— an afternoon affair —
March 25th, 1939
IF MARGUERITE'S PLAN of marrying rich ever fell through, Giselle was entirely convinced that the girl could make a very successful career in the fashion industry.
Spending an hour with Marguerite primping and styling her allowed Giselle to get a glimpse inside of her brain. Marguerite spoke all about the latest fashion in London, even knowing some of the trends in other countries like France, Spain, and Italy.
She also droned on and on about Giselle's coloring, holding up different dresses to assess which color suited her best until she narrowed it down to a beautiful sky blue chiffon dress that she said matched Giselle's eyes and complimented her skin and hair.
Marguerite then curled Giselle's hair with swift, skilled hands and carefully sculpted it into a masterpiece that rivaled the 1930s bombshells that appeared on the big screen. She also made sure to secure a white hat on Giselle's head in a particular way, perfectly titling it to the side to keep the sun off of her without blocking her face.
Giselle felt like a soldier being prepped for battle, except instead of a gun she had a tube of red lipstick and a smile.
Marguerite finished the look off by adding light makeup and making her put on pearl earrings and dainty, lace gloves.
Once she was done, she positioned Giselle in front of the mirror and stepped back to admire her work. "Oh, Marguerite, you've really out-done yourself," Giselle gushed.
Marguerite slid into the mirror next to her, smiling at her reflection. "I just love dressing people up."
"Well, you're going to have to keep doing this for me from now on," Giselle half-joked. "You have some serious skill."
Marguerite hugged her. "You're too sweet. Now," she drew back, looking serious, "you are going to go out there with your head held high, and flirt your derrière off!"
"Aye-aye cap'n!" Giselle said back.
Marguerite gave her one last look over her appearance before nodding to herself and pulling her from the room with their arms linked.
Ajay was waiting out in the hallway for them, chatting with Frank. They both turned and smiled when they saw Giselle.
"You look beautiful, Giselle," Ajay said, placing a hand on her shoulder and leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. "Really, Will won't know what hit 'em."
Frank nodded. "You look radiant, Ellie. Show my brother he's a fool. Gertie talks too much about pointless things," he scrunched his nose in displeasure. "I'd much rather have you as my sister-in-law."
Giselle laughed, her spirits lifting.
Marguerite handed her off to Ajay, who linked arms with her and pulled her to his side. "Are you ready?"
Giselle smiled hesitantly. "I-I think so." Her heart jackhammered in her chest as they exited the house, her nerves taking over.
"Hey, you're alright," Ajay whispered to her as they entered the hoard of partygoers. Marguerite broke off to greet a flock of women, but Ajay and Giselle kept on in search of Will. "Keep your chin up, okay? And make Will regret not being with you."
Giselle nodded, trying to bring her confidence back up.
Ajay's smile brightened suddenly. "Oh, I found out some information while you were getting your makeover." Giselle raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Frank told me that Will got into a fight with Marguerite over someone she wanted to invite to her party."
"Who?"
Ajay leaned closer to her. "A certain doctor that Will is not fond of all of a sudden."
"Lawrence?" Giselle breathed out. She hadn't thought of the sweet man and their kiss in months, feeling guilty for ditching him at the party.
"Yep," Ajay replied. "Frank said he got angry that Marguerite had put him onto the guest list, and said that he would call the whole party off if she invited him. He wouldn't tell anyone why he hated the guy so much—"
"Miss Saunders?" someone said from behind them. It was a masculine voice, but not the one that had the ability to turn her brain to mush and make her heartbeat threaten to break her ribs.
She twirled around, coming face-to-face with Steven Sandoval. He smirked at her, his blue eyes raking her over in delight. "My, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
"Hello, Steven," Giselle smiled, feeling Ajay turn as well. Steven's eyes latched onto her companion, his smile faltering slightly. It seemed that she was making the wrong guy jealous.
"Hi, I'm Ajay Kumar," Ajay said, putting out a hand.
Steven took it, giving it a firm shake. "Steven Sandoval." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Who are you to the lovely Giselle, may I inquire?
"Oh, I'm just her friend," Ajay said.
Steven's smile seemed to gain back some of its original intensity. "Interesting," he said. "Do you mind if I have a dance with my beautiful American here? I've been away from her presence for far too long."
Giselle studied him, realizing that flaunting about with Ajay was one thing, but Steven Sandoval was another thing entirely. He seemed to get under Will's skin like no other, making him perfect.
It was a twisted game she was playing, but a broken heart led people to do vengeful things.
"I would love to," Giselle answered. "I'll find you after," she said to Ajay.
"Have fun and make him jealous," Ajay leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Come find me when you get bored of this bloke." He gave her arm a little squeeze before walking off.
Steven took his spot at her side, snaking his arm around her waist and leading her to the patch of grass occupied by dancing couples.
"I'm not very good at dancing," Giselle told him. "This style of dance is a lot different than what I'm used to."
"Don't worry," Steven told her. "If you follow my lead and look beautiful, then you'll do fine, and you're already succeeding at one of those things."
Giselle laughed, though she really wanted to cringe back from him. "My, I almost forgot how much of a charmer you were," she said, keeping up the pretense that she enjoyed his company.
He shrugged, putting a hand on the dip of her waist and holding the other in the air in his as he began swinging and twirling her about the dance floor, her skirt fanning out around her.
Giselle smiled as they danced, enjoying herself a bit more than she thought she would. It wasn't as fulfilling as dancing with Will had been, but it was enough to make her forget about him momentarily.
"You have a beautiful smile," Steven told her over the music, pulling her closer to him.
She just continued to smile at him, but then her eyes snagged at something moving towards them over his shoulder. It was Will and Gertie heading to the dance floor, completely oblivious of her presence.
They smiled at each other and easily fell into step with everyone else, Will leading just like he did when he had danced with Giselle those many months ago.
Giselle quickly averted her eyes, broadening her smile and avoided looking in his direction like her life depended on it.
Even though she didn't see him, her body was still hyper aware of him. That was how she knew it was him who bumped into her minutes later.
"Oh, my apologies," she heard his voice say behind her, her knees nearly dissolving at the smooth sound of his baritone voice.
She turned to face him, his dark green eyes holding onto hers for a few seconds before recognition lit up his face like a match. His lips parted in shock, eyes widening. He looked stunned, like he had seen a ghost.
Despite six months of pain and heartbreak, all Giselle wanted to do in that moment was close the distance between them and pick up where their last kiss had left off.
"Giselle," Will breathed out, dropping Gertie's hands and stilling in his spot.
"William," Giselle acknowledged, her voice as formal and unemotional as possible. She smoothed her features into something she hoped appeared stoic, but she wouldn't be surprised if some of her anger bled out.
"Will, who's this?" Gertie asked, her voice soft and sweet, though Giselle could see the slight worry in her eyes. Giselle hated that the girl was even prettier up close, with her brown, doe eyes and plump lips, but she made sure not to direct any of her anger towards her. She didn't deserve it. No, it was all for Will.
"I'm Giselle Saunders, a family friend of William's," Giselle greeted, pulling away from Steven to extend a hand to Gertie.
Gertie removed her hand from Will's shoulder, reaching out to shake Giselle's. "Gertrude Thompson," she said, pulling her hand back.
"Lovely to meet you," Giselle commented, as if all was well and Will wasn't boring holes into the side of her head, "are you from around here, Gert?"
Gertie nodded, smiling. "Why, thank you, and yes, my family just moved here from Frobisher. My father works at Will's company now."
"As much as I love this little chat," Steven intervened, pulling Giselle into his side with his arm around her waist, "I've worked up quite the appetite. How about you, my beautiful American?"
Giselle's lips curved into a smile when she noticed Will's eyes zero in on the hand at her waist. "Food sounds wonderful, Steven," Giselle replied as Steven began to pull her away. She shot a small wave toward Gertie, but kept her eyes away from Will, even though her face heated under his unyielding gaze.
"Did William not know you were coming?" Steven inquired, something going on behind his eyes that she couldn't quite make out.
"No, he didn't," she informed him. "We had a big fight a few months ago, and I left for home shortly after. We haven't spoken since, but I had to come back. For Marguerite's birthday, that is."
Steven nodded as he absorbed the information. "And what did this fight entail, may I ask?"
Giselle looked at him out of the corner of her eye, pursing her lips at his inquiry. "Nothing too important, just a small disagreement."
"I can only imagine what it was over," Steven commented. "William seems to be a bit dramatic when it comes to you." He tugged her closer to him by the waist as they walked. "What is it that has him so enraptured, I wonder . . ."
She bristled at his words, but otherwise kept herself composed, avoiding his eyes to search for Ajay or someone else she knew well enough to float over to. She was unable to find anyone by the time Steven inserted her into a group of his friends.
All men, of course. It seemed like he had lied about needing food after working up and appetite.
"Sandoval, you best introduce us to this divine creature," the man across from Giselle said, looking her over in interest.
Steven pulled her closer to him, as if claiming her. "Men, this is Giselle Saunders, the beautiful American I've spoken about." The amount of interest in the men's eyes seemed to double, making Giselle want to shrink into herself, but she kept herself calm.
Steven went around the group and introduced the men to her, her discomfort only growing.
The men bounced back and forth asking her questions, making her whip her head from left to right. Some questions were about America, others about herself. It didn't take long for the question of who she was seeing to pop up.
"I'm actually not with anyone right now," she answered honestly, and came to immediately regret doing so.
"Really?" the man to her left, a tall, skinny man named Jakob Hartley exclaimed. "The men you've been around must be blind!"
She smiled. "That's too kind of you."
"How do you like British men?" Roland Fitzgerald, the one across from her with the lingering eyes asked.
"They're much more proper than American men," she admitted.
"How long will you be staying in Gentilly?" Jakob questioned. "I would love to show you my land. I've recently acquired a new horse. Have you ever been horseback riding?"
"I don't know when I'll be leaving," she replied, trying to step around the mention of horseback riding.
"I do hope it isn't for a while," Steven said. "I would love to see more of you." His eyes held hers in a way that made her want to pull away from him, especially when his hand came to rest scandalously low on her back. She froze in place, not sure what to do.
His layers were beginning to shed away, and she was starting to see more and more of the Steven Sandoval that Will had warned her about.
"Giselle, there you are!" Ajay's voice cut through the moment.
Giselle finally gave into the impulse to step away from Steven, even though she could feel the resistance in his arm, and drew close to Ajay.
"Ajay!" she said brightly, telling him in her smile that she was glad he had come to rescue her.
"Marguerite wants you," he told her, holding out an arm. "I'll take you to her."
She slipped her arm through his, pausing to speak to Steven and the group of men. "I guess I'll see you fellas later."
There were a few groans, but Steven only smirk, though she could detect an unknown emotion lurking behind his eyes. "I'll be counting down the seconds," he said to her.
Ajay whisked her away after that, leaning in to whisper to her. "You don't like him, do you?"
"Not at all," she told him. "I mean, did you see how he had his hand on me? Gosh, Ajay, he's so sleazy. I don't know what I was thinking.
"Yeah, Will apparently thought the same thing. He was the one who made me come get you."
Giselle stopped. "What?"
"Yeah, surprised me, too," Ajay said bitterly. "The tosser ambushed me when I was leaving the restroom—got all up in my face and demanded that I go get you from Steven."
Giselle nearly saw red. "He has no right," she said through gritted teeth.
"He still cares for you," Ajay pointed out. "He wouldn't have done that if he didn't care. And you should've seen how he looked when he watched you with those men. All gloom and doom, that one."
"Where is he at?" Giselle asked. She needed to have a word with him.
Ajay looked over to a group of people sitting down at a table, laughing and drinking. He frowned. "Uh, well he was over—"
"Found him," Giselle said, her eyes meeting Will's. He was arm and arm with Gertie, who happily chatted with the group before her as her boyfriend looked positively irate with a clenched jaw and enraged eyes.
Giselle slipped away from Ajay, stomping over the grass to the infuriating man. Will broke away from Gertie, meeting her halfway.
"We need to talk," he seethed, his voice so deep and low that she felt butterflies.
Her anger was quick to stomp out the butterflies, rising fast and steady like steam from a kettle. "You're damn right we do," she hissed.
"Conservatory. No one should be there," Will said gruffly.
"Fine with me." She pivoted in the other direction, beelining straight for the door. Ajay caught her arm before she could reach it.
"You'll be okay?" he asked.
"Oh, it's him you need to worry about," she breathed out.
"I know, but I'm just making sure—"
"She can speak to you later," Will growled as he approached.
Ajay aimed a glare at him before placing a very intentional and very platonic kiss on Giselle's temple. "Good luck," he said lowly in her ear.
"I won't need it." She left him, continuing her journey towards the conservatory, though she did manage to hear Will bump rather roughly into Ajay's shoulder.
The house bustled with a few people and servers coming in and out of the kitchen. Giselle bypassed them and headed upstairs to her destination.
The room was warm and bright as sunlight shone in through the multiple windows. Many plants were already thriving, the small herb garden she had always tended to already starting to revitalize from the winter season.
"I've been taking care of them," Will told her, noticing her gaze on the plants. His voice had lost a portion of its anger, which, in turn, melted away some of hers.
She didn't trust herself to look at him, especially when they were all alone. Instead, she slowly walked around, perusing the plants as she tried to think of where to start. She had a lot to say—six months of heartache to hurl at him, yet there she was, unable to think of anything.
"Are you back together with him?" Will asked out of the blue, his rage seeming to return.
"I don't believe that concerns you," Giselle evaded. "Especially now that Gertie is in the picture." She turned to look at him then, her eyes hard in indignation. "I suppose her lack of time traveling makes her an excellent candidate for a wife."
"Yes, it does," he shot back. Those three words hurt her more than he could ever know. "Especially when she doesn't go off and flirt with a bunch of men right in front of me. I don't know how Ajay puts up with it."
Giselle wouldn't be surprised if flames broke out on her head she was so mad. "Ajay and I aren't together," she told him, barely keeping her wrath contained. "I'm free to flirt with whomever I want to!"
"You shouldn't," he snapped at her. "It's unbecoming of a proper lady."
"You're acting mighty jealous for a man dating another woman," she pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "If anything, I would say that that's unbecoming of a proper gentleman."
He snarled, stepping forward. "I am not jealous!"
"Then why did you make Ajay go pluck me from that group of men, huh? Couldn't stand the sight, could you?"
"I was trying to protect you from Steven. He had his hands on you!"
"There was nothing to protect me from. He wasn't going to do anything," she said, stepping forward. "Not in front of all those people, at least. You knew that. So, no, you weren't just trying to protect me. You. Were. Jealous."
"I'm not."
Giselle raised her eyebrows, slipping on a more innocent expression. "Well, if that's the case, then you won't mind if I go out with one of the new guys I met for dinner, would you?"
The jealousy practically came off of him in waves, so thick and potent it almost felt like there was another person in the room.
"Who?" Will asked, his eyes narrowed.
"His name is Jakob Hartley. He seemed like a kind, respectable man. What about him? Is he a good guy?"
Will visibly faltered, clenching his jaw. "I do not know much of him," he said.
"So you haven't heard anything bad?"
He hesitated before begrudgingly saying, "No."
"Great!" Giselle beamed. "Because he said that he would like to show me his land, and even mentioned horseback riding. You wouldn't mind that, would you, because you're not jealous, and all?"
He didn't say anything, his lips thinned into a harsh line as he stared at her with cold eyes. "No," he said darkly.
"Wonderful!" Giselle exclaimed, a sour smile on her lips. "I'll go tell him that my answer is yes!" She began to walk away, but he surprised her by reaching out and stopping her by his grip on her arm.
She froze, her skin blazing hot from the contact. She didn't dare turn back, keeping her eyes trained on the closed door before her.
"I don't want you going anywhere with Jakob either," he said, his thumb rubbing against her skin before he caught himself and dropped her hand. "I don't want you going anywhere with anyone. Ever."
That spun her around, eyes glaring daggers up at him. "How can you say that, and then tell me you aren't jealous?!"
"Fine!" Will said gruffly, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I'm jealous! Is that what you want to hear?"
She clenched her fists. "You have no right to be jealous," she told him. "You're the one who ended things before they barely began. You're the coward who quit on me because of my ability to time travel. You don't get to be jealous and try to prevent me from being with another man. Not after you broke my heart!"
His flinched back, avoiding her eyes as his hands came up to massage his scalp, ruining his perfectly slicked-back hair. "I know," he rasped. "I know."
"Then why do you do this? Why? Why is it okay for you to be with someone, but not for me? Can I not have happiness?!" she cried out, emotions beginning to pool in her eyes. She hurried to blink them away.
"Will, don't you understand how hard this is on me? It's almost pointless to try and start up a relationship with a man when I might be whisked away to another time at any moment, and it seems to be exceptionally hard to find a man who loves me enough to ignore the time travel and choose to be with me despite it!"
The last part was aimed toward him, and she could tell by the way his face crumpled that he understood as much. He began to speak, but she held up a hand to stop him.
"I don't want to hear it," she said. "If we can't be together, can we at least put some space between us? Clearly you still have feelings for me, which is exactly what you said you didn't want because it'll be too painful for you when I leave, so let's try and get rid of them, yeah? I'll stay away from you, and you stay away from me—and my relationships."
She left him standing there, not waiting for a response. She just wanted to find somewhere to cry in peace, but never got the chance. Steven came out of nowhere when she descended the stairs, intercepting her path.
"There you are," he grinned. "They're about to serve cake," he coiled an arm around her. "Let's hurry before it's all gone." She let him pull her away, feeling like a husk of herself.
The rest of the party went by in a blur, mainly because she knocked back four flutes of champagne and kept herself busy with the children, who had somehow slipped through their temporary nanny's clutches and sniffed her out.
They made avoiding Will's eyes easier than it would've been otherwise, and had effectively driven Steven away.
With liquid courage flowing through her veins, it was easy to keep up a happy, go-lucky facade throughout the rest of the party.
"I hope I'll be seeing you sometime soon," Steven approached Giselle as she sat with Dorothy in her lap, the little girl drawing on the piece of paper she made Ajay get her not too long ago.
Steven reached down and took Giselle's hand from where it rested on the table, pressing his lips to her knuckles.
"I don't know if you will," she told him, winking. "I am a busy gal, after all."
"I hope you'll make time for me," he smirked.
"We'll see." She was able to take a relieved breath when he was finally gone, joining the crowd of people as they made their ways to their cars.
"He's a smarmy bloke, isn't he?" Ajay said as he strolls up to her, downing one of the last glasses of champagne.
"What's 'smarmy?'" Barbara asked from her spot next to Giselle.
"Uh," Ajay drew out, unsure how to break the complex word down to a toddler.
"It's what you call a bad person!" Albert answered from across the table, his second slice of cake smeared across his face.
"Smarmy smarmy smarmy!" Dorothy repeated. "Silly word!"
"Well, you're a silly girl," Giselle teased, poking at her side to elicit a giggle.
"Stop, Ellie!" Dorothy giggled. Giselle held up her hands to show her she had stopped, and she goes back to drawing.
Ajay pulled up a chair next to her, sitting on it backwards in a very not-1939 way. "So, you going to tell me what went down during that 'talk?'"
Giselle frowned. "Can it wait until 2019?"
"Uh, no," he said obviously. "I need to know now before I have to leave and see you who-knows-when!"
Giselle sighed. "Fine," she lowered her voice to prevent the children from hearing. "I basically hounded him about him being jealous and then told him to give me space and to stop meddling in my love life."
Ajay grinned. "Wow. Good for you. What did he say back?"
"Nothing, really, but I guess he's granting me my wish of space, because he hasn't bothered me since. Though, I have no idea how long that will last."
Ajay frowned, holding his chin in his hand as he perched his elbows on the back of the chair. "Should I go talk to him? You know, man to man? You'd both obviously be so much happier together than apart, he needs to realize that."
"No," she said, sweeping back Dorothy's soft, brunette hair from her face and braiding it back absentmindedly. "He's too stubborn to accept any opinion that isn't his own."
"Well, he needs to be told that what he's doing is stupid, because you deserve happiness, and he could give it to you if he wasn't so daft."
Giselle finished the braid before she undid it, shooting Ajay a pleading look. "Can we stop talking about this? I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
"Blimey, Giselle, I'm sorry," Ajay said, reaching out to set his hand on her shoulder. "Let's change the topic, yeah? I'll tell you about my shoes!" He raised a leg, showing her the white Nike's she had forgotten he had on. "They were a hit! Apparently no one had seen anything like it!"
He laughed, setting his leg back down. "Someone even complimented me on the craftsmanship and asked where he could purchase a pair. I told him I got them from America, that they were a new trend. Everyone bought it. Next time I come here, I'm going to bring some of my old shoes and try to sell them. You think I'll make a profit?"
"I think you'll start a butterfly effect," Giselle said back.
"Or make 2019 sneakers the new 1939 trend."
"How that tree ever let you travel with me, I'll never know," Giselle shook her head.
"Speaking of the tree, I should be heading back. Nana will be wondering where I am for dinner, and I have a date with Yvonne in the morning." He stood up, flipping the chair back around and tucking it under the table.
"So soon?" she complained. "But then who will I have to laugh at my pop culture references?"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll see you soon. Maybe the tree will be so kind as to let you leave after a week here. I'm sure if you explain the woes of dealing with Will to it, the old girl will give you a freebie just this once."
Giselle rolled her eyes, shifting Dorothy from her lap so she could stand up. "Hey, Frankie," she called out when she spotted Frank helping the servers to stack up chairs. She beckoned him over with her hand.
"You needed me?"
"Yeah, can you watch the kids? I'm going to walk Ajay back."
Frank nodded, urging the older kids to get up and help start getting chairs as he scooped Dorothy up.
Frank and the kids exchanged goodbyes with Ajay before Giselle and Ajay walked off to go find Marguerite.
They ended up finding her in the dining room, gorging on a slice of cake as she alternated between taking a bite and talking to the girl sitting next to her.
She stopped talking when she saw them. "Oh, did you two want more cake?" she asked, standing up.
"No, I actually came to tell you goodbye," Ajay told her.
Marguerite sighed, playfully pouting. "But you were barely here! At least spend the night!"
Ajay shook his head, moving to give her a hug. "No can do, birthday girl, I've got a girlfriend waiting at home for me."
"A 'girlfriend!'" she exclaimed, pulling back from him. "Oh, heavens, tell me all about her!"
Ajay laughed. "Maybe next time. I tend to ramble on about her, not able to help myself."
"My, my, my, Mr. Kumar, you sound like a besotted fool!" Marguerite teased. "What a lucky lady."
"I tell her that everyday," he quipped back with a smile. "Seriously though, I'll miss you. Hopefully I'll be able to hitch a ride the next time Giselle comes into town."
She pointed a finger at him. "You better, and I expect pictures and a full love story, understood?"
"Loud and clear, Marge, loud and clear."
Giselle and Ajay headed back towards the tree after that, Ajay not bothering to say goodbye to Will. Not only out of spite, but also because he was nowhere to be found. Giselle's guess would be that he was hunkered down in his study after spending a day away from work.
Once they made it to the tree, she hugged Ajay for a long time, knowing she'd miss him like crazy. "Tell Yvonne I said 'hello' and give Selene the rundown about everything that happened, I know she's dying to know."
"I will," he promised her. "And you should try to forget about Will while you're here. Try to distract yourself and keep busy, and if he does come to his senses and realizes that you're the one for him, don't let him off easy. Make him grovel for a bit."
She laughed. "Have you met me?"
"Fortunately, I have." He drew back from the hug, shooting her a smile before taking a step toward the tree. "Oh, and you're way prettier than her, by the way," is what he said before touching the tree and completely disappearing.
She stared at the spot he was in only seconds before, missing him already. "Oh, tree," she sighed, "take me with him. I don't think I'll be able to handle it here."
Giselle placed her palm where his just was, sighing when she didn't get pulled eighty years into the future.
"Did he leave?"
She closed her eyes tightly in annoyance before turning around and meeting Will's gaze. "Yes, he left." She followed the statement up with, "I thought I told you to stay away from me."
"You actually asked me to, and I never agreed," he pointed out.
She sighed, turning away and going to retrieve the suitcase Ajay had hidden behind a tree where they had met with Frank and Sophie.
The crunching of leaves and twigs behind her let her know that Will was following her. "Where are you going?" he asked her.
She ignored him, trudging across the forest floor to the suitcase. It didn't take long for her to locate it, snatching the heavy case up in her grasp. As soon as she passed by Will, she felt the luggage get plucked from her, the irritating man claiming it.
"I was perfectly capable of carrying it myself," she told him.
"That may be true, but I want to carry it for you."
"And I want you to leave me alone."
"Not happening, Elle."
That made her stop in her tracks, her anger from their previous conversation returning full-force. "And why's that, huh? Is it because you know it's something I want and you want to take that away from me? Aren't you done hurting me? Or is this all some sick game to you?"
He glowered. "No, I do not enjoy hurting you. That is not what I'm trying to do."
"Well, I wouldn't have guessed from how you continue to hurt me!"
"That's not my intention! I don't ever want to hurt you or cause you pain, Giselle! And I can't give you space. I can't—I don't think it's in my nature to be apart from you."
She ran her hands over her face in frustration, caring little for her makeup. "Unbelievable," she muttered. "So you're saying that it's 'not in your nature' to be away from me, yet you specifically told me the last time I was here that we shouldn't be together?! Make up your mind, Will, what is it that you want from me?!"
"I don't know, okay?!" he shouted back, dropping the suitcase. "I don't bloody know anymore! This is all so confusing!"
"Come get me when you finally figure out what it is you want," she spat at him before speed walking back to the manor.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Words: 5,528.
Question: Where are you as you read this?
As I write this, I am in my living room doing my best to avoid doing my schoolwork (which consists of no joke 10+ quizzes and two big research assignments, mind you).
On the bright side of my procrastination, I've easily written and edited a bunch of chapters!
See, I always say I hate college but somehow it really motivates me to start writing and stuff because writing keeps my mind off of all of the assignments I'm avoiding.
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!