Perfect Strangers – Jonas Blue, JP Cooper.
"The moment I saw her, a part of me walked out of my body and wrapped itself around her. And there it still remains." – "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" Arundhati Roy.
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🦁Alexandre🦁
"Can I have your keys?" I ask her standing by her car. Outside is basically empty, except for a few persons loitering around the parking lot, entrances, and exits.
"I'm okay to drive" her rounded cupid's bow lips turn up into a smile. She looks into my eyes and her almond-shaped dark brown orbs captivate me; if eyes really are the windows to your soul then her soul is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
"I'm sure you are" I say stretching my hand out to collect her keys. Her oval-shaped face twists into a frown, her button nose wrinkles at the top, and her thick black eyebrows come together as if she's in thought.
"Why should I let you drive my car? I just met you" she says pushing her thick, long black curly hair off her sandy brown skin.
"You shouldn't but if I damage your car in any way, I'll replace it with a brand-new car of your choosing," I tell her and those piercing brown eyes meet mine once again.
"You're bluffing," she says putting her hands on her hips; her waist is small; her hips are wide and she has enough of everything.
She's perfect.
You just met her.
It's just the truth.
"I don't bluff," I tell her truthfully maintaining eye contact.
"Alright then let's go," she says popping her trunk and pulling out a pair of sandals.
The scent of a strong fruity perfume invades my nostrils the moment I enter her car, she sits beside me in the passenger seat, her two friends in the backseat. I follow behind Carter as he drives the rest to the cafe around the corner. As I drive the three girls start discussing the different things that happened to them during the night and I can't help but listen to her voice.
Her voice is sweet and cultured, seductive and calming. She's intriguing and don't get me started on her aura.
Have you ever met somebody and you instantly know that you were destined to meet that person? Like you meet them and everything about them captivates you, it's as if you've known this person your entire life like you've loved them before, gone through so much with them before, yet you've only just met them? You haven't even had a full conversation with them yet you feel drawn to them; it's like you meet them and you don't see yourself going a day without them.
Because that's the feeling I got when my eyes landed on hers not so long ago, she is captivating and I do not want to miss a second of her life; I want us to share every waking moment of our lives together.
I want to blame this on alcohol so badly but I do not have even a drop of alcohol in my system; she fascinates me and I have no idea why.
When we get to the parking lot, I see Teresa sitting on the trunk of Carter's BMW 7 series, Aston between her legs, Kyle and Carter standing to the side in conversation. I remember when I met these four about twelve years ago when we were in the third grade; at the time I was a transfer student my parents had just moved to Willowdale from France and I didn't know anybody.
I had to introduce myself to the class and I was very nervous, so nervous all I could do was stand there filled with nausea and a pair of shaking hands. All the other kids were whispering, pointing, and jeering but Teresa came up to stand beside me, she held my hand and she told me it was okay. She gave the other kids an earful too, told them they should learn to be kind to others; she had Aston, Carter, and Kyle by her side defending her while she was defending me. We've been inseparable since; we've gone through a lot, seen a lot together, fought each other, fought for each other. I've watched them grow, they watched me grow; I watched Aston and Teresa fall in love and their love has given me hope.
"Are you coming?" Valentina-Rosa asks as she gets out of the car.
"Yeah sorry" I clear my throat following her out.
We walk up to the entrance of the restaurant side by side, a cloud of comfortable silence hanging between us "After you" I open the door for her and she nods a thank you and walks in.
The others went in before us, she wanted to change her shoes and I offered to stay with her, lots of strange men and perverts hang around these parking lots after hours so I figured better to be safe than sorry.
"They only had pizza so we ordered for you guys," Aria says as we sit around the table and I just nod.
"Excuse me" Valentina-Rosa's voice cuts through the muttering around the table as she summons a waitress.
"Can I have a green tea please?" she smiles at the young woman in the bright yellow waitress uniform; the color of her uniform contrasts nicely against the navy-blue interior of the little café.
There is a large black French window to the left of Valentina-Rosa that offers an excellent view of the picturesque night sky. The stars flirt with the moon and she smiles brightly in approval, the light night breeze blew all the clouds from the sky giving us the opportunity to see clearly as the stars converse with the moon.
I try to admire the beauty of the night sky but my eyes keep circling back to her; she's probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She's so elegant and graceful, even the way her eyebrows crease together when she looks at something on her phone intrigues me.
Her eyes flicker up to mine and she smiles; for some reason the little gesture makes my heart skip a beat. I don't look away and neither does she, there's something in the air between us that I can't really explain, the more we look at each other, the stronger it seems to get. Her dark eyes glisten and a soft expression is on her face as she studies me; I feel as if she's looking deep into my soul as if in a way she's claiming it.
"Grazie" she smiles at the waitress as she hands her the cup of steaming hot tea. As her hands wrap around the blue ceramic cup, I wonder what it would feel like to have her hands wrap around mine.
She lifts the cup delicately to her lips and closes her eyes once the liquid enters her mouth. She looks at peace and the sight brings a smile to my lips.
"Like what you see?" Teresa smirks beside me.
"Eat your food and mind your business Teresa" I pick up a slice of pizza off the plate before me.
"Alex my love, you are my business," she says in a matter-of-factly tone and I just roll my eyes ignoring her.
"Full at last" Kyle yawns loudly stretching his hands above his head.
"This is why I don't go anywhere with you guys" Teresa rolls her eyes and I see a ghost of a smile playing on Alia's lips.
"Aren't you guys done? Cause I'm getting tired" Carter yawns leaning his head on the wall behind his head.
"And that is another reason" Teresa comments putting her napkin on the plate she was eating from.
"Some of us need to sleep, Teresa. We can't all be up 24 hours a day every day like you" Kyle says signaling the waitress.
"Shut up Kyle" she rolls her eyes.
When the waitress comes with the bill Valentina-Rosa grabs it from her hand gently before anybody else can even look at it "I'll pay" she says searching around in her bag.
"We always split the bill" Teresa smiles at her.
"I insist" she smiles back.
"If you wish, but don't spoil these pigs they'll run your pockets into the ground," Teresa says narrowing her eyes at Kyle and he flips her off in return.
"I'll try not to" she smiles handing the waitress her card.
When she takes the card back from the waitress, I see three butterflies tattooed on the inside of her wrist, similar to the butterfly on her necklace. If she wears it around her neck and has it inked in her skin then butterflies must mean something to her.
"It's so pretty out here," Kyle says looking up in the sky as we walk in the parking lot.
"Windy too" Aria rubs her hands together, walking behind him.
"It was a pleasure meeting you" Valentina-Rosa smiles at Teresa.
"The pleasure is all mine" Teresa hugs her.
"I hope I'll be seeing more of you" she smiles as she pulls away.
"I think you might" Valentina-Rosa smiles warmly at her.
"I hope I'll be seeing more of you too," Kyle says smiling at her his hands on Alia's shoulders holding her against his side.
"See you around?" Aston asks and she nods at him.
"It was nice to see you again" Carter smiles at her pulling on the ends of Aria's hair earning himself a slap in his chest.
"This belongs to you" I walk up to her as the others say their goodbyes.
"Yes, thank you," she says taking her car key out of my palm.
"Are you okay to drive or would you like me to drop you off and have Carter pick me up from your apartment?" I ask her and she looks up at me.
"I'm good thank you. I had maybe four glasses of water so there's that plus green tea works wonders so I'll be fine" she smiles at me lightly, her eyes heavy.
"How far from here do you live?" I ask her when she yawns.
"Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty" she yawns again this time stretching.
"Forgive me, my mom would break my neck if she saw me behaving like this in public" she laughs lightly.
"That's okay, be sure to get some rest," I say, opening her car door for her.
"I will" she smiles readjusting her seat.
"Thank you for inviting us to your club and driving us over here when I was still shit-faced" she smiles at me brightly her eyes glistening, as she buckles her seat belt.
"It was my pleasure" I smile at her stepping away from the car as she starts the ignition.
"I'll see you around," she says getting ready to drive off.
"Au revoir," I say to all three as Alia and Aria wave at me from their seats both looking as if they're about to pass out.
***
When I finally get home it's minutes to five and sleep is knocking at every figurative door that I own "Hey you" I say kicking off my shoes at the door.
She'll kill you when she sees them laying there.
I'll deal with her in the morning.
"Hey," she says pushing her head off the pillow, the lights from the television dancing on her face.
"How was the club?" she asks pushing the wayward strands of her thick black curly hair she has in a messy bun off her forehead.
"And how was Valentina? That's her name, right?" she asks following me with her black almond eyes as I walk behind the black and white sectional couch she is sitting on.
"The club was great and her name is Valentina-Rosa and she was great too. I think you'll like her" I tell her sitting on the black chaise lounge beside the couch she's in.
"Teresa loves her already, can't shut up about how pretty and kind she is" she smiles pulling the blanket under her chin.
"She is; you like Alia and Aria so you'll like her as well," I say resting my head against the headrest.
"We should invite her over for dinner on Sunday and the rest too" I hear her say and I can tell her thin eyebrows are drawn together and her full lips are pouted as her face contorts into a thoughtful frown.
"Yes, we should" I mutter, head still resting comfortably on the black cushioned headrest. She goes quiet and I know the wheels of her are probably turning at a pace too fast thinking about what she'll cook on Sunday and what she'll wear.
"Aurora?" I call out softly, eyes still closed.
"Yes?" she answers, her voice low and a bit startled.
"Why are you awake?" I ask easing my head up a bit, looking at her to find her already looking at me.
She looks away from me and turns her eyes to the constantly moving lights emerging from the television as SpongeBob and Patrick chase jellyfish around jellyfish fields "I'm not tired" she says flatly.
"You're not?" I ask sitting up in the chair, resting my elbows on my knees.
"I'm not," she says pulling the blanket over her nose, still avoiding my gaze.
"Alright then love, if you say so then I believe you" I sigh leaning back against the chaise lounge.
This has been our routine for the past year; I go to the club or somewhere and come home after hours and I find her up in the living room. Sometimes I even watch her go into her room, go to bed and come back to find her up in the living room claiming not to be tired. I worry about her all the time but she never misses an opportunity to assure me that she's okay.
I met her exactly a year after I met Aston, Carter, Kyle, and Teresa; she was a real fireball, gave Teresa a run for their money. They became best friends instantly and the rest of us were forced to endure two ill-mannered, sassy little girls; and the older they got the worse they got especially after they learned the meaning of the word feminism.
Life has been horrible since but in a good way if that makes sense.
About three years ago we met this girl named Emily, she's probably the sweetest person that I've ever met; she clicked with Aurora and Teresa almost instantly. They became best of friends in less than a month; there was even a time when Aurora and Emily lived together. They were everywhere together; they did everything together; they even studied together despite the fact that all three of them majored in three different areas.
Things changed when Emily got a boyfriend though, I never met the guy, I don't even know his name but ever since he came into the picture Emily started spending less time with us and more time in White Ridge with him; she even moved out there eventually.
We still kept in contact and all was good until one day Emily's boyfriend invited the three of them somewhere and something came up so Teresa had to cancel, and at the last minute, Emily had to cancel too. They told Aurora not to go, Emily told her that she would tell the guy that they'd make it up to him some other time but Aurora as stubborn as she is went anyways.
I don't know what happened that night but whatever did, it broke Aurora, drained the life out of her.
She lost herself that night, the strong independent little girl I met died the night she went to that party; since then, she barely eats, she rarely sleeps and she doesn't go to parties anymore. She also developed this deep fear of being alone and that's how we became housemates; I see her crying from time to time and she hasn't been dating, she doesn't even leave the house unless she's going to Aston and Teresa's, Kyle's, Carter's, to school or to the supermarket. We convince her to go to restaurants with us from time to time but that's just about it.
I ask her about that night all the time but she never tells me more than "I trusted the wrong persons and I am dealing with the consequences"
I don't know if she told Teresa or anybody else for that matter but Emily hasn't been around since so, I figure what happened that night drove a wedge between the two.
If you look at her you can see that it's eating her up alive, especially in moments when nobody is around to see her; every time I hear her cry when she thinks I'm asleep or not around it breaks my heart.
It's as if I lost my friend without watching her being lowered six feet under, and to be honest I feel like it would have been easier to watch her being put underground than it is to watch her dying every day over and over again.
"I'm gonna go take a shower and head to bed, make sure you get some rest," I tell her as I walk towards the black steel staircase.
"We need to go to the supermarket so don't sleep until six this evening" she rolls her eyes and plops down on the cushions she had under her head when I first walked in.
"I'll try my best," I say going up the stairs two at a time.
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Grazie – Thank You.
Word Count: 2891.
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