precious- timothée chalamet

chapter four

IT WAS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL, EVE AND Timothee's friendship blossoming again. There was never a dull moment even though they were just messaging each other on Instagram. She felt like a teenager again, giddy whenever she heard from him, and only a few blocks away he felt the same about her.

Timothée told her that he was available that upcoming weekend, and the redhead was elated. She glided around the apartment with a constant grin on her face and pulled her outfit out two days in advance to make sure it was perfect. Eve had a comfy big white sweater, jeans, and white vans, hoping it was good enough for an up-and-coming actor such as her old classmate. Even if he didn't like it, Vanessa gave her the green light.

Eve sped through work as if she were a robot, getting everything done faster than her boss had ever seen her work. Mr. Bailey was impressed that such a young girl in the art world could have so much drive and energy to put into something she was passionate about. He watched her with a keen eye the next two days.

For her, she allowed the busy-work to continue not allowing herself to check her phone too often. She made sure to keep it in a desk drawer and that all her tasks were done for the day before she looked at it, unless it was an emergency. There were no emergencies though, so she was able to continue setting up the Banksy exhibit in peace.

Andy knocked on her door and she hastily opened it, revealing her tall friend who held two coffees and a big bag of pastries. Eve smiled, then looked at him confusedly. "Bailey's having a meeting later, he wants to be hospitable."

"Who's coming?" Eve asked as he entered her office. Andy set the coffees down at her desk and made himself at home in the chair across from her.

"Investors, I think. Either that or important people for the exhibit." He took a sip of the coffee. "I just know he wants to impress them."

Eve rolled her eyes, knowing a bag of pastries wasn't going to completely satisfy billionaires. She knew Mr. Bailey just wanted more money for the art gallery and that more investors would help the growth of their once small company. She wished she could contribute more, but she was still somewhat unknown in the art world.

"Let's hope the pastries help that much." Eve said aloud. She grabbed her coffee and took small sips, thinking about the whirlwind of things going on in her life. All she wanted was for her date- or whatever it was- with Timothée to come faster. The days were crawling by and Eve was losing it without things to focus on.

They sat in a comfortable silence, Andy flipping through Art History magazines Eve had in her office, and Eve sipping her coffee as she spaced out and thought about Timothée. She hoped everything would go okay, otherwise she would curse herself out for wasting so much time thinking about him and their future. Andy looked up once and noticed her deeply in thought and snapped his fingers. "Eve, you good?"

"Oh yeah, totally."

"That's a lie, spill." He pulled his chair closer to her desk and put his head in his hands, anticipating a story.

Eve sighed, "It's really not that interesting."

Her coworker rolled his eyes and hoped she would tell him. She finally caved when she realized Andy would just sit in her office until the end of the day if she didn't tell him. "Fine, you're such an ass."

Andy simply grinned. Eve reluctantly drank more coffee and bought herself a few seconds to somehow explain how she contacted Timothèe and now was going to meet up with him... and soon! "Well, remember when I was in a funk the other day because of a certain up and coming celebrity?" He nodded quickly. "Well, I reached out to him...."

"AND?"

Eve grinned, "He responded! We're meeting up this weekend."

Andy jumped from his seat and screamed excitedly. Eve covered her mouth as he ran around her desk and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my god!!! Eve! Look at you!"

She looked up at him, blushing profusely, "Don't make this into some big deal. I'm already overthinking it."

"Well don't, you'll make everything uncomfortable. Be yourself, because I guess he likes that." He said with a wink, which made Eve kick him lightly in the shin.

"Don't test me!"

Andy slyly grinned, then slunk out of her office for her to overthink alone. What was she even going to say to him once they finally met up in person? She can't just send a random meme to express her emotion, she has to physically be present while she sees her old acquaintance. Eve was terrified of being too much to handle, or too focused on his career, or too needy. She was never any of those things, but she self-sabotaged until the big day.

When work was over and she felt wiped out from the amount of phone calls and paperwork she had to do, her mind was allowed to wander again to Timmy. Was he as nervous to see her as she was of him? Did he reminisce on their friendship as much as she did? Did Eve actually ever cross his mind before she decided to reach out? She had no idea, but she tried to move past the thought and focused instead on getting home and making dinner for herself.

Vanessa was gone again that night, a second Tinder date that week and things were looking a bit too good. Eve was happy for her and hoped she would have the night to herself so she could eat pasta and binge Project Runway in peace. The redhead got back to the apartment and saw that Vanessa was packed up for the night, a good sign, and left a note with the guy's address and car model.

She's so thorough. Eve thought to herself. She got herself undressed and galavanted around her dim apartment in her underpants and a large shirt, feeling like a teenager again. She felt like one mentally too, with her hopelessly crushing on Timothèe even though she wouldn't admit it to herself at the time. It was a hopeless, endless chasm of love and hope she held for their possible relationship, she just hoped she wouldn't ruin things before even reuniting.

The redhead hummed to herself and made her pasta, trying to think of the future with everything but... you know who. It was difficult seeing that was one of the only things she was looking forward too. Eve instead thought about the Banksy exhibit coming up soon, which would help the gallery with press and her job. Maybe because of this hard work she could become the Timmy of the art world.