French kiss (27 page)

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about American girls, I suggest you ask
them.'"
Fiercely, Holly gestured with her martini glass to the two women from
The New York Times
who were standing several feet away, shaking their heads in disdain over another painting.

"Who are
they?"
Xavier scoffed, glancing in the journalists' direction, but Holly thought she saw his face turn pale.

"Your future," Holly replied, her cheeks flushing as the words miraculously came to her. It was true, she realized maybe Xavier was on his way out. "They're big-time art critics from New York, Xavier, and guess what?" she continued breathlessly. "They think your show
sucks."

Xavier and Monique exchanged a glance, but this time, Holly saw, there was clearly a sense of wariness passing between the power couple.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Monique snapped in accented English, looking icily back at Holly.

"Hmm, 'simplistic'?" Holly quoted, tilting her head to one side. "'Juvenile'? 'So last season'?" She shrugged at a startled-looking Xavier. "Fine don't believe me. Just wait for the review tomorrow morning." Holly
didn't
quite know what she was talking about, but she felt that discussing art was kind of like crashing a party you just had to bluff your way through it.

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Trembling only a little, she tucked Alexa's bag under her arm and turned to go. But Xavier's hand on the small of her back --
inappropriate much? --
stopped her.

"Just because your little friend found out the truth --" Xavier began viciously, but he never got the sentence out because -- before she could think too clearly -- Holly had flung the rest of her pomegranate martini straight into his face.

She
had
been wanting to get rid of the drink somehow.

Holly watched, half-stunned, as the rosy liquid dropped down Xavier's chin and onto his matching red tie. Xavier blinked madly, obviously too astonished to get angry. Holly heard Monique shriek and several other bystanders murmur in confusion as someone shut off the music. Clearly, now was the time to flee.

"She can do so much better than you," Holly murmured, not caring if Xavier heard her or not. She backed up, bumping into various people, and then turned and made straight for the exit. By the time she got outside, Holly was grinning, her heart swelling with pride at the memory of Xavier's befuddled expression. She
had
to tell Alexa.

Who wasn't there anymore.

Holly glanced frantically up and down the long arcade, feeling a stirring of panic; the place des Vosges

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was deserted at this hour. "Alexa!" Holly cried, her voice echoing against the stone arches. But there was no trace of her friend -- not even the sound of weeping. Holly bit her lip; had tempestuous Alexa dashed off to do something rash, like set fire to Xavier's studio or jump into the Seine? Drawing a deep breath, Holly started off down the empty street. Paris was
huge,
and Alexa could have gone anywhere. Holly could only hope that she'd be able to find her.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEn

Best Bets

"Don't you dare say
I
told you so,
" Alexa sobbed as soon as Holly found her. She was sitting on the edge of a fountain several streets down from the gallery, her shoes kicked off and her head down. Her shoulders shook from weeping, and she barely glanced up.

"I wasn't going to," Holly protested softly, immensely relieved at the sight of her friend. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She, too, slipped off her flats -- it seemed appropriate somehow set down Alexa's clutch, and joined her friend on the cool marble rim. Behind them, carved nymphs emptied their jugs onto a sleeping Cupid. The tinkling sound of the water was calming.

"Do I
look
okay?" Alexa asked rhetorically, staring at her feet. She wasn't bothering to wipe her tears

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as they fell; her face felt like she'd dunked it fountain. Alexa remembered the last time she's on the streets of Paris: the infamous night of the Diego breakup and luggage-snatching. Tonight felt eerily similar, but much, much worse. Back then, Alexa had feared that her true love wasn't being faithful; now, she
knew.
Back then, she'd had her possessions torn from her; now, her dignity.

"Well, considering the circumstances, you could look worse," Holly began, but hesitated as Alexa continued to sob. Clearly, her attempt at humor wasn't going to work. And what she'd said wasn't even true; Alexa, for possibly the first time
ever,
looked crappy her face was puffy, squiggly lines of mascara decorated her cheeks, and her careful chignon was coming undone.

Frowning with concern, Holly slid closer to Alexa on the bench and put a comforting arm across her friend's shoulder. But the gesture only seemed to make Alexa cry harder.

"He -- he said he loved me," Alexa hiccuped, her words coming out in small gasps, her face crumpling with hurt. "He -- called me his muse -- I thought I could tell -- I
know
about guys --" She swallowed hard, her body shuddering with sobs as Holly watched her worriedly. "I was -- so sure --" she choked out, before burying her face in her hands.

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The girls sat together, Holly's arm around Alexa, the nighttime silence punctured by Alexa's quiet weeping. The fountain whispered behind them while the lights of the place des Vosges glimmered up ahead. The air blew chilly and brisk off the river, but both girls were too preoccupied to notice the cold.

"I'm so sorry," Holly finally spoke, her voice soft. Alexa still had her face in her hands, but at least she seemed to have stopped sobbing. Something she had said earlier resonated with Holly.
I
know about guys.
And that was the whole problem, Holly suddenly understood. Alexa
thought
she knew about guys --
everything
about guys -- but tonight, she'd been proven wrong.

Holly mentally reviewed Alexa's extensive history with boys starting with Eliot Johnson in junior high and ending with Diego Mendieta -- and realized that Alexa had never officially had her heart broken. Yes, things had clearly been painful with Diego, but Holly knew that Alexa had been the one to initiate the break-up -- she was always the dumper, never the dump
ee
.

Until now.

"I just wish ..." Alexa lifted her tear-streaked face, running one arm under her nose. "I wish I hadn't fallen in love with him," she whispered miserably, her voice raw from crying. Why did she always have to fall in love so easily, so deeply, Alexa wondered with a

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sigh. Her head felt heavy, so she rested it on Holly's shoulder, closing her eyes.

Holly briefly leaned her own head against Alexa's and let out a sympathetic sigh. She thought back to some of her own boy agonies -- Diego last year, Tyler last week and realized that she, unlike Alexa,
had
had experience with heartbreak. Enough experience, at least, to help steer an adrift Alexa back to sanity.

"No matter how bad it hurts right now," Holly began thoughtfully. "After a while -- I don't know how long, I think it's different for everyone you'll get past it. I promise." She reached down and took Alexa's hand in hers. "Actually, I think you're gonna be
relieved
that jerk is out of your life."

Alexa sniffled. "I guess he
is
kind of a jerk," she conceded, even though it pained her to admit it. In a twisted, masochistic way, she still felt like she loved Xavier. "But when you went back inside the gallery," Alexa added, feeling a pang of false hope, "did he seem to care that I'd left?" Alexa got that Xavier had a fiancée, but maybe, just
maybe,
his feelings for Alexa transcended that fact.

"No," Holly replied, and oddly enough, Alexa thought she heard a smile in her friend's voice. "He got a little distracted by the martini running down his face."

Alexa lifted her head off Holly's shoulder. "What

276

do you mean?" she asked Holly, who was biting her lip and raising her eyebrows, managing to look sheepish and proud at the same time. Alexa felt a burst of surprise that lightened her sorrow. Alexa had always suspected that Holly could get seriously badass when provoked, but she felt floored by her friend tonight. "You -- you
didn't"
Alexa whispered, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

Holly nodded, now grinning fully. "What can I say? I'm an athlete. I've got good aim."

"Oh,
Holy!
" Alexa cried, and unexpected laughter rose in her throat. Apparently, Xavier hadn't known whom he was messing with. Picturing the flummoxed
artiste,
Alexa started to giggle, and soon Holly was cracking up as well. The two of them laughed together, clutching their bellies as they doubled over, almost falling off the fountain's rim. When Alexa saw a passing couple glance their way, she knew what she and Holly must have looked like -- two trashed girls having a silly night out.

If only.

As their laughter died down, Alexa swiped at her wet cheeks, feeling about fifty percent better. "You know, you never cease to amaze me," she said nudging Holly in the side. Holly modestly rolled her eyes, her freckled cheeks turning predictably pink. "I mean

277

it," Alexa insisted, thinking about how often she underestimated Holly. "You're a lot stronger than I am sometimes." Alexa felt herself tear up again. She'd always considered herself thick-skinned, but now she realized she was more vulnerable to getting hurt than she'd ever thought.

Holly laughed, quietly this time. "Oh, come on, Alexa," she said. "I think we've both accepted the fact that I'm a humongous wuss." But, even as she spoke, Holly was remembering how pumped she'd felt during the showdown in the gallery. She remembered swallowing the scary French food at the St. Laments' dinner. She remembered walking across Waterloo Station to board that train. For a self-proclaimed wuss, Holly had done some gutsy stuff of late. But Holly knew that she wouldn't
couldn't --
have done any of it without Alexa backing her up. It was Alexa who made her fearless.

"Well, you're smarter than I am, in any case," Alexa sighed, leaning back on her hands and stretching her long legs out in front of her. "Smarter about reading people." Turning to Holly, she gave her friend a long, serious look. "Hoi, I feel so bad about last night -- how I freaked when you tried to warn me about Xavier." Alexa shook her head at how insanely defensive she'd gotten and how insanely on-target Holly had been.

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Alexa rarely -- if ever -- liked to apologize, but at this moment, it felt
more
than necessary. "I should have listened," Alexa finished simply, giving Holly a shrug.

I told you so,
Holly thought with a small smile, but of course, she didn't utter those words. "You were too in love to listen," she replied understandingly. "But you
were
kind of a pain about it," she couldn't help but add, as Alexa nodded soberly. Holly realized that being so up-front with Alexa felt natural healthy. Not every confrontation had to turn into a fight. Holly knew then that the girls' friendship was strong enough to bear the brunt of honesty. "Like, when you brought up the whole Tyler thing," Holly continued, feeling her face grow warm.

"I shouldn't have said that," Alexa told Holly regretfully. But remembering Holly's cryptic remark from last night she couldn't help but add, "Though
will
you finally tell me what's going on between you guys?"

Holly drew a deep breath, prepping herself for the big confession. Alexa had her on the spot, but this time -- after everything they'd been through tonight -- Holly finally felt ready to tell her friend the whole truth. So, she did just that, recounting everything from the car-tastrophe to the phone avoidance to her see-sawing between Tyler and Pierre. "And I'm sorry I kept all this from you," Holly concluded with a

279

sigh. "It's not that I didn't trust you, Alexa, it's just that you were
--part
of the problem, so ..." She trailed off, shrugging.

"Let me get this straight," Alexa began. She wriggled closer to Holly on the fountain's edge, momentarily forgetting her own troubles in favor of her friend's juicy story. "You think Tyler's not attracted to you?" she prompted, and Holly nodded, her cheeks dark pink in the moonlight. "And you think he was
more
into me?" Alexa asked. When Holly nodded again, Alexa grinned and shook her head.

"What?" Holly asked warily, hugging herself as the river breeze washed over her. Was Alexa making fun of her?

"Holly Rebecca Jacobson," Alexa pronounced dramatically, crossing her legs at the ankle. "Let's consider Tyler Davis, shall we?" Alexa paused for effect, while Holly watched her wide-eyed. "He's, like, the
definition
of old-fashioned polite," Alexa continued, remembering Tyler's opening-doors-and-pulling-out-chairs personality with a mix of fondness and irritation. "Especially when it comes to sex," she added wisely. "He never wants to be that kind of guy that pressures girls, so he holds back, you know?" Holly nodded emphatically, looking aggravated, and Alexa smiled. "But he's really into making sure the girl is completely