The Exchange

Chapter 26- A Warrant For Disaster

Long after the sun had gone down Sasha could still feel it's warm rays on her skin. She felt light and fluffy, as though she had captured a part of it inside her and it was vibrating all throughout her body. The day spent with Julien had made her feel giddy and euphoric and she couldn't help but smile.

That evening the family had dinner outside on the patio. It was a mellow night and the sky was a beautiful shade of purple, with a gentle orange flush at the horizon as the sun finally disappeared. A lively buzz surrounded the table as Annette shared numerous funny stories from her childhood. Ben's witty remarks called for even more amusment and Sasha's cheeks ached from laughing. 

A burst of happiness and pure delight had taken ahold of her, and all she wanted to do was giggle. Julien seemed to have been consumed by a similar effect as his hearty laughter was a constant background noise. He appeared even more relaxed tonight, leaning back in his chair with his forearm resting on the table. 

Sasha was glad to see him in such good spirits. He'd even commended her mother's choice of wine, saying that she must have good taste because this rosé was made very near his hometown provence, Marseille. Annette had eagerly perked up at this, suddenly wanting to know everything. 

'Culture-whore', Sasha thought rolling her eye. Her mother was sometimes a bit over the top with her fact collecting, as though she were a magpie that couldn't get enough of shiney things. The shiney things in this case were little cultural ancedotes that she could then use to show off to her friends making her appear well-travelled, even though she'd only left Britian a couple of times. And even though this often annoyed Sasha, she also found Annette's keenness to learn endearing.

Hearing a muffeled and unexpected beep coming from her pocket, Sasha retrieved her phone to check who was texting her. She tilted her head forward to get a better view of the screen as she held her mobile hidden under the table. Annette had a strict rule of 'no phones at the table' but Sasha thought she might be safe as her mother was otherwise engaged in unloading a huge pile of questions onto Julien.

Her mobile was vibrating so hard that she worried it might fly out of her grasp. A continious stream of messages from Cass meant she had to keep on scrolling through the group chat making her thumb hurt.  

Cass seemed fuming. Her sentences were in all caps stating things like, 'FFS WHERE HAVE U BEEN?!', and 'SO U JUST DECIDE 2 CUT UR FRIENDS OUT?'

Sasha could picture her friends face now; the piercing glare, the bared teeth, the intimidating scowl. Cass could be a nightmare when she wanted to be, and she had absolutely no desire to get on the wrong side of her. But the last few days she'd been so preoccupied with Julien, he seemed to be the only thing playing on her mind. And then the whole ordeal with her father. Her life had suddenly amped up and these constant changes and developments that her friends had been put on the backburner. Sasha's good mood dispersed almost completely as her brain became muddled with guilt and worry.

'I'm sorry', she typed back, 'I've been so busy with my family. How are you both?'

Polly didn't seem as angry as Cass but her texts were still short and blunt. She explained that her and Andrew had gotten back together (as they always did) and had been spending most of their days with one another. Neither of them asked Sasha how she was doing or picqued curiosity as to why she was so busy at home. 

"Sasha get off your phone", her mothers voice came from the other end of the table. She raised her head, embarrassed that she had been busted and met Annette's hard glare. 

"Okay mum, I'm sorry but can I please just finish messaging Cass? It's important".

Ben scraped his seat back and straightened his posture so he appeared taller in his chair, "If you get your phone out then I'll get my phone out and it will be complete chaos. I suggest you put it away now!"

Sasha snorted at her brothers attempt to act big and mature, knowing that he was trying to impress Julien. 

Annette placed an elbow on the table top and leant a hand, palm open, towards Sasha motioning for her to give up her phone, "It's always important with you guys. But you know the rules. You can have it back after dinner".

"Are you serious? I'm not a kid anymore. You can't just take my stuff away from me whenever you feel like it", Sasha whined.

Annette pursed her lips, and narrowed her eyes, "My house, my rules. While you are living here you'll do as I say", she demanded, jabbing the air with a finger. 

"Fine", Sasha sighed, defeated by her mother's growing frown, "take it. And I'm done with dinner". She stood up, grabbing her plate from the table and strode to the kitchen. 

Cass seemed livid on the group chat and now that Annette had taken her mobile and she'd gone off in a strop she had no way of fixing it. She felt terrible for not putting more effort into meeting up with her friends. They were usually inseprebable, especially in summer. And if anything it was usually Cass and Polly that would flake off when Sasha tried to arrange meeting up, generally because they were busy with boys or boyfriends. She wouldn't even give them lip about it and accepted all of her friends feeble excuses, sometimes happy for the time apart. 

It was also Sasha who usually arranged everything and she was the main host of sleepovers or pressured into having small gatherings at her house. Not that she complained, it meant she got to see her friends and an instant invite. But occasionally wished they put some effort into things as well, instead of letting it all weigh on her own shoulders. It often seemed that Polly and Cass only tended to get everyone together when an event had happened in their own lives that they wanted to dish the dirt on. 

Sasha was an extrovert introvert which meant she liked being social but when she needed time to herself that was final. Cass and Polly were the opposite. They craved attention, wanted to be surrounded by friends all the time and went out most days or nights. They were just different people with different needs. And normally everything worked out fine, except now Sasha knew she had really upset them. Plus they were both quite petty and held grudges easily which meant that she had a lot of ass licking to do. 

Slotting her plate into the dishwasher she turned around, noticing that Julien was standing watching her from the doorway. 

"Are you okay?", he asked, "What was that about?"

Sasha pulled a face, "My friends. They're pissed off that I haven't seen them recently".

"Because of me?" 

She nodded her head and propped a hand on her hip, "I'll have to call them later and try to work it out".

Julien observed her sideways for a moment and then his eyes lit up, "Why don't we all do something together?"

"Are you serious?"

He gave her a cheesy grin, "You met my friends, it's time that I met yours".

Sasha crossed her arms over her chest, "I didn't really meet your friends. And that night went really badly! Are you sure we should listen to your 'amazing' ideas?"

Julien placed a hand on his chest, "I'm shocked by your manque de confinance (lack of trust)".

"Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"It means you don't trust me", he explained.

"Yes that would be correct", Sasha replied, tapping her foot impatient for this conversation to be over. It wasn't that she didn't want Julien to meet her friends but there was also a tiny niggling of worry deep in her stomach. She was enjoying how things were progressing at the moment when it was just them and no one else- there was no stress and nothing seemed forced. But suddenly adding lots of things into the mix didn't seem like the best idea. 

Julien rubbed his jaw while thinking about how to make his suggestion more appealing, "I know, how about I invite some of my friends as well? Then we can all hang out together".

Sasha flinched at his suggestion. Did that mean Carla was going to turn up? Because if so then she wouldn't even consider his proposal. Carla made her feel like an imbecile just by glancing at her and there was no way in hell she would willingly enter into a situation with that girl. 

"Which of your friends would you invite?", she prodded, trying not to appear obvious.

"Probably just Luis and Jean-Marc, you met them both at the party".

'You're getting too wrapped up in yourself', a voice in Sasha's head cried, 'stop worrying and overthinking all the time. Besides Carla isn't coming'. 

She grinned at Julien, "Okay, I'm in".

Had she just issued herself a warrant for disaster?