Chapter 28: Broken

I feel her shift her head on my chest.

"No." She says, laughing. "That is not even close, beau."

I sigh harshly.

"This is a waste of time, Mon Amour." I fold my arms over my chest. She rolls onto her stomach so she can see my face.

"You will get it." She insists, scooting closer to my face. She says something in French, but I completely blank out, looking at her.

She's not wearing any makeup today and her hair is messy from the sex we had earlier. She's laying on my bed in one of my t-shirts and her underwear. Her brown eyes shine with happiness as she talks, and I notice an eyelash on her left cheek.

I reach out and swipe it off of her cheek.

"Make a wish." I say, holding it up.

She looks down at the eyelash and after a moment, she blows. I grin brightly.

She starts talking on and on again, but I'm too busy watching her mouth form the words. Her teeth are so perfect and white and straight, her skin is flawless, her brown hair falling over her right eye. Her lips are so full and plump, her eyes filled with excitement and happiness.

God, I am so in love.

She hits my chest lightly with her left hand.

"Are you listening to me, Nathan?" She asks. I blink a few times.

"I wanna take a break." I whine.

"We just started two minutes ago!" She exclaims.

"But...but..." I struggle to find an excuse.

"Faites attention!" She snaps her fingers a couple of times. I groan loudly, and she starts laughing.

"I don't know what that means!" I whine.

"It means pay attention." She says with a smile on her beautiful lips. "Which you would know if you did!"

I huff loudly.

"It is okay Nathan, I will just go home."

She starts to get up.

"You're bluffing." I accuse.

"I am not." She says. She grabs her jeans off of the floor, but I don't move.

She's bluffing.

I watch as she pulls on her shorts, and then she pulls my shirt over her head, revealing her bare chest.

Excited, I sit up.

"Wait, don't go!" I say. She puts her bra on, and then her red loose tank top. She puts on her shoes. I know she's bluffing. She brushes through her hair with her fingers, grabs her bag and her keys and her phone, and then exits the room.

She will probably hang out outside until I come out there.

But then I hear the front door slam.

Letting out a loud screech from my mouth, I flop out of bed onto the floor with a loud thud and exit my bedroom, sprinting across the apartment.

I pass Gabe, Harper and Mason on the couch, opening the door and running outside.

She's just at the top of the stairs.

"Odeletta Juileta Guillotin!" I bellow. She turns around.

"Nathan!" She hisses. "Where are your pants?"

"I just-" I cut off, looking down.

I'm in my boxer briefs. I feel the back of my neck starting to heat up. They're tight enough to show the outline of my dick.

Immediately, she starts yelling in French.

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais?! Les gens peuvent vous voir, Nathan! Je peux voir votre bite à travers vos sous-vêtements! Aller à l'intérieur!"

"Uh..." I stare at her. What is she talking about? "Oui?"

She groans loudly and walks over to me, pushing me into the apartment, she starts yelling again.

"Vous devriez avoir mis le pantalon sur! Je ne veux pas que les gens vous regardent comme ça! Vous êtes à moi pour regarder comme ça et personne d'autre!"

"I don't know what you're saying!" I whine as she shoves me towards the bedroom.

"Et si je marchais dehors dans mon soutien-gorge et sous-vêtements? C'est la même chose, Nathan!" She slams the door shut, staring at me. "Vous seriez tout aussi en colère, n'est-ce pas?!" She has her hands on her hips, watching me stare at her with my lips in the form of an 'O' "Réponds-moi!" She says.

She waits, staring at me.

"Um..." I swallow, nervous. "Mon Amour...I don't know French." I mumble.

She lets out a slow breath.

"What if I went outside in my bra and underwear, past the two guys on the couch and Harper, to chase you down?"

I press my lips together, thinking about Mason and Gabe seeing my hot girlfriend in her most intimiate clothing.

"I'm sorry." I say, looking down like a scolded child. "I just...um, really love you, and I didn't want you to go. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, I'll try harder."

I look anywhere but her, feeling really guilty. I get a pair of basketball shorts from my dresser and pull them on, my chest aching from upsetting my angel.

"Nathan." She whispers. I fasten the waistband of the shorts around my hips and sink down onto the bed. "I wasn't actually going to leave, beau. I was teasing you. I was bluffing...I'm sorry for shouting, I just...I don't want anybody to see you except for me. I'm sorry, beau. I love you so much, I didn't mean..." she trails off. I look up at her, frowning.

"Am I too clingy, Odette?"

She stands between my legs and I look up at her. She puts her soft hands on my face, a frown etched onto her beautiful features.

"No, no beau, no way."

"I just...this is only the third time I saw you in three weeks and I've missed you a lot...I know I didn't invite you out much before...but I'm sorry, amour. I love you."

"It's okay." She murmurs. "And I love you too."

I want to kiss now. Her lips look so soft and full.

Almost as if she has read my mind, she leans down, pressing her lips to mine softly. I tilt my head into the kiss, and after a few moments, she pulls away.

"You will not hear me speak English again for a while now." She murmurs.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to speak French until you start to learn."

"But why?" I whine.

"So you have no choice but to learn. If you don't talk in French, we don't talk."

_____

It was a pretty smart idea for her. Gabe was staying for a few weeks, Julian was coming to stay the summer, and Harper has been here a lot, and so has Odette. We invited Jackson because he's the last one left that wasn't invited.

So she'd talk in French and we all had no idea what she was on about, but soon enough to started to pick up on it. We were all learning bits and pieces.

Julian claimed my parents were driving him insane and begged me to let him come stay the summer before he had to go to college in Ohio. He's going to stay on campus but be like twenty minutes from my parents so he should be fine. Gabe is leaving in another week with Jackson and Gabe is going to Ohio to spend some time with Aunt Clara and Uncle Ryan before classes start up again. Peyton is coming today and she's leaving when Julian leaves. I need to leave to pick her up in about a few minutes.

We're about six weeks into summer now. It's late July already, and I've been getting only spoken to in French by Odette for three weeks now.

I find myself avoiding her, which I feel incredibly guilty about, but being around her stresses me out because I want to understand her so badly, so very badly, but I find it hard to be around her. Not only mentally, but emotionally too.

I want to have a conversation with her, one where I can understand her.

I'm in a bad mood and frustrated whenever she's around.

We have full conversations in English and she stays quiet.

Like now, we're all at the our apartment and everyone is drinking and talking and she's just quiet.

She's quiet.

And I'm sad. I'm so fucking sad, because I miss her. I miss her so much, but I can't talk to her. I almost didn't invite her and Harper. It was just going to be us guys, but I think Gabe has a thing for Harper, and we can't invite Harper and not Odette because she will find out and get mad.

"What are you guys doing after college?" Harper asks.

"I'll probably find a place in New York City. They have excellent law firms there." Gabe says.

"Me too." Mason says.

I'm in such a bad mood today, I'm ready to snap on everyone. I'm itching to cuss somebody out. Mason nudges me.

"What?" I snap. Everyone raises their eyebrows.

The guys all know what's wrong because I complain about it literally all the time. It's so hard not being able to communicate with her. I just want to talk to her.

I find myself wishing I had to work all the time so I didn't have to talk to her.

"What's wrong?" Julian asks immediately.

"Nothing." I grumble.

I need to punch something. Or drink alcohol. Maybe both.

Or, instead of those two, I could, I don't know, talk to my fucking girlfriend.

I feel a pounding headache starting to form, and I decide to use it as an excuse.

"I'm going to change." I mumble. I stand up and walk into my bedroom, slamming the door.

Odeletta looks confused as to why Nathan's so mad. The moment the door shuts, she sits up.

"Why is he so pissed off?"

I raise my eyebrows.

I forgot what it sounds like for her to speak English.

Me, Mason, Julian, and Jackson all exchange looks, and then almost as if we've had a silent conversation, we shrug.

"He's mad at me." She says. She's not asking, she's stating.

"I don't know if he's mad at you." I say while nodding my head. Her eyes narrow, and then she stands up and goes marching across the apartment.

I flinch. That girl has quite the spark of fire.

Almost immediately, shouting starts.

Silently, I go get a few beers, popping one open.

"Here we go." Harper mutters.

"We all saw it coming." Jackson says calmly.

I hear my door thrown open and I turn, coming face to face with my girlfriend.

Her eyes are narrowed and instead of seeing the girl I fell in love with, I see the girl I used to hate, who hid from me, slapped me, and called me little.

Immediately, she starts yelling at me in French.

As she stands there, yelling, I stand in front of the bed with my jaw set.

This is the girl you love, not the girl you hate.

I keep reminding myself, but soon enough, my anger takes over my self control.

"Dammit!" I shout at her. "Will you fucking stop for three seconds? I don't know what the fuck you're saying, Odeletta!"

She opens her mouth to reply, but I put my hand up.

"If you're going to say something in French, don't bother!"

My head is pounding so bad, and there's a very strong fire in her eyes

"I am French!" She throws her hands up.

"And I'm American!" I snap.

Her nostrils are flaring, her small hands are in fists, and she looks like she's about to rip my throat out.

"Then I guess we're breaking up!" She snarls.

She turns on her heel and goes storming out of my bedroom.

The front door slams shut a moment later.

I stand there a second, and then I whip around and swing, my hand connecting with the wall. It goes straight through the drywall. I send my lamp off my side table and it shatters against the floor, sending shards of glass all over the bedroom. I open my drawers and send my clothes thrown everywhere, my dresser drawers chucked across the room.

My eyes glance at the clock when I calm down enough to breathe.

3:29PM

I need to get Peyton. I rake my fingers through my hair, tugging on the edges, and angrily put my shoes on.

Chest heaving, I grab the keys to my car and shove my wallet and phone into the pocket of my jeans, and go storming out of the bedroom, glass crunching under my vans. I slam my bedroom door so hard that I rip the door handle straight off the door. I notice some blood on my knuckles, but I couldn't give any less shits about it. Everyone is standing up.

"Stay out of my room." I practically growl at them, and then I walk to the door and yank it open, slamming it shut harder than my girlfriend-ex girlfriend had. I march down to my Toyota Corolla and I get it, slamming that door too.

_____

I stand at the gate with a sour look on my face, glaring at everyone that passed me. My bloody knuckles sting but I couldn't care less.

My head throbs against my temple. I raise my hand to rub it when a familiar voice makes me pause.

"Hey little brother."

I look at my sister and the suitcase trailing behind her.

"Hi." I say gruffly, giving her a hug.

"How have you-" she cuts off when we pull out of the hug and she sees my hand. "What happened?"

"Nothing." I mutter. "Is that your only bag?"

"No. There's two more."

"You're staying for a week." I grumble.

"I know, but I don't know what I'll need."

I just take the bag from her and head for the escalator.

"I thought Odeletta would be with you." She frowns. "I was excited to see my soon-to-be sister-in-law.

I snort and start walking down the stairs.

"Nathan! They move so we don't have to!" She says, following me as I march off the steps. I walk and she jogs to catch up with me. We reach baggage and I silently thank the lord that her bags were there first. I watch as she grabs them. I stack the duffle bags on top of the bigger suitcase and drag them both to the elevator.

"Nathan." Peyton says.

"What?' I mutter.

"Nothing, just..." she hesitates. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I snap. She sighs and falls silently.

When we reach my car, I shove her bags in the trunk, opening the passenger door for her.

She gets in, mumbling about dickface gentlemen's.

I roll my eyes and get in the drivers seat, starting the engine.

"Nathan, what happened? If you don't tell me, I'm sure Gabe or Jackson will blab. Or Mason."

"I doubt it." I mutter.

They know I'd kick their asses.

"I can get JuliaN to tell me then."

That's...that's true. If she bribes him with something he can't refuse, like food, or her Netflix password, my little brother and bound to blab.

"I don't feel like talking about it." I mutter.

_____

The whole ride back to my apartment, she kept trying to pry answers out of me.

Now, three hours later, around seven, we're sitting around the living room with beers. We're letting Julian have one, even though he's only eighteen. Jackson turned twenty one about three weeks or so ago.

Julian got Peyton's Netflix password and he told her what happened between me and Odette. Harper is still here and she's kind of keeping to herself.

"I think you should apoligize." Peyton pipes up.

I scoff loudly.

"Fuck no." I snap. "No. That women is infuriating. She walked out on me. Twice. She jumps to conclusions and takes off. It's her fucking specialty! She was screaming at me! I don't know what the fuck she was saying, and suddenly I'm the bad guy for telling her I ddin't know what she was saying? What bullshit is that?"

"Nate, you've been avoiding her for three weeks. You guys have barely had alone time since you got back from Ohio in May." Jackson says.

He's right. I know he's right.

I avoided her for those two weeks because I didn't want to be the one always asking her out. I was out of town for the month, I came back and I surprised her with roses and lunch, and we hung out that day and then she started talking to me only in French.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

"I don't care that I've been avoiding her." I snap. "It's like she doesn't even care. She took off on me after that instance with that stupid girl hitting on me without me realizing. She took off so far, she ended up in fucking Ohio to avoid me. She never invites me over. She never asks me to hang out. She leaves at every chance she gets to run. I surprised her with roses. A whole bouquet of red roses, which are not cheap, and I took her to an expensive lunch, and she's mad at me? Fuck that. Fuck that. I'm sick of being the only one trying. No, I will not give into her again. Fuck no. She could come up to me crying and I won't give in until she apologizes!"

Just as Julian opens his mouth to say something, somebody knocks on the front door.

"It's probably the pizza." Mason says. I grunt in response and rip the front door open.

Only to come face to face with Odeletta. Her eyes are red rimmed, like she's been crying for hours. She's wearing a white tank top and shorts.

Don't give in until she apologizes.

I repeat I over and over in my head.

"Can we talk?" She asks.

I open my mouth to tell her to screw off, but I see a tear roll down her cheek.

Fuck.

Don't give in. Do not give in.

Still, through all my anger, I can't be cruel to her.

Silently, I slip outside and shut the front door behind me, turning to her.

She's bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Nathan..." she trails off, and I notice her chin trembling. She looks anywhere but at me. "What did I do wrong?"

She doesn't know? Are you fucking kidding me?

I'm ready to cuss her out, so I just turn around and walk back into the apartment, shutting the door in her face.