Jay pov resumed**
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I was a little bit mad at Riley, yeah. But once I got home, I realised I was just extremely hungover, and proceeded to pass out and then forget all about it.
The next couple of days passed and things were relatively normal.
Riley came into the cafe every day I was working, ordering a coffee (And occasionally some actual food). Sometimes he brought Dylan, now, too.
"I don't know how to talk to Forrest," Riley sighed. I sat opposite him, my shift just finished. "What's the roommate drama now? I swear you can never catch a break."
"Have I not told you? Really? At the party, Forrest got mad at me because of the jacket, and he said some annoyingly cryptic shit about how we--As in, him and I, don't act like just friends. And I was drunk out of my mind and had no clue what he was on about, so I was just like... But we broke up! And we're just friends!
And he said nothing. So I was like. We know we're just friends right? And then he just shoved past me, and it's been really awkward since. I'm considering pretending I don't remember it happening."
My stomach tightened. Maybe I was right to overthink all of those little glances and laughs between the two of them.
"Wow. I didn't mean to start shit," I apologised, "I just thought it'd be funny. I didn't think he still liked you."
"Don't worry, it's not your fault. I guess it's mine because I didn't realise I was accidentally sorta leading him on." He sipped from his drink. His notepad was open in front of us. I peaked at it.
"Is that me?"
We were in early November now. Riley's date was backwards in the book. I didn't say anything about it because I like him too much---but just know that it is so wrong.
"Oh, yeah," he laughed, "I'm obviously not an artist." There was a small doodle of me. Well, me. It had a circle head with sort of wavy, long hair that was half scribbled in with a blue pen. It was wearing an apron over its stick body.
"It's cute," I said, holding it closer. It had a large smile, that I certainly would never have at work.
"Thanks." He almost blushed. Underneath the doodle were a few work notes I didn't understand, and the word Forrest was written four times and then scribbled out.
"Wanna explain the Forrest thing?" I asked curiously, setting it back down.
"I was thinking." He rubbed his temples. He looked pretty tired, but he almost sort of pulled it off--like, he literally looked pretty tired. He was tired and pretty at the same time. Like it was an artificial sort of tiredness.
And it kept going on like that. The first two weeks of November passed, and Riley had confessed that he very non-subtly hinted to Forrest that he remembered nothing from the party. It was now our secret, which I kind of hated for how un-honest it was, but I understood the circumstances. Plus, I won't lie, it's kind of sweet to have something just between us.
We have a lot of things just between us.
Lapin, the white rabbit plush, being one of them. Our bench, in the small empty park, next to the water. The corner seat in the cafe.
Paris isn't really a snowy place, especially not in November, so it was just sort of cold all the time and not actually wintery looking.
Riley cuddled up to me, wearing a thick coat, on the bench. "My birthday's next month," he remarked. It was around eleven PM. I had been staring absently at my lock screen for the past twenty minutes. It was the picture of me and Riley, a confused little smile on his face, unsure of what was happening. Us on the balcony, Halloween night, hand in hand.
"Oh? When?" I asked.
"Twelfth," he mumbled sleepily, "When's yours?"
"February fourteenth."
"Ohh! Valentine's day! Cute. That's cute."
"Not really," I laughed shyly. He reached up to play with my hair.
"It is. My sister's birthday is Christmas Eve."
"That must suck."
"Probably. I always get her one birthday gift and then separate Christmas ones so she feels less shit about it. I also know someone whose birthday is actually on Christmas."
"It feels too early for Christmas talk," I sighed.
"True."
The days flew in, the same comfortable cycle looping around and around. Forrest came back to the cafe with Riley a few times and he was very relieved about it---texting me excitedly that things seemed normal again.
The butterflies in my stomach every time Riley laughed were becoming more and more prominent each week.
Soon, it was December.
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wordcount: 798
yes this whole chapter is a time skip