People don’t take trips, trips take people - Antoine 23

After all the sleepless nights and the worrying leading up to the day of the graduation ceremony, in the end, it had passed by without incident.

Now two weeks later, having passed off a new copy of Zara’s degree certificate to Fifi, Antoine was back working the stockroom and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was actually enjoying the job. The work itself was nothing too exciting, mostly fetching, carrying, and organising, but the group of people working in the store, made the days pass quickly, days full of laughter and fun.

Antoine had now slipped into a daily routine, where he knew how to look busy, when in fact, he was actually doing the bare minimum, but he must have been doing something right as he was constantly receiving compliments about what a great job he was doing.

The only person in the store, he tried to avoid was Marianne, but with Lily in charge of the rota this month, she had tried her best to arrange their day’s off to keep them apart, but there was nothing she could do about today, as today was not a normal workday. 

A magazine had gotten in touch and wanted to do an article on the store asking to interview and photograph some of the staff. Seeing it as free publicity the store had agreed. Antoine had been the obvious choice to fill one of the spots, after all, half his job was to model the clothes, it said so in his contract. Marianne had volunteered to be the other model and with no objections from anyone else, she was allowed to join him.

“Ok, Zara, give me a fierce look”, said the cameraman as Antoine tried and failed to translate the words into a facial expression.

Sat facing backwards on a chair, wearing a white dress and some tall sandals, Antoine was still trying to work out the reasoning behind the photoshoot. They had called it samurai, but apart from his thickly drawn on anime eyebrows and field worker’s hat, he wasn’t really seeing the Asian connection. “I definitely don’t look much like a Samurai”, he thought to himself as the camera clicked, “and what possible connection does this have to a bridal store, anyway”.

(See image 42)

But if he could see the connection, mattered not, as he was there to pose and look attractive, and although Antoine didn’t seem to think he looked very attractive, everyone around him seemed to disagree, especially some of the young men, who were working, at the small studio on the other side of the city, who couldn't keep their eyes off him.

One man in particular who seemed to have taken a fancy to Antoine was a young man called Denis. Denis' job was to assist the cameraman and the models and today that courtesy had been extended to Antoine. It was a little uncomfortable at first as Denis kept following him about, continually asking if there was anything, he could do for him, but after a while Antoine realised, he was just a sweet kid with a bit of a crush, in other circumstances they made even have been friends.

At one-thirty, with the shoot halting temporarily for lunch, Antoine tottered over to a sofa on the sidewall and sat down to rest his aching feet. Having brought nothing with him to eat, Antoine felt a little annoyed, why had no one told him to bring any food, now he would have to venture out wearing the outfit from the last shoot or go without and feel hungry all day. The outfit he was wearing was actually not that bad compared to some of the ones from earlier, a checked white shirt and matching pants that finished high on his ankle, looking more like a pair of pyjamas than an expensive designer outfit. But as comfortable as the outfit may have been, Antoine still didn't like the thought of venturing out by himself into a part of the city he wasn't very familiar with.

Zara, I’m heading to fetch some lunch”, Denis announced, appearing beside him and making him jump slightly, “what would you like”?

“Err… thanks Denis, but I don’t want to put you out, I’ll be fine”, Antoine replied having not brought any cash and not wanting to give the young man any encouragement.

“Don’t be silly”, Denis replied with a smile, “lunch is provided by the studio, I’m just the errand boy”.

“Oh, in that case, sure, I’ll have some lunch”, Antoine replied.

“Ok, but what do you want”? Denis shot back.

“Oh... yeah, um… anything will do, just get me whatever Marianne is having”, Antoine replied, not sure what to order.

“No problem, I’ll be back before you know it”, Denis replied smiling warmly.

As the young man left the room, Marianne suddenly appeared, “so, looks like someone’s got an admirer”, She said in a mocking voice.

“Oh please, don’t start, I did nothing to encourage it”, Antoine replied wiggling his toes inside the tall sandals strapped to his feet, trying to get the feeling to return to his toes.

“So, you’ve noticed then”, Marianne said, sitting down next to him, “perhaps you should give him your number, he is kind of cute”.

“If you like him so much, perhaps you should date him”, Antoine replied rolling his eyes.

“Oh no, he only has eyes for you, babe, and besides, I’ve got my eyes set on his friend Pierre. And speaking of Pierre, he’s just invited me out the back to smoke”, Marianne announced.

“But you don’t smoke”, Antoine replied flashing her a look.

“I do now, and so do, right”? Marianne said with a wicked look in her eyes, “Aunt Monique said you were smoking in Lily’s room when she first arrived, that’s how she knew you were there”.

“That was Lily, and you know it”, Antoine said annoyed, “I hate cigarettes”.

“Well not today, girl, you’re coming with me for moral support”, Marianne answered, “just don’t inhale and you’ll be fine”, she added as she almost dragged him to his sore feet before leading him across the room.

Out on the steps at the back of the studio, was seemingly where all the cool kids hung out, well if you considered smoking cool, which Antoine definitely did not, but nevertheless, he was forced to puff away on a revolting cigarette anyway, while forced to listen to Marianne flirt away next to him.

Antoine tried to make small talk with the other two men, who were standing around, but dressed as he was and pretending to be a young woman, he just didn’t know what to say to them.

Instead, he just turned to look at the scenery, the grey drab city buildings as he listened in on Marianne’s conversation, “for sure”, Marianne said, “We could do that, my friend Zara, likes him too, perhaps the four of us could go out sometime”.

“Great idea, Marianne, I know Denis would be up for that”, Pierre replied to the dismay of Antoine listening on, “Let me get your number, we’ll set something up for the weekend”, he added just as the fire escape door opened, “speak of the devil here he is”, Pierre announced.

“Hey guys, lunch is here”, Denis said cheerfully from the doorway as Antoine turned to look at the man, he had been set up on a date with, against his will. He breathed a heavy sigh and knew he would once again be forced to lie to Lily.

(See image 43)