He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 08

He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 08

Riley reacted first. She looked at Owen and Luna and let out a laugh. “So all those little secret chats were just because they thought no one could understand.”

Luna’s face cycled through red and white. “Sienna, if you could understand, why didn’t you ever say anything?”

I turned to her. “I wanted to see what else you’d come up with.”

Owen shoved his chair back and stood. The legs shrieked against the floor, grating on everyone’s ears. “Sienna.”

He only said my name. The rest of the sentence died on his lips.

Mr. Bennett’s brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

Nobody answered. Some things didn’t need a detailed explanation.

Luna forced a smile. “On the trip, I might have said some things as a joke. Don’t take it to heart.”

Riley set her phone flat on the table. “Joke? You asked him when he was going to dump her. That was a joke?”

Every face in the room swung toward Luna. The tears spilled instantly. “I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I just had feelings for him.”

That was uglier than a denial.

Owen whipped his head around. “Luna.”

Luna looked at him, crying. “Are you gonna stand there and say you weren’t torn? Are you gonna say you didn’t tell me you’d deal with it after the acceptances came in?”

The reception hall went tomb-silent. Mr. Bennett’s expression darkened. The classmates exchanged looks. The people who’d once defended Luna dropped their gazes one by one.

Owen stood there, stripped of every scrap of dignity in front of everyone who’d ever admired him. He turned to me, his voice trembling. “Sienna, I wasn’t trying to dump you.”

I watched him, calm.

He rushed to explain. “I was just under so much pressure. Luna was applying to similar programs. We talked about applications a lot. She kept saying you couldn’t live without me, and after hearing

it so many times I started thinking you were-”

“Clingy.”

Owen’s throat seized up. “I was wrong.”

Three words. He finally said them. I felt nothing at all.

Late apologies are just rain falling on someone who’s already left the street.

Mr. Bennett told everyone to eat. The atmosphere was beyond repair. Luna left halfway through. Owen didn’t follow her. He waited for me in the hallway.

I came out to wash my hands, and he blocked my path. “You understood the whole time. Didn’t you?”

The faucet was still running, cold water racing over my fingers. I pulled a paper towel. “Yes.”

His eyes were rimmed red. “Then why didn’t you just yell at me?

I tossed the towel in the trash. “Didn’t feel like it.”

Those two words hit him like a slap. “Sienna, you can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“You can’t just give me zero chances.”

?”

Footsteps were coming down the hallway. I stepped aside. “Owen, before the SATs you said you didn’t want to mess with my head, so you wouldn’t break up with me. On the trip you said I needed to be less dramatic. In the lobby you told me to apologize to Luna.”

His face kept losing color. “Stop.”

“You didn’t stop when you did it.”

Owen reached for me. I moved back. His fingers froze in the air, and his eyes went wet. “I swear I know I was wrong. Hit me, scream at me, do whatever you want.”

I looked at him. “Move.”

He slowly stepped aside.

Behind him, the reception hall door opened. Luna stood there, her eyes swollen. “Owen, my ankle

hurts.”

In the past, that sentence would’ve pulled him instantly. This time, he didn’t move.

Luna’s face crumpled. “Now you’re going to act devoted? You’re the one who said she was too

clingy.”

The boomerang finally hit him square in the chest.

Owen closed his eyes. “Shut up.”

Luna fled in tears. But Owen just stood there, staring in the direction I’d walked, like he’d lost

something he could never get back.