“Pauline. I’ve never been out dancing before. I have no idea how to dance.” Camille admitted honestly walking down the streets with her French colleague Pauline whom she met at work a month ago.

“Oh you’re going to be fine Camille. Don’t be chicken. It’s just a jazz club, no big deal.” Pauline said with an encouraging smile. “Come on, we’re gonna be late.” she grinned, pulling her arm to the direction they were heading to.

Pauline has taken the decision to bring Camille to one of her favourite jazz clubs in Paris hence it was a Saturday after all. She describes herself as a lone wolf who adores being indoors as well as minding her own business without other people’s treatment Camille got up from her seat and stopped in her tracks glancing at Pierre one last time before exiting the door. She waved at him and left hastily.

“Pierre got up from the piano bench and got ready to leave the bar. When his best friend Gabriel came into the place searching for him. “Pierre t’es ici. Écoute… moi et des amis sommes allés chez Hugo ce soir. Est-ce que tu viens?” Gabriel asked, in a subtle voice.

"Ça a l’air amusant.  Sur.” he replied courteously, taking his stuff and walked out the door with Gabriel from behind. As they were walking back to their apartment, there was awkward silence in the air.

“Pierre… est-ce que ça va?” Gabriel asked, setting his hands in his pockets and steadily walked on the pavement.

“Ah ouais, je vais bien. Je pense que quelqu'un." he said looking up at his friend vehemently.

“Tu ne penses pas à Marine, non?” Gabriel questioned as his eyebrows began to wrinkle from anger.

“Non… non. Ce n’est pas Marine. Je rencontre une nouvelle meuf au bar juste maintenant. Elle est plus jeune que moi.” Pierre explained bashfully.

“Ah, bon? Elle est française?” Gabriel asked, referring to Camille. 

“Non, elle n’est pas d’ici. Je crois qu'elle est une étrangère.” he said as they both stopped in front of a 24 hour convenience store. “C’est génial. J'espère que tu la rencontres encore demain ou dans tes rêves ce soir. Je pense qu'elle est belle que Marine ton ex-copine.”

“Je crois que oui,” Pierre answered as he beamed nicely.

“Tu restes ici pendant que je vais acheter des bières pour les autres mecs. Donne-moi une minute ou deux. D’accord.”

He nodded and Gabriel slowly walked into the store buying the stuff she needed to bring to Hugo’s place. It was almost midnight and the streets of Paris were peaceful and the shops almost closed due to nightfall. Everything was clammed up.

Pierre checked his wristwatch and sighed as he offhandedly pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his jacket and lazily lit up his tobacco on paper silently leaning his figure against the mural wall.

He went through his social media and decided to post a photo from his recent activity. Not too long ago, Gabriel stepped out of the convenience store with multiple paper bags in his arms.

“J’suis désolé si je suis en retard. Il y avait beaucoup de gens à la caisse.” Gabriel said as he lightly apologized to Pierre guiltily.

“Aucun problème. C’est cool.” he grinned as they continued their tracks to Hugo’s place. “Attends Pierre…” Gabriel said as he stopped in his tracks once again. “C’est quoi?” he asked as he paused looking at him puzzled.

“Tu peux m’aider s’il te plaît? J’ai beaucoup de choses dans mes mains et ce sac papier est tellement lourd.” he chuckled softly.

“Ouais. Laisse-moi t’aider apporter le.” he replied as he came towards him and got the heavy items from him as well. “Tu te sens mieux?” he asked, holding the things in his hands faintly.

“Oui. Je me sens mieux. Merci." he answered as they walked up the lit stairway of Montmartre to Hugo's apartment sluggishly. As they marched up the stairs, Pierre momentarily received a text message from Marine out of the blue.

‘Je suis chez Hugo. Tu viens? J’ai hâte de te voir. Tu me manques.’

"Oh la, la, la…" he breathed softly glancing at his phone screen, offended and woefully.

“Quoi?” Gabriel asked, turning to him feeling antsy. “C’est Marine… Elle m'a envoyé un texte disant qu'elle est chez Hugo.” he said unhappy.

“Putain. Je la déteste beaucoup. Tu veux venir quand même à la fête de Hugo ou tu veux rester à la maison.”

“Non, je veux venir avec toi quand même." Pierre said as he put her phone back in his back pocket.

“Cool… on y va.” Gabriel grinned as they walked up the small staircase slowly to Hugo’s apartment on the fourth floor. Gabriel rang the doorbell twice and a few minutes later, Hugo answered the door with a huge warm smile on his face. “Ah, super!  Entrer s’il te plait.” Hugo said as he let them both into his apartment.

“Ici, nous achetons des bières pour toi et les autres gens aussi.” Gabriel smiled as he handed the can of beer to Hugo happily.

The moment they walked into the place, the room was packed with people. And in the corner stood Marine with her new beau dancing with the music and a glass of cocktail in their hands. Pierre looked at his ex and frowned as he sat on the couch minding other people's business. He walked to the balcony and looked at the beautiful Sacre-Coeur before his eyes while lighting up another cigarette. He fumes the smoke freely and looks at the sky. “Dieu, si seulement je la rencontrais à nouveau .” he sighed as he enjoyed the view of the apartment tranquilly. "Quelle nuit." he mumbled as he continued fuming his cigarette vehemently.

Camille was in her apartment watching Casablanca on Netflix. "But what about us?" Ingrid Bergman questioned Humprey Bogart in an emotional voice as they bid their last farewell in Paris. "We'll always have Paris." Humprey Bogart replied in a soulful tone looking at his lover in her eyes softly.

At that very moment, Camille impulsively didn't realize that she was virtually crying with tears streaming down both her cheeks like a drought on a rainy day. She wiped her cheek sensitively and looked down to her tabby who looked soundly fast asleep on the bed beside her.

She simply sighed and logged off her laptop thinking of reading a book or simply going to bed as if it's getting kinda late nocturnally. In spite of that, she decided to read a few pages of her book for a few minutes and snuggle into the covers. She glanced up at the wall clock against the wall and it read: 3:00am.

Before anything else, she turned off the night lamp beside her night stand and lethargically got some sleep.