Ravishing in Paris: A Love Tale of Uday Hussein

I always said that I didn't believe in love at first sight. How could you fall in love with someone when you don't know them? People say that they feel it, but how can you be so sure? What if it's just lust? What if you meet another person and suddenly feel the same way? There are too many variables that play into it. It's like saying that you're going to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow as a millionaire. You might get lucky and win the lottery, or maybe you'll get robbed, or maybe the world will end before you wake up.

But I guess the one thing that can be universally agreed upon is that there is such a thing as physical attraction. You can't deny that people have a certain appeal for each other. Maybe it's because both parties like the same things, or maybe it's just an animalistic instinctual response to someone's physical appearance. Whatever the case may be, it doesn't matter because physical attraction is real. When I saw Uday Hussein for the first time, I knew I was attracted to him. There was no denying it.

I had only been art school for about two months when someone introduced me to Uday Hussein. He was what my friend called a "serial dater". Apparently he would go on dates with multiple women at once and then move on without even leaving a note or anything like that. It was kind of sad really. To go through all of those women just to end up alone again. But I guess he probably didn't even care about that anyway. He seemed like the type who would be more concerned with money than love or anything else really.

He was sitting at one of the tables during break when we walked by him. He was dressed in designer jeans with a white t-shirt underneath an open blazer and blue converse with his hair slicked back. He looked like he belonged on a runway somewhere instead of in art school drinking coffee out of a Styrofoam cup and eating a glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts while reading some boring business textbook from Barnes & Noble bookstore instead of something sexy like Fifty Shades of Grey or something.

We took our usual spot in our usual corner near the windows and sat down until we saw Uday getting up from his seat and walking towards us dressed in his usual fashion garb mixed with some sporty jockish gear (baseball cap, sneakers, etc.) carrying his book bag on his shoulder looking straight ahead at nothing in particular...until he looked right at us and said "hi there."

As he got closer his eyes met mine and I felt my face flush red as he gave me a slight smile before looking down at my friend and introducing himself by name while holding out his hand for her to shake which she did awkwardly...and then turned back to look at me before asking "what's your name?"

"Reader," I replied not taking my eyes off of him as he leaned forward slightly resting his elbow on top of our table while still looking into my eyes once again with a smile playing on his lips before turning his head over towards my friend who was still staring dumbfoundedly at him and said "have fun kids." He then turned around sharply and walked away from us leaving me feeling confused, excited, disappointed, annoyed, hungry, happy, nervous and angry all at once as my friend asked me "what was that about?"