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sibyllevanceTitle: Like Mother, Like Daughter?
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Paris Geller
Summary: Paris is sure of one thing: she doesn't want her mother's life. Set right after the Puff night in 2x07 Like Mother, Like Daughter.
Word Count: 981
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Paris Geller
Summary: Paris is sure of one thing: she doesn't want her mother's life. Set right after the Puff night in 2x07 Like Mother, Like Daughter.
Word Count: 981
Paris entered her bedroom to find it all tidied and cleaned up. She flung herself on the bed, kicked off her shoes and stared at the immaculate ceiling.
'Nanny? Are you staying here?' she asked, reaching for the telephone on the nightstand.
The sound of a car driving by outside was the only reply.
She sat up and dialed her mother's cellphone number while glancing at the clock. It was near 2am. What time was it in Tahiti again? Oh, who cares, she thought, it's not like she bothers to check anyway.
'Hello?'
'Mom - hi, it's Paris. Look I know you're busy but...'
'Paris! I was just talking about you to this charming young man. He's a Freshman at Princeton and... what's your name again? Right - Leo. Leo here was telling me all about his law school, now that's a thought.'
Great. So let's sing a song of cheer again for matchmaking days are here again. For all she knew, Paris could have been in the emergency room the whole time it took her mom to introduce Leo.
'That sounds good, mom. Listen, I just wanted to let you know I was puffed... The Puffs, the Chilton soro... Right... Yes, me, who do you think I'd be talking about? Not really... Well, I wouldn't say we're friends but who cares about that anyway I... Right... Right. Okay well I'll just hang up before we get to the hugging part 'cause that'd be just too much affection to bear.'
She pushed back the button and flung the receiver on the pillow where it bounced.
Now even being puffed wasn't enough. Granted - Paris had voluntarily left out the part where she got caught by Headmaster Charleston before ringing a bell in the middle of the night and somehow she doubted that Francine would speak to her again after what happened but she did get in the exclusive Chilton sorority. Something her mother, and her grandmother before that, had done.
And yet, what all her mother seemed to care about was her social life. Really, what can possibly be the use of social life when you couldn't even mention a respectable sorority on your Harvard application? Paris thought about it in her sleep - the fact that Francine's plans for the evening had ended up in such disaster didn't change that.
It was lucky Nanny felt so sorry for Paris that she hadn't even thought of calling her mother first.
The whole thing was ghastly. Now what? Charleston had mentioned detention and even worse, suspension. She wondered how much extra credit she would need to do before asking him to take the incident off her file. Now any pull she had with the man was gone.
‘Nanny, I’m not sleepy, I’m fixing myself a sandwich.’
But Nanny didn’t seem to hear or rather, the woman didn’t want to hear.
Paris went to the kitchen, closed the door behind her and walked to the fridge. The light revealed an assortment of sandwich spreads, ranging from cheese to peanut butter. She grabbed two jars at random, pulled a chair and sat. The clock was obnoxiously loud. She started spreading butter on a pathetic slice of shrunk bread.
‘Paris, as long as you find a nice husband to take care of you, who cares about college? You know full well you’ll get in because of your name anyway. That’s what we all do. You’re a Geller and they know it. Now stop studying so hard, it’s doing nothing for your complexion, and put some make-up on from time to time. God, Paris, it’s like you just gave up.’
She took an energetic bite, the words ringing in her ears. Her snack tasted like cardboard.
She knew her mother was wrong. ‘If you had a job and wasn’t so financially dependent on Dad, you could have left him years ago’ had been her retort. Paris’s family had the means to support her till she could marry into money and her whole life that’s what she’d been taught. But what kind of arrangement was that, anyway? Sexual favors in exchange for money?
Chilton was full of girls who thought her mother made sense. Rory seemed different. Tristan was attractive and she’d known him a while, something she mistook for friendship, but Rory really was her only match.
It was infuriating and a little exhilarating to see there was someone who could match her reference for reference and got what it was Paris was excited about. Rory was easy to pick on, but deep down Paris enjoyed the banter.
Not that she would ever admit it, she thought, walking to the bathroom to wash her hands off the butter and crumbles. Her gait was quick, to the point. No embellishments. Much like Paris herself.
When she came back to her bedroom, she found a glass of milk and a scribbled note written by Nanny. ‘Drink it, I’ll be back tomorrow,’ it said in Portuguese.
In a corner of the room, the full-length mirror caught her eye. Really she wasn’t looking so bad, she thought. Not that it mattered but a better hairdo and clothes that wouldn’t cover her from head to toe could probably improve things. Madelyn and Louise weren’t models she wanted to emulate but surely there was a middle somewhere.
‘What am I saying? Who cares?’ she suddenly yelled, moving her arms around for emphasis.
Tomorrow she’d have to convince Charleston wanting to join a sorority shouldn’t be cause for jeopardizing her application to Harvard. In the long run, Paris knew it could be costly. She had the Franklin to take care of, assignments to focus on and mock applications to prepare - and nobody, not even Mary Gilmore, could distract her from her goal: running away from her mother’s life and becoming something more than a name.
Resolute, she grabbed the glass of milk and emptied it.
'Nanny? Are you staying here?' she asked, reaching for the telephone on the nightstand.
The sound of a car driving by outside was the only reply.
She sat up and dialed her mother's cellphone number while glancing at the clock. It was near 2am. What time was it in Tahiti again? Oh, who cares, she thought, it's not like she bothers to check anyway.
'Hello?'
'Mom - hi, it's Paris. Look I know you're busy but...'
'Paris! I was just talking about you to this charming young man. He's a Freshman at Princeton and... what's your name again? Right - Leo. Leo here was telling me all about his law school, now that's a thought.'
Great. So let's sing a song of cheer again for matchmaking days are here again. For all she knew, Paris could have been in the emergency room the whole time it took her mom to introduce Leo.
'That sounds good, mom. Listen, I just wanted to let you know I was puffed... The Puffs, the Chilton soro... Right... Yes, me, who do you think I'd be talking about? Not really... Well, I wouldn't say we're friends but who cares about that anyway I... Right... Right. Okay well I'll just hang up before we get to the hugging part 'cause that'd be just too much affection to bear.'
She pushed back the button and flung the receiver on the pillow where it bounced.
Now even being puffed wasn't enough. Granted - Paris had voluntarily left out the part where she got caught by Headmaster Charleston before ringing a bell in the middle of the night and somehow she doubted that Francine would speak to her again after what happened but she did get in the exclusive Chilton sorority. Something her mother, and her grandmother before that, had done.
And yet, what all her mother seemed to care about was her social life. Really, what can possibly be the use of social life when you couldn't even mention a respectable sorority on your Harvard application? Paris thought about it in her sleep - the fact that Francine's plans for the evening had ended up in such disaster didn't change that.
It was lucky Nanny felt so sorry for Paris that she hadn't even thought of calling her mother first.
The whole thing was ghastly. Now what? Charleston had mentioned detention and even worse, suspension. She wondered how much extra credit she would need to do before asking him to take the incident off her file. Now any pull she had with the man was gone.
‘Nanny, I’m not sleepy, I’m fixing myself a sandwich.’
But Nanny didn’t seem to hear or rather, the woman didn’t want to hear.
Paris went to the kitchen, closed the door behind her and walked to the fridge. The light revealed an assortment of sandwich spreads, ranging from cheese to peanut butter. She grabbed two jars at random, pulled a chair and sat. The clock was obnoxiously loud. She started spreading butter on a pathetic slice of shrunk bread.
‘Paris, as long as you find a nice husband to take care of you, who cares about college? You know full well you’ll get in because of your name anyway. That’s what we all do. You’re a Geller and they know it. Now stop studying so hard, it’s doing nothing for your complexion, and put some make-up on from time to time. God, Paris, it’s like you just gave up.’
She took an energetic bite, the words ringing in her ears. Her snack tasted like cardboard.
She knew her mother was wrong. ‘If you had a job and wasn’t so financially dependent on Dad, you could have left him years ago’ had been her retort. Paris’s family had the means to support her till she could marry into money and her whole life that’s what she’d been taught. But what kind of arrangement was that, anyway? Sexual favors in exchange for money?
Chilton was full of girls who thought her mother made sense. Rory seemed different. Tristan was attractive and she’d known him a while, something she mistook for friendship, but Rory really was her only match.
It was infuriating and a little exhilarating to see there was someone who could match her reference for reference and got what it was Paris was excited about. Rory was easy to pick on, but deep down Paris enjoyed the banter.
Not that she would ever admit it, she thought, walking to the bathroom to wash her hands off the butter and crumbles. Her gait was quick, to the point. No embellishments. Much like Paris herself.
When she came back to her bedroom, she found a glass of milk and a scribbled note written by Nanny. ‘Drink it, I’ll be back tomorrow,’ it said in Portuguese.
In a corner of the room, the full-length mirror caught her eye. Really she wasn’t looking so bad, she thought. Not that it mattered but a better hairdo and clothes that wouldn’t cover her from head to toe could probably improve things. Madelyn and Louise weren’t models she wanted to emulate but surely there was a middle somewhere.
‘What am I saying? Who cares?’ she suddenly yelled, moving her arms around for emphasis.
Tomorrow she’d have to convince Charleston wanting to join a sorority shouldn’t be cause for jeopardizing her application to Harvard. In the long run, Paris knew it could be costly. She had the Franklin to take care of, assignments to focus on and mock applications to prepare - and nobody, not even Mary Gilmore, could distract her from her goal: running away from her mother’s life and becoming something more than a name.
Resolute, she grabbed the glass of milk and emptied it.