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we're not from texas

the beforehand preparation for the met gala was a whirlwind, but all the thoughts clouding haley's mind were about the movie she was working on with greta.

"who's the cast?" she asked once they met up that day in august. haley of course, was going to portray aurora and theo's late mother, paris chase-jackson. greta explained that she herself would be playing paris' mother, bradley cooper would be her father, nick robinson and margaret qualley as her older twin siblings, mckenna grace as her younger sibling, john malkovich and diane keaton as her grandparents, and kristen stewart and cate blanchett as her aunts. lily rose-depp and hoyeon jung were to play paris' friends, and joe keery would be james mclean, who happened to be paris' brother's best friend (who was also an actor) before they got married.

"joe keery? as in my character's love interest in stranger things joe keery?" haley clarified. it was quite fitting if you thought about it, since steve harrington was actually based off of some of james' characters from when he was a teenager.

haley and joe worked together on stranger things season 4, and the chemistry the pair had was more than enough to blow off a roof. if you thought that steve and dustin were chaotic, wait til you saw this pair. now, instead of joe and gaten being paired together in all the press interviews, haley had joined them, and the internet loved it.she was excited to be on-screen with joe again because the two knew each other really well, had a great dynamic, and were good friends off-camera too.

aside from the casting, greta not only tasked haley to watch and observe old and recent clips of paris, but also instructed her to assist the screenwriter, nicole holofcener, in writing the screenplay.

"why?" she asked, thinking it was all a joke. it wasn't. "we need your unique, young person perspective since you're close to the age paris would be in the movie, and you heard some stories about her youth as you grew up around her. we want this to be as accurate as possible," greta added.

so haley was added to the screenwriting credits even though nicole, or holly, as haley called her, had already come up with more than half of the script. she and nicole met up only once to discuss what other scenes would be included, however, both their schedules got in the way of the possibility of any other meetings. which is why there were plenty of late night calls from one to another, to consult ideas that came in the spur of a moment, and add or retract some things that the script would be better with or without.

so to start off that day, haley woke up late, and scrambled to join finn in their van, a result of a call with holly at one in the morning that stretched up to three hours.

"you don't look very good," her brother remarked.

"thanks."

even robert questioned her appearance. haley thought he'd have more pressing matters at hand, like ensuring that everything was on schedule. apparently, like a true manager, he could do both.

the car ride consisted of robert asking assistants "are you sure you did this thing? that thing?" and him yelling about the arrival time of both haley and finn's outfits.

"FOR THE LAST TIME RILEY," the leneghan siblings heard as they rode to their hotel, "VOGUE IS COVERING THEM, DID YOU FORGET?"

"don't yell at her!" haley said indignantly. it was a really big day, and she was sure that everyone was doing their best.

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"hey vogue," finn began, looking at his sister to continue.

"i'm haley leneghan with my brother finn—"

"and you guys will be accompanying us as we get ready for the met gala." he finished.

the two siblings entered again, hit with the view of the living room. this time, they had a swarm of cameras following each of them as they headed to their separate rooms to get their hair and makeup done.

"your nails!" squealed haley, grabbing her brother's hand once they were both done. he had white acrylics with a dusting of black glitter. she did too, except hers were a bit more cream colored and had small, sparkly gold beads intricately laid out in swirling patterns.

"i don't know if i match the theme at all," finn commented, glancing at his outfit. he was wearing a glittery black dress, a white leather jacket with arm frills over it, and white boots, accessorizing with a string of pearls and a white cowboy hat.

"you're wearing a cowboy hat, which is.. texan, i guess?" she pointed out.

"we're not from texas, haley," he said, laughing. "eh, i could care less, even if people put me on the jail category on their tier lists. but you look really good," finn pointed out.

and it was true; haley looked like a goddess.she was wearing an off-white, boat necked gown, something that resembled what jackie kennedy wore often when she was first lady, which had a long skirt that trailed a few feet behind her. the outfit had two thin tulle capes adorned with gold glitter and stars that were attached to the back of the dress. on the gown was a printed painting of the white american flag by jasper johns, which also happened to be on display at the met. haley also wore elbow-length glovelettes (fingerless gloves) that were laced up high (in a last minute adjustment, she took inspiration from olivia rodrigo's 'good 4 u' vma performance outfit). for the headdress, she wore a crown that resembled that of the statue of liberty, except it was white to match her color scheme. she decided to base it off of what her mom wore at the end of her movie 'ms. congeniality' but added little stars perched around each tip to pay tribute to hedy lamarr.

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"who's going down first?" asked riley, once they were in the car. she dressed simply as not to take the spotlight from her guests.

"i can go down first," finn volunteered immediately. he managed to sense he subtle anxiety in his sister's eyes, a result from the crowding they received on the way out of the hotel.

they're gawking at us like we're animals in a zoo, he thought.

"could you wait for me on the steps?" haley asked nervously. she didn't like the idea of going up the whole way alone.

"of course," her brother assured her.

he threw open the car door and, with the help of a few bodyguards, made his way to the center of the staircase and made his way up.

"please, please, please," mumbled haley who watched from the sidelines, temporarily out of the view of cameras.

"you're not gonna see him." robert told her firmly. "you're gonna be fine, you can do this." it may have sounded insensitive to an outsider, but haley knew that was her manager's way of convincing her that everything was gonna be alright.

so she followed suit and made her way up, posing for cameras and occasionally waving hi to the bystanders. once she and finn stood together, the two siblings swapped their headdresses for each other's. it was part of their plan when they were constructing their respective looks for the night.

"see? it isn't as bad as you thought," finn whispered to haley discretely as they approached emma chamberlain's interview station. they all greeted each other warmly and exchanged a few minutes of playful banter before making their way inside.

finn heard his sister's sharp inhale upon entry. he glanced at her, but she turned to her right, as if she were scanning the room for friends. the youngest leneghan searched the room, looking for the source of his sister's obvious discomfort. only one person could do that to her... then he saw him.

timothee, standing tall, laughing with billie eilish, who happened to also be one of haley's friends and musical collaborators. he looked up and caught sight of them, his mouth agape for a second. you thought we wouldn't show up, huh? the overprotective brother in finn asked mentally. he grabbed his sister's hand and steered her towards her table before leaving her to socialize.

but haley didn't want to socialize.

she wanted to finish writing the script with nicole and start filming the movie as soon as she could. sadly, she was stuck at a fundraiser party with a bunch of people she didn't even know. until she saw kristine froseth.

the two of them worked on a ballet movie called 'birds of paradise', a sapphic romance story between two rival dancers at a prestigious paris ballet school. it would be released a week after the met gala, and haley was to fly over to los angeles for the premiere.

"krissy!" haley exclaimed, glad to recognize someone in a sea of strangers. the two embraced and chatted about how they've been doing since they were last together in budapest, in early 2020.

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timothee spotted haley almost immediately and snuck a glance as she was posing on the carpet. she looked beautiful, he thought. as always.

still, he was nervous about encountering her, since the last thing he said to her was that he needed space. of course she'd listen to my request, he thought. that's just how she is.

but even four months after their breakup, he still had no clue why she ended thing between them all of a sudden. timmy wasn't mad, though he definitely was confused and a little bit bitter.

everything in their relationship seemed to be going smoothly in his opinion; he was planning to ask her to go with him to the french dispatch cannes premiere so he could show her around paris with his sister, but before he could, poof. they were nothing.

recently, timothee had begun to think that what haley did was for the best. he felt like his character laurie laurence from little women, who, in the book, was forcing himself to pine after jo even after her rejection. eventually, the character accepted that what she did was right for the both of them. it seemed like she was doing fine anyways. ( if only he knew. )

he decided to focus on his career and future projects, but unlike laurie, he didn't actually get over haley, though he didn't know it. yet. the phrase "distance brings fondness" would resurface at the right time, timothee figured; just not then.

back to the gala. all was well: timmy thought he and haley were doing a great job avoiding each other until kristine froseth introduced her to kid cudi. who he was conversing with.

cudi looked between the two ex-lovers and pointed ahead to frank ocean before nodding his head and setting off.

"so..." haley began.

"er..." timothee rubbed the back of his neck, rocking on the heels of his feet. "hi." he said finally.

"this is awkward," she offered.

"nothing new then."

ouch. that hurt. "listen timmy, i—"

"it's alright."

"i didn't even say anything!"

"it's fine, know what you're gonna say." he replied.

"please, i really have to get this out—"

"for what?" he asked. "it's been four months, haley. you seem to be doing fine, i'm doing better... i just— i'm not mad. i'm not, i swear. i think it's fine, that it was for the best." he was genuinely trying to reassure her, but haley felt even worse.

"so you're... you're fine." she repeated dubiously.

he shrugged. "yeah?"

"oh. alright." she forced a smile.

just before haley could leave, kendall jenner approached the two with her disposable camera in hand. "smile you two!" they tried to look as happy and comfortable as they could, but broke character once she left.

"a-alright then," haley stammered. "bye."

and they never saw each other for the rest of the night.

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY