'Things never happen the way we expect to'

                                    

                                          
“Things never happen the way we expect to,” Jeanne says pensively as we walk through the streets towards an unknown destination I have a presentiment to be her home. I glance at her and it’s almost as if she were speaking to herself. “I’ve learnt that lesson from your great compatriot Charles Dickens,” she remarks, glimpsing at me and lightly smiling.
                          
“We English are quite clever,” I observe, chuckling to deflect the fact I don’t have any idea of what she’s talking about. Why didn’t I pay more attention in school?
                          
“So, was this your first time escaping a mob not caused by you?” She asks, grinning mischievously.
                          
“Everyday you learn something new…” I mumble, glancing forward, as I slide my hands into my pockets.
                          
“And did you like it?” She says as she leaps childishly by my side. I cannot help but chuckle to the surreal subject of her enthusiasm.
                          
“It surely puts things into perspective…” I say and she grins. I stop at the traffic light and take my sunglasses off. I glimpse at her and she glancing at her shoes as if she were thinking. She turns her face towards me; I am practically staring at her the entire time.
                          
“Do you need that?–––she says quietly. To put things into perspective…”
                          
“It’s easy to get carried away by this sort of life–––I reply, meditating about it. Adoration is quite surreal and works strangely on your mind.” I glance across the street and behind some trees I see a tall, ancient rampart and some sort of gothic mansion. The tube station nearby states ‘Cluny-La Sorbonne.’ So she lives around her college. The light finally changes and we begin to cross towards its direction.
                          
“At least you are conscious about it…” She mumbles.
                          
“I am–––I assert. But that doesn’t mean I manage it properly a hundred percent of the time,” I say in irony.
                          
“Like right now,” she retorts as I look at her curiously.
                          
“I thought I was managing it pretty well right now,” I say, giggling, and while I speak she steps confidently above a tube grate at our feet.
                          
At that very moment, a gust of hot air emerges from the ground, blowing her skirt off. I stop dead contemplating the sudden gift of her knees and thighs as she laughs placing a hand over her mouth and rushes to the end. She doesn’t even try to prevent her skirt for raising upper. On her final spring I catch a sight of her buttocks and her nude, minimal knickers. I’m absurdly paralysed looking into space as the hot gust continues to surge through me up to my face. I force myself to turn my attention towards her in the distance and I see she’s grimacing at me, amused. I walk towards her amongst the steam. If I’d speak right now my voice would probably sound ridiculous. She remains silent too, looking down but discreetly glimpsing at me from time to time.
                          
"You already knew I wasn’t a fan, don’t you?” She finally says breaking the silence in a serious tone. I think I might’ve been holding my breath all this time as I release it in a sonorous exhalation.
                          
“I had my suspicions when we found out about your researcher’s position at La Sorbonne…” I speak not glancing at her.
                          
“It’s this very building, you know,” she states, pointing at her left. I look at the facade and majestic entrances. “It’s a very renowned place. Would you like to visit the courtyard?” She says, grinning. Is it here where she brought me? To her university? I’m sure this place means a great deal to her but I’m a bit disappointed. “Come–––she carries on, gesturing at me with her hand. No one will recognise you here…” I laugh at what she implies. We pass through a dark wooden door and after a few spaces we reach the main court.