knife | • z a r a / z o é

It was well past midday when Prosper awoke to the sound of knocking on the front door. He opened one eye just a crack and immediately closed it as he was blinded by the light of a thousand million suns.

Huh. Bad idea.

The previous night had involved meeting up with a lot of people from Zara's school. Prosper had enrolled himself in classes that he hadn't needed to be a student to do, so they'd decided to go to an orientation party being held by some of the students. From what Prosper could remember, a whole lot of theatre and dance students had somehow ended up back at their apartment and much alcohol had been consumed. It had been a night merriment. A lot of merriment. Prosper could feel the results of said merriment in his sore and aching muscles and pounding head. His entire body felt like he'd been hit by a truck. A muffled voice sounded a grunt that somewhat resembled his name and Prosper interpreted it as Zara calling for him to go and get the door. From the sounds of things, she wasn't much better off than he was.

He tried the eye-opening thing again.

It failed.

Upon a third attempt, Prosper managed to get his eyes open. Squinting against the afternoon sun, he pulled himself out of the armchair he'd somehow fit his body into the night before. Maybe that was why his back was so sore? Stretching his arms up above his head, Prosper cast a quick glance around the place. It was basically a small warehouse in an industrial area of the city, with a small bathroom to one side and large windows. The pair were planning on adding some magical walls to what was currently just one large room, but at the moment Zara’s bed was shoved in one corner (with a sleeping blonde curled up under several layers of bedding) and Prosper’s sleeping bag was in the middle of the room on the floor. A few mismatched couches, flowery pot plants and many strings of fairy lights decorated the apartment for now, and last night seemed to have coated an extra layer of mess. An assortment of clothes (was that a giraffe costume?),  and empty bottles now littered the room, and apparently someone had thought it would be fun to string the place with what looked like twenty rolls of toilet paper. Prosper sighed. It was probably him. A soft, hesitant knock sounded again.

He made his way towards the sound. The young man slid the hulking metal door open with some effort. It was a little rusty, but it only felt like a workout because he was majorly hungover, there was no denying it. Was it their landlord again? They hadn't broken anything, had they? Last time they'd come home after a night out they'd woken up with half a piano in their apartment. The other half was on the street outside. His sleepy eyes widened somewhat as he recognised the small figure standing in his doorway, and he was suddenly aware that there were numerous rude things drawn all over his mostly naked body from when he was sleeping. His eyes were still layered with dramatically smudged panda-style eyeliner, weren't they? He was still wearing Zara's pink dressing gown, wasn't he? Shit. Zara must have invited Zoé over and forgotten to tell him.

"Zoé?" This was going to be a fun one. Prosper glanced over his shoulder at the apartment, mostly covered in glitter and... feathers? Had there been some kind of pillow fight last night? He drew the dressing gown closed across his chest hastily. "Come in!"

Lord have mercy.

The room was spinning. It had been spinning for most of the night, actually. Her head was throbbing. It felt like someone was going at the back of her skull with a pneumatic drill. Everything, absolutely everything hurt at that moment in time. Zara twitched as the knock at the door disturbed her sleep, groaning in protest as she hid her head beneath a pillow.

"Prosper," she croaked, her voice cracking as though forming the name was becoming a Herculean task in and of itself. "Prosper, get the door. I can't move," she said weakly, her body feeling limp as the lull of sleep threatened to pull her in again.

Last night was patchy. Girls from the ballet school had come over. Hearing that Zara wasn't living on campus with the rest of them seemed to let them think that the warehouse was party central. Last night it had been. Around twenty girls had come in and brought alcohol and inflatable…crocodiles? Zara twitched again as the memory of her riding one flashed before her eyes. No boys had been invited. Was it her idea or Prosper's? Zara was happily dating Diederik so she wasn't tempted but she was sure the girls were all over her room mate like a rash.

Her mouth felt dry, her skin itchy and her head swimming. The knock was still ongoing and she tried to open  her eyes, only to instantly regret it. "Mmfph," came the nonsensical noise as she struggled to move in her sheets. Cracking one eye open, the mess of the place made her stomach turn. Shit. If her mother knew what they'd been doing, she'd kick Prosper out and make her move back into the school. Her dad would just high five her.

Thankfully, everyone seemed to have left now. Empty bottles, loo roll, clothes were left strewn. There were boxes with half eaten food in it when Zara had the bright idea of heading to the local take away and ordering a Chinese banquet. She retched, pressing her hand her to mouth as she groaned in memory. Zara Rousseau didn't eat take out. She ate clean. Organic vegetables, tofu, nothing remotely fun. That meant she needed to go for a run. And she would. As soon as the door stopped moving.

The creaking of the door made her wince, covering her ears in pain as she gingerly got to her feet. The cold floor made her pout. Once standing, she wobbled, her hands against her head as she surveyed the utter devastation.

Much like Prosper, she wasn't dressed for visitors. Zara was still wearing clothes but the ones she wore were…well. Still wearing her tights, they were now ripped at the knees and laddered, showing expanses of her smooth skin. She was wearing a gold sequined dress and  a Muggle football scarf draped around her neck. She didn't know what or who Paris Saint-Germain was. The nails of her left hand were painted red, the nails of her left orange. Her false eyelashes were stuck to her cheek.

Staggering, she followed Prosper clumsily. Zara's hair was like a bird's nest and Prosper's toothbrush was caught in her messy curls. Standing behind him, she squinted into the horrifically bright sunshine before she remembered.

"Zoé!" Zara called, brightening up as the fog cleared. Rudely, she bumped Prosper out of the way with her hip as she flung  her arms around the brunette and proceeded to squeeze the living daylights out of her. "It's so good to see you!" She gushed with a dippy grin, holding their friend at arm's length to get a good look at her. All was well until she suddenly paled. Stepping around Zoé, she sprinted off some distance and proceeded to throw up into the nearest trash can. Coughing, she pulled a face and then grinned, holding up a high heeled shoe. "There's my shoe! I thought I'd lost that~"

Zoé missed her friends.

Being at Inverness was wonderful, it really was. No one gave her weird looks when she practiced her magic, no one judged her. Over the years she'd met so many other elementals and a lot of them had become her friends. It wasn't the same, though. At Beauxbatons the brunette had spent every single day with the same people. Zara, Didi, Prosper, Casper... They were all so different and yet so similar in the way they cared for each other and that was the thing she missed most.

Today, however, she would get to see at least two of them.

Zara and Prosper were living in Paris together and even the thought of them living in the same apartment made her chuckle. Prosper was pure chaos and Zara... Well, Zara was a pretty princess who needed order in her life. But despite all their differences Zoé was sure that it would work. They loved each other way too much to let anything come between them and they were probably closer than most siblings. It was enviable.

Now that she was able to control the temperature around her a lot better and wouldn't melt in the heat, the elemental had opted for a light blue skirt and a thin, white pullover, combined with a pair of white flats. She might be an adult now but unfortunately that didn't mean that she could suddenly walk in heels. Maybe she should ask Zara for lessons one day. Full of pleasant anticipation, Zoé knocked on the door, a wide smile on her face.

She should have expected what happened next.

As soon as Prosper opened the door, Zoé put her hand in front of her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud... and failed. Melodious laughter echoed through the corridor and it took her a few seconds to compose herself again. Prosper looked... ridiculous in what seemed to be Zara's dressing gown and covered in drawings of various body parts. Still giggling, Zoé raised a hand to pull a purple feather out of his curls and before she could take another step in his direction to hug him, a petite blonde jumped in the way and began to squeeze her to death.

"Zara, stop! It's good to see you too but please..." Before she could continue, Zara let go off her and the elemental looked after her in surprise. "Are you..." No, she was obviously not okay. Chaos. Just like she had predicted it. "I'm glad you found your shoe and now come back inside, please." Merlin, they looked absolutely wasted. After hugging the boy lightly, Zoé stepped inside and her eyes immediately fell on an especially glittery place. She turned around to look at her friends, a mock serious expression on her face. "You haven't killed any unicorns in here, have you?"

“That’s mine,” Prosper accused, plucking his toothbrush out of Zara’s hair with two fingers as she raced past him to get to the bin. He hugged Zoé, surprised at the fact that he’d forgotten her hair smell until now. You’re being a bit dramatic, don’t you think? a voice in his head told him, its only been a few weeks. Prosper dropped his toothbrush on the floor.

He watched Zara throw up with some amusement before turning back inside. “Huh, I don’t think so,” Prosper answered, scratching his head comically as he pretended to seriously consider the idea. The boy’s dramatic frown turned into a grin as he flopped down onto a beanbag. A handful of beans popped out of a hole in the side. Prosper inspected it momentarily before turning his attention back to their guest. “Please, sit,” he said, making a flapping gesture with his hand. He’d meant to indicate a surface for her, but there wasn’t really a clear surface in the house. She’d have to get a bit dirty wherever she was.

She was as beautiful as ever, he thought. Perhaps even more so. Prosper inspected her from his beanbag throne, squinting his eyes suspiciously before making a declaration. “You look older!” he accused. Prosper pointed a finger at her. Perhaps older wasn’t the right word. She looked… different. More mature, perhaps? Something was different, he was sure of it.

"Good," Zoé nodded. "I won't have to report you then." Her following grin matched his and for a second it felt just as if they were still at school. The broken beanbag proved that they weren't. Prosper told her to sit and the brunette raised her eyebrows in response. Except for a few things like the beanbag, a bed and a few couches the room was empty and none of these pieces of furniture were ready to be sit on by anyone. Merlin, she definitely wouldn't be able to live like that and it surprised her that Zara could do it. Maybe she spent most of her time at ballet school... Yes, that would explain a lot.

You look older!

"Ouch," she exclaimed and pressed her hand against her chest. "Only a few weeks out of school and you've already forgotten how to do compliments? I'm disappointed." The smile on her face would hopefully tell him that she wasn't being serious. Looking around, her gaze rested on Zara for a few seconds before it moved back to the boy sitting in front of her. "I'm sorry to say that but you both look like shit. I suppose you don't have anything in here to make coffee, right?" Not waiting for an answer - it was pretty clear that they didn't - the former Papillonlisse continued. "There is this cute little pâtisserie just around the corner. I'm going to get us some coffee and something to eat, okay?"

And with that Zoé swung around and walked back to the door. Just before she walked out, the elemental looked back at her two friends with an affectionate smile on her face. "Please try not to make the room even messier. I'll be right back." The door closed behind her and Zoé stopped for a second and closed her eyes. After today she'd probably miss them even more than she'd already had. Forcing herself to stop thinking about it, the small witch opened her eyes again and left the building.

Whoever writes the next reply, feel free to say that she came back with three cups of coffee and some croissants. <333

She looked absolutely horrific. To date, the most embarrassing thing she'd ever done was flunk that potions assignment with Prosper but now? Now she was throwing up in a back alley in the French capital. She felt like she'd been kicked in the face by a particularly nasty donkey. Was it disgusting? Yes. Did she feel better? A little. She needed sleep. And water.

Shrugging, she obediently trotted over as Zoé called her. "You look nice," Zara said gently as she stepped back inside. Personally, she looked terrible. "Ow!" The ballerina snapped, shooting daggers at Prosper as he yanked the toothbrush out of her hair. Her blonde locks were all matted and they'd seemed to have collected objects: his toothbrush, tissues, glitter, feathers and a spoon. All of it was just hanging from her hair, making her look like a dehydrated Christmas tree.

"But I need it," she said and snatched the toothbrush back, scuttling to the bathroom as she brushed her teeth. She didn't really have any qualms about sharing in her current state. With the door open, she winced as Prosper spoke, attempting to tease the knots of out of her hair. She rolled her eyes as she looked in the mirror, pulling a face as she peeled her eyelashes off her cheek, the glue making her skin hurt before she discarded it.

"And he wonders why he's single," she muttered with a shake of her head. Fancy calling a girl old! After about ten minutes, everything had been removed from her hair and the sink was filled with various things. She may have been a kleptomaniac magpie when sozzled. Zara let out a scream of horror as she came face to face with her reflection. "Oh for fuck's sake," she whispered as she surveyed herself, her eyes blood shot and smudged. Her pale skin was blotchy and dully. Hastily, she washed her face (read: scrubbed it) clean and passed a brush through her hair again, lamenting at the split ends caused.

"Gee, thanks," Zara scoffed, rubbing her forehead. "And do you have to shout?" She asked with a frown in the brunette's direction. Coffee? "I don't drink coffee," she told Zoé swiftly, flinging the used toothbrush back at Prosper rudely. "It's poison. There's green tea in the cupboard." Blinking, she frowned. "Don't do! You just got here -- oh." Sighing, Zara looked around. It was like a pig sty. No wonder she left.

Blinking, she turned her attention on Prosper. "Could you make it any more obvious?" Zara asked in a low voice in case Zoé was lurking. "I feel like a third wheel and you're not even dating!" She squeaked, arms flailing. "Stop making cow eyes at her. No wonder she feels awkward," she admonished her friend. Though no one had come out and said it, there had always been an underlying current between him and Zoé. A flicker of something. Electricity. Something bubbling under the surface. To her, at least, it was like neither of them wanted to push it any further.

"You lit up like a Christmas tree when she walked in," the petite blonde said matter-of-factly, casting him a look as she wiggled her eyebrows. "If you want me to leave, just say the word. I hate playing gooseberry."

Once Zoé had gone, Zara sprung into action. With a few deft flicks of her wrist, her wand sent everything spiralling. Clothes were put away, the windows opened. Floors cleaned, every surface sparkling. Her bed was bad, Prosper's sleeping bag was rolled up neatly. The beanbag chair had been fixed, the tables wiped. Everything spotless. She cleaned the windows, too. The glass was large and sparkling, letting in the Parisian sunlight which turned the dank space into a bright and airy studio. Lovely.

When their friend returned, Zara rushed to meet her. Her face was free from make up but at least she was clean, dressed in jeans and jumper. Cautiously, she sniffed at the brunette's offering. Taking a coffee, she sipped it and swallowed, the bitter, scalding black liquid making her gag but she managed. She took two croissants and took a bite from one. "Prosper said he didn't want one," she told Zoé, flaky bits of pastry dropping into her chest as she continued to eat.

Holding a cup out for Prosper to take, she retreated, eyes flicking left and right. Surely one of them felt this atmosphere? "Prosper," she said gently, chewing her pastry. "Someone's drawn a willy on your chest."

"try not to make the room even messier"

He smiled.

Zoé disappeared before Prosper could pretend to protest and the room was quiet again for a moment. He watched the space she’d occupied only a moment ago, his thoughts turning back to the last time he’d seen her. Zara must have noticed.

“It’s not my fault,” he answered dismissively, showing her his palms in defeat and tossing his head to the side dramatically. “It’s Zoé.” The boy gave a heavy sigh, leaning back further in his seat. There was a ripping sound, followed by a few more handfuls of little foam balls pouring onto the ground. Prosper ignored it. “But you don’t have to lecture me,” he added, waving a finger at her admonishingly, “I know that ship has sailed. “I think we solidified that… after I kissed her.”

It had happened an entire year ago, but Prosper knew that Zara still felt a teensy bit guilty about that whole incident. She’d been a major player in the affair, after all. With some effort, the curly-haired boy managed to wriggle himself out of the half-deflated beanbag and get to his feet. He watched with some interest as his blonde friend began cleaning up. It was all still a little too bright and a little too noisy for him. He considered joining in, but had no idea where his wand was. Oops.

When Zoé returned, Prosper was saved from the blonde girl’s complaints. She did manage to get to the food before he did, though. “Zoé, you are a literal angel,” he said, the smell of coffee hitting him right in the emotions.

Prosper pecked the half-eaten croissant out of Zara’s mouth with impressive dexterity and immediately popped it into his own. Her comment on his chest made him look down. There was indeed an impressive collection of genital-related drawings on his chest. The girls must have done it when he was asleep. Prosper ran a finger down the center of the drawing, inspecting the residue on his fingertip with narrowed eyes. Yep, definitely eyeliner. “I’mma shower,” he answered, his mouth half full. He wondered if it was her eyeliner or his. He trotted off to the bathroom, leaving the girls to chat.

"Merci beaucoup!" Zoé beamed at the muggle behind the counter who'd been so nice to give her one of the tiny chocolate filled éclairs she'd apparently been looking at for a few seconds too long for free. After saying goodbye, she left the small pâtisserie again with three cups of hot coffee and three warm croissants in a paper bag. She'd put lots of milk and sugar in Zara's and a lot less in Prosper's and hers. It had taken her a while to get used to coffee but by now it actually tasted quite well. Within a few minutes, the brunette was back at her friend's apartment and her eyes widened in surprise. So that was what it looked like when it was all cleaned up. Nice! Still empty but a lot better than the mess before.

"I see you've returned to the living?" With a smile the elemental walked towards them, offering coffee and food. Zara took both immediately and as soon as Zoé saw her grimacing, she knew that the blonde had picked the wrong cup. "Here, take this one. It'll taste better, I promise." Her gaze wandered over to Prosper who still looked as almost as wasted as before. He definitely had to do something about those drawings if he ever wanted her to take him seriously again. Zara's words made her laugh and she nodded. "Not just one, to be exact." Good. A shower would hopefully help removing all of that... what was it? Eyeliner? That must have been a party.

The boy disappeared and Zoé sat down on the now repaired beanbag and took a sip of her coffee. "You both seem happy here," she mused while looking up at her blond friend. They'd been together day after day for such a long time that it seemed weird now to catch up on things. Or maybe not weird, more... unfamiliar. It was a stupid thought but what if they'd all just stop seeing each other after a while? What if it would get too exhausting to stay in contact? Merlin, her head as being weird today.

"Have you seen Didi lately? I saw him last week at my mum's birthday party and you should have seen the look in his eyes whenever he talked about you." Zoé smiled at the ballerina, happy that the two had finally managed to get together. "He likes you a lot, that's for sure. Has he already said the famous three words?" Yep, she was still a romantic at heart.

Zara blinked.

And people thought she was overdramatic? As Prosper said their friend's name by way of an explanation, she nodded. She understood. "Absence did make the heart grow fonder?" She ventured, reaching up to gingerly rub her temples. She'd tried to meddle in her friend's relationship before and with varying degrees of success.

She'd written Valentine's Day poems for each of them, hoping they'd realise that they'd sent them to each other but really, they'd just thought they had a secret admirer. Fail. Zara winced, her stomach swooping as she began to feel ill. Only this time, she knew it wasn't anything to do with her hangover. Had she ruined a blossoming relationship by acting so rashly? She'd neglected to tell Zoé that she'd be the one to push her towards Prosper. Why? Simple. Zoé wouldn't be her friend any more.

Despite swiftly cleaning up, Zara did feel uncomfortable suddenly. Zoé and Prosper had a bond that was so different from anything she shared with either of them. That much was apparent ten minutes ago as they eased back into their joking friendship. Though she was sure it was unintentional, Zara did feel a litt;e bit…left out, almost? Like they were sharing some sort of inside joke. She swallowed and blinked back tears. It was just the alcohol talking.

With her brain still gin soaked, she let Prosper take her croissant and Zoé swap her coffee without complaint. Following orders, she sipped the bitter black substance and gagged. "Not better," she croaked to her brunette friend as she forced down another mouthful like the entire thing was totally revolting.

Watching Prosper leave with a frown, she sat down on the edge of her bed, curling her slim fingers around the still hot cardboard cup. "Yeah it's not so bad," she said breezily. "A lot still needs doing, though." She said with a sigh. The plumbing needed updating and Prosper, you know, needed a bed and stuff. They'd planned to put up more walls so they could each have a bedroom. Walls needed painting and they needed more forks and maybe some curtains. As of now, it all looked a bit haphazard and disjointed but it was still home.

Her attention was refocused when she mentioned her boyfriend (!!). "A few days ago, yeah," she said with a dippy grin and a giggle. "He stayed the night. We had lunch and did some touristy things in the city and we held hands along the Seine and he bought me flowers," trailing off, her voice took on a dreamy tone and her eyes were glassy as she remembered the day. She was head over feels for Diederik, no doubt about it.

She grinned, dimples and all. "Did he?" Zara gushed. "What did he say?" She pressed Zoé, keen to hear allll the gossip she could offer. With a dreamy sigh, she flopped backwards and onto her bed, her face tilted up to the ceiling. She was thankful Prosper was otherwise occupied. She loved and adored him but there were certain things that girls needed to chat about.

"No," she replied gently. "Though I don't see why he wouldn't be in love with me. I'm perfect." There was no hint of irony or sarcasm in her voice whatsoever. "We've only been dating for like a month," she explained to Zoé as she admired her pearly pink painted nails that caught the sun. "Is there a recommended timeframe for saying "I love you"?" she asked, sounding interested. "I dunno. Boys are weird."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad. And once the caffeine starts running through your veins, you'll feel better." The brunette giggled at the faces her blond friend was making and took another sip to prove that it wasn't poison. Zoé looked around again, taking in the details or rather... the lack of details. "Yeah," she nodded, her gaze stopping at Zara's bed. "I guess you'll want separate rooms? Just a liiiittle more privacy?" Prosper was surely bringing home girls and Zara surely didn't want to see that. Her smile widened when she heard Zara talking about her cousin and the things they'd done together. Holding hands along the Seine, flowers... It sounded wonderful and Zoé was truly happy for both; her cousin and her friend.

The elemental nodded once more, still smiling. "Well, he told our grandmother how talented you are and that we should all go visit one of your performances soon. I think he's really proud." It probably wouldn't be long until the tabloids would start talking about them as some kind of power couple with Zara owning the stage and Diederik becoming a professional Quidditch player. It was funny how different they all were compared to her and that they were still the best of friends. Even the thought of being on a stage in front of hundreds of people made her shudder. No, she wasn't made for that kind of attention.

"Of course you are," she laughed softly, not a single trace of irony in her voice either. The blonde wasn't always easy but she couldn't imagine anyone better for her cousin. "I don't know," she shrugged brown eyes focusing on one of the windows. "It's not as if I'd heard those words before." At least not from a boy. She wasn't bitter about it, though, and smiled at her friend to show her that it was okay. She'd get to hear it sooner or later and she could wait. It wasn't as if she was running out of time anyway.

The sound of running water had stopped a little while ago and the elemental smiled happily at Prosper when he came out of the bathroom. "You look better. The eyeliner is mostly gone, I think."

Prosper was literally one hundred percent sure that no shower, in the history of showers, had ever felt this good. He took his sweet time in the scalding hot water, letting it run over him and rejuvenate him and remind him what it felt like to not be hungover. The eighteen year old closed his eyes, leant against one wall of the shower and simply basked, for what felt like hours and was probably more like twenty minutes. He indulged in several of Zara’s showery things. Lemon scrubs, rose oil hair masks. Any and all liquids that resided in the showers were sampled, and now a little bit of them resided on Prosper. He came out of the shower smelling like heaven.

Once he was dried, the boy picked up his wand and uttered a spell, cleaning Zara’s dressing down before he popped it back on. Why not? It was comfy and he’d have to dig through his clothes to find a better fit. The boy brushed his teeth (with the toothbrush Zara had just used – ew!) and inspected himself in the mirror. He looked pretty good, all things considering. One day – so he’d been told – he wouldn’t be able to recover after a hangover quite like that. He’d be out for possibly days after getting blackout drunk. Today, however, was not that day. The boy tousled his hair a little, grinning at the mirror and winking once before stepping out of the room.

“What have you ladies been talking about in my absence?” he asked, trotting over to where the girls were seated and plopping himself down too, rearranging his dressing gown as he sat to keep himself decent. The grey-eyed boy glanced between the blonde and the brunette curiously.

"He did not!" Zara gasped, her bright blue eyes wide. She let her friend's comment sink in for a second before she grinned. Squealing, she clapped her hands excitedly before flopping backwards onto her mattress, a cloud of glitter firing up into the air after she'd disturbed it. It had been one heck of a party. Gazing at the ceiling, the ballerina felt a rush of warmth. There had been hot boys in Beauxbatons, sure. Athletic ones, arty ones, bad boy ones but none of them, not one, had never treated her half as good as Diederik had.

Sitting back up, there were shiny strands of golden glitter on her hair and over her shoulders, sparkling in the bright morning sun that came streaming through the high windows. She offered a soft smile at Zoé, reaching for her hand. "You will," she said matter-of-factly as though she had millions of men confessing their undying love for her every single day.

Sniffing the air, Zara's head swivelled. Seeing Prosper reappear, she narrowed her eyes. Sicilian lemon and damask rose. Her skincare regime was tailored to her and it had cost a fortune. Handmade shampoo with restorative properties, luxurious soaps and conditioners and then she had that philistine lathering up like he was in some post sweaty work out shower session! She was livid. Prosper never did have any sodding boundaries. The contents of Zara's bathroom cabinet almost matched the amount of money they had to pay for rent per month.

"Dick," she muttered under her breath, still scowling. Not only had he used her stuff, he was wearing her stuff too. "Oh you know, girly things," she said , flapping her hands around airily. "The best way to deal with period pains, if wearing wedges in summer is a good idea, whether it's okay to sleep with someone on the first date. It's not, you know," she added with a sharp and filthy glance in his direction. Prosper had a "type", she knew it and he knew it. All of the Parisian women were stick thin. Pointy and bony. He said he didn't like edges and sticky-out bits like elbows and knobbly knees but yet, there was still a conveyer belt of girls in and out of their home.

"I think we should go out," Zara said brusquely and with a nod. "We have to show this lovely creature the vast Parisian sights," she said, gesturing towards Zoé. Zara stood, forcing down the remnants of her now lukewarm coffee and trying not to retch as she swallowed.

They could do anything. Sit by the Seine, have a picnic on the Champs de Mars, walk around Montmatre, anything. After the sweet coffee and half a croissant, Zara had bounced right back. She was becoming restless, knowing there was a big wide world outside of their front door. "We're going. Get your stuff." She also wanted to introduce Zoé to Herve, their hot neighbour who worked as a bike courier. Zara thought they'd get along swimmingly~

Zara's reaction was simply adorable. Zoé watched her friend flop backwards onto the mattress surrounded by glitter and seeing her so happy made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It also made her think of the time still at school when she had acted like that in secret, hugging her pillow and smiling into it until her face hurt but even though that time was over, the former Papillonlisse didn't feel jealous. Sure, it would be nice to have someone who loved her again but right now she was too busy anyway or so she told herself.

Prosper's return was a nice distraction and she chuckled softly when Zara called him a dick and nodded at her following words. She knew that they probably talked about lots of things but some topics were reserved for a nice girl talk and the question whether Diederik had already told Zara he loved her was definitely one of them. Besides, Didi and Prosper surely talked about all kinds of things as well and she was quite sure that she didn't want to know everything they were telling each other. The blonde's last words were uttered in a rather sharp voice, accompanied by a glance Zoé couldn't quite place. She had an idea, though. To be honest, the elemental wasn't surprised if she was right and Prosper brought quite a few girls home. He was handsome, funny, knew how to treat a girl... He was perfect. He'd just never been perfect for her.

Zoé followed Zara's example and stood up as well, glad that both her friends had returned to the land of the living. "That would be lovely," she replied, another smile gracing her face. She'd been to Paris quite a few times before but seeing the city with the eyes of a Parisian was always something else. By now her friends surely knew a few places and bistros that were hidden from regular tourists and she was looking forward to seeing where her friends spent their days and evenings when they were not throwing the party of the year in their apartment.