French Kisses

The day after mine and Gerard's little discussion was definitely a little weird. I was trying to be open with him and not hold other people's actions over his head, but I couldn't help it.

Gerard had insisted on showing us around Barcelona, since he had the day off, aside from a gym session early that morning. He took us around like tourists to all the big things that everyone has to see, but also to places that only the locals would know, unless a tourist accidentally stumbled on it. We were on the way back to the house for dinner when Gerard's phone rang.

"Hello?" He talked on the phone a few minutes before hanging up and dropping the phone into a cup holder. "David's having a party at his house, and wants to know if you girls would like to go as well. I'm only going if the both of you go."

"What kind of party?" Leigh asked, leaning forward in the backseat.

"Oh, some people dance, some just talk, hang out. Whatever you feel like, really," Gerard answered, turning onto his street.

"I'm in," Leigh replied immediately.

I shrugged and agreed, not wanting to be the killjoy, even though I really wasn't a party person.
The party wasn't going to start until seven or so, and it was only five, so I decided to make myself a small dinner before getting ready. I began putting out a search for peanut butter and jelly, and was nearly scared out of my mind when Gerard appeared behind me and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Peanut butter," I replied, trying to get my breathing back to normal. "You shouldn't scare a person like that. I think I just aged ten years."

He laughed and placed the jar of peanut butter in my hand. "Sorry, I'll keep that in mind for next time."

He sat and watched in amazement as I made the PB&J. I was almost done when I realized this and asked, "Do you want one?"

"What is it?"

I stared at him as thought he had grown a second head. "A PB&J?"

"What's that?"

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich? You've never had one?" I was completely bewildered by now. I'd never met anyone who hadn't had a PB&J before.

He only shook his head, so I handed him the one I'd just made and started to make another one.
"They were only pretty much my childhood," I said, sitting at the breakfast table across from him. "Every American child holds them dearly in their heart."

He took another bite and nodded. "I can see why."

I only nodded in agreement before taking a bite of mine.

"Cause you know, Americans are known throughout the world for having poor taste in food."

I stared at him in astonishment. "Did you just hate on PB&J's?"

"I guess I did. This is disgusting."

"Then why do you keep eating it?"

"I'm starving."

"Right."

We left Gerard's a little after seven and pulled into David's driveway not even fifteen minutes later. While I had been to tons of parties hosted by millionaires, this was far and beyond anything I'd seen. I followed Leigh and Tony inside while Gerard held the door for us and followed me inside. I had to stop and admire the architecture momentarily before I continued through the house.

Naturally I lost Leigh almost right away, she must've gone off to be introduced to everyone with Tony, leaving me with Gerard. How does that always happen? I asked myself, allowing him to lead me toward a group of people who were standing and talking. They all greeted Gerard, who then introduced me to Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes, Lionel Messi, along with Messi's girlfriend Antonella, Carles' girlfriend Malena, and Victor's girlfriend Yolanda, all of whom seemed to be really nice.

After ten minutes or so of talking with the guys, a dark haired guy with a soul patch came over and said something quickly in Spanish, which was met with yet more Spanish. Gerard turned to me and said, "We're going to go play some pool, if you don't mind?"

I was confused by why it would matter if I minded or not, but nodded anyway. When I turned around again to face the girls, they were all grinning at me. It was honestly kind of creepy. "What?"

"You two are so cute!" Yolanda smiled, and the rest of the girls quickly agreed.

"Wait, wait, wait. You think Gerard and I...no! No, no, no. No. We're not. We just have a mutual friend whom Gerard owed a favor, so he's letting my sister and me stay with him for a couple months."

They all nodded and gave me that look that clearly told me they were thinking 'bullshit,' but were nice enough not to voice their opinions. After that we just talked for what seemed like forever about nothing in particular. Eventually they decided they were going shopping the next day and insisted I go along with them. I agreed, but mostly only because I didn't want to rely on Gerard and Tony to come up with something to do and to entertain us.

By the time all this was decided, everyone else had really started dancing, something I was awful at. Not being able to find Leigh or Tony, I started to make my way to the back patio. On my way, a glass of wine was pushed into my hand, and before I could refuse it, the person had disappeared. I sighed and continued to push my way through the people to the relative quiet and solitude of the patio. There were a few people, but they were all too absorbed in their conversations to notice me. I found a chair that looked semi-comfortable and set the glass on the table next to me. I sat there for who knows how long before I heard the patio door slide open and out of my peripheral vision I saw a tall figure move and sit next to me.

"Why aren't you dancing? Not your song?" Gerard asked quietly.

"I don't dance," I replied shortly, wishing the quiet to return and Gerard to go away.

He glanced at the full wine glass.

"Or drink," I answered his unasked question.

He didn't say anything for a few minutes. "Well you definitely continue to surprise me, that's for sure."

I shrugged. "If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that."

The next morning I woke up to my phone playing Time to Fly by D.U.N.K. Without thinking about it I grabbed the phone and read the new message before jumping out of bed. Antonella had text me We're leaving my house now, we'll be at Gerard's in twenty!

I got ready ridiculously fast, throwing on some skinny jeans, lace up ankle boots, and a black cowl neck short sleeve shirt. As I passed Leigh's room, I thought for a second, then poked my head in to see her sleeping, but decided she would be more likely to kill me if I didn't offer her the chance to go shopping than if I didn't wake her up in case she wanted to sleep. Really, either way she'd be pissed at me.
"Hey Leigh, I'm going shopping with some of the girls, you wanna come?"

She rolled over and said, "No, I'm going out with Tony later, go away."

"Okay, cheerful. Text me later." I closed her door again and started toward the front door, but I was stopped by Gerard on my way there.

"Where you going?" He asked, biting into a bagel.

"I'm going shopping, mom. Don't worry, I'll text you every five minutes and tell you where I am, and when I inhale and exhale," I sidestepped him.

"Hey, a friend gave me a jacket a few weeks ago I've been meaning to return. It's from a store the girls always go to, do you think you could return it for me? It doesn't fit and I have one just like it anyway," he said, already starting for the stairs.

"Okay, okay, I don't want your life story. Go get it." I was being a bitch and I knew it, but it was the best way I knew to not let my guard down and get to liking the guy. it was bad enough I liked Tony alright.
He reappeared not even a minute later with a bag, which I took and slid out the door, but not before he said something else, though I couldn't understand it. I decided not to think about it and got in Malena's cute little BMW. Almost immediately after I shut the door, Antonella and Yolanda were asking me about the bag. I explained what Gerard had said, and they exchanged knowing looks. Unfortunately for me, they weren't the sort of knowing looks I thought they were implying.