A/N: It's been a month. My job hates me. Customers are rude. Sorry for the delay. Here's to the next chapter - and many more.
Chapter 24- The Price for Being Nice
Jacques woke up feeling refreshed; perhaps it was the feeling of being a winner - something he and Josée hadn't felt in such a long time that they would have to learn to. get used to it again. Taking the gold yesterday after many horrible finishes was something they needed. He got out of bed, ready to wake up Josée, until he saw that she was up in a her pajamas with an unusually chipper expression.
"Morning!" Josée greeted, taking a bite of toast that she presumably got from the hotel breakfast.
Jacques raised an eyebrow. She was eating toast - willingly, without him having to tell her to eat something in the morning. He wasn't going to mention it, of course - because then she would overthink it and throw the rest away. Recently, she had trouble eating first thing in the morning - usually she would have to be prodded by him to do so.
"Morning," Jacques replied, surprised by her burst of energy. Not that he was complaining, of course. "You went downstairs to get breakfast?"
"Mhm. I can already tell is going to be an amazing day," Josée remarked happily, finishing the toast. "We're going to win this round, I know it! Do you know why?"
Jacques smiled fondly at her. "Why's that?"
"Because we're the perfect team!" Josée exclaimed, echoing his words from yesterday.
"Oui!" Jacques agreed. "We're the perfect team." It was so nice to see her happy.
"I ran into Kyle," Josée said suddenly, sitting down on her bed. Jacques raised a skeptical eyebrow at the producer's name; normally it was said with malice, but now it was different. Nonetheless, he listened.
"He let me make another phone call to my mother! I didn't get to talk to her, she's sleeping a lot - but she's eating more, which is good!" Jacques' smile faded just a little upon the mention of Josée's mother. Obliviously, Josée went on regarding her mother's condition: "Isaac filled me in, and he said that your parents are regularly checking on her! Which is so nice of them. Oh! Oh! Oh! And I had the most marvelous thought, Jacques." She beamed positively. "Maybe your papa is there because of surgery reasons!"
At that moment, Jacques' smile had disappeared completely.
Josée was still totally oblivious and went on, her eyes full of hope that Jacques wished she didn't have. "I mean, it would make sense, wouldn't it? Your papa may not like my maman, but he could save her! Maybe he can cure the cancer with surgery! I've heard things like that could happen, why on earth didn't this cross my mind before?"
Jacques came to a realization; he was absolutely awful. While Josée had been going off the walls lately, doing things wildly out-of-character even for her, he remembered that he could be just as awful, he figured - because he still managed to keep this from her for a while now. That her mother definitely wasn't going to get surgery, or any treatment for that matter. That it would likely be a miracle if she was alive by the time he and Josée returned from the competition.
The way she went on and on; how hopeful and excited and unusually happy - Jacques wanted to put an end to that and tell her the truth.
But what would that do? Jacques thought. Leave her miserable throughout the whole competition? Worry constantly? It was better for her to be blissfully unaware of the situation and how bad it truly was. Jacques stood by this competition being a distraction more than anything else; not that Josée needed to know that.
"Jacques, what do you think?"
Shit.
"Um..." Jacques hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't know. I think that we should - oh." Josée stopped him mid-sentence to squeeze his hands like she always did whenever she was upbeat.
"We should oh?" Josée said teasingly, then let go of his hands. "What should we do?"
"I think..." Jacques said, choosing his words very carefully: "I think we should focus on the competition. Your maman would like that, non?"
"She would!" Josée exclaimed cheerfully, making Jacques furrow his brows - okay, she was way too enthusiastic. It didn't... it didn't seem natural. "Good thinking, Jacques!"
Way too enthusiastic. Their conversation was going to continue up until a knock on their door interrupted them. Josée and Jacques exchanged a curious look before the latter decided to get up and answer the door. He opened it, revealing not one, but two producers.
"Good morning," one of them greeted cordially.
Josée walked over, joining her partner. "Good morning," she replied back. Jacques merely waved at them while Josée did the talking: "Is there a reason why you're here?"
"We wanted to say that we like what we're seeing from you both," the producer said, "It's coming along very nicely."
"What do you mean?" Jacques asked.
"The fake albino bunny," the other producer chuckled. "That was priceless."
"Those cadets had pushed us far enough," Josée stated, matter-of-factly, almost defensively. "Is that all you came to tell us?"
The two producers grinned at each other before looking back at the ice dancers. "Well, not exactly..." answered the first one, then proceeded to explain: "If you keep this up, I'm sure we can give you both rewards of some sort if you get first place, and fast and based on what we have planned for today, we think you will."
"Hm?" Josée remarked, furrowing her brows. "What does that mean exactly? How do you know we'll finish it fast?"
The other producer chuckled again. "Oh trust us, you will. We have a lot of say into the challenges, and well... we've taken some things in consideration."
There was an awkward pause.
"What?" Josée said at last, while the producers merely smiled. "What do you mean by that?" They didn't answer; they left instead. Josée frowned deeply and turned to her partner, as if he had any idea what was being said in-between the lines, but he only could shrug. Josée groaned and sat on her bed. "These people are scummy."
"The worst," Jacques agreed. "But I think they're... they're helping us with this?"
Josée scoffed. "That's only because we sabotaged." But then, she broke out into a smile that made Jacques uncomfortable; it was like a light switch. "But you know what... we just need to focus on winning right now, that's all that matters. You're right! Maman would want us to worry about the competition. I should get ready... we have to get ready!"
Jacques watched as she made her way to the bathroom and turned the shower on. Once she was out of sight, Jacques buried his head in his hands and sighed wearily.
When Don announced that the ice dancers were the first to take the travel tip, they were surprised to find that before they could do that, the producers were sure to ask them about the incident regarding yesterday and the albino bunny. The audience was watching the show, so they probably knew that it was deserved, anyway.
"Making a fake albino bunny might be unsportsmanlike, but..."
"Whatever!" Josée took over from her partner. "After six horrible finishes, we're finally back in the lead! I can taste victory, and it is delicious!" She burst into maniacal laughter that was sounding more and more like a cackle, getting a concerned look from Jacques.
...It was so unnatural, and sure, the smiles and laughs that they did have for the audience were unnatural and forced, but it wasn't so frequent; and he couldn't help but think about how Josée was being similar with him, even though she was usually comfortable enough to let her guard down in front of him.
Josée took the tip from the Don box. "Go-go on the loco! Teams must climb this dangerously steep path to this train station." She looked up to see the dangerously steep path in question, then read on: "Then take a ride through New Zealand's lush mountains all the way up Decision Junction, where your next tip will be waiting."
They made their way up the mountain, which wasn't dangerously steep, just annoying. It became more annoying when they heard familiar bickering voices behind them, belonging to the Daters - or, from what word was going around, the Haters now.
"Faster, Ryan! We're gaining on them!"
"I'm not slowing you down, they are!" They, in question, happened to be Josée and Jacques.
"Move it, ice nerds!" Josée stopped smiling for the cameras and glared at Stephanie, who had decided to use that classy high school insult. "Your frozen butts are in our way!"
Two can play at that game. "What are you going to do about it?" Josée taunted sneeringly. "Yell some more? Take your best shot, I may turn the other cheek." Jacques gasped when Josée literally pointed at, well - her bottom. Josée never insulted people that way. Ryan burst into laughter at Josée's snide comment while Jacques was astonished... he didn't know if it was in a good way or not. In one way, it was funny - but in another, it was so unlike her.
Josée and Jacques made it to the train in time, as well as Ryan and Stephanie. The ice dancers waved to Dwayne and Junior goodbye when they took off. The ice dancers got smacked down to the ground - much to Stephanie's amusement. Josée and Jacques groaned and got up; brushing the dust off their costumes. Josée was about to charge forward and retort something witty to her, until Ryan suggested that they move into a different train car, which they did - though it sounded reluctant on Stephanie's end.
"They fight so much."
Josée and Jacques jumped up, slightly startled, upon realizing that they weren't the only ones on the train; other than the Haters, of course. The monotonous voice came from behind them, belonging to one of the Goths - most notably Crimson, the female one. She was accompanied by Ennui, and... and one of the strangest looking rabbits that Josée had ever seen in her life; strangely enough, it made her think of her own rabbit. Her heart started to ache for bun-bun.
"They do," Jacques agreed cordially. He chuckled a bit, trying to lighten the mood: "It's like seeing your parents fight, eh?"
"My dads' don't fight like that," Ennui stated. "They aren't dramatic."
"My mom would, but I left... because... whatever," Crimson said.
Josée and Jacques exchanged a weirded out look.
"Um... so, uh..." Josée began awkwardly, "Thank you for helping us... back in Australia, you know... with the makeup..."
"It's no problem," Ennui waved off.
Jacques looked at Crimson. "And the lava rock."
Crimson shrugged. "Don't worry about it." Then, she said: "Thanks for the info about the costumes."
"No problem," Jacques echoed Ennui's words back to her. He and Josée couldn't help but notice that this was probably the most chatty the Goths had ever been. Josée had thought a few times that they Goths were ones that they should keep a closer eye on, they were good at competing even though it seemed like they didn't care. So maybe it was good to have a conversation with them; for strategic reasons, of course.
"What made you drop the costumes?"
Crap.
The innocent sounding question that escaped from Ennui's lips rang through Josée's head, over and over again.
"We were only planning to wear them for an episode," Jacques supplied, hoping that the Goths wouldn't ask them to elaborate on that.
"Oh," said Crimson. "You should have kept them."
"...Yeah, they were nice," Josée settled, rather uneasily. Crimson and Ennui blankly stared at her. "You know... the both of you don't talk very much." It wasn't a bad thing, Josée supposed - in fact, it was a lot more refreshing compared to the other contestants. But still, she had her suspicions.
"We don't... because it's... whatever," Crimson replied.
"Everyone here talks too much," added Ennui.
"It's insane," Josée agreed.
"So do you," Crimson said.
Josée's eyes popped out. "What?"
"Don't worry about it," Crimson went on, "You're both kind of okay."
"Even if you do talk too much," Ennui added.
Josée eyed them skeptically. "Merci."
More silence followed.
"So how did you two meet?" Jacques pressed, smiling in efforts to be friendly. Josée looked down at her hands; she didn't know why Jacques was so trusting of people, he was always so friendly in comparison to her.
"High school," Ennui and Crimson said at the same time. Josée and Jacques waited for them to elaborate on their answer, but they didn't - unsurprisingly.
"Josée and I met on the skating rink," Jacques explained cheerfully. "We were six and eight. Then we were paired off as ice dancing partners, and together we became stars of the figure skating community!"
"Is that why you smile all the time?" Crimson asked monotonously. "Because of skating?"
Josée snapped her head up to attention. "Of course we do," she said proudly, a forced smile on her face. Crimson and Ennui weren't phased in the slightest. She proceeded to go on further; that smile refusing to leave her face: "Ice skating is a demanding sport, and we put a lot of time and energy into it because it's something we love. We were in the spotlight since we were kids! So we always have to have a show-ready smile, the cameras are always watching."
Just thinking about ice dancing gave her a rush, "It's wonderful," Josée finished.
Jacques had watched his partner closely; it was like how she was earlier this morning - very upbeat and cheery, but in an unusual way. Maybe it was the euphoric feeling of winning after six terrible finishes in a row that made her adrenaline spike; but still - it wasn't like this.
"...That sounds terrible," Ennui said honestly.
Beat.
Josée and Jacques' smiles faded just a little, with the former chuckling. Neither Crimson nor Ennui were amused. "I'm sure you're just joking. I can assure you, it's wonderful."
"He's not joking," Crimson stated. Now Josée and Jacques' smiles had faded completely, suddenly looking at the Goths infuriated Josée - and they had such neutral and a bored look in their eyes like they didn't even care about the words they were saying.
"What's that supposed to mean exactly?" Josée challenged, narrowing her eyes at them. Crimson and Ennui shrugged. "Don't speak on something you know nothing about. Ice dancing is a complex and amazing sport that requires dedication and I won't have you insult our livelihood." Jacques nodded once in agreement.
"I'm not insulting what you do, that's not what I meant at all," Ennui replied, in such a calm tone it annoyed not only Josée, but Jacques as well who crossed his arms in a dignified manner. "I'm just saying that it sounds terrible that you have to smile all the time... it sounds painful."
Josée huffed at them. "Well it may be for you, but it's certainly not painful for us."
"When you smile," Crimson started off in a dull tone, "...your eyes look dead."
...What?!
"What does that even mean?" Jacques snapped.
"It's just something we noticed," Ennui stated. "We're just saying that you don't have to smile all the time if you're miserable, and you look like you've been miserable lately."
...
...
...What?!
"So you hardly talk throughout this whole race," Josée seethed, dangerously low. This indicated a warning, but Crimson and Ennui stared at her blankly, expressionless. "And now you just... you just drop something so false like that! Getting into other people's businesses!" As if to prove a point, Josée smiled wider. "See! Smiling means happiness. I know that doesn't exactly click in your brains, but smiling means happy! And we're very happy, thank you very much."
"People who smile the most are the most miserable," Crimson deadpanned.
Josée and Jacques weren't smiling at all now; and now held furious frowns. Josée especially was frustrated; it was like they knew all about Rachel, it was like they knew all about her mother, when it was none of their business! The way that they looked through them so easily was so infuriating. They didn't have the right; no one did.
"How dare you!" Josée snapped, finally losing her temper. She clenched her fists tightly; with the intention of throwing a tantrum - but Crimson and Ennui were not even surprised in the least, they were so calm it only made Josée madder. "So you think because you helped us a few times on challenges that we owe you these things?!"
Ennui frowned. "That's not what-"
"But we're the bad guys here, aren't we?!" Josée began to rant furiously. Jacques bit his lip nervously; she had been so upbeat before, and now was a different story. It was almost too quickly, even. "Let's get something straight, the first time we didn't ask you to help, and the second time you asked for something in return! So no, we don't exactly owe you any information about our lives!"
"We never said that you did-"
"Just leave it," Josée snapped, interrupting Crimson, with a shake of her head. "Just..." She let out a frustrated sigh: "Again, don't speak on something you know nothing about."
Jacques shook his head and stood up. "Josée is right, do not speak on something you know nothing about," he said coldly.
The train pulled into the Decision Junction.
Thank god.
The ice dancers, along with the Goths and the Haters ran off the train and stopped by the Don box to get their next travel tip. Josée took the travel tip and smiled at what was shown, "It's an Either-Or." Before she could continue, Stephanie snatched the travel tip from her hand. Josée shot a glare at her as she took over.
"Jump down or jump around?" Stephanie read, "Teams could either bungee jump down-off the Kawarau Bridge and catch a local boarie fish with their bare hands... or teams can jump around, to perform a traditional Maori haka. A warrior's challenge dance, designed to terrify anyone subjected to watching it."
Josée smirked and took the travel tip back from Stephanie. "Once teams successfully complete this Either-Or, it's a foot race to the chill zone." Josée and Jacques exchanged a knowing smirk; they knew which one they would pick - they had this in the bag. No wonder the producers had contacted them earlier.
A dance challenge? Wonderful.
"Jump down, c'mon!" Stephanie ordered Ryan, and they started to run.
Josée and Jacques did the same, that was up until the producers stopped them for an interview.
"The Haters would rather jump to their possible death than face us in a dance competition," Josée remarked.
"Maybe they're not as dumb as they look," Jacques added, then he hummed to himself, thinking over it more and smirked. "Maybe." When the interview ended, the ice dancers started to run toward the theatre for the next part of the challenge. As they did so, Jacques tried to spark up a conversation when he saw Josée mumbling to herself angrily.
"What's wrong, Josée?" Jacques asked.
"Stupid Haters..." Josée spat lowly. "And those vampires, too..."
"They're not worth it," Jacques tried to reassure, then he processed the rest of that statement. "Josée, they are goths, not vampires."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure." Jacques blinked slowly as she continued to mutter under her breath, "Pasty freaks... trying to get up in our business."
"Well they won't anymore," Jacques told her.
Josée snorted. "We'll see about that."
They arrived shortly at the theatre where Josée and Jacques saw the two dancers on front of the stage. They watched closely as the two men performed the haka, making various noises while performing the dance moves. Jacques resisted the urge not to burst into laughter, it looked so painfully simple. He looked over to Josée, who was still focused intently on it, but she needn't worry - they had this dance in the bag and they would take the gold for today. It was guaranteed at this rate.
The dance was nowhere near terrifying. It was laughable, really.
"Yeah, okay, we got this," Josée said, almost cockily. She smiled at her partner. "Jacques?" She and Jacques were so in-sync performing these simplistic moves, and yes even though they were simplistic, it was the closest both of them got to dancing together as part of a challenge - so they were going to soak up every second of it.
Not only that, but they remembered what was in the back of their minds whenever doing a performance. Madam Lizette, their old ballet instructor from high school, would constantly remind them that in the real world when you're auditioning for something, you would be shown a dance routine and be expected to perform it back exactly as shown. If they didn't, they would be cut right on the spot. There were no second chances.
This, to Josée and Jacques, was like an audition. They treated it as such; and it brought some familiarity - even if it was something as basic as this.
The two men clapped in approval. Jacques held his arms up in victory, while Josée remarked confidently: "Try it on skates next time, then it might actually be impressive." She turned to Jacques and beamed with joy. "Come on, let's go be champions!" she exclaimed, while running. Jacques smiled and ran after her.
"I haven't danced in a long time," Jacques told her as they made their way to the chill zone. "It feels like forever." And that's all they had to do for today; it was rather short in comparison to other rounds of the race they had to do. Now they just needed to make sure to run fast enough so the other teams wouldn't catch up. It seemed unlikely though, it would take those teams a while to do either challenge, it was a hunch.
Josée nodded quickly. "It was refreshing," she said, "...especially after that nonsense with the Haters and the Goths..."
Jacques frowned; her mind was still on those incidents from earlier. Hopefully now that they were getting the gold her mood would be uplifted. "It's not worth your time."
Josée still looked unsure, and that bothered Jacques immensely.
The chill zone was nearby now. Josée and Jacques held up their hands victoriously once they reached it; expecting Don to announce them as first place. But, when they opened their eyes, they saw that no one was there and that it was practically deserted.
Josée put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Hello?" She called out. "Don?"
"What are you doing here?" Just like that, Don arrived - with a towel over his head. "Did you skip the challenge?"
"No, we finished it!" Josée answered, putting her hands up victoriously again for a moment, before putting them down and adding: "I take it we're first, then?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Congratulations," said Don, brushing it off. "Okay, I'm going back to hair and makeup." Then he walked away, leaving the ice dancers to cheer over getting gold for the second time in a row. Jacques expected Josée to be happy, what he didn't expect was for her to be ecstatic, to launch herself into Jacques' arms and squeeze him so tightly that he almost coughed - but it was only for a second, since she started to run excitedly around the chill zone back and forth while shouting 'gold!' over and over.
Jacques could only smile; it was similar to how he reacted when they won gold for the first time in the competition back in the Mediterranean, it was very endearing. "Can you believe we won gold again?" Josée remarked excitedly, stopping her pacing. "Our luck is really starting to change!" Perhaps they could stay on top of the podium this time.
"Oui!" Jacques agreed. Hopefully this would make up for the incidents regarding the Goths and the Haters from earlier. This would show them.
"Is it me or is this game getting easier?" Josée asked the cameras, for another interview. As promised, Josée and Jacques were pulled to the side and were given lounge chairs to sit in while they got their 'reward' for winning the round. It was the closest they would get to the 'royal treatment.' When it was over, they were left alone and were promised that no cameras would be on them up until the next team arrived, which wouldn't be for a long time, they said.
"This is nice," Josée stated, with a satisfied smile. "Those gourmet meals were so much better than the awful food that we ate at hotels and flights."
And she ate every last bit of it, Jacques thought. There wasn't a trace of worry on her face wondering if she ate too much, neither was she showing the signs of wanting to bring the food back up. It was a much better day than all the days combined; winning was nice. "Oui, it was delicious." Come to think of it, he didn't remember asking about the details of the food in question, which was something he'd obsess over. He knew he came a long way from his struggles with food and his body, and so did Josée.
He couldn't be more proud.
"So..." Josée asked, leaning down in her lounge chair while her head turned to the side to face him. "What are we going to do for the next... few hours?"
Jacques shrugged. "We could just talk."
"About?"
"We can talk about how all these other teams are going to take forever to get here."
Josée laughed and sipped her drink. "Oh, I think we can agree on that." She tucked a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear. "We just needed a dance challenge to get into the spirit of things again, I feel much better now than ever before."
"Me too," Jacques agreed. "The competition is less stressful."
"As I've said earlier," Josée started off, grinning. "This game seems to be getting easier."
"It's much better without too many distractions," said Jacques. Namely, whenever other contestants or outside events happened to get in the way. Of course he didn't want to diminish the situation regarding Josée's mother, but if that thought weighed on her anymore, he was positive she was going to snap; if she hadn't already. Truthfully, Jacques didn't know if she snapped - he did know that the stress was getting to her.
What was more frightening, was wondering if he had snapped. A lot of it had to do with the contestants of the race, most notably, Tom and Jen who were eliminated over a week ago by now. They spoke about bisexuality being a thing, and he wanted to trust them, but... well... they have proven not to be trusting. It was all utter nonsense, anyway. People would have told him if it was a real thing or not - it seemed like Tom and Jen were trying to please everyone.
Jacques replayed the conversation in the hotel room with the Fashion Bloggers. They also came from a supporting environment, how both of their families were accepting of who they were. The difference between him and the Fashion Bloggers was that they felt like they came out on their own time, positively sure of who they were. Jacques, unfortunately, didn't really have that luxury - and it was a harsher struggle especially in the figure skating community.
...It wasn't possible for him to take this back though.
Right?
"Jacques?"
Jacques blinked rapidly and turned to see Josée watching him in concern. "Are you okay? You had zoned out for a second."
"Oui, I'm fine," Jacques waved off easily. "Never mind about me. What are you thinking about?"
Josée hummed a bit. "I think about what Kitty said sometimes."
Jacques raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Josée just shrugged. "About that thing about her not being romantically interested in anyone, and that she can't feel romantic attraction. I've wanted to ask her... if that may relate to me? I mean, I did feel it before - when I was with Claude, but I had to feel this sort of... connection with him, or something... that took forever. Maybe there's like... a logical explanation for this-"
"But it's based on feeling, non?" Jacques asked confusedly. "She doesn't feel attraction, but you do-"
"Oui, I know that..." Josée said. "I'm wondering if there's a spectrum of some sort of how you feel attraction. Like, maybe there's something for me. Maybe there's something in-between of what Kitty feels and what someone like say... Alice feels."
Jacques hummed to himself thoughtfully. "Maybe." He chuckled a little bit. "Alice would fall in love on first sight."
"Which I just don't get," Josée said, shaking her head. "How on earth can you fall in love on first sight? I need to feel that something with them." Thinking about Alice made her smile, though. She would've found this competition fairly interesting. However, thinking about Alice made her think of her other friends back home - which consisted of Rachel.
"Chouchou, what is it?"
And it would read all over her face. Once more, Josée thought, damn Jacques for knowing her so well. She looked over to the magazines that the producers gave them; she didn't know how they were able to get these figure skating magazines from Canada in such a short time, but she wasn't going to question it. When she and Jacques opened them, there was a section about Rachel's death. Because the Montreal press has a history of being brutal, there weren't many kind words said.
"I just can't stop thinking about Rachel," Josée admitted quietly. She glared at the magazines with hatred. "The way that they... vilified her." She began to mock the magazine's words, "'At her core, she was like a common junkie that fell into her addiction.'" She spat at it in disgust. "She was so much more than that and they just..." She trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief. "They don't care at all."
"Montreal journalists have never been kind," Jacques said softly. "You know that."
"Of course I do. I expected it when it came to things like criticizing someone's hair, or nose, or body... because that's what I expect from them unfortunately, but not when someone dies because they had a problem. And..." Josée bit her lip and averted her eyes. "...and I just let it happen. I couldn't do anything. I was too cowardly to speak up-"
Jacques sat up straighter. "Josée, look at me." She did so, still biting her lip harshly. "You have tried to tell her many times that doing this was harmful. You have told her stories about dancers who got into that. You've talked about how that famous dancer's addiction lead to his death and prompted an investigation into a theatre company." He began to snap his fingers rapidly, trying to remember who it was. "His name was... I think it was-"
"Patrick Bissell," Josée mumbled.
"Right. But Rachel had more than just that. She had her maman as an example. Even knowing that, she still did it."
Josée shook her head. "I just can hardly believe it. Rachel was always so logical... surely she could've seen this coming." Jacques would've agreed then and there, but he remembered something Rachel said a very long time ago that sort of stuck with him.
There is no logic when it comes to any addiction, only what is needed in the moment was what was considered important.
Josée stopping biting her lip and held her tears back. "Now she's fallen in her mother's footsteps."
"...It isn't someone's destiny," Jacques tried to reassure her. "Not... not everyone becomes like their parents." He stared at his partner closely in concern, waiting to see if her expression would change - he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
Then his partner began to laugh, a fond memory coming to mind. "Remember when Rachel destroyed Leo and Liv by only using words?"
Jacques smiled a little, he was glad this took a funnier turn. "Oui, oui. Liv was so red in the face she would've tackled her if Leo hadn't held her back."
"What makes it funnier," Josée began amusedly, "...was that I thought Rachel was the nice one. Oh, and she was, don't get me wrong... but to see her get mean for the first time..." she grinned a little devilishly. "It was a sight to behold."
"Rachel should've thrown water on her," Jacques started off saying, much to Josée frowning in confusion. Then, Jacques grinned and said, "...she would melt."
Josée's laughter filled the area, music to Jacques' ears. "Did you just imply...?"
"Oui, I did. There's no other explanation for how vile she is."
"We should've tested that out," remarked Josée. "Our problems would've been gone so much sooner."
Jacques snorted in amusement. "Are you condoning murder, chouchou?"
"Aren't you?" Josée countered, grinning. "You're the one that brought it up in the first place."
"I said Rachel could've done it, not me."
"So you're just going to pin all the blame on someone else?"
"...Oui. I refuse to be an active accomplice."
"Active accomplice," Josée teased, echoing his words in a higher pitch. Then, she switched to a neutral tone: "What does that even mean?"
"Ah, Josée, it's very simple!" Jacques went on, grinning: "It's called being sneaky."
Josée raised her eyebrows in interest, then rolled her eyes and proceeded to tease him, "Look at me, I'm Jacques. I'm so ev-il!"
"I do not sound like that!"
"I do not sound like that!"
Jacques rolled his eyes fondly. "Josée, you can't just repeat everything I say."
"Yes I can."
"Can't."
"Can!"
"You're so annoying," Jacques said, but it was playful.
Josée grinned back at him, she knew that he was kidding. "I'm so glad we're not fighting, Jacjac."
Jacques' heart jumped up at the pet nickname she reserved for him; it made him feel... things. He didn't know if he liked it or not. Maybe it was just the rush of the competition, or the dance trap. They did technically perform a dance - though in the back of his mind he was aware that it wasn't the same - that could contribute to... whatever this was.
Josée continued obliviously unaware of his roaming thoughts: "I feel terrible whenever these things happen. I'm not normally like this... well... it's never purposeful, you know that right? When we fight, it's just... so ugly... I don't know how else to explain it. I'm just glad we're not doing that now though." She gave him a warm smile. "This is nice."
Jacques' eyes softened considerably upon seeing her relieved expression. "I'm glad too, chouchou." They spent the rest of their conversation in French.
It was taking a while for the other teams to arrive at the chill zone. It was almost embarrassingly too long. Not that Josée and Jacques were complaining, though - they were perfectly content with talking amongst one another for a few hours. It was easy for them to converse with each other; there were days where they could talk to each other up until midnight - this was no different, except it was evening time. When the discussion turned back to the competition and eventually the teams, Josée cut in.
"I was thinking," began Josée, wondering whether or not this was a good idea. "...maybe we should... we should try to have an alliance with a team."
Jacques frowned at the sudden shift in behavior from his partner. "What? What brought on this?"
But Josée just laughed. "Oh Jacques, just think about it!" she said gleefully. It was similar to how she acted this morning; Jacques had gotten an eerie feeling as she went on, "I think we could really do something here... and if another team was on our side it could help us to our advantage-"
"...Josée, I am very confused," Jacques said honestly. "I thought you said we couldn't trust anyone."
"You're right, we can't trust anyone," Josée remarked. "But I think... I think we could get someone on our side. We have a long enemies list already, it shouldn't get worse."
"Enemies list?"
"The Cadets, the Goths, the Haters, Father & Son..." Josée listed, as if she kept it stored this whole time.
"The Best Friends aren't on that list?" Jacques questioned.
Josée hesitated, before shaking her head. "They aren't. They're just nuisances. I was thinking they could join us."
"But you yelled at them yesterday," Jacques tried to argue. "Are you sure-"
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Josée reassured.
"Carrie and Devin, you're in second place," Don announced as the Best Friends ran across the chill zone. Carrie cheered, then Don said: "Lady cops, welcome to third."
"I can live with third," said Sanders. Josée scowled and rolled her eyes; she doesn't know how she could live with mediocrity.
"Goths, you're fourth," said Don.
Then Josée couldn't help herself. "Yoohoo! Sweaty people..." she called out in a sing-song voice, "We were wondering when you'd arrive, we've been waiting here for hours." Jacques was very amused, but deep down inside, he knew this wasn't the way to go - even though he didn't want to team up with another team, she wanted to do that, and in order for her to do that it would be much easier if she didn't insult them. Nonetheless, the producers were sure to get them to talk about their reward for winning.
"Coming in first means you get the royal treatment," Josée explained eagerly to the cameras. "Iced drinks, gourmet meals, foot rubs..."
"Foot rubs?" Jacques questioned, frowning and crossing his arms. "I didn't get one of those!"
When the short interview finished, Josée was determined to make allies out of Devin and Carrie. She frowned at Devin's expression; she had heard that Devin and his girlfriend had broken up, leading him in this angry state. Well, he wouldn't have to be angry anymore, Josée thought - because now they could focus on the competition. In other words, Devin and Carrie can focus on helping them win the competition.
Josée cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. "Uh, hey!" Suddenly she didn't know how to approach this. Devin and Carrie merely stared at them, there was a hint of anger in Devin's eyes. Despite this being a sign to leave him alone, Josée went on anyway: "I was wondering if you'd like to talk-"
"Talk?" Devin spat in disdain. Carrie bit her lower lip apprehensively while Jacques' eyebrows shot up in surprise; he was very bitter. "Tell us what you two want to talk about."
Josée blinked slowly. "I was thinking," she started off neutrally, trying to ignore his coldness, "...we could have an alliance and talk again? We got along the last time-"
Devin interrupted Josée's train of thought with a howl of bitter laughter. "Oh now you want to make friends! How fucking unreal!" Devin ignored the dirty glares that he got from the producers and went on: "There's no point! Because everyone just ends up betraying you, right? For the sake of competition! That's what you said! So now you want to change your tune? So now you want to talk again so you can get ahead?! I don't fucking think so!" Then there was more profanity thrown in their direction, a lot of more swearing that meant that none of this conversation would air on television.
Josée and Jacques couldn't recall being hurled that many swears in their lives.
"Are you serious?" Jacques asked, glaring at Devin. "We were the ones that were giving you advice, and now you decide you're too good for us? You think that cursing like a child is going to make you feel better?"
"Shut up. You're the ones that think you're too much for everyone! You'll end up betraying us, how are you any different from Shelley?"
"Just because your girlfriend broke up with you doesn't mean you take it out on us!" Josée snapped.
"Stop it!" Carrie cried out desperately. She cleared her throat, and glared at the female ice dancer. "This is precisely why people can't get along with you! Because you're both really mean and nasty people and I think everyone should know that!"
Josée blinked rapidly in surprise. "Excuse me?"
"Remember what you told me? You told me that I needed to say what I had to say to your face?" Carrie paused thoughtfully. "Well here it is. That day... that day I was whispering to Kitty that you called 'gossiping' was me trying to express my concerns about you to another friend of mine."
Josée scoffed. "You little liar-"
"I'm not fucking finished yet!" Carrie swore loudly. Josée and Jacques' eyes went to the camera crew and producers briefly, who were shaking their heads knowing this wasn't going to be able to air. Carrie took a breath and looked at them dead in the eye. "I was telling Kitty that since I wasn't able to make friends with you, maybe she would be able to make friends with you. Because Kitty cares about people and values the friendships she makes. She truly sees the good in others. I wanted to believe that the both of you were good people who just had a bad time due to an unfortunate event at the olympics, but you know what? You deserved that. You are bitter to the core and will only value competition over other people's feelings, which is pretty depressing in my opinion. In fact, I don't understand why anyone would try to form an alliance with two arrogant, selfish, conniving, egotistical performers who don't care about who's feelings they hurt in order to make it to the top. It sounds like a horrible life to live. I can't help but feel sorry for you-"
"No way," Josée interrupted coldly; feeling her anger boiling like lava. "I will take hatred toward me, but I will not take pity-"
"Shut up," Carrie retorted, shocking the ice dancers before returning to their angry expressions. "You don't get to bitch at me when I tell you how I feel, because you asked for me to tell you to your face. Want to know the truth?" Now Josée wasn't so sure anymore. "You're a cold bitch." Carrie then looked at Jacques. "And you're an egotistical prick."
Beat.
"I'm not going to bother anymore," Carrie continued determinedly, "I don't understand what else possibly could have made you bitter toward the entire world, but that does not justify treating everyone around you like crap. Don't deny it either, because people talk. We see things that go on. I'm not your doormat, and I'm not your personal punching bag, and the same goes for everyone else. We're human beings. With flaws. With feelings - yes, even you. You don't get to intimidate everyone else around you because you have been hurt, oh, and don't deny that you have been hurt, because you read like an open book."
Josée and Jacques were too stunned to speak. Carrie wouldn't let them anyway. Before they even had the chance to reply, Carrie swerved on her heel and stalked away. Devin followed her, leaving the ice dancers in the same position as before. The other teams that had watched - the Cadets and Goths - had a variety of expressions. While the Cadets had their mouths open in shock, the Goths just had their eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly.
Despite there being no chance of this airing, Josée and Jacques were asked for another confessional.
"Devin and Carrie have no chance at winning this," Josée remarked, with a plastered smile.
"We've added them to our enemies list," Jacques added, then whistled lowly. "It's getting long."
While this was all going on, the other teams had arrived at the chill zone. Apparently Devin and Carrie weren't the only ones that were having drama. Sometime around the race Noah and Emma had gotten together, up until Emma dropped the bombshell that they couldn't be together because of the show. Josée figured that Emma was right; how could they be together when they were on opposing teams. Like it has been said, it was a competition... which was what Josée had told Carrie, who had now officially turned on her.
When Carrie was giving her speech, Josée wanted to say something. Oh, how she wished she had said something before Carrie had walked away. Josée couldn't believe she let that stupid blonde get the last word. Fury was smoldering within her; it was too late for now, at least - perhaps later.
The Reality TV Pros would've come in last place and been sent home, except Don stated it was a non-elimination round. That didn't make Noah feel better, he was put into a catatonic state of some sort - similar to what Jacques looked like when he had lost Bernadette.
Getting to the hotel was quite the experience, while Emma clearly felt bad, Kitty tried to redirect her. Josée and Jacques couldn't help but notice that Kitty flashed them a dirty look; it likely had to do with something Carrie said to her - it looked like not even Kitty was going to give her that chance. The Goths briefly made eye contact with the ice dancers, yet said nothing. The Haters and Cadets glared at them; though there was a twinkle of amusement in MacArthur's eye - likely from enjoying Carrie telling them off.
Jacques looked over to Josée after they got their hotel room key. "Josée? Are you-"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," Josée began to mumble, over and over. She ran a distressed hand through her ponytail. "It's fine, okay? I'm fine." Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Carrie and Devin alone. Although Josée's foot was halfway in she and Jacques' room, she slammed the door shut and marched over to the Best Friends.
Jacques followed her, his eyes wide with anticipation. "Josée..."
"You just think you're so cute, don't you?" Josée spat, charging up to Carrie.
Carrie desperately tried to look like she wasn't afraid; but her eyes gave it away. "I'm... I'm..."
"SPEAK UP!" Josée shouted at the blonde, causing her to flinch. She shrugged off Jacques' hands that had tried to pull her away. Devin put his arm in front of his partner's protectively in case Josée tried to lunge at her. Josée looked between Devin and Carrie and proceeded to laugh aloud. She laughed, and she laughed, and she laughed...
Devin turned to Jacques. "Dude, she's fucking psycho-"
"Don't speak to my partner in such a way!" Jacques snapped at Devin, but did look very concerned at Josée's behavior. He turned to his partner worriedly. "Josée?"
Josée wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Both of you are just so delusional!" she exclaimed, then she smirked at Carrie, venomously sweet. "Oh, the things I know about you... The things I can say right here right now..."
"J-Josée, don't..." Carrie said softly.
"Josée, don't," Josée mocked, in a high pitched voice. "What are you, a baby? You can't handle it now? Because that's what you are, a pathetic little baby that can't handle when someone talks back to them! Who can't take any criticisms about themselves without bursting into tears like a little baby-"
Tears began to well up in Carrie's eyes. "Don't..."
"...What's going on?" piped up a voice from beside them. Devin, Carrie, Josée, and Jacques turned to see that Kitty - for that was who it was - had arrived alongside Emma. Kitty looked between the ice dancers and Best Friends, seeing Carrie cry, and connected the dots. Kitty flashed the ice dancers a mean look. "Both of you are awful!"
"She started it!" Jacques accused.
"Oh, right, did she make you cry?" Kitty wrapped a supportive arm around her friend. Josée and Jacques didn't answer. "I didn't think so."
Josée looked at Carrie, who's eyes - who looked a lot like Rachel's - were shining with tears and slipped down her cheeks. Josée bit her lower lip apprehensively as a pang hit her in the chest. In that moment, Josée wanted to take everything she said back. She let out a sigh, and began calmly: "Carrie, I..."
"Save it!" Kitty snapped at the ice dancer, "Just stop making things worse!"
Josée looked between Devin and Carrie, scoffed, and said: "Good luck." She wasn't referring to the competition, and stormed off. Josée nearly slammed the hotel door in Jacques' face, but he caught it just in time as he followed her in their room. He watched nervously as she began to pace back and forth. "Stupid, stupid, stupid..."
Jacques frowned. He knew this wasn't going to work out, but it looked like Josée didn't. "Chouchou..."
Josée burst into a cackle, startling him. "Don't worry, Jacjac. It's fine."
"Is it?"
"Oui. Rachel is too clumsy, she'll ask us for help sooner or later," Josée remarked absentmindedly.
Beat.
"You mean Carrie," Jacques corrected, furrowing his brows in confusion. Josée stared at him blankly. Jacques cleared his throat and said it again: "You mean Carrie is going to ask us for help sooner or later."
Josée raised an eyebrow and scowled at him. "Yes, I said that. Don't you listen, Jacques?"
"...Oui," Jacques said uneasily.
Rachel.
She said Rachel...
"But anyway!" Josée said cheerfully, with a boastful smile. "We got first, Jacjac! Maman is going to be so happy!" She hugged him very tightly and buried her face in Jacques' chest. Frowning, Jacques hesitantly returned the hug to her. While he was normally giddy whenever his partner was giddy, this was something very, very different.
Jacques didn't even know the half of it.