𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐞

50|| Nothing

Celeste // February 27
•••

Ones outside I instantly light a cigarette, desperately taking a drag.

It's far from enough and my efforts in trying to smoke less would all go to waste if I'd spend the entire evening smoking a pack. So that's why I instead put two nicotine plasters on my arm, harshly pressing them against my skin in the hope to speed up the process.

Piero was the one that had given them to me. He told me they'd helped him smoke less and that his wife was very happy about the fact that his clothes didn't smell so gross anymore.

"Celeste?"

I turn. There was no one outside and even though the garden lights provided sight, it was still a little dark.

But I see her, it's impossible not to when she's so fucking noticeable in everything she does.

I contemplate on not answering. To just disappear into the shadows and grow one with the darkness until she gives up and heads back into the party.

I know that would be the smart thing to do, but for some reason I can just not get myself to ignore her.

"Oui."

A quiet gasp escapes her lips before she turns and walks over to me. I'd chosen a spot away from the large windows that provided glass between the gardens and the busy ballroom of the mayor's house.

"Que faites-vous ici?" she asks. (What are you doing here?)

Her face looks concerned, but when I blow out the last drag of smoke and flick my cigarette butt away her expression falls in disappointed understanding.

"You smoke?" Her eyebrows pinch together. "That's very unhealthy, Cel, you should quit."

"I know," I say, pressing the two plasters into my skin ones more. "I'm trying to."

It's silent for a moment and the space separating us is not enough. I need her back in France, I need the ocean to be back between us again.

"Why'd you just leave?" Her voice sounds delicate, soft and vulnerable, so much even that for a moment I'm confused if she's referring to me leaving the ballroom or France.

I decide to answer both of them.

"Because I wanted to."

She nods, her eyes flickering away to the ground for a second as she wraps her hands around her upper arms, trying to shield her skin from a cold breeze that passes.

I lean against a wall of the mansion and I'm just about to give in and light a second cigarette when I feel eyes on me.

More specifically, eyes on my tits.

I look up and Josette instantly looks away, her blush even visible in the twilight.

"You.. ehm," she says. "You've changed."

"Thank you."

I don't care if she meant it in a positive or negative way, all I care about is that I'm not the same person that got her out of a burning house and almost died in the dirt while she did nothing but call me a liar.

"You haven't changed." I push myself off the wall.

She frowns. "I haven't?"

"No," I say. "You seem like the same selfish glass child as you were back then." I glance at her wedding ring. "Only now you've married."

"Tobias is good to me." She takes a step forward. "And I am none of those things. You should know that."

I send her an unimpressed look. "I don't know that."