Last Kiss in Paris

Chapter 20 - Ratatouille and Sherlock Holmes

Suggested Song: Sherlock Theme Song
No lyrics :)

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"You're kidding me right?" Pierre laughed as he lounged on a blue beanbag. "You're saying that you actually believe this BS Alek is making up about me?" He looked straight at Amrisha, amusement playing on his face.
"Why in the world would Alek make things up about you?" Amrisha demanded angrily, her hands on her hips.
"Well," Pierre explained lazily. "Maybe he's jealous. Or maybe...it's something else. Have you noticed the state of him after he started hanging out with Reggie's group?" He pointed to Alek, who was chatting with what remained of Reggie's gang, which included Herbert, Samuel and a couple of other TC's. Shockingly, he still looked strangely cheerful.
"Hey," Saige cut in sharply. "Now it's you making up the BS. You were the one who was going to buy him drugs you- you dingbane!"
Pierre sighed loudly. "Well Saige, if you trusted people, maybe your relationships would last longer." He waved towards Alexander casually and arched his immaculate eyebrows.
"You-" Saige began, turning pink. "Look Pierre, don't you think you've won. I'm not done with you yet, but you need to explain yourself to Amrisha first." She turned and huffed off, purposely stepping on Pierre's foot on her way.
Sophie glared at Pierre. "Wow dude you really-"
"Soph," Amrisha interrupted quickly. "It's ok, I'll deal with him myself." Sophie gave Pierre another death stare, and sauntered off after Saige.
"Deal with me?" Pierre asked, feigning shock. "You know Amrisha, you don't have to be with those girls 24/7."
"They're my best friends!" Amrisha cried.
"Ok ok," Pierre said, his self-righteous tone suddenly gone. "Look, it's just, we rarely have any alone time you know? Whatever Alek saw, it wasn't me I swear. But it's good he told you, because now I realise I've been a crap boyfriend this whole time. Of course you have the right to be suspicious."
"It's just," Amrisha began.
"What?" Pierre prompted.
"Well, Ben came over here an hour ago and told me to be wary of you."

"What the heck?" Pierre looked aghast, then shook his head, stood up and put his arm around Amrisha, leaning in to her. "Look, I know what this is Amrisha. I know exactly what it is. Whatever Ben was doing, his intention was anything but good. He's trying to guilt trip you, to control when you aren't even with him. Those, you see, are the most toxic people. Don't be fooled by that amiable façade."
"Ben is not like that," Amrisha protested. "I've known him for over half my life."
"People change Amrisha," Pierre said, exasperated. "If they didn't, I wouldn't be as stunningly attractive as I am now, both physically and in essence."
"Um, ok."
"What's more important is that we shouldn't have to hold onto things that are painful to us. We can move on, to a new chapter in our lives. Ben may have been in your past, but you know he's not the future for you. But me, I'll always be here. I promise I'll try to spend more time with you and be a better guy for you." The way he said it, made it seem like he and Amrisha were the only people in the world. As if sensing Amrisha's thoughts, he added quickly. "And we'll go slowly, you know, because I know what happened with MC Lunaar makes it seem like nothing good will ever happen. But I promise you, it will get better."
"You really do understand me," Amrisha whispered.
"Yes I do," he grinned. "And I know you want to kiss me right now, but won't because you're still doubtful of me. But I swear," he put a hand to his heart, eyes twinkling, "that I am a one-girl guy."

*

As the students were now in lockdown, Coach Johnson and Madame Choux had devised a (rather genius) afternoon rotations program for the next four days. While there were initially 40 kids in the tour group, 8 of them had left after the terrorist events, leaving 32 students remaining. They were divided into 4 groups of 8, and would have three hours every afternoon to do one rotation. The activities were: cooking a French style dinner, rehearsing a section of Shakespeare in French to present at dinner, learning a French song with a choreographed dance, and finally, creating a re-enactment of a significant event in French history. To Amrisha's disappointment, Pierre was not in her group, but she was glad that she got to cook dinner first. She found herself in the vast hotel kitchens working with Saige and a Class B guy, Herbert, on a jumbo ratatouille dish. "Why do they get to make the salad?" Herbert complained as he sliced another zucchini.
"I would rather be working on dessert," Amrisha said, wiping her brow and gazing enviously at Luc, who was working with Reya on a decadent chocolate gateau.
"This is why I eat everything on my plate," Saige pointed her knife at Amrisha. "Food wastage is not good. Food doesn't just appear from nowhere, it takes so much effort even to make it."
"Not all of us have super-speedy metabolism," Amrisha grumbled.
"Sorry to ditch you guys, but I'm going to the bathroom," Herbert said. "Hewhewhew."
"Yeah right, he's probably going to text his buddies," Amrisha muttered. She chucked some tomatoes into the large saucepan and turned on the gas.
"I still can't believe you actually broke up with Alexander," Amrisha told Saige for the tenth time. "I was rooting for you guys so much!"
"I can't believe you actually trust that dirtbag Pierre," Saige rolled her eyes.
"Come on Saige," Amrisha said tiredly. "I'm gonna be more careful from now on, ok? But I don't think who Alek saw was actually Pierre."
"How many people in our two classes are tall, asian and have a Nike jumper?"
"Pierre doesn't own a Nike jumper, only a backpack. He let me look through his stuff just before."
"Alright," Saige said reluctantly. "Don't ignore any other signs of dodginess though please. Pierre is known for that type of stuff after all."
"I won't let him break my heart," Amrisha said firmly, though her mind had already conjured up a dozen scenarios of that happening.
"But I still don't trust him, so I'll be watching your back."
Amrisha put a grateful hand on Saige's arm. "Thanks Saige, you're the best."