23 Dead Ringer for You

Lyra took a whiff of the freshly brewed tea placed down for her and smiled a seductive smile before blowing on it and taking a small sip.

"You always make the best peppermint tea," she said to the man in front of her, placing the cup back down before going back to typing her last essay before the winter holiday.

He too sat down with a cup himself, but instead of occupying himself with electronics, he chose to admire the lovely girl sitting in front of him. Even with dark circles under her eyes and her hair tied up in a loose mermaid braid, she looked beautiful. In fact, he could stare at her all day if time permitted.

Sensing his soft brown eyes on her, the student finally closed her laptop and gave him her hard earned attention.

Unlike herself who sat with her back hunched and neck bent over a computer, he was leaning back comfortably on his chair with his long legs crossed and relaxed.

"Can I help you?" she asked, folding her hands over the table and leaning forward to get a better look at him.

He shook his head. "Just appreciating my girlfriend's beauty," he said casually before sipping his tea and looking out into the streets from his co-owned cafe, pretending to be interested in something other than her.

Lyra opened her laptop again, but closed it a few seconds after to stare at Antoine. Seeing that he was a distraction either way, he got up from his seat to leave, but his girlfriend extended her hand to stop him.

"Where you going?" she asked, not appreciating him sitting there flaunting his visuals, but rather him not leave.

Antoine bent down and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek before throwing on his heavy coat. "Buying dinner. Call me when you're about done so I can pick you up. Don't walk home yourself," he warned.

Lyra watched as he walked out of the shop and waved before disappearing. She didn't have much experience in dating, but she couldn't have asked for a sweeter first boyfriend. Not only was he thoughtful, he was also extremely intelligent and could open up a michelin-star restaurant with his kitchen skills.

She could still recall the first time the teaching assistant approached her and invited her out after the first class. Not knowing his initial motives, Lyra politely declined all his invitations until finally agreeing two months into the semester out of obligatory thanks for his help on a difficult assignment.

Following that, he offered to show her around the city, taking her to the best local restaurants and teaching her where to find the best this and thats. Once, Lyra questioned his kind gestures. "Love at first sight," he phrased it and they had been in each other's company almost every day since.

Lyra wasn't sure if she shared Antoine's romantic reasoning, but she did enjoy being around him. He was so knowledgeable in numerous fields and could spark up a conversation on almost any topic. He was great at teaching and had a lot to teach. All the students loved him because he was strict and demanding, but also patient and understanding. Not to mention, he was young and undeniably attractive—not exactly celebrity material, but definitely close.

He already had many eyes on him, but he only saw Lyra. Something about her aloof expression when he first laid eyes on her captivated him, but he quickly fell more in love with her gentle forwardness, boundless curiosity, and unwavering diligence. With her, he found joy in even the monotonous routines of daily life. She enhanced the beauty of it.

They had been together for a little over a year and was about to spend their second winter together. "Only a paper away," Antoine joked a little earlier which brought another priceless smile on Lyra's face as she quickly went back to work.

But before she got into her homework zone, she had an incoming call.

"Oi mate, 'ow ya going this arvo?" the familiar Aussie slang was a nice change from the usual French she heard all around. This she could actually comprehend completely.

"Arvo? It's evening here Rose," Lyra laughed before editing her paper.

"Tea time yet?"

"Almost."

Rose picked up on the excitement coming from the other line. "With that French guy again?" she asked.

"Yes. With Antoine," Lyra corrected.

"Okay okay, mate. When am I gonna meet 'Antoine?'" Rose rectified. "Youse been dating for what? A year?"

"Actually," Lyra paused for a moment before letting out a deep exhale. "We were planning to visit you this Christmas."

Rose didn't answer until a few seconds later. "You're pulling my leg, aren't ya?"

"Nope. Antoine insisted on visiting my hometown and I wanted to make sure the shop's surviving okay," Lyra joked, knowing full well that business had been smooth sailing under Rose's watch. "And maybe also to eat some cake," she added slyly. "My room still in order?"

"Nah. It's a garden now," Rose joked back. "No worries mate, I'll get it ready. When should I arrive at the airport?"

"Next Monday," Lyra said as she spotted Antoine's car waiting outside. "I'll text you the time later!"

"Wait Ly-"

But Lyra already hung up.

Rose dropped back down in her chair.

She was thrilled to finally see Lyra again after an entire year and a half. Antoine, well, she was excited to meet him too since he could supposedly cook. But they couldn't have chosen better timing.

Kurt would be returning to town any day now, promising to celebrate his favorite cousin's entire birthday month with her. Angela too was flying back from a fashion show in Milan to spend the holidays with her husband.

'This is going to be interesting,' Rose thought, but sometimes, she didn't mind for things to be a little less of that.

.............

"What you looking out at?" Antoine asked curiously before leaning towards his girlfriend and peeking his head out the window of the airplane. All he could see was the dark sky, void of stars.

"Nothing," Lyra answered before closing the window and gracing him with his favorite smile. Upon turning towards him, her eyes dropped to the magazine he was reading for the past fifteen minutes.

"What you analyzing?" she asked while leaning her head on his shoulder.

Antoine closed the article before turning to his girlfriend.

"Let's set one thing straight first," he said in a stern voice, one he used in class. Out of habit, Lyra sat up to look at him. Seeing that he got her attention, he cleared his throat. "I meant it when I said that no one can match your beauty."

"Okay…someone in there made you change your mind?" Lyra asked in amusement.

"I don't know if it's me, but…" Antoine flipped to the page he memorized by heart. "This girl is a dead ringer for you," he said pointing at a girl among a group of models standing alongside a team of uniformed racers and mechanics in a group photo.

Lyra shifted closer to the picture before changing course and surprising him with a light kiss.

"There's a lot of things you can still learn about me," she whispered in his ear before retracting back to her seat.

Antoine could feel his heart race and took a minute to settle down before checking out the picture once more. Seriously, he would've said it was Lyra in the picture had she not been with him in France when the picture was taken a few weeks prior.

After studying it one last time, he somehow convinced himself that the Lyra next to him was still prettier even though they looked exactly the same and even had the same dimples!

To confirm, he turned to the girl next to him, but was surprised by what he saw.

[On second thought, they weren't that similar.]

From the way the Lyra in the picture was smiling, eyes big and full of ambition, it didn't seem like she could ever pull off the aloof expression sitting on his girlfriend's face as she stared out the open window once again.