Trading Heartbeats

Chapter 3 - Vous et Moi

At 7:30 am, Amelia's alarmed buzzed inducing the sleeping creature to jump into consciousness. Groaning, she reached the alarm's off button and slid out of the bed. As she trudged on, still half-asleep to the bathroom, she nearly tripped over the bedroom carpet. As she entered the bathroom, she immediately closed the door without bothering to lock it. Why should she? At this time now, Sonelle and Khaila were off to their art classes, and Brittany was still lounged in her bed flicking through T.V. channels.

She quickly stripped down and showered allowing the cold water to rejuvenate her sleeping nerves. In a moments time, she had finished showering and was now in the process of getting dressed. Amelia quickly selected a pair of dark blue skinny jeans along with a white buttoned down blouse leaving the first button open at the top. Amelia glanced back at the clock which now read 8:45 am. Cody would be there at her door any minute now. She hastily slipped on a pair of ballet flats and tied her hair back into a high ponytail. With one last glance at her appearance, she gathered up her phone and purse and headed out to the living room.

Just as she'd rounded the corner to retrieve her keys, she jumped a bit, startled at the fact that the empty apartment was no longer empty. Lounging on the couch in her pink pyjamas, was Brittany who looked up at Amelia curiously. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," Brittany addressed Amelia's startle. Amelia sighed giving a bit of a chuckle as she picked up her keys. "Where are you going," Brittany spoke once more as she lay on the sofa with the remote in one hand and cell phone in the next.

"Out to breakfast," Amelia answered as she walked across the room to the window that overlooked the street directly beside the apartment building. Peering out, she looked for any sign of Cody. "All by yourself," Brittany asked. As Amelia turned around and sat herself down on the couch's arm, she shook her head.

"Not exactly," she began, "Cody's picking me up." That seemed to catch Brittany's attention. She propped herself up on her elbows immediately and looked at Amelia with a grin plastered on her face. Amelia laughed a bit before directing her eyes once more to the window in an attempt to hide any redness that would appear on her cheeks. Just then, there came a knock on the door. In a swift second, Brittany dashed from the room and opened the door. "Oh, you're looking for Amelia? Yes, she's right here," Brittany said as she looked back with a smile. Amelia rose from the couch taking deep breaths as she neared the door.

Standing there tall and handsome was Cody Runnels wearing a light blue polo shirt and dark jeans along with black sneakers. As Cody looked at her, a small smile played on his face. Amelia felt as if her feet had melted, or if not yet they soon would be. "Good morning," he bed Amelia taking her hand and giving it a slight peck. Amelia watched him perform this gesture breathlessly.

"Morning," she let out in more of an exhale. Cody gave a wink to Amelia and courteously nodded at Brittany as both he and Amelia left the building. "Where are we going," she asked as Cody lead her to his car opening the front passenger door for her.

"It's a small restaurant just up here," he said; as Amelia slid in, his gaze fell upon her beautifully long, deep red hair. He gently bit on his lip before releasing it and closed the car door, getting into the driver's seat. Amelia nervously played with her fingers along the car ride looking out at the many stores they flew past. Apparently, Cody seemed to notice her nervousness, for he took one of her hands in his own, running his thumb gently along the back of it. Amelia looked down at their intertwined fingers and suddenly, a wave of cool washed over her. Maybe this wouldn't be that bad.

At 11:00 am, about five hours since they'd left the apartment, Khaila and Sonelle marched their way out of Golden Light University and toward Sonelle's car. The two girls climbed in with Khaila behind the wheel and Sonelle in the backseat. Just as Khaila had rounded the corner on the way back to the apartment, Metalingus by Alter Bridge had begun to play. Sonelle quickly rummaged through her bag for her ringing cell phone while Khaila hummed along to the song. Finally managing to retrieve it, Sonelle let it ring a bit longer just to hear the ending of the chorus.

A few seconds after, she picked up. "Hello," she stated.

"Hello," a man's voice responded in return. Sonelle immediately recognized it and grinned. The man continued, "So how is Sonelle?"

Sonelle's grin didn't fade one bit, "Sonelle is good, and how is Kofi?" Kofi chuckled on the other end of the phone call.

"He's alright," he paused for a minute and then continued, "My flight leaves at 5:00 pm, and I'd really like for us to spend a bit more time together before that. Is that okay with you?" Sonelle's pupils widened as her heart raced.

"Sure," she said trying not to sound too anxious. "Where should we meet," she asked again as she looked at the time on her iTouch - 11:12am is what it read.

"How about we meet at that café we were at yesterday," he asked while gathering up his car keys and heading into his car. Sonelle, in the meanwhile, looked out the window to see exactly where Khaila had driven so far. Noticing that she hadn't yet made it uptown, Sonelle responded.

"Sure thing; I'll see you then," she said. Kofi smiled on the other end of the call as he proceeded to rev up his car engine and drive to Sonelle and his meeting place.

"You've got it," Kofi added before both had bed goodbye to one another and hung up. With the grin still plastered on her face, Sonelle looked down at her phone still trying to contemplate exactly what had occurred. Snapping back to reality, she threw her phone back into her bag and zipped it up. "Khaila, do you think you could drop me off at that café Amelia had shown us yesterday," Sonelle asked - her brain still filled with thoughts of Kofi and their phone call. Khaila agreed and in 5 minutes, Sonelle found herself at the café's parking lot.

She looked around for any sign of Kofi, there was none - not outside at least. Sonelle, then, proceeded inside when a hand had placed itself over hers on the knob. She looked up at the owner of the hand and smiled as she stared into the face of he whom she was supposed to meet. Kofi smiled back and took her hand then embraced her. Sonelle hugged back utterly awed at the presence of this man she had, for a long time now, been captivated by.

Moments later, they had separated themselves from the hug as Kofi said, "This, um, may sound a bit suggestive, but I assure you, my intentions are not so. Would you like to accompany me back to my hotel suite?" Sonelle looked down at her feet and smiled then looked back up Kofi.

"Sure," she responded with a smile as she continued, "so long as you intend to keep your word about your intentions." A smirk played on Kofi's lips as he nodded. Taking Sonelle's hand in his, he helped her into the car and slid into it himself. After a minutes, the two had made it back into Kofi's suite's living room. The walls were a light brown colour and the furniture, those in the living room at least, were all white. "Take a seat," Kofi said as he gestured to a place on the sofa with his hand. Sonelle blushed and politely took it sliding her bag off her shoulder and onto the floor.

"It's really very nice in here," she commented as she looked around at all the paintings and sculptures that were placed around the suite. From somewhere in the kitchen, Kofi replied, "Isn't it? I have a thing for artwork like paintings and drawings; they're the most incredible things," he paused as he came out of the kitchen carrying two wine glasses and a bottle of wine towards Sonelle before he continued, "well, they are to me at least." Sonelle smiled trying to keep the fan girl inside of her from bursting out and telling him she could paint any and everything he wanted, and she would do it all for free. Managing to keep her calm and cool, Kofi sat beside her. He popped open the bottle of wine and poured a bit into his glass. Just as he was about to take hers, she placed a hand on his. "Um, I don't drink," she said softly with a smile, withdrawing her hand. Kofi set down her glass and the bottle and looked at her.

Sonelle could feel her cheeks reddening. Kofi opened his mouth trying to think of something to say - something that would express his curiosity towards that matter without making her feel as if she were some sort of freak. "You're apart of the, um, edge thing," he asked curiously as he pushed the cork back into the bottle.

Sonelle smiled a bit and nodded, "I'm straight-edge, yes." Kofi nodded obviously interested in Sonelle and what she stood for. For those who don't know, the straight-edge society wasn't only a stable set up in the WWE, but it is a movement. A movement that people follow, and a movement that stands for sobriety and against the use of alcohol, drugs and casual sex.

"That's different," Kofi commented while he took a sip of his wine and turned back to Sonelle. Sonelle's cheeks flushed red once more trying to decipher what kind of 'different' Kofi had meant. Apparently seeing her confusion at his words, he quickly clarified, "A good kind of different." He smiled at her and she smiled back, and in just that moment both Sonelle and Kofi had felt something. Whether it was just a chill from the open window or something much, much deeper than that, there was something there between the two. "Can I offer you anything to drink then," Kofi asked softly as he rose to his feet.

"Depends on what you have," she said with a smile. Kofi took her hand as she rose to her feet as well and they retreated into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, Kofi stepped aside allowing Sonelle to have a look. As Sonelle looked from shelf to shelf, she finally spotted something. "Is that ginger ale," she asked. Kofi looked inside the refrigerator, for himself.

"Yes; yes, it is," he answered taking it from the shelf and setting it on the counter. Kofi swiftly grabbed a glass and filled it with ice, pouring in the ginger ale and handing it to Sonelle. Sonelle thanked him and took a sip of it. Kofi then led her back outside to the living room where both had taken their seats on the couch once more. The two talked conversationally about different aspects of each other's lives: for Sonelle, it had been school, art classes and friends and for Kofi, it had been mainly life on the road and management of all outside activities. Finally, something had settled into Sonelle. Mustering up the courage, she asked, "And your wife?"

Kofi, who had raised his glass to his lips, lowered it and stared straight across at the other sofa sitting opposite to the one they were currently on. Realizing that she'd touched a sensitive topic, Sonelle shook her head. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, "I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," he cut her off. He let out a slight sigh and continued, "I, um, was on the road one night, in Florida, and I decided I should drop in and see exactly how she was doing." Kofi paused taking a sip of his wine not breaking eye contact with the sofa he'd originally stared upon. "I called her first, and a, um, a man had picked up," he said with a slight incredulous chuckle as he shook his head. "I dismissed it, though. I trusted her; I assumed that maybe it had been one of her cousins or brothers, so I got there, and she's all by herself. When I asked her about the man who'd picked up the phone, she said she hadn't a clue what I was talking about. I thought perhaps maybe the driving had been getting to me," he paused once more before he continued on, "A month later, I get a call from a doctor apologizing to me because the baby, that had apparently been inside my wife's womb, wasn't mine." Sonelle looked at him compassionately and placed her hand on his once more.

"You don't have to continue, Kofi," she said quietly. Kofi looked into her deep brown eyes taking the hand she'd placed on him and holding it in his own. If Sonelle was not mistaken, what she saw in Kofi's eyes were pools of tears that he'd seemed to be struggling to hold back. Kofi, having felt that she had maybe recognized this, turned away from her gaze. Sonelle looked down at their held hands. Suddenly, Kofi's lips had pressed themselves against Sonelle's - both their eyes fluttering closed. Kofi released her hands as he placed his on both sides of her cheeks. Sonelle, in turn, seized the front of Kofi's shirt tightly. In just that moment, the world seemed to have stood still. All that mattered at this very moment, as far as Sonelle and Kofi were concerned, was just that - Sonelle and Kofi … Vous et Moi.