“I’m home.” The said guy hollered from the doorway downstairs.
Mother of puddings!
Scrambling to my feet, I run around my room panicking. Shit, he’s supposed to come back after I’ve had my dinner, and fast asleep. Tomorrow and the day after, I’d run out of the house as soon as dawn strikes and be back when the guy is asleep. I had it all planned out
Now, what do I fucking do!?
I thought you said, you’d handle Adrien and act normal? My annoying consciousness bothered me ones again. No one cares what you think stupid mind.
Of course, I can’t act normal! I was going to ignore the guy and just copy off the homework and essay on Sunday from Ethan or Ninnon.
Sigh, and you were a straight-A student.
My running around, banging and clattering around stuff must have made Adrien wonder if elephants were roaming around my room. He trudged upstairs and stood by my door staring at me bewildered.
“What in the world are you up to Mia?” he spoke from behind me.
Shit, the intruder is already here.
No escape.
Chuckling nervously, I grab a skirt which I didn’t even wear yet, lying on the floor and turn to face him.
What am I even going to do with this skirt? Throw it at him and make a run for it?
What the fuck am I, a thief? Why is my brain not working anymore!
Adrien was still waiting for an answer. His beautiful brow raised, looking at me, wondering if everything is alright.
I can’t even believe he doesn’t at least pretend to be awkward around me.
Is it only me, whose heart is beating like a freaking bomb?
“Was just cleaning up my room.” I lied. My room was perfectly neat in the morning, and now in just a few minutes, it’s a disaster. Let’s hope he doesn’t figure things out.
“Right” he drags the word, still staring at me with doubt. “Whatever you say, Mia.”
I sighed, internally dancing the hip-hop
“So Mom and Dad left?”
“Yeah, just a while back. Speaking of, how come you’re back so soon? I thought you told your Mom you’d be back by 11?”
Thank god, we were talking like we always do.
He just gave me a shrug. “Mom was mad that I was leaving you home alone. So completed my work and headed out first.” He said like it was no big deal.
Adrien, Evan, Esmee, and few others from his year, were meeting up at someone’s house to finish some kind of hellish hard assignment. Evan also mentioned Esmee and Adrien would stay back at his house to talk about potential Student body candidates.
Did Adrien leave all that just to come home to be with me?
Would he do that? Pick me over something so important?
My body started to feel light. My head in the clouds. I could only keep looking at Adrien, very well aware he was looking back at me.
“So had dinner yet?” he asked, tearing his eyes from mine, scratching the back of his neck
Is he nervous?
Oh my god. He’s effing nervous!
Adrien was playing with his tie, which was loosely hanging around his neck.
“Um no, not yet. It’s still early for dinner.” I said, feeling unimaginably happy internally that Adrien was nervous around me. It wasn’t just me, but he too was nervous.
“Never too late for food Mia. Let’s go. I grabbed some Chinese takeout while heading home. Let’s heat the Confit de canard which Mom prepared to go along with it. Come on” and he turned around and walked back downstairs.
I had nothing to do anyway. And like he said, ‘never too late for food’. Plus I couldn’t really wait to try out Aunt Fel’s dish, so throwing my skirt aside I run down the stairs to join Adrien in the kitchen.
He clears the coffee table in the living room, and sets cutleries for each of us, while I heat the French whatever the name is dish, and get us lemonade from the fridge.
This was the very first time, since I initially moved to France, that Adrien and I had a meal alone together. If it had been us in the past, we’d have fought and argued non-stop. I might have even thrown forks and knives at him. But now, sitting next to him with only a cushion separating us didn’t seem all that bad.
We ate in silence, watching the Shannara Chronicles series playing on Netflix. Adrien was still in his uniform, his tie and blazer off and lying on the arm of the sofa.
I took secret glances at him. I felt ashamed of myself. Like some little girl looking secretly at her crush.
“I’m sorry Mia.” He suddenly spoke.
“I didn’t mean to stare. I’m sorry.” I prattle without thinking and he finally looks at me confused
“What?”
“What?” I repeated. And then what he had initially said hit me.
Oh.
“Um, forget what I said.” I muttered and he continued to stare. “So, why sorry?”
Why the hell is he apologizing? Was it because of the kiss? Was the kiss unintentional? Did he hate it? Was I a bad kisser? He didn’t even give me a chance to kiss back for fuck sake!
Woah. Wait.
Did I want to kiss him back? Would I have?
“Well…” he cleared his throat, placing the Chinese takeout box on the table and using the free hand to ruffle his hair. “For misunderstanding.”
“What?”
“You know. That first-year kid and you. I misunderstood the relationship between the two of you.” He apologized. It only made my nose flare in annoyance.
Now he says it!
“I’ve been saying you, ‘you’re dead wrong’ from the god damn beginning. Only now you realize?” I cried out. He gave me an apologetic look, silently asking for forgiveness.
Sighing I sit back on the comfortable sofa once again. Due to the rush of heat in my blood, I’d stood up unbeknownst.
Why am I unable to stay mad at him like before? What’s happened to me?
“How did you figure it out?” I ask, calming myself down
“You have a pretty amazing friend who wouldn’t think twice before throwing a shoe at someone.” He said, nervously chuckling thinking back to something that might have happened.
I didn’t quite get what he meant though. Who the hell is he talking about?
Wait hold on. I know someone who’s very much capable of doing something so wild.
I stared at him in utter shock. “Don’t tell me… Ninnon?”
“One moment I’m almost out the school gates with Evan and Esmee, the next thing I know, a black shoe hits me on the head.”
I cover my mouth to hold the laughter in. I can imagine Adrien’s expression when that happened.
Ninnon, you’re a goddess!
“Stop laughing. I was so embarrassed. I would have suspended her for such behavior if it hadn’t been your friend. And I knew she wasn’t the type of person who’d act so vulgarly. I was going to give her a good yelling though, until she started scolding me for something I wasn’t sure I did.” He stopped to take a breath and look at me. I waited for him to go on, my love for Ninnon increasing. “Well, I didn’t quite catch what she was trying to say since she was talking at full speed, but when she mentioned you and that Shyne guy and how there’s nothing between you, well… that’s when I realized I did a huge mistake. I knew I could trust her words since no one knew you better than her.” He finished.
I was supposed to be happy that the doubts are all cleared up now. But I wasn’t. I was mad.
“So someone else had to tell you I was innocent?” I snap. He was about to apologize again but I hold my hand to stop him. “How long since I came back to Lyon? A week? And what, you thought I’d already hooked up with some weird kid? There’s plenty of good looking guys in my year, including Ethan, Pierre and you thought I’d go for a kid a year younger? Geezus Adrien, how could you be so dumb?”
I heave in a huge gulp of oxygen and let it out. Adrien apologized once again and then kept on apologizing.
Let me tell you, I’m no hard-hearted or
cold-hearted. I’m a sweet girl who loves forgiving. Apart from someone like Noah of course who should never be forgiven.
And therefore I forgave Adrien.
He finally smiles. His cute boyish smile. A feature of him which I’ve always liked from the beginning. It had always made my insides go jello-y
And then suddenly his arms go around me pulling me in for a warm hug.
My hands fall onto the sides lifeless. I dunno what I’m supposed to do. My mind is blank, just when I need it the most.
I bet on Pierre’s baseball cap, my heart is racing like a super rocket. I’m pretty sure Adrien can hear it.
Wait a minute people. How do I breathe!?
Someone show me how!
Like some perverted old woman, I silently inhale Adrien’s scent. A mix of his Aventus Creed perfume and sweat.
Why does he have to smell so good at a time like this?
After a final light squeeze, he lets go and looks at me cocking his head slightly downwards to get a proper look at me effing red face.
Then he chuckles at gets to his feet.
“C’ mon. Ninnon mentioned about a French Essay. I can now figure out why your room is in such a mess. Let’s go Mia.” And with that, he drops his finished takeout box into the dustbin, leaves his plate and cutlery in the sink to be washed later and heads upstairs to get changed.
What in unicorns poopy just happened?
I take slow breaths so I don’t die from the lack of oxygen. I can’t believe what just happened.
First a kiss. And now hug?
What the hell is Adrien up to?
Oh god. Oh no! I just remembered something!
I throw my finished box into the bin as well and dump my dirty utensils into the sink and dash upstairs. Adrien’s room door was shut. I could hear ruffling of clothes from inside.
I stand in front of his room door. And then I wail out loud.
“What about the French homework!?”
CHAPTER TWENTY- TWO
“What in the world are you doing?” and the pen hit my head once more, as Adrien yelled at me for the twenty-sixth time.
Sigh. It’s not my fault I suck in French.
“It says répondez aux questions suivantes en replaçant l’élément souligné par un pronom disjoint.” I did nothing but stare at Adrien as he read out the question.
Am I supposed to give him a reply? Maybe he’s asking me for translation?
But I don’t fucking understand the question!
Adrien groans aloud, interrupting my train of wrecked thoughts. “It means, answer the following questions by replacing the underlined element with a disjointed pronoun. Mia, it’s a basic question!”
“Stop yelling!” I cry out, as I bite the tip of the pen, shooting daggers at him.
Sighing, he takes in a deep breath. I can’t blame him. It’s been over an hour and we’re still on page 1 question 1.
I’m an American. I’ve never done so much French before. So it’s not my fault, right? Right?
“Okay I’ll read out the first question, again, for the god knows how many times. Give me your answer. Alright?” he says and I give him a nod.
I’ve got this.
“est-ce que vous travaillez bien avec vos camarades de classe?” he stops and stares at me. I stare back.
Uh, what? Trapeze? Ben? Does this question say about a guy named Ben who’s good with the trapeze?
Should I say it out? Maybe I’m correct.
Or maybe I should just remain quiet to save myself from murder.
And so I keep staring at Adrien. I can feel the heat rising to his head. His eyes narrow at me, the edge of his lips turning downwards in discontent and annoyance
“Fuck it, Mia. It simply means ‘Do you work well with your classmates?’”
“I do.”
“No, you idiot. I didn’t ask for a fucking answer. I wanted you to translate it!”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Yes, Mia.” He said through gritted teeth
“Alright tell me the exact minute, second, and axis of the earth’s rotation when you asked me to translate the question.”
Well, that’s the final pull ladies and gentlemen. Adrien yanked his hair from both sides, cursing loudly as he threw a few pens all over.
Oops.
He muttered to himself as he took deep breaths and calmed himself down. Adrien stood up, breaking a few knuckles as he bent left and right. Ruffling his hair, to style it and leave it in the messy state it was, he finally looks down at me.
“I need a break.” He says sighing.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” I say and am about to get to my feet when Adrien starts walking towards the door. He holds the doorknob and I stare at him confused.
“No. I need a break. You stay right here. You’re room arrested.” And he shut the door firmly. I hear the click from outside and his footsteps going downstairs.
Fuck, these doors and their locks from the outside!
This is so not fair! I should be the one cooling my mind.
Okay, so he’s been trying to get me to understand a stupid question for an hour. But still!
Urgh!!!!!!
I pout and fume by myself, staring at my open textbook and a blank page in my notebook. I then notice my phone lying on my bed, urging me to come grab it.
Adrien had strictly forbidden me from touching it while I was concentrating on this ridiculous homework. So should I?
Who cares!
He abandoned me and left to do who knows what. So I’m gonna do the same. I get to my feet. My back aches from all the sitting I’ve been doing. For some reason, Adrien suggested we use the teak coffee table from his room and sit down on the floor with cushions supporting us. Said it’ll help us concentrate more.
But this only gives me backaches and cramps. I jog a little standing in one place. Then some left and right exercises to feel my limbs. Then I plunge onto my bed, grabbing my smartphone and I quick dial, Pierre.
“Bonjour? Qu’est-ce?” I heard Pierre’s voice from the other side of the call.
“If you pretend like you haven’t saved my number in your phone, and throw some bull crap French words at me, I’m gonna freaking come over and pull you by your underwear Baseball head” I replied annoyed.
I hear him give me a nervous chuckle. That’s right, be afraid of the great Amelia Brooke.
“So what’s up?” He asks. I play with a string of thread that had come loose from my T-shirt.
“I’m bored. I’ve been trying to do the shitty homework and it’s hurting my brain.” I sigh aloud.
“Woah. Homework right now? But it’s only Friday night. We have a whole weekend to go.” He replies in disbelief.
“Honey, must I remind you that it’s just two days? Why the fuck are you reacting as if we’ve two months to go?” I snap, which in return I earn a laugh from the weirdo.
Before I could scold him for being so stupid I hear him gasp. Great, what drama is he going to do now?
“Did you hear about what happened after school? Between Ninnon and Vice Prez?” Pierre was whispering now as if he’s sharing some illegal intelligence with terrorists.
“Dude, Ninnon threw a shoe at Adrien. Why are you acting as if she threw it at the country’s President?” I ask lazily.
“So you do know what happened!” he gasped again and I roll my eyes at the drama queen. “It’s Adrien Valentin for candies’ sake! Adrien. You do not mess with him.”
“Calm down. Adrien’s cool. So stop over-reacting. And while Ninnon was doing this, what were you doing?” I ask curiously. If he’s this scared, I bet he must have hidden behind the school gates.
“Duh… I ran in the opposite direction as fast as I could. I bolted straight home without stopping for any candies, and locked my bedroom door for safety measures.”
I almost choked on my own spit. I took my phone from my ear and stared at the screen.
Is this guy for real?
“Amelia? Amelia? You there? Ameliaaaaaa” he s
creamed out my name. I was about to yell at him to stop calling my name so annoyingly when I heard him go ‘Shit’
“Adrien is there, isn’t he? Shit!” and the line goes off as Pierre mutters those final words.
What?
I tried calling him over and over again, but he wouldn’t pick up my calls.
I’m gonna kill the bastard on Monday!
I was about to call Ethan when I heard footsteps retracing up the stairs. I quickly scramble to my feet, throwing my phone back onto the bed and sitting Indian style on the floor, back to staring at the question which I’m pretty sure says about a trapeze and Ben.
The door clicked open and Adrien walked in. He was holding a plastic bag in one hand, and a book in the other. An ice Popsicle in his mouth.
He hands me the bag, and inside I find a raspberry-flavored Popsicle. Yum!
“Eat it before we get back to work. And here, a French-to- English dictionary. It’ll help you. I’ve pasted color sticky notepads on certain pages. They’re the words which are mostly used.” Saying so he drops the book on the table and sits back down across me, continuing to suck on his Popsicle.
I rip open the packet and pull out the Popsicle. As I dwell into the depths of raspberry bliss, I can’t help but divert my eyes towards Adrien, who was now flipping through my books.
My mind goes back to two days ago, by the hidden stairway where Adrien had kissed me. It still felt like a dream. I would surely have thought it as my imagination if it had not been for the warmth still lingering in my lips after the kiss.
Unconsciously I pull the Popsicle out of my mouth and trace my lips with my fingers. Just in time when I move my fingers away, Adrien looks up at me.
Fuck.
I’m pretty sure if he had seen me touching my lips, he’d know I’m still thinking about that day. The last thing I want is teasing.
“You okay? Your face is red.” Adrien says, his brow lifted. He was about to come forward to touch my face, I abruptly got to my feet and padded towards the windows.
“I’m fine. The room is stuffy and the heat is getting to me.” Saying so I open the double door window and let the chilly cold night air in.
It’s a lie.
While right now back at home in Miami, the climate is warm, here in France it’s still cold from winter. The days are starting to get warmer, accepting spring but the nights are still cold.
Where I Belong Page 18
