[paris] why do we fall? | • z a r a

Zara winced as the wet cloth fell to the floor. They were on shaky ground and she didn't want to yell at him. After all, he never listened but she was placated when he cleaned it up. Boring? "But necessary," she nagged. It was a wonder how Prosper fed and clothed himself, to be honest. She didn't mind so much, taking care of bills and things. Her nature was overbearing and controlling so it was best that it was usually left up to her to deal with. "You have met me, haven't you?" She asked Prosper, her eyebrows arched in question. Irresponsible was not her Zara Rousseau's nature.

"Your dad's head would explode," the blonde replied as she moved from the door to perch on the windowsill, not going anywhere near that bed. She shrugged again, either unwilling or unable to get on board. She was in one of her moods. She flip-flopped a lot. She could be the best person ever and then switch to the worst in a handful of seconds. Absently, she picked at her nails, still semi-sulking. A part of her wanted to know that Prosper wasn't quite forgiven.

Zara gave a derisive snort and shook her head, blonde hair tumbling down from her messy bun. "Oh sure," she said sarcastically. "Let's drop everything and go to the otherside of the world, shall we?" She said, her voice struggling to remain even. Annoyingly, her parents would totally approve. Her mum and dad were those annoyingly liberal, huggy, follow-your-dreams! sort of people. It was damn near impossible to have a fight because they kept trying to hold her and stroke her hair. "A beach holiday might be nice," she mumbled begrudgingly.

“It would,” he replied, a happy smile taking over for a moment. Prosper and his father had never really gotten along. Of course they cared about each other, but they’d always had totally different wants and opinions. When Prosper’s grades had taken a huge dive in his sixth year, his mother had been the one trying to find out what was wrong, while his father had been the one berating him. Prosper shook his head quickly, dismissing the idea alltgether. “It’s not like he has to know. I have the money in cash in the draw, it’s not like I have to go and take it out of his account or something at the bank.”

“Why can’t we go to the other side of the world?” Prosper shot back, the boy’s eyes now fixed to hers. He was completely serious. There really wasn’t anything stopping them from going anywhere, now that they were adults. Prosper didn’t even have a job, and he’d certainly be okay if he missed a week’s worth of classes. Lately, the boy had been getting more and more restless. Restlessness was something he’d always struggled with, but in school he had an entire social group to keep up with. School might have been boring, but nothing else was. Now he’d had a taste of what the outside world had to offer. Why stay here?

Even so, escaping for a little while with Zara was much more appealing than escaping for a while without her. Despite their differences, the blonde girl had been in his life for quite some time. He cared about her a lot, and cherished her company. “The beach would be amazing,” he added, “We could invite Diederik and Zoé and everyone, or it could just be us. Whatever you want.” Prosper offered her a little control here, knowing that it might help his cause.

Zara pursed his lips. "But you will when you've spent it all," she reminded him. She knew she wasn't fun. She was their group's token little black rain cloud. Was that why no one had visited? Because of her? Falling silent, she rubbed her hands together to keep warm. In the height of summer, the breezy warehouse wasn't exactly cold but her emotions yo-yoed a lot of the time and on the come down, she always felt a bit chilly. Zara knew better than to lecture Prosper. He was like Peter Pan; he never grew up.

She frowned. Zara had never really thought about heading to the Antipodes. Why? It was too far and too expensive and too...green. Despite being born and raised in a seaside town, she was a city slicker at heart. Prosper was right, there was absolutely no reason why they couldn't up sticks and leave, apart from her reluctance to do so. She chewed on her lower lip, anxiously fingering her silver necklace before she shrugged. His enthusiasm was not infectious. Maybe she didn't want to trek up a beautiful mountain. Zara was the least sportiest girl in the world. She almost died when she went hiking with Luuk.

Ah. There went the mention of Zoé again. "You just want to see her in a bikini," she added rudely. "Anyway, won't she melt and stuff?" Zara asked, her bright blue eyes wide as she touched on their friend's strange icy magic thing she had going on. "I don't know what I want," she added with a sigh. Well, she sort of did. "Bali or something. Where I can just sleep for a week and be cool and maybe visit a temple and hope a monk can chill me out."

 “I’ll find a way to make money,” Prosper answered, waving her doubts away with a flamboyant hand gesture. Prosper had been “looking for a job” for a few weeks now, but the job hunt had mainly consisted of perusing the local paper for jobs in wizarding Paris. Christéle had recently suggested that he work at the same place as her, so he was going to look into that soon. For now, his parents paid for everything.

The image of Zoé in a bikini popped up in Prosper’s mind as Zara mentioned it, but he shook his head. “That’s not why,” he protested. For some reason thinking about it now made him feel kind of guilty. Maybe because she’d been pretty explicit last time she’d turned him down. The thought made him feel unhappy, and the boy crossed his arms reflexively. “Maybe I just want to see Diederik in his whitey tighties.” Prosper liked deflecting bad feelings with jokes. He cracked a crooked smile.

“We could do Bali!” he answered enthusiastically, grabbing onto this little opportunity while he could. The boy leant back against the brick wall and watched her. Zara always stressed so much about everything. What she really needed was to relax! “We could get massages. I’ll learn how to surf.”

"Hm," Zara replied with an eyebrow arched. Honestly? She didn't buy it. Nor did she buy the idea that he'd been screwing around with someone in her bed when she was at school. "He's very much a boxer brief man," she quipped quickly, pulling a face. "If he wore briefs, we would not be dating." Momentarily, she zoned out. She was imagining her boyfriend, standing on a white sand beach, in swimming trunks, watching a glorious sunset. Honestly? With a lightly tanned chest, she wouldn't mind Diederik wearing small undies.

The blonde watched Prosper with cautious eyes and she had that sinking feeling. He was rather tenacious but she didn't see why he wanted to go on holiday so much. He had money and he was having a good time. Paris was his playground. He was carefree and without any major responsibilities.

"I don't like anyone touching me," Zara said swiftly, instinctively crossing her arms over her chest and frowning again. She was just being awkward. Though not an only child, she was a bit of a spoiled princess. When she had a bee in her bonnet, she could be rude and dismissive for hours and hours. She didn't really want to be covered in oil, half naked on a table and caressed by a petite Indonesian lady. Surf? "Yeah well don't clank yourself over your head with your board. I'm not a very strong swimmer and I shan't be diving in to rescue you."

With that, she flounced off into the kitchen to boil the kettle. If he wanted to flounder around on the beach trying to attract girls, Zara supposed she could maybe wander. See the temples, go to the markets, hire a moped and really get to explore the island. Prosper was right. She did have absolutely no chill. She decided that if she went, she'd be doing this for her soul. Not to appease him. She hid the idea that she was exited behind a veneer that was swiftly cracking. Adding water to her cup, her fingers tightened around the spoon. "I don't want to go to the monkey forest," she told him. She hated monkeys. She hated animals. She hated most things.

“Not even Diederik?” he teased, quirking one eyebrow. Prosper couldn’t help himself. It was a bit weird because it was Diederik and Zara, not some random guy from the dance studio or something that Prosper was talking about here, but it wasn’t too weird. For some reason hearing about their sex life from Diederik seemed like it would be a much more awkward situation. He wasn’t sure why.

Prosper wasn’t even that good at swimming, if he were honest. He didn’t like it all that much. Surfing just seemed like one of those cool things that people did, and cool things were his specialty, or so he thought.

“Okay, no monkeys. No problem” Prosper held his palms up in surrender, feeling like his excited groveling was gaining him some ground. “No komodo dragons. Anti-bug charms.” Prosper remembered a time when a cockroach had made its way into the dance studio. One of the older boys had thought it would be hilarious to use engorgio and make it extra large to scare the younger ballerinas. It had certainly worked. Zara had practically leapt into his arms, and not in the way she was supposed to. Prosper had fallen flat on his butt.

Zara blushed but neglected to reveal more. Her love life (and that of Diederik) was very much private. He was a nice boy and she trusted him not to go spilling the beans. They were still very much in that honeymoon phase. Despite being friends for years, she was learning new things about him. Intimate things, things that had seemed inappropriate before now. "Shut up," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest tightly.

"I don't mind komodo dragons," Zara said lightly. "What kind of stuff do they have there?" She asked lightly, hoping not to seem too keen and letting Prosper have the win. He'd be unbearable. If there were spiders, she would not be going. If there were pretty birds, she'd be happy to go. Unless they made weird noises and flapped their wings in her face and stuff. She liked the idea of sleeping in a hammock. If there were snakes, she'd make one into a handbag if it came near her. Simple.

Frowning out of habit, she  made Prosper a cup of tea and held it out to him in a sort of peace offering. It was green tea, the only tea she'd have in the place. She didn't do coffee or fizzy drinks or anything fun like that. Sipping at her tea, she ventured a question. "When would you go?" She asked. She was careful to use "you" not "we". Zara did nothing better than drag out a partial fight and make the other party beg for mercy.

A smirk spread across Prosper’s face when Zara blushed and crossed her arms. Prosper teasing Zara was an integral part of their interactions and their relationship. It always had been. When they were little, the two of them used to get into even bigger fights than they did these days, and it usually ended with one of them in tears. Mostly Zara, though the split was something like 70-30. Prosper remembered one particular fight where he’d used up all of the glitter eyeshadow before a performance and Zara had totally lost her shit. She’d almost refused to even go on stage, and Prosper had gotten mad right back at her, after some relentless teasing. They were both drama queens.  It made for an interesting friendship.

“You mean animals?” he asked, coming back to the present. “I dunno for sure. It’s tropical though, so probably a bunch of interesting ones.” Snakes? Spiders? Prosper was sure there were a bunch of those. And monkeys. “Turtles maybe?” he offered. Maybe they could go diving while they were there. The idea made him a little uncomfortable – he’d always been a touch claustrophobic. Still, he wouldn’t pass on the opportunity. He’d have to at least try.

Prosper took the tea she offered with a smile, deciding that right now wouldn't be the best time to remind her that he didn't like green tea. It felt like a peace offering. “We could go this weekend?” Prosper slipped the plural “we” straight back into their conversation casually. “That way we’d miss less weekdays, you know?” The boy flashed a hopeful smile.

Zara pulled a face. Generally speaking, the only animals she liked were fluffy ones that could be made into coats. She was also frustrated at Prosper's ability to get her onside, too. They fought often and spectacularly but he'd always managed to calm her down. Diederik hadn't seen the mental side of her yet and she was keen to keep that hidden for as long as she possibly could. Her mind started to wander to white beaches and warm seas and how many bikinis she'd need for the tropical island. "I'm not going if there are bats," she told him sternly.

The ballerina sipped her grassy tea and almost spat it back out. "This weekend?" The petite blonde howled. While she adored Prosper, his casual, carefree outlook on life made her want to rip her hair out. "Were you dropped as a child?" She squeaked before she blinked. "Oh no, you were. I remember your mum telling me. It was hilarious," she said with a thoughtful frown. Prosper's mum was a hoot.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and breathed. In for two, out for four, just like her yoga instructor had told her to. Her parents would love for her to wander off to an island in the Indian Ocean and it was annoying. How was she supposed to be rebellious when she had such lovely, supportive parents? "I guess Balinese food is kinda healthy," she mumbled, knowing that she'd just lost the fight. Damn it. "Okay."

“Definitely no bats,” Prosper told his friend enthusiastically, lying through his teeth. He could feel the excitement bubbling around him – and it wasn’t just his excitement either. No matter how crazy and neurotic and mood-swingy Zara got, Prosper absolutely loved the girl and he thought that he always would. Their friendship had been in his life for what felt like forever, and not in the bad way.

He could sense that she was excited now, even though she was trying to keep up the reluctant façade. He waved her words away with a flippant gesture as she talked about him being dropped on his head. Yeah, yeah, whatever. He didn’t see why they couldn’t just go straight away. It wasn’t like they really needed to plan anything.

His spirits soared when she caved, and the boy stepped forward and picked her up off of the floor in a big hug. He laughed. He couldn’t help it. Sure, this conversation had started off as a fight, and there had been some bad moments, but Prosper was an in-the-now kind of guy, and all he could think about was that she’d just said yes and they were going overseas.

"I'm not staying in a hostel," Zara blurted out, folding her arms across her chest. She had champagne tastes on lemonade money. She chewed her lower lip. She adored Prosper but she also hated him. She was envious of his carefree nature, his flippant ways, the way he could always talk her around. It was amazing and frustrating at the same time. "I need to buy a bikini," she told him promptly. She didn't have any. Why would she need a bikini in Paris? She wasn't going anywhere near that river or any public pools. Gross.

Zara let out a scream, feeling herself be promptly lifted off the floor and she flailed wildly, her arms around his neck as she squeaked. It had been a long time since he'd picked her up, since they'd danced together, since he'd given it all up. "Put my down, you big oaf," she grunted but not meaning it. Once on terra firma, she dashed about. Down came her pink hard shell suitcase (like she'd ever use a backpack) and everything was thrown in in haste. Short dresses, sandals, a handful of underwear. Various jewellery and other impractical things.

Spinning around, her eyes were wide. They needed to move before her head caught up to her heart and she backed out. They had to move fast before he awarded her with enough time to back out of his plans. Grabbing Prosper's hand, she hauled him through the door and out into the sun soaked street. They were going swimsuit shopping and then they were going to Indonesia.


[woo done!]