fin de siècle ; mixte 1963

chapter 10 ; so don't punish me for not being a man

One thing about Gisele Dupin was that she didn't usually drink a lot. She would rather go for a glass of wine, maybe a few beers, but it was rarely anything above that amount. The reason for that was the fact that when she drank a lot, she blacked out; her mind literally refused to keep a hold of anything that happened after the girl passed that safe boundary of tipsiness and became undoubtedly drunk.

Gisele didn't particularly enjoy that part of the aftermath of the parties, so she was trying not to pass that boundary often. But New Years' Eve was a night when it was hard not to get very drunk and Gisele was not the one with the greatest willpower. So it wasn't much of a surprise when she woke up the next morning and the last thing she could remember was her witty conversation with Annick and Nicole.

Gisele found herself in her own bed thankfully, with Annick sleeping right next to her. She presumed that everyone apart from Charles and Joseph went home at night, as they always did, so she wasn't particularly worried about them when she scrambled out of bed. Gisele decided not to wake Annick, thinking that her friend could definitely use some more sleep - she was overworked and constantly exhausted even on a daily basis, after all.

She stood up and went straight to the kitchen, wondering how she even got in her pyjamas. She supposed that Sabiani might have had a hand in this and she was definitely going to thank her later for this; the night shirt and slacks were much more comfortable than the skirt.

When Gisele arrived in the kitchen, she was quite surprised to see that Charles and Joseph were already there. She started to wonder what time it was - was it possible for her to really be sleeping for so long?

"Morning, Gigi," said Vergoux with a smile, handing her a cup of coffee. Gisele took it without a word, instead gulping it all in one go.

She put it on the table, sitting on the chair nearby with a deep sigh. Only then, she finally spoke up.

"Morning, boys," she said tiredly. "I feel like I'm still drunk. Did I do anything stupid? I don't remember, like, anything."

She could see Charles and Joseph exchanging distressed glances.

"What?" she asked, alarmed. "Did I?"

"No!" protested Vergoux, his voice full of so many different emotions. "It's just... You didn't seem that drunk, to be frank. We are just surprised."

"Thank God," mumbled Gisele, pouring herself some more coffee. "So... Do you mind telling me what happened? Did everyone have fun?"

"Yeah, pretty much," replied Charles immediately. Joseph stayed silent, seemingly deep in thoughts. "Drinking, smoking, playing cards. Everything we normally do, nothing bad happened."

"That's good," was Gisele's response. The three of them sat together, drinking coffee, waiting for Annick and Jean to wake up and just trying to get themselves together.

By the time the last two arrived, it was already almost afternoon. Annick looked pretty good; she came downstairs all dressed and washed, tired, but with a big smile on her face. She greeted everyone as she usually did and once they got the girl some tea, because she didn't like the taste of coffee, the four of them moved to the living room, as there was way more space than in the kitchen.

Jean was the last one to stumble down, barely awake and shirtless. Charles immediately threw some sweater at him, instructing Gisele's brother to dress up, which he did, but not without flipping Vergoux off first.

"Did you throw up? You reek," said Gisele, when Jean sat down next to her. He sent her an annoyed look.

"Fuck off, Gigi," he mumbled, taking her cup and downing it in one go. As soon as he saw that it was empty, he groaned, then stood up to go to the kitchen, grabbing his cigarettes on the way.