a/n:
Just an FYI: French Kisses can be read independently, any characters from BBG are reintroduced in this book.

f r e n c h
k i s s e s

"Arden?' the man asked, sunglasses covering his eyes, disguising the recognizable aspect of him.

My heart was beating at a rapid pace, anxiety creeping its way up until he took off the sunglasses and gave a smirk.

"Liam," I said.

He nodded and brushed a hand through his blond hair. He wore a cream shirt and chinos, his outfit very similar to Laurent's. The years had proven to do him well, his baby face was not as prevalent and he had grown facial hair that framed his jawline. Liam and I were most definitely more than strangers to one another, we had attended the same high school in California. In addition, he was Ellie's best friend, her next-door neighbor. After graduation, he had supposedly moved to Boston for college in order to study law.

"What—," we both began to say, however, I continued as he stopped, "are you doing here?"

He looked around for a moment, noticing Laurent and I. His face distorted a bit at the sight of us together, showing a sense of confusion.

"I'm attending my cousin's engagement party," he replied chastely.

"Hermes?" I questioned.

"No, Simone."

I loosened my grip on Laurent. A second later Laurent's mom walked over and hugged Liam, everything becoming crystal clear; Laurent's mother's last name was in fact, Blanchett.

Laurent excused himself and Liam made his way over to me, obviously confused on as to why I was at Simone and Hermes' engagement party.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you dating Archer's best friend last time we saw each other?" Liam questioned, his hands in his pockets.

I gave him a polite smile. "Yeah, I was. In fact, I still am."

"All right, everything makes clear sense now," he said with a clear amount of sarcasm, the change in tone taking me by surprise.

Liam was on edge according to his tone, noticing that I was with his cousin and yet taken.

He had his eyes focused on me rather intensely.

"What happened to the good boy-next-door facade?" I asked, a picture perfect smile present on my face, well aware that his attitude had changed.

"Boston wore it down, heartbreak too I suppose. What happened to loyalty?" he countered.

Before I had the chance to answer Laurent reappeared, placing a protective hand on my back.

"Liam, stop being an asshole," Laurent stated firmly, no sort of smile on his face.

Liam shook his head and walked towards Hermes and Simone, giving them congratulations.

"So you know Liam?" Laurent asked.

"Yeah, he was a friend of my best friend," I stated.

"Your best friend wouldn't happen to be Ellie, would she?"

"That's her," I said with a small smile.

"She absolutely crushed him," he replied.

"She didn't have the intention," I defended.

Laurent excused himself once again in order to greet another guest, leaving me to myself. Liam approached me once Laurent was out of sight.

"How is she?" he asked, his tone calm this time.

I glanced over at him; he shoved his hands into his chinos' pockets.

"Ellie?" I asked, making the easy assumption.

"Yeah, El."

I looked away from him and stood silent for a minute, unsure if it would be wise to speak of her, even if they had been best friends.

"She's fine," I replied, adding more after noticing he wasn't replying, "she's living in a student housing unit with two others in New York and changed her major to advertising. Last time I saw her she had cut her hair significantly, it goes a little under her shoulders. She works as a hostess at a steak restaurant part-time and volunteers at guest services for an art museum. She's happy and that's all that truly matters."

I looked over at him and he gave a small smile. I decided to take out my phone and pull up a candid photo I had taken of her last month. I showed the photo to Liam and he smiled even more.

"Wow, she did cut her hair," he said, adding, "she looks happy."

He smiled down at the screen, showing genuine happiness for Ellie. After realizing that I had taken notice of his expression, he removed the joyous expression off of his face.

"Is she still da—" he began, myself knowing very well what he was about to ask.

"No," I responded quickly, Laurent walking back over.

Liam exhaled a heavy breath, "how unfortunate."

Laurent gave curious stares at us; a little confused that Liam and I were being docile and friendly now.

"I don't mean to pry, but, why are you in Paris?" Liam asked.

"Studying abroad for a semester," I answered, Laurent passing me a champagne glass.

I stared at the liquid and gave him a polite 'thank you' smile, well aware that I wouldn't indulge in the beverage. The idea of consuming the liquid so easily made me sick to the stomach.

"Yes, of course, you did mention that back in the day," he replied as if high school was a thing of the far past.

Laurent gave his other glass he had been handling to Liam, walking away once again, but this time headed to where he had gotten the champagne.

"Are you liking France?" Liam asked me, his eyes wandering towards Laurent, indicating the truth behind his question.

I gently clenched the champagne glass in my right hand, putting on the daintiest of smiles.

"The country, why of course," I replied.

He raised his eyebrows, knowing that I had dodged the underlying question.

"And the people?" he specified, still looking at Laurent in particular.

"Yes, they seem to make lovely friends."

He shook his head, raising his glass at the sight of an approaching Laurent.

I diverted my eyes away from Laurent, knowing very well that any excess in stares would cause Liam to suspect even more.

"A toast, to Arden in Paris," Liam stated.

Laurent raised his glass with an oblivious smile; I too did the same, keeping my eyes on Liam.

"May she fall in love with the city and its people," Liam finished with.

Following the clinking of our glasses both Laurent and Liam took a sip of their champagne, leaving me to stand still grasping the glass.

Laurent took notice of my absence of drinking.

"You aren't pregnant now are you?" he asked jokingly.

"Not pregnant at all, just not much of a drinker," I responded.

He nodded understandingly, taking the glass from my hands and pouring its contents into his glass, downing the liquid quite quickly.

The light music was turned down and everyone made their way around the engaged couple, Simone radiating and Hermes wearing a large dimpled smile. The couple was truly beautiful.

Laurent placed a hand against my back and led me closer to the engaged pair.

"Thank you all so very much for coming to celebrate Simone and I's engagement, we're extremely excited for the summer nuptials and are glad that all our close friends and family are here to celebrate with us," Hermes began, his arm around Simone.

Hermes stared at Simone with compassion before continuing his spiel, "I know this is a bit corny of me, but I would like to thank Cèline and Enzo for creating the love of my life. I wake up every morning in awe because of her beauty, wondering on as to why she chose me to spend the rest of her life with. I am so blessed to have met her in a crowded pub five years ago."

Simone gave him a chaste kiss on the lips, creating a gentle uproar from their audience.

"Hermes, I love you," Simone said aloud, continuing after a beat, "And I too am blessed to have met you, Hermes. I'm going to be completely honest now and say that I thought that your proposal was going to be at a football match, but I'm glad that you decided that would be too casual and decided to surprise me with a proposal at a football viewing party at our home."

There was a pause for laughter.

"Now in all seriousness, I'm so incredibly excited to marry my best friend and spend the rest of my life with a man that makes me laugh until my stomach aches."

Following the end of her part, everyone began to serve him or herself to food. There were six tables set out across the lawn, Laurent leading Liam and I to a table with three open seats near the patio area. Laurent pulled out my seat, myself taking a seat. He proceeded in sitting next to me on the right, Liam to the right of him. Beside me sat a woman that looked to be around my age.

Liam whispered something into Laurent's ear, causing for Laurent to get up and excuse himself, Liam also going.

I turned to the woman to my left; she had an assortment of jewelry on and the most vibrant ginger hair. She gave me a warm smile.

"You must be Laurent's lucky girlfriend," she said, introducing herself without any trace of an accent, "I'm Simone's good friend, Isla."

"Hi, I'm Arden, Laurent's friend and date for the night," I replied, Isla showing a bit of embarrassment for her assumption.

An assumption that was apparently common.

"My apologies for making the assumption, it's just I've never seen Laurent accompanied by a female that isn't a relative," she stated.

"We actually just recently met, I'm in Paris for school."

"Oh really? Myself too. Well, in a way. I graduated two years ago back in the states, but studied abroad here and fell in love with the city so I ended up moving here shortly after."

"Really? Where are you from?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Seattle, Washington," she responded, "and you?"

"Los Angeles, California," I replied, she nodded.

Laurent returned to the table silently, taking a seat next to me with a newly acquired glass of champagne, but looking the other way. Liam subsequently took a seat and struck up a conversation with the person to his right.

I stared at Laurent, Isla too looking to read his expression. He stared down at his glass, his overall mood different from how it had been previously.

I reached out to Laurent and touched his shoulder; he flinched at my touch.

Isla then took the liberty to break the awkward moment, "Arden, how about we get some food?"

The two of us stood up and made our way to the food area, my eyes lingering on Laurent. Liam talked to him and was laughing, Laurent simply taking sips of his champagne and listening.

I grabbed a plate and piled up a few simple entrees, my appetite dissipating by the second.

"Men," Isla dragged out, giving me a kind smile.

I nodded and put up a smile, following her back to the table with a plate and utensils.

I sat back down next to Laurent, his eyes peeking over at me subtly. I turned towards Isla and began with some small talk, not wanting to make a big deal with Laurent at a joyous event. After ten minutes of small talk the light music that had been playing was turned up, the sunset prevalent and displaying pinks and oranges in the sky.

"Let's dance, Arden," Isla announced over the music.

I nodded and we made our way to free grass space, dancing with an assortment of strangers and a newfound friend. Somewhere in the midst of dancing, Isla and I exchanged contact information. I only hoped that Isla and I could become friends.

After about twenty minutes of constant dancing, I felt a gentle tap on the shoulder, I turned to see Laurent.

"Can I steal you for a moment?" he asked, his voice low and his eyes staring directly into mine.

I looked over at Isla and she gestured for me to go, I then proceeded in telling Laurent a desirable response. He led the two of us out of the enclosed part of the garden and into the back alley, the music a bit more distant.

"I need you to be completely honest with me," he began, his voice still low and just above a whisper.

I nodded, noticing the slight redness in his eyes. He tried to maintain perfect eye contact with me; however, his eyes seemed to fail him. The glasses of champagne caught up to him.

"Do you see me as a man or just a friend?" he asked, maintaining the distance created between us.

"Just a friend," I responded, indulging in the first lie of many in Paris.

He placed his hands in his pockets for a moment, saying nothing more as he processed the unfavorable response.

"I'll call for a cab for you, you're probably suffering jet lag," he said, verbally dismissing my answer.

He proceeded in walking back through the gate and garden, leaving me to be out in the back lantern lit alley. I wrapped my hands around me, feeling the chilliness of night. I checked my watch ever so often and a few people walked out of the celebration. Following multiple people's departure, Laurent returned with a black coat, draping it over my shoulders. After placing it on me he made his way back to the gate, breaths the only thing heard before he stopped and turned to face me slightly.

"I'll see you around, friend," he said, adding a small smile.

"See you around, friend," I repeated, him slipping back into the garden area.

I continued to wait for my taxi, yet another person joining me a moment later.

"You really shouldn't lead him on, it would be best if you never see him again, that would save a lot of heartache," the person said, standing beside me.

I glanced over to see Liam once again.

"We're friends, Liam, some people can be just friends," I said for what seemed like the tenth time today.

"Oh really? But, what happens when he falls for you and you're still attached to a boyfriend thousands of miles away who is alone without his girlfriend for six months?" he asked.

"What are you insinuating?" I asked bluntly, knowing that Liam was anything but friendly at the moment.

"That you're going to end up in Laurent's arms when you're feeling lonely and yet still be with Zac who could be having an affair back in the United States," he replied without even a break in words.

"Zac wouldn't."

Liam chuckled before responding, "It's rather funny that you stand up for him rather than stand up for yourself, you didn't say that you wouldn't. I think you know that it's a possibility and that you're capable of stringing Laurent along."

Before I could reply my taxi pulled up, Liam opening its door for me. I got into the taxi silently.

"See you around, friend," he said.