Pen to Paper [N.H.]

9.3 - Improvements - Jealousy

Chole's POV

I finish getting ready and I go to the place where I'm meeting Niall to continue working. Things are less tense than before. But I'm trying my best not to overthink it. We're just friendly with each other and it doesn't necessarily have to go anywhere else. Apart from the awkward "Do we hug or not" moment when we met up again, everything is going well and we're working on finishing the book together.

After an hour of typing and lots of coffees, we take a little break, just laughing and catching up on each other's lives, which is basically just him telling me what his friends did and me laughing.

I suddenly feel hands on my shoulders, a familiar voice saying, 'Salut bébé!'

My head snaps to look at the strange man who's calling me baby, and immediately relax as I see it's just Julien. I roll my eyes with a smile at him. I know what he's doing. He saw that I'm with Niall and felt the need to "Save Me" or whatever. I play along only for some childish reasons. I'm curious to see Niall's reaction. Julien and I are just friends. We'll never be more than friends, we both know that. I tilt my head exposing my cheek to him hinting at a kiss. So he leans down and kisses my cheek and I do the same to him. He stands back up straight and I rest my head on his chest.

'Julien you know Niall right? Niall this is Julien. I've told you about him no?' I saw with an extra innocent look.

'Yeah... You told me he's your best friend.' He says suspiciously with a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

'Oh, he is.'

I turn my head back and upwards slightly to see Julien, 'What are you doing here?'

'Well, I finished work early and I knew I'd find you here so I thought I'd drop by. Definitely didn't think you'd be busy with someone. What's he doing here?' He asks, looking Niall dead in the eyes, making sure he's understanding even if his accent in English isn't the best.

'We were just working on the book. But we're almost done.'

'Great! So you don't mind me joining!' 

Before I can even answer, he sits on the free chair around our table, making himself comfortable.

'Please continue! I'm not even here.'

'So Niall you were telling me about...'

Niall hesitantly continued the story he was telling me earlier. He was certainly uncomfortable. I actually didn't think Julien would've joined us. I thought he'd just say hi and then leaves us alone. But I guess he doesn't want me to be alone with Niall. This is not okay, but I'm not gonna show Niall that.

'Hey, Niall?' I interrupt his story.

'Yes?'

'I'm starting to feel a little hungry, could you be a dear and get me something to eat?'

'Of course! What do you want?' He asks, quickly standing up.

'Chocolate cake with extra chocolate sauce on top. It's her favourite.' Julien quickly answers before I could.

Niall looks at me waiting for confirmation, I nod with a smile and wait till he leaves. I turn back to Julien, glaring at him, switching to French.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' I question him.

'I could ask you the same thing! I thought you don't want to be friends! I thought you said you just want to finish the book and go your separate ways! I come here and I find you not only hanging out with him but laughing too?'