As I turned away from them both and busied myself with putting my gloves on, I cursed Kelly for putting the thoughts I’d been grappling with into the forefront of my mind. Pull yourself together, I told myself, you do not fancy Robert and he certainly does not fancy you … you silly, silly girl.
Well, there’s nothing like trying to fool yourself into believing something that’s a blatant lie.
We were taken to La Ferme des Beauvais – a little Parisian restaurant on the corner of one of the side streets north of the Louvre. Windows covered the breadth of the external walls, displaying its name in silver-framed red lettering that curved like a rainbow on each pane of glass. Inside, the wooden tables were lined in rows to make the most of the limited space and covered with red cloth, tealights and a single red rose on each one. On the walls were photographs of Paris taken throughout the years, all in black and white. There was no doubt it was a cheap place to eat, we were on a school trip after all, but it was these little touches that helped make the place more atmospheric and inviting.
The majority of the group opted to eat pasta on our final night, as we had most nights. It was always the safest option – although it was washed down with pieces of French bread, so it did at least have something traditionally French about it.
As our feast was being gobbled up, Kelly turned to Miss James, who was in deep conversation with Miss Stokes, another teacher. We’d never been taught by her before and she’d been very quiet the whole trip – we’d almost forgotten she was there.
‘Miss James,’ Kelly called from beside me.
‘Yes?’ she shouted back.
‘Seeing as we’re in France and we’ve been good all week, can we have a glass of wine each?’ she tried with a cheeky shrug.
Miss James cackled at the request.
‘Come on,’ pushed Robert, hoping his charm would help win her over. ‘We’re eating anyway, it’s not like we’re going to get drunk. It’ll just wash it down nicely.’
‘Nice try,’ she smiled. ‘As lovely and good as you all are there’s no way I’m letting any of you drink alcohol.’
‘You’re having some,’ stated Kelly.
‘I’m an adult.’
‘Oh, go on,’ she pleaded.
‘I’m afraid there’ll be no underage drinking on my watch,’ she finished, turning back to the conversation that had been interrupted.
‘That’s what she thinks,’ Kelly whispered, winking at Robert before slinking off to the toilet. When she came back she discreetly pulled a bottle of vodka out from underneath her jumper.
‘Where’d you get that?’ I squeaked in shock.
Ben’s eyes, like my own, widened with surprise. Robert looked impressed – something that didn’t go unnoticed by me.
‘Never you mind,’ she laughed, before winking over at one of the waiters at the bar. ‘Pass us your glasses.’ As we did so, she quickly added the alcohol into our Cokes before carefully passing the bottle along to the next table. ‘There’s more where that came from too …’ she teased with a wicked smirk.
I was never one to break the rules, not really, but on that occasion, as I watched Kelly, Ben and Robert grin at each other as they picked up their glasses and gulped away, I certainly didn’t want to be the only person not involved. After just a few mouthfuls the worry I’d been feeling earlier that evening started to slide away, leaving me to feel giddily free and naughty – a feeling that was increased when I lowered my glass to find Robert winking at me. God, I fancy you, I thought, with such clarity that I stunned myself.
Once dinner was finished the tables were cleared away, and cheesy pop songs started blaring from the restaurant speakers, replacing the sounds of Edith Piaf that we’d endured throughout dinner. Miss James had organized a surprise mini disco for us to round off what had already been an amazing trip. None of us needed any encouragement to dance (probably thanks to a certain tipple lubricating our inhibitions), we were up on our feet as soon as the first intro started. Thankfully we were the only diners in the dimly lit restaurant, so we didn’t have to worry about us teenagers upsetting anyone with our dizzy behaviour. We could just be carelessly joyful and silly as we danced along to the nineties classics being played. Hits by artists like Sugar Ray, Madonna and No Doubt boomed through the room, putting us on even more of a high. Robert, Ben and I were pulling the craziest moves we could muster, singing raucously and making each other laugh hysterically. It felt incredibly liberating.
At some point towards the end of the night, Hanson’s ‘Mmmbop’ started blaring out of the speakers, putting us all into more of a childish frenzy. We jumped around, making even sillier shapes with our bodies, waving our hands in the air and shaking our heads to the music. We might not have looked cool, but it was so much fun we didn’t care.