Page 12 of XOXO

“Oh my god, no, this is awesome,” I said quickly. “I’ve always wanted to ride one, but I’ve been too nervous to try by myself.”

“Oh good, I should have asked first, but I’m so used to riding it around I didn’t even think about it,” he said, relieved. “If you’re not ok with it, I can get my car.”

“No, don’t you dare,” I said excitedly.

He grinned. “Ok, the drive is a little cool, so put your sweater on and we can get going.”

“Awesome,” I said, following him to his red moped as I put my sweater on. “Is this your main mode of transportation?”

“When it’s nice out, it is,” he said, handing me a helmet. “I usually like to walk since I live close to my work.”

“I’ve always wanted to live in a city where I could walk everywhere,” I said, as I put on my helmet.

“It’s great. I hate driving, prefer the moped or my motorcycle,” he said, holding his hand out to help me on.

“I hate driving too,” I said, my stomach erupting in butterflies when he turned on the moped.

I didn’t know where to put my hands so I left them on my thighs.

“You’re going to want to put your arms around me,” he said, looking over his shoulder, grabbing my arm and pulling it around his middle.

“Ok,” I said as I felt myself blush. “I felt weird assuming.”

He smirked. “I know we just met, but I don’t think I’ll ever say no to you touching me, but you have my consent to touch me. I might hold onto your leg. Is that ok?”

I bit my lip. “Um…yeah, of course.”

“Alright, let’s go,” he said, patting my calf as he merged us into traffic.

The city was beautiful like this as we zoomed through it. Levi pointed out a few places he told me I needed to eat at. I tried keeping a mental list, but there were just too many places.

My hostel was a little outside of the city center, but as we drove past the Eiffel Tower, I grew even more excited to see where we were going. I had given Levi a rundown of all the places I had visited and I was hoping we were going to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. It was on my list of places to visit, but traveling that far made me a little nervous.

When we didn’t pass the Seine, I racked my brain for what else I said I wanted to visit, but since it was hard to figure out where we were, I was at a loss. Levi pulled into an unassuming parking lot that left me even more perplexed.

He parked, helping me off and taking off my helmet. Static made my hair stand out as he looked at me sheepishly.

“Sorry, I didn’t think about your hair,” he murmured, taking off his own helmet.

I attempted to smooth my hair down. “It’s ok, I can put it up if it gets unruly.”

“The only bad thing about riding is the helmet hair,” he said, running his hand through his hair, stressing his bicep and leaving his hair looking perfect.

“It’s fine, I promise,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “I’m more excited to see where we are going.”

“I know you had a list of places you wanted to visit,” he said, hooking our helmets onto his moped. “I thought this might be different and maybe something you didn’t know you’d want to see.”

His cheeks grew pink with embarrassment.

I smiled, a little wary of where he might have brought me, but was really hoping for the best.

“I’m intrigued,” I said, as he led me out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk.

“Now I’m regretting doing something different,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “You mentioned your love of reading and I thought you might like to see a beautiful library.”

We walked to a gorgeous building that did not look like a library.

“You also mentioned ‘Beauty and the Beast’,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “And I think this might be like the library Belle had. It’s a beautiful library.”