chapter 2

//Arcueil, Paris //

50 percent. Enough for a half-an-hour call.  Théo stretched out on his daybed, sitting up after checking his phone's battery bars. He got on his feet and headed out the door.

The rooftop would be ideal. Moonlit. Spacious.  Private. He could talk to his girl for as long as he wanted. His hand disheveled his clean-cut hair as he dashed across the hallway to get to the staircase. He glanced around the lonely apartment, then flipped the wall light on.

The loft, unusually still since the all-nighters left, reeked of male musk and sweat. Théo grimaced. A tolerable noise of rock 'n roll music playing over a speaker in the next unit was the only thing keeping their apartment from being eerily quiet. Naturally, the place was a complete mess again. Dirty ashtrays, dirty shirts, and even filthier sneakers littered the living room.

An old friend had dropped by earlier, only to fetch the three die-hard partygoers he had for best friends. They'd hit a club, itching to meet new girls. His excuse this time was a toothache — a really bad one — just so they would stop pepping him up to come with.

Lately, his moods only ranged in between numb and bored. Just thinking about going out annoyed him enough. The strain of the job and even the least of nuisances at work got on his nerve. It just gave him another moth-eaten reason to withhold his hundredth plan to quit smoking. He'd been losing weight for months now, half of his clothes already a size bigger.

When Veronica heard from Jamie (their mutual friend, also a Paris-based model like him) about his recent health concerns, Veronica berated him right; she just wanted him to finally quit the habit.

"What was that?" Veronica asked on the other line.

He frowned when he noticed her quite rasping voice. "I'm going up the roof," Théo mumbled. To get to his favorite spot, he practically ran up the stairs. He always loved chilling by the rooftop garden while talking to her on the phone.

"Connection's fine."

In a second, Théo spotted the empty, tatty couch hiding their portable fire pit. He sat on the armrest with his phone getting warmer on his ear. "Ça va?"

"Good. A little played out, but..." his girlfriend sighed. "You? Tomek said they all went out."

"Busy hooking up with new chicks." Théo tilted his head. Clusters of clouds obscured just about everything in the sky. "How's the recording?" He used his palm to muffle a resonant sigh.

"Busy, busy, Théo baby," she replied cheerfully. "In the cold booth everyday. Songs aren't ready for mixing yet."

"Oh." Théo made a face. With both of them too wrapped up with work lately, he wished he could spend more time with her. Their schedules had never been in sync since they became "official".

He swore to himself. It was going to be tough, he knew that from the start. Their relationship must seem unworkable to her by now, and the thought just weakened him. Just a waste of her time. If only their jobs would let them spend at least a few months alone together, he probably wouldn't feel like it was okay for him to be this surly once in a while. It had been the norm for a record-breaking five weeks now.

"Something up?" Via asked when he kept mum. Her quieter tone expressed her concern.

"Is Kyle there?"

"Inside, helping with the editing. I'm out back, takin' a five."

Fishing a cigarette from his pocket, Théo put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He should just try his best to brush his unhealthy sentiments aside, and be grateful that she had time for a phone call today. "Really should've taken those guitar lessons instead," he muttered.

"Was that a lighter?"

He winced, then opted to crack a joke. "10 points."

"Théo."

"I'm trying," he grumbled.

Veronica tsk-ed. "What is it?" Disappointment weakened her voice.

Staring at the cigarette in between his index and middle finger, he took another drag, wishing it were that easy to ditch a habit he'd been dependent on since he was a bored, lanky teenager. He took one last drag — a really long one — and flicked the stick onto the floor. The subdued but constant noise of car honkings down the street was getting on his nerves.

Although he knew she already had a lot on her plate, talking to her would still feel a lot better...and so he began his monologue. "I'm tired, I'm not feeling good, damn paychecks are late, and—" he trailed off, inhaling the clammy night air to stop himself from sounding too complaining. "I miss you," he said with a groan.

"Same here, man."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. You don't even know the half."

He tried smiling at her retort but only ended up scowling again. Though he appreciated her attempt at humor, it still bothered him that she didn't seem to understand just what his unusual crankiness meant. "I mean, I know it's your job..."

"Mm-hmm, go on, dear," Veronica encouraged, her animated tone making him smile a bit.

"I know better, and I understand 'cause you love what you do, but...it's been months. Some things just...get into my head," he mumbled. Théo shut his mouth. Her brows must be furrowed now. "Not very nice things."

"Théo..."

"Yeah, I know. But, he's still a guy."

"We talking about this again?" Veronica uttered another sigh.

"Sorry." Here goes. "Just that...you're always with him."

"So you want me to hop on a flight to Paris now? Or...do we actually discuss this over the phone?" Her voice lowered in hesitance.

"He's still a guy," he repeated, murmuring to himself.  It was the thought of Kyle being with her day in and day out. It never left his mind. "Watched this video of your last show, or maybe it was that summer tour. When Tomek left, I watched it again, and..." He cleared his throat.

"What?"

"You know he's staring at you all the time?" Théo frowned again, recalling Kyle's behavior that night. "Seriously, just fixated on you all hour." He swallowed the discomfort in his dry throat as images of the footage distracted his thoughts.

"T, come on."

"It was weird. Okay?"

"It was probably the joint, love." His girlfriend giggled, plainly dismissing his jealousy-fuelled theories. "Really, though." Her tone went serious. "You okay? Or are you just...bored and...you wanna argue about something."

"Non."

"Je te connais."

His lower back started to ache so he settled on the couch. He placed his calves on the scruffy  armrest. "Je commence à devenir fou, tu me manques tellement et j'aimerais te revoir."

"Miss you, too. Stop sounding so dramatic." Veronica snickered. "Just a few more weeks."

"Miss me?" The reassurance from his ever busy girlfriend comforted him, so he refrained from whining again.

She suppressed a laugh. "Yes. What, you want me to say it over and over?"

On account of how comforting and cheering her laugh always was, he smiled and stretched out his arm. "How much?" he teased.  Now he was trying not to feel like a hapless washout,  and not mind how difficult and almost unmanageable having a girlfriend who lived a continent away was.

"I might need to drink myself to sleep one of these days-much." Via sighed out loud.

That got a chuckle out of him. "What else d'you miss?"

"Your big fat smile."

At that, a bigger grin got stuck on his face. "I'm smiling now."

"I know; your voice is gettin' cheekier by the second." She snorted. "Your turn, chap."

He snickered. "Miss your loud laugh...and your early morning smile...your messy but pretty hair...your sleepy-looking eyes..."

"Uh-huh, continue."

His smile widened as he realized he was feeling a tad better already. "Your jokes...the way your lips pout whenever your crappy car breaks down," he quipped. His chest felt lighter when he heard her cackle. "Your butt," he stressed after he recalled the last time they got to work out together.

They were at a gym near her apartment in Maryland. After that, they'd gone sight-seeing, goofed off in an amusement park, then went to party on a private island. They hung out there for two days. He had several runway shows in New York then, and they got to spend quality time with each other.

That was half a year ago;  he craved the experience. Cramming all his ideas on how to get rid of his year-long frustrations and nostalgia into a week was arduous. But just as he'd expected, in the end, it was worth it. Which was probably why they were still together.

"I miss your sexy butt..." Théo sighed.

"Reynaud, you'd best not be checkin' out anyone else's heinie these days."

He chuckled. "How's the fluffball?" He knew well his girlfriend didn't like being out of Baltimore (especially if the band had to go on tour) because she had to leave her beloved cat at her mom's.

"Ugh. I miss him." Via grunted. "Still with Mom. So, how are the guys? And girls?" she asked,  drawling the last word.

His brows crumpled. "And girls?"  When she didn't say anything, he went on.  "Whoa! Are you... Is that jealousy I hear, Veronica Solène Michel? Steam-blowing-out-of-your-ears jealousy?"

She scoffed and mumbled something in French. For someone who had only lived in France for some years — during childhood and college years — she was impressively fluent.

"Is that a yes?" he said puckishly. At last...she admitted her envy of the models he worked with and got to be friends with, since Veronica had often reiterated that his job shouldn't and didn't bother her -- which was practically code for "I just don't want to be that emotionally involved with you yet"...  Which then was much to his dismay.

"Don't be cute."

"Ha! No taking back," he exclaimed with a boosted ego and a laugh.

"What, you really think those women are totally okay  just friendzoning you?" she said when he kept chuckling. "Newsflash: I'm still crushin' on you. Only this time it's burying-my-face-in-my-pillows-every-night worse."

"You're not helping."   Théo now pressed his palm onto his warm forehead.

"Call you later. I'm back in the booth. Get some sleep. Yeah?"

"Deal."

•••

// Friday //

The sound of her bandmate squalling nonstop made Veronica grin wider while she stirred in her seat. Kyle must've gotten shocked.

They were all taking an hour-long break. Just so he wouldn't doze off, Kyle decided to busy himself instead. For the past half-hour, he'd been helping out Joe reinstall the studio's outdoor lights. He'd quetched earlier about not having gotten much Zs last night. She told him to take a nap in the van and that she'd just wake him up at three, but he refused.

She'd just come out of the bigger ladies' room on the second floor when her phone went off. She proceeded to the narrow wooden staircase. Then she sauntered towards the empty lounging area facing the studio's sunlit main entrance.

Once she saw who was calling, Veronica tapped the 'Answer' button flashing on her phone's screen. "Hey, babe," she greeted Jamie.

"He's gonna propose."

"Who, Laurin?" she asked her mid-afternoon caller, chuckling at the mental image of the latter's boyfriend down on one knee, holding a box with a huge, shiny diamond ring in it (because Jamie wouldn't have it otherwise). "What? How? When?" Veronica stood still. Her brows furrowed at the idea of her good friend considering getting married and starting a family before hitting 30.

"I wish. Wait— No, I don't."

Veronica laughed and asked one more time. If Laurin really was gonna propose, she'd call him and play sulky because he hadn't mentioned anything to her the last time they got to talk.

"No, dummy." Jamie's tone was more serious now, her quite gravelly voice hushed. "Théo."

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