French Kisses

huit

His height was that of Laurent. His hair color was of Laurent. His outfit was of Laurent. But, his injured appearance was not becoming of Laurent.

Ellie had never met Laurent, let alone seen an image of him. She had only heard about him from me, therefore, she was clueless about my investigation. Instead of snooping on the affairs of another, she was flipping through a visually appealing magazine.

I strayed away from Ellie and made my way towards Laurent, knowing that I wouldn't have any of my questions answered if I didn't ask them. In addition, I hadn't talked to Laurent for a few days, catching up could be nice.

The moment I was only a foot away from Laurent he coincidentally looked away from his magazine, making eye contact with me.

"Arden," he murmured.

"Laurent," I said.

We looked at one another for a moment, not stating anything else. Laurent closed the magazine he had been reading, giving me his undivided attention.

Taking a chance, I decided to start the conversation. "How are you?"

He placed the magazine back into its nearby compartment, clearing his throat before opening his mouth to respond.

"I'm fine."

"Hardly do people mean that they're fine when they reply with the word. You're fine? Your bruises and cuts say otherwise."

Laurent stared at me, not offering a friendly smile like he typically did.

"What if they're simply a result of stage makeup?"

"What if."

"Could be."

"You wouldn't mind if I check out the makeup up close then, right?" With the end of my question, Laurent's expression changed.

Laurent stayed silent and I began to inch closer to him, his hand stopping me before I could examine his face. He placed his right hand on one of my shoulder's to keep me from coming any closer.

"It's not makeup," he confessed, dropping his hand.

"What happened?"

Before I could get a response Ellie walked up to us. "Arden, you said that you came here for Vogue and yet you're chatting a guy up. Do you two know one another?"

"Yes, we do know one another. Ellie, this is Laurent."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly with the name "Laurent," however, she instantly fixed her expression in order to avoid looking suspicious. She extended her hand to Laurent.

Laurent slowly extended his, shaking her hand cordially.

"I'm Ellie, Arden's best friend."

"Ellie... Yes, I've heard quite a bit about you. I'm Laurent as introduced by Arden."

"Arden mentions me? That's sweet." Following her comment, Ellie walked towards another magazine and checked it out in order to give us some time alone.

"What happened?" I repeated, genuinely concerned about Laurent's new state.

"As I was putting away some luggage on a shelf at home one of them fell from above. Luckily I walked away with only a bruise and a few scrapes," he explained with ease as if he had rehearsed his response in the time between his introduction with Ellie.

"You got a black eye from luggage?" I asked, disbelief laced in my voice.

He immediately nodded, sticking to his explanation.

My expression continued to show disbelief as I thought up what to respond. "Laurent, you're truly one of a kind. I have never heard of anyone losing a fight with luggage.

"Shall I take the first part as a compliment?" he questioned, making genuine eye contact with me for the first time.

"Of course."

And with that Ellie returned to my side, checking her watch as she stood next to me.

"I should get going and let you two return to your shopping," Laurent stated.

I nodded and Laurent lingered for a moment, taking one last look at me before turning around. Before he could fully walk away, Ellie's voice interrupted.

"Do you want to join us for lunch?" Ellie asked.

Laurent turned around slowly. "Thank you for the offer but I've got business to attend."

"That's too bad, it's been nice meeting you."

"And you," he started, glancing over at me before continuing, "and it's always a pleasure to see you, Arden."

And with that, we headed our separate ways, furthering the distance between Laurent and I.

For every time that we progressed one step, we had to seemingly regress two steps. It was as if we were dancing in an unconventional way. Our motions were constantly out of sync and we kept stepping on each other's toes.

When would dancing come naturally for us?

* * *

The time finally came when Ellie had truly fallen in love with the city of Paris itself, when her taxi pulled up to the cobblestoned road it acted as a reminder that she would have to go on her flight home. Convincing Ellie to enter her taxi was a difficult task, Ellie extremely reluctant to say goodbye to both the city and me.

"I could always fly out later this week instead, I have a few days before my classes start," Ellie bargained, standing at the front door with her luggage.

"And pay for a new flight? As much as I would love it, you can't stay here any longer or else it'll be even harder to say goodbye. Also, you need time to adjust to the time difference and to prepare for the new semester."

Ellie sighed, knowing that I was right. "Fine, I'll leave for now."

With that she picked up her luggage handle and began to roll it down the hallway, I followed her with her carry-on luggage. She pressed for an elevator and gave me a pouty face. After a short elevator ride and a few more steps, Ellie was ready to leave in the taxi she had called earlier.

Before entering the taxi Ellie set down her luggage and approached to hug me, my arms open and myself not ready to let her go. If I could have my best friend in Paris, Paris would almost be perfect. She wrapped her arms around me with her incredibly plush jacket. "See you soon, Arden."

I wrapped my arms around her in return, sad to say goodbye to my best friend.

"By the way, you should check on Laurent. I don't like to call people liars, however, I can't help but feel Laurent isn't telling you the complete truth of his accident. Luggage falling on him doesn't explain his wrapped up hand," she stated, hearing about Laurent and I's conversation from me an hour ago.

"See you soon, Ellie. I hope you have a safe flight. Text me when you reach New York," I replied, hardly acknowledging her second point.

"I will, now you do what you need to do."

I would text Ellie like I would check on Laurent. In time I would find out the truth.

And the truth sometimes hurts.