I felt someone nudge me awake. When I opened my eyes, I realised it was Sebastian. I shot him a glare until he pointed towards the coach window. The sun was still high in the sky and I could see Paris slowly coming into view. The Eiffel Tower was in the distance and I could barely contain my excitement. It was kind of ridiculous but I was practically bouncing in my seat.

I was in Paris. Home of so many significant historical sights. My legs were itching to go walking and explore. Then again that could because I'd been sat on a coach and ferry since the early hours of the morning.

"As funny as it is to watch you drool, I thought you'd want to see this." Sebastian said, bringing me back down to Earth.

"I don't drool." I said snappily as I shifted in my seat.

"You do drool, are you forgetting I've spent many a night sleeping next to you?" Sebastian said.

I glanced down at my hands and realised my book wasn't there. In fact, it was neatly placed on the floor, my bookmark placed between the last pages I'd been reading before I fell asleep.

"I didn't want you to lose your place." Sebastian said with a shrug when I glanced over at him.

"Oh." I said, taken aback. "Thank you."

"Was that gratitude from Riley Quin?" Sebastian asked. God, he really couldn't help himself, could he?

"Don't get used to it Quaid." I said, stowing my book back in my bag. For a moment I had thought Sebastian could act like a decent human being.

He cheated on you Riley, how decent could he be?

The coach slowed down as we drew nearer to Paris on account of the summer traffic. My heart began to quicken as we slowly drove into Paris, crossing over the river Seine. From my pocket, I felt my phone buzz.

Perrie: Nerding out yet?

Riley: Oh hell yeah.

"Ok everyone." Called out Miss Kelly as she stood up. "We're heading to the hotel first, dumping our stuff then heading out into the city. As you've probably heard, Mrs Cooper has travelled back to the UK as her kids have the chicken pox. Mr Clayton will be here tomorrow." She added. Several girls on the coach giggled.

"Very subtle." Sebastian muttered under his breath.

"We're short handed until then but you're all eighteen years old. You're not going to act like children." Miss Kelly said with a stern tone to her voice.

"No, we're going to act like eighteen year olds. That's worse." Sebastian then muttered. You know what? He had a point. Small children couldn't be served alcohol in French bars. 

We carried on through the city for another twenty minutes or so until we stopped at the beginning of a narrow, cobbled street. The tall, cut stone building screamed classic French Renaissance, many of them with brightly coloured awnings hanging above the doorways and large pots bursting with flowers.

It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. This was somewhere I'd been wanting to visit my whole life. Now I was here. Without even thinking, I reached for Sebastian's hand and squeezed it. It wasn't until he squeezed back that I realised what I was doing.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." I said as I ripped my hand away.

"I didn't mind." Sebastian said, holding my gaze for a fraction longer than was necessary. I tore my own gaze away and thrived to blink away the memories that flooded my brain.

Sebastian smiling at me, holding my hand and kissing me. Sebastian telling me that he loved me. The night we slept together for the first time.

"You all alright getting off here? There's no way I can get down there." The coach driver called to Miss Kelly. She nodded her head and set about letting everyone off the coach.

I quickly found Perrie, not that she was hard to find. In the bright Parisian sun, her hair was brighter than ever. At least I wouldn't lose her. She'd already swapped her normal sunglasses for red plastic heart shaped ones and I just knew that within minutes a beret would be placed jauntily on her head.

We all grabbed our luggage and set off down the street, Perrie looping her arm through mine and skipping slightly. I had to admit it, her excitement was contagious and soon I was skipping too.

The hotel was one of those beautiful boutique hotels that clog Instagram feeds. All flowers, marble and high ceilings with a ton of natural light. As soon as we walked in, Perry started to take about a million photos. I knew that within minutes, several of those photos would be posted online.

Before the trip had started, each of us had requested a room buddy, someone who we would share rooms with for the whole trip. Naturally, Perrie and I had requested to share rooms with each other.

After a lot of faffing around, during which time most of us ended up sitting in the lobby and staring longingly at the bar, all the rooms were sorted. Once again, Perrie and I grabbed our bags and headed up to our room.

"Remember, we're meeting back down here in thirty minutes!" Miss Kelly called as we all trudged off to the rooms.

Jessie and her room buddy, Charlie, caught up with us as we were walking up the narrow but brightly lit staircase. Charlie was a fellow history buff like Jessie and I. The girl was obsessed with the American Revolution and probably had the entire of Hamilton memorised.

"How was the coach journey?" Jessie asked me, looking sympathetic. "She was stuck next to Sebastian." She added to Charlie.

"Lucky." Charlie said. "I had to sit to Motion Sick Max. It was awful." She added with a wrinkle of her nose. Motion Sick Max was the nickname we had given to Max Foster, a fellow History student who couldn't sit in a moving vehicle for longer than five minutes without going green.

"I'm not lucky. I would have taken Motion Sick Max over Can't Keep It In His Pants Sebastian." I said. Charlie snorted.

"At least he's pretty to look at." She said. Jessie shot her a disgusted look. "I used to have the biggest crush on him. Only for, like, six months. Actually, it was more like a year. Who am I kidding, I still would." She added with a shrug.

"Charlie!" Jessie snapped, giving me a look. Charlie went bright red.

"Oh fuck, I totally forgot! I'm sorry Riley." Charlie said.

"It's fine. Sebastian can shag whoever he wants now. In fact, he did that when we were dating so having a girlfriend never stopped him."

"He's a babe but a total jerk." Jessie said. "Like a poisonous flower."

"Or an asshole in skinny jeans that shags at girl while you're away in Ireland." I muttered.

Perrie had been very quiet during this conversation and I was sure she was plotting something.

We left Jessie and Charlie by their room and headed to our own. As soon as Perrie opened the door she let out a whoop. We had a balcony. An honest to god balcony. Even I joined in with the whooping, this was amazing.

While Perrie ran out to the balcony, I rummaged in my pocket for my phone. I had yet to call or text my mum. Even though it had only been several hours, I already missed her. I rang her phone and hoped she would pick up.

"Sweetie!" She cried as soon as she picked up the phone. "I was just about to call you, I've just got out of a surgery. Are you in Paris yet?"

"Yeah, we just got here. We're at the hotel."

"Tell Aine we have a balcony!" Perrie called from said balcony.

"Perrie told me to tell you that we have a balcony." I said with a chuckle.

"Swanky. You're going up in the world kiddo." Mum said with a tinkling laugh, very similar to my own. "I miss you already, I can't believe you're gone for six whole weeks."

"I know, I miss you too." I said, holding the phone closer to my ear.

"I suppose it'll prepare me for when your brain box butt leaves me for uni." Mum said. When that time would come, it was going to be brutal. I hated the thought of leaving mum all alone. "Sweetie, I've got to go. I'm being paged to one of my patients. Call me when you have a chance."

"I will do. I love you."

"I love you too, brain box. Give Perrie a hug for me." Mum said before we said our final goodbyes and hung up. I sighed heavily as I stored my phone away.

My mum and I had always been close. It wasn't surprising seeing as there were only twenty-one years between us. She'd had me during her final year of university and before she'd gone to medical school. I have no idea how she managed to raise me as well as studying to become a doctor but she'd done it.

She'd done it on her own too. Her parents, who I saw once a year during our annual trip to Ireland, wanted nothing to do with mum when she told them she was pregnant. It was either because they thought she was far too young or because she wasn't married to my father. Mum rarely talked about what had happened and she'd only started talking to her parents again about five years ago.

As for my father, well he had stuck around for the first six months of my life before running off. All I knew about him was that he'd been a medical student like Mum and was called Owen. Mum never talked about him and frankly, we were both probably better off without him.

"Dude, stop wallowing and check out this freaking view!" Perrie called from the balcony. "Promise not to scream." She said as I walked over to her.

"I prom..." I started to say before I stopped and simply stared. The Eiffel Tower was in front of us. "Holy shit." I said as I took in the sight before us. "This is amazing!" I said, taking in the stunning view in front of us. It was beyond beautiful. Still, I could tell Perrie had something on her mind.

"You should cut Seb some more slack." She finally said.

"Cut him some slack? Perrie, I know you're friends with him but the guy cheated on me. While I was stuck being force fed colcannon by Nana Bronagh, he was at some party getting off with some random skank." I said.

"He says it didn't happen."

"Yeah? Then explain the photos." I said. I'd found out because friends of mine had been at that party. They'd all seen Sebastian coming downstairs with some girl and taken photos of him kissing her. The photos had been sent to me and I'd broken up with him the day I came back from Kilkeel.

"Maybe just try talking to him? Maybe he can tell what happened." Perrie said in a low voice. "Just... just cut him some slack, ok? I'm not just saying this because of the bet. Give him a chance." She added  as I heard voices behind us.

"...have a fucking balcony. That is sick." Both Perrie and I turned around to the balcony directly next to ours. I recognised that voice.

Seconds later Tom Carter came strolling out onto the balcony and whooped loudly. He turned to whoever was in the room with him. "Seriously man, check out this view." He said.

My stomach sank as none other than Sebastian Quaid soon joined Tom on the balcony. Of course, his room was next to mine. Of course.