My Leading Man | Timothée Chalamet

chapter fifteen

Day three of filming was rough. The technical crew was great, but things were weird with our leads.

Timothée hadn't hardly spoken five words to me, just sat in his chair underneath a tree with his eyes closed when we weren't shooting, and Syd showed up half an hour late with hickeys on her neck.

Oh, and did I mention Casey had one as well?

I just closed my eyes and sighed to myself. I loved Syd, but her behavior was not acceptable. Not only did her poor decisions from the night before result in twenty more minutes with makeup, but our late start set us way behind schedule, especially since we couldn't keep filming once ten hit again because the sun was too high.

And I hated to admit it, but I was still pretty peeved at her little stunt the day before, using a bitter part of my history with her for attention.

We didn't get more than three minutes of quality footage all morning, if that, and I was eager to take a break from it all for an early lunch. Max told me he was working the starting shift, so I headed straight there before anyone could convince me otherwise. I had a headache and this crew was not going to fix it.

"Hi," he grinned at me when I got to the counter.

"Hi to you too," I sighed, surprised by how relieved I felt at seeing him.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Trouble in paradise?"

I ducked my head, breathing deeply. "Yeah. Things are... things weren't great this morning."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The honesty in his voice was more needed than I expected, and I was shocked by the sudden urge to kiss him.

"It's okay. Could I just get a burger and shake? And fries? I need all the calories right now."

He laughed. "Sure thing." I handed him my card but he waved it off. "On me," he decided.

"No way! Let me pay. Please."

"It's okay! I get a discount anyway." He smiled at me, and I could feel the stress from the morning easing away. "Seriously."

I smiled. "Okay. Thank you." He nodded and handed me my receipt, and I walked away, but not before slipping a bill into the tip jar and throwing him a sneaky smile over my shoulder.

-

After I had eaten so much I was sure the button on my pants would burst, I got on the bus and rode it to Dayna's, where I binged Gilmore Girls as long as I possibly could. I had turned my phone on silent hours ago, wanting to completely step away from the morning's fiasco, and at the last possible moment, I got on the bus and headed back to set.

Right before I arrived, I turned my notifications back on to see what I'd missed. My heart twinged in disappointment when I found there was nothing. Not a single person wanted to contact me all afternoon. I sighed.

Buzz.

Just then, a text from Max popped up. i forgot to tell you but you looked so pretty today :) any chance you're free again tonight??

I felt my spirits lift and told him my schedule was happily empty at nine.

I stepped off the bus, surprised to find half my crew was still missing, when all of a sudden the twins' Cherokee pulled up and Casey, Evan, Syd and Timothée climbed out.

My heart sank. My own best friend didn't think to invite me? And Timothée...I dug my nails into my palms. I was doing the exact same thing I got mad at him for yesterday! I didn't get to control his plans, and I should have been happy he's making friends. I was.