French Kiss (Novella) (3 page)

“That’s sad, Cameron. I hope this isn’t going to be
a sad romance!” Maria put on an exaggerated sad face and pouted.

Cameron shook his head, “No, no. It gets better. She
was an artist and had taken to the streets in order to practice her art without
disruption, so she could enjoy whatever time she had left doing what she loved
- painting.”

Cameron took a deep breath and continued. “To cut a
long story short, the man let her stay and in time they fell in love. He taught
her how to survive on the streets and together they would go out into the city
and make money by performing, him with acrobatics and entertainment and her
through her art. They became quite the team.”

“Did she ever lose her eye-sight?”

“No, in the end, she didn’t but she did lose him
...” Cameron let the words trail off, watching Maria for a reaction.

“Hey! You said it wasn’t sad.” She chided playfully,
slapping his leg.  Cameron wanted to take her hand in his so badly, but
couldn’t.  Instead he continued, while staring off into the night.

“He grew to love her so deeply, it was his downfall.
When her family tried to find her to repair her eyesight, he burned all the
‘missing’ posters they hung up in the streets and subways, accidentally burning
up legal documents that had been hung in the public square in the process of
his rampage. He was arrested and sent to prison, but that’s not all!”

“She was so in love with him that she visited him
often and they arranged to meet again on this very bridge, once he was freed.”

“Did they ever meet again?” Maria asked, leaning
forward, her eyes wide like an excited child unable to contain herself any
longer.

Cameron nodded gently, “Yes, but she didn’t want him
anymore.”

Maria shook her head agitatedly and scowled, “No?
Why on earth would she do that?”

“Maybe she still loved him but couldn’t see a future
for them? After all, he was homeless and couldn’t support her, she had a family
...”

“But if their love was ‘real’ nothing would have
stood in the way, nothing!” Maria said, growing distressed. She couldn’t
believe that two people in love would give it up so easily. Love was a thing to
be treasured, not tossed around from one person to the next. Maria had never
had the chance for love and should she find it, she would never relinquish her
hold on it.

“Ah, but you are right, Maria. Love does conquer
all, and it did them.” Cameron smiled.

“In a fit of rage he pushed her off the bridge and
fell along with her. You see, he couldn’t let her go, couldn’t bear the thought
of not being with her while someone else loved her ... that’s real love.”

“Did they die?”

“Thankfully, no, they did not die. A barge picked
them up and that was when they decided they would take the barge to the end of
the line – together.  So, in the end love won out.”

“Ahh, thank you, Cameron. You just earned yourself
another date tomorrow night!” Maria laughed, skipping away from him, both
because she couldn’t contain her excitement and because she needed a few
seconds to pull herself together. Her nerves were like piano wire, ready to
snap at the slightest provocation. She took a deep breath and waited for
Cameron to catch up.

This meant so much to her, and she was mindful that
she shouldn’t come on too strong or she might put Cameron off, regardless of
whether he was lonely or not. Nobody liked being smothered.

They continued on, enjoying the European
architecture that was so different to what they were used to.

They passed a tall statue of a figure atop a horse
and Maria stopped to admire it for a moment.

“Who’s that, Cameron?” She said, her voice filled
with wonder.

Cameron took up a position beside her. “That’s King
Henry IV, the builder of this bridge.”

“What’s he famous for?”

Cameron shrugged and raised his hands in defeat,
“Look, there’s only so much information a man can glean from a webpage to
impress his date for the evening!”

Maria laughed. “You cheated!”

“Well, this was important to me, you know, I ...”
His voice softened and became a whisper before trailing off completely.

It was the vestiges of loneliness. Maria understood
that, after all, she had never had a real relationship, not since...

Loneliness left a ‘fear’ within you, like those
splinters that refuse to be budged and the more you attempt to remove it, the
deeper it goes and the more it hurts.

“I know, Cameron. I know. I’m flattered that you
would even do that for me and the way you told that story was ... wonderful.”
She held out a hand, and Cameron looked at it, then back up at her, before
taking it and smiling broadly.

The first step ...

“Shall we go, m’lady?” Cameron asked in his best
royal accent, and getting it horribly wrong in the process. A Texan accent
wasn’t quite right for imitating a nobleman but Maria played along, enjoying
the way their evening was unfolding.

 “Okay, Sir. Cameron. Let’s get up there,” gesturing
back to the Eifel Tower.  “I’m dying to see what Paris looks like from way up
there.”

They arrived at the Eiffel Tower and were pleased to
see that it wasn’t as busy as they had feared, with only a few people loitering
here and there and the lift standing at the bottom, open, inviting them to
enter and take the ride to the top of the now glowing purple structure.

The two of them headed for the lift, still holding
hands but Maria stopped just before the threshold, moaning softly, her hand
covering her mouth.

“What is it, Maria?” Cameron said, turning to her,
his face questioning.

“It’s silly, and really doesn’t apply here, but I’m
afraid of heights!”

Cameron laughed, “Well, now is your chance to
actually experience ‘height’ without the fear, what do you say. I’ll catch you
if you fall ... I promise.” He said, his voice turning gentle with the last two
words.

Such a gentleman.

“You will?” Maria asked, with mock disbelief.

Cameron showed made a show of flexing his biceps and
said “I’m your knight in shining armor, Sir. Cameron, remember?”

“In that case. Yes, let’s do it!”

They both laughed as they stepped into the elevator
hand-in-hand and the doors shut behind them with a metallic rasp.

In the elevator, they were alone but instead of
talking on the way up, they simply stood and watched the world below as it
slowly moved away from them with a rumble of gears and pulleys.  Maria wanted
to say how wonderful the city looked but found herself lost for words. In fact,
she thought, words would only intrude on what they were building that evening.

It was too perfect for words. More than Maria had
anticipated.

Two broken halves inexplicably drawn to one another
due to their similar circumstances. Both needing the same thing, they had
naturally sought it in the same place and discovered each other, much to
Maria’s delight.

She turned to look at Cameron and saw that he was no
longer looking at the scenery outside the fire engine-red elevator, but was
instead staring at her, unsmiling, but intent.  And Maria watched him, her
heart aching for only the second time in her life.

Had Cameron ever felt love for anyone before? She
decided now wasn’t the time for such questions.

The doors slid open and they stepped out onto the
top floor, the silence between them continuing as they made their way slowly to
the railing where the great expanse of Paris lay before them.  The City of
Lights stretching off in all directions. Directly in front of them to the South
East was a long strip of dark green in the night and lit all along its length
with lights that gave it the appearance of a massive runway awaiting landing
planes.

“Incredible.” Maria breathed, as she leant over the
railing, surprising herself with her courage, but it was as if being with
Cameron nullified her fear of heights.

Cameron was equally in awe of the perfectly
symmetrical, green pathway that stretched off into the distance, dotted with
walking people like ants going about their business for the night.

“Champ de Mars. ‘Field of Mars’ in English.” Cameron
said without taking his eyes away from it.

“Field of Mars ...” Maria repeated, watching Cameron
once more as he gazed into the distance.

“Is it just me, or does the Champ de Mars resemble
the Catholic cross?” Maria suddenly blurted out, as if she had made an amazing
discovery.

Cameron turned to her, a lopsided grin on his face,
“That’s exactly what I was thinking ...”

“Great minds think alike, I suppose.” Maria laughed.

He laughed with her for a second and then his face
turned serious. “Speaking of religions, do you believe in God, Maria?”

Maria quickly shook her head and her smile faded all
at once.

“No ... no I don’t. I mean sure there are some
pretty incredible places on this planet of ours, like this ... but if you ask
me, there’s too much suffering for there to be a God, at least the God the Bible
speaks of.”

Cameron nodded.

“Not that I have read the Bible or anything.” Maria
added quickly.

“What about you, Cameron. Are you a religious
person, is there such a God in your life?” Maria asked, sliding up the railing
until her shoulder was against his.

“You know, I’m not sure anymore. Before the
accident, yes, God was everything to me. I went to church on Sundays, prayed
before sleeping, the works ... then ... despite all that, all my devotion and
faith, the fact that something like that had to happen to me.”

He laughed, but there was no humor in the laugh,
only bitterness.

Maria, once again, knew how he felt.

“Then again, on a lonely evening in Rome, just when
I thought I was a goner, you showed up and turned everything on its head ...
was that the work of God or just sheer luck?” Cameron shrugged and looked up at
the sky as if imploring God to give him an answer but the only answer was the
starry night sky, ever-present above them, mysterious as always.

“Good point, then there’s that huh.” Maria said,
placing a hand on Cameron’s shoulder and patting it gently, having wanted to
touch him but knowing deep down that the circumstances weren’t exactly ideal,
not exactly what she ‘wanted.’ She would settle.

“Why does God have to be so damn mysterious? Why
can’t he just rule us and instruct us in plain English like say, the President
or a King?” she continued, hoping Cameron would have an answer but knowing he
was probably just as lost as she was.

“Maria, I guess we just have to accept it and go
about ‘living’ the best we can.”

“Yeah ...”

They were silent again for a few moments, both lost
in their thoughts.

“One thing gets me.” Cameron said, suddenly
disturbing the peace.

“What’s that?”

“Well, back when I was contemplating ... ‘you know
what’ I wasn’t afraid of how I would do it, just ...”

“What would come afterwards, right?” Maria finished
for him, understanding the direction he was going in, having been there many
times herself while laid in the bath or standing on a bridge alone, looking
into the cold, murky waters below.

Cameron smiled and nudged her shoulder with his own,
pleased that she was in tune with him.

“Yeah, exactly.”

Cameron was beginning to relax, enjoying the
conversation with Maria.  Meanwhile, she could tell they had passed whatever
darkness had settled over them in those few moments. That was the difference
between being alone and having someone who not only listened ‘intently’ but
also had similar feelings on the matter. It was something Maria had lacked for
so long.

Cameron spent the next few minutes pointing out the
landmarks around Paris, all clearly visible from the 320 meter tall structure.
The Arc De Triumphe, the American Library and the various other landmarks that
dotted the landscape. Maria had never seen such beauty before, at least not
manmade… but Cameron was more concerned with the value of the land and the
buildings themselves than the history and culture they were steeped in.

As they sat and looked out on the world far below,
Cameron told her of how he had plans to become a real estate developer.

“There is real potential, you know, for a guy in my
position. Hell, I’ll be sat at home, wasting away for the rest of my life if I
don’t do ‘something’ and I figured, I enjoy studying buildings and their
history, why not buy them and sell them on once I’m done making them prettier? 
I’ve learned a lot about how the actual construction and renovation can be done
very cheaply…”

‘It sounds like you have been mulling this over for
a while, Cameron. Have you?” Maria asked..

He nodded, “Yep, you wouldn’t believe how long if I
told you. Just never had the guts to do it, nor the ... confidence, I guess.”