Elodie and Heloise (8 page)

Heloise shook her head. “We were going to go a few summers ago, but then Papa got called in to work at the last possible moment and we couldn’t go. So we haven’t been yet to France. Mémé and Pépé, Papa’s parents, have come here to visit us, but I don’t even really remember their visit. And there’s Aunt Marie but she lives in Richmond so we visit her every so often. Someday I’ll go to France though. I’ve seen all the pictures of Mom and Papa’s trip to France when they met and those pictures always struck me.... Anyway.” She stopped herself short again and chuckled nervously.

“No no it’s fine, Heloise. Really. I really enjoy hearing about these things. Where I come from, no one has done much traveling or anything foreign for that matter. Like I told you the other night, I’m from Wytheville, which is a really small town. Larger than this town, but it’s not huge like Paris or anything. So I’ve been fascinated with foreign cultures because they’re so different from what I know. This of course coming from someone who has never traveled outside of the US,” Kyle responded. “I’ve never even been out of the state, now that I think of it. But oh man, I’d love to see some of Europe. Someday.”

Heloise smiled and nodded, as did Kyle. Both of them giggled before Heloise resorted to her usual serious tone. They hadn’t done much in the way of tutoring yet, but neither of them seemed to mind. 

She cleared her throat and opened his French textbook again. “So you’re in French One, I’m assuming?” She continued looking through his textbook, occasionally stopping at the beginning of chapters and looking at the awkward poses of some of the people in the textbook, not to mention the listening activities included in each lesson.

“Sure am. Starting at the very beginning. It’s weird for me to start all over with a foreign language. And a lot of these things in French are similar to Spanish. You know, the whole noun thing with masculine and feminine nouns.”

“That you just learn with every noun you learn in French. That’s how I learned it.
Une pomme
,
une table
,
le livre
.... Honestly, Kyle.... you could learn more from me just speaking to you seulement en français than you probably could from this book, like you said earlier.” She shut the book, moved it to the middle of the table, and turned her chair to face Kyle.

“Yes I really think that would be better for me. Madame Weston sometimes speaks to us in French, but not a whole lot since we’re only at a level one class. I don’t want to be too much trouble but.... see, I’ve always wanted to learn French.  And, well, if you wouldn’t mind.” His eyes finally rested on Heloise, looking all over her face waiting for her reply.

“Why would I mind?” Heloise smiled. “Where shall we start?”

“
Alors, nous voici
,” Heloise huffed as she and Kyle walked up the front steps to her house. The day had turned cold and drizzly as they walked and she was eager to get inside the warm house. It had been a week since that first tutoring lesson, and now she had invited Kyle back to her house to speak French with her family.

“Yeah I got that part. Noo vwah-see, you said?”

“
Oui. Nous voici
. That means, here we are.”

“And what was that first word you said? Allo?”

“
Alors
. It’s like.....” She racked her brains, trying to think of a way to explain the expression. “It’s like, all right, okay, like that.” She glanced at Kyle standing next to her while she fumbled for the keys to the front door.

Kyle nodded. “Got it.”

Heloise swung open the front door and was immediately met with the sounds of the television playing in the living room and someone shuffling through the kitchen. She saw her mother watching television, probably taking a break from her writing for a while, and her father opening the refrigerator, most likely preparing dinner. 

“
Salut
,” she called out, her usual afternoon greeting to her family, opening the door for Kyle to come in after her. She glanced at Kyle, who looked a little nervous but nonetheless happy to be there.

“
Salut ma fille
,” Francis replied. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter standing in the front entryway with Kyle next to her. “
Alors, tu as passé une bonne journée au lycée?
” He shut the refrigerator and walked over to his daughter and Kyle. Next to Kyle, Heloise’s father stood tall and looked intimidating. He leaned in and greeted Heloise with the usual bise.

“
Oui, une bonne journée, merci Papa. Je vous présente mon ami Kyle
.” Heloise held out her arms in Kyle’s direction.

“Ah Kahee-el,” Francis replied, saying his name correctly but with the emphasis on the last syllable. He held out his hands to shake and smiled at Kyle. Meanwhile, Kyle appeared to be scared at first from hearing so much French around him, but looked relieved when her father initiated a handshake. That was a gesture that Kyle was at least familiar with.

Heloise made a motion at Kyle to say something. Kyle nodded and took her father’s hand. “
Enchanté, monsieur. Je m’appelle Kyle Cayce
.” His accent wasn’t completely perfect and he still stumbled a little, but it was a start.

Francis looked very impressed by Kyle speaking French to him. He glanced at Heloise and then back at Kyle as he shook Kyle’s hand. “
Enchanté, Kyle. Alors, tu apprends le français?
”

Kyle glanced at Heloise and mouthed, “What did he say? He said that “alors” word.”

Instead of waiting for Heloise’s reply, Francis asked in English, “So you are learning French?” 

Kyle chuckled. “Yes, I mean,
oui, monsieur
. I took Spanish for three years and I’m having trouble so Heloise is helping me. Sorry, I don’t know how to say all of that in French. I just started French One this semester.”

“That is okay. You will get there.” Francis laughed as he gave Kyle a brief pat on the shoulder. “You have a very good teacher. Heloise will teach you all you need to know.
Bienvenue
, Kyle.”

Heloise felt her cheeks grow hot. She only hoped that Kyle didn’t notice her blushing at her father calling her a good teacher. Looking over at him, his eyes were fixed on her father, so most likely, he didn’t see her.

“Ummmm, welcome?”

“
Oui, bienvenue
. Welcome. See, you will learn very quickly. Now how do you say welcome in French?”

Kyle thought for a moment before replying, “Byuh-ven-oo.”

“
Bienvenue
.”

“
Bienvenue
,” Kyle repeated to himself.

“See, a new French word for you!” He chuckled again before heading off to the kitchen. It was the time of day when he was usually in the kitchen making dinner, and whatever it was he was making, it smelled wonderful.

With her father’s back turned, Heloise looked over at Kyle, who appeared very relieved. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t screw up the French that much then.”

Heloise laughed. “Don’t worry, you were fine. Papa always appreciates anyone who likes to learn and speak French.
Alors, étudiions le français, oui?
” She motioned for them to sit at the dining room table.

“Ummmmm..... oui,
étudiions le français
. Let’s study French?”

“
Oui
.” 

“
Et alors, tu as gagné! La deuxième fois en plus!
”

“
Oui j’ai gagné
. I won, right?”

“
Mais oui!
”

“
J’ai gagné.
” Kyle grinned and said in English, “Good game! Really, this is a lot of fun to play for practicing numbers in French. I’ve always been really good at these strategy type of games.”

Heloise began packing up the cards. “We played this game a LOT when I was growing up and I almost always beat Elodie. She was no match for me.” 

They had been playing a game of Mille Bornes, a game that had been around for so long that even Francis said he used to play it himself as a child with his cousins and friends. She picked that game to play because it used numbers in French and was simple enough to understand even for first time players, at least of the people she had ever introduced the game to.

Heloise had hardly noticed the time passing by as she and Kyle played their game. They were a few weeks into her tutoring and he was getting good enough that they could at least have a short conversation in French without having to go back to English. He was by no means fluent yet, but immersing him in French certainly did seem to help. Even his teacher told him that he was improving and was pleased to see his progress.

“Um,
je t’aider
?” He gestured toward the cards on the table still left to be picked up and put away. “Did I say that right?”

“
Je t’aide
?”

“Uh yeah. I mean,
oui
.”

“
Oui, vas-y.
” 

She reached for some cards to her left on the table just as Kyle reached for those same ones. Their hands touched for just a few moments before Heloise realized it and he let his hand rest there right on top of hers, his fingers brushing lightly on her fingertips. 

He grinned, while Heloise remained absolutely still. She was sure that she looked utterly petrified, even though inside she wanted nothing more than to be close to him. She wanted to hold his hand, but she needed to keep things friendly. She was just a tutor, nothing more. Maybe even a friend. Besides, he wouldn’t be interested in her in anything more than that anyway, even though he seemed more than happy these last few weeks to spend as much time as possible speaking and learning French from Heloise. And she had really enjoyed getting to know him better, since most of their conversations eventually went to more personal matters where Heloise wanted to let on more than she actually did.

Instead, she jerked her hand away and fidgeted with the other cards on the table, keeping as far from his hand as she could. She tried to ignore how his cologne rose to her nose and made her feel dizzy and how close she had been to him. She couldn’t let her feelings show. 

She scurried to get all the cards in the box and pushed back her chair, not even looking up at Kyle. “I should really go see how dinner is cooking.
Tu vas rester pour manger avec nous, oui?
”

“As far as I know,
oui
. You keep telling me about all the cooking you like to do and I’ve never had French food before.”

“Well, it’s not really French food tonight but I think, I mean, I hope you’ll like it.”

“I think you have seen that I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to food. I’m a teenage guy, you know how we are! Don’t worry, Heloise.”

What she had in mind was a simple marinated spicy chicken recipe with some garlic green beans. She’d set the chicken in the fridge the night before to marinate in some lemon juice, honey, and half a clove of garlic and before their first game of Mille Bornes, she’d put the chicken in the oven to cook for forty minutes. The green beans would take almost no time to cook, so dinner would be ready in about five minutes.

Ever since that first tutoring session with Kyle when they’d spent so much time together, Heloise had taken on almost a feverish approach to cooking. She had always enjoyed cooking with her father, who taught her many different French recipes starting from when she was old enough to learn how to use a knife properly, but now she became more passionate about it than ever. She was filled with so many thoughts and so much energy that she knew it needed to come out. So after spending time with Kyle, she would go into the kitchen and whip up something, whether it was a whole meal for the family or just a simple fruit tart or an attempt at making pastries. Something to get her mind onto something else. All day long she had been trying to keep herself silent, trying to remain a friend and nothing more. She needed to decompress.

To Heloise, it didn’t matter that Kyle was such a great listener who clearly enjoyed her company. It didn’t matter that Kyle would wait for her outside her classes with a story to tell about his day that he was extremely enthusiastic to share. It didn’t matter even that he would pay attention to her appearance and say something really nice to her about a new pair of earrings or necklace. Those things didn’t matter to her. What mattered was that she knew she was different from everyone and she didn’t feel like she was even good enough for someone like Kyle, or for anyone. She and Elodie had their roles and she knew she was not the pretty one that guys would even take a second look at. As much as she wanted to be the one he liked, she knew she wouldn’t be. That’s not how things worked.

Without looking back at Kyle, Heloise went toward the kitchen and opened the oven door to check on the chicken. The honey in her marinade had turned the chicken to a divine golden brown color. Perfect.

She set about her work of preparing the green beans and the ingredients for them, immersing herself in the task at hand and not even paying attention to anything else. Having been so close to Kyle made her even more agitated than usual and she hurried to finish up dinner for her family and Kyle.

Everything started coming together. The egg timer went off as the water for the green beans began to boil, so she took the chicken out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove to cool and she shut off the oven. The green beans fell into the boiling water and began to defrost, letting off a puff of white as the frozen beans reacted with the hot water. 

In a way, Heloise felt like those frozen beans as they bobbed in the pot. Her solid heart wanted to give way to the pressures inside of her and just admit her feelings to him. But she would remain stoic and not let herself confess it to him. No matter how much he seemed to be interested in her. No way. He couldn’t really be interested in her. That’s not who Heloise was.

“Are you okay, Heloise? There’s a lot of banging around in there.” Kyle’s voice called to her from the dining room as he began studying in his French notebook.

“I’m fine, really. Please don’t mind me.”

“If you’re sure.”

A tear began making its way up to her eyes, but Heloise brushed it away. The beans were almost thawed, so it was almost time to drain them and add the salt, pepper, and garlic. She stared down at the beans, watching them more closely than usual. She couldn’t look over at Kyle, though she could feel him watching her.