La Crêperie

JACKSON | MAY 7TH, 2010

Ines's face flashed in his mind when Jackson had opened his eyes from a good night's sleep. There it was again - the same magnetic force Jackson had felt whenever Ines popped into his head. What was Jackson even doing with his life nowadays? He believed he was just getting out of bed just to go back to it at the end of the day.

His life was no fun without Ines Dumont.

However, this magnetic force was coaxing Jackson to go back to the place where he had since the first day he came to Paris. How bad could it be? Jackson knew he was only wasting time and had to listen to Louise; he just knew it, so he knew what to do. Rolling out of his bed, Jackson held his face in his hands while yawning, preparing to get ready and convincingly go back to La Crȇperie.

As Jackson exited out of his bathroom, Father was standing at the door. "Don't you have school, Jackson?"

"There's a day off," Jackson replied. It was a Friday - and school was off due to a postponed teacher convention.

"So what are you going to do today?" Father asks. Jackson realized that Father was going to start talking about Ines and the canvas and letter.

"The usual," Jackson's voice croaked. He fiddled with his fingers, "I actually don't know, Dad. I want to see Ines, but I'm scared."

"What's the worst that can happen, Jackson?" Father was right; Ines was always very good-natured.

Around 2 PM, Jackson had headed out on the street, hands in his pockets, forehead moist from the sweat collected by his nervousness.

Flashes of moments when Jackson would stare into Ines's eyes played like a video in Jackson's brain, and there was no 'stop' or 'pause' button. It kept playing, side-to-side with reality while Jackson tried shaking it out of his head, but resumed walking the way he would always go.

Jackson walked to see La Crȇperie in the distance... but it looked much more different. A girl who wasn't Ines was standing there, taking the billboards off the top of the door - which read the pastry shop's name.

His eyebrows furrowed, Jackson started to run towards the shop. What was happening?

When he reached, the girl he saw distinctly was Louise... removing the shop's outdoor interior design.

He walked up behind her, slowing his pace. "Louise?" he called.

Louise looked down and then turned around. She didn't say anything, but her facial expression was a mixture of anger and blankness at the same time. "Oh. You're here."

Jackson gasps quietly as he sees the inside of the bakery empty at first glance. He looked back to Louise, entirely confused, as she got off the little stool to remove the 'La Crȇperie' billboard sign. "Louise, what the hell is going on?" His tone sounded surprised and angered, which seemed to match her energy as well.

She threw her hands down to her sides in desperation. "What do you think, Jackson? Read for context clues." She sounded upset.

Jackson sighed and looked down at his shoes. "Louise, where is Ines?"

Louise doesn't reply, as Jackson shakes his head, unable to 'read the room'.

She looks straight ahead while breathing in. Louise turned around, erupting in rage.

"Jackson, this is exactly why I told you to tell her how you feel. I knew that her goal of going to Bernal was going to destroy what you both had anyway. I never expected it to be so soon, but I realized that Ines was getting closer and closer to going to Bernal - which is why, the day I met you, I told you to confess before it would be too late. I thought you did amazing at this plan - with the bittersweet letter and portrait and whatnot," Louise's eyebrows were furrowed as she nearly spat in his face, the pitch in her voice rising. "However, because of your stupidity, you hid from her for a long time, okay? I don't care whether it was just a week. The thing is, Jackson, Ines was granted the biggest opportunity of her lifetime, but she wasn't sure what to do because you ghosted her. The poor girl didn't have a choice - she couldn't even think about it in-depth; why? Because she had no idea whether it was worth wasting the opportunity just because of you. And you weren't even around then, so she had to assume she was never seeing you again."