ripped jeans | hes

forty nine

double post for the holidays :) make sure to leave a vote and comment if you enjoyed ! -Gigi

soigné (adjective) - possessing an aura of sophistication in dress, manner, or design; presented or prepared with an elegance attained through care for finer details

"Think about it like this," Harry brought his bottom lip into his mouth. "Everything rips, clothes, sheets, books, people. So, why not speed up the process? It just so happens that jeans look good after they're ripped, so why not?"

I didn't know what to say. His mind was complex is ways I could never fathom. And maybe that's what I admired so much about Harry, his ability to keep me surprised by his intelligent words and careful thoughts.

I leaned back in my seat and let out a longing breath, taking in his words. "Everybody, as in people, rips?"

"Yep."

"How? In what way?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him, trying to understand.

Harry exhaled sharply before speaking, his voice heavy with his accent. "It's different for everybody. It could be a small rip, that only lasts a while before it gets fixed. It could be one of those rips, you know, those rips that become even bigger the more you try to fix it. I don't really know what I'm saying, but it makes sense in my head."

I tugged at my bottom lip and looked over at Jacob with squinted eyes. "Do you think about that in a philosophical way? Rather in a physical way?"

"Hmm." Jacob's eyes traveled to the window, to his hands, and then back up at me. "Sure. If it isn't shitty enough that somebody would physically destroy perfectly good articles of clothing, let's talk philosophically. I don't know, this might just be my teacher, interpretative, brain speaking but you'd have to think that maybe he just has an impulsive personality, and from that I would assume that he would break anything valuable, including good people. He'd use good people for a while, until he's bored of them and just rips right through them, mentally speaking, of course. I can't read a situation like I read Catcher in the Rye, picking at each little something that could be a big something."

I scoffed, drumming my fingers against the table. I ran my tongue along the front of my teeth before looking up at Jacob with hooded eyes, clinging onto his every word.

Jacob took a sip of his tea. "But that's just my evaluation. I made it all one, big, metaphor."

"Yeah." I closed my eyes and shook my head, my head physically hurting from how Jacob had twisted it.

Jacob suddenly fell silent, hiding his lips behind his tea cup.

* * *

After an hour of talking back and forth, we had finished our meal.

"Are you doing anything right now? I'm going to The Grove if you want to come along." Jacob offered. "Harp wanted me to pick up some things."

I pushed open the door as I slipped outside and Jacob trailed behind. I turned to him, adjusting the straps on my backpack. "I have an 11 am."

"I'll write you a note if you feel like cutting."

I whipped my head to Jacob. "Excuse me?"

"Kidding." He chuckled nervously, but I could tell that he wasn't kidding.

I ignored the wave of awkwardness. "So, um, which internship do we like the best?"

"Philly."  Jacob smiled, fist pumping the air.

"I like Philly, too." I agreed passionately. "But downtown isn't too bad."

"Sure." I could tell that he was strongly set on Philadelphia just by his voice. "But Philadelphia is the best one, you have to admit. I'm going to look into starting the paperwork for that and start the recommendation letter."