BULLY ➞T.CHALAMET

FIVE

IMESSAGE

juli
you can't ignore
grace forever

ara
but i can and
i will

ara
and while i'm
doing that i'll also
ignore timothée

juli
it's okay to ignore
timothée, but
gracie is your best
friend

ara
she was my
best friend.

ara
and i don't hate
her. i just don't
think that i should act
like her hiding that
tim are friends

ara
and i wouldn't
have an issue with
it if she hadn't kept
it from me.

juli
i don't know why
she kept it from
you bur she didn't
want to hurt you

ara
she did and it
sucks because i
thought we were closer
than her keeping
something like that
from me

juli
i get that, but
please don't throw away
the years of friendship
we share because of this

ara
i won't, i just need
to cool off.

juli
i respect that

-

timothée
hello

arabella
just because you
apologized doesn't
mean we're friends

timothée
i am aware..

timothée
let me take you out
to lunch today, i'm in
pennsylvania for some
press reasons and i want
to formally apologize
to you

arabella
no

timothée
please

arabella
i have to write a paper

arabella
why would i give you
time of day

timothée
one hour, that's all i'm
asking for

arabella
....

arabella
fine. but we're going
to the cafe by campus
because it's cheap and
i'm not working right now

timothée
okay, can you be there
in an hour?

arabella
yes.

-
arabella had put in her favorite favorite outfit, a striped shirt matched with a pair of jeans and her converse. timothée had told her to be there in an hour, but she had gotten dressed and done her hair in about twenty minutes.

she contemplated texting him to ask if they could meet earlier, but she didn't want to sound desperate, because she wasn't. she sat on the floor of her dorm, looking into the full length mirror against the door. she was contemplating, asking herself why was she giving him a second chance. was it because he was famous now? was it because he was all the sudden attractive? as much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny that puberty had done the boy well.

deciding her questioning back and forth with herself was stupid, she chose to just put on makeup and pretend to have fun for an hour. walking to the cafe wasn't an issue for arabella, it was a nice day and she loved walking. as she approached the cafe, she noticed a few teen girls looking into the window. just great she thought to herself, there was no chance timothée wasn't in there.

she walked passed the small group of girls and into the cafe, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of the boy who tormented her in high school sitting on his phone.

"i'm with him," she tells the hostess, nodding her head slightly at the boy. the hostess smiles and nods at her, giving her silent confirmation she could go sit with him. the world seemed to move in slow motion as she walked towards him.

"arabella!" the boy practically yells, snapping arabella back to reality, seeing the boy had stood up to pull her chair out for her.

"thank you," she whispers, sitting down in the chair. timothée going to sit back in the chair across from her.

"thank you for meeting me," he gives her a lopsided smile, one he's always had. "listen, i just wanted to tell you, i'm so sorry, and there's not a day that'll go by that i won't be sorry for what i've done to you."

arabella sighs, "i'm over it, it's the past, i don't hate you or anything. thank you for your apology. and it's not like i want to go around acting like i can't let go of what happened when we were in high school, it happened. i'm just not ready to be friends with someone that put me through what you did, and it has nothing to do with you anymore, it's enteral and i need to work it out." arabella looks down, unable to meet his eyes.

"i understand that, thank you for talking with me about it. think all you want that this was so i could cleanse my soul, but i just wanted to apologize, and i knew fully well you maybe wouldn't want to accept it." timothée sighs, not wanting to be too enthusiastic.

"yea," was all arabella could say, she didn't want to make things more awkward than they were already but she didn't want him to think she was ignoring him.

"hey i'm not hungry, want to go for a walk, you can show me around your campus?" timothée suggests to her, after only getting a slight nod and her standing up, he threw a 20 on the table and stood up as well.

"well follow me i'll be your guide," arabella smiles, laughing a little as she tells him.

"lead the way."