La Vie En Rose

Falling In Love - Taio Cruz

“Surprise.”

“Are you real?” I whispered.

John chuckled. “As real as can be.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded.

With a small whimper, I let go of the door handle, jumped into his arms and tightly wrapping my legs around his waist. I could feel him burying his face into the crook of my neck as he hugged back, his lips barely grazing my exposed skin. I was tingly within seconds.

I leaned back so I could look at him, my arms still wrapped around his neck. “How did you-I thought you had-why aren’t you-WHAT!?”

“I have a day off today so I flew out here from Kansas City this morning.” He explained before craning his neck to leave an innocent kiss on my collarbone. “You have me for the next twenty four hours. God Gigi, I’ve missed y-”

I cut him off by capturing the luscious lips I’ve been waiting to kiss for over five weeks. It was John who let out an eager whimper this time, instantly responding to the kiss. He managed to stumble into the apartment and drop the dozen of roses on the floor as I tenderly ran my fingers through his messy brown hair. My heart was pounding against my ribcage, I was almost sure John could feel it through our clothes, but I was so keen. I’ve never wanted John, or anyone for that matter, this badly before.

When we both came up for air, I carefully slid out of his arms and laced my fingers with his. “Twenty-four hours, you said?”

He looked disheveled and his mouth was pink. All he could do was nod.

“Well then.” I tugged on his hand, walking backwards in the direction of my bedroom. “We can’t waste time then, can we?”

Once we entered my bedroom, John kicked the door shut as our lips anxiously met once more. I giggled into the kiss as he struggled to shed his leather jacket. The minute it hit the floor, I practically ripped his shirt open -thank god it had the snap-on buttons and not actual buttons. That would of been a pain-to expose his lengthy torso. I slowly slid my cold hands down his sultry chest, making him shudder. He moaned when I momentarily broke the kiss. I smirked as I tugged the blue sweater off my own torso, dropping it onto the floor.

John nervously stepped forward, his eyes wandering over my stomach and chest before he gazed into my eyes. “Gigi, you are perfect.”

I bit my lip, trying to contain the massive grin that started to appear. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we both fell onto my bed. With John straddling my hips, he rid of his flannel shirt before leaning down to trail butterfly kisses on my exposed collarbones and up to my neck. I smiled, tracing my fingertips lightly across his biceps and down his spine. It wasn’t long before his jeans were displaced, my new Victoria’s Secret panties were pulled off and the faint sound of an empty condom wrapper hitting the floor. And as all this was happening, I couldn’t help but think that today wasn’t so bad after all.



“So, how did you manage to get up here anyways?” I asked John as I twirled a lock of hair around my index finger. “The doorman downstairs usually calls first before letting strange men up here.”

John was leaning against the headboard of my bed while I innocently sat on top of him with the duvet cover pulled over my shoulders. Clad in only our underwear, I guess this was justified as ‘pillow talk’. This was so exhilarating to me. I’ve never had pillow talk before.

“Alma gave him a heads up.” John replied as he softly stroked the side of my thighs with an absent-mind.

“She knew about you coming!?” I was genuinely shocked then I thought back to the post it note she left this morning. “Oh. That makes a lot of sense now. Who else knew?”

“Everyone else except Garrett and Kennedy because I knew they would open their big mouths on accident if I told them.” John rolled his eyes.

I laughed and shook my head. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Have I mentioned that you’re the best boyfriend ever?”

“Hmmm,” John pretended to think hard about it by squinting his eyes and resting his fingers on his chin. “you may have mentioned it in passing.”

“Well, you are.” I giggled again, grabbing both of his hands and lacing our fingers tightly. “Wanna get something to eat?”

“And this is why you’re the best girlfriend.” John concluded. “You know the only way to a man’s heart is food.”

I scoffed and rolled off him before searching for my skinny jeans. “How does ground-breaking, traditional New York city pizza sound?”

“Sounds....groundbreaking.”



When I was in tenth grade, my english teacher gave my class an assignment to look up the origins and meanings behind certain sayings that people say on a daily basis, Cloud Nine being one of them. When I went home later that night, I searched the particular term and found out it was a popular catchphrase in the US back in 1965. The actual meaning itself is to describer the feeling of euphoric exaltation.

Well, that was me right now. I am on cloud nine. In fact, I actually had one foot balancing on cloud nine and then my other foot touching cloud ten. That was how euphorically happy I was at this very moment. I was no longer the lame, solitary woman walking the streets of New York who scowled at couples walking by. I was now on the other side of the glass. I had my boyfriend with me, hand in hand, happily walking around the city. It even stopped raining and the clouds were parting to let the sun peak through.

John and I started our adventure at Mr. Pizza, a classic New York pizza place that was located across the street from Central Park. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I took the first bite of the extremely cheesy pizza. I was so hungry, that I managed to finish John’s unwanted crust. What can I say? A girl’s gotta eat.

We eventually made our way towards Central Park, walking over the Bow Bridge and passing Strawberry Fields. I couldn’t help but admire how mesmerized John was by the black & white mosaic that paid tribute to John Lennon. I could tell how passionate John felt about music and the Beatles just by how he mentioned that John Lennon was one of his biggest heroes. Honestly, it made me want to have sex with him again.

It was roughly around eight pm by the time we got back to the apartment. We managed to cover a good part of upper Manhattan by the time we were done and my legs were beginning to feel like jelly. John even managed to score hard when we went to Urban Outfitters. I got to play the role of the helpful girlfriend, who happily helped him pick out two new t-shirts and a jacket in the Men’s section.

The minute we stepped into my apartment, I kicked off my flats and hung my oversized, forrest green scarf and coat on the coat hanger. I turned around to John and smiled. “Want some coffee?”

He nodded eagerly, leaving his leather jacket on the coat hanger too. I smiled, walking into the kitchen and starting up the coffee-maker. Just as I hopped onto the counter and casually swung my legs back and forth, John appeared in the doorway.

“Hey gorgeous.” He grinned, strolling towards me.

I laughed. “Aw shucks! You sure know how to make a lady blush, Mr. O’Callaghan.”

He laughed at my reaction, placing both of his hands on my kneecaps. He carefully separated them so he could get closer, leaning in to give me a small peck on the lips. “I’m only speaking the truth.”

I rested my arms on his shoulders and sighed, tilting my head slightly. “Why do you have to leave in the morning? Just stay here forever.”

“I wish I could.”

“Let’s just both quit our lives. You quit the band and I’ll quit college. Then we’ll move to Morocco, adopt a cat and name him Christoffersen!” I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows for effect.

John laughed, shaking his head. “Talk about Paradise! I’m in.”

I smiled, reaching up to play with his messy hair. I didn’t want today to end. It was perfect, no, beyond perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better Valentine’s day. And as I looked into those brilliant green eyes of his, I realized I liked John a lot more than I thought. I couldn’t help but wonder how I got so lucky? I wasn’t anything special, yet I have this handsome boy flying to New York to see me. I was spoilt.

We stayed up the whole night. There wasn’t time for sleep! For a good part of the night, we drank a copious amount of coffee and talked. I can’t be very specific about what we talked about exactly because we covered a good amount of topics. Luckily, Alma had texted me at some point to let me know she was staying at a friend’s house in Queens so John and I had the apartment to ourselves. This, I was grateful for.

While I sat comfortably in John’s arm on the couch, the sky changed from inky black to a dull blue a lot quicker than I intended. Before I knew it, it was getting close to nine am and it was time to bring John to the airport. We both sobered up by the time we got into the cab and headed towards JFK. I had John’s arm around me securely in the backseat, my fingers woven tightly with his as he carefully twirled my hair with his other hand.

“We won’t be separated for much longer, Gigi.” John whispered. “Only another couple of weeks and we’ll be together again.”

I looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. “I know, it’s just....this is the worst part.”

He kissed the top of my head lovingly. “Believe me, I know.”

And as I quietly walked with him to check in with the airlines, waited patiently with him in the security line until the very last minute, gave him a kiss goodbye and reluctantly walked out of the airport, I realized something.

I was falling in love with him.