Girls like girls | Elisa de Almeida - fanfic ♡ (english)

thirteen ♡

Since she could remember, Celine had always gone out with any man her parents found for her.

Her first boyfriend was awful, although no one expected it to end that way at the beginning. Her parents were good friends with another married couple who also belonged to the same privileged niche in Paris; they owned a conglomerate of European airlines, which meant free flights at any time and to any destination. This was very convenient for Celine's parents since their business required numerous trips to find the best chefs in the world and explore the culinary landscape of as many countries as possible. So, her parents didn't hesitate to subtly introduce her to the son of the airline owners, hoping they would become a couple and keep the families intertwined for a long time, to their benefit.

At first, it was fun, but later she realized she felt absolutely nothing for him and didn't understand why she had to be there.

"I don't like it," she complained. "I'm going to break up with him"

"Don't even think about it," her mother replied in a tone Celine had never heard from her before; it scared her.

Everything fell apart when her parents' friends swindled them. It all ended in a fight, a lawsuit, and Celine's boyfriend dumped and insulted her. Her parents were defeated and sad, but Celine was happier than ever.

And so her life went on; her parents would find someone who benefitted them somehow and used Celine to bind them for a while. They chose her second boyfriend and her third one too. The one they didn't choose was Hervé, or at least that's how it seemed. She chose him in a desperate attempt to find out if the reason she never liked any of her boyfriends was that they were the same age and she probably preferred older men, but no. When her lips brushed against Élisa's by mere millimeters, she understood why she never felt anything for any man. It was like her brain clicked, and she was instantly terrified of understanding what had been happening to her all this time, what she had been hiding, and she left the room.

Breathless, she ran down the hallway and accidentally bumped into someone coming out of a room.

"Sorry, Pauline," she whispered, holding back tears. She tried to move past her, but Pauline was worried.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, subtly holding her arm to stop her.

Celine nodded and pulled away. This indicated to Pauline that the opposite was true, but she decided not to pressure her.

Celine walked to the training field, avoiding the players still celebrating today's victory in the lounge, and took refuge there, alone, with the cold wind and the starry night. She sat on the grass, hugging her knees.

She couldn't stop thinking about what she had just discovered about herself. She couldn't even say it in her thoughts, let alone out loud. What would her parents think? They would clearly disinherit her. What would the press think? They would destroy her public image and the Leroy businesses. Her own thoughts overwhelmed her, and she couldn't find a button to simply turn off and stop thinking for a while.

Silent tears warmed her cheeks.

Twenty-four years... twenty-four years of not knowing, of repressing it, of hiding it, of thinking something was wrong with me for not feeling anything for them, twenty-four years of not understanding anything and keeping it all inside.

In the midst of all the chaos she was experiencing, she smiled, thinking of her. Élisa de Almeida.

We almost kissed... I can't believe it...

"Are you okay?" a voice asked from behind, interrupting her thoughts.

"Yes," she answered, subtly wiping away some tears with her sweater sleeve. "Sorry for bumping into you in the hallway, Pauline."