* / 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝔴𝔞𝔯

“you’re right, the cold isn’t even close to the worst of it,” annie agrees, laughing along a little. “there’s no fucking escape here. you ever consider just dropping everything and moving to another country? write or release art under a pseudonym? i’ve looked at cabins in the north pole one too many times.”

        ───          isabeau  gives  them  a  look,  lips  lifted  in  a  minute  grin  before  shaking  her  head.    ❛     i’ve  already  changed  my  identity  once,  i  can  probably  do  it  again.  maybe  this  time,  though,  i’ll  just  stick  to  writing  trashy  romance  novels  –  like  the  kind  with  cowboys  on  the  cover.     ❜

“well, yes, he is very opinionated. a different kind of opinionated than our friends, i think. well, actually, i don’t know. they both say terrible things sometimes,” goose shrugs. “cantaloupe and strawberries? well those are the two best fruits right there so clearly he has the best taste out there. i hope you enjoyed it … he must have put a lot of thought into it. we did have a good time! i think. well, i had a good time. i am pretty sure he did too.”

       ───          ❛     opinionated  isn’t  bad,  i  guess.  i’ve  made  my  entire  career  off  of  being  opinionated.     ❜    she  remarks,  but  chooses  to  refrain  that  half  of  her  entire  career  is  also  being  hated.    ❛     well,  he  likes  you  so  of  course  he  has  great  taste.  is  it–  is  it  a  serious  thing,  between  you  two?     ❜

sebastian sits back against the seat; the situation hadn’t affected him much, didn’t care for much but he felt he owed her some sort of explanation. “what? you have nothing to say for someone who has a lot to write?” sebastian props his chin on his fist propped on the table, “isabeau, i did want you. your physical self was good enough for me rather than.. whatever the rest was you were trying to push. did you really think we’d have been something? now that’s funny.”

       ───          maybe  she  deserves  this.  no,  scratch  that  –  she  definitely  deserves  it.  isabeau  of  all  people  should  know  that  those  who  act  the  holiest  get  struck  down  the  hardest  and  she  has  spent  the  past  four  years  walking  campus  like  she’s  god’s  gift  to  mankind;  did  she  forget  who  she  really  is?  criminal’s  daughter  from  dead  end,  kansas  –  the  world  was  never  hers  to  begin  with,  certainly  not  the  world  she’s  working  so  hard  to  break  into.  sebastian’s  words  strike  a  nerve  within  her,  it’s  like  being  doused  with  a  bucket  of  ice  cold  water  unexpectedly  –  it’s  so  cold  she  can  feel  her  skin  tingling.    ❛     fuck.     ❜    the  obscenity  falls  from  her  lips  unprofessionally  as  she  sits  back  in  her  chair.  it  doesn’t  feel  much  like  a  chat  with  an  ex,  anymore  –  it  feels  like  a  meeting  with  a  superior  who’ll  always  have  the  upper  hand  over  her.    ❛     can  i  be  honest,  though?  i  don’t  know  if  i  thought  we  could’ve  ever  been  anything,  but  i  don’t  know  that  i  wouldn’t  have  minded.  i  just  wanted  you,  which  was  clearly  my  mistake  to  begin  with.     ❜

“mm, hi,” she offer the girl a curt nod, the smile plastered to her face already wavering. in colette’s eyes, isabeau was treacherous, a traitor both to the club and those who represented it. still, she’d read as the tabloids tore isa to shreds, sebastian’s latest interview the cherry on top of her personal catastrophe. quite honestly, colette pitied her. enough so that she was willing to play nice, at least for now. “i guess you could call it hanging out,” she motions toward the table she’s been hogging for hours now, almost ashamed that this has been today’s haven, “and you are…?” she trails off, scanning isabeau’s person for any indicator as to how long she’ll be staying.

          ───          as  a  child,  her  second  grade  teacher  had  told  isabeau  that  if  she  didn’t  have  anything  nice  to  say,  she  shouldn’t  speak  at  all  –  and  she  had  promptly  told  him  that  his  breath  smelled  like  the  manure  in  the  fields  surrounding  the  school.  a  lesson  that  she  had  refused  to  learn,  even  today  she  has  trouble  biting  her  tongue  –  but  given  recent  events,  the  last  thing  she  wants  to  do  is  have  some  nosy  student  take  a  low  quality  snapchat  video  of  her  and  the  vice  president  of  the  elites  fighting  in  the  cafe  (  oh,  the  shaderoom  would  have  fun  with  that  ).  her  smile  remains,  faltering  as  her  gaze  drifts  toward  colette’s  table  and  she  laughs  uneasily,  gesturing  toward  herself.    ❛     coffee  run,     ❜    she  answers.    ❛     yeah,  my  editor  doesn’t  want  me  writing  anymore  pieces  ...  for  the  time  being.     ❜

                    violet’s laughter over isa’s comment could probably be heard from down the street , her hands clutched her stomach as the sound left her freely . “ you know , i think even that could be spun to make us look bad . the tabloids would probably be discussing our potential ulterior motives for such acts of service for days . ” an eye roll of her own was returned , accompanied by a genuine grin .

         ───         the  sound  of  violet’s  laughter  is  enough  to  spark  a  grin  on  isabeau’s  own  lips,  the  painted  corners  lifting  while  she  sends  a  look  towards  her.    ❛     god,  imagine  what  perez  would  say.  probably  something  along  the  lines  of  ‘uh,  news  flash,  not  even  helping  the  sick  can  cure  your  own  filthy  diseases’  and  when  we  say  what  disease,  he’ll  be  like  ‘ignorance’.     ❜

“ i think i’d be offended if you didn’t come to me, to be honest. i think between the two of us we could come up with a solid plan and not have the tabloids or blackmailer or whatever ruining it. the only concern i have is living in the woods. the isolation sounds nice until you think about the murders and feral animals out there, no thank you. “  

         ───          ❛     don’t  tell  anyone  else  this,  but  i  honestly  wouldn’t  go  to  anybody  else  in  this  group  to  pull  this  off  –  i  feel  like  we’d  be  the  ones  to  get  away  with  it  the  best.  as  for  the  woods,  i’d  rather  go  face  to  face  with  a  feral  animal  right  now  than  read  one  more  headline  from  vanity  fucking  fair.    ❜

“do you want me to be honest?” sebastian’s eyes survey her face - the naivety that had once flashed in her eyes had been put out; his own personal doing. “it wasn’t supposed to get like this, but i enjoyed the sex if that’s what you’re wondering.” sebastian meets her gaze, there was no part of him that felt guilty for this, “i didn’t laugh. i don’t think of you isabeau, although whenever you said you loved me - that stung. how did you not pick up whenever i didn’t want to hang out? i never once said i loved you back, we only had sex.”

       ───          her  lips  part,  there’s  something  she  wants  to  say  but  it  lingers  on  her  tongue  like  she  can’t  force  herself  to  say  it.  the  irony  of  this  is  delicious,  if  it  had  been  anyone  else  stuck  in  this  situation,  she  has  no  doubt  she’d  be  taking  notes  on  how  entertaining  this  is  from  the  outside.    ❛     i  just...     ❜    her  throat  constricts  and  she  can  feel  the  idiocy  spreading  along  her  skin  like  a  disease.    ❛     i  thought  different,  i  guess.  i  didn’t  want  you  to  say  it  back,  i  just  wanted  you  to  –  want  me.     ❜

“oh, he’s not a bad guy at all. i guess he can be kind of mean on twitter sometimes, but he’s nice to me – and now nice to you! what kind of fruit was in the edible arrangement? does he have taste? and well, i’m sorry for kicking you out of the room too but … i’m not sure you would’ve wanted to be there. you now have one free pass to kick me out of a hotel room whenever you would like to make up for it. or really you could do that anytime, i don’t mind.”

       ───          ❛     not  a  bad  guy,  per  say,  i  think  i’ll  just  call  him  opinionated,  but  aren’t  we  all?  –  i  mean,  especially  considering  our  friends.  members,  whatever.     ❜    her  lips  purse.     ❛     a  lot  of  cantaloupe,  strawberries,  the  usual  –  but  don’t  worry  about,  kicking  me  out  or  me  kicking  you  out  of  any  hotel  rooms.  you  deserved  your  privacy  with  him  and  i  think?  you  guys  had  a  good  time?  did  you?     ❜

“oh absolutely. might as romanticize it all, right? if we run out of city to drive in, we could always go find a boardwalk and walk around. might be a little cold, but it’s worth it to hear the waves at night.”

        ───          ❛     oh,  thank  god.     ❜    isabeau  laughs,  relieved.     ❛     i  don’t  even  care  about  the  cold,  i  just  want  to  go  somewhere  that  there’s  so  many  people  that  they  don’t  know  who  i  am.     ❜

𝐌𝐀𝐗  :  isa pls tell me ur not trying to survey me about the school newspaper over snapchat 𝐌𝐀𝐗  :  like pls say sike rn before i add this to the cringe compilation ……

      ───          ❛     i  was  just  leaving.  just  had  to  finish  reading  my  dm’s  from  @elitesbiggestfan  who’s  telling  me  that  you’re  the  better  journalist,  be  sure  to  follow  them  back,  yeah?     ❜

       ───          ❛     you  know,  despite  how  he  tweets  about  us,  caiden  doesn’t  seem  that  bad  but  i’m  only  saying  that  because  he  sent  me  an  edible  arrangement  with  a  card  that  said  ‘sorry’,  but  i’m  not  sure  for  what.     ❜

        ───          ❛     are  you  up  for  an  all  -  nighter  later?  i  think  i  wanna  drive  into  the  city  tonight  and  pretend  i’m  a  tourist.     ❜