French Kisses

sept

a/n:
As announced on Twitter, I am trying to complete "French Kisses" this winter. There will be a total of sixteen chapters and I've finally decided on the ending...

f r e n c h
k i s s e s

Honesty is the best policy, there is nothing that could ever debunk my belief in always conveying the truth.

Therefore, it was only necessary for me to tell Ellie how Paris had been for me since I arrived. From my interactions with people to my current state of mind, I decided to tell Ellie nearly everything. Ellie was exactly what I needed in Paris for a few days.

"You kissed Laurent?" Ellie exclaimed, shock evident in her eyes.

She sat opposite of me on the couch and was enjoying a cup of tea that I had just brewed her. Her teacup nearly tipped over the moment I informed her of my latest kiss. Before telling her about the kiss that Laurent and I shared, I simply told her about Laurent. From how I described Laurent and the feedback I received after talking about him, Ellie seemed to be a fan of him, however, the kiss had the capability of completely changing her opinion of him. Initially, she was under the impression that he was a wonderful person, or rather a wonderful friend, for helping me navigate my way around Paris. What would she think of him now? What would she think of me now?

Ellie was my best friend, I absolutely had to tell her almost everything. No matter how many weeks passed between us seeing one another, no matter how many days passed between texts, Ellie and I would always be the one relationship that remained constant. Our friendship was like wine, it only seemed to get better with age.

There were situations like mine with Laurent and her's with Liam that were best to be said in person. At times like these, it is best to communicate in person in order to prevent misunderstandings. The only circumstance she couldn't wait to tell me about was the one between her and Archer. I found out about the breakup a week after it happened. Ellie desperately wanted to tell me about the breakup directly after it happened, however, she couldn't get herself to. When she told me about the breakup she confessed that she picked up the phone to call me but then she decided to put it back down in order to allow herself time to process the situation. She was hoping that it wasn't true and she was uncertain if it all was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't simply a bad dream and the reality of it all was that she and Archer had parted ways. The specifics of the breakup had never been disclosed, all I knew was that it occurred in the summer before junior year while Ellie was in New York for her first internship. Instead of coming back to California in the summer she stayed in New York. Long distance must have proved to be too difficult for Ellie and Archer, they just couldn't seem to find a way to work it out. The breakup changed Ellie, although she didn't seem to be aware of it. Ellie became fully immersed in school and work, she became more reserved after it happened and reached out to me less. I was almost certain that she felt the need to recover by herself, wanting to be independent and strong. She knew that I would have been there for her, but it wasn't my assistance that would heal her pain. We would always be there for one another and at the moment she was there for me.

"Yeah, we shared a kiss. One kiss, but you heard the circumstance." I tried to play off the whole situation between Laurent and I, knowing that a kiss was hardly nonchalant.

"I understand the circumstance, however, it doesn't change the fact that you and Laurent kissed," she stated, continuing after a moment, "how was it? Honestly."

She held on tightly to her teacup and waited quietly for my response, knowing that I couldn't possibly avoid her question.

"The whole moment felt like a scene from a movie, it caught me off-guard," I confessed, hoping that my response would satisfy.