“The Long Gone Romance” - The Weekend Freewrite -11/23/2019

This is my entry for this Weekend Freewrite by @mariannewest. It’s a little trip to the City of Light. I hope you enjoy it!

https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-11-23-2019-part-1-the-first-sentence

https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-11-23-2019-prompt-2-the-interference

https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/the-weekend-freewrite-11-23-2019-part-3-the-dramatic-twist

The clanking and stomping didn't stop all night. Up the stairs, down the stairs - all she wanted was sleep.

That was the downside of living in the center of Le Marais. The neighborhood she loved so much, walking distance to all nostalgic places she needed to be, to heal the fresh wounds of her broken heart.

---

Céline was never a lucky one. There was always something interesting to recall from every stage of her life. After finishing her high school in the late 90s in the countryside town of Amboise, she went to Paris for a brighter future, looking for an internship in fashion industry. She was soon working for the House of Fendi doing errands, making coffees and ordering croissants in the morning, until doing the delivery for a few clients during the hectic fashion week. She was supposed to deliver a brand new Baguette bag of this Italian haute couture fashion house to a particular VIP who was staying at a private apartment at Rue de Buci in St Germain neighborhood, in the Left Bank of Paris. She got into a taxi, skipping her lunch and just wanted to get to that apartment before the show started. Usually she handled pressure pretty well but fashion week taught her another level of urgency.

Along the way, she was selectively replying to her emails and was getting ready for her next errands. She ended up at Rue de Berri, close to Champs Élysée, on the other side of the river. It was not the right address. She couldn’t believe that she misread the note and gave a wrong address to the taxi driver. Inconveniently, they got stuck in traffic in the golden triangle when trying to drive over the bridge. The VIP client was waiting for the Fendi baguette bag, to be able to attend the show, but the bag never arrived. Suddenly everyone knew her name, the main reason why that VIP from the Carrie Bradshaw’s tv series skipped the show. Being the one who made Karl’s team gone mad, Céline was fired that day.

After staying at home for three days, she woke up early and started to look for a job again. She wanted to stay in the fashion business and she got a new position at a luxury boutique which was just opened, Louis Vuitton Maison Vendôme. She loved the job and smile came to her face naturally as she casually discussed with regular clients. She worked there as sales for three months before a lady client complained that she smiled too much to her husband while they were shopping. Suddenly a silly rumor was spreading quickly and resulted in another unemployment.

After that, she changed direction and she moved from one restaurant to another, tending tables. She earned enough and was pretty happy to still live in Paris, but she knew that she wanted something more. Feeling tired after a long shift, all she wanted was just a good night sleep. Even that felt like she was asking too much, as the clanking and stomping from her partier neighbors would never stopped, not before dawn.

“Some people say why do I keep going? It’s true! At first I didn’t even like Parisians, until I become one”, confided Céline to her best friend, the flamboyant Patrick, over a brunch close to Place des Vosges. Waking up to the bustling streets of Le Marais, she loved to take her pain au chocolate and a cup of café serré on the terrace of this cute patisserie. This and amongst other sweet little things kept her light kindled and her heart warmed.

She met Patrick over a cooking class she joined once when she tried to cook on her own. Patrick was a funny loving guy who loved to joke about his endless love stories in Le Marais, the place he found his true love every other week before he got bored of him or the other way around.

Céline never wanted to settle down. She rented a small apartment just to be closer to these little things that sweetened her life. After living in Paris for 5 years, she started writing her first novel. It was right after she got an offer as a waitress at L’Avenue restaurant at Avenue Montaigne. It paid very well, plus she was fluent not only in French but also in Spanish and English, so it made it easier for her to connect to the clients when they stopped by for a fancy meal.

She was mature enough to know how to become a shark in Parisian deep sea and she was on hell of a shark. She woke up at 4 am preparing to sit still on her meditation pillow for about 20 minutes and then started to write her novel. She worked for 5 or 6 hours on her laptop, by the window, looking over a small park. By 10 am, she got ready for work and started her shift at L’Avenue at 11 am. By 5.30 pm she walked home along the Seine river and made a few casual stops either to snap a photo of a péniche boat or just to contemplate on the autumn leaves by the river bank. She went to bed by 9pm and she did the same thing again the next day, 6 days a week, mesmerizing herself into a productive writing mode for 6 or 8 months. Nothing to complain, she earned a hefty tips at the end of her shift and she loved the smell of the morning breeze.

---

There was this one guy that caught her attention and she met him couple of times at the restaurant. Her friend warned her, “Fait attention Céline, he comes with baggage!”

“Je sais, je sais, Patrick... But you know, I am always attracted to guys with problems and I don’t know why... Somehow I cannot control it!”

Patrick never understood why she kept falling for a wrong guy and he was perplexed at how Céline managed to split her paths in too many directions that got her to nowhere.

This guy named Will, a handsome British man who just got divorced from a famous french super model. They still lived together in Paris in the same apartment, until the time they would find the buyer of their apartment. Luckily, her job schedule made it easier for them that she often traveled and was rarely home. Even from afar, we could see the alarm, but it was not visible, not for Céline.

She went out with Will after a couple of drinks after work. They walked along the Seine and decided to take a boat cruise together. They enjoyed looking at the city being lit at night from the river. Before midnight, they walked pass through Place des Vosges and went up to Céline’s apartment. They woke up late the next day and Céline missed her morning novel writing schedule.

Still half asleep, Céline realized that Will was not by her side. She looked up and found him on her desk, reading the note she left on her laptop. Those were the list of her 5 Whys. It’s the list why she wanted to write a novel in the first place. She could see Will smiling and she just wanted to disappear under her blanket.

Will stood up and hold the note on his hand. He walked to the living room and stopped by the window. Still holding the note on his hand, he looked over the park and started to read Céline’s handwriting line by line,

“I want to wake up very early every day.
Why do you want to wake up early?
I want to see the sunrise and hear the birds singing. And, I want to write a novel.
Why do you want to see sunrise, what is it with the birds singing and why a novel?
That’s the moment when I feel calm. I want to write a novel as a proof that my life is alright, that I can make it out fine.
Why do you want to feel calm and why do you think that your life is not alright?
I realise that nothing I do in life works well until now. Nothing in life I hold dear that makes myself proud.
Why do you”

“Please stop!”, Céline couldn’t hear it anymore. “Please, please Will. This is a mistake. Please leave”, begged Céline from the other room.

Will didn’t continue reading. He put down the note on the coffee table, picked up his coat and let the door shut closed behind him. Céline, she was sobbing on her bed for a long time that day.

---

Couple of weeks went by and they didn’t see each other nor tried to get in touch with one another. Céline continued waking up at 4 am and was half way through her novel. At 9.30 am, her phone rung and she picked it up,

“Oui, bonjour.”

“Bonjour Madame Céline Perrain?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“I am calling from Les éditions Flammarion Publishing House. You are recommended by one of our Senior Editors and we would be interested to meet you in person with the draft of your novel. When will you be available?”

“Oh... Yes, oui, of course. I... I am available today”, Céline’s heart was beating so hard she almost couldn’t finished her sentence. She didn’t remember telling anyone about her novel, not even to her friends. Unless there was an angel looking after her from afar. The one with the hidden wings who read her notes the other day.

Love from us x
Wishing you all a lovely week!