Perfect environment

a very short story by FabiB

You can feel pretty silly giggling like a teenager at 28, but we felt exactly like that when decided to go into the George V, one of the famous five stars hotels in Paris. The word luxury was invented for places like that one. Jacqueline and I just wanted to have a look, we were in Paris for a short vacation, and trying to see as much as possible… of everything. It was November, the weather was grey and the city impossibly charming in the dimmed light. Why do you go to Paris for the first time in the middle of fall? Because you cannot go at any other time of the year, of course. It had been a long lasting dream, since our childhood in fact. And we were finally there, getting to know firsthand the places we have read about, heard about, or seen just in pictures… and making the most of it!  My friend’s favorite expression during that trip was ‘let’s do it’. After admiring the room and décor, the flowers and furniture were amazing there, we had decided to hang around the lobby a bit, escape shortly from the cold streets, enjoy the atmosphere, and watch the people. I was starting to wonder about how suspicious we might look or not, just standing there, when my friend complained playfully.

– Why beautiful people have to pair among themselves? Instead of sharing the pleasure with the rest of us…

– Basic selfishness. –I replied, following the joke and looking at the couple, coming from the entrance, that she was staring at.

Certainly impressive. A tall guy, young, extremely elegant, gorgeous features, a touch of auburn in the hair even darkened as it was by the humid weather, pale complexion, a bit too much actually, and the woman at his side was also a young pale beauty, very well dressed as him, great dark hair got down her shoulders in big heavy waves. When they walked past me, on their way to the reception desk, I had a glimpse of two pairs of golden eyes. We were close enough to hear when he greeted the concierge in proper French, and asked if there was a message for them, he said they were Anthony and Anabella Masen. The impeccable man in impeccable uniform handled him a folded piece of paper. He gave thanks politely, and while reading the note together took to steps towards us, that were unashamedly still staring. Did they notice? If so, they seemed not to care. Looking like that, they should be used to it!

–  Bella, love, would you like to wait at the lounge? –he asked in a soft educated voice, by the way, as beautiful as his face. She smiled and nodded, they left. I kept staring at their backs. Shocked.

In a matter of seconds, a whole trend of incredible thinking took place in my head. I refused to believe, and a little voice inside quoted: ‘There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy’. William’s words are always at hand in my life.

– Those two scream money. –Jacqueline said, bringing me back from a delusion– Do you think they are models or something like that? –a brief grin– Maybe just rich people.

–  No idea. –and I did not dare to say that they looked exactly like a couple described in a book I have read a while ago. That they seemed as the flesh and bone version of those two, as if they had come to life, or… they had been the actual inspiration. Absolutely absurd, because it was not possible, the author had invented those characters, they were not related to anyone real at all, cannot be, they belonged to a different world. But as they walked away, fluid at the most in their movements, I could not help thinking ‘Cullens’, and amazing as coincidences can be, the auburn head turned a little, as if looking back. Have I just met a couple out of a fantasy tale, in a cloudy November afternoon in Paris? That would have been a perfect environment for such an encounter, perfect indeed.

|  FB  |  June  |  2012  |