Night On Set ❁ COLIFER

Chapter 37 ❁ Think about an elephant

Jen's POV

My brother went through this annoying phase when he was about five years old where he would try and annoy me until I lost it. His favorite game was the simplest one: he would tell me not to think about an elephant, don't think about an elephant, don't think about an elephant... and then he would say, "You're thinking about an elephant, aren't you?"

He always won. I was eight, and the satisfaction of my little brother and his taunting laugh was enough to drive me mad. Which, of course, made him laugh even harder.

It was a stupid game, and he grew out of it after a few months. I haven't thought about it in years, but now I'm playing that exact same game with myself.

Only this time it's not an elephant I'm trying not to think about. It's Colin's crush-that-isn't-a-crush on Julia.

Before our little talk, I hadn't even noticed they were getting along that well. I was just too busy hoping he would like my family to actually see what was going on, but now that I know about it, it's like there are signs everywhere.

One of them being their new tradition to go to the boulangerie together. I try not to let the thought consume me, but I feel my stomach tensing up every time I think about how that should be us going for our morning run. But it's not just that; he helps out with little Ellie whenever he can. When we go for a long walk on our fifth day in France, he keeps her on his shoulders for three hours straight.

I can see Julia's face lighting up a little more every day. Every once in a while, I catch them talking to each other in hushed voices, and cracking up. I haven't heard my sister laugh like that since she broke things off with Ellie's dad.

And I'm happy for her, but when I walk in on them on the morning of the seventh day, when they're in a fit of laughter over some inside joke, I freeze for a second and take a step back.

I end up changing my mind about getting a glass of water and return to the basement empty-handed.

* * *

I'm not the only one who notices.

On the eighth day, at the end of one of our last full days in the house, I only head upstairs when everyone else has already gone to bed. I turn off the TV —I wasn't really paying much attention anyway— heave a sigh and push the blanket off me. Without the sound and the light of the TV, the basement is dead quiet and pitch black.

I use the little red light on the plug box to guide me to the light switch. With one hand on the railing of the stairs, I shuffle my way upstairs. By now I have a pretty good idea of which steps tend to creak, but I still cringe every time I make a noise.

Eventually I get back to my room. The door handle of my door is the one that squeaks the most out of all the door handles in the house, so I quickly push it down and hurry inside.

"Hey, you."

I gasp; Daniel is lying on my bed, his arms under his head, and a smirk on his face. "Jesus, Daniel. That's not funny." I put a hand on my chest, closing my eyes for a second.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

I grumble something under my breath as I put my phone on my nightstand. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Just chilling in your room."

"Oh, really?"

"Actually, no." He props himself up on his elbows and slides his legs off the bed. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

I come to a halt right next to the bed, snapping my mouth shut. I don't even have to ask him to be sure; we're both thinking about the elephant. The elephant being Colin and Julia.

But because I'm in the denial phase, I push against his chest to make him move and crawl into bed next to him. "I'm doing just fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I don't know..." He sees an opportunity and snatches my phone from the nightstand. "Because you've been more silent the last few days?"

"I haven't, and I'm fine," I repeat. I throw myself on top of him. "Give my phone back, Daniel."

"Relax, I'm just curious."

"Curious about what?"

He smirks, still holding my phone out of reach. Eventually I stop grabbing for it and let my hands fall in my lap.

"Okay, whatever," I say. I'm not in the mood to fight him for it, and he's going to leave my room faster if I just give him what he wants.

I sigh and grab my book, and Daniel plops back down on the bed with his feet on my second pillow. He hums the melody of a song as he kicks the pillow with his feet. "So, about Colin," he says casually after a few minutes.

I look at his outstretched body over the edge of my book, grateful that he's turned away from me. "What about him?"

"Well, nothing, really. I've just noticed that he's getting along with Jules. Haven't you?"

He knows I have. He just wants to get the answer out of me, and I won't let him.

I drop my gaze, pull up my knees, and turn back to my book. "Yeah, I guess."

He grins.

My gaze flicks back to him before I can control myself. I take a peek at what he's looking at, and I see he's reached my photo album; my mind automatically makes a quick mental scan of all my pictures, but I think I'm good. I might have some screenshots of weird poems and sayings, but it won't interest him enough to take a proper look at it.

But maybe I shouldn't have been so sure that I was safe.

"Oh. My. God."

His feet sink down on the pillow and he completely stops moving, but it's the tone of his voice that makes the alarm bells in my head go off.

"What?" I glance over my book. He's looking at a picture, but I can't quite make out which one it is. I draw back the sheet and poke him with my toe. "Dude, what?"

Finally, Daniel turns his head towards me, and his eyes go wide. "You are the monkey girl?"

❁ No idea how many years Daniel and Jen are apart, so that's another wild guess. In other news: I did it again. Wrote a big chapter, split it into two parts. Next one is coming up ;) ❁