MA BEAUTÉ | J. BELLINGHAM

twelve | real life

vivienne felt absolutely accomplished.

after day 2, which only really consisted of louder-than-words glares from mason everytime they were in each other's midst, ended quite uneventfully, she thought that maybe, just maybe, they would keep a distance. no words being exchanged, not even being within a 6-foot vicinity of each other that could merely influence the thought of mustering a conversation.

but, of course. of fucking course. everything went to shit by day three. all because a certain white man couldn't keep his mouth. shut.

-

lunchtime was completely buzzing. the restaurant seemed fuller than normal and the girls, who were consequently subject to their lack of punctuality, arrived to meet a non-vacant diner.

"well shit," sequoia exclaimed, "since when has it ever been this... packed?"

xenoia shrugged, eyes scanning the room, "don't know. might just have to go to the restaurant on the other side of the resort."

her words caused the other two to groan.

"ain't that like a 15 minute walk?"

"nothing i can do about that," xenoia grumbled, walking out the door. the seconds they spent within the doors of the restaurant was enough for their body to adapt to the cool setting, and as soon as they exited, the heat was indescribable.

"listen," vivienne stopped, "i am not trekking 15 minutes in this heat. must be mad."

xenoia sighed, "room service, then?"

sequoia nodded eagerly, "now that's what i'm-"

the jingle of the restaurant door opening interrupted her, revealing a shyly smiling jude. xenoia immediately smiled, "hey jude!"

he greeted her back before stuttering and blushing as he proceeded, "uhm, we were wondering if you three could maybe... sit with us?"

xenoia looked hesitant, "are you sure? won't it be a bit cram-"

sequoia cut her off, beaming, "that's perfect, jude. thank you!"

xenoia glared at her sister as jude turned around to open the door, holding it for them. they expressed their gratitude to which he replied with a joyful 'no worries'.

they amble slowly through the maze of tables towards the back of the room where a table of ten was situated, occupied to the brim with jude's friends.

"don't worry, we asked for extra chairs."

vivienne could feel her anxiety rise. this was not on her agenda, and the closer they got to the group and their lingering stares, the more she wanted to run out of there.

yesterday was already a day, but now they were breaking the '6-foot vicinity rule' and she was stuck in between mason and trent. as much as she thought it was a set up, it was the only place she could've sat apart from next to jude, and she wasn't going to do her best friend dirty like that. sequoia sat next to her sister, or rather had dibs on the seat beforehand, annoyingly, and vivienne couldn't help but think she knew what she was doing.

a few minutes after their arrival, two waiters started to gather their orders. they left shortly after and soon, a smooth conversation arose; the boys introduced themselves to the girls first before random topics were thrown in.

then, inevitably, relationships and exes were so humbly dumped into the mix.

"don't think jude has a had a girlfriend to be fair," phil stated, and it caused jude to whine.

"bro!"

everyone chuckled, xenoia turning to phil to question his reasoning, "why do you think that?"

"i'm sorry, but he has zero rizz. absolutely none."