Ambivalence// Timothée Chalamet

Douze

     "I'm so freaking nervous," Timothée said as he wrung his hands. Then, he gripped the arm of the chair he sat on and leaned back and forth. Needless to say, he was very jittery.

     Currently, we were sitting in the lavish first class lounge and waiting to board. We had already gone through airport security, and after that we had a small breakfast.

     The lounge was spectacular, and not just because of the huge wine and champagne selection. Although, the selection was one of the first things people saw when they entered- perfect for nervous fliers. The lounge was decorated with several bars, eating areas, and sitting areas. To adorn it were TVs, black leather sofas, small coffee tables, wooden and glass partitions, and eye-catching lighting designs. Oranges, whites, and blues were thrown about to accent the black, glass, and light wood. The design of the lunge was highly modern. 

     My favorite part about the lounge was the terrace- it had an amazing view of the runway and airplanes that I could stare at all day. Timothée had made sure we sat far, far away from the terrace. 

     "We're not even in the plane yet. I can't even imagine what you'd be like in the air." I immediately regretted letting him drink coffee. I was already doing a horrible job in keeping him calm.

     Timothée narrowed his eyes at me. "You know, you're supposed to be comforting me."
I put a hand on his knee to stop his leg from bouncing. "Just relax, okay? Everything's going to be fine."

     He stopped bouncing his leg, but not even a minute later went to running his hands through his hair. Instinctively, I reached up and tugged on his arm. 

     "Sorry," he apologized while bringing his hands from his hair.

     "Don't apologize," I insisted. I reached into my carry-on bag and pulled out a pen and a puzzle book. "Help me with these."

     "A puzzle book?" Timothée muttered. I half expected him to poke fun at me from his tone. But instead, he looked pleased. "Cool."

     I watched as he flipped to the table of contents. Then, he flipped to the page with word searches. 

     "Should we work together or should we race?" He asked me.

     To answer his question, I reached into my bag and pulled out another pen. "Don't cry when you lose," I said as I handed him the pen. 

      He smirked at me as he clicked his pen. "You're one to talk." He counted down from five before we searched.

     "Timothée!" I shrieked. He had pulled the book closer to him as I was crossing a word out with a line. Well, the line was now a weird curve.

     He erupted in laughter. "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." He sighed as I glared at him. "You can have an extra 30 seconds if you want."

     "You're very mean," I mumbled to myself as I searched for words.
Under ten minutes in and I was on the hunt for my last word. Timothée had noticed and began to doodle on my page as I searched. 

     "Done!" I exclaimed, crossing out the last word.

     "Gold star for you," he breathed as he continued to draw. He was very good at stick figures.
Even though he started to doodle at the end, the word searches were a success. I was definitely succeeding in my job as The Distractor.

     Timothée put his pen down to check his phone. "It's almost 12:30. We were supposed to be on the plane by now."

     "They're probably doing last minute preparations. It is a long trip."