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Engaged
Jul 10, 2009 23:53:50 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 10, 2009 23:53:50 GMT -5
*And to Fernand, Duc d'Abillon. He was a Southern Frenchman, very rich from shipping, and he had bought out the title when the original holders had died out with no heir. But we didn't talk about that.*
*It had started about two months after Chuck left France: she had met him at a few society parties; he was kind but not full of false condolences; he was handsome; he seemed open-minded. Six months later he had asked her to marry him, and she had agreed. At 19 with no other offers, it would be foolish to turn down a Duke, and her brother certainly didn't seem to be making any heirs anytime soon.*
*The wedding would be at Saint-Paul Saint-Louis church, and the reception would be held in a grand ballroom in Paris. Adrienne didn't care. She floated through wedding preparations like a ghost, letting others choose the napkin colors and the menu and the venues and even her dress. The truth? She couldn't bring herself to care.*
*So it was she came to be trying on her dress at one last fitting, the seamstresses fluttering about her and complimenting her taste, her dress, her ring.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 21:48:35 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 21:48:35 GMT -5
*He had promised himself that he'd go back to New York, but days turned into weeks and weeks quickly into months and he was still in Paris. Binge drinking, he found, had lost it's usual charm. Having a clear head made it easier to focus on other things. He buried himself in the legal workings of creating a company: convincing himself that he was losing sleep over the stresses of his job rather than acknowledging the truth behind his restlessness.
But soon the facade became so believable that he had convinced himself that he had forgotten her: her face, her laugh, her scent... Then one day, a business associate with a gossiping wife brought up an engagement of a certain Lady and he couldn't help but ask.*
"I can't quite recall but I think she said it was the Enjolras girl."
*Chuck felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, not exactly sick but pained in a peculiar way. He set his jaw tightly and clenched his fists under the table until his knuckles were white.
He could no longer pretend.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:00:44 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 22:00:44 GMT -5
"My dear, you look lovely."
*Adrienne did not turn at the sound of a gravelly voice. There was a difference, she had discovered, between raspy and gravelly. She did not much like the sound of gravelly.*
"I'm sure you're aware it's bad luck to see the dress."
"I'm sure you don't believe any of that tripe."
*Fernand had moved up to place an oppressive hand on her shoulder--she had gotten used to the fact that Fernand was much larger than she was, and built like an ox. This didn't make it any more comfortable when he moved as if he owned her.*
*Now she turned, a half-smile on her face.*
"Of course not."
"This time tomorrow..."
"I know. Did you have a reason for coming up here?"
"Does a fiance need a reason?"
*She turned back around and examined her reflection. The dress looked like a giant frosted cupcake of lace and beads--Fernand had picked it out. The snob in her commented on the ostentatious plans he'd made for the wedding, but her subconscious had built a wall of apathy around her heart. She didn't care what she wore.*
"I'll go back downstairs for the stag party, m'dear. My friends are waiting. Just wanted to make sure you were well.*
*The hotel at which he had rented a suite for before the wedding was equipped with a bed, and all of her things for the honeymoon were packed. Most brides would have spent their last night as an unmarried woman in their childhood house, but Adrienne did not return.*
*In her heart, protected as it was, she knew it would hurt too much to be reminded what her father would have thought (coincidentally, what her brother actually did think). It was the beginning of her life as a married woman, and married women did not live to be happy. They lived to make their husbands comfortable, and they built walls to protect what they once were. The wall had laid its foundations years ago, and was finally beginning construction.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:25:47 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 22:25:47 GMT -5
*Days passed as he sat pensive in his hotel room. He was going to let her go quietly and do what he knew was right, but when the night before the wedding arrived, he no longer could do nothing. Not if he wanted to be able to live with himself.
After what he remembered only to be a blur of lights and sounds, he arrived at the hotel. He had walked without an umbrella in the downpour and with nothing to shield him from the pouring rain, he arrived at her door drenched. It took every ounce of his will to knock at her door and once he had, he regretted it.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:28:44 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 22:28:44 GMT -5
*Adrienne wondered who it was--Fernand would not have knocked, as he had a key and was probably well on his way to getting drunk and slobbering over some can-can dancer and pawing with alcohol-clumsy hands. Nicki, perhaps? Without checking the peephole she opened the door.*
*The hairbrush she'd been holding fell and clattered to the floor. Before her expression could even change, she blurted:*
"Why the hell are you here?"
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:34:39 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 22:34:39 GMT -5
*His mouth opened but soon closed after realizing he had nothing to say.*
"I don't know," *he finally replied, truthful yet weary.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:37:17 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 22:37:17 GMT -5
"You're wet."
*He'd walked here in the rain. How he knew where here was was another mystery entirely.*
"You're soaking wet and I'm in a wedding dress."
*She was seized with the sudden urge to laugh--and laugh she did. Giggles at first, progressing into hysterical gales of laughter that forced her to sit on a chaise.*
"This is ridiculous."
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:49:56 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 22:49:56 GMT -5
*Chuck followed her in, silently closing the door behind him as something bubbled up from the pit of his stomach. He stood there, unable to justly express the anger he felt at her demeanor.*
"Damn hilarious, isn't it?" *he said, the steely edge of his voice giving away his anger.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:52:00 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 22:52:00 GMT -5
*But said demeanor turned in an instant and her eyes narrowed as they found him.*
"Hilarious the way you think you can just walk on out and then back in without a word."
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:58:55 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 22:58:55 GMT -5
*He no longer could just stand there. With a few fluid strides, he crossed her room, roughly seized her by her shoulders and slammed her against a wall.*
"I wish I could walk out," *he said in a harsh whisper.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 22:59:53 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 22:59:53 GMT -5
*A slap resounded in the room.*
"Ne me touchez pas, lâche."
(("don't touch me, coward"))
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 23:12:00 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 23:12:00 GMT -5
*Coward. The one thing he knew he was and the one thing he desperately didn't want to be. That word stung him far more than her slap did; it cut him deeply... and he reacted like any animal in the wild would've reacted when wounded.*
"I am a coward?" *he shouted, shaking her violently.*
*He promptly dragged her over to the full length mirror and forced her to confront her reflection, namely the dress.*
"I stayed. I stayed while you ran!"
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 23:20:22 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 23:20:22 GMT -5
*Her voice was deadly quiet and she looked his reflection evenly in the eye.*
"Vous avez fui. La question est à qui vous avez fui." *On the last word, an edge broke through and she turned.*
"Ne pensez pas que je suis stupide. Ne pensez pas que je suis aveugle." *She sneered.* "Je ne vous laisserais pas de me tromper de nouveau."
(("you fled. the question is to whom did you flee." "don't think that i'm stupid. don't think that i'm blind.""I'm not going to let you fool me again."))
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 23:40:59 GMT -5
Post by Chuck Bass on Jul 27, 2009 23:40:59 GMT -5
"Anyone but you," *he hissed.*
*What he failed to bring to words was why. He was well aware of his tendencies of making the ones around his miserable. But he had run away for her because he didn't care about hurting anyone but her.*
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Engaged
Jul 27, 2009 23:43:31 GMT -5
Post by Adrienne on Jul 27, 2009 23:43:31 GMT -5
"Then why in God's name did you come back?" *Her normally low, smooth voice was a full-throated yell; the kind that meant she didn't care who heard.* "Some kind of sick desire to confirm once and for all I'm becoming what I swore I never would?"
*She pulled away, unwilling to look at him.*
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