Noticing the concern rimming my aunt and uncle’s features, I slowly pushed myself up off the ground, as a waiter helped me to my feet. A extremely loud, cackling sound bounded toward me, slicing through my self-conscious veil of embarrassment. That laughter could only be my cousin, desperately trying to muffle her laughter in the crook of her elbow. Scowling at her bowed head, I silently vowed that she would get hers later on. Feeling the eyes of scores of people drilling into my back, I quickly thanked the waiter and hurried to the table, keeping my focus on where I was going, to prevent another mishap.

It was embarrassing enough that I fell on my face, and inwardly, even more embarrassing since I was supposed to be a competitive athlete. What kind of athlete somehow misses an entire flight of stairs without any assistance from friends?

Approaching the table at a brisk walk, I saw my uncle give me a knowing, almost imperceptible nod, as if he knew and understood what I was going through, but approved of the way I handled myself. I tried to force a smile, as my aunt fretted over the multitude of possibilities, the “what ifs” that may never come to pass, and that my mom would have an aneurysm if I did get seriously hurt.

“Eh, I’m ok, I’m ok.” I sighed. “Don’t worry so much about it. I’ve done a lot worse and been ok.”

“Well if you get hurt, your mom will kill you for being so careless, if you didn’t die from your injuries first,” my aunt replied.

“Yeah, I know. No worries! I’m sure I’ll break a bone or something before we end up going home,” I sang, trying to force the embarrassing chill from my bones with my usual quips.

Sitting down and shaking her head, she muttered a few more misgivings before it all subsided. Lynn, my cousin, sat up then and eyed me quizzically.

“So what happened? You don’t normally fall like that. Has my lil cousin become a klutz? Or did you just go blind?”

“Eh, shaddup,” I muttered. “It was nothing. Just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, that’s all.”

“Hrmmm…” she wondered out loud. “Or…was it because you just saw Stephanie on the stairs?” she mused, her eyes boring into me, trying to ferret out the truth. She and I both knew that there was no way she could find out the truth from my demeanor, as I was well-versed in showing little emotion, especially when it came to familial interrogations. Raising her eyebrows, she changed her tone of voice, and proceeded to take shots at me to see when I would shoot back.

“So, how was Stephanieeeee…?” Lynn crowed. Her tone was friendly, but teasing. Her invisible laughter could be heard quivering in the air, perching on the edge of a bubble of amusement, straining at its bonds. She was trying to strike a nerve, playing to the innate traits of my personality and my confrontational nature.

“She’s doing ok I take it? I saw her when I was coming down the stairs, and I think you were right behind me…so you MUST have seen her.” She poked and prodded some more, gauging my reactions.

“Yeah, I saw her. We chatted for a second,” I replied, keeping my voice as natural as possible, exhaling slowly as I spoke. “She said that she saw you, too.”

Reminding myself to breathe slowly, with long, shallow breaths, I could maintain a relatively calm and peaceful facade. It was an exercise that I often used before sparring matches, to calm my excited nerves.

“She asked if we could hang out later, after we both got back from our touristy trips.” A smug smile crossing my face, watching Lynn react to that bit of info. Two could play this game, and I was confident that I was better at it than she was, although she was easily 4 years my senior.

Frustrated but not daunted, Lynn narrowed her eyes, her brain working furiously, trying to figure out an angle to best me at this mind game. “You and her? Hanging out? Together? Later?”

“She’s way too cute for you anyway…” she taunted.

She knew me well, as well as cousins should know each other. And she knew that my foolhardy confidence and ego were some of my greatest strengths, as well as a couple of my greatest weaknesses. But vanity wasn’t one of them.

I simply smiled. “Yeah, Stephanie’s super cute…but it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to hang out for a little, that’s all.”

“Wait, who’s Stephanie?” my aunt asked me, prompting my cousin to divert her attention away from me, at least for a short while.

“Oh she’s this girl that Lynn and I met the other day when we were checking in.” I explained. “I think you might have seen her parents in the lobby. They came in right after we did.”

“Oh, I remember now. And Stephanie is their daughter? That really pretty girl that was looking after her brother?” my aunt inquired.

“Yep! And now he’s got a huge crush on her,” Lynn interrupted happily.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and just let it go. There was no use in stopping her now. She had a motormouth, almost on par with my younger sister. So when she got going, it was nearly impossible to stop her. The only way I knew how, was to physically interrupt her, usually by throwing something at her, or pushing her, and I wasn’t willing to do that right then. I always saved those “get into trouble on purpose” cards for more important matters. Getting yelled at was the last thing I needed at that moment.

Lynn proceeded to tell my aunt and uncle all about what had happened in the last few days, bringing them up to speed on what had happened outside of their watch. From time to time my aunt would say something, but I hardly heard anything at all.

Munching on my breakfast of bread, cheese and fruit, their voices faded into the background as I stared out of the large windows, the vast cityscape loomed before me. I sighed.

It was going to be a long vacation.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…

“You alright?” I asked again, reaching out to get her attention with a gentle touch. Gazing at her with helpless concern, I furiously ran through all the possible excuses that wouldn’t seem so forced, and couldn’t come up with a single one.

“Uh…yes, I think so. I was just surprised. You came down the stairs so quickly,” she replied. “I guess I froze, and hoped that you wouldn’t run me over.” She giggled slightly, the nervousness still apparent in her voice.

Breathing a slow sigh, the rapid clip of my heart settled a bit with relief, and calm washed over me. I was glad that I didn’t have to fumble my way through an explanation that would have made no sense, like a blind penguin dangling from a hang-glider, searching for breakfast burritos. I could see it now, spitting out some nonsensical yarn to cover up my idiocy.

“Yeah, sorry ’bout that. I tend to shuffle down the stairs that way…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Thinking about what to do next, I suddenly noticed how close we were to each other. She smelled like flowers. The smell wasn’t strong, but light, something like orange and jasmine, but I wasn’t sure. Sensing our closeness, she pulled away from me slightly, shifting her weight from right to left, then looked up.

“That girl you were with the other day, she’s your cousin right?” she said, breaking the globe of awkward silence that had smothered us, allowing the sounds of the world to flood back into our ears.

“Oh yeah, Lynn, she came down before I did. We’re getting some breakfast then going to do the tourist family thing again.”

“I see,” she murmured. “I’d better let you get some breakfast then. I need to wake my brother up too.”

“Ahhh…I see, I see…well, I’ll see you around.”

“Ok, buh-bye,” she said, and started up the steps.

It suddenly dawned on me that it could be my last chance, since I had no idea how long she’d still be here. Taking a deep breath, I called out to her.

“Hey, Stephanie?”

Turning, she put her hand on the rail and looked at me quizzically.

“Yes?”

“Think you’ll be around later? Like here, at the hotel, like later on today, like you know…after we all do the family thing…” I babbled, my stomach crawling its way into my throat with each passing word.

“I’ll be here,” she slowly said, “we’re not leaving Paris for another few days.”

“Oh well, I was thinking that maybe you’d like to hang out?” I choked out, my voice betraying me with the hopeful tones of a wishful dreamer. “Maybe sometime later tonight?”

Tilting her head slightly, “I think I’d like that,” her soft voice barely masking her smile.

“Oh ok, great! I’ll see you later, ok?” I was practically yelping with joy. She was going to be here for a while and I was going to see her again. I hadn’t felt this kind of elation in a long while.

Spinning around, I bound through the small lobby, my grin plastered across my face. My mind mired in some obvious daydream, I didn’t pay attention to the few steps leading down into the dining room, which I promptly missed in my haste, and stepped off into thin air. Toppling forward, I grabbed for a railing that wasn’t there.

And landed right on my face.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, to be continued…