Chapter 5
The next following days turned out pretty much the same. I went to my work while mom and Nicole went to their work, and I stayed at the house when I either was free or had a late shift. Those days I was alone, I spent almost all my time in front of the television in the living room.
Just like the rest of the house, the living room didn't fail to outshine. The first thing you saw when entering the room was the massive, white couch that took up almost half of the area. In front of it, they had a whiteboard that displayed everything you wanted to watch thanks to the projector in the ceiling. They had a big flatscreen that you could watch on as well if you didn't want to bother with the projector. Since I personally had more experience with flatscreens, I always chose to watch on it.
One morning when I was home alone, I brought my bowl of cereal and milk to the living room and turned on the massive flatscreen to watch a movie. I had my sweatpants and a large sweatshirt on to make it as cozy as possible. Then I enjoyed my entire morning like that in front of the TV.
I didn't even remember the last time I had a morning similar to that. When I was home, I usually spent all my time in my bedroom because our living room was a shithole. It smelt weird, and the couch was so uncomfortable that I sometimes considered sitting on the floor instead because there was no difference.
That room was the only room I didn't like in our house, though. The rest of it was pretty cozy. I had nothing against the fact that it wasn't perfect because it was still the house I had lived in since I was born.
It was now Saturday and I was sitting at the kitchen table, eating quite a late breakfast. It was almost eleven in the morning and I was still in my pyjamas that consisted of a pink, loose t-shirt and a pair of shorts in the same pink color. I had one foot on the chair I was sitting on with my leg pulled to my chest while the other was splayed under the table.
My hair was probably tousled from sleep, but I figured no one would care anyway. I was home alone since mom and Nicole were out grocery shopping. Apparently, Timothée was coming home tomorrow morning, so they wanted to fill up the fridge until then.
As I munched on my cereal while scrolling through my Instagram feed, I heard the door opening in the hall. I didn't think twice about it considering it had to be mom and Nicole, but when it wasn't followed by any voices, I started getting confused.
"Uh, hello?"
I turned around abruptly in my seat, almost falling to the floor in the process. And let me tell you, that would have been ugly. My gaze wandered from the person's feet and upwards. The person had a white pair of sneakers on, a pair of light grey sweatpants and a big, black sweatshirt. When my gaze found the person's face, my mouth fell open. Oh, God no.
"I... You... What?" I spluttered, my eyes widened.
Timothée was standing in the doorframe, scratching the back of his neck. His curls were framing his beautiful face perfectly, and as usual, his face was flawless with no error whatsoever in sight. Now I definitely must be dreaming.
"Eh, who are you and what are you doing in my house?" He wondered, clearly not understanding anything.
I tried explaining myself, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. He even managed to make me speechless. "I'm sorry. I... I'm Julie Gordon. Your mom is letting me and my mom stay here for a while because we had nowhere to go."
His mouth formed an 'o' in realization. "Right, mom mentioned something about that. I didn't realize the daughter was in my age," he chuckled. "Nice to meet you then. I'm Timothée, but you can call me Timmy."
He reached out his hand for me to shake, and I only stared at it, thinking he must be crazy. Why did he even feel the need to introduce himself? Everyone knew who he was, especially people my age. And why was he being so nice? I was practically intruding his house, and here he was, wanting to shake hands with me?
I didn't want to be impolite, though, so I reached out my own hand and shook his. I could feel an electric shock go through my body by his touch, and if my heart wasn't already beating fast enough, it definitely was now.
It wasn't until we had let go of each other that the realization of the fact that I was still sitting in only my pyjamas hit me. By the amused look on his face, he realized it the same time I did. "Nice pyjamas you have there," he chuckled, and I could feel my cheeks heat up by the second. This was so embarrassing.
I sprung to my feet, and without saying anything, I sprinted past him and straight up to my room. I slammed the door shut behind me before leaning my back against it. Taking a deep breath, I covered my face with my hands.
Could this situation get any worse? I knew my first meeting with him would be embarrassing, but I couldn't even begin to imagine it would be this embarrassing. I would never be able to face him again, let alone look him in the eyes. Fuck my life.
A few minutes later, I finally found the will-power to move, so I strode over to my wardrobe and picked out a pair of blue jeans and a checked black and red button-up. I changed quickly before taking my brush from the nightstand to run it through my dark blonde hair a few times. Thankfully, Nicole had placed a full-length golden mirror in the corner of my room, so I could look at myself to make sure I looked good enough to go down there again.
After taking at least ten deep breaths, I found the courage to walk down the stairs. I saw him the first thing I did when I came into the kitchen. He was sitting in the seat opposite the one I sat in before, his phone in his hands.
He looked up when I entered the room, and the same amused smile from before returned to his features. "I think I preferred the pyjamas," he joked.
Sitting down in my seat again, I shook my head at him. "Please don't say that. I'm already embarrassed enough about it," I groaned, hiding my face in my hands.
"Well, good thing you're talking to the king of awkwardness then."
I let my hands fall and looked at him in wonder. Well, I did know he was known for being good at embarrassing himself, but I was surprised he was so open about it. I had only known this guy for about five minutes and I already liked his personality.
"You're not making fun of me?"
He shrugged, the smile never leaving his face. "I'm just glad I got to know the real you the first thing I did."
Rolling my eyes, I picked up the spoon that was left in the bowl of soggy cereal and stared at it. "And here I was, dreading the moment I had to talk to you. You're making this easy for me."
He lifted his hand to pinch his chin. "You thought I was going to be a pain in the ass?" He asked, looking at me questioningly.
I let out a laugh, shaking my head. "No, or well, I thought you would hate the fact that there were strangers in your house when you came back home, but I guess after watching you on social media, I should've known you aren't that kind of person."
"You've watched me on social media?" He wondered, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
My cheeks turned red again. Why did I have to put myself in these kinds of situations? The worst part was that I couldn't blame anyone but myself for it. I did it all to myself...
"No... Well, yeah. My best friend is a big fan of yours," I admitted, biting my bottom lip.
The amusement made another appearance on his features. "I see... And you're not?"
Closing my eyes, I shook my head as I could feel my cheeks burn. I knew that if I let my eyes stay open, he would see right through my attempt at lying. "Will you please just talk about something else?" I pleaded, my eyes still closed.
He chuckled at my reaction. "Alright, I'm sorry. It was mean of me to put you in that situation. How do you like this place then, huh?" He questioned, and when I opened my eyes, I could see him looking around the room.
"It's the most beautiful house I've ever seen and been in," I confessed truthfully. "You should be sad you're not spending more time here."
He pursed his lips. "I am actually. I wish I could be here more often than I am. There are so many things I miss when I'm away for work, but at the same time, I love my job, so it's a difficult situation."
"I understand," I said, looking at him. "I mean, you're always going to miss your family no matter what."
His eyes narrowed for a second before his features changed and he looked impressed with me. I was positive it had to do with the fact that I knew he was talking about his family when he said that there were many things he missed when he was away. Well, I knew he and Nicole had a strong bond, maybe that was why.
"You're good," he said, pointing a finger at me. "I'll have to watch what I say when I'm around you, I see."
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm positive it's going to be easy for me. Your face always gives you away. I'm sure you couldn't lie to save your life."
His lips twitched at my words. "You know you're talking to an actor, right? I'm sure you'd be surprised by what I'm capable of."
Damn, he was right. Maybe I spoke too soon...
When I didn't say anything, he took that as a sign of victory and leaned back in his seat with his hands resting against the back of his head in pride. I raised my eyebrows at him, but before any of us could do or say anything else, the door opened in the hall again.
"Hello?"
"Timmy, is that you?"
A second later, mom and Nicole entered the kitchen. The first thing Nicole did when she laid eyes on her son was to drop the bags she was holding and run up to him with her arms extended. "My beautiful boy," she gushed.
Timmy managed to get up to his feet before she got to him, so he could return the hug she was implying whole-heartedly. Their hug was the most warm-heartening thing I had witnessed in a long time. It was so filled with love and care that it almost brought tears to my eyes. You could see from a mile away how much these two people loved and adored each other.
"I've missed you so much, sweetheart," Nicole said when they pulled away, Timmy smiling down at her.
"I've missed you too, mom."
She hugged him one more time before turning her attention to me. "And you two are getting along, I see," she smiled. "Didn't I say that you didn't have to worry?"
Biting my bottom lip, I looked away from her. "Yeah, you did."
Timmy let out a loud bark of laughter. "I'm so happy to see that I'm finally not the only one being an expert at putting myself in awkward situations."
If I could, I would have hit him for saying that. If he were in my shoes, I'm sure he wouldn't be as happy as he was now, that little asshole.
Nicole placed a hand on his shoulder, and although she had a look of amusement on her face, she shot him a warning look. "Hey, take it easy on her, Tim."
Timmy looked over at me and flashed me a toothy grin. "I'm sure she can handle it."
Instead of saying anything, I rolled my eyes and looked over at mom who had placed her bags on the floor as well. She walked further into the room and over to where Nicole and Timmy were standing. "I'm Trisha," she introduced herself.
Timmy instantly turned serious and reached out to shake hands with her just as properly as he had done with me earlier. "Timothée, but you can call me Timmy."
Mom smiled at him. "I see you've already started getting to know my daughter."
He looked over at me while nodding his head. "Yeah, she surprised me when I got here earlier. I didn't expect to see a stranger the first thing I did," he chuckled.
He had no idea how happy I was that he left out the part of me sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast in only my pajamas when he first arrived here. Maybe he realized I must already be embarrassed enough by now.
"Yeah, how come you're already here? I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow?" Nicole questioned.
"We were already finished recording, so they suggested we go home a day early, and I didn't argue with that," he shrugged.
Nicole nodded her head in understanding. "I see. You must be starving now then. How about I make us all something to eat, yeah?" She suggested, and my gaze fell to my bowl of cereal again.
It was the only thing I had eaten today, which was not much for being almost one in the afternoon. I could definitely get down some of her delicious food. She was a great cook.
"Hell yeah!" Timmy called out, making all of us laugh.
Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all...
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There you have it, Timmy's first appearance, guys! What do you think?
Do you like Timmy in this story so far?
Pauline. xx