Straight Circle

chapter twenty-six

JENNIE

She knows I'm keeping something to myself but I rather die than telling her that I saw her fooling around with some random man. This is too embarrassing and I would like to keep my silence forever.

I scoff and look at the opposite side of her, "I've got nothing to say."

She doesn't seem to be satisfied with my answer but I ain't going to tell her what I did and what I saw.

"You're lying. I know you are hiding something because you won't even look at me," she says.

I dart my eyes on her and arch an eyebrow to show her that she's wrong. I can look at her and it discredits her assumption.

"Why are you here?" I ask her in a firm tone.

"As I already told you two minutes ago: you and I need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you," I point my fingers on her collarbone causing her to frown.

"Why's that?"

"Because you—" I start before auto-censoring me. I almost told her. Oh shit, that was hella close. I widen my eyes and pinch my lips. "Did nothing! And... And voilà !"

I guess she has the power of making me nervous.

"Voilà?" she tilts her head in amusement.

"Stop talking to me when I'm drunk! I don't know why I blurt out that word!" I yell but it seems to entertain her. "I don't even speak French!"

She chuckles and puts her hand on her mouth to cover her laugh. I glare at her, "Stop laughing at me!"

I don't feel like I'm intimidating because she keeps looking at me as if I was the most comical clown. I let out a sigh and rest on the leather seatback.

"Are you done?" I ask, annoyed.

She smiles at me, "You're so funny or should I say, tu me fais rire."

I roll my eyes at her comment with an impeccable French accent. She's always been good at learning languages so it's not a surprise for me. As long as I can remember, she can speak at least five languages fluently: Japanese, Korean, English, Thai, and French.

"What do you don't understand when I said I don't speak french?"

She is, without a doubt, the most fearless person I have ever met. I can ruin her life, and yet, here she is, mocking at me with a proud smile. I'm trying to be mad at her but I can't. I have missed her so much. I didn't realize this sooner because I thought that I could handle the fact of not having her in my life. Guess I was wrong – she's someone I need.

"I can teach you," she smiles at me with sparkling eyes.

She has a beautiful smile. Sometimes, it surprises me and I find myself staring at her perfect aligned white teeth. I hate my gummy smile even though people tend to compliment me on this. They think it's cute but I don't really see the beauty of a prominent gum.

I roll my eyes and look at her with a slight grin, "Nah, I'll pass. Plus, I bet you'll only teach me insults or naughty words."

"You're no fun!"

"Speak to me in French, I may understand nothing but I love hearing that language. It sounds so sexy," I add.

Lisa pats her chin with her fingertip and looks up. I noticed that when she's thinking about something, she unconsciously bites her bottom lips.

"Let me think..."

"Just tell me something random," I try to help her.

She locks her doe-eyes in mine and smiles with an impression of bitterness.