Lead the Way - Chapter 019 - Amélie
So, last Thursday you were a little upset with me and I get it. I mean, I did warn you I'd be cruel I wouldn't make it easy for them. BUT! I believe that by the end of this season you will agree with me, that it was all worth it; that I had a good reason for doing what I did and that it is so much better this way. Okay, maybe you won't think or say that, but I am so confident I'm gonna keep posting :P
Also you should watch out for chapters that have names instead of titles. Jus' sayin'.
Lead the Way - 019 - Amélie
It happened in Paris. Of course. Where else? She was 17 and it was her last year of high school. Only another ten months to go before she could finally stop moving around every couple of years. She remembered a feeling of being all-powerful as though the whole world was just waiting for her.
In Italy she had craved acceptance by her classmates. And she had tried everything. Even the boyfriend that seemed to be an essential requisite to a normal teenager’s life. This time Emily knew she wouldn’t have enough time to make friends with every one, and she didn’t feel the need to anymore, either. She was content to just sit through these last 10 months before she would finally start her own life.
The minute she saw her, she knew she had to get closer to the other girl. Amélie was tall, strong, confident and a rebel. She was everything young Emily was not. Quickly a friendship had developed between the teenagers and soon enough the Ambassador’s daughter was caught smoking in bathrooms, stealing knick-knacks for kicks and getting drunk every night out. Elizabeth Prentiss had her hands full cleaning up behind her daughter and made no attempt to find out what was behind it all.
One night during a sleep over at Amélie’s house the two girls were giggling under the covers. Amélie’s nanny had already reminded them several times that they should sleep since the next day was a school day, but it had had no effect on the girls.
“… and then ‘e zaid: Oh Amélie, I ‘ave never zeen anyzing zo beautiful before.” The French girl said with a thick accent. She was just recounting the date she had had the night before with an older boy. To emphasize her point she had imitated his every move and was now holding Emily’s face in her hands. Slowly she leaned in and kissed her.
It had been as though a bolt of lightning had gone through Emily’s body. Suddenly all her senses had awakened and she felt everything at once: The butterflies in her stomach that she had blamed on the smoking, the dizziness and light-headedness she had always felt when standing close to Amélie, the burning on her skin where the other girl touched her and of course the sweet taste of soft lips pressing in on her own.
When Amélie finally drew back and picked up where she left off, Emily did not listen anymore. That moment had changed everything for her, yet her best friend did not seem to notice. What was this all about?
The following weeks Emily moved through her life on auto-pilot. She had learned enough from her mother to always appear on top of the situation, only her eyes revealed her withdrawal. One night, after obscene amounts of liquor had turned a boring gathering into a health-threatening display of immaturity, the two friends were waiting on the street for their drivers to get them home safely.
Standing up straight took all her concentration and Emily forgot to be afraid. She asked her friend about the kiss they had shared.
“But it iz only natural to kiss a beautiful woman. Don’t zink about zat anymore, Emily.” Later Emily would not recall how she had phrased just what that kiss had meant for her nor where she had taken the courage from to say it out loud. She would, however, remember forever the answer she got. An answer that changed her life forever.
“Oh mais l’amour is only for men and women. Kissing and tasting yes, having fun togezer is fine. But a meaningful relationship can only ever ‘appen for a man and a woman. L’amour needs ze contrast and ze battle.”