AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ma’am?” he replied, still struggling to hold in some giggles. “Shall we?”
I linked arms with him, and for a moment, it felt like we were kids again, that nothing was wrong or had ever been wrong—we were in a land of make-believe, somewhere better than either of us could imagine.
Thanks, Felix.
Wish I could give him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
We’d only been seated for forty or so minutes, enjoying our meal, sitting beside each other—but it felt like a lifetime.
We had so much to share. Well, Pierre did. I opted to keep some things to myself, and also decided to ask him about the mysterious text I had gotten just before the plane departed, or about the knife that somehow found its way into my duffel.
It wasn’t necessary. Not now.
“So?” I asked, wagging my eyebrows at the bowlful of oysters on Pierre’s plate. “What do you think?”
“Magnificent,” he said, and slurped up a shell. “I’m making my ancestors proud, that’s for sure.”
I smiled at that, and shoveled a forkful of pasta into my mouth.
“So, Felix, huh?” Pierre said, whipping his napkin from his lap to dab at his lips. We’d managed to skirt around this particular subject so far, but it was inevitable. “Is that just a code word, or was that really his father?”
“No, no,” I said quickly, shaking my head. I’d been trying for the past few minutes to avoid talking about this, about any of what had happened to me over the past week, but Pierre was my best friend, and he could tell when something was up. An awkward air fell around us.
By holding back, I was lying to his face. I had to break the silence.
Pierre sat back in his seat, and I felt his shoe rest itself on my own, as if it were his hand in mine saying, it’s okay. You can tell me.
After sucking in a breath, I took a sip of water from my glass and looked Pierre in the eyes.
But he took the words right out of my mouth before I could try.
“You’re fucking him, aren’t you?”
My mouth fell open a bit, but no words came out. Well, not exactly, I wanted to say. Our eyes seemed to have a silent, raging conversation until Pierre pushed back his chair, as calm as could be. He left the table, and I watched as he made his way through the tables set for two and turned the corner toward the bathrooms.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, pushing back my own chair. I got up and started after him, my mind reeling. How I was supposed to explain myself, defend myself, against whatever he had coming?
I didn’t want to hurt him. But I already had. Continuing to lie would only make things worse.
Turning the corner, I saw that there was only one bathroom. I tried the glossy door handle to find that it was unlocked. Sucking in a breath, I pushed it open. A sweet fragrance flooded my senses as I entered. Pierre was leaning against the wide ceramic sink, and his eyes flicked up to mine.
I closed the door behind me.
“Pierre, look,” I sighed, but I didn’t get much further before he crashed up against me and pinned me to the door.
Stunned, all I could do was hold my breath. I felt his hand move past my waist, and heard the door lock click behind me. He didn’t move any further, his eyes glued to mine, waiting for my next move.
I didn’t know what to do. My body was in shock.
“Sorry, I—” Pierre said after a moment, stepping back, burying his face in his hands. “Shit. What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” I said, but it sounded almost obligatory, and he uncovered his face to cast me a sad look.
“Don’t act sorry for me, Kat. You don’t have to,” he replied, leaning back against the sink. He put a hand to his temple, and let out a long sigh. “I suck at reading signs, I guess.”
I shook my head, taking a slow step forward, and moved to reach out to his shoulders. Signs. He thought we were flirting at dinner, while I thought we had been acting as we always had—friends. Just friends.
I thought back to that day before the end of our senior year. We were in my mom’s apartment, and I had been trying to get Pierre to talk about his feelings. He’d ended up pinning me to that wall just like he pinned me to this door—and did nothing else.
