Chapter 34 – Jesse Flynn
With all the excitement of the previous weeks – if not months! – Jesse was getting very few hours of sleep. And even if he did sleep, it was restful because he was always trying to think about how he could do better, be better, and make this Selection even better for those who weren't behind closed walls.
But that morning, Jesse didn't feel like doing any of those things. This feeling was getting more and more recurrent, and he had no idea why: he just wanted to be lazy and see no one. Was that normal? Oh, well. He would just scroll through social media a little while longer while he just lay there in bed. He'd get up later.
There were so many reposts and likes of Silas's proposal video on Instagram and Twitter that it made him happy. The future queen of Illéa was already loved and favored by the people.
Would he ever be happy like them? Would he ever find his soulmate? Sure, Nevaeh was the woman of his dreams and had always been. But would he ever get his chance with her when she always pushed him away and treated him like dirt? Eh, probably not.
Oh, well. Jesse checked the time. 9:21 a.m. It was probably time to get up, anyway or people would wonder where he was. At least Sydney hadn't sent him any urgent text, this time. The girls were in the classroom with Nevaeh, Valerian was catching up on college work, Silas was in his weekly meeting, and Nathan? No idea.
Jesse got up and dressed after a shower and headed downstairs. On his way, he saw a maid and asked her if she could bring him some breakfast to his office. He could really get used to having servants all the time, doing his bidding. Jesse went to his office.
"Look who decided to finally show up!" Sydney said, laughing. "Did you sleep well?"
"No." Jesse sat on a chair.
"Oh. What's wrong?"
He shrugged. "No idea. Too excited, maybe?"
"Hm," Sydney said, eyeing him. "Hey, look at this post I found this morning. It's from an Instagram account who was supporting Leigh." She typed something on her phone. "Here, I just sent it to you."
Jesse's phone buzzed in his pocket and he clicked on the little notification and read the post. It was a picture of Ximena and Silas from a date before their engagement. She was laughing at something Silas had said and the caption said WE DON'T WANT A FAT QUEEN.
"What the hell?" Jesse said. "Already body-shaming the future queen of Illéa?"
"Yeah," Sydney said. "And they've tagged lots of people on the post, look."
Jesse clicked on the tag. There were, indeed, lots of people, included Silas, Jesse, Ximena, Leigh, and many other Selected and other famous people. "Damnit, I hope Ximena didn't see this."
"I doubt she didn't," Otis said. "You can't unsee a post you're tagged in."
"No, but you can untag yourself.
"This is ridiculous," Jesse said, sending his phone sliding on the table. "Are people still that low in this day and age?"
"Yes, and that's not the first nor last post like this," Sydney said. "I really don't know what to do about it."
"Me neither," Jesse said. "If we start fighting this, it's like holding the ocean with just our arms."
Otis nodded and put his headphones down. "I don't think it's our fight, anyway," he said. "I've been going over Ximena's social media and she'd been advocating for body positivity for ages. And she's probably been dealing with haters for even longer." He paused, thinking for a few seconds. "I think this is going to be one of her main fights when she takes the crown. Even her clothes brand means Queen in Portuguese."
"Ha, I didn't even realize that," Jesse said, yawning.
"Woah, dude, you really didn't sleep that well," Sydney said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…" he trailed off. "So, any dates planned for this week?"
"No idea," Sydney said. "But now it's only with Nathan and Val."
"Oh, no no no," Jesse said, sitting up. "Silas may have found his girl, but I'm not letting him off the hook just yet. People will want some Xilas fluff– Ha! I can finally use their ship name! And I'm going to give it to them."
"Sure," Otis pipped in. "But now the people will want to know who the others will choose as well." He paused, looking at something on his computer. "It's mid-September: one prince down, two more to go. Do you think we could convince one or the other to cut it down to their Elite to speed things up a bit?"
"Why would you want to speed this?" Sydney asked.
"Because I'm afraid people are getting bored and finding things to argue about, like the hashtag war and now the haters over Ximena," Otis said. "And I think it's getting a bit repetitive as well. An Elite would spice things up a little, don't you think?"
Jesse shrugged. "Maybe. I'll see what I can do…"
-o-0-o-
On Monday afternoon, Nathan came to Jesse's office to get an orange rose.
"Nice!" Sydney said. "Who are you asking out?"
"Laelia. Do you have a pen and paper I could use?" he asked.
"Uh, sure." Jesse gave him what he wanted and Nathan sat down to write. From what Jesse could see, his handwriting was a bit scraggly, and there were at least two mistakes in that one sentence, but he didn't point it out.
"Thanks!" Nathan said, walking away with the rose and the note. But Jesse didn't move from his chair.
"Aren't you going with him? No tea this time?" Sydney asked, shocked.
"No, not in the mood." Jesse rubbed his face with both hands and yawned again. "What is wrong with me?" he asked to no in particular. "I need to go third-wheeling Nathan. Again." He stood and started to head for the door. "You know, it is kinda depressing to third-wheel all those dates and not come home to anyone. What am I doing with my life?"
Sydney and Otis shared a look.
"What?" Jesse said.
"Nothing…" Sydney trailed off. "Jesse, you're young and you still have plenty of time to find love."
"Pff, I'm almost thirty," he replied before really walking away this time and following Nathan. "Hey, wait up!"
Nathan was already at the end of the hall, but he slowed down a bit. "Are you okay, Jesse? You seemed a bit down, just now." He paused briefly. "You usually jump to your feet when there's a date, and this time it took you more than a minute to follow me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jesse said. "I'm just a little tired." He yawned, proving his point. "So, what are you two going to do?"
"Well, first," Nathan said, "I'm going to deliver the rose and the note through a maid, and I'll wait for her at the location I've written on the note."
"Which is…?"
"The gym."
Jesse snorted. "I thought you hated sports."
"I do. But I have something in mind that is less sport and more fun."
"Sex?" Jesse asked, rolling his eyes.
"No! Damn, Jesse," Nathan said. "Do you think so little of me?"
They both laughed until they saw a maid. Nathan asked her to deliver the rose and the note to Laelia – though he had no idea where she was in the Palace at the moment – before sending Jesse to the gym while he changed into something more comfortable, yet still stylish.
Jesse went to the gym and crinkled his nose: the smell of cold sweat still lingered in the spacious room, and he wondered who – and when – had used it last, and if maids cleaned and aired this space. Oh, well, he'd get used to it. He prepared his phone to film and waited for the two young people to come.
Nathan arrived first, dressed in black shorts and a t-shirt with black sneakers. The clothes looked very new and he wondered how many times the Prince had actually worn sports clothes in his life. The prince pretended to do some warming up, but he looked ridiculous.
"Uhm, what are you doing?" Jesse asked, trying not to laugh.
"A warm-up, duh."
"That's not really a warm-up," Jesse countered and then burst out laughing.
"Are you making fun of me, Jesse?" Nathan said, his voice full of (fake) hurt. "That's not really nice."
"I'm so sorry," Jesse said. "It's just– what exactly are you trying to warm up? You look like a caterpillar getting out of its cocoon."
Nathan barked out a laugh. "Hey– okay, that's funny."
Just then, Laelia arrived, dressed in navy blue mini-shorts and a pink tank top with white sneakers. She was holding the note in her hands.
"Thank you for the invitation, Nathan, but there were too many mistakes in two sentences. I don't know if I should be offended or not." She handed him the note where Jesse noticed she had corrected at least five words – if not more – with a red pen. Harsh.
"Uhm, thanks…" Nathan said, taking the paper from her. For the first time in a long time, he seemed to be really hurt and was having trouble keeping the smile on his face. Jesse was still filming, though he wasn't sure he was going to keep the footage or make it public in any case. He stared at the note, frowning, while Laelia looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well?" she said. "Did you never learn to write correctly?"
"Just so you know," the prince stated, "I was never good in school because I have dyslexia." He paused and looked up at the girl staring at him.
Her face went from snarky to guilty. "Oh… I'm sorry," she said, reaching for the note to take everything back, but Nathan snatched it away and put it in his pocket.
"It's okay, you couldn't have known." He smirked. "But you can make it up to me."
"How?"
He walked to the wall and opened a panel. "Have you ever fought with a sword?" He took out a long steel sword from its hinges.
"Uhhh, no, I can't say I have…" she said, losing the little bit of confidence that was left in her.
"No? Shouldn't you try these kinds of things when you're a writer?" He weighed the weapon in his hands. "I'd try everything to make sure I write them correctly," he said. "But I am not a writer – thank God. I try everything because I can and I have money. Anyway," he said, putting the sword back in place. "I can teach you a few things in sword-fight." He grabbed two wooden light-sabers – of course – and threw one to Laelia who caught it expertly mid-flight.
"I never write about sword-fights," she said, weighing the wooden weapon, "or saber-fights for that matter because there are none of these in horror stories." She took an en-garde position, ready to fight.
Nathan lunged at her with his wooden saber. "Have you ever thought about mixing the fairytale and horror genres?" They attacked and pared. "Imagine a medieval horror tale with sword-fights between badass princesses and ghosts."
Their wooden sticks – because that was really what they were – clacked and clicked together like two giant knitting needles, only they weren't making a sweater but something that looked more like chaos and grunts. Nathan was somewhat elegant as he attacked and defended his position and Jesse figured he must have had some light-saber fighting experience. But Laelia was doing all she could to defend herself, and she was losing ground.
"I've– never– thought about– that," she said between blows, staggering backward as Nathan was cornering her against the wall.
"Think about it," he said, and this time blocked her against the wall with the wooden saber under her neck. "You would have died," he said with a smirk.
"You don't say?" She pushed him away from him and she was quite strong because Nathan staggered on his feet and fell on his butt. Laelia walked over to him and put the tip of her wooden saber near his neck. "Now you're dead too. Never underestimate your opponent."
Nathan laughed. "You were already dead, you couldn't have killed me like that."
"T'was just a scratch," she said. "I used my last strength to finish you off, and we're both dead now." She dropped on the floor, simulating her death and they both laughed.
"Okay, okay," Nathan said. "Is that how you get away from impossible situations in your stories?"
"Yes. Never run away from the problems: always run at them and stab them until they die."
"That's… dark," Nathan said, chuckling and getting back up. "So, you want me to show you some sick moves? Or should we just lie on the floor and wait until the time passes?"
Laelia got back up as well. "Show me some moves." She took her position and Nathan corrected how she stood on her feet. "Can we try with the steel sword, after that?"
"Uh, no," Nathan said. "That's a tad bit dangerous. Here, don't look at my feet or you're gonna miss what I'm gonna do with my arms," he instructed.
Jesse filmed them for some time but got quickly bored and tired. Why did he keep yawning all the time? What was wrong with him? He went to the kitchen to get himself a strong coffee to make it through the rest of the day. When he came back, Nathan and Laelia were trying out the steel swords, testing the weight and making maneuvers, but not actually attacking each other.
"Uh, what are you guys doing?" he asked, sitting on the bench against the wall.
"I'm trying out a real sword to see how it feels," Laelia said. "I want to add that in my next book."
"Oh, nice," Jesse said. "And you, Nate? You're also writing a book?"
"Ha. Ha. Funny. No, I'm practicing my light-saber moves."
"Of course, why didn't I think of that," Jesse replied, smacking his forehead dramatically.
-o-0-o-
In the middle of the week, on Wednesday afternoon, Valerian took a break from studying to go on a date and Jesse was happy to tag along. His motivation for the Selection was up again and he was his usual self again, bubbly, effulgent, and ebullient.
The couple went for a walk and headed out of the gardens, away from everyone else. Jesse followed them with the drone, wanting some aerial footage of them to add to the recap video. Aerial footage was hard to get inside the palace, so he was glad to be doing something different.
Valerian needed to get out of the Palace and away from people in general. His study group was fun, but he usually didn't assimilate fun with work. Sure, he loved the subject he was studying, but he could do with a little less chatter and giggles. He had almost given in and bought a noise-adsorbent headphone set, but decided against it: it would be rude to organize this whole study group thing and then tune everyone out.
He talked about it with Jesse the previous day, and Jesse had suggested he speed along with his Selection: the faster he was done, the faster he could go back on campus in a real class. Sure, Valerian had agreed with that. But unlike his brother, he hadn't fallen in love as quickly. He did have some favorites, and Jesse had suggested he'd keep only them, creating the first Elite of the Selection, since Silas had completely forgone that altogether.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the drone following at a safe distance, up in the sky. At least Jesse couldn't hear what they were saying and it was a nice change from some previous dates.
The young woman next to him, Dyani, was dressed in a soft pink dress with a high, round neckline, short sleeves, cinched at the waist and which arrived just above the knee. She was also wearing her long black hair in a loose braid down her back and a large sun hat on her head with a matching ribbon. She was talking about her family, back home, and Valerian noticed he was only half-listening. Oops.
"…and then my brother just bragged about it. Anyway, story of my life," she said, chuckling. Valerian chuckled along. "Where are we going, exactly?" They had been following a gravel path away from the Palace.
"I thought we could go to the stables," Val said. "I haven't been there in ages, and it's a nice change from the Palace."
"Ooh, horses?" she said, her face brightening up.
"Yes! My dad used to live on a ranch, before competing in my mom's Selection, and he never stopped loving horses. They're all his, mainly, and he's tried to have us all ride when we were kids."
"So you don't anymore?" she asked.
"No, not really." He chuckled nervously. "I mean, I could, but I've never really taken the time to do it, to be honest." He paused. "I think the last time I rode a horse I must have been something like twelve years old. And I'm the one who did it the longest. Nate and Silas stopped way sooner." He laughed softly. "Dad had good hopes for me also liking it so we could go together, but eeh… not really my thing."
"Then why are we going?" she said, confused. "If you don't like the horses…"
"Oh, no! I do like them. I just don't really enjoy the riding." He shrugged. "Too painful on the legs."
Dyani laughed. "Yeah, okay. That's understandable."
They chatted some more until they arrived at the stables. It was a nice building, much nicer than the average home in Illéa, and each horse had lots of space for itself.
"Huh," she said. "I think one stall is as big as our living room," she said.
"Wait. Really?" Valerian had never realized the stables were that big. Sure, he knew the palace was huge, but not the stables. A few horses neighed when they noticed someone was here and Val and Dyani walked up to those who had made a noise.
"Hello, you!" she said to a grey stallion. "Ooh, I like your name, Ashland." The names of all the horses were carved in a fancy wooden plate in front of their stall. "Aw, but I don't have anything for you, I'm afraid," she said, rubbing his pink nose."
"Actually…" Valerian said, retracing his steps to the entrance of the barn. He came back with a metal bucket filled with apples and gave one to Dyani, whose eyes lit up instantly. She held the apple in the palm of her hand and gave it to Ashland. They gave an apple to all the horses present in the barn, rubbing their noses and saying a few words to each one of them.
Valerian was thinking again about his conversation with Jesse and a potential Elite. Who would he choose? One thing he was sure about was that the dress code at the last party was helping him a great deal: he knew which ones like him best, so if he matched his list plus the girls in white, it would be easy to define an Elite. He was glad all the girls wearing only white were also all on his list. It would have been awkward to have a girl not on his list still favoring him…
"For once I'm not the one daydreaming," Dyani said, nudging him playfully in the arm. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Val said, rubbing his neck. He took a deep breath and let it out all at once. "I have a lot on my mind, that's all." He offered what he hoped was a confident smile, but it failed.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.
Valerian wasn't sure talking about that with her was a good idea, but he could still be vague about it. "It's just– I don't know how Silas did it," he said. "Falling in love this quickly. I honestly thought Nate would be the first and Silas the last. Now I'm questioning everything."
Dyani nodded. "Yeah, love is weird sometimes," she said. "Though you have to admit that Xi and your brother are a nice pair. They could have taken a week or three years, they would still have ended up together."
Valerian thought about it. "You're right. They were meant for each other. I kinda feel bad for the others. Especially Leigh. I think she would have also made a nice pair with Silas."
Dyani shrugged. "As I said, love works in mysterious ways." She paused to find his gaze. "But don't worry, Val, you'll figure it out, too. Just– listen to your heart."
Listen to your heart. What did that even mean? But Valerian nodded and they did one last round of the horses, patting their soft faces, before slowly making their way back to the palace, hand in hand. He noticed her hands had softened a lot since the beginning of the Selection…
-o-0-o-
It was already Friday, and time seemed to go by so fast. Jesse felt like he was in a hurricane of things happening around him and he couldn't stop it or control it. He hated that feeling and he'd been snapping at people all morning. He didn't know what was wrong with him, though his outfit was amazing: a black suit with a black blazer printed with sunflowers all over and a bright yellow bow tie. Usually, when his outfit was amazing, so was his mood. But not that day.
Of course, he knew how to fake a smile for the cameras, but all he wanted to do was lock himself in a dark cave and wait for the whole thing out.
Damnit, Jesse, he said to himself. Get a grip on yourself!
The whole royal group arrived a few minutes later and Jesse plastered a smile on his face, welcoming everyone as they arrived. He fist-bumped Nathan and shook hands with Val, and bowed to the girls coming in, as well. There was one chair less in the group of girls since Ximena was officially out, but still there, too, and Sydney had exchanged Nathan's armchair with a loveseat for the Crown Prince and his fiancée, and the two other brothers would share the couch.
When Jesse went to sit on his own armchair to get the party started, someone was missing.
"Hey, where's Silas?" he asked.
"In the audience," Val said, pointing at his brother. "With Ximena."
"Oh, no no, nonono, this won't do," he said. "Your Highness, can you please join us with your fiancée?"
"I thought I was done with the Selection?" Silas said, exchanging a glance with Ximena.
"Ha," Jesse said. "Not quite yet." He motioned to the loveseat with his arm. "Please? I'm sure the people will be excited to see you and your fiancée after last week…"
Both the prince and his lady seemed reluctant to join the stage, but Nevaeh encouraged them to go, and they relented. Ximena was dressed in a long-sleeve burgundy dress with a lace top and a floor-length skirt cinched at the waist with a matching ribbon, and Silas had a matching burgundy shirt under a black suit and a black tie.
Jesse didn't comment on it yet, wanting to keep that for the cameras. He went backstage, waiting for his cue.
"Goodeveningladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls!" Jesse said, coming on the stage, his arms outstretched to welcome everyone, even those behind their screens, later on. "What a marvelous day today, was it not?" He kept his practiced smile and he knew everyone would be duped into thinking he was as fine and excited as ever. "Before we go over this week's events, I'd just like to welcome back a very special– two very special people! His Royal Highness, Prince Silas, and Lady Ximena, his fiancée!"
He looked at the couple in the loveseat and grinned. They were so cute.
"I won't invite you every single time on the Report, don't worry," he continued, "but I just wanted to talk about your first official week of being engaged with you." He paused. "I noticed you're wearing matching outfits. Was that on purpose?"
Ximena chuckled softly. "Yes, I had a feeling you'd make us come up here. So we came prepared…"
"I see," Jesse said. "Please tell me you two have spent every waking moment together this week…"
Silas and Ximena looked at each other. "No," Silas said. "I still have to work, and Ximena continued to have 'classes' with Nevaeh and the other girls." He pushed his glasses up. "But we will take a few days next week to get away, don't worry."
"Oooh, just the two of you," Jesse crooned. "How romantic! Are you going to an island? In Dominica? Hawaii?"
"That's confidential," Silas said.
"Ah, too bad. Oh well, I tried!" He laughed. "Oh, I have another question for the lady: Are you still in your Selected room or have you moved up a floor?" He wiggled his eyebrows for more emphasis. He didn't know how close intimately they were, for now, but that could probably lead to some clues.
"Yes, I'm still there," she said.
"Oh." That was disappointing. Maybe they were going to wait for their wedding night? That would be romantic, though… speaking of weddings… "When's the wedding?" he blurted out. He hoped people wouldn't notice he had jumped from his private line of thought and had no plan whatsoever for the interview.
"We're not sure yet," Silas replied. "There are still lots of things to figure out."
"But we're hoping at the beginning of the new year," Ximena said, a slight blush coloring her cheeks a pinkish color, and tucked some hair behind her hair. Silas grinned, too, looped his arm around her shoulders, and planted the softest kiss on her hair.
Jesse wanted to melt in a puddle and cry but he contained himself and cleared his throat. "That's some really good news," he said, keeping his eyes on his tablet. "Thank you for your candidness," he said. "You may rejoin the Audience if you so wish to do." What was wrong with him? When did he start talking like that?
The couple didn't have to be asked twice and left the stage, leaving Jesse quite alone with Nathan and Valerian. He looked at the two brothers, having a complete blank at the moment.
"You asked me earlier this week if I wanted to get down to my Elite," Valerian said, saving his ass, and casting a glance towards his brother who nodded.
"Right!" Jesse said. "And? What have you decided?"
"That I'm gonna do it." The silver-haired princes grinned. "So I'm taking a couple of girls off my list to make my Elite, and Nate's also taking off a couple of girls from his to leave them only on mine." He paused and laughed. "Does that make sense?"
"Absolutely!" Jesse said.
"And one is going home, unfortunately," Valerian continued, "though it's not by our own choice, I'm afraid."
Jesse frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Phoebe got an urgent call, last night, from her mother, saying that her grandmother in Georgia is sick and that she needs to go there," Valerian explained. "And Phoebe asked to be freed from the Selection so she could also go."
"Oh, that's unfortunate," Jesse said. Then he looked for the blond girl in the group of girls. "I really hope your grandmother gets better."
"Thank you," she said.
"When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning." Of course, that wasn't entirely true: Phoebe would be leaving that same afternoon, but since the Report would be transmitted after she had left, they had forged her answer to that question. Jesse thought it was smart.
"Oh, well, it was a pleasure to spend these few months with you," Jesse said. He took out the vase that was filled with black roses and Valerian took one to give to Phoebe. In front of everyone, he thanked her for participating in the Selection, told her it had been his pleasure to spend some time with her, wished her luck in Europe, and finally hugged her tightly before she left backstage. Her eyes were quite shiny and Jesse didn't know if she was crying for her dying grandmother or for leaving the Selection. Probably both.
"Okay!" Jesse said, trying to keep the good mood of the Report going on. "Who is in you Elite, Your Highness?" he asked. This was the second big milestone of the Selection – the first one should have been Silas' Elite, but he jumped over that and went directly to the last one – and Jesse was excited, despite his changing mood of the moment.
Valerian smiled, clearly nervous to announce it, because that meant being one step closer to finding his One. And it also meant eliminating several other girls… thankfully they were all still on Nate's list so he wasn't completely kicking them out, just yet. "Okay, so I've chosen six girls to be in my Elite, and these are, in no particular order: Malia, Odessa, Ashia Mia, Dyani, and Eve!"
"Wow! Congratulations!" Jesse said. "Can you all step up and join the prince, please?"
The six girls broke from the group of Selected and joined Val, all grinning from ear to ear: this was also a big milestone for them. They clustered around him, three on each side, and let one of the cameras film them up close, zooming in. Jesse thought it was a really nice group, and he could have put his money on most of them, had he bet on Val's Elite.
The two remaining lists appeared on the screen behind them and the technician working on it scratched out two names from Val's list: Veronica and Leigh. He also scratched off several names on Nathan's list, and those were Mia, Eve, Odessa, and Malia, since they were in the Elite. Six roses were passed out, even though Jesse thought that was weird to give black roses to the ones in Val's Elite, but oh, well…
"All right, Ladiesandgentlmenboysandgirls," he said after sending everyone back to their seats. "The first Elite of the Selection! Prince Nathan, how do you feel about this? You're the last one without an Elite…"
Nathan shrugged. "I guess I'm just taking my sweet time, you know?" He chuckled. "I really don't want to rush things, to be honest. And though I do have some favorites among the remaining ones – don't tell them," he whispered loudly, "I don't think I'm ready to settle on an Elite just yet."
"Understandable," Jesse said. He turned to the cameras and the audience. "Well, there you have it, this week's Report! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, to like and follow the blog article, and to continue voting for your favorite Selected! Good night, Illéa!"
The audience cheered and the cameras retreated, it was finally the end. Jesse was kind of glad about how it had turned out and he didn't think there would be too much editing to do. The girls quickly joined Val and Nate and headed backstage and back to the parking lot.
Jesse stayed in his armchair and went over a few things on his iPad, tuning everyone out.
He felt someone tapping a finger on his arm and he looked up. "Nevaeh?" From the face she was making, she had called his name a couple of times.
"Jesse, are you alright?" she asked, concern filling her voice. She was honestly the last person he had thought would notice his weird mood. "You look tired."
"Thanks, but I'm fine," he said, forcing the smile on his face.
Nevaeh sat on the couch where Valerian had sat a few moments earlier. "Jesse, I know you enough to know when you're being genuine and when you're forcing your smile." She paused. "You're forcing it right now."
"I'm not," he said, keeping the smile on his face.
She gave him the look, and his smile faltered. "Okay, fine. But I'm fine, I'm just tired."
"Take a few days off," she said.
"Ha. And miss the beginning of Val's Elite week? No way."
"Fine, suit yourself." With that, she stood and left, and Jesse didn't know if he wanted to cry or laugh. Could he do both?
Heyyy! I hope you enjoyed this little chapter!
What did you think of the two dates? And of Val's Elite? Also, what is wrong with Jesse?
Also, I'd like to thank Grace for giving me Phoebe, she was really nice to write! :)
Don't forget to check out the updated lists on IG, too!
Byyyeee, see you next week! ;)
PS: Rowe, if you're reading this, I'm really going to be needing that list for the YB! thanks! ;)
