"I never thought I'd see you again!" she exclaimed, her accent thick.

“Me, neither. Are you on this flight?" I waved to the gate.

“Oi! We go to LAX and from there back to Paris!" It was at this point that Claudine realized a tall, dirty blonde young woman was with me. At once, Claudine became cautious. "Ah, this is your girlfriend?"

Brianna's face went through the gamut of emotions in less than a second before she stepped forward and said softly, “We're friends." She held her hand out to shake. "You must be Claudine. I'm Brianna."

“Enchantée... eh, pleased to meet you." Claudine said formally and shook her hand, taking a moment to gather herself while simultaneously waiting to be bitch- slapped. Clearly, the girl was unsure what Brianna really knew.

Fortunately, Brianna took charge to soothe her.

“So it's true. He really rescued you?" She was scrutinizing the various scratches and band-aids on Claudine's legs exposed beneath a short skirt.

Claudine broke into a wide smile and turned to face me with a toned-down version of her adoring gaze.

“My miracle."

Brianna continued, "David told me EVERYTHING." She Looked at Claudine significantly, expressing the underlying meaning.

“I'm happy he was there for you."

Claudine Looked Brianna up and down with a new respect.

“Thank you for understanding."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and then Claudine's bubbly teenager personality came back up.

“Ah, my parents! Please, come!"

Any worries I had over Claudine's father knowing I boned his daughter evaporated when the big guy bear-hugged me. Her mother was less forceful but no less demonstrative in greeting me as well, planting firm kisses on both my cheeks.

I introduced Brianna to them, and soon the entire French family was busy rehashing what they knew of my heroic tale. Well, except for

Claudine's younger brother. Like most fifteen-year-olds, he was more interested in his Nintendo Ds.

I was quite pleased to find that the sexual tension between Claudine and I was gone. We'd had our scare and our cathartic Lovemaking. It was done. Six hours and 3000 miles Later, I pulled Claudine to me in a warm hug and kissed her forehead gently as we parted outside LAX Gate 47B.

We'd exchanged e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers. We could look each other up on MySpace. Somehow, we'd stay in contact.

It's amazing how intense a near-death experience can be for people. No matter where life took us in the future, I knew Claudine would always be a part of my life.

HOME (May 2005)

Life is circular. The more things change, the more you find yourself in old, familiar situations.

Take tonight for example. I was lying in bed and staring at the ceiling when quietly ecstatic moans began fluttering through my bedroom wall. I sighed and closed my eyes, memory and experience painting the picture of the two gorgeous women in all their splendid glory. The box of tissues was on the desk within an arm's reach. If the two of them were going to keep at it the way they'd done in college, I'd need to start shopping at Costco and buy tissue boxes in bulk.

One of the girls let out a particularly throaty moan, and as I let my hand circle around the hot skin of my erection, it was all I could do to keep from going insane.