Little Annotations | Tristan Dugray

chapter thirteen

He was the absolute sun in her eyes. The light of the darkness that always consumed her. If she had to make a list of all the reasons to live, he would be at the top of it. She looked at him like he put the stars in the sky. To her, he was the perfect person. When she was with him, she felt as if every single negative feeling she had about herself disappeared. He made her feel sure of herself. Intelligent, beautiful, funny, and confident. He lifted her in every goddamn way possible, he made her a better person. Loving him was easier than breathing, she loved him with every beat of her heart. She swore to herself that she would always fight for him, but he was happier with someone else. And what kind of person would she be to take love away from someone whom she loved so dearly?

Genevieve didn't know how long she was writing, or what time it was. One second she was getting emotional about a movie, then her pen ended up in between her fingers and her notebook underneath her. Scribbling furiously, and tuning out any background noise.

"Genevieve!" A voice rang through the halls of the house, pulling her from her focus. She had an entire floor to herself, her sisters were visiting their brother, so there was only one explanation.

Quickly, Genevieve shoved her notebook under her seat and pulled the nearest book off of the shelf. Without warning, her bedroom door flew open, revealing her mother standing on one end.

"You're going to be late," Her mom said.

"I'm on my way out right now," She mustered a smile.

"I want you home by seven tonight for dinner." Her mom said, "That means you have to be dressed and sitting in the dinner chair by seven- not walking through the door at seven,"

"I unfortunately can't," Genevieve said, pulling her Chilton sweater over her head, "I didn't even know you were home-"

"You will make time for family,"

"-and I have already made plans for dinner with the Ricardo family," She said, not missing a beat, "As much as I would love to reschedule, her sister is going back to college, and I was requested to be there,"

"Well, do you see how Hestia puts her family first?" Her mom began rearranging the books she had stacked on a table. Something snapped inside of Genevieve, but she didn't show. It was only for a couple of weeks at most, snapping at her wasn't going to do anyone any good.

"Okay," Genevieve said, "I'll see you after dinner,"

"No. You're going to be here,"

"No I won't," She threw over her shoulders. She internally prepared herself for a lecture for when she got back after her parent's dinner was over. With her mom, it was her way or no way.

. . .

"By the way, you and your family have a dinner for Iris, and I was asked to attend," Genevieve whispered to Hestia during their free time in class.

"She's back in town?" Hestia asked.

"Waltzed right into my room this morning," Genevieve said, looking up as Tristan entered the room, "Hey Tristan,"

"What's up?"

"Can I come over tonight?" She asked, "Just until nine,"

"Sure. Of course, anytime," He said, and lowered his voice, "Do you need to spend the night? I can get the guest room set up,"

"No it's fine," She said, hoping it'd blow over.

. . .

"Imagine I go home and all I hear is 'Genevieve, we're selling the house and moving to California!'" Genevieve said as Tristan turned into his driveway.