by Fleur Le Marc
81209.22
...continued from part one...
81209.22
...continued from part one...
-=Flashback continued=-
"Maybe not but I am not going to miss getting my kiss at Midnight! Let's GO!" She tugged Fleur to the door.
They found Anne pacing outside.
"What took you so long? Let's go! We're going to miss the fireworks if we don't hurry."
They crossed town, Anne and Catherine chattering excitedly as they reached the outskirts of the enormous crowd gathered to greet the new year. Catherine heard her name being called above the din by a familiar voice, and she spotted Luc and a large gathering of their friends up ahead. She ran on ahead, quickly deserting Fleur and Anne.
"Where did she go?" Fleur growled angrily. "If we go home without her, there will be hell to pay."
"I don't know, and I don't care, Fleur!" Anne declared, accepting a half-empty wine bottle from one of Luc's buddies. She took a large swig from it and began to giggle, and Fleur realized in that moment just how completely out of place she was here.
She turned to make her way back home, or at least close to it, figuring that she could hide out in the kitchen of the cafe below the family's apartment until Anne and Catherine finally made her way home if she had to. Even if she had to wait to watch the sunrise on a park bench, she knew one thing for sure. She certainly wasn't going to spend the rest of the night here.
It was only minutes to midnight by this point, and people were pairing off to await the announcement that the year was officially beginning anew.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself? Party is that way."
Fleur spun around, looked up and saw Michel standing behind her. He had perfectly sculpted, white-blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and cheekbones that defied belief unless you knew that that his parents had been born in Scandinavia.
"I'm going home." Fleur held her hands out to her sides in a hopeless gesture.
"Why?" Michel asked, eyes flashing mischief. "Don't you want a kiss to ring in the New Year?" His breath was warm in the cold night air, and his unsteadiness on his feet led her to believe that he'd been drinking along with the rest for awhile.
Fleur blushed brightly. "Well, I,"
"I know I do!" Michel winked at her, and Fleur's knees felt weak. He continued to stare into her eyes and as the crowd began to count down from ten to ring in the holiday, he leaned closer to her. Fleur's heart skipped backwards, and she felt lightheaded as she closed her eyes and tilted her face closer to his.
She opened them again an instant later as she heard the sound of laughter; laughter that she knew very well.
Michel had managed to grab hold of Catherine and as the clocks all struck midnight, he kissed her thoroughly, right in front of Fleur.
Fleur's face burned and reddened with embarrassment. A moment later, Anne had waltzed up to them, and Michel then kissed her just as enthusiastically as he had Catherine. "I've done it, I've managed to kiss both of the beautiful Le Marc sisters tonight. Now, the new year can begin!"
All around them people began singing, mostly sounding just as drunk as they really were as they struggled to stay on key.
"Au bon vieux temps mes chers amis,
Au jours du bon vieux temps,
Buvons un verre maintenant,
Aux jours du bon vieux temps."
"You missed the one who doesn't have a date tonight." Luc growled, snatching Catherine's arm away from Michel with annoyance as Michel went in for a second kiss...Catherine seeming only too happy to indulge him. "Go on, give Fleur a kiss, Michel."
"Yes," Anne urged, knowing how much it would mean to Fleur if he did. "Do it!"
"Are you serious? Fleur?" He laughed incredulously. "She is not the prettiest girl in the world, is she?" he declared, loudly enough for Fleur to hear even as Anne tried to get him to lower his voice. "With so many beautiful girls in Paris to kiss tonight, one can't afford to waste their time!"
Several others among the pack of boys around him laughed. "Am I right, gentlemen?"
Catherine's smile faded momentarily, as she realized that Fleur had not gotten a New Years kiss, and had begun her sixteenth birthday in just about the worst way imaginable; finding out the boy that she liked better than any other thought that she was a complete waste of his time.
Her guilt at making Fleur come along tonight was short lived, however, because she was too distracted by Luc's attempts to kiss her as well. She didn't intend to miss out on the rest of the party; Fleur would just have to get over what had happened, and make it home on her own.
Tears streamed down Fleur's face as she processed what had just happened and turned around, headed toward home, all alone.
"Happy Birthday, Fleur!" Michel called after her. "I'll be sure that your sisters are home before sunrise!"
-=End Flashback=-
As Fleur's mind continued to replay the memories of that New Year's Eve over again randomly and out of proper sequence, she sighed softly and spoke aloud, clearly enough for Jariel to hear.
"Non...Catherine, I do not want to go...to the party..."
Jariel's head tilted curiously as he listened to her, lost in a world all her own as the fever overruled her ability to censor her speech.
"You go without me."
"But why don't you want to go to the party, Fleur?" Camen couldn't stop himself from asking.
"Because," Fleur murmured, shifting beneath her blanket, imagining someone else was asking the question. "If I go, no one will... ask me to dance." She shuddered a small sigh and rolled over onto her side, away from him. "They never...ask."
Jariel stared at her with his lips parted in surprise as she began to sing softly once again.
"Aux jours du bon vieux temps."
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Fleur Le Marc
Currently on Bajor
Fleur Le Marc
Currently on Bajor