7. Giselle
With a shiver nestled between her shoulder blades, Giselle stared at the bifurcated staircase leading into the Palm Building, unable to stop dreading who waited behind the heavy double doors.
The sun had already set over the leaping Pacific waters almost an hour before. Still, people milled about The Royal Ridge in full force that evening. Although kids in a range of bright, fun costumes raced past her in search of candy, a self-conscious streak awakened within her chest.
Giselle tugged at the sleeve of her costume like the short, capped fabric could hide her skin painted in an undead shade of blue. The black design of stitches drawn over her body and the patchwork dress completed the look. She probably looked ridiculous.
”You okay in there?” Jude”s rumbly voice pressed flush against her ear and caused Giselle to jolt ramrod straight, spooked by how she had forgotten about him.
Her hand clapped to her chest, and she laughed, hiding the urge to suck in a harsh breath or keel over. ”Yeah, I”m. . . totally fine.”
”More like totally lying. Tell me what”s bothering you.” Jude didn”t miss a beat and leaned from the edge of her peripheral vision to the forefront. The world tunneled around him, and Giselle held onto his face with her gaze.
With his face painted white and black for a skull design, the quirk of his eyebrows almost stole another laugh from her. Jude didn”t fuss or complain when she perched on his lap and made him into a skeleton to match his dark pinstripe suit.
He won several points for accompanying her on her terrible, no-good idea about how to announce their ”relationship” to the world. Like every year since high school, Dakota combined her birthday and Halloween into one unbelievable night. She held the birthday Halloween bash at the Ridge without fail, going all out on the Halloween theme. Everyone who was anyone would be invited to celebrate alongside Dakota and their friends.
Then, Giselle spent the next several hours painting them into their characters. Giselle peered up at the skeletal yet dapper version of her faux boyfriend and whispered, ”I”m scared.”
”Scared of what? Of James? If he even thinks about upsetting you, I have no problem making him regret his life.”
”No, it”s. . . I”m worried about the blowback from everyone there. Knowing Dakota, she invited all the old Del Mesa friends and probably a handful of others. Everyone will know James and my history and yours and James” rivalry.”
Jude”s lip twitched. ”That”s perfect, then. James screwed up, and the big, bad Jude Beauregard snatched you right up.” His voice danced with mirth, dragging with its husky edge.
Giselle reached for his hand, fingers skimming down the length of his jacket”s sleeve until her pinky curled around his. She mustered a smile. ”More like soft-spoken and smart. No one from high school would believe you”re remotely close to a bad boy, not even when you wore your buttoned top with the top two buttons undone and brooded in the back of the class.”
Jude”s mouth fell open; his nose scrunched up, eliciting a quiet giggle from Giselle. ”Is that so? What were you doing noticing my undone buttons?”
”All the girls in my group talked about it! James hated it whenever your name was mentioned in a normal context. But when girls fawned over you, he used to roll his eyes and say something about how lame you were in practice. Most people ignored him.”
”I don”t know about that. I”ve encountered plenty of people who mentioned Calloway”s opinion about me before they met me. But let”s give them a reason to talk.”
”Okay. Let”s go inside.” Giselle steeled herself for the whispers and the stares, huddling closer to Jude”s side. If people didn”t recognize him, their couple”s costume might stir up conversation.
Jude escorted her up the stairs, never too far in front of her to leave her behind, and his mouth stretched the painted skull features into a smirk that could make a skeleton shiver. Giselle might emerge from the evening alright if he held enough confidence for both of them.
Jude caught the door and ushered her inside, leading her past the security guard leaning against the nearest wall. Giselle spotted the flash of something golden and shimmery in Jude”s hand, shimmering before her eyes as he tucked it away.
”What was that?”
”My membership card. The locals get golden ones while the silver ones are for out-of-towners.”
”Oh. I”ve never seen one before. . . didn”t know these came in different colors,” Giselle whispered despite the empty hall. She skimmed over the marble-tiled floors and the hanging lights casting a cool glow over the corridor.
Jude silently reached into the breast pocket of his suit and revealed the golden card, offering it to Giselle. The shimmering gold caught the light, and Giselle heard the chime of dollar signs chorus in her head.
Jude hummed, ”The gold ones come in guest passes, as well. I”ll arrange for them to issue you one on my account. It”ll put all purchases at the resort on my existing tab.”
”Jude! You don”t have to do that,” Giselle stammered, blistering her tongue from an unexpected heat. But nothing compared to how fast her eyes dove to the wayside when Jude turned his face toward her. ”I couldn”t ask that of you.”
”Good thing you”re not asking, then. I want you to access the Ridge whenever you want or need it. It”ll be convenient for our arrangement if you have a personal card. Let me be a good boyfriend,” said Jude.
Giselle held her tongue on the last comment, unsure if Jude meant it as a dig, but her thoughts dissolved when Jude”s hand slipped out of her grip. Before she mourned the loss of contact, the same hand slithered to rest along the small of her back.
”Now,” Jude clicked his tongue. ”Which room is this party supposed to be in?”
As he asked, the faint thump of bass exploded into a palpable vibration when the double doors at the end of the hallway swung open. A few people Giselle vaguely recognized in their matching barnyard animal costumes stumbled out, clutching red solo cups and laughing.
Giselle cocked her head. ”The door at the end of the hallway.”
”Figures. Ready to head inside?”
”I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
Okay, so that was a lie. Giselle strained with a smile, but Jude didn”t push her toward the double doors. Instead, his hand hovered by her cheek, and his index finger poked her nose, eliciting a disbelieving noise.
Yet, the noise quickly surrendered to a less strained smile, and Jude”s face matched hers. His smile brightened his earthy eyes into their richest potential.
When Jude guided her, Giselle didn”t fuss. She tucked closer to his arm and slipped far enough for the hand resting along the small of her back to end up coiled low around her left hip. Showtime.
They approached the double doors where the gaggle of barnyard girls loitered with their drinks. Their proximity drew eyes from the girls, and their faces shifted, shrouded undoubtedly in recognition.
”Is that Giselle? With Jude?” one whispered to another, but her voice carried in the echoey hallway. Let the rumor mill spin until the silo of secrets burst wide open.
Giselle waved politely as Jude snagged the door open, clearing his throat loud enough for their audience to overhear. ”After you, my dove.”
Giselle’s eyes snapped toward him, trying to keep her expression neutral and probably failing spectacularly. ”My dove” sent electricity jolting down Giselle”s spine; the rush of murky-colored smoke from the fog machine and the strobing lights from the makeshift dance floor of Dakota”s Halloween Bash couldn”t dim the electrifying sensation of Jude calling her his “dove”.
Narrowing her eyes, Giselle searched through the shifting throng of bodies for the old friends but didn”t need to scour high or low before she spotted them. Leaning against the far wall, the friends circled the catering table with their solo cups and superhero group costumes.
Funny, Giselle remembered being asked to organize the costume spreadsheet several months ago. Glad to see her plans weren”t as disposable as she was.
Her eyes wandered down the cheap Halloween store masks and costumes until she found James. On his arm, a girl she didn”t recognize wore the costume she originally picked out for herself and fed James grapes emperor style. It was a different girl than she saw at the Ridge’s tennis courts.
Like she said, replaceable.
Her chest twisted tightly like someone tuned a guitar string too rough, pushing her on the verge of snapping. If she cried, tears would sully all the effort she poured into her make-up; Giselle needed to be better than frustrated tears.
Jude leaned down to her height to speak over the wall-shaking bass. ”She’s new. I haven’t seen her before.”
”Great. He”s comfortable parading his new girls around the old friends, and no one seems to care. Some friends I had, huh?” Giselle muttered.
”Maybe, but they have no idea you upgraded.” A tremor pressed against her spine when Jude”s voice adopted a teasing lilt, fading the darker timbre of his voice for a shining second. If stoic and gentlemanly Jude inspired a gentle blush, then the playful side of him would turn her into a puddle of mush.
Her eyes wandered through the crowd. People flocked to the dance floor as the DJ for the night spun a steady stream of party hits from the last decade, free to grind in the dark. However, Giselle and her date stood in plain view of partygoers.
A few people who first noticed Giselle and Jude”s cozy stance and matching costumes turned to their neighbors, whispering. Yet their eyes never left Giselle.
People around the room turned to the next person with a whisper like the world”s biggest game of telephone, but Giselle and Jude were in on the message at the other end.
They started it.
She glimpsed toward her so-called friends as a stranger rushed over to Dakota, distinguished by her birthday sash across her chest like a pageant queen. She nodded her head toward Giselle and Jude.
All her ex-friends snapped their heads over one by one to witness her and Jude”s arrival. She hadn”t seen or spoken to most of them for months, but their expressions screamed betrayal. Yet, the unbridled rage on James” face had them all beat.
Chewing hard on her lip as James aggressively threw his red solo cup in the nearest trash, Giselle gazed at Jude, finding him with a knowing smirk aimed at the reactions.
She sidled closer, ”We need to make it convincing. People might not realize we”re together together, and that”s-”
Her worries vanished at the sensation of Jude”s mouth snaring hers in a kiss. Giselle had been kissed before, plenty of times. She recalled the kisses she shared with James, all the different shades of love they painted her in. She thought she knew what it was like to be kissed.
Yet her thoughts fled the room when Jude”s mouth crashed against hers. The heat of his seeking embrace washed over her tongue, leaving nothing in its wake beyond faint stirrings of long-forgotten rushes. His mouth moved confidently, speaking a language she didn”t know she was fluent in.
Jude”s gloved hand cupped at the nape of her neck, supporting her head, but the trace of wandering fingers down her back punched holes into her chest. Breath escaped her when his sneaking hand gripped her hips for dear life.
When Jude kissed, he explored her with a sizzling, dizzying sense of adventure. His mouth searched inside hers like he aimed to uncover all the world”s mysteries in a single, hungry kiss.
The gasp Giselle let out when Jude”s lips strayed away from hers scolded her, dampening the buzzing throughout her body. Acting, remember? He probably would kiss every other girl with such devotion.
Giselle forced her wobbling lip to still when she met Jude”s eyes, focusing on how his mouth sported a few smudges of red lipstick. His tongue swiped across his lower lip, licking over the marks of where she”d been. ”Was that convincing enough?”
Giselle squeaked, ”Yeah. That was good. Great!”
”You looked a little lost for a moment. It wasn”t too much, right?” Jude asked, audibly concerned.
”No! It was perfect,” Giselle stammered when the slight twitch of Jude”s fingers reminded her that his hand cradled the back of her neck so tenderly. She couldn”t think straight. ”I forgot Dakota”s present in the car.”
”Who cares? She won”t notice one present missing from the mountain of gifts,” Jude remarked, causing Giselle to look at the table with presents piled halfway to the ceiling. Yeah, he was right.
Before she could grab his hands and guide him toward the bar or the dance floor, Dakota and two other girls materialized beside them. In her peripheral vision, Giselle spotted the dark curls of Valentina Aguilar and the freckled cheeks of Jayden Foster behind their superhero masks.
Dakota”s clenched hand curled around her sash, and her cape flared out behind her. ”Giselle. . . could I borrow you for a moment? Alone?”
”Uh, sure.” Giselle turned to Jude, who dropped his hands from her like a gentleman. ”Will you be alright?”
”Don”t worry about me, dove. I”ll grab us some drinks until you return. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”
”Be right back.”
Giselle scampered behind the trio of Dakota, Jayden, and Valentina toward the bathroom at the far corner. She dodged through the clusters of people while her eyes remained on Jude, standing head and shoulders above most of the crowd.
When someone”s hand grabbed her wrist, a yelp tore from her mouth, but likely no one heard it over the bass thumping as someone dragged her into the bathroom. Jayden slammed the door of the private bathroom shut behind them. The music faded into dull thuds against the wall as the party raged without the birthday girl and her posse. Giselle warily studied the three pairs of narrowed eyes in front of her.
”You showed up with Jude Beauregard? What”s wrong with you?” Valentina scoffed, ripping her mask away from her face. Her skin glowed like terra cotta under the sunlight in the bathroom”s vanity lighting. However, her eyes caught aflame as still hot embers.
”What do you mean what”s wrong with me? James and I are done—”
”But you didn”t think about how he would feel?”
”I”m sorry, is that my responsibility? He broke up with me first and moved on within the week, yet I”m the one getting lectured in the bathroom about my dating choices. What gives?” Giselle gasped, borderline offended.
Valentina waved her arms around her head. ”It”s different!”
”How?” Giselle crossed hers in response, still under three pairs of hostile eyes. Valentina”s captured a clearly spoken fury. But Jayden and Dakota weren”t angry. In Jayden, Giselle swore she saw green overtaking the otherwise plain shade of brown. As for Dakota, her silence radiated the cold energy of a disappointed child whose sibling stole their toy.
”It”s petty to date Jude so soon after you and James ended,” Jayden chimed in while Dakota fumed in silence.
Giselle nodded. ”No, I”m not concerned with James” feelings. He dumped me because I”m not ‘future wife’ material. He hurt my feelings. But all of you are taking his side.”
She glanced between the three, unable to remember all the laughs and sleepovers they shared during high school. She didn”t recognize them, too disappointed to defend herself.
Jayden”s mouth twisted up; she leaned on the door, blocking Giselle”s way out. ”It”s still shitty, especially since Jude never noticed several of us from the group giving him the time of day back then. He”s even cuter these days. . . a hottie.”
Giselle”s shoulders tensed while studying Jayden, clocking the unspoken emotion she hadn”t recognized. Jealousy. She cocked her head. ”He was always good-looking. He”s more confident when James is not harassing him.”
”I don”t get what he sees in you. He turned down half of our friend group, and several of us deserve to date him more than you.”
”Jude isn”t a toy you can demand a turn with on the playground, Jay. Don”t speak about him like that. And whether you think I deserve him or not doesn’t matter. He chose me.”
Jayden lurched forward. The glare in her eyes meant business, even while partially obscured by her chunky chestnut bangs. Giselle leaned back, and the thundering of her heartbeat in her ears screamed for her to leave the bathroom. Get out. Go.
In the next instant, Giselle dodged around all three girls. She opened the bathroom door and raced back into the crowd, sprinting like a hunted rabbit. She pushed through the dancing bodies until spotting Jude leaning against the wall with a red solo cup in hand.
Her legs pumped faster, despite their burn, until she broke free from the crowd. She bounded toward Jude, sensing her freedom awaited.
When he spotted her, Jude perked up. But the initial smile vanished, and he pushed off the wall, meeting her in the middle. He cupped her face. ”You”re crying. What happened?”
Giselle blinked at him. Her hand touched under her cheek, finding it damp, but shook her head. ”Let”s get out of here. They got a good enough glimpse of us.”
The October evening tickled her cheeks as Giselle stretched over the back of her chair. The cold settled around her exposed skin, but she welcomed it with how it washed away the sticky heat from Dakota”s Halloween bash.
Giselle opened her eyes to the squeals of eager children nearby and saw a few kids with costumes and linked hands. A smile tugged at her mouth while they crossed the street, swinging their stuffed candy buckets from the crook of their elbows.
She leaned forward onto her hands and waved when two kids pointed at her. They recognized her costume from across the street, how adorable.
”One double scoop of cookie dough with caramel drizzle for the lady,” Jude”s voice interrupted her people-watching. Giselle refocused on her ice cream order in its candy-corn-themed cup. ”Are you doing alright?”
”Yes. Sorry. The kids are so cute in their costumes.” Giselle carved a massive bite out of her ice cream, leaving a gaping hole in the round top for the caramel to drip in. ”I needed this.”
”Fresh air? Ice cream? Seeing adorable kids on Halloween?”
”All of the above?”
Jude chuckled, sliding into the seat across from Giselle. A double scoop of mint chocolate chip in his candy-corn cup looked ready to eat. Giselle had mercilessly teased him about the choice while they stood at the counter, but the mom-and-pop shop ran out of French Vanilla, his first-choice flavor.
She glanced over Jude’s shoulder and stared at the pink-striped windows and vintage parlor style of Cookies Creamsicle, the favorite dessert shop of Del Mesa residents. They were supposed to grab dinner in a hurry after leaving Dakota’s party, but they skipped straight to dessert instead.
The two silently dug into their ice cream, and Giselle sighed to Jude, ”Tonight was something else.”
”Yeah?” Jude asked. ”Didn”t expect to become the star of the show, huh? How”d the birthday girl feel about us?”
”Honestly, I don”t know. Dakota didn’t say a word once we got in the bathroom, letting Valentina and Jayden take over the interrogation.”
”I can”t believe their ”poor James” act. . . like he didn”t bring some random girl along with him as his date.”
”I couldn”t either! Valentina always sided with James in group disputes. I”m not surprised she thinks I”m evil for sliding into your arms. But it was Jayden who I clashed with the most,” Giselle remarked between bites, feeling the dribble of ice cream down her lower lip. She stuck her tongue out enough to clean the mess off. Not the kind of girl to waste a single bite of ice cream.
Jude hummed, ”Why”s that?”
”Because she wanted you.” Giselle watched as Jude choked on his bite and clapped a hand over his mouth. ”She told me she deserved to date you more than me, and she didn”t understand what you see in me.”
”And you were friends with those girls?” Jude mumbled behind his napkin, sounding vaguely amused. His eyes gave it away with how his brows knit and the glimmer in his irises adopted a cutting edge.
”Yes. . . but it”s more that they invited me to things once I started dating James. The friends came as part of the package, so I never had them. They were never mine to keep.”
”A shame. They”re missing out on prime Giselle time.”
She laughs. ”You”re such a teaser.”
”I”m being serious! They didn”t see your greatness; they missed out by treating you as James” accessory.” Jude set his ice cream down and reached across the table, patting her arm.
Giselle shrugged, setting her ice cream down too. Her eyes caught a few cookie dough bites drowning in a sea of melted ice cream, aptly adrift like how she was. ”Maybe. They have their own lives with college and whatnot. They’re probably embarrassed of me since I didn”t pursue further education after high school.”
Jude frowned. ”Giselle, that isn”t embarrassing.”
”You don”t have to sugarcoat it. It”s embarrassing that I didn”t even try community college. Someone like you—college-educated with a fancy scholarship on the way and graduate school plans—wouldn”t spend time with someone like me outside of this arrangement. The others don”t need a fake girlfriend, so there is no need to pretend.”
”I”m not pretending, Giselle. Back in high school, you were the nicest girl I knew. I considered you the closest thing I had to a friend back then.”
Giselle paused, searching his face for signs of the truth. She found them there, buried in his eyes” warm, earthy tones, ”You mean that? We were friends?”
”I do. And we are friends.” No hesitation marred his words. ”Besides, college can be super overrated. Why spend money to be miserable? You”re happy with gardening, and there”s nothing to be ashamed of.”
”You”re right. It”s just hard not to compare myself to our classmates and where they”ve ended up,” Giselle murmured, finishing another bite of her ice cream.
”Maybe. But I”d rather spend a hundred fake relationships with you than have a single conversation with any of them.” Jude leaned forward on the table, and a dip in her stomach pulled Giselle into the sincerity of Jude Beauregard. She believed him.
Despite the good mood in the air, the silent vibrations of Giselle”s phone on the table next to her drew her eyes from Jude. Spending time with him felt like a much-needed escape, but she eventually had to return to reality.
Giselle flipped the screen, bombarded with notifications of missed calls from the old friends and James. She meant to block his number ages ago; the sight of James” number spamming her phone inspired a range of emotions, namely annoyance.
Jude leaned over to read the messages. ”Hand me your phone.”
”Why?” asked Giselle.
”Do you trust me?”
”I do.”
”Then, I”d like the phone, please,” Jude held out his hand until Giselle gave it to him. He smirked, typing something with a few pauses when he deleted and rewrote his message. ”James will be getting blocked after this, but I advised him to go through me if he wants to speak to you...”
Giselle”s stomach did a backflip. ”You didn”t! He”s going to punch a hole in the drywall for that.”
”Let him. His dad has enough money to fix it,” Jude chuckled, setting the phone down. ”Tonight isn”t about him or Dakota or even Halloween. It”s about us and our first successful date as a ”real” couple.”
Giselle smiled and grasped his hand with hers. ”To us, the ‘happy couple’ of the night.”