the hamptons | t.chalamet

09

i'm sitting in the passenger seat of his car while he drives through the empty town. the streets are completely still and the eerie darkness of the night gives me a sense of serenity.

i lean my head out the window and close my eyes, letting the wind blow through me.

timmy doesn't say anything and i'm thankful for the silence. he just keeps driving; further away from the hamptons towards the low parts of town.

the ocean smell has disappeared after at least ten minutes and i open my eyes in time to watch us pull into the parking lot of a cluster of apartment buildings.

they're all very close together and even in the dark of the night i can tell the outside is peeling and the inside is barely holding itself up.

"you awake?" he asks quietly when the engine is off.

i nod and sit up. "you live here?" i ask curiously.

he mutters a yes and gets out of the car.

i follow him out with my bag over my shoulders and wait as he grabs two bags from the trunk. one says lifeguard and the other has a student card hanging off the zipper.

wordlessly, i walk behind him towards the second building. he pulls a key out of his pocket and yanks the knob real hard until it opens. the dim lighting inside the building gives it a haunting atmosphere and i uncomfortably speed up a few steps to avoid getting lost.

instead of the elevator, timmy heads for the stairs and we silently climb up two stories. i nearly step in a puddle of something reeking.

"here." he mumbles and stops in front of a door.

206

again, he shoves a key in and yanks it a few times before it lets us in.

i don't know what i expected, or if i was even expecting anything. i've never actually been inside an apartment home. unless you count the penthouse properties my father owns in different vacation spots but i wouldn't consider any of those a home.

i tentatively step inside and watch him.

he kicks his shoes off by the door and walks straight ahead three steps to where the living room is and drops both bags on the floor by a couch.

i do the same with my shoes but keep my bag on my shoulder.

"thirsty?" he asks.

i shake my head but it's dark and he hasn't turned on any lights so i answer instead.

"follow me."

he heads deeper into the dark apartment and i realize the narrow hallway only has two doors, one i'm assuming is the bathroom.

he opens the second one and we go into what must be his bedroom. it's small. probably the same size as my walk-in closet. but it's surprisingly clean and organized.

i can't make out any exact details visually but the fading smell of laundry detergent and deodorant alone tells me quite a lot about the boy standing in front of me.

"here." he says quietly and hands me some clothes.

silently, i take them and watch him dig around his closet some more. he emerges with blankets and pillows.

"i'll take the couch. you can sleep here." he says and nods to his well-made bed.

"are you sure? i can take the couch, this is your room isn't it?"

the light from the moon reflects just enough that i think he smirks. "have you ever slept on a couch before?"

"i-" no i have not.

he chuckles. "thought so. it's okay, i crash there half the time anyways."

"thank you." i say genuinely.

he nods and clears his throat. "bathroom is the other door down the hall and you know where to find me if you need anything."

i nod.

he looks me over one more time before saying something under his breath, too low for me to catch, and then turns around to leave.

"goodnight, caerus." he says just before exiting.

i stare at the door that he leaves open just a crack and listen to him go back into the living room. a few quiet sounds later, i hear a thud as his body drops onto the couch and a loud sigh before silence.

i strip off my clothes and place them on his desk before changing into a pair of his grey sweatpants that extend way past my toes and a white t-shirt.

i crawl into his bed and yank the covers over my head like his mattress will swallow me whole and prevent me from sleeping into tomorrow.

what a bizarre day.

i don't expect sleep to come easy for me tonight because i'm aware of my deteriorating mental state. the sleeping pills i could usually take would knock me out instantly but they're all in the locked cabinet at home.

all i have right now are these absurdly comfortable sweat pants and the faint smell of apple shampoo lingering on his sheets.

i take a deep breath and hold it.

i listen. before evander hated me, he told me to listen for the sounds of the world at night whenever i couldn't fall asleep.

at home, it was always dead silent and it used to drive me insane as i strained to hear anything in our four story house tucked away in the protected and quiet hamptons.

but right now, in timmy's apartment on the other side of town, i get what evander meant when he said "the sounds of the world".

i can hear the roads outside loud and clear as cars zoom by periodically.

i can hear a barking dog in the distance.

i can hear movement from the people above us.

and i can hear the soft snores coming from the tired boy who works multiple jobs a day and has no issue with taking in strangers.

basking in the liveliness of my environment, i release my breath.

i shut my eyes and find myself adapting my breathing to match his snores.

sleep comes much easier from there and i drift off thinking of the curly haired boy.

~•~

author's note.
i was real close to calling this quits lol i just have zero motivation for this story.
anyways i hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and practicing social distancing so as to not be an uneducated idiot ❤️