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

Chapter 4|| Pizza and more

20 minutes later a bell chimes, indicating a new customer. It's Isla. She has a quick encounter with the owner, but then Josh and Etienne spot her and wave her over. I can tell that Josh can hardly keep from running up to her and hugging her, it's easy to see. And then there's her, she's completely in love. She looks at Josh like he's a lake after miles of desert. She sits next to Josh and he inquires about a friend of hers. She looks at us,

"Wow. The gang's all here." she says,

"Everyone but Rashmi." says Etienne and I kick him under the table, he shouldn't bring up Josh's ex in front of his new ex who clearly still loves him. Isla catches the kick,

"It's okay," she says quietly. "Is she coming?"

Josh shakes his head. I explain that the other seats are for Lola and Cricket who are off sight seeing. I tell her how Etienne and I know them and everyone laughs when I say Etienne. I'm the only one who calls him that (me and his mother) and I like it that way. Everyone continues chatting and then Cricket and Lola come and sit with us and our chatting continues. We order a bunch of Pizzas and chow down. After only about 20 minutes Etienne abruptly announces that him and I are leaving,

"You haven't even has dessert." Meredith says,

"I'm taking my lady friend somewhere special for dessert." Etienne says,

"You are?" I ask,

"I am." he says.

We hug everyone goodbye and Cricket is super jittery, it looks like he's had 4 Red Bulls.

I grab Etienne's hand and smile as he leads me away from the restaurant.

Etienne walks me towards the square and I look up at him, confused, there aren't any places for dessert around here. I suddenly realize that he meant metaphorical dessert but still, what kind of "dessert" is he going to give me in the square?

"What are you doing?" I ask,

"You'll see." he says.

He leads me up along to Point Zero, it's where he took me to see Paris on my first night out, it's pretty special to us.

"Making a wish?" I ask teasingly,

"Sort of." He says, he bites his lip and looks around. I smile at him,

"Sort of? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, my wish is that..." he slowly gets down on one knee and my heart skips a beat, he puts a hand in his pocket and pulls out a box. Surely it's too good to be true,

"My wish is that you, Anna Oliphant will marry me."

I'm out right crying now I nod a vigorous yes and he places the ring on my finger. He stands and hugs me and we kiss. He spins me a circle and neither of us can stop grinning. We kiss again, deep and long and full. Etienne breaks off and waves towards a group of people. He's wearing the biggest smile I've ever seen and I love him so much.