La Vie Aprés: An Anna & the French Kiss Fic

Two

Etienne

I wake up sprawled across the hard dorm mattress. Anna lies with me, curled up in a ball in the crook of my arm. I start to fiddle with her blonde stripe and she sighs contently in her sleep. It's a Saturday and the only class I have is at 4 o'clock, a Russian-American history of relations course that's a semester long, and it can't be much later than 11 at most. Anna's hair looks lighter from the sunlight coming through the tiny dorm window. Her face is an expression of pure happiness and I can't help feeling the same.

I lie there with her after she wakes up for about a half hour or so before I realize how late it's getting. I glance at my watch on the nightstand — 12:48. If we want to catch brunch before I run to class and Anna's shift start, we better leave soon. "Hey, Anna," I whisper.

She groans and her eyes flutter open. "But why, Etienne?" She mumbles into her pillow.

"Hey, I didn't even ask you to get up."

"I knew you were gonna though," Anna says, awake now. "What time is it?"

"Almost 1," I says as I roll over and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I hear feet on the hardwood floor and Anna is up and about, throwing on a shirt of mine to wear for the walk to the dorm showers. She grabs her overnight bag she keeps in my dorm from underneath my bed and waits expectantly for me to get up and grab my stuff. Grabbing my stuff, I jump to Anna's side in the doorway and we walk down the the vacant showers.

She turns into the first stall down the row of the female showers and I go to the first one on my side. I'm drowsy and tired, but the cold shower wakes me up a little bit.

Anna and I walk back to my room and we get ready quickly. "What are you doing after your shift?"

"I'm closing tonight and I have a review due Monday," Anna says in a rushed tone.

"Just call me after work, Banana. My class goes until 5:30," I say as I grab my wallet and keys. Anna pulls her hair up and grabs her backpack and wallet.

"Okay, you can go out if you want tonight. I won't be home till late and Lola asked me to come over and help her with a project. Where are we going, Leelu's?" She asks as we walk to the metro station.

"Yeah, I'm in the mood for some good hash browns," I say. We arrive at Leelu's and Macy sets us down at the diner bar. Jack comes up from the kitchen and leans up against the counter. Jack is around 60 and Leelu's husband. They're both quite loud and cheery.

"How're my favorite customers?" Jack says with a wide smile.

"Oh, everyone's your favorite customers!" Anna laughs.

"Nah. Usual for you two?"

"Absolutely." Jack goes back to the kitchen and brings us our coffee and we chat for a bit. We learn Leelu is in the hospital with serious pain from carpal tunnel so only their daughters Dina and Lisa are in the kitchen. Jack asks how the wedding planning is going. We eat and chat until about two.

"We better be going. We need to run to the store and I have to get to my dorm for my uniform." We leave after many minutes of goodbyes and start walking towards another metro station. It's sunny and warmer today than the last few days. It reminds me of my mum and a sunny picnic on the steps of St. Etienne du Mont Church. This is European weather.

Anna and I board a metro train towards our favorite market district. We sit there in silence for a minute until she tells me to remind her to pick up her prescription. We do our shopping and pick up her prescription. We kiss goodbye and she heads to her dorm and I got to mine to get ready for class.

~~~

Anna called me. I told her Cricket asked me out to a bar with him and I accepted and that I'd see her tomorrow. I'm meeting cricket in the bar in a minute and I'm walking up the footpath to the bar. It's a little joint with a big patio and lots of lights. The air is more frigid than usual for San Francisco, but a little cold never hurt anyone 

Cricket is sitting at a little table near a back entrance. The bar tables are practically deserted, but the bar stools are overflowing — tons of men and women from college to middle age drinking in loud unison.

"Hey, St. Clair," Cricket says with a wave. I sit across from him and set my coat on the back of his chair.

"Oi!" I say with a big smile. Cricket pushes a Christmas Ale across the table for me and I thank him. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I'm just feeling jittery," he says with a swig of beer.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I mean, it's really nothing." He looks down as his hands.

"You're lying."

"Well, uh — can I ask you something?" Cricket asks with reluctance.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Have you and Anna had sex?"

"Well, yeah. We've been together for about 3 years now, why wouldn't we?" I say matter-of-factly. I like to consider myself very honest and open at this point in my life. We all know how being discreet went with senior year.

"Because I think Lola would like to have sex, I've just..."

"You're a virgin."

"Yeah," Cricket says, embarrassed.

"You know it's nothing to be ashamed about. Lola is experienced, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Anna was a virgin the first time we had sex. I knew it and I knew what to expect." I saw with a sip of beer. "I'm just surprised you waited this long."

"I mean, we've nearly had sex a dozen times. Between her constant projects and million jobs — let alone the constant long phone calls from Cal — there's always been something else," Cricket says with a frown.

"If you're worried about being rubbish, everyone's rubbish the first time. I think it will be good for you two to have it off," I say with a smirk.

"I'm not so used to you being so serious. Thanks." He smiles.

"No problem," I laugh and we sit and talk through the night with our bottles of Christmas Ale.

Hello readers! It's been a while since I updated. This semester had ripped me in half. I've finally got this chapter done and it's a little rubbish, but cricket might wanna jump and get that bootie;) I'll update hopefully a lot over break and happy holidays

elise