by beautifultragedies

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In hopes of reconnecting with her ethnic ties, Arden Michaelson sets off for France to study abroad during her junior year of college for a semester, leaving her best friend and boyfriend behind.

Upon arriving at the "City of Lights", she is kissed by a set of foreign lips.

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Talk was cheap.

And so were the conditions of ambush, the sudden lip-to-lip encounter between two supposedly unavailable people in an airport in Paris, France at sunrise. It hadn't been New Year's Eve and yet I had found myself lip-locked with a complete stranger, however, the tenderness of the kiss reminded me that it wasn't a new year's drunken one. In fact, the kiss was like no other kiss I had ever received, it was both quick and passionate, myself unintentionally kissing back after a split second. The kiss ended shortly after, both he and I took a small step back away from one another, examining one another face to face.

Relief washed over my face at a closer examination of him, from looking at more than just his lips. He had looked to be around my age; however, he stood several inches taller than me and had a satisfied grin on his face.

"I," I began to say, getting cut off by yet another close encounter, this time it wasn't between lips. I was pulled in close to him, his breaths mingling with mine. He held me tightly, his arms around me in a protective way, a way that Zac had become accustomed to in the past year.

A good minute passed full of staggered breaths before he released me from the sudden embrace. He backed up from me after the moment, giving me space for the first time that morning.

"I'm from France," he said, his accent strong and his voice deep.

"I could tell from the kiss," I replied.

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