A Musical Mayhem

25 - Bree (Part 2)

"Did something happen with between you and Flynn, Bree?" Arielle asked worriedly as she conspicuously glanced from me to Flynn, then from Flynn to me. She could probably sense that something was wrong, but I wasn't going to tell her about that right now.

"Nope, everything's fine," I said flatly, keeping myself from rolling my eyes. It wasn't like I was mad at Flynn - if anything, he should be mad at me. But . . . I had tried to defend Flynn from the elf twins, but all he had done was brushed me away and then just pretended to apologize to me afterwards. I couldn't believe that I had ever had such complicated feelings for a shallow guy like him.

"I don't think you guys are," Arielle said slowly. She clearly wanted answers, but . . . why couldn't she just ask Flynn about it? I was sure that he would want to tell her.

Ever since I had left him alone back at the food court, I hadn't made any eye contact with Flynn, nor had I tried to talk to him again. When he had seen me in Ms. Rudos' group after everyone had eaten, he had tried to talk to me again once, but had hesitated and held back. After that, we had basically acted like we didn't even know each other. Which was perfectly fine with me.

"Arielle, let's just talk later about this. It's not a big deal," I said, plastering a fake smile on my face and trying not to sound like a brat.

"All right," Arielle said softly. Because she was, you know, like, one of those completely not non-grateful, shallow, and unappreciative people I encountered sometimes. Unlike some people I knew.

The last thing I ever wanted to do, at least for today, was turn around and look at Flynn, who was sitting with Claude behind me and Arielle. I wasn't going to talk to him - he clearly didn't appreciate even my awkward friendship. I realized only now that to tell the truth, we had never really been friends at all. We had just thought and believed we were. I didn't anymore.

The welcoming ceremony went by in a flash - and honestly, I didn't even really remember any of it afterward. It had been amazing, with all these different lights, my favorite pop songs, fun staff members, meeting new people, and everything - but it had all just been a blurry image. Because the whole time, all I had been thinking about was Flynn.

I didn't know why it bothered me so much. I couldn't even put my finger on it - was I feeling so bad because I had tried to do the best I could for Flynn, only to find out that he didn't even seem to appreciate it? Was it because I felt like I wasn't good enough for him, friend or non-friend? Was it because he didn't turn out to be the person I had always thought he was? Was I jealous in a way that Flynn hadn't seemed to mind Evelyn just pushing him aside like that, but he had minded that I had cared about it too much, even though it wasn't even that important? Or was I just overracting about this whole thing?

Ms. Rudos called for our group back outside the auditorium. It had already been four hours since we'd arrived at the centre, and the city of Paris was pitch-black now, except for, of course, the beautiful and luminous lights that were floating around outside. Ah, yes. This was what I always had been waiting for. But now, I couldn't even enjoy my first night here anymore.

I parted ways with Arielle and Claude, making plans for the four of us to meet again in the morning tomorrow, although none of us knew our hotel room numbers yet. Hopefully, they were close by to each other. But right now, I really wished that my room was not anywhere near Flynn's. He was constantly taking up too much space in my mind, and he was honestly the last person and thing I wanted to be thinking about. I had to get a good night's sleep on my first night in Paris. With no one and nothing to distract me. Well, scratch that now, because there was no way that was happening anymore.