French Rose

Chapter 12

It took only a minute or less after I posted the footage that my phone, including Leo's and Alex's, started buzzing against the table. Besides Alex, it wasn't much of a surprise to anyone on the table. I had a sick smile on my face as I played with the heavy fork in between my fingers like the stepsister from a teen romcom while Leo went on with his meal like nothing happened.

I'd never felt better than I did that night, I could just feel the energy rushing through my veins with each loud buzz. With my head feeling like it could pop from excitement at any second, I tried my best to hold in a smile. But yeah, I failed. What else did you expect?

I could only try to get my cheeks pink, not the red almost-looking-like-a-bruise color evident on it. I mean, I could tell she already knew something was going on and if she knew me better, she better be scared of it. Definitely, it was my first time doing something like that and yes, it felt great. Amazing even.

"Oh" I started "I wonder what that is"

Alex's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she replied "I should check it out"

"Yeah, you probably should"

I let her take hers first, just to get a perfect view of the priceless expression on her face when it strikes. For a reason I didn't know but expected, it looked like things happened in slow motion. Even the bounce of her curls looked like it took ten seconds, like in those dumb RomComs where the girl slips and it takes an hour till the lover boy catches her. I just don't get it, why is it that the girl never trips and fall like every other normal person?

I could bet the world would go against me if I tripped with my crush in the room, it could even get worse and I could probably fall on bird poop cause nothing good ever seems to happen when I hope it would.

You know what, whatever, I really don't care.

Back to where I was, things were getting a little weird with the tension in the room. Both Leo and I had our eyes on Alex and she was stuck in one position with her hands on her phone, doing nothing. She stopped scrolling and tapping a few seconds ago, probably after it struck. I expected her to go all crazy, like normal high school queen bees in teen movies or at least scream in confusion. Sitting there in one position with her eyes looking straight at the screen and the reflection on her face, It looked kinda creepy.

Not that I was scared or something, it just didn't feel right.

No wonder they said silence is the greatest punishment.

Or maybe I just made that up, whatever, it sounds like something Shakespeare would say.

"Leonardo"

Yay! She's not dead!

The only problem was that I wouldn't wish to get the look Leo got from her. I mean, her gaze didn't meet mine for one second, it went straight to Leo's and wow, I didn't expect it to look so bad. Betrayal was evident on her face with hurt, heartbreak and literally every related to pain. It was so bad, it looked like Leo murdered her entire family or something and for a split second, I kinda regretted it.

I know, I know, that sounds very stupid cause she literally did the same thing to me twice. Regardless, she looked really bad and at the verge of tears. Social media and stuff weren't as valuable to me as it was to her. Her life revolved around modelling, glam, followers and making people love and adore her but mine revolved around food and sleep so things like that made zero sense to me. I definitely didn't find it as important as she did and also, her career was at stake.

Maybe I just felt that way cause I wasn't used to hurting people's feelings.

Besides my parents.

"You gave her the video, didn't you?"

The way her voice broke at the end of the sentence.

Ouch.

"Yes, I did"

On the bright side, at least he didn't use the 'I can explain' phrase cause that'll only make this look more like a movie.

Am I right?

"Why would you do this to me? We've been friends for years, before she came in the picture and you threw all of that away for her?"

I couldn't imagine how guilty Leo felt with all Alex said. I mean, I didn't feel the tiniest bit of guilt but in his position, maybe I would. Not that I'd particularly felt that way before, I just knew how bad it could get to be in his shoes. You know, being her friend for months and having her look at you with so much disappointment. Even if she truly was like that to everyone else besides me, I wouldn't want to do such to her.

Still, he did the right thing.

"I'm so sorry Alex"

"You've ruined my reputation, you've ruined my career, you've ruined my life"

"Technically" I piped in "I posted it, not him so I'm also at fault here"

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one the media hates now"

"Hold up, sweetie. The media hated me just as much yesterday and a few years ago when you posted a picture of me having a great time eating, you did the exact same thing to me and you have no idea how terrible I felt. I saw my reputation go down the drain while you made them believe I was the bad guy so what the hell did you expect? To let you get away with it?"

As soon as a tear drop rolled down her cheek, she wiped it off with her palm and in the process, smudged some of the make up on her cheek.

She didn't say anything as she picked up her bag and stood up. "Thanks a lot for all of this, Leo. I'll never forget this and I hope you don't too"

She turned and walked out of the room, her heels clicking on the floor loudly like the way it did in movies.

Romcoms to be precise.

Silence fell with Leo and I together on the table. I had my palms rubbing against each other and he was staring at his finger tapping against the arm of his chair. The only sound besides the constant taps was the vibrations from the phones as each notification came in. Seconds passed with both of us in the same position, something I never planned or expected to happen.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that Leo. I had no idea it would be_"

"It's okay, it's not your fault any of this happened, you did what anyone would've done"

"And you got most of the blame for it"

"Yeah, but at least you're happy now, aren't you?"