.
| Our love story |
La
Compagnie des Comptoirs Côté Plage - Montpellier, Fr
July 8 - 5.45
pm
Once upon a time... Well, actually on June 24, 2004 …
While Princess Paula was out with friends at James’ Beach, a restaurant/bar located in Venice, California, a handsome young gent (yes, it’s Super Steve!) spots her across the room. Captivated with her pure beauty, Steve is compelled to approach her. Before even knowing her name or the first thing about her, he is convinced that they were meant to be together from that day on…
Not knowing who she is there with, Steve doesn’t dare tell Paula
this quite yet, for fear that she’ll call security (or one of her
large male friends…) to have him removed. So, shy as he is not,
and with natural born slickness (note: Paula wrote this, Steve denies
any natural ability), he casually inserts himself into her group
– comprised of five or six young French men and women. After a few
minutes having pretended to be interested in the foreigners, Super Steve
achieves his goal: he gets confirmation that all the Frenchmen are no
more than friends of Paula’s (he assumes the same of the women).
Steve now turns his full attention to Princess Paula.
Not to come off desperate or anything, he offers her a mansion in Beverly
Hills and asks if he could maybe visit her from time to time.
Nah... Just kidding. Back to the story.
After just a few minutes of talking with Paula, who was as usual enchanting, all Steve’s feelings are confirmed. She is very special. Steve was never much of a drinker so he was actually sober during this once in a lifetime moment. You know, it’s not every day Adam finds Eve!
Paula’s friend Xavier jokingly (although Steve thought there was truth to his nonsense) tells Steve that Paula’s goal while traveling is to have a guy in every city. He warns him, however, that she is returning to France the following Monday, but that Steve could give her a try anyway since she hadn’t yet found anyone worthy of her time in LA. Steve, convinced he would change Paula’s wanton ways forever, dug in his heels, ignored the bold comment and became even more determined to win her magnificent heart. Holding what was now Steve’s fourth glass of water in a row, he professes to Paula that he is not drunk and very sincerely wants to get to know her better.
What Steve said next, you only see in movies (or in the hallways of mental institutions…). Steve said:
“If you want to stay in California, you can live with me”.
Paula gracefully smiles and says absolutely nada in her typical sweet Brazilian “whatever” way. Steve, who was (now) too shy to ask for Paula’s number, gives her his business card and asks if she will call him before Monday, and of course, Paula says she will. Steve smiles at Paula and excuses himself, goes home and wiggles his toes.
Saturday comes and goes. No call.
Sunday comes and goes. NO CALL. Steve tells himself she’s playing
it cool. (Yah, right)
Monday comes and goes. STILL NO CALL.
Monday night, Steve lies in his very big, luxurious but empty bed staring
at the ceiling. Steve is really sad 
.
His heart is broken 
.
He says to himself (not out loud, cause now that really would be crazy),
“She didn’t call. The most perfect Princess was no more than
a glimpse of perfection…gone…forever”.
...Sniff, sniff......
Steve is invited to James’ Beach for drinks the following
week by a friend. He reluctantly goes, yet is immediately reminded
of Paula. The pain too much to bare, Steve tells his friends he isn’t
feeling well and leaves. He really was only in pain in his heart .
…10 months later ( to
the day!! )
it’s Saturday April 23rd, 2005…
(and about midnight.. so counts as 24th really)
Steve’s friend Erik calls him and invites him to James’ Beach for drinks. Remembering the “Paula incident”, Steve tells Erik he is tired and would rather not. Erik explains that he and his girlfriend had a fight and he really needs to get out for a drink. Steve reluctantly agrees to meet Erik at James’ Beach. They arrive at the entrance at the same time and enter the bar. There are two bar stools empty at the end of the bar. Just as Steve and Erik sit, Steve spots what seems to be… his long lost dream girl !! It’s Princess Paula!
(Now Paula was actually heading to a house party in Venice, when a “new friend” of hers calls inviting her over to James’ for a couple of drinks. She was late already, but her friend tells her he’s leaving town for 3 weeks the next day. Since French house parties go on till late, Paula thinks… “Ok, why not” and heads over to James’ to say hi briefly).
Believe it or not, Paula’s sitting
on the very same bar stool as when Steve and her first
met (now isn’t that something?!).
Ok… So she is there with another guy! ; “Fear not, Steve’s
been down this road before” Steve tells himself. Steven walks around
the bar and starts staring at Paula, trying to get her attention. While
she senses someone intensely looking at her, Paula only glances slightly,
smiles shyly and quickly looks away. Again and again she feels the gaze,
but makes no eye contact. A few minutes later, Paula looks back in that
direction… and is kind of sad to see there’s no one there
anymore. “I wonder who that was… looking at me so intensely…
Oh well, whoever it was, he’s gone now.”
…But he wasn’t gone, really…
Steve had walked back to his seat, right across from where she was sitting. He continues to stare at Princess Paula from the other side of the bar, but at this point she’s distracted and doesn’t see him anymore. The guy she is with, on the other hand, realizes what’s going on, and starts to stare back. Paula, enjoying her cocktails, is completely oblivious to all the action, just talking and smiling away…
Steve thinks fast. He signals to the guy to come to him. “Me?” the guy asks with his eyes, “Yes, you!” Steve threateningly nods. “Come here” Steve with commanding authority gestures with his hand. The guy gets up and foolishly comes to Steve; foolishly, as it is unwise to leave your place with a lady to go to an obvious competing suitor. Steve was about to have the competition within his territory…
As the gentleman approached, and before he could utter a word, Steve hit him with two striking questions.
1) Is the girl you are with your girlfriend?
Answer: No, she’s a friend; we speak French together.
2) Is she half French and half Brazilian?
Answer: Yes. How did you know?
Steve now smiles warmly as he puts
his hand on the man’s shoulder and explains the chance encounter
with Paula from 10 months prior. Steve politely asks the man his name
and if he could say hello to Paula. The man replies, “My name is
Yves. I’ll ask her, and if it’s ok with her, it’s ok
with me”.
Yves walks back to Paula (who, as anyone who knows her would expect, was
already deep in conversation with the person seated next to her at the
bar and saw absolutely nothing of all of this) and says… “There’s
someone there who says he knows you…
…his name is Steven”.
Hearing that name, Paula immediately
thinks of the sweet young man with a genuine smile and delightful sparkle
in his eyes she had met briefly 10 months ago; she instantly looks in
the direction Yves is indicating and her eyes roll up as she puts A and
B together. “I can’t believe it!” she thinks to herself,
as she sees Super Steve smiling at her from across the bar …
Steve seizes the moment, walks up to
Paula,
smiles - adorably, as usual 
- and says, “Hello Paula”.
Paula replies, “Oh my God, how did you remember me?” and Steve says very naturally, “How could I forget you?” (aaawee!!! Isn’t he perfect ??!!)
Steve then adds, “But if you
think I am going to wait another year to see you again, you’re out
of your mind”. Paula giggles, and Steve asks, “May I have
your number so I can take you on a date?” With a schoolgirl’s
guilty smile, Paula says “I do”. Oh no, sorry! Not yet. Paula
says “Yes” only to the date, at this point .
Steve takes his cell phone and enters Paula’s number. After she
gives Steve the last digit, he immediately hits the “call”
button … She was not getting away easy this time 
.
When Paula’s phone lit up, so did Steve! “Just checking”
he says, with a smile of relief. “In this way you’ll have
my number too” he winks .
(In case you are wondering what happened to Yves, suffice it to say that was Yves’ last eve with Paula).
Steve called Paula the following Monday,
and finally took her out a few weeks after that (yes, she is… or
at least was, a very busy girl! Xavier wasn’t all wrong) .
Their first date was magical (as was every date thereafter...)
and it was evident to Steve that all his feelings for Paula were confirmed
by every glance she gave, every smile, every touch, and every word. Let’s
just say Paula wasn’t quite as quick as Steve, and if Steve wasn’t
so persistent, somebody else would end up married to his wife!
The End
P.
S.
This was just the beginning…
Post-P.S. Just for the record, Paula did intend
to call Steve a couple of times… but his business card kept disappearing
every time she wanted to call, then reappearing days later in a
different purse or something! After a couple of these incidents, she just
figured it was too late and he probably wouldn’t remember her anymore...
Had she only known! They both would have avoided a lot of “1st-and-last”
dates...
Post-post-P.S. Paula wasn’t all that slow to know, you know… may I inform you she moved in with Steve only 3 months after their 2ndnd (and definite) encounter! And that was only 10 or 15 dates really… AND the two love birds (as they are often referred to…) got engaged only 1 other month after that!!
Now isn’t that something!!
.
Home
»
Our
love story
»
I'll
be there! »
When, where, how?
»
Wedding
gift list »
Write
to us »
Photo gallery »