SAY MY NAME - [J. DESCAMPS]

FOURTEEN

It's a long chapter (and again, I cut it in two💀) almost 9k words...

BUT THE END IS WORTH IT I SWEAR lol

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JOSEPH

While I prepared in front of my mirror, Jean sat by my window, casually giving his opinion about my looks as he gazed out into the quiet night.

"You're sure you don't wanna come?" I asked him as I buttoned my shirt.

"Absolutely certain. My parents are constantly arguing these days, and Camille freaks out at night," Jean sighed. "I'm not in the mood to party anyway."

I smirked. "You're so responsible. If I were you, I would've brought Camille with me and let the parents kill each other, consequences be damned. But that's just me.."

"That's why you don't have a little sister to look after," he chuckled.

I sprayed perfume all over my neck. "I'm not planning to stay too long anyway. Just want to clear my head a little, you know? I can't believe the holidays are over in three days."

"Yep... time flies," he said absentmindedly.

"You shouldn't stress yourself out about your parents, Jean."

He hummed. "I know."

I stared at him throughout my mirror. Jean spent the whole afternoon with me, and the entire time he looked just like he does now. Distant, even a bit sad, and I felt my heart tighten in my chest at the sight of my best friend in this state.

"What drives me nuts is that they won't divorce. You know it's like... a humiliation for them. No offence," he said with a wince and I shrugged. "The problem is that their relationship is consuming them, and it's affecting Camille and me too," he sighed. "But let's just talk about something else."

I knew his pain too well. Seeing my parents tearing themselves apart when I was eight wasn't something easy to deal with too. Even if I didn't understood the implications of what a divorce could do in our lives back then... I was only sad that my dad will no longer live with me.

But at sixteen... I could imagine why Jean wanted for his parents to divorce.

The only thing he should worry about at his age is school and whatever thing a teenager would be obsessed with like, I don't know, football, cars, and... girls.

"Fine... How is it with Rose, by the way?"

He finally cracked a smile. "Saw her a few days ago, we almost kiss."

My jaw dropped to the floor. I wasn't expecting that. "Liar," I shouted as I spun around to face him. "Kiss? Really?"

"I swear. But her dad ruined everything," he said glibly with a roll of his eyes, carrying a cigarette to his lips. "Where's your lighter? I forgot mine."

I threw him the item from where I stood, still confused about what he told me.
Delaunay, kissing Jean?

Of course, I've noticed with how much passion she looked at my best friend, especially at the beginning of the year and that's why Charles and I —mostly me— decided to spread the little rumour about her so-called relationship with Jean-Pierre. To prevent her from keeping Jean all to herself.

But now that they've reconciled, I didn't recall her being clingy to Jean or looking at him in an enamored way, like she used to since the "rumour episode". She was spending more time with Michelle and Simone than with Jean at this point. And that was just fine by me.
So... I just thought that I might have mistaken myself about her feelings about him, because yeah, given the way she behaved when I was around...