“The kind of dress that would give one of those love interests in romantic mangas a nosebleed.” Keomi nodded, and I laughed.
"Wait, what-" I questioned, but Gené cut me short,
"It's not up for discussion. We're having fun tonight with or without you, so you can choose to bitch about it or have some fun for once." She said as bluntly as always,
"I wasn't going to turn you guys down. I'd love to come." I smiled, and Keomi then clapped giddily.
My eyes were then drawn towards the doorway when River walked in, his presence magnetic, and I was pretty sure everyone felt it, didn't they? Because it couldn’t just be me who felt the confidence radiating off of him, I couldn’t be the only one who felt this static allure towards him. He was wearing a denim Calvin Klein jacket and matching jeans. I could have sworn I saw that exact outfit on the latest cover of Vogue Paris last week. He looked like he belonged on a runway, not a classroom. But it was the kind of effortless sense of style that you couldn’t help but find rather endearing. As always, he spoke to no one and made his way to his seat in the front row.
Monsieur Bordeaux, our photography and world studies teacher, was a young and handsome man with dark hair and auburn eyes. He didn't waste any time giving us our next assignment. He wanted it to be fun and give us a chance to truly appreciate the city's beauty.
"You all will get into pairs and photograph all the best places in Paris. You will then write a descriptive piece on what you found the most eye-catching." Monsieur Bordeaux announced,
"This is great. We're already going into the city tonight, so we can complete it all today!" Keomi beamed,
"I'm not going to assign you any pairs. I trust that you're mature enough to do so on your own." Monsieur said, picking up a notepad, "Just make sure to let me know who's teaming up with who before you leave, bonne chance!"
Everyone then stood up and went over to their partners as though they'd already known who to be with.
"Hey Gene, did you ask you know who about you know what?" Keomi asked an absent-minded Geneviève tossing a crumpled piece of paper at her to get her attention,
"Hey!" She gasped, fishing the paper out of her hair, and Keomi laughed, "I haven't gotten the chance to just yet."
"Oh, please stop being a coward. You were the one who suggested we invite him." Merilla interrupted, pulling up a seat next to us,
"Yeah, but you know how he is. He'll probably say he doesn't want to join." Gene scoffed,
"You'll never know until you try." Keomi insisted,
"Wait, what are we talking about?" I asked, and Fabian walked over and sighed,
"We wanted to ask lonely boy over there to come with us to the city tonight." Fabian clarified, and we all turned to look at River, who was talking to monsieur Bordeaux.
"You claim to be his friends, and yet I never see him hanging out with you guys. Why?" I asked, and everyone's expression fell,
"Oh please, he doesn't hang out withanyoneanymore," Gene said, rolling her eyes bitterly,
"Look, Armani, River's been through a lot, we all have, but it sort of changed him, I told you," Keomi spoke softly, placing her soft, manicured hands over mine.
"Changed him?" I repeated,
"It happened almost overnight. We drifted apart. Suddenly he didn't want to hang out with us anymore, declined every invitation, and ignored every attempt at conversation. He stopped filling us in on anything important going on in his life, and he moved out of his dorm into some expensive skyline apartment down the River Seine." Keomi told me, slightly frustrated,
"It’s not like you guys ever did anything to hurt him personally, so why is he being so resentful?" I wondered out loud, exasperated, and Geneviève ’s eyes warned Keomi not to take this any further,
"It doesn't matter why. I'm going to go ask him." Gene prompted, standing up and making her way over to River.
She smiled her perfectly charming smile the second his eyes met hers. He looked up at her and shrugged looking down, shaking his head. She placed her hand on his shoulder and turned her back to us, so I couldn’t read her lips. Her honey-blonde lochs cascaded like a bundle of gold down her back. She said something, and he laughed. He genuinely laughed. A bitter sense of envy sat in the pit of my stomach, like dinner from a lousy sushi restaurant.
Something about the way she was able to reach the humanity deep within him, talk to him and understand him hurt. I knew that it shouldn’t and the matter of the fact was that I barely knew him. But I wanted to, I wanted to know him like the back of my hand— every faint line, curve, scar and what made him twitch. I yearned to take a bite from the apple, the wicked tree of knowledge, knowing my world would never be the same, knowing I’d be punished. I was immediately completely and absolutely jealous of her. I didn’t know why but I wanted to be able to make him laugh and make him smile. I was already getting twisted up in his dark little world. And strangely enough, I never wanted to escape.
He said something to her that makes her glance back in my direction, and I couldn’t precisely read her expression. She turned back to him and nodded, proceeding to make her way back to us.
"So?" Fabian asked, "Let me guess. He's simply not interested."
"He says he'll think about it, but he was probably already going to see us tonight," Geneviève narrated, almost bitterly.
"What, why?" Keomi asked, leaning forward,
