The early days of January in Paris characterized with the grayness of the forever melting snow during the day and a million of darkness brightening lights at the twilight. Couples holding hands exhaled in awe anytime the long like Beyonce's legs Eiffel Tower sparkled at the full hours. Somewhere between the Catholic and Orthodox New Year celebrations the shop windows dressed red in advance for the Valentines. In the mesmerizing atmosphere of the commercially catalyzed happiness the three of us walked in silence. Me, Stan, and the vastly overrated French tennis mug Guillaume Rufin on Stan's iPhone. It's been five hours we haven't talked with the exception of a few short clauses about the place to go for a dinner. I could barely keep up with the pace in my black knee-length boots and a short golden dress which the more I rushed, the more it scrolled up.
Whatever wouldn't we choose, one gets assured about the approaching Portuguese waiter prone to mix each existing language of the world and to name the whole thing "English" with his casual gaucho's accent. Our inn turned out to be a seafood restaurant. I scanned the menu in my research for anything edible enough, because the Polish stomachs can throw an octopus up quicker than vodka.
"Shrimps? Would think of District 9... no heart to eat them," I acted cheerful as I observed with the corner of my eye how my partner is agitated about the match.
In consequence, when the waiter came, I only stammered,
"A mug, please. Yes, with coffee."
He ordered something I'd heard for the first time and rolled his eyes on me.
"Good choice. You're too fat anyway."
I bit my tongue to catch on time the risky question about one of the seventeen breakpoints the next big hope of tennis failed to convert. Gypsy kids wandered around in an attempt of selling any of their cheesy red roses and, more likely, to grab some wallets if left unattended. I kept admiring the table-cloth aware of the fact any warmth I could get tonight would be the evening hot shower. Still I couldn't handle the fifty centimeters of a hail cloud sparing us to the other sides of the furniture.
"I wish you talked to me," I saddened.
"Just please deprive me of all this habitual female hysteria!"
A bunch of perky pumpkins from the neighbourhood tables suddenly turned all ears in our direction, probably used to living with other people's life. I put my head down so the hair would cover a couple a tears that sneaked out of my eyes and I managed to grasp with my tongue and hide from the world in my mouth's cave.
"If there was something I could do to make you satisfied..."
He gave me a puzzled look for a couple of seconds before the interest in the match in progress took over. On our way out we bumped into some low level French journeymen usually polluting the draws of the Polish low level tennis events. They seemed to have recognized me, so I faked a smile, despite I felt anything but jolly. As soon as we left Stan grabbed my wrist between his thumb and an index finger, which was nowhere close to the cold-saving adorable hand holding in his jacket's pocket.