A/N: Two-parter that started when I went on a South American literature binge a couple of months ago. Thanks go to the ever awesome LukeandLorelai Brucas Fan, for reading it and being far too nice to me. Second part will be posted tomorrow.
Butterfly Effect
"To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people…"
It had all of course started that stupid night, with the stupid ice cream run. His shirt that made him look so good, his eyes, his teasing…He was infuriating and she loved it. Something had changed that night.
"Read anything good lately?"
"Jess, you promised!" She points her finger at him, accusingly, and he leans back in the chair, running his fingers through his hair slowly.
"Talking about books is almost like studying."
"Not unless you've been reading Shakespeare."
"I haven't."
"Then no dice, you have to study."
"How about we make a deal?"
"Jess!" She snaps at him, frustrated.
"Listen up, this is a good one."
"Fine, what's this great deal?"
"I have two tests this week. You talk to me tonight about books and I promise I'll get As in both of them."
"Forgive me for saying this, but ha!"
"Don't trust me?" He leans over to her, across the table, looking her straight in the eyes. Far too close for comfort.
"Luke didn't get you a tutor for nothing."
"No, he got me a tutor because he's an idiot. We both know I can do it."
"How about we study tonight, you pass your tests because of that and we talk about books on Saturday?"
"You'd give up your Saturday to talk books with me instead of being with your boyfriend? Huh." He smirks, making her angrier.
"Dean's busy." She lies quickly, trying to cover the fact that she hadn't even thought of him. "So? Deal?"
"No." He shakes his head, pretending to not notice the rapid blinking and soft blush.
"You're either doing this my way or I'm leaving."
"Oh, please, if you wanted to leave you would have a long time ago. Admit it, you're having fun."
"Jess!" She calls his name again, trying to glare at him and he smirks, opening his book.
"Fine, studying now."
"Thank you."
A few more quizzing sessions later, he looks at her, closing his book again.
"Break. I need coffee."
"Five minutes."
"Works for me." He stands up and walks behind the counter, turning the coffee machine back on. "So, have you been reading anything lately?"
"Will you actually put in an effort to pass your tests if I tell you?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"That's for me to know." He smirks at her from across the room and she shakes her head.
"You're not doing yourself any favors."
"You're avoiding answering my very simple question. I can go for more complicated ones, if you prefer."
"Love in the Time of Cholera." She decides to answer, her eyes following the movement of his arm as he pours coffee in the two mugs on the table. Muscles flexing slowly. Lines. Clean, strong lines. He catches her gaze and smiles, knowing she won't look up at him.
"You think she made the right choice?"
"What?"
"Marrying that guy instead of staying with Florentino."
"There wouldn't be much of a book if they'd been together from the beginning."
"Doesn't matter."
"He gave her a good life." She shrugs, biting her lip.
"He bored her."
"He kept her safe."
"He had no idea how to make her truly happy."
"He didn't hurt her."
"He was the cop-out choice."
"He was good to her, Jess. For her."
"Yeah, I'll give you that. He always was the one she should have been with."
"So you think she made the right choice?"
"I think…she should have given him a fair chance. She was too scared of him, of what he made her feel that she ignored the fact that he was equally scared but he would have tried his fucking hardest to make her as happy as he could."
"They would have never worked." She breathes out, slowly, painfully aware of the fact that she was scared. Terrified.
"She never even tried." He sips from his mug, looking straight into her eyes, not letting her look away before continuing. "She did what she thought she had to do, stuck to her stupid plan and ignored what she really wanted to do."
"She did what she thought was best. Her entire family, everyone she knew would have been hurt by her choosing Florentino over Juvenal. Yes, it was a safe choice to make, but it was a good choice."
"Yes. In many ways, probably the better choice. Because he would have hurt her at time, despite his best intentions."
"You can't hurt someone unintentionally."
"If you truly think that, then you're more innocent than I thought. Not all pain comes from maliciousness."
"The pain he would have caused her?"
"Incidental. Wrong place, wrong time."
"Worth it? In the long run…" She looks at him, taking a sharp breath. "Would the happiness have made up for the pain?"
"I don't know." He shakes his head slowly, wishing he had been able to lie to her at that moment and tell her it would have made up for everything. "Probably not."
"Would he have loved her more?"
"I don't know." He shrugs again. "Differently, yes. I'm not sure about the more."
"Then?"
"He would have made her live."
He looks into her eyes and she pauses, breathless.
"I…should go." She stands up, quickly gathering her books. "It's late and mom will kill me if I'm not home soon."
"What about studying?"
"Didn't you promise something? We…talked about books, didn't we?" She turns around to face him from the diner door and he nods slowly.
"Yeah, we did."