The End, Not Quite||An Anna and the French Kiss Story

Chapter 3|| The gang's all here

We walk along towards the restaurant, hand in hand. We get there after around 20 minutes. Josh is standing there grumpily,

"What took you so long?" He asks, his arms crossed,

"Wow, that's how you greet your best mate after months away from each other? I'm heart broken!" Etienne jokes,

"Sorry mate, but I've gotten quite a few odd looks just standing out here." Josh says, smiling widely. Etienne grins,

"Shall we go inside then?" he drags me inside the restaurant, not waiting for a response and Josh follows after us. 

        After a few minutes Meredith comes in, smiling brightly,

"Hi!" she says and hugs each of us. I'm glad to see that she doesn't look jealous of Etienne and I. Meredith had an awful crush on Etienne while she was at SOAP but I showed up and well took her man. I mean I didn't just show up and start dating him, even though I had a hungry crush on him since I met him, it took a while and then neither Etienne nor I could stand it any longer and well here we are. Mer was mad at first, when we first kissed and I know she was  jealous when we went on our first proper date but soon she saw that we were right for each other and loosened up. But even though I would never confront Meredith about it, I'm almost positive the crush is still there, lingering. 

Meredith has been studying in Rome and she's sharing stories about her time there and we share some too, but Josh keeps quiet. After a while Etienne brings up Josh's silence, 

"Hey, let's hear some crazy stories about Paris! Let's hear about the girlfriend of yours." He grins at his friend who's face only dampers,

"Ya. Isla and I broke up, I don't wanna talk about it." He grumbles. I can see a joke playing on Etienne's mouth but he wisely keeps his mouth shut. Josh speaks again, 

"But I was thinking about inviting her tonight." 

Etienne lights up, "Yes! You have to do that!" he says, "Go call her!" 

Josh leaves and goes to call Isla, leaving just Mer, Etienne and I,

"So, how have you guys been? What's life like in San Francisco? Is it glamorous?" Meredith puts her hands on the table, they're adorned with glittering rings, just like the first time I met her,

"It's great," I say happily and truthfully, "and yes, it is quite glamorous." I laugh,

"So," she runs her tongue over her lips, "are you guys living together or..."

"We stay at one another's dorm room." Etienne says and Meredith nods. Things start tensing up just when Josh comes strolling back and slight smile on his face, 

"She'll be here in 20 minutes." he says happily.