Wretched Roses √

Chapter 74-(Un)expected

*very brief mentions of mental illness and suicide*

Freya's POV
"I feel like we're inclined to drink wine because we're in Bordeaux."

I laughed. "Why not?"

"You're paying."

"And they say chivalry is dead," I joked. "You suggested it, you pay."

She groaned and agreed. We found a nice place and sat down and drank some fancy expensive wine that tasted delicious. Though my wallet was crying afterward. We'd ended up paying for our own drinks, which was fair enough.

"How can a drink cost so much?" I wondered, swirling it around in my glass.

She shrugged. "Beats me. Next time we're buying something way cheaper. But I wanted to feel what it's like to be rich for once."

"If anything this made me feel poorer."

"Shush. Enjoy the wine like your life depends on it."

We drank up our wine and headed out of there. I suggested we did some sightseeing and she agreed. Though we soon ended up getting lost.

"Where the fuck are we?"

She sighed. "I have no idea. Let's ask someone."

Leona turned to the nearest passerby. "Excusez-moi, mais oú est la cathédrale?"

I blinked, forgetting Leona spoke a bit of french. However, she rarely had use for it so I'd only heard her speak it when I asked once. The passerby turned to face us.

"Tout droit, la première à droite. You can't miss it."

"Phoebe?" Leona exclaimed.

I did not recognize until Leona pointed it out, having only seen her a few times. She smiled and nodded. Leona went in for a hug and then held her at arms-length, asking generic questions like 'how have you been?'.

"I totally forgot you were in France," Leona said, beaming.

"Yeah, well, here I am. How's the honeymoon going."

"Good. We drank expensive wine. Was it good? Definitely. Was it worth it? Debatable."

I shifted my weight awkwardly as they chatted on, chiming in with my own words occasionally. Knowing she was her ex, even if it had been almost a decade since they broke up, still felt kind of strange.

"How's Zarah?" Phoebe asked out of nowhere, like she'd been meaning to ask it for ages and didn't muster up the confidence until then.

Leona looked taken aback by the question, but not necessarily surprised. "She's, Uhm, fine."

"Good. Great. Well, I better get going."

"Okay. Let's meet up some time?"

"Sure."

They bid their farewells and Leona faced me again. She took my hand and we continued walking the way Phoebe had told her to. Soon, the building was in front of us. Leona gripped my hand a little tighter and beamed.

***

"You want some?" She asked, taking a bite out of her ice cream.