Chapter Two
I didn't jump.
Twice in twenty-four hours, I'd failed to act. And now a Greek god of a boy is staring at her.
I'm looking at the male equivalent of Ari. He looks so much like her. Golden tan-skinned, dark wavy locks of hair, perfectly symmetrical face, pouty lips, and dark heavy brows with a set of grey eyes underneath them. While Ari's irises are almost colorless, his have hints of ocean blue. It was if the water next to him was reflecting into his eyes. The same eyes that were staring at Ari as if she were the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.
I don't like him.
I approach Ari and loop my arm into hers. She turns to me. She is still wielding the smile she'd been flashing at him.
"Hey Girly! Took you long enough." She says. Then she pulls me closer and turns to face the intruding stranger.
She speaks in rapid French. It's fast and one word seems to roll into the other. I only catch a single word; my name. She's introducing me, I've heard her do it a few times before. Instead of saying my full name, she's gotten in the habit of calling me Belle. Pronounced with an intake of breath at the last syllable, making it sound more like Bell-ahh.
There is a sharp release of breath she makes that reminds me of a gasp every time my name leaves her lips. It's enough to make me shiver.
The intruder turns his smile and eyes on me. If I didn't dislike him so much; I'm sure my heart would be pounding like a jackhammer. I've never seen such a pretty boy before. He is still masculine. Tall, strong cheekbones and jawline, banging body, but he was somehow pretty.
He speaks and his voice is deep and rumbly.
"Hello, Belle! C'est vrai. Tu es très jolie et belle. Quand tu souris, c'est mon soleil qui brille."
I don't know what he's said. I heard hello and my name. I look at him then at Ari. Waiting for her translate for me.
She asks him a follow-up question in French. Again, she says it so fast all I catch is the word French and English, maybe? Is she asking him to speak English?
He tilts his head and blinks his eyes at Ari, then turn his gaze back to me.
"Mmmm...my English is no great, sorry?" He says slowly.
He rubs his chin with the back of his hand in concentration as he searches for the correct words. His pose reminds me of the statue. The thinker.
"I say your name is très beautiful." He pauses again in concentration. "And you are same."
I get the feeling I'm not getting the direct translation; he'd said more words.
Then he smiles a giant grin that reminds me of Ari. Brightens his face, his eyes smize, and while Ari only has one dimple, he as two. And then I kid you not the Greek god himself introduces himself.
"My name is Apollo. It is nice to meet you." His accent is thick and not French.
On reflex, I nod my head and put my hand out for him to shake. He scrunches his eyebrows and looks down at my hand. I realize my mistake. Was I being too formal? But before I can pull it back, he firmly shakes my hand.
Then he leans forward and kisses me on the cheek and then the other. I shouldn't be caught off guard by his lips on my skin, this has happened several times over since we'd arrived in France. But never by a guy this attractive. I think I'm blushing, and I hate myself for it.
This guy was the worst.
"It is okay. I am a Greek." I think he notices my awkwardness but smiles reassuringly. "We hug too."
I pull my hand from his and take a step back. He is not hugging me. My eyes flicker to his perfectly chiseled chest. He's not wearing a shirt and his trunks were too short.
"A Greek?" I frown at him. "Named Apollo. Hubris much?"
Ari flashes me a surprised look and then nudges me softly. Okay, I was being a little rude, but this guy is ...terrible. I don't understand why we are even talking to him. He should mind his own business.
"Hubris?" He repeats and scrunches his brows in concentration.
"Oh...you are a smart girl." He says. And he flashes me another one of his killer smiles. "Hubris."
He says it funny, like Ha-Breese. And I realized he's saying it the correct way, in Greek.
"Non, no Hubris..." He raises his eyebrows. He's even expressive like Ari too.
"My name is Apollonius. Son of Apollo." He pauses in thought again. "Apollo is easier. It is...how do you say this... le sobriquet?" He looks at Ari.
"Nickname," Ari says.
"Ah, exactement!" He doesn't take his eye off Ari instead he continues to stare into her eyes.
I look over at her, she is staring as intensely. I try to brush it off. This was Ari being Ari. She looked like she was flirting with everyone. She probably wasn't even interested. Maybe he was the same?
Apollo says something in French to which Ari replies. Then he starts to back away, but she stops him. She reaches into one of the bags hanging on my shoulder and pulls out her cellphone. It's a new one with a touch screen and apps. Dechlan had bought it for her after he'd melted her last one in a frying pan.
He takes it from her hand. He's putting his number into it. I have a strong urge to smack the phone from his hand and throw it into the Atlantic Ocean.
Beat that Dechlan.
Of course, I don't. I watch silently as this sexy boy puts his number into my girl...my girl...what? She wasn't my girlfriend. Were we dating? She was my best friend, but we hadn't said anything about what we were past that. I'm deep in thought and I don't notice him walk away.
Ari tugs at my arm and smiles at me.
"You ready to go?" She asks.
Next words I blurt out I regret instantly.
"He's hot," I say. I'm overcompensating, but I can't seem to make the words stop. "Like so sexy. I'd like...totally...like hit that."
I honestly don't know what's wrong with me or what possessed me to say it? It's not even how I speak. I've never said that many likes all together in a week. And hit that? Really?
"Yeah, I guess." Ari stares at me blankly and blinks.
"You know what?" She scowls and pulls her arm from mine. "It's not always about looks. He's actually an intellectual individual. He is fluent in four different languages and a mathematics and engineering student."
If this was a meme, this is the moment I realized I done F-ed up. I can see her mood swing happening in slow motion.
"Oh...I..."
"His father is a foreign diplomat and he travels with him. Apollo is smart, cultured, and has been everywhere in the world." She yanks her bag off my shoulder.
"Can you say that?!" She snaps and stalks off along the beach.
I stand dumbfounded and watch her go. I'm an imbecile. Why had I said that about him? And no, I couldn't say any of those things she'd mentioned. I could barely speak English half the time. He was more attractive, smarter, and more worldly. If he wanted to be with Ari, there wasn't much I could do about it. I trudge after Ari and angrily kick up the sand as I walk.
What is wrong with me?
***
We are sitting on the train leading us back to the center of Paris.
Ari hasn't said a word to me since we got on board. Granted once she's sat down in her seat, she'd fallen asleep instantly. I wish I could sleep as well, but when I'm upset my brain is always on overdrive.
While she sleeps comfortably, I keep going over my words on the beach. And rewatch her reaction over and over in my head.
I'm not a complete idiot, I know what I've done. I'd told the girl I love that I wanted to have sex with a complete stranger. To her face. Of course, she was upset. If she'd done the same to me, I don't know how I would've reacted. Probably with a boatload of tears.
I don't know if I momentarily forgot the change in dynamics to our relationship. Or if I'd done it because I was jealous and feeling insecure. Maybe a mixture of both? Either way, I hadn't meant any of it. Of course, I didn't want Apollo. I wanted her.
I need to talk to her, explain why I had done it. I rehearse the words I have to say on a loop in my head. They didn't have to be perfect but the key to a successful relationship is communication. Or that's what I'd heard. In my last relationship, I hadn't been very good at it. We'd used sex to solve our problems.
Ari's leans her head against my shoulder. I look over at her. She is sleeping. She always looks sweet and innocent when she sleeps. Her face is slightly tilted towards me. Her lips only a small distance from my own. I want to kiss her. I resist the urge, I don't want to come off as weird and creepy.
I lean my head against her instead and breath in her scent. I close my eyes for a moment. I can't explain the comfort I feel with her this close. A comfortable bliss rolls over me like a blanket. I feel happy. Like nothing can go wrong as long I can always be this close to her.
"Wake up! We're about to miss our stop."
"What?" I open my eyes and look up at Ari groggily.
She is already standing and frantically reaching for the bags. "Wake up sleeping beauty. We gotta go!"
"Okay, Aurora." I put extra emphasis on her name. "Who's calling who sleeping beauty."
She stops fidgeting with the bags and looks at me. As if a light bulb has just gone off in her head. Then the biggest grins spread across her face and she starts laughing.
"We are kind of both named after Disney princesses." She says between laughter.
She's referring to the fact, Belle, the name she'd given me in France, also means pretty or beautiful in old French. It's also the name of a famous cartoon princess. And I had been in fact sleeping, hence why she'd called me sleeping beauty. Forgetting she herself was named after Sleeping Beauty.
"Nope," I shake my head. "Nope, you're the princess not me. You keep that nickname to yourself."
But I can't hold back my own laughter either. Her laughter is infectious. It's nice to hear.
I stand up, grab my bag, and follow her down the aisle. She looks back at me as we step off on to the train platform and start walking towards the metro.
"Does that make me the Beast?" She says.
"Only if I'm your prince charming," I respond continuing her playful line of questioning.
She turns to looks at me and bites her bottom lip.
"Mmmm no...I'm pretty sure I'm the top."
I'm not exactly sure what she means but the heat in her stare makes my heart to do summersaults. And I have an idea. She'd been on top of me last night. I can't control the burning in my ears.
"I hope that never goes away." She says.
She steps into the metro car and I follow her in. We're already close to our apartment, only a stop away. We both stand and hold onto one of the rails.
"What?" I look over at her.
"Your blush." She smiles and licks her lips. "You've done it since the first day in Physics. It's adorable. Whenever I'd say something any bit sexual or just stares into your eyes. You'd blush. Even the top of your ears."
She reaches over brushes my hair behind one of my ears. "That's how I knew you liked me. I used to do it just to make sure it'd still work."
"I knew it, I knew it! I thought you were teasing me." I shout.
I can't help the giant grin creepy up on my face. I'd thought she said things on purpose just to make me blush. And her stare had always been...intense.
She responds just as loudly and in-between bits of laughter. "What can I say? I like to watch you squirm."
I notice a few teens in the front of the car making furtive glances at us as well and few of the other riders too. We were being very loud and very American. Everyone in France seemed to speak in a whisper even in a loud metro car. It also dawns on me that we are also being very gay.
I turn my attention back to Ari.
She is staring intensely at me again. Her exotic eyes are on me and she bites her lower lip. I now know it's strategical. She does it on purpose. She wants to draw my attention to her lips. Wants me to think about kissing her. She is trying to make me blush.
My eyes want to travel down to her pouty mouth but I defiantly hold her gaze. It's a lost cause though. My heart starts racing again and there is a slight burn in my ears already.
There is desire and passion in her stare. I can't control the heat flushing through me. It wasn't fair she had so much control over me. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do to have her continue to stare at me with so much love.
I lean forward to close the distances between our lips. I don't care if everyone is watching. I wanted to kiss her. I needed to.
The car stops.
Ari pulls her eyes from me and slides open the heavy doors. I sigh and I follow her out reluctantly. I've wanted to kiss her all day. I would've ridden on the metro all day long, and missed all of our stops if I could just feel her lips on mine once.
"What's the plans for the rest of the day?" I ask.
I was hoping she'd say we could back to the apartment and try last night over again. Though I still hadn't apologized for my actions on the beach. Maybe I was already forgiven? She didn't seem upset.
"I was thinking..." She starts but is interrupted.
"Speak French!"
I look behind us to see a group of teens about our age leaning against the metro station's wall. One of the taller boys had been the one to shout at us. I think they'd been in the same metro car as further up. They'd been the ones looking at us.
Ari whips around to face the teens but continues to walk backward.
"Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du skate? Je ne t'ai rien demandé, mêle-toi de tes affaires!"
She turns back around and says in my ears. "Go, go, go..."
Then Ari grabs my arm and quickens our pace.
Normally, I'd be alarmed by her outburst. But behind us, I hear the sound of laughter and admonishments from the boy's friends.
"What did you say to them?" I ask.
"I told them to mind their own business in a very...French way."
There is a mischievous grin on her face as we make our way out the station. She leans in and says, "I've always wanted to do that."
I have to admit I'm impressed. Being able to call someone out in their native language. I don't know what she said, but I know it was most likely rude and mildly inappropriate. Not something I'd ever do. She was so careless. Didn't care what anyone thought. And I'm kind of turned on by it. Do I have a thing for bad girls?
I think I do.
"I want to learn French," I say.
She smiles at me. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," I answer.
"Excellent! I know of a great place." She claps her hands excitedly, " You're smart you'll have it down in no time."
I can see the pride in her eyes and I'm already worried I'm going to let her down.
"I can't afford lessons. My mom is furious. She won't send me any money." I say regretfully.
"Don't worry about it. I know people who work there. I bet I could get you a part-time job. It'll cover your lessons and maybe a few extra Euros in your pocket."
"Really? That sounds alright. Thanks."
"Of course!" Her excitement is unbridled. "Oh, when we get back to the states, we'll be able to talk to each other. And no one will understand us. This is great! We can head there now! Get you signed up. I'll take some lessons too!"
I didn't want to go to some stuffy school right now, but she was so excited by my suggestion. What I wanted to do was talk to her in private and maybe try the previous night over again.
"Cool. Then afterward we can go back to the apartment for some alone time?" I ask hopefully.
"Uh, actually." She pauses and her steps slow. "I have plans with some old friends tonight. I'd invite you but you don't know them...and you know it'd be kind of..."
I interrupt her, I can see she is struggling to spare my feelings. She wanted to spend time with her friends without me.
"Yeah, no problem." I try to hide the bit of hurt in my voice.
I think she hears it anyways and she tries to reassure me.
"And we will hang out all day tomorrow." She smiles.
"Sounds good."
It didn't sound particularly good, but I did understand. I shouldn't have expected her to spend every waking minute with me as we'd done for the last week. But now she seemed more like herself, and I didn't want to be away from her. Didn't want to miss her being this happy.
TBC...Chapter Three
Thanks for reading everyone! Enjoy the fluff while it last...muahahaha!
I'm editing as I go, apologies for the massive amount of typos possibly slipping through. Feel free to call them out.