Indestructible: Reinforced

Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

     March 2010

     Pissing Contest Number One

     La Canon, a place I’d loved and a place that had held a lot of good memories for me, now seemed very ominous as I looked at it from across the street. Josh had gone there after attending a couple of lectures and he’d asked me if it was alright if I came down from the house myself. It felt a lot like déjà vu, going to meet him and his friends at La Canon, but I hadn’t been that nervous back then.

     I squared my shoulders and crossed the street, clutching my purse tightly. I was wearing a red cotton blazer over a white blouse, dark skinny denims, and red seven-inch-heeled sandals. My hair fell down my shoulder and I’d applied some mascara to my eyes. I looked good.

     Pushing open the door, I braced myself for whatever was to come. His friends were not easy to deal with, he’d told me that, and they were going to give me a hard time before I was let in in their little group. Josh had tried to calm me down and reassure me as much as he could, but I was still nervous. Not as much as I’d been, but still.

     I heard Josh’s hearty laughter and I found him. Olivie, the strawberry-blond-haired one, was sitting close to him on the couch that lined-up the wall. His forearm was resting on the table infront of him and he was listening to her as she spoke into his ear.

     I started seeing red.

     “Shit.” I breathed as I walked towards their table. I was going to get through this no matter what, I wasn’t going to let them win this one. Even if I was terrified and every insecurity I ever had was gnawing its way out of the vault I’d locked them all in, trying to get to the surface and make me come up with some lame excuse to leave and not hang out with them, thus saving myself the impending embarrassment and shame.

     “Hey!” He got up and walked around the table. Olivie looked at me exasperatedly and I gave her a look that Avy had taught me for occasions like these. Then I turned to Josh and beamed at him.

     “Hey.”

     He gave me a quick peck then rested his hand on the small of my back. “Tout le monde, c'est Gaby. Certains d'entre vous ont rencontré auparavant.” He was grinning a lot and I almost laughed. He was like a little boy flashing around his new toy, it was cute. Didn’t make me less nervous, but still. “Everyone, this is Gaby. Some of you have met her before.”

     “Salut.” I smiled at all of them. There were a couple of new faces there. Anton, Marc, Olivie, and Colette were there, and two other girls who were also very pretty. One had chocolate-colored skin and green eyes, her brown, curly hair was piled above her head and some ringlets fell down her cheeks. The other was tanned and had sandy hair and green eyes, but she didn’t look stuck-up at all, and she was actually smiling at me warmly. I couldn’t hate her now.

     “Gaby!” Marc grinned at me. “Nice to see you again.”

     They weren’t being that horrible to me. Maybe Josh had overreacted. “You too.”

     “Gaby, this is Ariane.” Josh pointed at the curly-haired girl. “And Camille.” He pointed at the friendly one and she widened her smile.

     “Nice to meet you all.” I smiled warmly at Camille.

     “Do you want me to get you something to drink?” Josh asked.

     “Here we go.” Anton sighed. “And the Irish comes out.”

     “It’s what we have in common.” Josh said. “You won’t let me say one word in English. She accepts me as I am, let me have this moment.”