by talking about fucking Declan Collins. I have her in the perfect place. I’m taking control of this day starting right now.

“Come on, let’s go. I’ve got plans for us.” I take her hand again and lead her towards the side streets Jack told me about.

We shop for hours in little stores until the sun starts to set, and I guide us back down Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. I spot a quaint restaurant on a street corner and hear music pouring into the streets. Perfect.

Luckily our waiter speaks a little English because our French is terrible. I order us a bottle of wine and what I think is a chicken dish. Raven giggles and my heart swells. Throughout the day, she has relaxed. She didn’t even flinch each time I’ve reached for her hand and held it tight.

As we eat, she tells me about her parents and girlfriends back home. I’m glad to hear that Robbie has found somewhere to live. I got an email last week mentioning he thought he found a condo. Robbie has been nothing but supportive, but he also hasn’t asked any questions. We agreed before I left that our friendship would not be altered by my feelings for Raven. No matter what way this goes, we are brothers.

When dinner is done we take the Metro back to the station closest to our house. Jack gave us one of his cars today, but I’m not familiar enough to drive around the city. So I opted to park at the station and take public transportation.

Raven takes her packages to her room and looks at me with sadness.

“What’s wrong, Baby Girl?”

“I’m not ready for the day to end. I’ve had such a great time.”

“What about a movie?”

Her face lights up, and her smile hits me hard.

“That’s perfect, let me change, and I’ll meet you in the living room. You can even pick.”

“Deal.”

I change into my pajama pants, intentionally leaving off my shirt. When I get back to the living room, she has set up pillows and a blanket with the TV already on. I sit next to her and pull her to my side. She lays her head on my chest, and there is no doubt she can hear my heart racing. I choose a murder mystery, staying away from any kind of chick flick. The last thing we need is a sappy fucking love story.

Halfway through the movie her breathing evens out, and I can tell she’s asleep against me. There’s no fucking way I’m waking her, so I situate us on the couch where she can lie on top of me. Today was exactly what I needed.

Chapter 4

Paris Is Ours

Raven

“Finn, I’m very uncomfortable. Can I open my eyes?”

“Almost, just keep leaning into me and let me guide you.”

Finn tells me where to step and then stops us. I hear the people bustling by us but have no idea where we are.

“Okay, RJ, open your eyes.”

I slowly open my eyes and gasp in shock. Never in my life have I seen anything like it. We are standing in front of The Louvre Pyramid. The history, the significance, and the beauty hits me, and I throw myself at Finn. He catches me and smiles. The way his eyes dance send butterflies to my stomach. Whoa, what just happened? I’ve never gotten a tingling feeling before when Finn holds me. Even this morning when I woke up plastered to his chest, it felt normal.

I step back, but he doesn’t let me go.

“Come on, we have all day, but there’s a lot for us to see.” He tugs my hand and leads me through a crowd, and hands our tickets to the gate attendant. She checks my bag and hands us back the tickets. Finn explains he bought the Paris Museum Passes so we can visit the museums all over and not wait in line.

I’m a little surprised that he is interested in visiting all the museums around the area until he explains he will get a lot of credit in a humanities class next semester.

We spend the next four hours going floor by floor. Our visit to the Mona Lisa is brief mostly due to the amount of people in the area. I’m surprised how small the actual canvas is, but I still feel a sense of entitlement seeing such a famous and cherished piece of art.

I drag Finn into several shops until he abandons me and sits at a restaurant nearby waiti

ng. While having lunch, I watch all the people passing and hope like hell I don’t look as touristy as them. I giggle to myself and Finn raises his eyebrows. I explain what I was thinking and he laughs with me.