Last Kiss in Paris

Chapter 23 - Au Revoir Pierre

Suggested Song: FAKE LOVE by BTS
I'm so sick of this fake love, fake love, fake love
I'm so sorry but it's fake love, fake love, fake love

—

"Ok..." Sophie said sceptically, pacing the room. "So basically, you and Pierre spent the entire night together in that hammock?"
"Well, I mean, nothing really happened," Amrisha repeated, putting a pink velvet scrunchie on her wrist to match her Nike running clothes. The girls had just returned to their room, and were getting ready to join the boys at the gym.
"I still don't think it's a good idea for you to be with Pierre," Saige said, pointing at Amrisha.
"Yeah, I know I'm not much better, making out with Luc and whatnot," Sophie giggled. "But remember our motto? Sisters before misters? You completely ignored us last night Amrisha, I called you like ten times."
"Look, I'm so sorry Soph," Amrisha said truthfully. "My phone must've died. But guys, Pierre is actually a really genuine guy. I- I think I'm in love!"
"Oooooh!" Sophie cooed, clasping her hands excitedly.
"Love in high school? Tell me another joke," Saige said, shaking her head.
"Oh Saige, you and Alexander were the ones making me believe in love before you 'mutually friendzoned'," Soph put great emphasis on the last two words, as if the idea was totally insane.
"But seriously Amrisha," Saige sighed. "If Pierre does anything bad to you, tell us straight away and we'll be there to beat him up,"
"Thanks guys, but I won't let that happen."
"Alright, I still need some deets, Amrisha," Sophie said. "But, I can wait until after gym time."

At the gym, Amrisha said hi to Pierre, who was busy lifting weights while listening to music. She wanted badly to talk to him about last night, but didn't want to break his concentration, so she instead headed towards the treadmill, while Sophie and Saige went to the yoga room. There were a few other people at the gym. Outside, Sadipoh and Buvhi were swimming around Alexander, who was floating in the middle of the pool. Amrisha couldn't tell from that distance if he was resting or had fallen asleep from partying so hard.

Amrisha jogged for a while, but she found that she could barely keep her eyes focused on the TV screen in front of her. Instead, she couldn't help but glance over at Pierre's shirtless body reflected in the floor to ceiling mirror every so often, a dreamy expression on her face. After about fifteen minutes, Sadipoh and Buvhi walked into the gym, loudly arguing about which of them had better soccer calves. Amrisha giggled and looked back in the mirror, then stopped as she saw Pierre staring right back at her. Her face burned and she almost fell off the treadmill, but Pierre just smirked, winked and started on the rowing machine. Amrisha inwardly berated herself for almost making a fool of herself and overreacting. She sighed and turned her head to face the front, but stiffened as she felt another pair of eyes on her.

Amrisha turned her head very slightly to the left, enough so that she could see who was on the treadmill next to hers. It had been unoccupied, but now a guy from her class called Zac was on it, propping his chin up with the back of his hand. He was rather unremarkable, and Amrisha had never spoken to him, yet, to her horror, Zac was staring straight at Amrisha with eyes so wide they seemed to be prying into her soul. Amrisha started to hyperventilate as she noticed that his treadmill wasn't even turned on and there was what seemed like drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. Amrisha forced herself to act neutral and look straight ahead. She could still see Zac in the mirror, and to test whether she was being paranoid or not, Amrisha coughed loudly and made like she was about to turn to face him. Zac quickly averted his eyes and walked two steps on the still treadmill, but five seconds later, he was staring at Amrisha again. Amrisha felt sick. She had been so busy glancing towards the right in the mirror that she had barely noticed Zac creepily staring at her on her left. How long had he been there? Five minutes, even ten? Trying to act inconspicuous, Amrisha pretended to check her Fitbit, then turned off her treadmill. The belt had barely slowed when she jumped off and made a beeline for the yoga room.