A/N: Song in parenthesis by Irene Cara :)

Sorry for the delay. I had been very sick lately, but I'm starting to get back on my feet. I hope you like this chapter, lots of things happen here. Let me know what you think! :)

Chapter 4- Lurking in the Distance (What a Feeling)

Many months pass after many gold medals and trophies, ice dancing season was about to come to an end for Josée and Jacques. From May to July was off-season, where figure skaters mainly participated in ice shows, which were non-competitive events sorely for entertainment purposes. They were undefeated this season in their junior division, so the ice skating union was starting to keep a closer eye on the pair.

In regards to World Championships for ice dancing, Canada had taken over full storm. Because while Josée and Jacques were the leading junior team, Leo and Liv were the adults on the senior team and were mostly undefeated with the exception of the olympics. Leo and Liv had participated, but had placed silver. However, this was quite impressive for them since they were both twenty-two and the team from Russia were in their late twenties and were far more polished.

"No, no, no! Absolutely not," Josée complained in disapproval, holding up the costume to Isaac in his office. Despite popular belief, Josée and Jacques did not have that much artistic freedom when it came to designing and creating their own costumes. They usually had to consult someone for that. Josée was highly annoyed because they weren't "babies" and that she and Jacques could do it themselves. There were also instances, such as this one, where they would get sponsors to pay them to show off their designs. This costume that came into today that Josée was set to wear in an ice show. Jacques had been quiet when she went on about how awful it was.

When Josée stopped ranting, Isaac sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you finished now?" He was not at all phased by her behavior in the least, as this has happened many times before. To be honest, he was mostly surprised that she hadn't trashed his office yet. "So let me get this straight," he started off calmly, "You're upset because of a custom-design, specifically for you, that the designer put all of their time and energy into?"

"It isn't even the right shade of pink I wanted!" Josée exclaimed in horror, pointing at it repeatedly. "Look. Now when Jacques and I get out there, we'll look like idiots."

"Josée, the costumes are fine-"

"Shut up Jacques."

"Oh..."

Josée turned back to Isaac with a furious expression. "If you could just let us design more of our own costumes, that would be great."

"Josée," Isaac started off sternly. "You don't want to hear this, but figure skating is a business first. All of it, it's a business. Artistry comes later. The more sponsorships you get, the more money you get, and the more money you get, the more attention and fame you get cheering you both on to win. What you're doing now isn't how the figure skating world works. You don't get to cry until you get a new costume."

"But-"

"The answer is no."

"Ugh!" Josée groaned and crossed her arms. "Fine! But when we get tomatoes thrown at us at the ice show coming up, I'm blaming you."

"I assure you, nothing bad will happen just because it's not the shade of pink you wanted."

Josée felt her temper slowly slipping away from her. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided it against it. She grabbed Jacques' arm instead and dragged him out of the office with one hand while holding the costume with the other. When she let go of Jacques she gave his office door mighty slam as she stormed off. "Unbelievable."

Jacques followed behind her. "What do you mean?"

"Isaac is a lot nicer when he lets me do things my way."

"But he doesn't." Correction - Isaac doesn't let her get away with acting like a diva.

"I know right? It's awful. Just like this costume!"

"I'm sure you'll look fine in it, chouchou," Jacques said sweetly.

"Allo Jacques! Josée!" The ice dancers turned around to see Rachel on the rink waving to them. The blonde skated toward them with a sunny smile. "My axels are getting so much better. How are you guys doing?" Rachel saw Josée roll her eyes, and that told her all she needed to know. "Oh what happened?"

Josée opened her mouth to complain, but hesitated when she realized who was in front of her. She could very well tell her the truth about how a custom-design wasn't exactly what she wanted, that was probably expensive, and would bring in a lot of money for her and Jacques through sponsorships that Rachel could be getting. She knew that Rachel was significantly disadvantaged when it came to costumes. Josée could very well say that she was annoyed that she wasn't getting her way.

But she didn't. "Just... I found out that, um... literature class," Josée lied. She ignored the strange look Jacques was giving her as she grew more confident in her lie. "I just remembered I had something for literature class that I need to do."

"Do you want me to do it?"

Josée smiled sweetly. "No thank you, Rachel. I've got it." Her smile faded. "I'll see you later."

"Au revoir!" Rachel called out happily.

"Au revoir!" Jacques repeated back as he and Josée started to walk away. Once he was out of earshot, he smiled at Josée teasingly. "You have a soft spot for Rachel."

Josée scowled at him. "No I don't." Jacques stared at her doubtfully. "I don't." It was silent for a few seconds, before Josée sighed in defeat. "Okay, she can't help being poor. At least she's trying to make an effort to dance and skate, unlike the others in dance class. She doesn't deserve the hate. I'm just a bitch, so it's different."

Jacques' smile vanished. "Chouchou, you're not a bitch!" He nearly exclaimed. "You're ah... high maintenance."

Josée raised an eyebrow. "You just called me a bitch with fancy words."

"Would a bitch spare Rachel's feelings from being hurt?"

"No..."

Jacques grinned. "See? High maintenance."

Josée let out a tiny grin back and rolled her eyes fondly. "Alright, you have a point." However, she and Jacques stopped grinning when they both felt a very ugly presence. Outside the rink they ran into Leo and Liv, both of whom were smoking their cigarettes.

"Is that Josée and Jacques?" Liv said mockingly, in a condescending voice. "How wonderful to see you! Congratulations on your latest competition win, it seemed like such a fluke though. The judges at junior competitions have gone soft over the years." She and Leo gave them venomously sweet smiles. Of course Josée and Jacques knew better.

"Thank you," Josée replied, matching her tone. "Congratulations again on silver at the olympics, I personally wouldn't be caught dead with that."

Leo scoffed. "Don't hold your breath."

"You won't be able to if you keep smoking those cancer sticks," Jacques countered, earning a snicker from his partner. "Really unhealthy."

Liv took note of Josée. "Oh, it's hilarious that you're laughing about that, considering that you're looking unhealthy. How's the diet going?" Josée and Jacques' grins disappeared after that. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Jacques stepped in front of Liv. "Take that back," he hissed.

"Ooh, Liv. You hit a touchy subject." Liv smirked as Leo snickered. "Who's laughing now?"

"I don't know, I find it pretty funny that you got silver," Josée pointed out.

"I find it pretty funny that... oh, what's this?" Liv snatched the costume from Josée's hands and observed it. She burst into hysterical laughter. "Oui! I find this funny. That you have the confidence to wear that. I mean, considering..." Liv gestured to Josée's body. "That. To be fair, I wish I could let myself go like you have."

Jacques looked over to see Josée had tears welling up in her eyes. Naturally, Leo and Liv got a kick out of it. "Oh are you going to cry?" Leo mocked. "Are you a baby?"

Suddenly, Isaac appeared. "Is there a problem?" Leo and Liv raised their eyebrows at Josée and Jacques' coach. Isaac turned to Josée, who's eyes were watering. "Josée?" The fifteen-year-old shook her head violently and ran off - presumably behind the building - so no one would see her cry. Isaac turned to Leo and Liv and flashed them a nasty look. "Olympic medalists or not, you don't ever make one of my students cry. If you're going to smoke those disgusting cigarettes and not skate, leave the building." Leo and Liv put out their cigarettes - that were mostly done anyway - and wordlessly exited. This left Jacques and Isaac alone. "Go find her."

Jacques nodded gratefully. "Merci, Isaac." He went behind the building to see Josée sniffling. He leaned down beside her. "Chouchou, they're wrong. Hey, look at me." Josée did, as Jacques wiped the tears with his thumbs and gently cupped her face. Josée noticed the seriousness in his eyes. "They're wrong." Josée nodded slowly that she understood. Jacques brought her in for a hug, which she gladly accepted. "You won't be anything less than perfect to me."

The first ice show off-season was today. Josée and Jacques were set to go on in thirty minutes. They could perform this routine in their sleep, backwards, or both simultaneously. It wasn't about that. They knew they were going to ace it. The issue happened to be the costume. Oh, not the color - at least not this time - but the fact that Josée was having trouble getting into the costume. It was strange, because it did fit two days ago.

"It's not fitting, it won't zip all the way it... we have to be on in thirty minutes!" Josée's breathing began to get harsher in the back room where performers and their coaches waited, along with costume designers and parents if needed. Josée turned around with her head to face Jacques with fear in her eyes. "Please, Jacjac. Why isn't it fitting!?"

Jacques shook his head. "It's not that you don't fit, the zipper is stuck."

Isaac tried to reassure her. "Josée, it just won't zip up a little bit, it's not that noticeable." Josée's breathing was starting to worsen and swatted Jacques' hands away. "Don't worry. You will skate wonderfully, oh-" he cut himself off when Josée started to hyperventilate.

"Maman's... going to be... upset," Josée barely managed to breathe out. "All my fault... and this stupide costume." She started to fan her face excessively to try and dry the tears from her eyes, preventing it from ruining her makeup. "Is there a spare costume or something?!" Jacques guided Josée to the corner of the room, with Issac following behind them. "This is bad, Jacjac. It's all my fault..."

"Breathe, chouchou," Jacques ordered gently. He held her hands in his as she took in a shuddering breath. "Everything's going to be fine..."

"Jacques, where will I find your mother? The audience?" Jacques nodded at Isaac's question while keeping his eyes on Josée. "Great. I'll be back soon."

It took less than five minutes to retrieve Jacques' mother, who had a brown paper bag just in case and handed it over to Josée. "Deep breaths, sweetie. There you go." Josée breathed heavily into the paper bag until it evened out. "Let me see what I could do. Josée, try sucking in."

"Try not to rip it!"

"I'm trying, dear. Suck in." Josée did so, and Jacques' mother managed to pull the zipper all the way up. Josée felt relief wash over her body. Fleur shooed Jacques away so she was standing in front of Josée and tilted her chin up so she was looking at her. "No need to get into a frenzy, mon ange." Josée let out a tiny grateful smile and nodded. She turned to Isaac and Jacques and rolled her eyes. "There's two of you and you couldn't fix a zipper?"

"Maman..."

"I swear if I wasn't here all hell would break loose," Fleur told her son. However, she hugged him, and later Josée. "You both will be magnifique. Good luck."

"Merci, Fleur."

"Merci, maman." With that being said, Jacques' mother made her way back to the audience.

Isaac looked at the pair. "You're about to be called up after this performance. Are you two ready?" Josée and Jacques exchanged a look, smiled, and nodded. "Wonderful."

Josée took out bun-bun and kissed it once, before handing it over to Isaac. "Make sure you rub it so we do well!"

Jacques scowled. "I still can't believe Isaac can hold your rabbit's foot but I can't."

"Isaac won gold at the olympics twice!" Josée protested defensively. Then, she looked back at her coach again, who had raised eyebrows. "Isaac, please."

Their coach was very aware of Josée's superstitious streak - no matter how much she tried to deny it - though he couldn't bring himself to tell her that a rabbit's foot bringing good luck was only a myth. He did try to encourage for her to be more confident in her skating than assuming a rabbit's foot was contributing greatly to all of that.

It made him a little sad, but Isaac took the rabbit's foot anyway. "Of course, Josée."

"Our next skaters have won two world junior championships in a row, two junior grand pix championships in a row, two national junior championships in a row, and have been undefeated this season! Please welcome, Josée Boyet and Jacques Clemont from Montreal, Quebec!"

Josée and Jacques were cued to skate gracefully across the ice, smiling widely to the cheering audience, who were screaming their names. They took their position in a waltz-hold and waited for the music to start and the audience to simmer down. Once they did the music started, with Josée and Jacques waltzing on the ice. Josée was lifted just a bit off the ice and did a simple turn before she and Jacques collectively did a camel spin. After stopping the camel spin they waltzed around more before Jacques suddenly lifted Josée again using one arm under her back while holding her free hand and spun her around while her legs were stuck together in a straight line. With every spin, Josée gradually put her legs over his shoulders and then gradually came back down, with Jacques still holding her back and holding Josée's free leg that was completely straight.

Both of them separated and did a twizzle while the audience clapped appreciatively. As Jacques skated forward and Josée skated backward, the latter eventually stopped so Jacques could catch up. They simultaneously stuck their left leg out with a hand on the other's heart, while their other arm was outward and lifted to salute the audience, which they clapped and cheered at. The next part, however, was going to outshine all the other performers. Josée put her foot on Jacques' bent leg while he supported it, performing a curved lift. It was incredibly difficult due to the fact that the female skater had to be careful not to injure the male dancer's leg with their skate. Followed by that was Jacques spinning Josée around again, but he held her legs which were spread on the side of his shoulder while her arms were extended.

Once they were finished, the audience broke into applause at their routine. Josée and Jacques bowed to them and waved, smiles plastered on their faces as they exited the rink.

"See! Mon chou," Jacques told her, still smiling. "We were magnifique."

Josée smiled back weakly. "I think so. I just hope maman didn't hear about the costume mishap." Speaking of Josée's mother, she showed up along with Isaac and Jacques' mother, who looked a lot more impressed compared to her. "Allo, maman! Did you hear our fans cheering for us?"

"Hmm, oui," Josée's mother answered, with a serious expression. "They were distracted by their cheering that they didn't see you have a slightly bent leg for the camel spin."

Josée looked resigned. "Oh. I'm sorry, maman."

Fleur laughed nervously at the sudden awkwardness and cleared her throat. "Well I think you two were just wonderful," she said sweetly.

"I agree," said Isaac. "If this was a competition, you would definitely win gold." Josée smiled appreciatively while her mother looked less than pleased. Isaac went on, "I don't want to alarm both of you, but you have a ton of reporters and cameras out there... there are some fans out there, too."

Josée and Jacques' eyes lit up at the last part. "The crowd is that big?"

"Extremely. Are you both ready?" Josée and Jacques nodded that they were, and already prepped their smiles, bracing themselves before they stepped out into the crowd. Josée grabbed Jacques' hand right away, he squeezed it back in support, taking a breath in as Isaac opened the door...

...Mayhem.

Josée and Jacques suddenly wished they had brought sunglasses, with the amount of cameras flashing in their faces. Some earplugs would've been wonderful too, with the way that people were screaming their names, presumably from those adoring fans of theirs. As they made their way through the crowd, Josée and Jacques smiled and waved at all of them, blowing kisses as the cameras, and eventually stopped to answer all the questions that were thrown in their direction while signing autographs.

"Merci!" Josée called out when a reporter told her how beautiful their performance was. There was a follow-up question about what their plans were next. "Oh, we're probably going to do more ice shows in the future, so stay on the look-out for that."

"Do you think you'll perform somewhere in New York again?"

Jacques laughed a little. "We hope so."

"Who designed your costumes?!"

Josée and Jacques ignored the more... inappropriate comments and questions that were directed at them, and Isaac decided this was the moment where they would have to push through the crowd to get back home. Once they did, it was absolute chaos. More shouts from the crowd than ever before took over, and Josée was starting to feel claustrophobic, Jacques could tell. Josée quite nearly shrieked when a reporter laid a hand on her shoulder, resulting Jacques to smack it away while bringing Josée in closer.

"Chouchou, are you okay?" Jacques whispered, to which Josée nodded very slowly. He didn't believe her. "We're almost there, Josée."

"God, can you believe this is every kid's dream?" Isaac grumbled to one of the choreographers, referring to the swarm of people. He shook his head. "It's too much." They managed to get into the vehicle. Jacques and Josée took the backseat while fans waved at them through the windows. Jacques smiled and waved back and them, but Josée still looked a little freaked out by the incident from earlier.

"Josée, for the love of gold," her mother snapped from the front. "Eat the pain and smile."

Grin and bear it.

Josée obeyed, matching Jacques' sunny expression waving goodbye as they took off.

Madame Lizette was in a terrible mood and was taking it out on most of the dancers that were probably too strung out and tired to pay attention in class today. Jacques and Josée were in the minority in the case where they did understand the steps.

"Non, c'est faux!" Madame Lizette snapped after the group failed to do the sequence again. "You keep forgetting it's step step sauté arabesque. You're all doing step sauté arabesque instead of two steps after the five fouettés, which most of you butchered miserably." Madame Lizette walked to the front of the class. "From the top!" After every fouetté turn, she snapped her finger, and some students still couldn't do it. "Non!" Her eyes scanned the room for a pair that had gotten it right from the start. "Jacques and Josée, your moves are sharp in comparison to everyone else's. Please demonstrate for them."

Josée could hear the groans coming from the older dancers, but she didn't care. She smiled brightly and made her way to the front of the room, along with Jacques. Madame Lizette began to count down. Josée and Jacques effortlessly did the fouettés followed by the correct sequence of the two steps and the sauté followed by the arabesque. "Merci." Josée and Jacques returned to their spots as Madame Lizette went on: "If this were an audition, they would've gotten the callback while the rest of you would've been cut."

There was a knock on the door. Madame Lizette visibly groaned when she saw one of her superiors motioning that something had come up. "Wonderful," she muttered bitterly. With that, she turned to the rest of the class. "Work on the combination while I'm gone. Jacques and Josée, lead the class." She exited shortly.

"No way," one of the twelfth graders snapped after their teacher left. "I'm not listening to a ninth grader and an eleventh grader."

"But we were the only ones that could the sequence," Jacques argued. "We're just showing you how we do it."

Yasmine scoffed. "Remember when seniority was a thing here? Never thought we'd be forced to take orders from a ninth grader."

Josée crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "This ninth grader was able to do the fouetté turns and the following sequence without any trouble at all. Just because you're older doesn't mean you're better."

"It's called a totem pole," Yasmine retorted. "Just because you're good doesn't mean you get to cut in front of everyone older than you."

"Actually, I think it does."

"God, you're such a baby."

Jacques tried to step in between the two bickering girls. "That's enough." Alas, he was ignored.

Josée felt her blood starting to boil. "You know, I wouldn't mind helping you Yasmine if you weren't such a bitch." People gasped at the swear. Rachel tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but the ice dancer shrugged it off roughly. "I guess your turns will be ugly forever."

Yasmine didn't take those words kindly. "Ugly? Like that nose of yours?" People started to laugh.

"How dare you speak to Josée like that!" Jacques spoke angrily in defense of his partner.

"She started it!" Yasmine retorted, glaring at the male ice dancer. "You let her get away with her insulting me?"

"This is ridiculous," Josée snapped, rolling her eyes. "I was just told to help you learn the sequence because you can't apparently. If I could get back and do this better after a performance yesterday night, then you could too! I'm tired of pulling your weight!" At this point, Josée was shouting and Jacques bit his lip nervously in the potential direction this could go in.

"You have a lot of nerve coming after my weight, vous vache!" Yasmine shouted back.

"I'M NOT THE COW, YOU'RE THE COW!" Josée screamed in Yasmine's face and raised her fist, but Jacques pulled her back just before she could strike her in the face. Coincidentally, Madame Lizette returned and slammed the door angrily upon seeing no one working.

"What is going on?!" Madame Lizette hollered, her eyes wide with unfathomable fury. "You were all supposed to be working on the sequence!"

"We were!" Josée yelled, her temper long gone. "But apparently seniority is more important so no one would bother listening to the stupid ninth grader!" Without even thinking, Josée grabbed her belongings and started to storm out of class. She heard Jacques trying to call her name, but Madame Lizette wasn't having it.

"Jacques, stay here."

"But..."

"She needs to cool off."

SLAM!

Josée slammed the door and let out a muffled scream into her bag. For once could they maybe appreciate her? She did that dance flawlessly and no one would listen to her. They had too much of their stupid pride to listen to some lowly ninth grader like her. Josée turned around to face the door of the dance class, spat on the floor in disgust, and stormed off. She might as well leave. They didn't deserve her help. Why should she help people that didn't care about her? She could easily help Rachel after school, the only one besides Jacques that actually gave a damn about her feelings. She-

Oh!

When Josée had turned the corner, she accidentally bumped into someone, nearly knocking them over in the process. Josée groaned in annoyance and rubbed her shoulder while the other person winced. "Watch where you're going!" Josée snapped at the figure, without quite looking at them yet as she was focused on her own injury.

"No, you watch where you're going!" Josée openly her eyes in surprise that it was a male voice, and saw that it was a boy she had seen before. She couldn't quite place it. He was holding what looked like a clarinet in his hand and looked visibly angry. "This is expensive and probably cost more than most people's lives!"

Josée narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, I'm sorry that I hurt your precious clarinet!"

The boy gaped at her, offended. "It's not a clarinet," he hissed. "It's an oboe! There's a distinct difference between the two. Would you like it if I compared dancing to just moving around?" Josée blinked at him and then shook her head. The boy must've seen her expression and sighed. "Je suis désolé... I just left my orchestra class. It's got me in a terrible mood."

Josée snorted in agreement. "You're not the only one." Then, his face got a little clearer to her. "Oh, you're in my Literature class."

"That I am." It look like recognition sprung in his eyes as well. "I'm Claude Rousseau," Claude introduced himself curtly. "You're Josée right? You're in dance?" Josée nodded, not at all surprised that he knew her name, but was surprised that he mentioned dance class and not ice dance. "Nice to meet you. Sorry again, by the way. I had to leave my class because my classmates are unbearable."

Josée grinned at that. "Don't worry, I know the feeling all too well."

Claude smiled at her grin. "Some people don't know true talent even if it hit them in the face."

This time, Claude earned a laugh from her. "Very true. I was just trying to help them." Josée proceeded to explain the situation, despite the fact that she was sure they both loathed each other not even a few minutes ago. Now, Josée wasn't so sure, but nonetheless: "I don't mean to brag, but I am one of the best dancers in my class. Even as a ninth grader, I'm better than all the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. Jacques and I... we were the only ones that could do this step, but they refused to listen to me because it should go by seniority, according to them." She rolled her eyes at the last part. "It's so ridiculous."

"Absolutely!" Claude agreed. "I'm the principal oboist in orchestra, and the only ninth grader wind instrumentalist there. I have to keep the orchestra in tune. The other woodwinds wouldn't listen to me, even though I have perfect pitch and that I've been playing since I was four. Then we had to play this piece, and I had a huge solo, and the other instruments were overpowering my solo even though it's marked that they have to play softer, it's like they're trying to drown me out on purpose."

"Oh! And then they get paranoid when you call them out, right?" Josée exclaimed.

Claude's eyes lit up. "Exactly. I mean, 'I'm sorry that I actually follow the markings and do what I'm told.' They're so immature."

"It will all pay off when we're out of here and in the real world," Josée pointed out. "It's amazing how they call themselves artists but get involved in petty nonsense, instead of working on their talents, you know, what they're allegedly here for."

"Yes. It's all pointless drama that won't matter."

He was... interesting. Josée leaned against the wall and stared at the instrument in his hand. "You said you didn't get to play your solo," she remarked. "Do you mind if I hear it? I don't think I've ever heard an oboe before."

"Yes you have." Josée furrowed her brows in confusion. Then, to her surprise, she found out she had heard it before. Claude started to play the instrument, a familiar tune from her childhood that lasted a minute. It was absolutely lovely. Once he finished, she smiled. "That's Peter and the Wolf," she said knowingly. Claude smiled back at her for recognizing it. "The duck was my favorite part."

"Here's the solo that I was trying to play." Claude licked his reed and began to play the solo, and Josée once again recognized it. It was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard in her life.

"Jacques and I danced to that song once," Josée told him, realizing that she had been smiling for quite some time now.

"Ice dancing? Right?" Josée stared at him blankly in surprise. Claude shook his head fondly. "I've known you were an ice dancer the moment you walked into literature class. I've seen you skate before, you're really good." This... was news. Not the part about her being good at ice dancing, of course she knew that. The part where Claude didn't immediately open up and point out that she was a semi-famous ice dancer. "I have to say though, you're a lot different in person than you are on camera. Shy, even."

Josée avoided his eyes and ran a hand through her hair. "I get that a lot."

"It's actually really refreshing."

"Oh how on earth is that a good thing?"

"It shows that you're human," Claude explained. "I... struggle with that sometimes."

Josée blinked confusedly. "I think you're human. I get you, I guess. People really are talentless hacks. You're... you're not one of them. You play nice."

"You're not so bad yourself with the way you dance."

She didn't know what to make of him. "I should go, but..." She met his eyes. Her point still stood, his eyes were very nice. "We should talk more," she insisted. "You get it."

"Oui," Claude agreed.

She really didn't know what to make of him. "I'll... see you in Literature class."

Josée couldn't focus.

Jacques knew that very well. When something was on Josée's mind, he could read her like a book. As soon as he saw her at lunch, he saw it in her eyes that something had changed. He was sure that it had something to do with what happened in dance class today, but Josée insisted that wasn't the case. She refused to speak on it. Then, when they got to the ice, Jacques was sure that this was somewhat of a big deal, whatever it may be, because Josée had been oddly quiet.

Then an awful thought came to mind that he hadn't thought of. What if... what if she relapsed? Lately she had been on the receiving end of comments about her weight, even though she was at the perfect size, from older jealous petty dance girls and petty ice dancers. What if they had pushed her? He only saw her briefly at lunch.

"Josée," Jacques began, right after they finished their routine for the fifth time. "Did you eat today?"

Beat.

"What?" Josée asked incredulously. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

Jacques bit his lower lip. "Um..." he hesitated. It's not that he didn't trust her. To be fair, there were other things on Jacques' mind to really pay attention to Josée lately, something about himself that he was curious about. Now his situation he obviously knew had to do with what he saw in dance class, but he didn't want to think about that at the moment. He mentally cursed himself, thinking that he could neglect his best friend like that. "You've been quiet."

"That doesn't mean I'm starving myself."

Jacques shouldn't have been surprised that she was blunt after so many years, yet he was every single time. "Right... okay. I'm just making sure. I care about you."

"...Thanks," Josée mumbled.

It was quiet for a few seconds. Jacques spoke up again. "Is-"

"I ran into someone," Josée confessed suddenly, without looking at him.

Jacques blinked slowly and raised a confused eyebrow. "Um, okay," he said, unsure of what this meant.

Josée nodded and continued, "Yes. After I stormed out of dance, I ran into someone."

"Did they hurt you? Because whoever did I will hunt them down and..."

"No."

Jacques' eyes grew wide. "Did you hurt them?"

"No," Josée groaned. "I wanted to at first, but I didn't-"

"Ah, Josée, I am so proud of you!"

"Jacques, shut up. Can you let me finish?!" Jacques became quiet. "Thank you. It wasn't like that, it... it was strange. I actually got along with him, he-"

"Him?" Jacques' interest was piqued.

"Oui, now as I was saying..."

"You've met a boy that you've got along with?" Josée gave him a glare that told him to stop talking. "Ah... sorry."

"Merci. Yes. He's in orchestra and plays the oboe. It was very nice. Remember the Peter and the Wolf music your maman had us listen to? That was the duck part! The oboe."

"Your favorite part," Jacques said knowingly.

"Oui," Josée went on, "It was a nice conversation. I liked his company. I know him from my Literature class but I never really paid attention to him... up until now."

Jacques gave her a teasing smirk. "Ah, Josée! Do you have a crush on a boy?"

"No," Josée groaned again, oddly defensive. "It's not like that. I'm not like Alice where everything has to be about boys. I just... I got along with someone. He could be a potential friend, it feels like it. It also helps that he truly appreciates my talents."

"Well you do deserve to be appreciated, chouchou."

Josée smiled at him. "I know. Those stupide dancers don't know talent."

"So..." Jacques mused. "You have to tell me what his name is."

"His name's Claude. I think you would like him. He's very talented and cares about his passion, I could tell. He's kind of like Alice in that sense, except he's not crazy about romance like she is. He also has people who don't appreciate him. He's one of the best musicians in his orchestra class and they won't listen to his input, it's awful! This whole seniority thing... it should be banished."

Jacques... wasn't so sure about that first part. Truthfully, he was still hung up on the fact that Josée was getting along with another boy that wasn't himself. Which was strange, because, Jacques couldn't help feeling a bit off about it. Yes, even though this was Josée, and that the circumstances were different, he found it odd that he felt odd about this. This only lead him to more questions about himself that he didn't quite understand, but more on that later.

"Oui, we should banish seniority, eh?" Jacques said, grinning a little. "You are the best."

"Clearly," Josée agreed. Before he could ask any more questions, Jacques phone began to chime loudly from one of the seats on the rink. The female ice dancer rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Jacques, I thought I told you to put it in the locker room since no one else is here."

Jacques didn't reply to her as he picked up the phone. "Allo? Nathaniel! Oui..." Hesitation spread across Jacques' face as he listened to what his boyfriend was saying. "Ah, but you know I'm at practice, I..." He looked at Josée. "She's right here. Oui. Hold on." Jacques covered the phone with his hand. "Ah, Josée..."

"He wants you to hangout with him."

It wasn't a question. "I can say no."

"It's fine."

Jacques raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You can go." Josée's expression was unreadable. "I need time alone, anyway. I have a lot to think about." Jacques would've liked to say that sometimes it was dangerous for her to be alone with her own thoughts, but decided against it. "Jacques, I mean it. Go. But you have to pick me up later. Maybe an hour?"

Jacques smiled. "Of course, chouchou."

Nathaniel was... breathtaking, wonderful, and made Jacques' world balanced. He met Nathaniel in tenth grade when they had math together, and they started off as good friends. As the school year progressed, Jacques found himself gushing about the theatre boy. Sure, he's had crushes on other boys before, and even had a boyfriend before Nathaniel that were very short-lived - mostly because during those times he hadn't come out to the press yet - but Nathaniel was different.

"Is everything okay, Jacques?"

And he had quite the ability to read his mind.

Jacques was laying down comfortably across Nathaniel's lap on his bed while the latter ran a hand through his hair. Normally Jacques was picky about who could touch his hair, but after several months with Nathaniel, he decided he was the exception - along with one other person, of course. "Oui. I noticed something in dance class." Nathaniel hummed a bit to show that he was listening. "Do you think... it's possible to find girls attractive too?" Nathaniel stopped petting his head immediately as Jacques went on: "I mean, I know I like guys, I definitely do, but..."

"Where is this coming from?" His tone was a little different than before. Almost cold, even.

Jacques shrugged. "In dance class, I just noticed a dancer was pretty to look at. I just appreciated her beauty, that's all. I'm asking, hypothetically, if it would be possible to be like women? Even if you like guys."

Nathaniel hesitated for a second, then laughed and resumed his petting. "Don't be silly, Jacques. You're definitely gay. I would know."

"No, I know that I'm gay," Jacques insisted, though he felt somewhat uncomfortable. "I'm saying... hypothetically."

"Well..." began Nathaniel, "Most of the guys I've been with that said they liked women and men, just eventually ended up being gay. It's kind of like a transition some gay guys go through so they could still feel accepted by people by being seen with a woman." Jacques stared at him confusedly, but Nathaniel laughed it off. "But you don't have to worry about that." He pressed a kiss onto his lips.

Jacques nodded slowly. "Ah... okay." He decided not to bring it up for the rest of their time together. Obviously Nathaniel had to be right. He had been in many more relationships compared to him, so he had to know what he was talking about. Obviously Nathaniel knew him well, obviously he-

Jacques froze when he realized how much time had passed. "Oh merde! It's almost..." He sat upright and glanced at the clock. "Non!" He got up and put his shoes on. "I have to go, I'm fifteen minutes late!" Just as he expected, his phone started to ring and showed Josée's caller ID. Jacques mumbled a fair share of swears as he gathered his things.

Nathaniel sat up. "Late for what?"

"I promised to pick up Josée from practice," Jacques answered, not even looking at him. He picked up the phone. "Josée, I'm sorry!" He retracted the phone away from his ear and winced. "I know, I know! I'm coming now." She hung up on him. Jacques went over to his boyfriend and kissed him on the lips. "Some other time. Oui?"

Nathaniel eagerly kissed back, but frowned afterward. "Oui."

Jacques gave him one last apologetic smile and left.

Josée really, really, really couldn't stop thinking about Claude. In fact, she spent most of practice determined not to think of Claude, but that backfired because her mind eventually drifted to that moment spent after dance class with him. Maman would have been absolutely disappointed in her. In fact, she was sure she was disappointed in her because she wasn't home yet and it was stupid Jacques' fault!

Josée huffed when Jacques showed up outside. "You moron."

"Josée, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine," Josée grumbled, stepping into the car and shutting the door. "Let's just hope maman doesn't kill you."

Jacques chuckled as he drove. "I'm sure she won't kill me because I was late picking you up from practice, chouchou."

He was about to be proven wrong.

When he got to Josée's house and walked her to her door, he was met with the biggest surprise of his life. Josée's mother had been watching from the window and had slammed the front door open in a fury. Josée bit her lower lip when she saw the murderous look in her eyes that meant she was about to have a tantrum. Jacques, however, wasn't looking at her face. He was completely focused on the object that was in her hand.

A lamp.

Jacques chuckled nervously. "Ah, Louise, it-" He didn't finish his sentence as Josée's mother let out a scream and held the lamp above him. Jacques' eyes grew wide, along with Josée's, as her mother attempted to hit Jacques with a lamp. Luckily, he dodged it in time. "Louise what the-" He dodged it again, and began to run away from the house. Josée's mom was persistent and started to chase him with it. "Merde, merde, merde!"

"JACQUES GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE WASTE OF SKIN!"

Jacques let out a high pitched shriek as he ran. "Josée, make her stop!"

"Mama, stop!" Josée cried out, following behind them. "Watch his lifting arm!"

Eventually, Jacques managed to get chased all the way to his house. Jacques banged on the door obnoxiously while Josée was trying to talk her mother down. The door opened, revealing Jacques' older sister Bernadette. Jacques started to wail and ran in the house. Bernadette frowned at the behavior, but she took a good look at the furious state of Josée's mother, and suddenly it made sense. She sighed and turned around. "Mama, papa! Josée's mother is here."

Josée swore she saw Jacques' papa spike his own drink.

Hector arrived outside, along with his wife Fleur. Josée could still hear Jacques sobbing in the background. Hector took one look at Josée's mother, who's hair was disheveled and sticking everywhere, her face full of sweat, breathing heavily, looking like the madwoman she was, and said: "You look lovely, Louise."

"Shut up. Where is he?"

"In the house. Since you chased him all the way here. You made him run away crying like a little girl." More wails were heard in the background.

Fleur frowned in disapproval. "Hector..."

"Your pansy-of-a-son was late picking up my daughter!"

Hector took a long drink. "First of all, don't call my son that. Even if it's true."

"Hector..."

"Second of all," Hector paused, taking yet another drink. Josée was convinced it was spiked. "That doesn't mean you attack him with a lamp."

"My daughter didn't get into trouble until she met your son!"

"And I didn't start drinking until I met you!"

"Hector!" Fleur finally snapped at her husband. She turned to Josée's mother and awkwardly laughed. "Sorry, Louise. How about we all settle down for some tea inside?"

Josée's mother crossed her arms. "No. I would like an apology from Jacques."

Fleur turned her head toward her house. "Jacques! Come outside."

"Is it still out there?"

"IT!?" Josée's mother shrieked. Her daughter looked mortified. "That disobedient little-"

"I won't come out unless Josée is holding the lamp!"

"Buck up, son."

"Stay out of this papa!"

Josée's mother grumbled and handed the lamp to her daughter. "I don't have the lamp anymore!"

Slowly, Jacques peeked out the door to see if Josée's mother was telling the truth. Once he saw that she was, he stood behind his mother just in case. "Oui?"

"Apologize."

Jacques gaped in disbelief. "Why should I apologize?! You were going to attack me with a lamp!"

"Jacques, just apologize to it."

"What did you say?!" Jacques' father didn't bother replying this time. Josée's mother shook her head in disbelief. "I see where Jacques gets it from."

Fleur was getting tired of this. "Alright, alright! Enough. Jacques, just apologize to Louise."

Jacques groaned. It always came down to him. "Fine. I'm sorry that I was late picking up Josée from practice!"

Josée's mother hummed thoughtfully. She narrowed her cold eyes at the male ice dancer. "Whatever. It'll do for now." She always saw a hint of defiance in those eyes of his and it annoyed her immensely. She turned to her daughter. "Come on, Josée, we're going home." Josée immediately resigned, already starting to walk back.

"Louise," Jacques' father began sternly, "Try not to attack my son again." Jacques' eyes lit up in surprise at his father defending him. "Even if he is a sissy."

...Of course.

Josée's mother rolled her eyes. "Fine." She muttered a fair share of nasty words in French and snatched the lamp away from Josée. As they walked home, Josée realized that she hadn't thought about Claude for those twenty minutes, but it eventually did come back to him. After those twenty minutes, she really didn't know what to make of it all. Perhaps Alice would help her with that. She did hope to see Claude over the summer. It was rare that she got along with a boy other than Jacques.

Why did this have to be so complicated?