Chapter Text
Since her epiphany about jealousy two days ago, Wednesday had made it a point to mark her territory. First step was to spend more time with Xavier. Not that she had to force herself, she actually enjoyed talking with him. Here, again, he took a malicious pleasure to hit on her nerves during one of their endless discussions:
“Wednesday,” he sighed, having completely abandoned the canvas he was painting. “All I’m saying is that Machiavelli is not the most emblematic figure of the Renaissance. Not when there are artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Boticelli in the bunch!”
“How dare you?” She replied, scandalized.
“Uh, have you seen The Last Supper? The School of Athens? Or, you know, that masterpiece called the Sistine Chapel ceiling?”
“Don’t patronize me, Xavier Thorpe. You focus way too much on the artistic side of the period.”
“And you probably had a childhood crush on Machiavelli!” Xavier teased, pointing her with the brush he had in his hand.
“Wrong. My childhood crush was Cesare Borgia.”
Xavier laughed and finally returned to his painting while an indignant Wednesday returned to the book she was reading. However, she couldn’t hide the tiny smile that was appearing on her lips. She liked their bickering more than she wanted to admit. At least with him she could talk about meaningful topics and stimulate herself intellectually. Sometimes she wondered what the hell she saw in Tyler; other than talking about coffee or his small-town guy high school life, there wasn’t much there.
A ringtone suddenly interrupted the quiet atmosphere of the shed. Xavier picked up his phone and gaped. “Oh. I forgot I was supposed to see Lola at the Weathervane, tomorrow.” He said more for himself than for her to hear.
On the inside, Wednesday was seething. Of course, the normie had to ruin everything.
On the plus side, Xavier had given her crucial information about his next meeting with Lola. Step two: observe her rival. It was an opportunity to see how their relationship was going.
That’s why Wednesday found herself hidden in a narrow alley right across from the Weatervane, spying on them.
Thing, who was in a playful mood, discreetly got out of her backpack and signed that she should apply as a double secret agent.
“Very funny,” she snarled at him. “If you tell anything to Enid, I swear I will rip out all your fingernails.”
Thing took the hint and went back inside her bag.
Just then, Xavier and Lola came out of the Weathervane. Wednesday leaned a little more against the wall of the alley to make sure they didn’t see her. Lola was laughing at something he had said, throwing her blonde hair back as she did so. From where she was, the young Addams could hear her high-pitched irksome laughter. The two were still standing in front of the coffee shop when Xavier pulled a sheet of paper folded in half from his coat and handed it to her. From afar, Wednesday recognized the portrait he had made of her. Flattered, Lola threw herself into his arms. Wednesday had to hold back with all her might from going to separate them and strangle her.
But she was not out of her misery yet. Lola withdrew from their embrace and gazed into Xavier’s eyes with a charming smile. Wednesday froze. ‘No’.
But she could not do anything against what happened next. Gently, Lola moved closer and put her lips on his. Startled at first, Xavier eventually put his hand on her waist and kissed her back.
For a long minute, Wednesday did nothing. She could not hear anything except her heart beating painfully against her chest at a frantic pace. She could not think of anything. The only thing she knew was that she needed to be away from here, from this vision that was slowly making her grasp the meaning of ‘heartbroken’.
She ran away, missing by just a minute the perplexed and puzzled look on Xavier’s face when he parted from the kiss.
Enid was so immersed in the new k-pop album she was listening to that she jerked from her chair when the bedroom door slammed shut with a loud bang. She turned to her roommate who had abruptly walked in and who frantically started to tidy her side of the room.
“Wednesday? Is everything-“
“Yes.” The black haired girl interrupted sharply. “Everything’s fine.”
Everything indicated the contrary to the blonde who got up from her desk.
“Are you sure?” she asked, although she got no answer back.
‘They kissed. He kissed her.’
Enid was growing more worried, especially since Wednesday refused to face her, busy making her bed for the second time.
“It’s Xavier, isn’t it? You talked to him about Lola?”
‘Stupid Lola.’
“No. And there’s nothing to say about it.”
“But-“
“I don’t want to talk about it!” She burst out in a booming voice that surprised her roommate.
The young Addams was finally facing her and Enid turned incredibly distressed when she saw her friend’s face. Tears streamed down her pale cheeks. Wednesday was crying.
“Wednesday…”
“I… I’m fine.” She whispered hoarsely.
Without a word, the young werewolf rushed into her arms and gave a hug similar to the one she had given her after defeating Crackstone. And again, Wednesday was unable to pull herself out of it. Maybe it’s because it was Enid, the first person she had ever trusted in this school, but Wednesday let herself go into her arms and her tears turned to sobs.
Stupid Xavier. Stupid thoughts, one of which she didn’t want to acknowledge: ‘please don’t be in love with someone else.’
Enid didn’t ask her any more questions that night, as though she knew. And for that, her roommate was grateful.
She had to pull herself together, enough of this nonsense. Since she was at this school, she didn’t recognize herself anymore. She had friends – one of whom she hugged – boys were interested in her, and she let her guard down in front of them. She couldn’t afford to falter. There was no way she was going to be like her parents. If Xavier wanted to date the blandest normie this earth has ever borne, good for him. It’s over. No way was she going to stay fixated on him while it hurt that much. How did people deal with their jealousy? How could they move on and not feel that horrible feeling that gripped their gut every time they saw the person they loved in someone else’s arms?
The next day, Wednesday used her Saturday morning to go to Jericho. She was in dire need of a coffee. Black and icy, like her heart. She almost didn’t enter the Weathervane, remembering the scene she had witnessed at the same place yesterday. But her need for coffee, especially after the not very restful night she had, took over.
As she left the coffee shop, she heard a voice, the last person she wanted to hear:
“-and wait, I’m not telling you everything! That freak drew me as if I was his muse or something! I have him in my pocket, I swear!”
Wednesday froze. Oh, hell no. She didn’t.
Lola was on the phone right in front of her and hadn’t even noticed her. Discreetly, the black-haired girl took out her phone, mentally thanking Xavier himself for offering it to her and she opened the recording app. She was approaching the cheerleader as quietly as possible, but she was talking loud enough for the whole street to hear her, anyway.
“He’s not the worst of them, thank God!” Lola continued, examining her nails. “At least he’s kinda cute for one of those degenerates.
‘Kinda cute’? How insulting. Xavier was extremely handsome.
“Besides, it’s the money that counts! His dad’s this like super rich psychic. It’s a great deal.”
Superficial, stupid, and greedy? Oh, Wednesday was about to have fun. She was right to trust her instincts about Lola being shady.
Lola kept snickering in that high-pitched voice that Wednesday hated so much and finally hung up her phone. She cut the recording which she hastened to send to Xavier. He had to know. It was precisely the moment that the tall blonde chose to turn around. She stiffened when she saw Wednesday. Her eyes widened in panic, which made the young Addams gloat.
“Hello, Lola.” She said with a creepy smile that didn’t bode well.
“I believe we have a few things to talk about…”
A few hours later, Wednesday found herself in front of Xavier's shed. She carefully removed the last remaining blond hairs from her sleeve with a smile. Oops?
She knew Xavier had gotten the recording of Lola revealing her intentions, but she had chosen to give him some time, in case he wanted to digest the news. She hadn't seen him at dinner either. She didn't know why but she was nervous about going in and confronting him. After all, she'd probably just saved him from an abominable gold-digger. The girl shook her head, reminded herself that she was Wednesday Addams and a conversation with Xavier Thorpe certainly wasn't going to intimidate her.
When she walked in, Xavier was not painting as he would normally do. He was just sitting on his stool staring at one of his paintings. He didn't even bother to turn his head toward the newcomer, figuring it was her, but the girl was able to catch his defeated expression.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He simply said.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry she wasn’t sincere.”
She wasn't really sorry, at least not for the obvious reasons. She was sorry that he was so hurt by the idea that a girl could only be interested in him for his money and his father's fame. But she certainly wasn't sorry to be rid of that wench.
“I don’t care about her, Wednesday.” Xavier said sternly.
“You drew her. And you kissed her.”
Xavier was hardly surprised that she was aware of that. Instead, he sighed tiredly. “Yeah.”
His lack of reaction irritated her greatly. Sure, his ego was hurt, but she could feel her jealousy and all the emotions she had accumulated over the past few days bubbling up to the surface and she didn't know how to contain herself.
“I must say I'm not surprised,” she replied in a tone that was meant to be condescending. “I should have known that you would be like any other boy and that your so-called feelings for me were not as strong as you claimed.”
Puzzled, Xavier raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Are you serious? You’re saying what I felt for you wasn’t real?”
“Among other things. Again, I’m not surprised.”
She wanted to provoke him, to piss him off. And judging by the vein showing up at his temple, she was doing a great job.
“Fucking hell, Wednesday, you have a way of pissing me off like nobody’s business. Just because I’m trying to move on doesn’t mean I don’t have real feelings for you!”
“Allow me to doubt that. You kissed another girl a month after you confessed to me.”
“Again, I’m trying to move on!” Xavier argued, leaping up from his stool. “And you’re the one who rejected me, remember? You told me when we were back to school that you weren’t interested in relationships.”
“But you kissed her!”
“Why are you so fixated on that kiss?!”
“Because I don’t want you to be with someone else!” she exploded.
Xavier's eyes widened and went blank, as if he didn't want to get his hopes up. As for Wednesday, she was launched into a rant:
“What do you want me to say, Xavier? That I was jealous? Yes. I was. That I’m a selfish jerk for figuring out my own feelings only after someone else has shown interest in you? No problem.”
There, she said it. And yet, she still felt like crap.
“Are you happy now? Maybe you want to go back to her so she can pluck all your money?
Her words were vicious, she was aware of that. But she was so ashamed of everything, of the fact that he could very well reject her, right there and then, that she was unable to stop herself.
Just then, Xavier finally came out of his torpor. A bright smile appeared on his face; not one of those sly ones when he was proving her wrong. A real smile that mirrored all the affection he had for the person in front of him. Gently, as if nearing an animal to be tamed, he moved towards Wednesday who couldn't back away. She felt tiny in front of him. He raised a hand to delicately grab her wrist and stroke her skin with his rough fingers. When she showed no signs of withdrawal, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her tightly to his body. Wednesday hated physical contact. Yet, without the slightest hesitation, she hugged him back. She plunged her head against his chest, smelling his cologne mixed with this constant smell of fresh paint that was so him.
“How can you be one of the smartest people I know and not see anything? Don't you understand?” he murmured, burying his head in her hair.
“What?”
“That I couldn't care less about other girls. The only one I think about day and night is you, Wednesday Addams.”
She looked up to him in astonishment and found nothing but sincerity in his eyes. Her heart was pounding increasingly faster. She hated him for making her feel that way. Normally, she didn't behave in this manner, she knew how to keep her composure, she didn't show emotions.
“You wanna know why I got close to Lola?”
“Because she was simpering and fluttering her eyelashes stupidly at your artwork?” The young Addams retorted surly but made no effort to dislodge herself from his arms.
Xavier huffed, holding back a laugh, and kept smiling at her while fiddling with one of her pigtails. “Because she was everything you weren’t. I wanted to forget about you, Wednesday… get you out of my head. Lola was the perfect distraction because she was your total opposite.”
Wednesday would be lying if she said she didn’t feel some sort of satisfaction in knowing that this hussy had been nothing but a consolation prize for him. The relief that he had never given up on her lingered.
“I… I don’t want you to forget about me.” She eventually admitted. “Never.”
“Do you mean that you care about me too?”
She felt her cheeks flush. It wasn't her habit to woo someone. She didn't dare to face his gaze and kept her eyes on her hands, which she let trail over his biceps. Xavier shivered from her gesture, and she loved having that effect on him.
“Well… let’s just say that… if we were in a life-or-death situation and that I had to indulge in cannibalism… you would be the last person I would eat.”
This time, Xavier did not hold back and laughed. Wednesday would have been offended if she didn’t have a soft spot for his laughter and the fact that it was her who made him laugh like this.
“Wow,” he managed to articulate once his laughter died down. “That’s quite the declaration, Addams.”
She rolled her eyes. No doubt, Xavier the insufferable tease was definitely back. He stroked her cheek with his hand until his thumb reached her lower lip. No one took their eyes off each other. It was difficult to determine who made the first move: both simply threw themselves onto each other's lips.
It was nothing like the brief kiss she and Tyler had. This one was passionate, frenzied, almost like they were afraid the other would vanish. Their lips kept exploring each other and their bodies pressed against each other to soothe the feeling that they weren't close enough yet. Xavier's hands squeezed her waist in an iron grip and still, she wanted him even closer, even if it left her with bruises. She took the opportunity to run her hands through her hair, something she had always wanted to do.
Out of breath, Wednesday eventually parted, her lips swollen. “Let’s be clear: if you ever do this, hold my hand or anything affection related in public, I’ll kill you.” She said, trying to look as threatening as she usually does.
Which turned out to be rather difficult because of Xavier who began sprinkling her face and neck with butterfly kisses.
“Noted,” he said between kisses.
“And if you ever show yourself receptive to the attentions of another brainless blonde again, I will castrate you.”
Xavier laughed. Memo for later: Wednesday’s a possessive girlfriend. “It won’t happen, trust me.”
“I don't think she has enough hair left on her head to determine if she is blonde or not anyway...”
“What?” Xavier asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” She replied innocently.
“Wednesday… What have you done?”