Being Alone is Not Always a Choice [Ella Open Tag]

[Ella D'Agustino]

She almost didn't hear Christophe's explanation about Whistler but she nodded anyway. The mention of Paris made her bite her lower lip and smile lightly. "I've always wanted to go." And she almost did back in the fourth grade. Her dad had been given a sabbatical but he chose to spend it doing Doctors without Borders in Asia. It was an amazing experience living in Indonesia of course, learning about her ancestors and meeting people she didn't even know were family. But it would have been equally if not more amazing if they had gone to Paris. The shopping she could have done there...

Ella snapped back to the present when Christophe offered his pizza without expecting her to do the same. She laughed with him slightly embarrassed and she shook her head. "It's okay, I'm good with mine. I don't do onions that well," she shrugged, looking down at her plate that had picked out onions scattered on it. She had done it unconsciously until now.

"Um," she chewed on her pizza thoughtfully, rethinking the convoluted story her father had told her about his life before her mom. "Okay it's a pretty long story." She warned him before swallowing her food. She took another bite and tried to arrange the story in her mind. "Alright...okay now I remember." She nodded and started from the beginning. "So my great grandparents actually got married pretty young and had my granddad during some war between the Portugese and some other country," she laughed at how absurdly ignorant she was of her own history.

"And then my granddad grew up to be a soldier and he was one of the soldiers who colonized Indonesia. He fell in love with my grandma who was a local beauty, I might add. They got married and had my dad and they stayed in Indonesia for about seven years before my granddad thought it was better to go back to Portugal where my dad lived most of his life.

"That is of course, until he met my mom. He moved to the States because of her and he started his practice here. I was born and raised here. Santa Monica to be exact." Ella chewed on the last bite of her pizza before attacking her second slice. "My parents are both really big on cramming me with both their histories and that consisted of learning five different languages and dialects and getting involved in plenty of multicultural activities."

She was impressed she got through all that before she finished her second slice. "I talk too much. You must think I talk too much." She chuckled as she sipped her drink.

[christophe]

"No, not at all," Christophe assured her. "People tend to be born in one of two ways. They are either talkers or listeners. It's fortunate I think that there is one of each of those types here at this table. I am far better at listening than talking and besides, what you have to say is very interesting. I love to hear about other countries and of back stories. My own s far less glamorous but I truly believe you would love to visit Paris. The part where I was born and also grew up is in Montmartre. In the shadows of the Sacré-Cœur. The views from the butte are breath-stealing," he said with a smile.

"So you have lived in this area all of your life?" He threw Ella a wry grin. "I have the feeling I will never learn my way around the town... even though it is far smaller than Paris!"

He bit some more of his pizza and chewed it thoroughly. Christophe washed it down with another sip of water. "You must know all of the places to go where you can have fun. I hope you will share that knowledge. So far I have been the the shopping centre, the aquarium and the pier. Oh, and bowling. I went to the bowling alley but there must be more to weekend life than that."

He looked at Ella in hope.

[Ella D'Agustino]

"I don't usually talk this much," she confessed, not telling him that it was mostly a self-defense mechanism she had begun to build ever since the shooting. Talking about other things helped derail her from what was staring at her right in the face. "I guess you were just the unlucky person." She laughed.

She was done with her pizza and was sipping from her bottle when she caught sight of someone she knew from before the shooting. She winced and edged inwards deeper into the booth. Once she was sure the person didn't see her, she went back to her original spot. "Sorry...thought I saw someone I knew."

"Oh man, even the syllables sound awesome!" She quickly changed the subject, hoping Christophe wouldn't pry and knowing he really wouldn't, the nice guy he was.

"All my life. Except for a little trip down to Indonesia when I was in the fourth grade but yeah, all my life." She smiled. When he asked about things to do for fun, she beamed. "I know what you can do!" she exclaimed, clapping her hand on top of his on the table in excitement. "You used to be a tour on a mountain. There's this hill I found near the beach where I found some really spectacular wild life. Animals and plants. It's pretty awesome. Oh! And my twin brother works at an extreme sport gym thingie and they offer like loads of different extreme sports. I've done the dirt biking and rock climbing. I'm pretty sure we can find something for you!"

[christophe]

"I actually don't see myself as unlucky but instead fortunate to have had this chance to get to know you," Christophe said with an earnest look on his face. He wasn't trying to flirt or such like but meant every word he'd just uttered.

He glanced at the person who had startled Ella and frowned slightly. He thought he'd seen the boy around school before but maybe not. He had the similar dark Hispanic looks that Ella possessed but she seemed to quickly move on.

"Indonesia always looks amazing," he said, happy to move on as well. He'd finished as much of his pizza as he wanted and the rest sat to one side on a plate. Christophe drank some more water as Ella continued. telling him of her ideas for weekend fun.

"The hill sounds well worth exploring," he agreed. "As for the extreme sports and dirt biking. All I cna say is fantastique! I would love to be introduced to your brother and try out some of the sports. I have done some downhill mountain biking back at Whistler... although downHILL is misleading as the track was on a ski course. Do you attend the gym often? I would like to see you again and while I know that will happen at school it would be good to run into you at weekends as well." He liked her company.

The waitress wandered past and Christophe caught her attention. "Can I please have a carton to take the rest of this with me? Thanks," he added when she nodded. He glanced back at Ella. "Not for me buyt for Renard. My dog. He is a husky pup and once he smells food on me he will sulk all evening if I don't give him some of it!"

[Ella D'Agustino]

Ella's facial expression changed into something akin to cooing at a lost puppy when Christophe said that he was fortunate to get to know her. "Aww...thanks! I like making new friends." She grinned.

She was ever grateful when Christophe didn't even mention about her sudden flinch. Even more so when he diverted the conversation to Indonesia. "See the thing is, tourism boards are always showing the bigger cities of Indonesia. Where I went to was the slightly less glamorous state and down there, you wouldn't be able to find a decent convenience store for miles." She shrugged, not really wanting to delve too deep into it.

"Right?" she exclaimed when Christophe showed interest of the hill. Her body straightened and her smile widened even more when he started talking about other things to do and wanting to meet up with her again. Of course she would love to meet up with Christophe again. He was pretty decent company! "I do attend the gym but not religiously. I prefer running in the park if you're up for it." She offered.

Her cooing look came back when Christophe mentioned that he had a husky. She loved all animals, excluding the insects. Since they weren't exactly animals, she was happy to say she loved ALL animals. Dogs of course being one of them. And a Husky! "He must be gorgeous! I so have to meet him! Maybe you could bring him along one of our runs. Only if you want of course," she added the last part quickly. She didn't want to assume that he was serious in his wanting to meet her again.

[christophe]

"Running? Sure... I'd like that. I just hope you don't go too fast... I'm more the tortoise than the hare," Christophe said with a crooked grin.

He laughed when he saw her reaction to Renard. "He is an attention slut so will definitely bring him with me," he promised. "Really he could use the exercise as he gets spoilt constantly." On cue Renard's pizza box arrived and the thanked the pretty waitress. The leftover slice was placed inside and all that was left was the bill. They split it evenly and while Christophe's first impulse was to insist he paid for them both he managed to bite back that outburst. He had a feeling he knew how well that would go down. Balloons and lead weights came very much to mind!

"I had a really nice time, Ella," he said as they exited Marcello's.
"Although I wish it had been in happier times," he added in reference to her earlier tears. Still, she seemed fine now and so whatever had happened had been pushed aside. "Do you have a cell phone?" Who was he kidding? Everyone had one. It didn't take him long to enter in his number and then he handed his to Ella. "Now we can text or something and make sure we meet up for that run... and for the gym perhaps." He liked that idea too.

Ella started to reach for the black helmet and Christophe held up a hand to stall her. "From here I can easily walk home. I live just two blocks in that direction." He pointed in the general direction of the Broussard house. "And next time I intend to steal some of your pizza so be warned!" he finished on a laugh.

(tag for a wrap maybe?)

[Ella D'Agustino]

[One more as always! ^^]

"That's cool." Ella grinned. "Besides, we could jog if you prefer it." She suggested as she returned the smile he gave her. She laughed when Renard got called an attention slut. "Oh come on, he's a dog, he was practically born to ask for attention!"

After splitting the bill in half, Ella grabbed her helmet and they walked out the restaurant. "I had a nice time too, Christophe and that's old news," she waved her earlier episode off. When asked about her phone, Ella informed him that it had gone dead so she just took his phone and keyed in her number. "Just text me later so I can save your number. And yeah. We can arrange a meet soon."

Ella wanted to open the seat to get Christophe's helmet but he waved it off, saying he wanted to walk home. "Oh but..." she wanted to cut in but Christophe insisted so she dropped the helmet with mock exasperation. "Fine, fine if you insist." She shrugged and stuffed the helmet under the seat and pushed it down. She opened her mouth and gasped. "You wouldn't dare." She hissed, narrowing her eyes before laughing.

"Alright, so I'll see you in school tomorrow then? Bye!" Ella showed him a toothy grin before hopping on her beloved Vespa and riding off with a small wave over her shoulder.

[christophe]

"I shall look out for you," he assured Ella and he waved farewell as she rode off. Christophe watched until the red scotter ad vanished from sight. He was glad to have met her... and to have been able to both share a meal (sort of anyway) and help cheer her up in spite of still not knowing what - or who - had upset her.

He rummaged for his phone on his way down the street and towards his home, frowning when he saw there were no waiting texts or voice mails. Lia still hadn't replied to his message from lunch time and he hoped everything was ok back home. He contemplated sending her another text but as that smacked of bugging her he pushed his phone back into his pocket and shouldered his pack a little more securely. He felt sure she'd return his message if and when she was ready.

The walk home was going to take him a little longer than expected mainly thanks to the fact that he detoured down onto the beach. It wasn't like he was in a hurry. He'd eaten supper and had finished any homework needed for the following days classes. The evening was his and with no one to share it with he could afford to spend some time simply looking at the water.

Christophe walked to the end of the pier and leaned over.

It really was a beautiful evening, after all!

[Ella D'Agustino]

[WRAP! As always, awesome posting with you, Fryn! Christophe is truly a gentlemanly playa ]

[christophe]

(I had great fun, Nu! Thanks for a hugely fun thread )