༊*·˚*ೃ༄

we're fine! (that's a lie)

his leg bounced in agitation as he waited in the room. it was silent, and everyone was on their phone. sure, he was staring at his too, but only because he felt awkward just staring at the people around him.

it was freezing, and the fact that it was winter didn't help either. though the room had a heater, the cold still was enough to make him to shiver in his jacket. they were in a warner brothers studios room in los angeles since it wasn't too cold for them to actually film outside, and the design of the sets mimicked new york really well.

just then, the door swung open. "good morning!" announced james mclean, the director of an absolutely remarkable thing, the movie they were about to start filming based off the book by hank green. after him walked through his daughter, aurora, who timothée had worked with before, and... haley.

her cheeks were flushed and pink from the wind outside, and her long chestnut hair tousled from the wind. "hi," she told yara shahidi, the girl she chose to sit beside. it just so happened that it was also across from him.

as much as he didn't want to, he pocketed his phone, and with what seemed like herculean courage, looked up straight at her.

of course she wasn't looking back. he was mad at himself for wishing that she did. he felt a chair pull from beside him, and aurora sat down. "hey," she whispered, elbowing him lightly. he nudged her back in return.

the whole cast for the movie was finally there. haley was the lead, playing the quirky bisexual heroine called april may who would later discover the carls (the giant alien robots that appreared in 64 cities worldwide). timothée was andy skampt, a skinny, gangly streamer born to a hollywood lawyer. yara shahidi was maya, april's girlfriend who wants nothing but the best for her, and aurora was miranda beckwith, a berkeley scientist. then the supporting cast: regé jean-page as april may's assistant, kevin bacon as peter petrawicki, a political pundit who opposes everything april believes in, courtney cox, as the first lady president of the united states, and marisa tomei as jennifer putnam, april's agent.

"we're gonna be doing a little table read for today, i've sent you all your scripts ahead of time, so hopefully you're more or less familiar with your lines," began james, snapping timothée back to the present. he shuffled through the pages of the thick script he was mailed a few weeks earlier, with his lines highlighted for him to read easier.

then— "haley, timmy, do you mind coming along?" james tilted his head towards the door, indicating he wanted to speak with them in private. his stomach churned, nervous for what he was going to face, but his face remained steady and passive as he nodded numbly.

haley didn't even look at him as she stood to go outside. is she mad? you didn't do anything wrong, he reminded himself. we're fine. she said so herself.

james closed the door gently, before rounding on the two of them. "you two," he sighed, shaking his head as he flipped through his annotated copy of the script. "i know you have history." he began.

timothée opened his mouth, before closing it, like a fish out of water. he wanted to yell that they'd stay strictly professional, but the words couldn't seem to come out of his mouth. haley on the other hand, just stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for what they had to say. she wasn't exactly frowning, but her face was hard to read.

"i believe that you two are professionals. i trust you guys not to make any of this weird, just for the movie, okay? and if there's any, i dunno, unresolved stuff between you guys, either clear the air now before we start this shit or keep a clean slate when acting and go back to whatever this is," he said gesturing at haley's stance, "when we're done filming. understood?"

"this isn't gonna affect anything. we're fine." haley told james with a smile. that's a lie, timmy thought. haley meant it to sound reassuring, but it was more like she was trying to convince herself.

"right?" she asked timothée.

"yeah, yeah." he agreed immediately. "we're good." he gave a thumbs up before pushing past james and heading back into the room where he slouched back into his seat.

ੈ✩‧˚ *ೃ༄ ੈ✩‧˚ *ೃ༄ ੈ✩‧˚ *ೃ༄

the cast were notified that they'd film two weeks after the meeting that happened on the tenth, which would also be when they'd move into their trailers. however, a storm brewed around california a day before they were due to head to set, and the duration stretched to three weeks.

when timothée arrived at the studio on the first of february with a small suitcase in tow, he had to admit that he was looking for haley. the two barely texted anymore unless it was to clarify something about their filming schedule or the script. he entered the hair and makeup trailer expecting to see her in the chair since she was usually early, but she wasn't there.

"do you know where haley is?" he asked one of the makeup staffers, trying to sound as collected as he could. his heart raced a little when they told him they hadn't seen her at all the whole day.

"hey, james?" he skid to a halt in front of the director who was instructing a bunch of people on how to arrange apartment furniture for a specific room. "sorry to disturb you but... have you heard from haley?"

"she didn't tell you?"

"tell me what?"

"timothée , she's got covid."

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY