Little Annotations | Tristan Dugray

chapter twenty seven

Genevieve woke up early the next morning and made an immediate trip to Luke's. Her attempt the night before ended in Taylor threatening to call the cops on her for loitering and noise.

Luke was cleaning the counter and going about his day as Genevieve walked in. Genevive sat down and gave Luke her best smile, "Luke, where's Jess?"

"Gone." He avoided eye contact with her and turned to clean a mug that was already clean.

"Gone?"

"Left."

"Right."

"What?

"Where?"

"Somewhere."

"Luke..." She looked at him with tears brimming her eyes. It was a gift really, crying on demand. She usually never had to resort to it, but the measures were extreme.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop faking!"

Genevieve said nothing as her tears continued to flood her eyes, he knew that the second that she blinked, he'd be the instant bad guy.

"He's in New York. Damnit." Luke sighed, "Give me a second while I get you that address."

Luke sighed as he slid the piece of paper to Genevieve, "This is his house, but he usually hangs out in the park."

"Washington Square." Genevieve said at the same time as Luke.

"How'd you know that?"

"We're friends." She said, "Thank you Luke."

"Be safe."

"Mhm!"

"I mean it!"

. . .

Genevieve had a gut feeling, and the gut feeling told her to go to Tristan's house before New York. She was never one to ignore a gut feeling, especially one so strong.

"Hey T." She knocked on his door, he glanced over to her from his painting and gave her a warm smile.

"Hey G."

"I need to borrow your car." She said, looking hopeful.

"What? Why?"

"I... I need to go after Jess, he just left."

Tristan set his paintbrush down, "Why can't you take your own car?"

"Weston doesn't want me going."

"Then maybe you shouldn't..."

"I think I should." She said, "Please?"

Tristan stood conflicted.

Presented with two options, he had the choice to ensure the fact that Jess and Genevieve would never be together— or to give her his car keys and ruin any chance he'd have with her in the future.

He walked over to his dresser and threw her the keys.

She caught them but frowned, "Why are you upset?"

Genevieve read him like a book.

"I'm not upset, but don't you think you're being a little impulsive? I mean you barely know the guy-"

"I know him well enough," She coughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," She fiddled with his keys.

"No. What does that mean?"

"We kissed." She said, not looking at him, "That's what started all of this. So I have to go to make sure he's okay, and talk to him."