Euphoria

It felt right.

It felt therapeutic.

It felt almost metaphysical.

It was an unforgettable experience.

It was almost an epiphany that made me realize I was loved,right at that ever-lasting moment of eternal bliss.

It was the third day of 2020 and it was just like the day before.

I was woken by the sound of the increasingly tempestuous rain hitting the concrete ground right outside my apartment.

My alarm started playing coincidentally just as I opened my eyes.

The sound of ZAYN's voice in the chorus of Entertainer with the sight of the few misty,few vagrant droplets drifting down my window couldn't have made the start of my day any better.

After finishing my usual morning routine, i spent an eternity in my closet trying to figure out what to wear for the special day.The reason for my excitement was obvious,I was going on "a date" with Elayne, my childhood friend since i was 7 and the girl of my dreams. It wasn't necessarily a date - it was just the first time Elayne and I were going out together alone in YEARS since we've always been hanging out with our mutual friends. Weird,right ?

Anyways, Elayne and I had always shared this certain type of affection between each other.We trusted each other, made each other laugh and would almost always get lost in each other during conversations. I felt deeply for her and I wasn't completely sure if she felt the same,although what happened on that day would've changed that forever.

I wasn't completely sure where we were going but I knew it was going to be special.I had to pick an outfit that a confident man and a man dressed for success would wear. Then, I looked in the mirror and asked myself if I was worthy of wearing that outfit. I had the killer hairstyle and the intimidating,yet reassuring look in my eyes. I was destined for that outfit.

I stepped out of my apartment in central Paris, with my left hand in the pocket of my flat fronted trousers which were finished in short hems to show off my shit-kicking leather boots. The index finger and thumb of my other hand took the cigarette out of mouth to let out the perfumed smoke in the humid air of Paris. I walked down the streets like a boss in my legendary three-piece suit and my thick overcoat.

I knew I owned the look.

Tommy Shelby would've been proud.

Ironically,I was so excited, I had to get my dopamine hit at Starbucks. I ordered the most extravagant caramel frappuccino that ever existed. I walked over to the other side once paying my bill to collect my venti caramel frappuccino with nonfat coconut milk,with exactly 1 ½ cups o sugar with four chocolate drizzles, 6 ½ pumps of caramel drizzle,3 espresso shots mixed in,extra whipped cream, as well as a birthday cake pop,mixed in with a few strawberries on top,chocolate chips,coconut flakes, 2 pumps of vanilla, one pump of hazelnut,half a pack of vegan splenda, chocolate shavings coating the bottom,cinnamon dolce, and a pinch of matcha powder.

Diabetes had to be on a holiday for this one.

At five past 3 in the afternoon, I saw a brunette in a slim fit,square neck beige pencil dress engulfed in a thick overcoat similar to mine,walking in my direction behind a group of frustrated tourists.

I knew it was her. I just knew it.

She looked at me.

Our gazes were locked. We both stood still,as if time had stopped,despite the busy crowd between us rushing to cross the road.

She immediately hugged me,tightly.I hugged her even tighter.Both of us felt comfortable in each other's company...even after almost half a year of not seeing each other. We walked together through Champs-Élysées as the rain was being replaced by a little awakening of the sun from the clouds.

We were at a junction - that was equidistant to the Louvre and another art gallery, which was in the opposite direction.

She uttered in her mystical voice, "Allons à la petite galerie d'art, it's much more intimate there."

Hearing her speak french in her dulcet voice after so long made my brain melt.

I was even struggling to reply.

"uhm...ye-e....yeah....YES...let's go there eh" I replied. I was suffering the side-effects of her infectious voice at first, but slowly went back to my deep,gravelly voice that came from the back of my throat.

Yet again,Tommy Shelby would've been proud.

I like how I'm rushing through all the conversations and the wonderful little experiences we had on the way to the gallery. I guess that rush hasn't gotten over me yet. It still feels surreal.

We made it to the gallery,and I paid our €10 entry fee.

The whole 16,000 square feet of underrated art was ours to wander through. There were only a few other people and they were just talking about one single pop art painting at the front.

We walked over to the other side and went through the different sections,admiring all this artwork that deserved proper recognition. As we walked, one painting in particular struck us in a similar way.

It was near the back end of the gallery and nobody was there.It was a...painting,to say the least.It was unique and odd,as from far it looked like brush strokes of a few similar shades of brown. As we looked closer, objects started to form. Elayne saw an hourglass at first, but I saw but I saw a HORSE. She then locked eyes with the horse,but found a weird-looking bull but still a bull.I saw it too, and this sorcery of a painting didn't end. We saw another cow, an old man and even a man in a robe.They just kept coming.

I said to her,"It's wonderful isn't it? This painting is the most mind-bending thing I've ever seen.The artist must be one of the great,idiosyncratic talents I've seen in a long time."

There was a pause,which felt like it was longer than it should have been.

She replied,"Oui,what else do you see?"

I looked back at the painting and waited for objects to reach my eye when suddenly the unexpected happened.

Her face was so close to mine that I could smell the sweet fragrance of the port wine she had been drinking, and then her tongue was in my mouth.It was almost like that scene in Sophie's Choice.I did not even catch a glimpse of her face, so instantaneous and urgent was that tongue

My heart beat faster and faster as the rapid gradation of intensity made her cling to me as the only solid thing in an upside down world.Her tenacious mouth was parting my shaking lips, sending wild tremors along my nerves, evoking sensations I wasn't capable of feeling.I was like a child astonished by the abundance of knowledge and things worth learning opening up before my eyes.Finally Clementine broke off the kiss.

She looked at me blankly a moment as she licked her lips.

She then smiled as she looked right through my soul as I looked through hers.It was too much for us to handle,let alone talk.

It was like an aphrodisiac,mixed with a Pandora's box effect , fireworks glowing inside of me from the touch of Elayne's lips on me.

It was a moment of sheer euphoria.