He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 03

He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 03

When Owen walked in, he was holding a bag from the pharmacy. For a second, I thought he’d finally noticed the bruise on my knee. He set the bag on the desk. “Luna twisted her ankle. Go take her an ice pack.”

Riley came out of the bathroom in her towel and actually laughed. “Are you serious right now, Owen? Sienna’s knee is wrecked, too.”

Owen blinked and looked down at my leg. The bruise spread from my knee halfway down my calf, swollen and shiny. His brows pulled together, but it wasn’t concern. It was irritation. “Why didn’t you say something?”

I looked straight at him. “On the bus you asked what was wrong. I said nothing.”

His face darkened. “God, Sienna. Do you always have to be like this?”

Riley was so furious she threw her towel onto the chair. “Oh, you think she’s the problem? You shoved her onto a stool, you made her drag your stuff around, you handed Luna her poncho, and now you want her to run errands for you. Did you forget she’s your girlfriend, or do you just not care?”

Owen pressed his lips together. After a pause, he slid the pharmacy bag closer to me. “There’s stuff in there for you, too.”

I looked inside. One spray, one ice pack. The spray had a pharmacy sticker on it with Luna’s name printed clear. Mine was an afterthought.

Owen saw where my eyes had landed and softened his voice a notch. “Don’t make this into a whole thing. Luna’s ankle is bad. She’s got a flight tomorrow.”

I asked, “And what about me?”

He looked lost. “What?”

“I don’t have a flight tomorrow?”

The room went quiet for a few seconds. He rubbed his forehead, annoyed. “Can you not turn everything into a competition? Luna’s out here on her own. Her parents don’t check in on her.”

I let out a small, hollow laugh. “Do mine?”

Owen’s face shifted. That was the one wound we never touched. After my parents divorced, they both remarried. Every parent-teacher conference was my grandma. Every time I got sick, I walked myself to the clinic. Every birthday cake was one I bought myself.

Owen knew. On my seventeenth birthday, he’d climbed the fence into my apartment complex in the rain, carrying a cake that was half-collapsed. The candles wouldn’t light, so he held up his phone flashlight instead. “I’ll check in on you from now on.”

Those words had kept me warm all through high school.

Now he stood in front of me and said, cold, “Sienna, don’t you dare throw your family stuff in my face.”

He’d opened the scar himself.

Riley opened her mouth to tear into him, but I held up a hand. I picked up the ice pack and walked to the door. Owen’s face eased. “I’ll come with you.”

“Don’t.”

Luna’s door at the end of the hall was cracked open. I could hear her on the phone inside. “Of course he’ll come. He lives for this.”

I stopped just outside. Whoever was on the other end said something, and Luna laughed. “Sienna? The only thing she’s got going for her is that she knew him first. Owen’s sick of her.”

The ice pack was freezing against my fingers. Luna kept going. “Just wait until the acceptances drop. He’s scared dumping her now will mess up her applications. He doesn’t want to look like the bad guy.”

I didn’t knock.

Footsteps sounded behind me. Owen had followed, and the first thing he did when he saw me standing outside the door was scowl. “Are you eavesdropping?”

The call inside cut off instantly. Luna opened the door, her eyes already glistening. “Sienna, don’t read into it. I was just messing around with my friend.”

I faced Owen. “She said you’re waiting until the acceptances come in to break up with me.”

Owen’s expression locked up. In a heartbeat, he looked away. “You misheard.”

Luna grabbed his sleeve. “Owen, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just scared she’d keep getting the wrong idea about us.”

Owen stepped in front of her. “Sienna, are you done?”

The hallway lights were painfully white. I handed him the ice pack. “I’m done.”

He stared at me, waiting for me to cave. I turned and walked away.

Behind me, his voice dipped low. “Go back to the room and cool off. Don’t bring an attitude tomorrow.”

The door swung shut, and Luna’s gentle voice slipped through. “She really does seem mad.”

Owen answered fast. “She won’t walk.”