𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊, timothée chalamet

FOURTEEN

"ladies and gentlemen, welcome to paris charles de gaulle, where the local time is 11:05am. the outside temperature is 24 degrees celsius. for your comfort and safety please remain with your seatbelt fastened until the aircraft comes to a complete stop and the seatbelt sign has been switched off. should you wish to use your mobile phones, it is now safe to do so. before leaving the aircraft, make sure to take all of your personal belongings with you by checking the seat pocket and the overhead locker. we thank you choosing airfrance and hope you've enjoyed the flight with us."

zoe caught timothée's eye from across the cabin and rolled her eyes at him. she'd always hated flying, especially long distance. spending the past ten hours wedged between an angsty teen with pierce the veil blaring through their headphones and an overly anxious middle aged woman who couldn't stop twitching wasn't really zoe's idea of a good time.

timothée laughed at zoe's obvious annoyance and waited to one side as the rows of people filed out of the aircraft. zoe finally caught up to him and the two walked out towards passport control.

after being cleared to enter the country, the pair quickly grabbed their bags and jumped into the car that was waiting for timothée outside.

zoe hadn't really given any of this much thought. timothée had told her that she could just dump her stuff in his hotel room so that the two of them could go straight out to explore the city. it wasn't until they were in this fancy car with blacked out windows 10 minutes from the city centre that zoe realised how weird the whole thing was.

she was literally going to just run around the international city of love with a boy that was heavily rumoured to be her boyfriend (she wishes) for a few hours when the whole point of the trip was to see her family. why did he even want to go out with her? surely they were both going to be super jet lagged and grouchy. wouldn't he rather just order room service by himself and sleep?

zoe opened her mouth to interrogate the boy but before she could say anything he interjected.

"i know what you're thinking, zoe." he grinned at her from the other side of the car. "and no, i don't want to take a rain check."

zoe raised an eyebrow. "woah nancy drew, calm down you're scaring me." she looked back out of the window. "i just don't get why you would want to spend all day walking around paris. we are literally going to be zombies."

"shut up. we'll be fine. anyway, if you must know, i like to walk around paris because the paparazzi are so lowkey here. i've like never been hassled just walking the streets and i constantly am in new york and la."

"the paparazzi here are lowkey?" zoe scoffed. "i think you forget just how famous my family is in france."

"shit." timothée's face dropped. "i literally completely forgot... how bad are they?"

"it depends." zoe shrugged. "but because i live in america now i think they go a bit crazier because its a rarity to see me."

"right, ok." timothée shut his eyes and leaned back in his seat. suddenly, his eyes shot back open and his smile grew again. "i have a plan."

...

"and this is the living room." pauline announced as she guided timothée and zoe through her apartment.

"it's so beautiful." zoe smiled, taking in all of the small accents that detailed the room, from the small selection of coffee table books to the paintings that were propped up against the walls.

"i've got to say," pauline grinned at the pair. "i wasn't even expecting timmy until tomorrow, let alone the both of you. i honestly thought you'd need like a whole days rest."

"well, they do say that to overcome jetlag you should just stay awake." timothée shrugged. "and we were just gonna go round paris until zoe reminded me how much of a local celebrity she is." he smirked, lightly digging his elbow into zoe's ribs.

she instinctively swatted his elbow away with her hands and stuck her tongue out at him. "well i personally think that this is a much nicer way to be spending our time. you can see paris anytime you want."

"you're so sweet, zoe." pauline smiled genuinely. "how long have you two been dating?"

"oh, we're not..." zoe started, looking at timothée.

"we're just..." timothée started simultaneously, looking at zoe.

the pair exchanged a look, before timothée turned back to his sister. "we're just friends."

"oh!" pauline exclaimed, her mouth forming a small circle. "i just thought that because... well, you know... uh... does anyone want any tea?"

"yes! thank you, i would love some." zoe gushed, trying to breeze over the awkward atmosphere that had settled between the trio.

"of course!" pauline smiled again. "zoe, you just take a seat on the couch." then she shot a look at timothée. "timmy, will you come and help me in the kitchen?"

"yeah, sure." timothée smiled at zoe as she walked over to the couch and he followed his sister into the kitchen.

once they were safely away from earshot pauline turned to face timothée. "timothée..." she smiled weakly. "i call bullshit."

timothée raised an eyebrow at his sister and crossed his arms over his chest. "what do you mean?" he chuckled.

"no way are you and zoe 'just friends'." pauline scoffed, grabbing the kettle from the island in the kitchen and beginning to fill it up with water. "i don't think i've ever seen you have a girl thats just a friend except for saoirse."

"i have plenty of friends that are girls." timothée rolled his eyes. "and zoe is one of them."

pauline finished filling up the kettle and turned it on. "ok but is she just a friend because you only see her that way or is she just a friend that you are secretly in love with but don't wanna say anything cos you don't wanna ruin the friendship."

"pauline, i've known her for like 2 months, i'm definitely not in love with her." timothée stated matter of factly.

"that doesn't answer my question." pauline raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the counter as the kettle boiled. a silence settled iver the two, as timothée avoided pauline's gaze.

the kettle clicked to signify the water had boiled, but neither of them moved. timothée finally met pauline's eyes. "ok... maybe i potentially have a tiny little soft spot for her."

"i knew it!" pauline smirked, turning around to make the tea.

"ok, but nothing is going to happen!" timothée walked around the island so he was in front of pauline again. "trust me. she doesn't see me like that! and even if she did, she doesn't like attention and that's all that she'd get if she was with me!"

"i get that, but it's not exactly like she's irrelevant in the public eye either." pauline gave timothée a look as she threw away the tea bags. "also, who says anyone even needs to find out if you two were romantically involved. you're doing coupley things now and saying you're just friends, so why don't you just carry it on."

timothée was lost for words. "i guess you're right." he smiled weakly.

"when am i not?" she smirked at him. "now help me bring in all of this."

the pair grabbed the mugs and biscuits and walked into the living room, where zoe sat fast asleep on the couch.