He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 01

He Spoke French to Her So I Couldn’t Understand Chapter 01

Our senior trip was to Universal Studios Hollywood, and my boyfriend was off speaking French with the class It Girl again.

They’d both taken AP French together junior year, so nobody in our group understood a word. I stepped closer to Owen Shaw and caught “she’s too clingy” just as I opened my mouth to ask what they were talking about.

Owen frowned and cut me off without even looking away from Luna Price. “Don’t interrupt. We’re discussing applications. Whatever you need can wait.”

For three days, they’d had an endless supply of “important things” to talk about. Important things that never once got shared in English.

Then Luna laughed and asked him in French, “So when are you planning to dump her?”

Owen kept his voice low. “After the acceptance letters come in.”

They had no idea my grandfather was French.

***

The fireworks burst behind the castle and Owen shook my hand off. My palm went cold and empty, the wind slicing through my fingers so fast I shivered.

Luna stood on his left, adjusting the new headband she’d bought, smiling as she asked if he wanted to hit the last ride.

Owen bent over her phone to look at the map. “We can still make it if we go now. Don’t stress.”

Three minutes earlier, I’d asked him the exact same question. He’d told me the crowds were insane, he was wiped, and to drop it.

Somebody behind us started running their mouth. “Dude, whose girlfriend are you with right now?”

Owen glanced up, his grin thinning a little. “Relax. It’s Luna’s first time here. I’m just showing her the route.”

Luna waved her hands immediately. “Don’t say that. Sienna’s going to get upset.”

The words were thoughtful, but her eyes curved toward me like a dare.

I hitched my slipping bag strap higher on my shoulder. Inside were three water bottles, two rain ponchos, a tin of his favorite mints, and the hoodie he’d peeled off in the heat and shoved at me that afternoon.

Before the trip, Owen had told me Universal was crowded and I needed to stay close to him. For three days, I’d been the one left trailing behind.

That morning in line, Luna’s shoelace came undone and Owen crouched down to block the crowd for her.

At lunch, she announced she couldn’t stand cilantro, so he picked every speck of it out of her bowl. When it rained that afternoon and she sneezed, he handed her my poncho.

The poncho he’d bought me the night before, saying he didn’t want me getting soaked. He’d stood outside the hotel with his hair half wet, grinning as he shoved the bag into my arms. “Sienna, don’t you dare cry.”

I almost did.

Now the poncho was on Luna, and from under the clear hood she blinked at me. “You don’t mind, right, Sienna? Owen said you’re tough.”

Owen looked back at me. “It’s a poncho. Don’t be petty.”

Something sharp caught in my throat, like the sting of a paper cut. I didn’t say anything.

The castle lights blazed on and Owen started speaking French with Luna again. Nobody around us could follow it, so they just thought it was impressive and begged them to keep going.

Owen never showed off, but whenever Luna was around, he always opened his mouth. She laughed and told him his accent had gotten even sharper.

He actually looked pleased. “Not bad.”

He’d taught me once, too. Sophomore year, winter. I was waiting for him outside school after his tutoring session, my fingers red from the cold. He unwound his scarf and wrapped it around my neck, then stood there in the fog teaching me how to say happy birthday.

I butchered it three times, and he laughed so hard his shoulders shook. “You’re hopeless, Sienna.”

That scarf lived on the top shelf of my closet. I’d folded it and packed it without thinking—old habit, from back home where the nights get cold. Owen hadn’t asked about it once.

Luna tilted her head toward me without warning. She said something in French, slow and deliberate, like she was making sure a certain person heard every syllable. “Does she really follow you around like this all the time?”

Owen didn’t look at me. “Yeah. She’s a little clingy.”

The fireworks were deafening. Nobody noticed the color drain from my face.

A kid slammed into my legs, spilling popcorn all over my shoes. Owen finally turned. His hand went straight to Luna’s arm. “You okay? Did he get you?”

Luna shook her head. “No, but I think Sienna took a pretty hard hit.”

Only then did Owen look at me, his brows pulling together. “Watch where you’re standing. You can’t keep making people worry about you.”

In that moment, I remembered the night before the SAT. Owen had stayed on the phone with me, reviewing everything until two in the morning, his voice wrecked. He’d said, “Sienna, don’t freak out. I’ve got you.”

I’d believed that for a long, long time. So long that I was still making excuses for him while he left me alone in the crowd.

Somebody shouted for the group photo. Owen walked to Luna’s side, blocking the surge of bodies for her the way he always did now. The countdown started before he remembered I existed. “Sienna, get over here.”

I squeezed in at the far edge. The instant the picture snapped, Owen’s shoulders tipped toward Luna. A stranger’s balloon covered half my face.