Timothee.

chapter one. adele.

I find it funny how beautiful people think New York City is. In pictures it's gorgeous. Skyscrapers standing tall like trees in a concrete jungle; a token sunset in the background. It's perfect. What people never take pictures of is the constant construction that are probably in violation of numerous safety codes. Not that I know anything about safety codes.

Anyways... New York has never really been that beautiful to me, but it was still home. It was where I felt the most comfortable. It was also where the most shit happened to me.

Thanksgiving break, I was preparing the table so multiple of our very annoying family members could sit. They were extremely french, snobby, and smelled like Chanel no. 5 which I thought was terrible. The men were extremely bizarre while the women incredibly timid. I was a pro at ignoring all of it. My mom had brushed by me and held my lower back to excuse herself in an elegant way. She was like that.

Beautiful, soft and elegant. She didn't reek of Chanel no. 5, she smelled like Marc Jacobs "Daisy" which was one of my favorite scents of the time. Purely because of her.

My father was in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of wine and trying to hold onto his whirlwind of emotions. He hated having family over, he thought it was an invasion of our personal space. I couldn't agree more. Of course my mom had something to say about it, she couldn't have us talking like that about family it just wasn't right.

Dad was more of a hermit. There wasn't much to say about him besides the fact that he was very much American in every single one of his ways. When mom spoke very quietly he spoke as if he had a microphone attached to his face. They were perfect for each other.

After setting the table I had decided to go in and help mom bring out the food to the table. She helped me and guided me to where everything should be. Everything was going according to plan.

"Adele... chérie?" That's how my mother called me when she needed me to do something. I groaned of course and looked up into her eyes. "Yes mom?" I slid my hands down into the pockets of my jeans as she spoke to me and told me she needed me to go down to a bodega and pick up peaches. Were they even in season? Whatever. I nodded and walked over to the door putting on her trench coat and my boots. I wrapped a scarf around my neck securely and popped in my earbuds. I was out of the door.

I hadn't realized how cold it was until I stepped out into the hallway and the cold still air hit my face. In an instant my eyes were filled with tears and my nose was cold. My cheeks felt stiff but I was used to all of that. As I walked down the stairs I put on some music to guide me through the small trip I was taking to a bodega.

I strolled down the sidewalk avoiding multiple piles of dog shit and kept on going. I was usually always travelling alone. Through school hallways and even through the subway. I found being alone peaceful and I'd always been that way since I was in kindergarten.
A girl tried desperately everyday to be my friend. Always new creative ideas to sway me into being her best friend. I shut her down at the end of the year.

I looked down at my phone to change the music. Hozier felt more fitting for the grey and dreary evening, however when I looked up from my phone it had flown onto my hand and I braced myself for the sidewalk.
"Holy shit!" I cried out and hit the ground with a very heavy impact. My head throbbed a little and the sidewalk was cold, but it wasn't that bad.
"I'm so sorry..." I looked at the hand offering to help me up, and I was met with the hazel-green eyes of a complete stranger. The rest of the face had been covered up by a scarf and I couldn't help but think at the moment this could be a celebrity and I wouldn't even realize it. I took the hand and stood up brushing off my knees and my mothers coat.
"Don't be sorry..." I quietly spoke and even offered a slight grin, "shit happens." The person chuckled and shook their head that was covered by a beanie. "It was my fault.." Once those words were spoken I clearly knew that person had been a guy, "i wasn't looking I was trying to scroll through twitter." He embarrassingly looked down at the ground for a bit before locking eyes with me again. I didn't usually have moments like these, especially with strangers with beautiful eyes. My life was fairly uneventful.

"My name is Timothée," The stranger said, "and you are?" I smiled pleased with the fact that he actually wanted my name. "Adele, sorry."
"You say sorry quite a lot."
"Oh um sorry- I mean... Yeah."
He laughed once again and I could tell by this laugh something had happened between us. Of course there had been a time limit to this extremely rare exchange but fuck I really wanted something to happen.
"Well Timothée would you like to accompany me? My mother asked me to get peaches and since you cracked my phone..." I had just noticed my screen was actually completely shattered, "you owe me this favor."
"It's the least I could do..."