ＣＯＣＯＮＵＴＳ

[KERFUFFLE]

Haha, yeah, it's always awkward looking back at stuff like that. Chest-licking springs to my mind right now xD

Of course. Enough boyfriendlyness for the both of us!

Well, I mean technically it's only been about a month at the most that they've been in France, but I mean that it's been a year since we wrote about when they were on the island. Our time, not theirs in their perfect, carefree little world (;

 

Of all things, Christien hadn't expected that the first thing he'd do once the silence was broken was to laugh, but that's exactly what he did- albeit a little breathlessly. "I noticed. Sorry about that. Perhaps next time I shan't wear one before you decide to undress me. Although, practice makes perfect. Let me tell you, I don't think you noticed this time but, your bra is.. how to say.. a bi*** to undo." He gave another chuckle before enveloping her up in both of his arms. "Worth the trouble, however, of course," he added, giving her a quick kiss. It was always worth it; he could probably have an absolutely terrible day, but being with Elaina could still make it beautiful. Admittedly, he was completely exhausted now, and he was quite happy just to lie there until he inevitably would fall asleep, once he'd calmed down.

 

Yeah, they're cool, but I don't get many of them and I almost always use them to do homework. Eww, that's horrible. Luckily I have no exams until January, I think, and that's only in General Studies, which could be about anything so you can't really revise for it anyway. Good luck!

Oh, that all sounds really boring… Come here and learn French, it's much more fun! :3 Right now we're talking about the media and the effects it has on society, whether it's positive or negative, which way is the best to catch up with the latest news, French music, stuff like that. Every week we get set a subject and we do a 100 word write up on it. Last week I did "A Day in the Life of… Lady Gaga," and it was pretty hilarious. "Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I say to myself, 'I want to dye my hair blue today.'"

 

"Skating phobia? Not at all. But I understand your fear, there definitely are some people who just absolutely hate it, no matter how many times they go." Caden ate his food quietly while he listened to Audrina recount the stories of the modelling world. It certainly didn't sound so far from the way the music business worked. He nodded in assimilation and took another sip of his wine. "I know what you mean. Music producers and managers are exactly the same. Whether they love it or hate it, they keep a completely unreadable facade. Unfortunately they've never worked out so well for me, but that was a long time ago now. I mean, right now I'm doing just fine without any of that, and one day I'm hoping the right deal will come around for me. We'll see." It didn't bother him in the slightest anymore what people like that thought of what he did. He knew what he had was good and he just needed the right person to make it happen. He was optimistic about that.

 

You must know Cannonball, it was like his one really well known song I would think.




//www.tamatalk.com/IB/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png
Gahh, I cannot WAIT <3

 

[VideoStar95]

Yes! That’s the part I got to! Lmfao, I had such a lovely time re-reading those few pages.

Of course! You’ll just have to tell me every single detail of every single day so I can imagine what it’d be like to be you.

Ah! Very true, very true. So yes, it has been a real life year since they were on the island. Holy moly, it’s been a while!

 

Elaina was trying to control her breathing enough to calm her frantic heart down – something she needed to accomplish if she was ever going to hope to sleep; there were always a sort of needed cool down time every time she and Christien made love, not that she was complaining whatsoever. “No, you might as well just keep it there; I’m going to have to face it someday.” She laughed softly, honestly not having enough energy to laugh whole-heartedly like she would have liked. “And I most definitely did not notice. You’re quite good at hiding it if you had any trouble.” She yawned and curled in closer to him – if that was even possible – resting her eyes. “Dear, I’m absolutely exhausted. I love you so much.”

 

I’m terribly exhausted as well so I’m sorry that was so bad! Haha, it’s Friday night and I’m tired at 8:00. School makes me such a loser. :/

Thank you! I’m going to study Monday night, I think, and that’ll be okay. Definitely not wasting my time this weekend learning things…psh.

Oh, don’t tempt me wit such things! Oh my Gosh, I wish, I wish, I wish I was doing what you are! Hopefully French 3 next year will be better…though, I highly doubt it. French, although I love the language, is the most long-feeling class I have.

 

Audrina suppressed her content sighs while eating Caden’s food, which was much, much better than any food she’d gotten from a five-star restaurant. She sipped a bit of wine before saying, “Well, both businesses sound extremely similar. It’s really nerve-wrecking sometimes. Honestly, most of the time I have some sort of panic attack before the meeting.” She laughed and tucked a stray piece of dark auburn hair behind her ear. “I’m confident that you will get a big break soon! Who wouldn’t like you? You’re a great musician, smart, clever, charming, and not to mention absolutely gorgeous. Why, if I was a manager I’d cast you within the first thirty seconds of meeting you!”

 

Oh em gee. So bad ^.

Yesssss, I like that sonngg! God, she’s so good on guitar and so pretty! Awh shnap now I can’t wait!

 

[KERFUFFLE]

I might have to go back and read that myself, I distinctly remember it being a particularly funny incident.

And vice versa, of course, depending on who gets lucky first!

It's scary how quickly that time has gone. It's also weird how slow RPs actually move in the time, when you think about it.

 

"You'll get better, don't worry. Besides, it didn't take anything away from how how wonderful it was." Christien reached out to pull the covers, which has inevitably been strewn about during their activity, up and over them a little bit more, starting to feel a little chillier as they both cooled and calmed down. He chuckled gently at her comment about his undoing her bra. "Either that or you were slightly too intoxicated and passionate to realise," he replied. He adjusted his head on his pillow, cuddled her close, and closed his eyes. "I love you, too, darling. I think sleep sounds like a good idea."

 

It's okay (;

Haha, wow, that's dedication right there. How important are the exams, exactly?

I hope so for your sake that you do, it's so much better when what you're learning about is at least vaguely interesting.

 

Caden finished his plate of food and pushed it slightly to the side of the small table, and sat back in his chair, listening to her as intently as ever. He smiled slightly. "Thank you," he said. "Hopefully this concert on Monday will help with the cause a little bit." He paused to finish of the last few sips of his wine, then tilted the glass towards her slightly as a gesture as he continued. "Of course, there's only one person who I'm really concerned with impressing then. The rest can think what they like, if I'm being honest, but as long as you like it, that's fine." Once they were both done with their food, he made a quick trip with the plates to the kitchen, and put the kettle on for the hot chocolate before sitting back down at the table with her.

 

Oh shush. My only criticism- even I remember more about your character than you do.. Auburn? Since when? ;D

Everybody in this country suddenly loves it again because someday sang it on the X Factor. The same thing happened with Iris. I don't really know if I'm happy about it or not. It's great that people are actually buying decent music but the fact that some crappy talent show encouraged it annoys me intensely.

I know, right? I am SO excited. It's just a question of whether I'll actually be able to get it or not. Living here sucks.

 

[VideoStar95]

I advise you too, it is hilarious. Elaina met Christien’s parents right? And his dad is the one who’s hard on him? Because, I remember, Elaina’s parents are the opposite – I believe it’s her Mom who’s sort of controlling and neurotic; but I could be wrong.

Which will be you…I have too much emotional baggage and not enough sexy.

It’s so weird…and our time difference doesn’t help much!

 

I really hope we were going to go straight into her leaving because that is what I am doing!

 

The final weeks Elaina was allowed to spend with Christien went by much, much too quickly for her liking – not to mention, she could not possibly enjoy the last days due to knowing their parting was dauntingly close. And here she was, depressingly packing all of the beautiful complementary French clothing into a few suitcases that she had bought the day before; packing not being the right word exactly, as she really was stuffing and shoving the items quite angrily without any means of organization. She was too upset for organization. “It’s going to be so boring in America without you!” She complained, zipping the final suitcase and pushing them all towards the door – she had put off completing the job for long enough, any longer and she was to miss her flight. “I’m going to miss you so much.” She had to forcefully bite her lower lip in order to contain the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. The thought of having to leave without Christien was actually quite frightening to her; she had spent so much time with him that she wasn’t sure she would survive without him.

 

Uh, my 9-week exams are new this year and they are 20 percent of my grade, I believe. And I really cannot study more than three days before the test or I’ll forget everything.

Right? Even my teacher was like “This one’s going to be hard since the terms basically don’t even apply anymore due to modern technology and also because it’s so boring.”

 

Audrina was about to offer to help clean but Caden was too quick and had already made the trip before she could even speak up. He was so perfect, gentlemanly and charming that sometimes she couldn’t believe she was actually with him. After all of the guys from the modeling business, Caden was a breath of fresh air. “You don’t have to worry about trying to impress me!” She told him with a smile, “I already know that I’ll be blown away.” Since Caden did most of the cleaning, when the water was ready, she scurried into the kitchen so he wouldn’t somehow get there before her. She located the mugs and prepared the hot chocolate, trying not to breathe in the aroma as she walked back to the table.

 

Okay, no though, that was a fail. ^ And UGH I THOUGHT IT WAS DARK BROWN?!

Well, at least they are buying decent music, as you said.

I’ll buy it and send it to you! <3

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Yeah, his dad was a total moron. Truly and completely.

I don't have a problem with emotional baggage; but me, having enough sexy? Get out of town. I would go so far as to say I'm pretty, but not sexy. You beat me there, I think.

Plus school now is a lot of hard work. But it's cool. For me it's hard work in good subjects. But not so much for you. I mean, you still have to do maths and science and blah blah blah like that. Although, my subjects are most people's worst nightmare!

 

I hadn't thought about what was happening afterwards, but actually that's a really good idea.

 

Christien had been helping her with a few things- for one, checking she had everything because remembering things in the state that she was in was understandably difficult, and then as well as helping her with the fairly heavy, packed suitcases. He, too, had had to get his things ready as he would be going home as soon as he came back from the airport. He sighed as the last one was propped up by the door, and he could see that she was finding it all very hard to take- as was he, it just wasn't quite as obvious on the outside. "Hey," he said softly, pulling her into a gentle, loving hug, "I'll miss you, too. But it isn't the end, we'll see each other again soon. And in the meantime we'll be able to talk through all sorts of ways. You have all sorts of things to look forward to that'll keep you busy until the next time, like college, finding a place to stay, learning how to be in the big wide world- that involves knowing how to cook; that should take some time." He chuckled at the last part of his comment, fondly so. And so, all to quickly, it was time for her to bid goodbye to the beautiful hotel and get into a cab, her suitcases packed in the boot, for the ride to the airport. He was relatively quiet during the trip, conversation would have felt like small talk to avoid the inevitable. Being the big city it was, the airport wasn't far from the centre of Paris, and in no time they'd arrived and everything had been checked in; theoretically she was ready to go through to the gate and leave him behind, although of course the act of it was not nearly so easy for either of them in the moment. "I love you so much, Elaina," Christien told her, pulling her into his arms again in a tight hug, as though maybe she wouldn't have to leave if he held on strongly enough. "My life is going to be so much harder without you. But, all I can say is, I'm so glad to have met you."

 

Alright, if you say so… xD I studied for weeks, if not months, for my GCSEs, but they're a lot different to what you're doing, I think. In the least condescending way towards you and your school system as possible, they're a lot more hardcore. And then A Levels, which I'm doing now, even more so.

Oh, great. I feel for you, I really do. That sucks.

 

"I hope so," Caden replied with a smile as he put all the dishes from dinner into the sink. He'd wash them all later, when he didn't have wonderful company to entertain. "Thanks for doing that," he said, referring to the hot chocolate, before heading for the fridge and finding some whipped cream; which, in all honesty, he didn't really know why he bought it when he went on his regular shopping trip, since he rarely actually had any use for it. Now, of course, it was just the thing to put on top of the hot chocolate. "So, I think we'll head for the couch with these and put the movie on." He took the DVD box with the movie she'd brought to the TV and put it in the player. Once it was all running he grabbed his mug and sat on the sofa, and gestured for her to join him.

 

It is dark brown, that's my point! You said it was auburn in your last post xD

Mmm, true. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be number one <3

Aww, thanks dear! I'd really appreciate that. It's supposed to be out next week sometime. SO excited.

 

[VideoStar95]

Okay, good, because that means I’m correct on the whole Elaina’s mother thing. What happened again, with his father? He ended up liking Elaina, right? Oh the things I forget.

I dunno! I haven’t had the opportunity to try and be sexy, therefore I don’t know. But yeah, emotional baggage, I’ve definitely got some! I will never have a boyfriend and I just accept that.

I would love your subjects! I have seven subjects to study for all basically tomorrow and Monday. And they’re all going to be hard! I don’t have any easy A’s. Even my art exam is going to be ridiculous! This year’s really quite hard for me, too.

 

Elaina simply stared at Christien through a blurry vision with a quivering lower lip while he pulled her into a hug; a hug that she found herself never wanting to be let go of. “I don’t want to do all those things without you! I’m not sure I know how. Who’s going to teach me how to cook? We have to talk all of the time…we have to.” The taxi ride was uncomfortably silent, but like Christien, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. All she could possibly do was lean her head against the window-pane and sniffle quietly to herself, trying to distract her mind by focusing on the lovely French city outside; the French city that she was leaving. At the airport, walking through security and such felt like a dream, a sort of slow-motion state that wouldn’t leave her until Christien wrapped his arms around her for a final hug. She shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly, and leaned against him – letting herself basically go limp. Elaina took a deep breath, struggling to memorize every little thing about him; his scent, the way his arms felt around her, shielding her from the world, and the way his chest rose and fell. “I love you too, Christien. More than anything. We met under…terrible circumstances, to say the least, but I wouldn’t do it any differently.” Somehow, her arms eventually retracted and she took a step back, knowing that if she put if off any longer, she might not be able to leave it all. “I’ll see you soon, okay? And I’ll talk to you even sooner.” And with that, she blew him a kiss and walked towards the gate, looking back once at Christien’s gorgeous face before disappearing onto the plane.

 

Rather sad, right? ^ But I can’t wait to write the part when he surprises her at school.

A Levels sounds terrifying!

Yeah..it’s so lame. Hopefully the rest of the chapters will be a little exciting.

 

“I’m glad I could do a little something to help, since you’ve done basically everything tonight! And thank you for that, by the way.” Audrina carefully meandered over to the couch and sat down next to Caden, making sure not to spill any of the scrumptious hot chocolate. It had been a long, long while since she had taken such a pleasure in drinking hot chocolate, and she honestly was rather excited. The movie was a sort of romantic comedy that Audrina had heard countless amounts of praise for, but really she was looking forward to being close to Caden for an hour or two. Honestly, the moment couldn’t get anymore perfect.

 

AUBURN IS TOTALLY BROWN! It’s like a reddish-brown! I meant chessnut…but oh well.

Oh my gosh, we can fan-girl soon!

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Well, his father has some kind of grudge with Christien over lots of things and he was really angry when he broke up with Florentine because he believed his was throwing away his best chance of having a 'suitable' girlfriend. So at first it seemed like he hated Elaina when actually he liked her and just thought she was too good for Christien. He's a crap father, basically.

You will! Of course you will. To be honest I don't really think people should date until they're at least a little older and know what it really means anyway.

You'll be fine, I'm sure. Just don't get too nervous. I'll be rooting for you! (;

 

"We will talk, as much as is humanly possible. You can call me any time of day; I don't care if you're at home in the evening and just want to talk, and so you call me even though here it'll be the small hours of the morning. I'll be there." Probably for a while yet, Christien would be awake then anyway, unable to sleep from thinking about her all the time, and having to be in bed without her as well. It took him a moment to respond to her retracting from his grasp, his arms falling limply beside him. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, where tears were gathering in their corners, and struggled to say anything else to her. "Call me when you get there," he called out to her, waving and returning the kiss, then standing there for a considerable amount of time after she'd disappeared. Just like that, she was gone; he could no longer see her, touch her, hold her, take in her scent.. He wondered what he was going to do without her, and hoped that he would be able to arrange to see her again soon. With that, he made the trip back to the hotel to collect his things, and then was on his way home, where his mother greeted him warmly- his father was not yet home from work, which probably for the best. He was glad to see her, and she made them both some coffee and talked and laughed together in the living room, which did well to improve his mood. The effects were short lived, however. He lay wide awake that night, having already had a fight with his father when he got home, and when he eventually fell asleep it wasn't at all restful. He saw this continuing into his life ahead for the next few weeks at least.

 

Aww </3 But, yeah, it's going be so good when that happens! I suppose we can start that pretty much straight off.

They're hard work, but I'm really enjoying it, too

I hope so, too.

 

Caden tucked Audrina into his side a little bit, under his free arm while with the other's hand he held his mug of hot chocolate. Evening was settling in and frankly he couldn't think of a better thing to be doing than this. He didn't frequently watch romantic comedies because it was not the sort of thing a single man really went out to see, but that wasn't to say he wasn't a fan of them, and considering he no longer was a single man and had someone to watch it with, he was really quite looking forward to it. That said, he didn't imagine he would be able to stay entirely focussed on it with such a beautiful girl curled up next to him.

 

I don't know. I think my vision of what auburn is is slightly more red than what it really is, to be fair.

Yay! I honestly can't wait, I've been longing to get it for months.

 

[VideoStar95]

Your memory is on its game today! I just remember the basics and such. I could possibly remember if I sat down and tried but...you know I’m much too lazy for that. At least he liked her, though! I think I’m going to make Elaina’s mother question whether or not they truly have feelings for each other and such.

I agree, I agree; but my hormones are going to kill me! That or the need to cuddle. One of them is going to due me in.

Meh, I hope so!

 

Elaina’s mind was plagued with depressing thoughts concerning her separation from Christien the entire ride to America; which was a considerably long time indeed. Thinking back on it, she realized that the kind older woman sitting next to her had noticed her state – which probably wasn’t very hard to do since Elaina was making no effort to appear unscathed – and tried to make small talk. But, at the time, she was much too consumed in her sorrow to have paid any attention. Her parents practically attacked her when she stepped foot into the house, her father with love and her mother with questions. She had waved them off with a small shrug and meandered up the stairs to her bedroom where she collapsed without changing her clothes. It was going to be a long night, she concluded while she threw the excess pillows onto the floor. Tomorrow she would travel back up to Princeton - re-embracing her life as a college girl - and it would be the first full day without Christien. After a few hours of struggling to convince herself it would be okay, she fell asleep.

In the morning, Elaina placed her focus into trying to make herself look presentable and hopefully somewhat attractive for the first day back on campus. Luckily, before she had left for France, her dorm had already been set up to her liking and new friendships had been established – although, most of her best friends she had from childhood were attending Princeton as well. Her father sniffled over the entire breakfast, obviously upset by the limited amount of time she would see them before she had to go. So, the three of them tried to go over everything as quickly as possible over pancakes. They discussed the crash, how and if her things were covered for, France, and lastly Christien. Out of all the subjects, Christien was definitely the most emotionally exhausting. The crash had been long ago enough to the point where it was easier for her to accept it, but saying goodbye to Christien had been only yesterday. Afterwards, Elaina and her parents packed her belongings into their min-van and they took off towards Princeton. Her reunion with her friends was much livelier and it helped her not think about Christien or Paris. There were so many preparations for classes the next day that she couldn’t possibly dwell on how terrible she felt. Of course, all of her piers had seen the news about the crash and were throwing copious amounts of questions at her, so she did her best to answer them as short and precise as possible. Luckily, the news report didn’t get any good shots of Elaina nor Christien, so no one knew how wrecked she had looked nor really what Christien looked like at all. For all they knew, he was just a stranger she was stranded with and became nothing more. She was much too exhausted to tell them otherwise.

 

Yes! I took like forever writing that so I could set us up! Except..you’re going to have to say something like “After a few weeks of talking over the phone, etc” blah blah because I only got up to the day after.

I had literally seven hours of homework tonight, no joke.

 

“Thank you for watching this with me.” Audrina said, stifling a slight yawn while snuggling into the crook of his arm as much as she could without tipping the hot chocolate. “I know guys aren’t really into these kinds of movies. Apparently none of my friends are either. But I have to indulge myself sometimes.” Honestly, English hot chocolate was turning out to be much more flavorful than French hot chocolate and she already could tell she was addicted.

 

Oh darn then, I will stick with chessnut!

Good thing I didn’t know until now or else I’d be freaking out for months too.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

I apologise in advance for how bad this is going to potentially be. I'm sick )':

Oh, my memory is always on game like that, trust me. If you have any questions about the history of this RP, you can count on me (;

Aw, I know, I know, hun...

Well, good luck for tomorrow, since they start! Ace 'em ;D

 

The first few weeks without Elaina were harder than Christien could have even imagined. Even though they talked on the phone as regularly as possible, and sent each other texts or emails when that just wasn't possible- phone being the preferred method, of course, always-, there was still a huge, gaping hole in his life where she had been all those months. It got easier as they went by, but he was never not thinking about her somehow, even after a couple of months had passed since she's left Paris. He loved to hear her talk about her days in college much more than he preferred telling her about his, just to hear her voice and know that even though she missed him she was doing okay and still having fun. He'd told her that it was possible that he would be able to make it to the States for at least a little while, though he'd never specified when, even when he was joyfully packing his bags for Princeton. As part of his language degree he was going to, as he'd done last year in San Francisco for a while, teach English speaking students French. This year, however, he'd managed to get himself a place in one of America's most prestigious universities; but that was beside the point, he was going there because he knew that's where he would find Elaina. He was leaving it as a surprise for her, though he was yet to fully figure out how he was going to turn up in front of her just yet. When she phoned during his journey he found a quiet spot in the airport and pretended as though nothing different was happening with his life, made up a story about going out with Suzanne and Benoit the day after.

It was a few days after he'd landed in New Jersey that he'd had everything sorted enough that he was able to go onto the campus for the first time. He had a quick stop tour of all the places he would need to know about, bright and early before any lectures to avoid as many students as possible. Of course, some were already up for breakfast or some morning exercise, and a numerous amount of giggling girls jogged past on their run or as they tucked into a bagel. Still, it was fine. No Elaina.

He began teaching in a couple of freshers classes alongside the lecturer to get started, but eventually he found himself looking at a class list and seeing a name that sparked something in his heart; it almost didn't feel real, this thing he was doing. He had his back completely to the class as people began walking into the lecture room, writing things on the blackboard as they settled in their seats- this was intentional, of course, from his surprise element. He couldn't wait to catch her eye when he turned around. There were a few whispers of, "That's the new assistant..." "Oh yeah. I've hear he's absolutely gorgeous." "Hopefully he'll turn round soon and we can see what all the fuss is about."

 

Awww. I'm SO excited right now <3

Man, that sucks. I know how that feels, though. Hopefully you got through it all.

Oh, Happy Columbus Day, whatever that is!

 

"The pleasure is mine," Caden replied, sipping his hot chocolate and actually burning his tongue a little bit because it was still so hot. Still, it kept him from being completely distracted by her snuggling closer to him. "Actually, it's fine. It's not something I would have watched much before, but now that I have female company to watch it with I'm quite enjoying myself, thank you." The movie was good. There were definitely some laugh-out loud moments, which was rare even when reviews claimed that a film had such moments. Honestly, he couldn't think of a much better way to spend an evening.

 

Either is fine, honestly, since I just googled Auburn and it's definitely not the colour I thought it was xD

 

[VideoStar95]

Aww, you’re sick? I’m sorry, hun! I’m sick all the time so I know how you feel.

There probably will be more questions to come…

At least you get me. <3

I’m just starting to study for my four exams tomorrow….this is going to be so fun. Thanks for the luck! I’m going to need it. xD

 

College life was intimidating, to say the least – and these sporadic phone calls with Christien were most definitely not enough to keep her sustained. She would love nothing but to simply talk to him every day for hours upon end, but they both had busy lives and she had to understand that it wasn’t practical. He’d promised her –pinky swore over the phone, as she had made him do – that he would visit the States, and more specifically her, in the future but the date was left open ended. The thought of their reunion was basically the only thing enforcing her to trudge on regardless of the distance between them that constantly gnawed on her heart.

Elaina was already surrounded with all sorts of whispers and squeals about the new teaching assistant, of whom she honestly could not care less about, simply walking into class. Finding herself unable to get a glimpse at his front-side, simply to try and understand why the entire female population on her campus had worked themselves into a frenzy, she headed to one of the middle rows – a seat already saved by two of her best friends, Stephanie and Victoria. “He’s absolutely beautiful, isn’t he?” Stephanie was practically drooling all over her desk and Victoria was completely flushed, probably due to the inappropriate thoughts about the teaching assistant playing out in her mind. It was sad, really, how girls would get so darn anxious over someone just due to their looks – really a quite pathetic and nauseating trait of her gender. But as Elaina stared more and more, studying the rather defined back of this mysterious man, she began to see why; he was muscular, - and not the sort of overly-beefy way most college guys were, but toned in all the right places – with sort of windswept hair that ruffled in the sexiest way possible. She was extremely attracted to him; shamefully so for a girl who swore off other men the moment she laid eyes on her Christien.

“He’s about to turn around, he’s about to turn around!” Stephanie hyperventilated, fanning herself with a notebook as if this man’s hotness was literally causing her hot flashes. If Stephanie hadn’t said it, though, she would have known from the quiet but noticeable uproar erupting from the entire classroom. Except for the boys, of course, who simply sat looking very confused. When the teaching assistant finally did make his grand entrance, so to speak, a resulting melody of squeals and sighs played but it was Elaina’s shocked voice that overcame the noise.

“Oh my God, Christien.”

 

This is so cute! Right? I don’t want to ruin the moment with my horrible writing talens!

It was Columbus Day yesterday? Shows you how much I know about my country.

 

It was delightful, snuggling close to Caden with hot chocolate in hand, enjoying a rather well-made movie; honestly, when Audrina actually thought about what was occurring she felt a bit giddy – in the best of ways, of course. When the movie finally ended she felt a bid sorrowful, a bit sad that this lovely day had to come to an end. “Well,” she said, collecting their now empty mugs of hot chocolate and heading off towards the kitchen, “that was much better than I thought it would be! Hopefully that means it didn’t torture you as much as I expected it would.” She laughed, cleaning out the chocolate-stained glasses and returning to the couch. “Thank you, again, for allowing me to plan the day. I really hope you had a good time.”

 

Meh, it’s still too red to be Audrina’s hair, though! You were right!

 

[KERFUFFLE]

I almost never get sick, but when I do it's always really bad. Ah well, it's day in bed, with Audrey Hepburn movies <3

That's cool, I'm ready for it. Well, perhaps not today, but every other time, yes.

I honestly don't know how you can just cram at the last minute!

I'm sorry, the names of Elaina's best friends cracked me up. She's even more like you than I thought ;D

 

There was loud, collective sigh that rang out through the room as he turned around- quite clearly originating from the female members of the group, while the men either sat there, confused in their ignorance of why this assistant was causing such a fuss, or grimaced a little bit, one murmuring sarcastically, "Someone's been hit with the ugly stick." Christien was glad for the fact that he didn't need to scour the rows of students to find where Elaina was sitting, since she identified herself quite clearly above the noise with her exclamation. While inside, his heart skipped a beat and his breath caught, he just smiled, because the lecturer began talking to the class regardless of the uproar. "Class, as you may have guessed or already heard from other students, we're very lucky to have an assistant all the way from France here to help you with your studies. I suppose I may as well let him introduce himself. In French, if you please, sir."

"Bonjour," Christien began. Well, as he started speaking it was like the girls in the room were about ready to melt into pools on the floor. "Je m'appelle Monsieur Marimière, mais tu peux m'appeler mon prénom, Christien. Je vais à l'Université de Paris, où j'apprends l'Anglais." He was aware that most people in the group had only been learning French for a few months, so he switched to English. "I'm here as part of my degree, so you'll be seeing a lot of me in the next few months." Months; he winked conspicuously at Elaina, as if to reinforce the point to her that he'd be here for quite some time. "Anyways, in this classroom I'm your teacher- but I'm only twenty, so as soon as we're done I'd prefer it if we can consider ourselves friends. Remember that I'm a sort of student here, too, just like you guys."

"Now, your teacher's thrown me in right at the deep end," he gestured to the lecturer, who was already packing up his things to leave the room for a coffee break, "So I'll be in charge of your lesson today."

It was clear that Christien had a gift for teaching and for languages probably far beyond his twenty years. Even in English he had an excellent way of explaining the difficult rules of French, as well as a sense of humour. He admitted it was hard to focus completely on teaching when all he wanted to do was go up to Elaina's desk and pull her into his arms after so long away from her, but he was doing what he loved, so the time didn't drag as much as he might have expected. "That's it for today," he said as people began closing their textbooks and notepads. He picked up a piece of paper from his desk and pretended to read it, although it was about something entirely different than what he claimed. "Oh. Elaina Heartwood, please stay behind a minute. I've had a message come through for you from the office. Quite important. From your boyfriend, says the paper." He chuckled to himself as he waited for the class to clear out, rubbing out his notes from the board in the meantime, until it was finally himself and just the girl he loved left in the classroom.

"Surprise."

 

Aww. Together again at last <3

It was indeed according to my Calendar!

 

Caden sighed and rolled his eyes as she insisted on cleaning up the cups of hot chocolate, as if she hadn't done enough for the day anyway. "It was great, thanks for making me watch it," he laughed as she sat back down on the couch. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips. "No, thank you, Audrina. I had a wonderful day. If I had the choice, I wouldn't let it be over yet, it's a shame it has to come to an end so soon. If every date you planned was as good as this one, I'd be quite happy to let you do it all the time." He smiled at her, playing with a strand of her hair in his fingers before kissing her again, for longer this time, subdued but passionately so underneath. "I'll have to think of some way to top it the next time I take you out. You've made my job very difficult, in the best possible way," he told her.

 

[VideoStar95]

Awe, well a day in bed is always good! Especially with Audrey Hepburn movies! The best sick movie is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That s**t is hilarious.

So I think I did really well on my four exams today! Didn’t study at all last night. (; I bull-s**t tests like nobody’s business.

I just picked the names of my two best friends! I couldn’t be bothered to make up two so I just related them back to my life. xD

 

It took every fiber of Elaina’s being not to bolt across the room and ravish Christien in front of all her awe-struck piers. “What?” Victoria whispered in question, obviously confused as to why her friend was practically having a mental break down. But Elaina couldn’t find her voice again, although she would be clueless regarding how to answer anyhow – how does one explain such a bond that she shared with Christien. Regardless of the fact that she was strewn about with joy, she was actually rather frustrated that Christien had kept his arrival a secret. She loved surprises, that was true, but here she was having heart palpitations while he was Mr. Suave presenting his case to the class – not that half of them were listening anyway. Based off of the girls’ dream-like expressions, they were hung up on his sexy accent and the guys were still huffing in their seats due to jealousy. Elaina knew very well the affects his French speaking had on her and could only imagine how the girls were feeling since it was their first time being exposed to it.

Waiting for the lecture to finish – although it was a particularly engaging one – was like watching paint dry; excruciatingly slow. The small bursts of eye-contact she made with Christien – resulting in another set of hyper-ventilations on her part- only worsened the situation. She tried, honestly she did, to pay attention and take notes like a good student but who was she kidding, there was no way she’d retain any the information at the moment. When Christien announced that Elaina had a message from her boyfriend, the class erupted again – this time mostly from the boy population. She had become rather popular and adored by her piers while at Princeton and had politely refused the date propositions that she received almost daily. Of course, she didn’t notice any of this because she was always too focused on Christien, especially since he wasn’t around. So, this proclamation finally allowed the boys some clarity, though it still angered them that she wasn’t available. “Boyfriend?” Stephanie and Victoria asked in sync, sounding a bit hurt that Elaina had neglected to tell them. She had been waiting for the right moment to explain but it had never presented itself, but she doubted her friends would understand.

“You guys go on without me; I’ll meet up with you later.” Elaina told them with an assuring smile, hugging a notebook to her chest in order to keep herself stable.

“Alright.” They meandered out of class, though not without one last quizzical glance at Elaina and one last look at the new teaching assistant. Judging by their expressions, Elaina could tell that they simply adored everything about Christien. Hopefully they would still when she presented him as her boyfriend. Finally, finally, they were alone together – a scenario that had been playing throughout her mind since she left him that day at the airport. She didn’t know whether or not to strangle him for leaving her in the dark or smother him with love.

“Oh, God, I’ve missed you so much!” Elaina wasted no time, wrapping her arms around his neck and melding her body to his – the feeling so familiar and perfect that she almost wanted to sob. “What are you doing here? I ca-how? Why didn’t you tell me! Oh, I love you so much.”

 

So cute! They could not be any more adorable.

Oh my! Well we don’t celebrate it so I didn’t know, but thanks anyhow!

 

Audrina blushed thoroughly from the feelings that arose within her during Caden’s second kiss – she felt almost a tad naughty for not being able to enjoy an innocent act of contact with him without having some extremely lustful thoughts. “It was luck, I think,” She told him once she’d remembered how to form words, “Really, I’m quite sure a success like this won’t happen again due to my planning, but I definitely will try!” Her body was still relatively close to his, although now they were only speaking. She did not retract, however, because she enjoyed the sense of him so near – more in a comforting sense, this time, rather than a sexual one. “You don’t have to do anything special for me, any time spent with you is wonderful.”

 

[KERFUFFLE]

It was great, actually, although I still did a ton of work. But that's no bad thing, it was art and it was relaxing. I've never seen that movie, actually. Usually when I'm sick I turn to my collection of Ghibli movies but I just got Sabrina and Funny Face on DVDs so it was a Ms. Hepburn sick day

That's great, well done!

Yeah, I know. I just thought it was funny.

 

Christien took her into his arms and held her as tightly as was humanly possible, momentarily picking her up off the ground. "I'm sorry," he murmured into her skin, having buried his face in her neck, "Keeping it from you was the one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but for one thing the date really was confirmed fairly last minute and also just because I wanted to surprise you." He pulled away from hugging her to give her a long, passionate kiss- the sum of months of being away from each other, missing her so much, wanting to see her, adding up to such a hot blooded kiss. "I've missed you more than I even imagined I would. Even calling you every day wasn't enough for me. I love you more than anything in the world." He let go of her to go back to the desk for a moment, and returned with a bag. It was a Chanel carrier bag, for which he'd taken a trip down the Champs Elysees to ask for, feeling slightly silly because there was no way he could actually afford to buy anything in there, but the lady behind the counter had been very obliging. It was simply just to make the extra effort so that it was more than just a generic gift bag for Elaina. "I have a few things for you," he told her, pulling out the first wrapped package and handing it to her. Inside were a few photo frames, with the beautiful pictures they'd taken of themselves on the Eiffel Tower together, which he'd promised to just send to her through an email but deliberately put off for this reason. Then, a second, a notebook he'd made with everything covered for her French lessons for the next year, all colour coded and illustrated to make her life easier. "Finally," he said, producing a small box and handing it to her, "I know we're both young and neither of us want to get married right now, but I know we want to one day and so, in the meantime, this is from me to you, just to remind you that I'm yours." The box contained a beautiful bracelet, made of white gold and various stones he felt suited her, in shades of blues.

 

Aw <3

Oh yeah, my Mum was saying that not everybody celebrates it because she works for an American bank and more people were working than she expected for a holiday.

 

Audrina needn't have felt bad for feeling the way she did during the second kiss- Caden had had similar thoughts throughout it, unable to help himself even though he told himself not to. "Well, if it was luck, although I doubt it, I'm going to need a lot of it to plan anything as good as today. Hopefully the show on Monday will be enough to your liking that that'll help." He looked at his watch and sighed, wrapping both of his arms around her, "My only complaint is that it's all gone too quickly, I can't believe it's that time already. Of course, you're welcome to stay as late as you like, I just have no suggestions for anything to do except what we're doing right now."

 

[VideoStar95]

Really? Oh my! You need to watch it! It’s so adorable! Ah…I really want to watch it right now. Good thing you got work done! Tonight I didn’t have homework because of the PSAT tomorrow, so I just slept for like 6 hours; though I do have things due days from now.

My three other exams are Friday and Thursday, but those I actually have to do a bit of studying for. Like French. AP World, and Chemistry.

Well, that is good.

 

Elaina clung to his warmth although it was life or death, – and for her, it practically was – her cheek pressed against his chest and her fingers entangled in his hair. “I love surprises, this one especially, but I’m pretty sure I was having aneurisms in my seat the entire class.” The kiss caught her off guard a bit but in the most pleasant way possible; and when she realized what was happening, she returned it with the same amount of heat, if not more – if anyone had walked into the room at that given moment, they would have definitely blushed at the passion. “I can’t even explain how much I’ve missed you.” She told him, anxiously waiting what he was going to retrieve. “Oh, what is this? Oh gosh, these turned out beautifully.” She cradled the frames in her hands carefully, studying their expressions and noting how extremely happy and in love they both looked. Next, she flipped through the notebook with everything she’d need for the entire year of the class. “Christien, you didn’t have to do this! Thank you so much though, baby.” The final item left her literally speechless – all she could possibly do was stand there and gape at its beauty. “I’ve never seen anything more gorgeous.” She murmured in awe, reaching out to gently stroke the white gold bracelet, afraid she might shatter it. “Will you put it on me?”

 

The next few posts I’m just going to die over from adorableness!

I want a Christien, dxmmit. I will find one! I’m determined.

Oh! No, basically no one celebrates it. I didn’t know your Mom worked for an American bank! We’re so close <3

 

Audrina rested her cheek on his shoulder, leaving her hand half-resting on his thigh simply because she couldn’t bother to move it – not that it seemed like Caden minded about the placement. “I’m really excited for Monday! You’ll do great, I’m sure.” She absent-mindedly traced patterns on his knee while he spoke to her. “It went quickly, didn’t it? I don’t have anything else to do tonight, when I leave I’ll just go back to my hotel so I definitely wouldn’t mind staying a bit more.” She, of course, didn’t want to impose on Caden whatsoever but honestly she did not want to return to her lonely room already.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Still ill, so another day watching movies for me. But I'm not working too much today, since I did so much yesterday.

I so do not miss Chemistry at all. I used to get so bored listening to Mr. Morris drone on at half speed. Good luck, though!

 

"Sorry, again. But I thought it best to be tactful rather than run up to you in your seat and kiss you like I just did," Christien laughed softly, "Especially considering it seems like your friends haven't even heard that you have a boyfriend, let alone that it's me." It gave him a kind of thrill that he couldn't put his finger on when she looked so happy with the things he'd brought for her. He helped her put the first few things back in the Chanel bag before setting it on the floor so that he could put the bracelet on for her. Gently taking it out of the box, he took her wrist in one hand and then placed the bracelet around her wrist, clasping it shut. Perfect; not too big that it slid around or was in danger of coming off, but not too tight, either. "I love you," he murmured, giving her another, quick kiss before putting the box in the bag with the rest of her things, too. He looked at his watch. "Another class will be here soon. I don't suppose you have somewhere else we can go to keep on catching up?"

 

One day, we'll find our Christiens. We will!

Oh, fair enough. I've never heard of it before, to be honest. Yeah, she works for J.P. Morgan Chase. Sometimes she gets to fly over to New York for business trips, which always makes me so jealous.

 

"I'm excited, too, actually. Playing for people is my favourite part of being a musician. The feeling you get when you realise that people are here to listen to you, they're singing the words you wrote, it's great. It's probably on a par with seeing how much all the kids love getting into playing music when they've never had the chance before." Caden loved doing what he did for a living, he got the best of everything that way. But it was also nice to now have a reason not to completely immerse himself in work all the time. As he'd told her, coming home wasn't always as nice as it should have been when it was so quiet, sharing a few hours in the company of somebody else besides bandmates, children and teachers was wonderful. He was lucky, of course, not every girl was like Audrina. "Stay as long as you like," he replied, then smiled as he added, "After all, if you'd be alone in your hotel room and I'd be alone here, then what would the point of that?"

 

Man, I can't write at all well when I'm ill. -fail-

 

[VideoStar95]

Three day weekend for me! Well deserved, in my opinion. xD Exams are over! More 9 weeks from now but that’s besides the point.

Are you feeling better?

My only B is in Chemistry. >.> I got a B on the exam though, which is relatively well because the class average was a low C.

 

“I’m sorry about that. I haven’t found a good time to explain the whole situation to them. But, judging by their drool, I’d say they like you too much already…I’m just glad you’re here.” Elaina released a sigh of content, staring down at her new, gloriously beautiful bracelet that fit her absolutely perfectly. She intertwined her fingers with his and gave his hand a slight squeeze, noticing now how much she missed his hand in hers specifically. She would somehow postpone her questions for a place more suitable, “Want to go get lunch? I know this quaint little Italian restaurant right off campus that I think you’d love.”

 

Okay, that was horrible! But oh well.

We better!

I want to go to New York City so bad! We should go one day!

 

“Isn’t it frightening though? Don’t you get stage-freight? No matter how many shoots I do, I always panic beforehand. But maybe you’re just much more calm than I.” Audrina allowed her eyes to close slightly, not being able to help herself in the position they were in. “I don’t want to impose, so I won’t stay long.” She told him, stifling a yawn. “I can’t wait for the concert; but I’ll have to try not to embarrass you too much. I'll be the one either fainting from your lovely music or frantically fan-girling, to use an American term I heard the other day."

 

I failed too <3

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Awesome! Howcome it's a three day weekend? You definitely deserve it (; My weekend is virtually thee days long. I'm going to the Tate Modern Gallery in London for a school trip on Monday, which is going to be great.

Yes, thank you. Much, much better

Well, that's alright, nothing wrong with that at all. I always hated Chem.

 

Christien completely understood. Any of his friends who hadn't met Elaina while she'd been in Paris, he hadn't found the right way to mention her to them. After all, how does one say, 'By the way, that plane crash I was in? Well, it was actually okay because I met the love of my life out there' tactfully? "I'd love to," he said in reply to her offer for lunch. He was oddly overwhelmed when she entwined her fingers with his, as though he'd forgotten just how perfectly her hand fit into his. He didn't say much during the walk to the restaurant, trying to take in the fact that he was here, with her, the way things should always be but after so long away from each other it was difficult to fathom how wonderful it really was. As they sat down at a table, he said, incredibly softly, as though that's as much volume as he could actually manage in is current incredulous state, "It doesn't feel real. It got to the stage where we were apart for so long that, even though we still called each other, I thought maybe I'd made you up. Or at least that when I got here, you wouldn't be like I remembered. But you're even more than that."

 

It wasn't that bad at all. Definitely no worse than my last one was.

We definitely should! I have so much I want to do there.

 

"I always get a little nervous, but I don't think I've ever had stage fright in my life. In fact, I think nerves are a good thing in small doses. It gives you a little bit of fire in your belly," Caden replied with a shrug. "You, get nervous before a photoshoot? I don't know how a girl who is the most beautiful girl I've ever met can be scared of something like that. You should have more confidence in yourself." He shook his head and pulled her a little closer into his side. "If I was being completely honest with you, if you don't mind me saying, Audrina, I wouldn't really mind if you didn't leave at all, so you wouldn't be imposing at all." Hr chuckled at her last comment. "I think I might enjoy a bit of fangirling, I've not experienced that yet."

 

[VideoStar95]

What in the world is with this new site? I hate it. It’s terrible. What is this. Oh my God. This is awful. This is what happens when I leave. >.<

I am so sick of school and everyone. I can’t even begin to explain it! If Christmas wasn’t in a bit, I’d die.

AND I AM SO SICK OF BEING SINGLE. WHERE ARE ALL THE HOT, NICE GUYS AT?!

Elaina couldn’t drag her gaze off of Christien as they traveled together to the restaurant, her fingers constantly tightening and then releasing around his to ensure they were real. When they sat at opposite ends of the table, she found herself baring her teeth and struggling a bit with letting go of his hand – but she eventually did. “I had the same exact feelings!” She released a sigh of contentment, feeling more at ease then she had in months, reclining a bit further into seat in utter relaxation. She felt as though a huge part of her that had been missing remarkably returned – which, truly was the case. “Sometimes, when I woke up in the morning I’d wonder if I’d dreamt you up.” She felt so bright and cheery that she wouldn’t have been surprised if she simply started glowing. Elaina clasped her hands together in excitement, a childish grin forming on her face, “My friends are literally going to die when they find out! We have to plan something miraculous.”

I suck at writing lately, but what else is new? xD

HAH FANGIRLING. That made my night.

“Well, I’m flattered that you think I’m beautiful enough to escape stage fright but alas, before every single photo shoot I basically have a nervous break down.” Audrina giggled softly, keeping her laughter to a minimum so she didn’t interrupt her snuggle with Caden. “But you’re right; it always gives me a little extra boost with my performance. I’ve grown quite fond of it actually, and since I’m used to it, it’s not as bad anymore.” A slight blush crept across cheeks, tainting her normally quite pale complexion. She took a moment to breathe and calm her down eternally before speaking, “Are you positive? I mean, it wouldn’t be that much of a trouble for me to just head on over to my apartment.”

 

[KERFUFFLE]

I know, right? It's so weird. I haven't really been on here lately so I only really just noticed how strange and awkward it is.

Wait. Where. Is. Our. Font? O: Not good.

Aw, Evan, I feel so bad for you, you're going through a lot with school and friends right now ):

Oh, I know! It's so frustrating that there really is nobody around right now. There are happy couples everywhere at school..

Christien pulled a chair out for Elaina before seating himself opposite her. He could hardly believe that he was sitting in an Italian restaurant in New Jersey opposite her; sometimes he found himself forgetting to breathe because his mind was doing other things, such as trying to take in how wonderful it was to be with her again. Unable to help himself, he took her hand across the table, squeezing it gently. "I know what you mean. Especially when something prevented us from getting hold of each other.. Even one day was enough to make me wonder whether you and I really happened. I admit I called Suzanne a few times just so she would ask me how you were doing- just to be sure I wasn't under some illusion." He chuckled gently, both at that fact, as well as her talking about her friends. "Mmm, I think you're right. Considering how they reacted to me just being a teacher in your class today makes me think that they might be a little bit jealous. Though goodness only knows why." With his free hand, he picked up a menu and took a quick look through. "So, would you recommend anything in particular to eat?"

No, you don't! Besides, you're out of practice again so I wouldn't worry at all.

"I think I'll have to see some photos to judge whether your nerves affect you too badly." It was a joking comment of course, implied by his tone, but he was genuinely curious to see what she'd done for her job, as such, regardless of that. "I'll have to take one from your wall of your apartment when I come and visit you in Paris." He paused for a moment, trying to think how best to phrase his answer. He didn't want to sound too forward, almost as much for his own benefit as for hers. He liked her a lot, and he didn't want to mess something up when it was so early but also so wonderful. "And equally I'd be happy to walk you back to your hotel if you want me to, and if that's where you want t spend the night. I meant it to illustrate the point that I didn't at all mind whether you went back as late as you wanted, and that you wouldn't be intruding on me at all," he said. "You don't have to stay if you don't feel comfortable with it, but if you want to, you can have my room and I can sleep on the sofa or... Whatever suits you."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Alright... We're open again!

We just have to cut the chat from now on, okay?