I Really So Hate You Right Now

Michelle was grateful for two things. The first being her brother's eccentrics that extended to her present apartment accommodation. Yes, apartment, because her brother was relatively rich and when he saw the university accommodations, he refused to let his little sister live in such a place lacking in beauty. So he got her an apartment close enough so that the university was in walking distance, as well as the city centre.

The second thing Michelle was grateful for was that her flatmate Lili (a sweet little thing from some country she can't remember) didn't find her interest in older men weird. In fact, Lili agreed that Julius had a way about him that even made her blush. For the next few days, the two of them discussed plans on how to repay him for his kindness without coming on too strong. They went through a plethora of ideas before Lili suggested that the best way was to reciprocate with another dinner date. Michelle agreed and a few squeals and deep breaths later, she finally gave Julius a call. He didn't answer so she left a message thanking him for getting her home safely; taking her to the tire shop and fixing her tire then offered a lunch meeting as a token of her appreciate.

Two weeks after, Michelle buried herself in horticulture homework, ice cream and action movies because Julius didn't call her back. Not even a text to say, 'I got your message but sorry, I'm not interested'. Lili, a computer science major and technology whiz, even rigged the cable so that they got cable and Internet for free from their neighbours. It made Michelle feel a little bit less rejected. She felt even better when Gil stopped by because he was in town. But that soon went to shit because the albino took to flirting with her roommate and Michelle just felt forever alone.

That was, of course, until Lili came into her room on a Friday, the only day she didn't have classes and gentle roused her awake in that Tinkerbelle voice of hers.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Chelle, but," Lili lowered her voice to a whisper, "A certain Italian is at the door for you."

Michelle just about jumped up, fighting with sheets as looked around. She looked an absolute mess, hair all everywhere, a bit of drool from her afternoon nap and the fact that she was in a wrinkled old t-shirt didn't help her look at all.

"Now?" Michelle asked her roommate, confused and frustrated at his sudden appearance.

Lili just nodded and pointed toward her closed door. "He's in the living room."

The woman groaned and threw herself back onto her pillows but that didn't stop Lili from adding, "He's waiting for you."

Well, that took the pressure off.

Now she didn't really have time to change and, quite frankly, didn't believe he deserved to see her get all dolled up just for him. Maybe if he saw this scary sight of her, it would scare him off for good. Michelle pulled back the sheets and climbed out of bed.

"You're going out let that?" Lili asked as she hurried after her.

"Yup," Michelle said dryly but did make a small effort to fix her hair. She didn't want to look a complete mess.

"Um," Lili pressed her fingers together, looking down at her shifting feet, "Maybe you should put a bra on first…"

Oh. Right.

After putting on a bra and underwear for that matter, Michelle marched into the living room in her crumpled t-shirt that was twice her size, complete with a huge picture of Tweety Bird's face on it. And in all of her short stature glory, she tried her best to look both pissed and disinterested in him as she folded her arms and stood opposite the sofa. Julius obviously noticed her negative energy or the fact that she wasn't wearing pants judging the grin on his face.

"Ciao, bella," Julius pushed himself off the sofa to stand and, again, Michelle felt a lot smaller than she really was but wouldn't back down. "I guess I have to apologize, si."

She looked away from him. "For what?"

He seemed to move and she glanced at him to see him pulling his phone out of his pocket. He kept his head as he looked over it. "I got your message a bit too late, I think now. Has the invitation to dinner expired?"

"That was two weeks ago," she pointed out, trying her best to look like a woman scorned.

Julius nodded and smiled, "I know see," he scratched the back of his head, "I went to Tanzania because they found this really great tribal artefact and can you believe they don't have service there?"

She really wished she could just wipe that adorable grin from his handsome face, with those crinkles in his eyes…and his laugh lines. The stubble wasn't half bad either; in fact, it made him look even more attractive.

Michelle totally hated this man.

"Hhm well," Michelle huffed and looked away. Be strong woman! "That was convenient for you, wasn't it?"

Julius, much to her surprise and annoyance, laughed. He out right laughed at her and stepped around their little coffee table to close the distance, but not too close. There were still a few feet between them. "Why are you so upset, bella?" He asked, no, cooed to her.

Michelle blushed and bit her lip, looking at him now. Was she really being that transparent? "Because, you can't just come to somebody's house and demand to have dinner with them two weeks after the invitation."

He raised a brow and tilted his head. "Can you?"

"No!" said Michelle incredulously.

"But I thought the dinner was a 'thank you' for what I did." It was but…"Do you not want to thank me anymore?" …That's not what she meant..."Are you taking back your thank you?"

She huffed and dropped her arms. He had a point but Michelle wasn't about to be the fool here. She squared her shoulders and walked up to him, extended her hand, "Thank you, Julius, for helping me with my car and taking me to dinner afterwards. You're a very kind man and you're kindness is much appreciated." She raised a challenging brow, waiting for him to take her hand.

Julius looked down at her hand and then to her. Michelle held her resolve for all of the ten seconds it took him to chuckle, take her hand in both of his; his thumb rubbing circles into her downturned palm didn't go unnoticed before he pressed it to him lips. Aw hell! Hell no, she was not about to fall for those golden eyes, gleaming at her while he held that kiss a little too long.

"Prego," Julius finally mumbled onto the back of her hand, while his hand still massaged away, "ma, non essere così freddo, tu sei troppo bella." What? "Dare questo vecchio una piccola misericordia…" Maybe she didn't know Italian but French was relatively similar enough for her to pick up bits and pieces.

She flipped the script, "Tu flirte avec moi en italien?"

Julius blinked and pulled away, then grinned, still holding her hand. "Est français mieux?"

"Non," Michelle stated clearly, "English is just fine."

"Is that a yes to dinner, then? Don't be so mean to such an old man. My heart can't take it."

She rolled her eyes playfully, "Very smooth. Fine, you can have your thank you dinner."

So they went to dinner, lunch technically, after she changed and Lili silently cheered them on. It was a nice place, very casual, where she could get a chicken burger and him pasta.

When he brought her home, Julius did what most European did and kissed her left cheek, then her right…then her left cheek again with a hand brushing ever so light over her arm. Freaking Italians, man. They parted ways with a few texts here and there and Julius never failed to send one ending in 'bella' or 'cioccobella'. That would make any girl feel all-warm inside.

Of course, those 'romantic' gestured got a bit confusing. Okay, a lot confusing for poor Michelle. That led to the extremely awkward and uncomfortable moment of their first kiss.

To her credit, Michelle would plead that it was all Julius and the alcohol's fault for sending mixed signals to her brain. The good thing about it was that, she didn't embarrass him at the little antique art showing she was invited to where they showcase that 'artefact' he went chasing after in Tanzania. She'd been on her best behaviour though she could honestly say half the time she didn't have a clue what was going on. It was fun to watch people fawn over what looked to her like an old chest. It was beautiful though…it because even more beautiful after her third glass of wine…and so did Julius.

He looked extremely professional, chatting up other dealers and potential buyers. Red was definitely his colour, she mused from afar as Julius had decided on a black suit with a red shirt and silvery-grey tie. He moved about the room, reminding her of a certain albino friend who had the ability to draw attention to himself by simply showing up. Unlike Gilbert though, Julius didn't have to go around announcing his greatness. It showed itself is his stride and intellect and reason. For the women, it appeared in his flirtatious grin or the way he would touch their shoulder but his hand would eventually slide to the middle of their backs. Michelle wasn't sure how she felt about that.

He flirted like Francis and, ugh, thinking about one's brother while inconspicuously ogling a guy you kind of like didn't really go together.

Naturally, she replaced those thoughts with more alcohol and Michelle found herself being quite the chatterbox with these people that she had nothing in common with. One man thought it was her artefact and, this time, she didn't hold back telling that just because she was black, didn't mean it was hers. For some reason they took it as a joke though she was completely serious. Suddenly, she became a focal point of the affair. A pint-sized, Seychellois woman with a healthy blush and cheery disposition about her was bound to get some attention, though she hadn't bargained for the crowd she drew.

This, of course, drew the attention of one Julius Vargas who proudly showed her off to anyone wanting to talk to her. He stayed in close proximity and his body heat matched with the wine in her system wasn't helping her decipher his actions. Had she been sober, Michelle would have politely opened the distance between them, played hard to get at least. Instead, when she felt herself swooning, Michelle grabbed his arm. Julius didn't move so she stayed attached to his side.

By the end of the night, the number of wine glasses was long since forgotten. Michelle learned two things that night. First, Julius was as warm as his tawny skin made him look. His grip was strong when he wrapped his arms around her to keep the poor dear from tumbling. Good God, he looked so absurdly colorful up close, hues of browns, reds, greens and gold. But that was only because of the streetlights they walked under leading to her apartment. It wasn't connected with alcohol, even if Michelle for a moment felt the urgent need to drink him in a one gulp and then…then…

Then Julius laughed as they walked along the hall of her apartment complex and he caught her again and one, two, three, four, "Humor me," he said as they danced some incoherent odd sort of salsa, one, two…

"Are you crazy?" Michelle whispered and pulled rapidly to get away but laughed with him as they spun for a few more moments before he let her go. Instinctively she stared down the corridor to check if there was someone who might have saw.

"Come one, cioccobella, no one saw us." He flashed his teeth in a smile and leaned a little too close for her to understand that he was doing the tradition European goodbye kiss, one on the left, than the right and then a lingering one on her left cheek.

The second thing Michelle learned was that alcohol made her bolder than she normally was without it and a hell of a lot more spontaneous. She was, initially, going to reciprocate that lingering affection but instead leaned forward, eyes closing. She leaned until she felt softness and warmth on her lips, and, when did her arms circle his neck? Oh well, Michele was fully prepared when her sweet little tongue flicking over his lips to kiss him more when she realized...he wasn't kissing her. As she pulled back, her eyes mirrored his look of confused alarm, if not more mortified at the turn of events.

That's when Michelle realized she'd made a huge fucking mistake.

Translation Online:

1-Thank you, but don't be so cold, you're too nice. Give this old man one small mercy.

2-Are you flirting with me in Italian?

3-Is French better?

Okay! I just want to apologize to everyone. I lied. I said this would only be like 6 chapters and it seems it might be 8. Pfff, but no more I say! No more than 8, hopefully, maybe. We shall see.

-CeCe ~.^