Anna and the French Kiss: Etienne's POV

27

I'm anxious.

Josh and I are sitting on the steps at the Pantheon, the winter air bites my face, even though its actually really warm for a regular winter day in Paris.

I arrived last night. Anna arrives today. She just called me, and I told her that she should join us. 

Over the break, Anna became my closest friend. But what makes my stomach wrench, is the fact that I am so in love with her. Deeply. Ocean deep. Thinking about seeing her for the first time in two weeks makes my nerves rattle. My hands are in my pockets, and although I look completely confident and nonchalant, they are shaking. I can't make them stop either. 

I take my out my book, and bite my left pinkie nail. This book is so good, it's full of action. 

When will Anna get here? 

I look up, and my stomach flips as I see her walking toward us. Although she looks a bit disheveled. Our eyes lock, and I break into a slow smile. My heart beats faster and faster with every step she takes. 

I wave. "Anna!" 

My heart starts to slow as she approaches, her nose pink from the cold weather. I open my arms and wrap her in a hug. Her heart is pounding, it must just be from her walking fast to get here. We pull away, and she staggers backward. I catch her before she falls down the stairs.

"Woah," I say, but I'm not talking about how she almost fell. She's beautiful. I just have this horrible urge to grip onto her.

She blushes. "Yeesh, that could've been bad."

I'm dazed as I put my hands on her shoulders. "Are you all right?"

She stiffens. "Yeah. Great. Super!"

"Hey, Anna. How was your break?"

Josh. I forgot he was here. I let go of her carefully. Anna acknowledges him, and they begin to talk for a good five minutes. I make a face at Josh that only he can see, and he gets a funny look on his face. I don't mean to be rude, but I want to talk to Anna--alone. His speech trails off, getting the point, and buries his nose in his sketchbook. Anna looks at me, confused, but I wipe my expression clean. 

We both sit next to each other on the step, but neither of us say anything.

I finally work the courage up to speak. "Well," I say, after an excruciating minute. "Did we use up all of our conversation over the holiday?"

"Guess I'll go back to the dorm." Anna pretends to stand, and I laugh.

"I have something for you." I pull her back down by her sleeve. "A late Christmas present."

"For me? But I didn't get you anything!"

I reach into my coat pocket and bring out my hand in a fist, closed around the small banana bead. "It's not much, so don't get excited."

"Ooo, what is it?"

"I saw it when I was out with Mum, and it made me think of you--"

"Étienne! Come on!"

I blink at hearing my first name. What? I look at Josh, who looks up, a sly smile on his face. Anna's face turns red. 

I'm amazed. "Close your eyes and hold out your hand."

She closes her eyes, still blushing. She's acting so peculiar. She holds out her hand, and my fingers brush against her palm as I put the banana bead in the middle of it. It's almost like a small bolt of lightning hit my fingers, and her hand jerks back startled. The bead goes flying and lands with a faint dink behind us. She opens her eyes. I'm stunned. 

"Whoops," she says. 

I tilt my head at her. Is she alright?

"I think. . .I think it landed back here." Anna scrambles to her feet. I don't know why she is looking around for it if she doesn't even know what it is. "I don't see anything! Just pebbles and pigeon droppings." 

I look around, and see the bright yellow bead popping out among the unsaturated ground. "Here." 

She fumbles back and holds out her hand again, and this time I plop it in her hand without making skin-to-skin contact. She looks at it.

I clear my throat. "I know you said Bridgette was the only one who could call you 'Banana,' but Mum was feeling better last weekend, so I took her to her favorite bead shop. I saw that and thought of you. I hope you don't mind someone else adding to your collection. Especially since you and Bridgette. . .you know. . ."

She closes her hand around the bead. "Thank you."

"Mum wondered why I wanted it."

"What did you tell her?"

"That it was for you, of course." I say this like, duh. 

She beams. I'm really ecstatic that she's happy, especially since she went through all of that bogus with Toph. 

Anna shivers. "Has the temperature dropped, or is it just me?"

"Here." I unwrap the black scarf that had been tied loosely around my neck, and hand it to her. She takes it, gently, and wraps it around hers. She pulls her hair out from underneath the scarf, making me feel dizzy.

"Your hair looks nice," I say. "You bleached it again."

She touches the stripe self-consciously. "Mom helped me."

"That breeze is wicked, I'm going for coffee." Josh snaps his sketchbook closed. I'd forgotten he was here again. "You coming?"

I look at Anna, waiting to see how she answers. I want her to come.

She smiles at Josh. "Sounds perfect."

And then we are heading down the steps of the Panthéon, cool white and glittering, in the most beautiful city in the world. I'm with my best friends, one of which is attractive, intelligent and funny. I'm not talking about Josh by the way. 

Who needs a supportive father when there are people like this in the world?

Josh says something funny, and I glance back at Anna who lags behind smiling. I think about how I probably should call Ellie. Why does it feel like a chore? Calling my girlfriend, the woman that I'm supposed to love, should not feel this way at all. 

What am I going to do? I'm in love with my new best friend.