chapter 7

•  Arcueil, Paris • 

"Merde. Salaud. Pute."

"Well, well, well...  Someone partied a little too much last night."

Théo froze on the couch and stopped his mumbled swearing. The familiar voice just caught his full attention.

Female. New York accent. Loud and rich with sarcasm.

Jamie.

He lifted his aching head, which now felt like someone was jackhammering his skull from the inside. Damn that Polish vodka. Last night, Tomek had dared him to swig another shot of that acid-tasting drink. No, wait. Five more shots, actually. The thought alone made his temples throb harder. Théo flinched. Despite his boozed up brain, he could still remember how every drop of that lethal drink had scorched his throat.

"Ran into Adri and Pipo at the airport." Jamie plopped beside him, making the couch scrunch and jump a little. "Thought I'd drop by. Haven't seen your skinny ass in a while."

"My head fucking hurts. Excuse my French," Théo mumbled. Every part of his body felt limp, save for his stewed caput. He squinted his dry, sensitive eyes at his surprise guest, thankful that no lights were on. The wall clock above their TV read 9:25. His brows furrowed more as he wondered why he had woken up so early.

"Why're you up this early? You have a shoot later?" asked Jamie, whose vanilla and citrus-smelling perfume moiled his stomach even more. From what his foggy eyes could make out, she had on a navy sweater and white pants.

"No." He stuffed his head in his hands.

"You look..." Jamie paused, gave him a look-over, and frowned. "...like Death spared you at the last minute."

"Missed you, too, friend." Théo forced his glued eyelids to separate. He grunted when Jamie started poking his forehead.

"Congrats on the Gucci stint, by the way." She pinched his cheek. "Real nice look they put on you. They had too much fun Photoshopping your face, though." Jamie reclined and snickered. It didn't take her long to segue into another topic. "So she texted me again," she began with a sigh. "She keeps calling, y'know. Like, almost daily...texting me, asking how you're faring and all."

A quick rumbly noise was all Théo gave in response. His tongue felt like a newly bought bath sponge. His back also hurt, his legs were starting to cramp, and his skull felt like it was going to burst any second now. Of course she just had to mention his ex. Fantastic. Way to start off the day.

"So Pipo told me you been at it for a while now," Jamie hinted when he just kept rubbing his fist onto his forehead. "Care to sort out my growing list of hunches?"

He shrugged. Confused, he stared back at her incredulously. As if she didn't know the number one reason why he was on a literally mind-numbing bender. Théo dropped his half-conscious gaze to the floor, refusing to spill the juicy details. He kept quiet in his seat and yawned. He swore again. Even yawning hurt.

His silence didn't please his curious guest, naturally. Jamie frowned and droned on about Veronica for the next five minutes, until he was able to partially block out her loudening voice. His dizziness just made him want to run off and jump back to bed.

"For the record, though...I told you this would happen," Jamie said next, with a sharp look while pointing a finger at him. "I've told you to put it off or else she'd flip out. I warned  you, T." Flicking her long blonde hair to the side, Jamie watched for any reaction from him. "Not to rush her into it."

"You could've just slipped in the part where she admitted she was gonna dump me sooner than that, though," he replied wryly.

"Touché." Jamie smirked and raised her freshly manicured finger. Then a sad smile lingered on her pink lips. "Sorry. She begged me not to."

"Yeah. Thought so."

"You okay?" She leaned in to check his face again. "I could get you a bucket or somethin'," she said with a low giggle.

He probably looked like he'd be hurling on the carpet any moment now.

"Vodka or whiskey?" muttered Jamie, still eyeing him with a bit of sympathy and a lot of ridicule. "Pull yourself together, yeah? You do realize she's just gonna fret more if you don't lay off the booze and smokes. She's talked to me on the phone drunk and crying twice in a row now. Just FYI."

His breathing stopped. Okay. He didn't need to know that. He'd had enough insomniac nights the past two weeks. He'd been trying his best to put the breakup aside. Been doing everything just to not end up obsessing over his always busy musician ex. No matter how insufferable the task seemed.

To hide his concern, Théo preferred not to react to the news. The top of his head still felt like someone was pounding stones and needles inside. He couldn't even form a sentence without straining.

Great. Of all days. She had chosen this ugly, cold and sunless morning to have the talk with him. Talk about great timing.

"When I first told her you already bought a ring, I swear she was just...scared to her wits," Jamie went on, ignoring his discomfort with where their discussion was leading to. "I told you not to push it."

Théo wearily looked into her blue eyes. "So lemme get this straight: from the airport, after a long boring  flight, you came straight over here, just to rub it in?"

"Why, yes, of course." Jamie wore a wide grin that showed her pearly whites. The look on her face was quite animated now. "I'm doin' you both a favor, in fact."

"Sure you are."

"You don't get it right now, but, trust me. I know where this is headed." She laughed when he only blew a raspberry. "I'm serious! I mean, I like Kyle. Honestly, though... Together, they're just not boyfriend-girlfriend material." With creased brows, Jamie crumpled her lips to the side. "Take music out of the equation and they're just like...oil and water."

Sounds like this one's gonna be a no-holds-barred kind of a post-breakup pep talk. Théo didn't know whether to laugh or cry for himself. His best friends hadn't really been that consoling. Boozing up with him on a nightly basis wasn't really providing any comfort. Just enough distraction to get him through the day.

When it came to alcohol and girls, his friends were the go-to guys. But deep down, he knew it was only a matter of time before he keeled over, blew up. Flipped his lid and just go ballistic.

"She doesn't really talk about him. Yesterday she just went on and on about you." Jamie spanked his arm when his sweaty hands hid his face again. She sighed loudly when he didn't budge. "Look, you think she did it 'coz she's just another self-centered bitch (like me). She took you for granted, blah blah blah— And you think what happened just proved your suspicions right. But then again," Jamie said with a click of her tongue. "We both know she's never gonna love him the way she loves you, T."

He scoffed. 'Loved' , you mean. Past tense.

"She's still crazy about you, believe me or not." Jamie shrugged coolly when he glanced at her. "At times I don't really get how her mind works. Still, always take into consideration the fact that, even after Blake, she stuck with your two-timing ass for three years."

Théo kept his mouth shut. Damn. What should he say to that? Her blunt words put new logic into his self-absorbed thoughts, but he just wasn't in the mood or condition to debate over the whole thing today.

"If that's not proof enough, then I don't know a single thing about the 'L' word. Which is highly unlikely, because people tell me I give the best relationship advice." Jamie tsk-ed again when he just looked away to resume tuning her out. "Heard you're goin' out with a Brit girl," she joshed later on. "You don't look like it's doing you any favors, though."

"Thanks." Théo smiled sarcastically.

"On that note, would you please eat a freakin' burger? I know they told you to shed off a few, but you actually look suicidal right now." Faint lines grew on her slightly tan forehead when Jamie pulled a face. "I'm not exaggerating, okay? Via's really worried. She thinks Ms. UK has formally introduced you to blow."

"Are you done yet? 'Cause my head's really killing me." He rubbed his palm onto his face and put more effort into a groan.

"Give it a few months." Jamie snickered. "She'll come to her senses. And I'm hoping by then you'll do, too." She smiled, too confident in her silly-sounding conjectures. When he dummied up again, Jamie chuckled and folded her slim arms below her chest. 

A few months? What's that gonna do? He grimaced and kept another retort to himself.

"Just hang in there and quit screwin' around. You'll thank me later." She stood up. "Advil, coffee, or both?"

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