Little Annotations | Tristan Dugray

bonus chapter 2

In honor of Little Annotation's 2nd anniversary of being completed, here is a chapter that I wrote, but scrapped! Thank you all so much for everything, and I can't wait for you guys to read what's next.

Being on the outside of an inside joke was one of Genevieve's biggest fears. Shared smiles, the flicker of eyes, and the ultimate dismissal of the joke by saying "it's nothing" enraged her beyond words. Everyone close to her knew it– especially Tristan and Delphine. She claimed that she hated the idea of "not knowing" anything, and yet, it was happening right in front of her.

She counted seven different instances where Delphine's voice raised an octave too high, and three different times where Tristan made a double entendres. Who was he kidding? Genevieve knew better than to just believe that he was going to "check in on Joan" from work, he didn't even work with anyone named Joan– she made sure to check.

If she were being honest with herself, she had better things to be doing than to be making mental notes of the two's conversation as they paced back and forth in the living room of her and Tristan's house. The research paper due the next day, and lab report was clearly not enough to keep her busy; she noticed that the scribbles on her little legal pad shifted from her study to different predictions of what the two could have been talking about. It couldn't have been something to do with their shared business, the art galleries were doing just fine under their careful eye.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Genevieve decided to just bite the bullet, they were two of the most important people in the world to her, there was no way that they'd lie. Tristan and Delphine snapped their heads towards her as if they remembered that she was still in the room.

"Nothing."

They were even in sync. It was sickening.

"That's a lot of talking for just nothing." She said, "You've been talking for the past hour and a half."

"Wait, what time is it?" Tristan patted his pants to check for his phone.

"It's two o'clock."

"Two?" The two shot into action.

"We've gotta go," Delphine ran out the door without even putting shoes on.

"What? Where are you going?"

Tristan grabbed Delphine's shoes, "We have a huge meeting in thirty minutes, the driver's been calling me for the past thirty minutes." He stopped before he got to the front door and kissed Genevieve on the cheek, "I love you."

"I love you." She said, "Good luck, you're going to be a star."

"Will you be okay here?" He asked.

"Don't worry about me," She said, "Actually, Logan's in town, we were going to go out for coffee."

"Huh, he's never in town, that's perfect, tell him to stay for dinner tonight too." Tristan's phone rang, "It's Delphine, I gotta go."

Genevieve watched as Tristan closed the door and waited exactly three seconds. After, she shot up from her seat and went over to her phone that was plugged in the wall, dialing a number from her recent calls.

"Dean." Genevieve didn't even let him get a word in, "Where's Delphine right now?"

"A business meeting." His response came quick, as if he were told to expect her call.

Genevieve's face fell, so he knew something too, "A business meeting?"

"Mhm."

"Dean. Are you lying?" Genevieve was greeted with silence, "Dean..."

Three beeps. Dean hung up on her. His text came in moments later: Sorry, I'm on the train, no service

Liar.