The Unlikely Pair

**The Unlikely Pair** Jared had never been one for taking chances. Even the thought of stepping outside his comfort zone usually made his palms sweat. But when his best friend proposed a sudden Paris getaway, he'd reluctantly agreed, eager to see the city that had inspired so many artists and poets. However, due to a booking glitch, he found himself in an overbooked hostel room. His roommate ambition would have been reasonable, were it not for the coconut-smelling, colorfully-dressed whirlwind of energy known as Tess. She claimed the top bunk with energetic flair, tossing her beaded travel journals and rainbow-colored scarfs onto her bed. "Oi, what a lark! Two strangers in the city of love!" she laughed, tossing Jared a sandwich as if they were old friends. Initially, Jared found her to be too much. Her room was impeccable chaos, as made evident by her clattering brushes scattered on the floor, her lively laughter at almost anything, and infinite enthusiasm generated for everything except order. - "Unpredictable," Jared muttered to himself each time Tess dashed out of the hostel with an art easel while he opted for the easier, predictable hiking of Montmartre alone. Tess, on the other hand, relished the serendipity life flung her way. Jared's affinity for schedules baffled her. "You know you'd have more fun if you ditched that phone," she jestingly pushed over breakfast as she observed him sprawled over Google Maps. - "And you'd be more organized with one," Jared quipped back sheepishly, managing a small smile. Despite their different wavelengths, they found an odd togetherness. Like the time when Tess persuaded Jared to take a midnight stroll to the Eiffel Tower – persuading him with half a Nutella-wrapped crêpe, no less – while Jared revealed surprising taste in music with his playlist streaming faintly as they wandered over the city. Jared found himself enthralled as Tess explained her artistic endeavors with exuberance, her hands alive with gestures under the soft moonlight. Their communion seemed intensely harmonious during an impromptu picnic in Jardin des Tuileries. But things took a twist when Jared's phone rang with a call from home, and Tess vanished to the hostel. Inside, she found herself face-to-face with her reflection in the hostel's age-stained mirror. Memories flooded her of running away from small-town fears and family expectations, seeking freedom like the strokes of her abstract art. Jared's laughter disrupted her thoughts. Replaying moments like jigsaw pieces, she pondered on leaving again. Back outside, she noticed Jared's gaze softened towards the city. Under the petanque courts that day, she asked. "How did you become... you?" Jared hesitated, revealing a journey of academic rigor and shelved dreams of creativity. "And I worry too much," Tess confessed, her eyes misty, "about being anything more than half-formed ideas." They sat there, bare words revealing layers between half-eaten sandwiches and uncertainty. An hour passed until Jared spoke again: "Here's craziness for you. How about sketching together?" The unison laughter was freeing, like an inside joke. Their last stroll together, against a Parisian sunset, was silent, left in thoughts loaded with the imaginary - those she would paint and he imagined scripting. "Paris has a way of showing you who you really are, huh?" Tess remarked, packing away her brushes as Jared tucked his laptop. Neither ready to surrender to the reality of departing flights, they stood by the Seine, caught in their shared reverie of dreams and potential yet unwritten. Jared found himself reaching for Tess's hand, "Suppose today isn't goodbye, but a hello to something..." he faltered, feeling every beat, "new?" "Maybe," she responded softly. In the Avenue where romance was palpable, Tess found comfort in an unpredictable tomorrow. For Jared and Tess, miles may separate them, but dreams had every essence to create magic anew. **