Chapter 14: Regret

I start to stand up, but Mason literally yanks me back down.

"Don't be a fucking idiot." He hisses.

I completely block out the French, just listening to Gaillard.

Security guards immediately grab Odeletta's arms, restraining her.

"Come here." Gaillard translates. The guards force her to walk.

The prisoners are her fucking parents.

Her fucking parents.

And now that I look at him, there's no denying the resemblance.

She has her Dad's face shape, no doubt, and the rest is her Mom, from her height to her body shape to the curve of her lips. She even has her eyes.

"You are a stupid girl for coming here. Your family is in a lot of trouble." Gaillard translates again.

"They didn't do it." Odeletta says in French.

"Prove it." Gaillard translates.

She starts explaining, explaining what happened.

When she was ten years old, her Uncle Liam was murdered, leaving just her parents and her Aunt Rosalie. Her parents started acting weird, like they were afraid. They sheltered her away from everything, but she would walk in on them arguing in English all the time, because her Dad is an American who learned French when he met her Mom.

Odeletta pauses, looking down. She takes a deep breath and starts talking again.

She says that her Uncle's murderer was the assistant of the president, who just so happens to be sitting in this room. That she found clues and literal proof, where she hands the judge her notebook. She says that when she turned twelve, her parents were taking her and Aunt Rosalie to America for her birthday, and her Mom saw the police officers recognize her family, so she told Odeletta to get on the plane. When she did, her parents never got on, and neither did her Aunt. Her parents were arrested right after the plane took off, sending a twelve year old Odeletta to a foreign country alone. She never heard from them again. She devoted her entire life to figuring out what happened. She was convinced they were dead.

She was convinced they were dead until three weeks ago, when she saw the news about the execution.

Which is when she shut me out, to put together the last few pieces.

The assistant to the president got the codes to the safe from the persidents office. He framed the codes in Odeletta's house when they went out for her Mom's birthday. He planted clues to the government who framed her parents.

He was the one to get in trouble for fraud, where we tried to steal millions from the government. He had it out for Odeletta's family because his grandfather was executed via guillotine back when they still, used them. He was out for revenge, so he planted the millions on her parents after murdering her father's brother.

"Il l'a fait pour se venger." Odeletta whispers. "Il a déchiré un enfant de sa famille et a enfermé les personnes les plus aimantes et innocentes, et a envoyé la femme de mon oncle à la clandestinitè. La famille Guillotin est innocente. Il est à blâmer!"

Odeletta points to some guy in the crowd and everyone gasps. We all look to Gaillard expectantly.

"She said he did it for revenge, and then she said 'he ripped a child away from her family and locked up the move living, innocent people, and sent the wife of my uncle into hiding. The Guillotin family is innocent, he's to blame.'"

Then she gestures to the man Odeletta pointed to, and immediately guns are drawn, pointed at Odeletta.

"Non!" The woman, her mother, cries out. She's crying, and I start getting up again, but Mason yanks me down.

"Stop being a fucking dumbass, do you want to live?" Mason hisses at me.

"Ne pointez pas vos armes à Mlle Guillotin." The president says.

"Do not your guns at Miss Guillotin." Professor Gaillard translates.

Everyone watches in shock as they grab the man Odeletta said was to blame, and handcuff her, too, forcing her to sit down and watch at the judge glances over her notebook, before handing it to the president, who reads it silently.

After nearly an hour, the judge and the president whispering back and forth, the room tense, the president speaks up.

"Arrêtez-le." He says.

"Arrest him." Gaillard whispers, with tears in her eyes.

I hold my breath, watching as they take the handcuffs off of Odeletta, and then turn to her parents. The president himself, takes the key from the guard, removing the handcuffs from her parents.

We watch as they arrest the man, and then apologize to her parents, profusely.

Gaillard said they offered them a large sum of money, which they accepted, and then they told them to rejoin with their daughter.

The courtroom is still silent.

"Bug." The man, her father, says. "You grew up!"

"Papa." She says in a weak voice. "Maman."

I swear, even I'm choking up when she rushes into their arms.

Not only is she crying, but her parents are, too.

The president is over there, repeatedly apologizing to them.

I fucking made fun of her mother.

I made from of her for not talking to her mother.

That's when she slapped me.

God, I feel like I'm going to be sick. How much more of a dick can one person possibly be?

And the fact that I was annoyed with my mother? She's been there. She's always been there, busting her ass to make sure I turned it not he proper young man she raised me to be.

And I insulted a woman who was ripped away from her parents by telling her that she probably never talks to her Mom.

"Are you alright?" Mason whispers.

Everyone is leaving the courtroom.

I look at Mason.

"No." I say. "I'm not alright."

_____

We all kind of toured around Paris and her parents tagged along, and it was weird.

It was weird to see her so happy, so excited. She was smiling the whole time, and she'd stop to hug them, and the longer I saw it, the guiltier I got, until the guilt started eating me alive, to the point where I wasn't even enjoying myself.

I feel like I'm going to fucking cry, and I can't remember the last time I cried. It's been years, but I'm such a fucking dick. I look down at the red marks on my knuckles from punching that guy, and I think to how I called Brenda a bitch, everything I said to Odeletta.

"Are you alright?" Mason asks me for the millionth time.

I'm standing at the Eiffel Tower, resisting the urge to apologize to her.

I can't do it in front of her parents.

I want to apologize and pull her into a bone crushing hug and tell her how sorry I am, but I can't.

I won't. Not in front of her parents.

She hasn't stopped talking to them once.

My throat feels tight and my eyes are full of tears.

"Nate." Mason whispers, looking at me seriously. "What's wrong with you, man?"

I just shake my head, begging the tears to go away, but they won't.

My chest feels tight and suffocating.

We're at dinner, so I just silently get up and go into the bathroom without excusing myself.

I lock myself in the family bathroom, sliding down the wall.

If I cry, everyone is going to know.

But I can't stop the tears. I can't breathe, I can't think.

Who the hell am I anymore? I used to hold open doors and beg my Mom and sister not to get in the car until I opened the door and shut it for both of them. I used to take my sister and Mom out for dinner when I was sixteen and got a job because I just wanted to appreciate them.

Mom always told me I'd make a great husband, and I knew I would.

Now I'm standing around, curing at Brenda because she has an annoying voice, getting annoyed my Mom is around, never calling her when she isn't around, and most importantly. I told Odeletta she isn't a lady, I told her she probably never calls her mother...

There has never been a day since that day that girl asked me for Mason's number that I haven't been bitter.

I feel like I've been punched in my chest, repeatedly, and it's hard to breathe, and I realize it's because my whole body is shaking with silent sobs.

I sit there and sob until I literally can't let out another tear, and then I pull out my phone.

Mace: dude the bus left without you

Fuck, great, fucking great. He sent that an hour ago.

I text him back.

Me: fuck my life.

Mace: where are you

Me: bathroom

Mace: I check the bathroom. I'm outside, it's freezing. Come out here

I gulp, washing my face in the sink. I use the toilet and then wash my face and hands. I dry them on a paper towel and walk out of the bathroom, keeping my head down.

When I get outside, Mason is waiting with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Dude." He says at the sight of me. "Holy shit, were you crying?"

"Please pretend this never happened." I mutter.

"Well what happened?" He questions.

I shake my head.

"I told her she probably never talks to her Mom. She slapped me and I thought she was just a fucking bitch, but really, I'm the bitch. I mean, what the hell happened to me, man?"

My voice cracks and I feel like I'm going to cry again.

"Dude don't cry here." Mason warns.

"How are we supposed to get back to the hotel?" I grumble. "We can't ask for a ride. We don't know how."

Mason sighs.

"Want a hug?" He asks.

"No, that's gay." I grumble, wiping my running nose with the back of my hand. "I want to apologize to Odeletta."

_____

"Maybe Gaillard will come looking for us." Mason says after two hours in the cold.

"I fucking doubt it."

"Will you stop that?" He grumbles. "Your whining is giving me a headache."

"How can one person be such a dick to a female?" I ask. "Especially to her. I mean, Odeletta is so pretty. I knew there was more to her, and I'm a fucking psych major, and I fucked with her head like that!"

"Dude, you've got to left that go."

"I'm going to freeze to death out here." I whine. "I just want food and Netflix."

"Nate, you're so fucking dramatic." He groans.

"Well-"

I cut off to the sound of my phone ringing. I look down at it.

It's a Colorado number.

Grunting, I press answer.

I want to hear people speak English.

"Hello?" I grumble.

"Natalie."

"Odeletta!" I gasp, sitting up.

"Tell her we're stranded with improper socialization skills!" Mason says.

"I know you are stranded." She says. "I phoned a taxi to the restaurant, are you still there?"

"Yes." I say.

Accepting help from her makes me feel guilty enough to hang up, but I'm cold and hungry so I don't hang up.

I see a cab pull up.

"The cab is here." I say. "What do we say?"

"I will talk." She says.

We get up and go to the taxi.

The guy immediately asks us something in French, and I cringe, looking at Mason.

Odeletta says something to him and he responds, talking back and forth to each other.

After a while, he starts driving.

I bounce my leg anxiously, resisting the urge to blurt out an apology.

I just want to fucking hug her and tell her how sorry I am, but I don't.

When we get to the hotel, Odeletta speaks up, but in English.

"Do you have any French money?" She asks.

"No..." I swallow nervously.

"Madison?" She asks.

"Nope." He says.

"I will come down."

She says something in French to the driver and we get out.

A couple of minutes later, she comes out of the building in sweatpants and a tank top. She gives the driver his money, saying something to him in French.

She's shivering because it's snowing.

After a couple of moment, he drives off, and she looks at us, hesitates, and then turns around and walks inside.

"What are you going to do?" Mason asks.

I ranted to him about my life issues.

I grunt.

"That's a good question."

_____

Hours later, we were in bed in the new hotel, all of us watching Netflix, having connected my laptop to the TV.

After a moment, Odeletta gets up and pauses the show.

"Hey!" Harper cries out. "It was just getting good.

"I'm hungry." She says. "I want some food." She puts on her glasses and I wonder if she wears contacts on a normal day. She walks over to the window and looks outside, narrowing her eyes at Paris.

"Is anyone hungry?" She asks.

"Oui." Mason says, sitting up. She looks at him and then at the clock.

"We should go out and get food." She says.

Before we can protest, she pulls on her leather jacket over her white tank top and sweatpants. She shoves her feet in her boots and grabs her purse.

We all start getting up and I pull on one of my sweatshirts.

She calls for a cab and we wait. After a while, we go downstairs to the cab, and she talks to the driver in French before getting in the front seat.

I sit in the back and watch her. I watch how she talks to the driver, the way her lips form the words, and I long to feel how soft her lips are again. She skin is so baby soft. She felt so good in my hands. Her hair is so smooth and I want to run my fingers through it. I think of her smile, the way her eyes shine as she talks to her parents, and I want to put that look on her face.

And then it hits me like a car.

I have a crush on her.