Rêveries

Chapter 52.

I had to wake up early to have the time to do everything I wanted before leaving for Schweiz. I went on a run and with every step I just kept getting more and more angry. Yesterday I had been sad, I had been sulking and overthinking every little thing that was being said about me on the internet. But who are they to say anything about me? They're the ones sitting behind a damn screen, bashing a girl they don't know because they saw her sitting on someone's, who they also don't know, lap. I just need to get it into my head that they are not one to talk about me. Every time my feet hit the ground, I got angrier and angrier about how they have the damn audacity.

When I got home, Charles was sitting in the kitchen. I walked in and took my headphones out, I kissed him quickly and took my smoothie out of the fridge. I don't want him to worry about it. I was excited about this wedding and officially being his date for something, and I don't want him to believe that it has changed. I'm not angry with him and I'm not that fragile, so I don't need him or Evie to hold my hand while I cry myself through this. They find it boring when you don't give them the time of day, so I'll just ignore it until they find something else to tear to the ground.

"J'ai de l'entraînement dans trente minutes, je serai chez moi avant une heure," I have practice in thirty minutes, I'll be home before one o'clock, I inform him before leaving another peck on his cheek, making him look a bit surprised for some reason.

"Tu veux que je te conduise?" Want me to drive you? he asks. No, I don't, because I might be seen with him in his car. But I'm not supposed to care, so I turn to him and smile.

"Si vous avez le temps," If you have the time, I say. I usually tell him I don't need a ride and he ends up insisting until I let him, but I don't put up a fight this time. He needs to buy that everything is fine so he won't coddle me and be all careful because he think I'll break like a porcelain doll.

"Je fais, dis-moi quand tu es prêt," I do, tell me when you're ready, he says with a smile that looks way too happy for someone who is going to act like a taxi for me.

I get my things, pack my bag and come back downstairs, where Pascale has now joined Charles in the kitchen and his face is in his hands. Worried that something has happened, I look between them with wide eyes, but then I see Pascale motioning at her son in annoyance as she's repeating that tsk tsk tsk sound, shaking her head.

"Il a vingt et un ans et il est toujours agacé quand je lui donne des préservatifs," He's twenty-one years old and he's still annoyed when I give him condoms, she says like she's waiting for me to agree with her that it's silly, but honestly, I think I'd react the same way. In fact, my face is as red as the tank top I'm in. "Je fais ça à chaque fois qu'ils commencent à voir une fille, ils sont toujours sur la défensive," I do that every time they start seeing a girl, they always get defensive, she shakes her head and turns back to the sink while the pack of condoms stays in front of Charles, who is just glaring at his mother.

"Je n'ai mis personne enceinte jusqu'à présent, n'est-ce pas?" I haven't gotten anyone pregnant this far, have I? he asks, pushing them away as if they're something disgusting. Well, if it was one of my parents who would've given them to me, I think I'd consider them kind of gross as well, knowing that they went into the store and picked out a pack of condoms for the purpose of giving them to their kid.

"Parce que je t'ai donné des préservatifs!" Because I gave you condoms! She exclaims, making Charles groan and let his head fall between his shoulders. I'm just standing there glaring in terror, because I don't want to get involved, but the thought of Pascale thinking that I'll be doing it with her son, does make me a bit panicked.

"Ou parce que je peux acheter mes propres préservatifs," Or because I can buy my own condoms, he argues, standing up from the chair he was sitting on.