One Paris Summer (Blink) (35 page)

“Gather your things, and I’ll walk you home. And I’ll get you something to eat. I can’t let you starve.”

As we walked back to my apartment, Mathieu told me about his day, tutoring some younger kids with math and reading, then helping to paint a classroom. We stopped for savory
crêpes
and finished eating them by the time we got to my apartment.

“Would you like to come up?” I asked. “Now that we are out in the open? Or would it be too awkward for you with Camille?”

He paused to consider it, then shook his head. “My friends are going to hang out by the river tonight. We could go with them.”

“Okay. Sure.” According to him, this was how teens dated here, and besides, I wanted to get to know his friends. It would be especially important if I ended up moving here. And I had to make sure there wouldn’t be any awkwardness with Thomas since he was Mathieu’s best friend.

“I know Camille and Dane are coming, but I can pick you up and take you with me.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

He gave me a soft kiss, then smiled. “See you tonight.”

Camille and the boys were in the living room when I walked in. They gave me a cursory glance before returning to their game. I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and looked up to see Camille in the doorway.

“I heard your friend is going to be okay. That’s good.”

“Yeah, thanks.” I took a drink, keeping an eye on her. Camille was trying her best to look sympathetic, but she had a wary look in her eyes.

“Since she can’t come, that means Dane can stay.”

And there it was. I was thankful that Mathieu had warned me.

I shrugged.

“His parents said he could stay and my mother says he can stay. It’s your father who’s saying no.”

“That’s too bad. I hope it works out for you.” I started for the door, but she blocked my exit.

“You need to convince your father to let him stay.”

“Me? Why don’t you ask Eric?”

“He says he already tried.”

That sounded like a lie. He hadn’t come out and said it, but I was sure he was counting the hours until Dane got on the plane tomorrow. “Well, if Eric couldn’t convince him . . .”

“You can.”

I shook my head. “Why do you think
I
can?”

“Because you have your father under your spell. He’ll do whatever you want.”

I released a harsh laugh. “Have you
seen
my father and me? We may have been like that once, but not anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed with hate. “Do you know how lucky you are? You should be grateful you have a father. Mine is gone.”

My resolve to defy her weakened, but then again, that’s probably exactly what she wanted. Mathieu said she loved to play games. That’s exactly what she was doing now. “I’ll talk to him, but I can’t promise anything.”

I tried to move around her, but she continued to block my path.

“What do you want, Camille?”

“Either convince your father to let him stay or I’ll tell my mother Mathieu’s secret.” Then she sneered. “Did he tell you what he did?”

I put my hands on my hips. “Yeah, I know he broke Hugo’s nose after he found you in bed together in your room. Maybe I should tell your mother that.”

She shrugged, but her face paled. “Go ahead.”

“Call it a draw and let it go, Camille.”

Her expression told me that my wording confused her, which only pissed me off more. “I have something to use against you. You have something to use against Mathieu. No one wins. Let it go.”

“I can destroy Mathieu. He did something far worse than break Hugo’s nose.”

I had no doubt she could. And would. “I know he altered school records. I know it could destroy the career he wants more than anything. For what? Why would you hurt someone like that? No, let’s back up. Why did you hurt him by intentionally sleeping with the one guy who made his life horrible?” I shook my head. “Never mind. You probably did it just because you could. You are truly a despicable human being.”

I knew part of what I said was lost on her.

“You’re wrong about one thing,” she said with a hard edge in her voice. “His career isn’t the thing he wants more than anything right now.” A smile lifted her lips. “Are you willing to let him throw away his precious future for you?”

I hated her. Truly hated her in that moment.

“You have until Dane is about to get on the plane tomorrow to change your father’s mind, or I’m telling my mother everything.”

“You do that, and I’m telling her everything too. And I mean everything—leaving me at the Metro, convincing your friends to be mean to me. As sweet as Eva is, I’m sure she’ll have a thing or two to say about that.”

Camille lifted her shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “Mathieu has much more to lose than I do.” Then she turned and walked out of the kitchen.

I was in a whole lot of trouble.

I really wished Mom wasn’t on her cruise. I needed someone to talk to about this, and Jenna wasn’t available. Of course, if Jenna had been available, I wouldn’t be in this situation at all.

In the end, it didn’t matter if I had someone to talk to or not. I couldn’t let Camille destroy Mathieu.

My stomach was such a mess of nerves that I could barely take a bite of my slice of takeout pizza at dinner. Camille lifted her eyebrows and leaned her head toward my father.

I took a deep breath, then turned to my dad. “Since Jenna can’t come, why don’t we let Dane stay?”

Eric’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Dad gave me a look that said
don’t press it
. Too bad I had no choice.

“I mean, we were going to have Jenna here, so it’s just another body.” I hoped both Dane and Camille got the full impact of that insult, but it would probably go over their heads. “Camille has
gotten so close to Dane that it’s the least we can do to let them stay together for a few more weeks.”

Dad gave me a strange look. “And let me guess . . . you want his ticket home so
you
can go home?”

“What?” I’d nearly forgotten about our text conversation from this morning. “No. I talked to Jenna this morning, and she wants me to stay and audition.”

Dad gave Eva a look, but she shook her head. “Not now, William.”

“Look, I know you don’t want me to audition, and that’s a conversation for another time. Right now we need to talk about Dane. I really want him to stay.” I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from taking it back. “And Jenna does too. She wants me to take lots of photos of Camille and Dane in Paris. I don’t have any.”

“Sophie.” My dad was using his irritated tone, which meant I was pushing him to the limit. He wasn’t budging.

Camille’s expression turned ugly.

The food in my stomach churned and a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I couldn’t fail Mathieu. I had to pull out the big guns.

I started to cry.

It wasn’t hard to muster the tears. All I had to do was think about what was at stake. “Daddy, please. I’m so upset about Jenna, and Dane has been so awesome today. If my friend can’t join us, I’d like to have another familiar face around. It’s comforting.”

God love him, Dad looked like he was softening. My stomach was rebelling over the blatant, disgusting lie, and I swallowed the bile in the back of my throat.

Eric looked at me like I’d totally lost my mind.

And Dane . . . Dane looked at me like I was a big bucket of fried chicken at a church picnic.

Now I started to cry for real, fat tears that fell down my cheeks. I didn’t want that jerk to stay. I didn’t want him to be anywhere near me, either here or back home, and yet Camille had put me in this terrible position.

“Okay . . .” Dad shook his head, then looked at Dane. “But you better go call your parents right now to get the ticket changed.”

Dane jumped out of his seat and left the table with Camille, but not before he gave me an appraising look.

Eric continued to stare at me, so I gave him a slight shake of my head.

Eva and Dad were subdued for the rest of the meal, and I barely ate my food, still nauseated from my performance. Dane’s newfound appreciation meant I was going to have to be careful around him.

I planned to stay far, far away.

I APPRECIATED MANY
things about the fact that Mathieu had “outed” us. The freedom to touch him was liberating. But as far as secrets went, I’d just dug myself into a huge hole.

Eric kept trying to corner me after dinner, but I managed to elude him. I couldn’t blame him. If it were the other way around, I’d be trying to get answers too, but I wasn’t sure how much I could tell him. For all I knew, he’d run to Eva with the information if I shared it with him.

Mathieu met us outside the apartment and snagged my hand, pulling me close, which effectively kept my brother away. But I had a new problem: how much did I tell Mathieu? He wasn’t a fool, so he’d soon figure it out. Much better for him to hear it from me.

But that idea was shot out of the water within an hour.

We’d met Camille and Mathieu’s friends on the Left Bank of the Seine, about halfway between the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. About thirty teens had gathered on the concrete path that ran along the river, below the road. While I was excited to spend more time with Mathieu’s friends, I also wanted some time alone with him to warn him about Dane’s change of travel plans.

Mathieu’s friends had brought multiple bottles of wine, which they passed around. Everyone but me took drinks. Dane drank more than everyone else, getting loud and boisterous. I was thankful when he and Camille moved to the opposite side of the path.

Eric walked over to me, shaking his head in disgust. “I hope you’re happy, Sophie. You get four more weeks with the jerk. Who cares what I want?”

Mathieu’s arm tightened around my back as he gave my brother a wary stare. “What’s he talking about?”

“Your new girlfriend didn’t tell you?” Eric sneered, then stumbled on his feet. So he’d been hitting the bottles hard too.

“Eric,” I pleaded. “Stop. Let me take you home.”

“Home?” he asked. “Where is that? Dad’s apartment in Paris or our real home in Charleston?”

“Eric. Please.”

“You always were his favorite.” His words were slurred, and he listed to the side a little and then righted himself. “That’s why he let Dane stay even after I told him I wanted him to go home.”

The blood rushed from my face. “What?”

“He promised me he wouldn’t cave to Camille’s whining, but all it took was for you to pour on the tears and he let him stay.” He clapped his hands, each strike hitting slightly off-center. “Bravo.”

“Sophie. What is he talking about?” Mathieu’s voice lowered.

I looked up at him, fear clogging my throat. “I asked Dad to let Dane stay.”

“Why?” But understanding filled his eyes before they darkened and turned toward my stepsister.

I grabbed his arm. “Mathieu. Don’t.”

“Why did you do it?” he pleaded. “I told you I wanted it out in the open.”

“I couldn’t let her destroy you,” I said, my voice shaking. “I couldn’t live with myself, knowing I could have stopped her.”

“What are you talking about?” Eric asked a little too loudly.

I needed to get him home. While teenage drinking was tolerated here, public drunkenness was not.

Eric leaned forward, leering at me. “He’s screwing her, you know.”

“Eric!”

He laughed and pointed his finger at me. “He only wants one thing from you, Sophie, and I told him I’d kill him if he came near you.”

Mathieu tensed next to me. “If he comes near her, I will kill him myself.”

Eric saluted him, the gesture sloppy. “Finally, we have something in common, Matt-Pew.”

This entire situation felt like it had turned into a powder keg.

“Nobody’s killing anyone.” I forced a smile even though my hands were shaking. “You know what? I’m hungry. Why don’t we get some ice cream? Or some French bread. Let’s go.”

“I know you like him,” Eric spat out. “I know you’ve liked him for two years. You thought you were hiding it, but I could see. So could he.”

Mathieu froze.

I was about to die from mortification. “Eric. Enough. Let’s go.” I was surprised at the authority in my voice.

He must have been too, because his demeanor changed and he said, “Okay.”

“Mathieu, will you help me with him?”

I could see the hesitation in his eyes, and my heart sank. “I’ll explain all of it, I promise. But you have to help me get him home.
Please.
”

He nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell Camille we’re going.”

“Like she cares,” Eric sneered.

Finally, something
he and I
agreed on tonight.

I watched Mathieu approach Camille and Dane, then gesture toward us. Camille literally turned her back. Seemed she was done with me now that she’d gotten what she wanted.

Good riddance.

Mathieu helped me guide Eric to the street, but we had to stop halfway toward the stairs to let Eric barf on the cobblestones.

“I didn’t see him drink that much,” I murmured, feeling guilty as I watched him bracing himself on his legs. He might have been my older brother, but I still felt responsible for him.