Christina in Paris

This is not another installment of my other two Christina stories, it is completely different. This story is told from Christina's point of view for a bit of a twist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was so excited. I was going to visit my good friend Kelly in Paris. While we were very good friends, I have to admit that I had many feelings for her. I had never dated any girls before and I don't know where these feelings for her came from, but I had them. And they were strong. Once my plane got into Paris I took a taxi to Kelly's quaint, little apartment building. I took the elevator up to her room and started feeling the butterflies more and more. Why was I so nervous? We're just friends, we're just friends...at least that's what I kept trying to tell myself. I got off of the elevator and went to her door, apartment 427. I knocked and waited nervously for her to answer it. She opened the door and greeted me with the greatest smile, it took all my nervousness away.

"Chris!" She yelled, then threw her arms around my neck and hugged me, then she kissed me on both cheeks, in perfect Parisian fashion. She smelled amazing, probably some Chanel fragrance or something. She was wearing a pink blazer that had a rose on the lapel, over a beige lacey tank top, and she was obviously not wearing a bra. She also had on dark boot cut jeans that hid high heels underneath them.

"Hey Kel! How are you?"

"I'm so good. I've missed you so much though. I can't believe that you're finally here."

I smiled and said, "me too."

"Oh, give me your bag, come on in."

I walked into her apartment and it was great. All creative and Bohemian like her. Kelly is an artist and so her pieces were spread all around the apartment. A very organized mess that highlighted her creativity.

"I'm going to put your luggage in the guest room, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks."

She smiled at me and walked down the hallway to the guest room. When she reemerged I watched the way she moved, the way she walked. Damn, she was beautiful. She was African-American, long hair, hot body – nice boobs, not huge, but not small either, definitely more than a mouthful. And I only wished that I could rub my hands all over her firm ass. She wasn't very tall, only a couple of inches taller than me, but her legs seemed to go on forever. She had perfect skin too, no blemishes anywhere. Caramel-complexion, which I would bet her skin tastes like. Amazing brown eyes that seemed to express 10,000 different emotions, what were they trying to convey to me? All of this was great, but I really loved her smile. It was the sweetest smile ever, it could be sexy and innocent all at the same time. Reassuring and caring, or warm and inviting. She soon interrupted my thoughts.

"So, how was your trip?" She asked, sitting down on the sofa beside me.

"It was good I guess. Caught up on a lot of sleep on the plane."

"Yeah, that's good."

"So what's first on the agenda for Paris?" I asked.

"Mmm, well what do you really want to see?"

Oh, if she only knew. "I don't know." I looked around her apartment at the paintings and said, "How about some art?"

"Art. Okay, let's go see some then." She smiled at me and I felt like I was literally melting. She got off of the sofa and extended her hand out to me to help me up off of it.

We rode the metro to The Louvre and went to buy tickets. It was amazing and I knew that I was going to the museum with the right person. Kelly knew so much about art, she was an expert. It was why she had moved to Paris. She wanted to be a painter and it just wasn't as fruitful in America.

"What should we go see first?" She asked.

"The Mona Lisa?"

She laughed and said, "How did I know you were going to say that?"

We walked to part of the museum where The Mona Lisa was and it was very crowded. I was kind of afraid that someone would recognize me, but I guess the hat was covering me up enough. Or maybe the French just didn't really care who I was.

"Wow." I said. "That's – that's it," I said pointing to the painting.

"You've never seen it before, right?"

"No."

"Do you like it? I mean, is it what you thought it would be?"

"Um, I'm not sure how to answer that exactly. I think it's amazing though."

"Really?" She asked me.

"Yeah, of course! It's The Mona Lisa! How could it not be amazing?"

"But when you say that, is it because of who painted this and how famous the artwork is?"

I laughed in confusion, "What?"

"Ok, when you look at it, does it really jump off the page at you? Does it amaze you in some unexplainable way? Or do you just like it because it's arguably the most famous painting in the world?" I looked at her, then back at the painting. "Just stare at it for a while, pretend you don't know who painted it and you have no preconceived notions about the painting."

I did as she told me and stood there, in what felt like a trance, for 5 minutes or so. Once I got her point I was once again amazed by her. "Wow Kelly, you are brilliant."

She laughed, blushed and looked down for a second. Then she said, "No, just an observation."

Hot and humble, I loved it.

We walked through the halls and came to a painting called 'The Pont du Gard.'

"This is my favorite painting here." Kelly said.

It was a painting of an aqueduct with a few far-away people that could barely be seen. I didn't understand the attraction, or how it was better than The Mona Lisa. "Why?" I asked.

"I don't know honestly. There's something so unexplainable about it. Something so much deeper than can be seen with the naked eye."

I stared at it for a bit longer, but still got nothing. "Kel, I'm sorry but it still just looks like an aqueduct in some water to me."

Kelly put her arm around my shoulders, which pleased me to no end, and began to explain why she loved the painting so much. "Christina, it is just an aqueduct, but you have to look more into it. It's kind of run down, almost ruin-like. What has it been through? What has it seen over the years?"

I watched her marvelous lips form each word and had to make myself focus on what she was saying.

She continued, "What are those people right there doing? The group in the back, walking away from the foreground of the picture? And there's romance, it's not easily seen, but it is there. Gosh, so much passion in this painting, I think that's what always makes me come back to it." She sighed, "I love passion. But the love, it's in those clouds. Where the sun is setting and there are all those pinks and oranges and blues, there's so much love there. That is where love lives."

And with that, it was over. I fell in love with her at that exact moment.

Kelly snapped out of the painting and laughed nervously, "Sorry. Got on my little soap box there."

"No, it's okay. I thought it was really interesting."

She smiled and took her arm off of my shoulders. Dammit.

We stayed in the museum for several more hours and left as it was beginning to get dark.

"Where should we go now?" Kelly asked.

"What do you recommend?"

"I want you to get a really good view of the city at night."

We walked to the Eiffel Tower and rode the elevator up to the highest observation deck.

"Wow." I said, looking out over the city.

"It's amazing." Kelly said. "It never gets old."

"I'm so jealous that you get to see this every night!"

"I don't actually see 'this' every night. But maybe I should start coming up here every night at sunset. It's so beautiful."

"It is," I said calmly, but wishing desperately that I could tell her how the city didn't compare to her.

"I just always wished I could kiss someone up here, you know?" Kelly said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if she had read my mind.

"It's such a romantic place and I've never brought anyone up here. Seems like such a wasted opportunity. As much as I dream about love, I can't seem to find it anywhere."

I wanted to yell out that love was right here. But instead I just kept looking at the city in silence.

"Well," Kelly stood up straight from the banister and was beginning to leave, "I guess that's it."

I knew it was now or never so I came up with a suggestion that I really didn't think would work. "Hey Kel, I know this is dumb but, if you really wanted to kiss someone up here, you could kiss me." I tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

Kelly laughed and said, "Well, I always expected the person to be a little more um, well, I expected it to be a man." We both laughed, but inside I felt the rejection. "But you know what, who knows when I'll have this chance again, so sure."

She said sure! This is really good, but what do I do now? We smiled at each other, then she leaned in for a short kiss on the lips. It was pure magic. Once it was over she giggled and looked back out over the city.

"Thanks Christina. I'm sure you really didn't want to do that," she laughed.

"It's fine. You know I would do anything to help you out."

She smiled at me, but I knew her innocence was acting as a shield against any hints I was trying to give her that I was interested in her. I looked to those expressive eyes for any sign that she got it, but all I saw was sweetness and longing. A longing for someone who wasn't me.

The sun sets rather late in Paris, so we went to a late dinner, it was around 9pm. We went to a little café around Kelly's apartment. It was pretty tiny and private, and could have been seen as quite romantic. We talked and caught up on so many things over dinner, but I couldn't get the thought of wanting to be with her out of my head. I wanted her in every possible way – mentally, physically, emotionally...I had fallen in love with my best friend and I was terrified of what would happen if I told her. After dinner we decided that we would go out to a club. We went to some hot little nightspot and met up with some of Kelly's friends. At first Kelly was dancing with one of her guy friends and I just sat on a sofa watching them. Jealous out of my mind, I wanted to be out there with her. A few songs later Kelly came over to the sofa and sat down beside me.

"Why are you sitting over here all by yourself!?" She asked me.

"I don't know, no one to dance with."

"Why are you acting all shy? You and I both know 'Xtina' is not shy," she said winking at me.

I laughed and racked my brain trying to figure out what that wink meant.

"I'm really going to embarrass you know," she said with a mischievous grin.

She stood up and began sexily walking around in front of me. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I enjoyed it. She slowly slipped off her blazer and softly threw it on top of my head. I quickly pulled it down to make sure I didn't miss anything. She continued dancing in front of me, then leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"You're getting a lapdance." She said. She backed away, then leaned back in and whispered again, "A really lame lapdance, but a lapdance nonetheless." I laughed loudly and she smiled at me.

Kelly continued dancing and suggestively pulling at the bottom of her shirt. She was making Zoolander-like, fake sexy faces, never one to take herself too seriously, but I still thought it was incredibly hot. She turned around, sat on my lap and started dancing. Her ass was grinding into me and it was too much to take. I put my hands on her hips and started grinding my pussy back against her. She had had a few beers and I don't think she realized what I was doing, so she just continued dancing on top of me. Eventually she stood up and pulled me off the sofa.

"Dance with me," she said.

I followed her, hand-in-hand to the dance floor. One of my songs had come on, a techno remix of "Dirrty." So Kelly began lip-synching and dancing the way I danced in the video. I laughed and put my arms around her neck, she put her hands on my waist and we began dancing together. Somehow one of my legs had gotten between hers, and one of her legs had gotten in between mine. We were dancing forehead to forehead and basically dry humping each other right there on the dance floor. I was so turned on, I was hoping that she wouldn't be able to feel the wetness through my pants. Her hands went up and down my back and even over the top of my ass. I wanted so badly for her to put her hand between my legs. I needed her touch. Before I knew it, the club was beginning to close down and Kelly's friends were leaving. She stopped dancing with me to say goodbye to them, I took that time to pull myself back together. I felt like I needed a cigarette after our dance. Kelly came back over to where I was and asked me if I was ready to go. I said yes and we began walking arm-in-arm back to her apartment.

Once we got back to her apartment Kelly went into the bathroom and changed. Damn her modesty. She came back out with a tank top and some very small shorts on. I had already taken off my pants and was just sleeping in my underwear and an undershirt. We laid in bed and talked forever, about anything and everything. She told me about how much she wanted love and didn't understand why she couldn't find it. I told her that if I was a guy I would date her in a heartbeat, but she just laughed and said thanks. It killed me to see her hurting like that. I wanted to hold her and tell her that it was okay, tell her that I would love her forever. But too afraid that I would freak her out, I just told her that the right guy was out there and he was looking for her too. All that generic stuff. I didn't mean any of it though, not that I wanted her to be unhappy, but I knew that what she was looking for was laying right beside her. Kelly said she loved to hear my voice and would often listen to my CD when she went to sleep. She asked me if I would sing her to sleep.

"No! Kelly, I'll feel dumb."

"Come on Chris, you'll only have to sing for a little bit, I'll go right to sleep!" She looked at me, "Please."

Of course I couldn't say no to that, so I said okay. She laid back down and I began singing "The Voice Within." I ran my fingers through her hair as I sang. And she told the truth, she went right to sleep. I watched her sleep for the longest time. I imagined that right then she was my girlfriend. And for that moment, I was truly content.

I woke up the next morning, well near-afternoon, and found myself in an empty bed. The curtains had been opened already, so I looked outside at the cloudy Paris day. I touched the side of the bed where Kelly had been lying and it was still fairly warm, so I figured she hadn't been gone that long. I got out of bed, put some sweatpants on and went to brush my teeth and my wash my face. I walked into the kitchen area and found Kelly cooking breakfast.

"'Morning," I said.

Kelly turned around and said "Chris! You weren't supposed to wake up yet. I was going to surprise you with breakfast when you got up."

"I can always go lay back down and pretend," I said walking away.

"No no, it's okay now," she said laughing. "Have a seat."

I sat down on the bar stool at the counter and watched Kelly cook. More importantly, I watched her ass as she moved. So many thoughts of what I wanted to do to her went through my head. Pushing her back onto a counter and going down on her while her hands pulled my hair and she screamed out my name...

"Do you want jelly on your crepes?"

Oh, she's talking to me, "What?" I asked, very confused after being snapped out of my fantasy.

"Do you want jelly on your crepes? I have orange marmalade, it's really good."

"Yeah, that'd be fine."

"Oh, orange marmalade for the 'Lady Marmalade,'" she laughed.

"You are such a nerd!" I laughed back,

"Yes, but that's why you love me."

"Yeah, I guess that is one of the reasons," I thought of the numerous reasons that really did make me love her.

We ate breakfast (technically lunch), showered (separately, much to my chagrin), got dressed and went back out into the city. It was the token tourist day. Kelly took me to all the sites that you have to see when you're in Paris. We went to the Arc de Triumph, Montmarte, and many of the little boutiques that I love. We got croissants and wine and laid out on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was so romantic and there is no one I'd rather share it with than Kel. I just wished I could know what she was thinking and how she felt about me. We got back to the apartment around 11 that night. We watched some French television and Kelly showed me some of the photographs she had taken of Paris and other places in Europe. The photos were beautiful and I told her that I thought she should consider photography too, but she said photography was just a hobby, painting was her love. She could never cheat on it. We got on the subject of my ex-boyfriend, he and I were just breaking up around the time I had met Kelly at a party. Although we became fast friends and it felt like I had known her my whole life, I still never really talked about the breakup because it hurt too much.

"So what happened Chris? She asked me.

"Gosh, so much. I don't really know where to begin."

"Just try," she said looking into my eyes.

"I don't know. It just started going downhill. It was so great at first, you know. Everything was perfect, he was caring, sensitive, all of that. But then he just started getting distant. I would try to tell him how I was feeling and even though he would sit there and stare at me, I knew he wasn't listening. I don't know why guys do that." I looked at Kelly and she was staring back at me blankly. "Kel?"

"What? Oh yeah," she said, imitating a guy. She laughed and then I laughed. "I'm joking, but yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

By this time I had started crying a little bit, but was trying not to let Kelly see it.

"Guys are just so-" Kelly stopped to sit up and try to look into my face. "Chris? What's wrong? I was just joking around, I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't you at all. I guess I just haven't really thought about it in a long time. How much that breakup had hurt me. I've never told anyone, but I think there was another woman," I said, still looking down with my face resting in my hands.

Kelly sat up and put her right arm around my shoulder. With her left hand she lifted my face up to face her. She smiled at me with that reassuring warmth and said, "It's ok Chris. You were too good for him anyway. There's a guy out there somewhere who's perfect for you, he just has to find you." She hugged me for a long time. "You're so beautiful Christina and you deserve so much more than to be treated like that. I just wish you could know how amazing you are. It's why I love you and why you're my best friend."

Kelly pulled back and wiped away some of my tears. Then she smiled at me and I managed a small laugh back. I looked down and when I looked back up we were staring directly into each others' eyes. Her hand was still on my face and after a few moments I put my hand on hers and stroked the side of it gently with my thumb. Both of our smiles had faded and we looked into each other like never before. I turned into the palm of her hand and kissed it gently. Her mouth dropped open in shock and she inhaled sharply. I looked back into her eyes and after a few seconds of shock she pulled her hand away and turned around to face straight ahead.

She chuckled nervously, "Um..."

She wouldn't look at me at all. Her hands were clasped together in her lap and I could tell that she was really freaked out. I scooted a little close to her and took one of her hands in mine.

"Kelly, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm not scared," she said very unconvincingly.

"I've just been having these feelings for you for a while. And I never thought I would tell you, I never even realized I liked girls before now, but that moment we just had, it was – it was incredible Kelly. And I know that you felt it too." Kelly looked away from me and at that moment I was more terrified than ever that I would lose our relationship. Our friendship. "Ok. Maybe you didn't feel it," I said, laughing awkwardly. "And that's okay. But that person that you're looking for, it's me Kel."