The Last Virgin Standing

Chapter 24: Choux à La Crème, Escargot, and Prince Charmings

       I dialed her number slowly, hearing the sound each number hummed when I pressed the screen. It rang twice before I heard her familiar voice. My heart ached. It had only been a week or two, but it felt like an eternity. Being a girl was lonely and not fun unless you had your BFF to share it with.

       "Charlotte?"

       "Emma," I breathed, unable to help the smile that was curving from my lips. "How are you?"

       "Um, good, I guess. How are you?"

       "I've been better."

       "You're not mad anymore?"

       I shook my head, even though she couldn't see me. "Not at you."

       I heard her let out a breath. "Oh, thank goodness. I didn't know what I was going to do without you. I've been talking to Beth and Laurel, but it's not the same. They just don't understand my love for GU."

       "Trust me, Emma," I laughed. "I understand your deep and passionate love for him."

       "It's just that—" She sighed the sigh that only came when she thought of him. "—he's so beautiful and French. He's like a French pastry. God, he's yummy, Charlotte. I'm melting. I am literally melting. I just want him. Did I mention that he's French?"

       Emma had an obsession with France. Her bedroom was Paris-themed, complete with a mini chandelier and a wall sticker of the Eiffel Tower. She had a closet full of Paris graphic tees and things that had French words on them. She had the Paris collections from Bath & Body Works. Her sweet sixteen party's theme was A Night in Paris. She wanted to try escargots because the French ate them, and she was in her fourth year of taking French.

       I rolled my eyes. "What if I told you that he wasn't French?"

       "I researched him, Charlotte." Her voice dropped to a deadly serious tone. "I know that he's French."

       "You're such a stalker."

       "Only when it comes to him! I'd stalk the world for him."

       "Getting creepier, Em."

       "Promise me that if you ever become famous that you'll hook me up."

       "He's ten years older than year!"

       "It's just a decade."

       "Tenyears."

       "It won't matter when I'm eighty."

       "Fine, but I'm not going to be famous."

       "Just promise me, please? Pretty please? Pretty please, with a pretty red cherry on top?"

       "Okay! Okay! I promise."

       "We'll be intertwining pinkies tomorrow at school."

       "I figured."

       "I bet GU has a pinkie," she piqued.

       "I bet he does..."

       "I bet it's a nice one..."

       I listened to Emma gush about GU for hours, but I didn't mind. Not one bit because I had half of my best friends back. It reminded me of old times and how innocently (and sometimes not so innocent), bubbly, and sincere she could be. It was contagious and I couldn't help but add that GU had nice lips, to which she responded with a squeal and an "I know, right?!"