People don’t take trips, trips take people - Antoine 12

Sat in a café, having changed back into his pink skirt and blouse, but deciding to stay in the fancy wedge shoes, gifted from Brie, as they were slightly more comfortable than the strappy sandals, he had worn than morning, Antoine looked up as Monique placed two lattes on the table and proceeded to sit down.

“Thank you”, Antoine said feeling very apprehensive about the favour Monique had mentioned earlier.

“You’re welcome, dear”, Monique replied, “so how was it today”?

“Oh, yeah, it was fine, we were really busy, time just seemed to fly by, to be honest”, Antoine replied, picking up his cup and taking a sip.

“That’s good”, Monique said smiling, “I bet it feels good to be working again, even if it was only for a day”.

Antoine nodded, “yeah”, he replied shuffling in his seat and pulling at his tight skirt, which was riding up his shiny thighs, a little too high for his liking.

There was then a moment of silence as Monique took a drink as Antoine sat waiting nervously for her to speak. He watched as she placed the cup back on the table before looking up at him with a smile, “so there was something I wanted to ask you”, Monique said cheerfully.

“Ok”, Antoine replied anxiously, his brain coming up with all sorts of awful scenarios.

“Did Lily mention about getting her cousin Marianne an internship at Fifi with her”? Monique asked.

Antoine thought back, Lily had told him about arranging some work experience for her cousin a few weeks back, but with everything that had gone on in the last few days, it had completely slipped his mind, “yes, she told me”, Antoine replied wondering where she was going with this.

“Ah, good, well there’s been a problem with her accommodation, the landlord has decided to sell the place she was going to live, leaving her with nowhere to stay”, Monique said calmly, as Antoine listened on wide-eyed, “Well, I can't have her all alone in a hotel, so I’ve said she can stay at the apartment”.

“What”! Antoine exclaimed, not meaning to sound so abrupt, “where will she sleep”? He asked flustered and slightly too loud.

Monique looked surprised by the reaction before tilting her head to the side as though she was thinking, her expression then changed and she nodded her head as though she had just worked something out, “Oh, sorry dear, I didn’t mean to scare you, that apartment is your home, I would never ask you to leave”, she replied reaching over and taking Antoine’s hand to console him, thinking she had worked out the reason for the outburst, “Marianne would stay in my guest bedroom, I’ve already found a hotel for the last few nights of my visit”.

The reply didn’t make Antoine feel any better, but he tried to calm himself down and not show his emotions, “when does she arrive”? He asked quietly.

“She flies up tomorrow morning”, Monique stated, “and that’s what I wanted to ask you, seeing as you have some free time at the moment, I’d like you to help her settle in, show her the ropes as to speak”.

If Antoine was feeling nervous before, he was now about to have a meltdown, but what could he say? it was Monique’s apartment and if he refused to show her niece around it would not go over to well. He looked up trying desperately to stop his arms and legs from shaking and forced a smile, “No problem, Monique, you can count on me”, he replied before picking up his coffee and staring into the cup petrified.

Later that evening back in the apartment, Antoine heard a noise from inside Zara’s room as Lily came in through the front door. He rushed out to the living room to meet her.

“Lil, we need to talk, something really bad has happened”, Antoine said in a panic.

“I know, it’s Marianne, Mama text me earlier, but it’s going to be ok, I’ve got a plan, we just need to…”, “Hello, darling”, Monique interrupted coming out from her room, did you get my messages”? she asked.

“Hi Mama”, Lily replied, “yes, I got them, sorry I had no time to reply, it’s been a really busy day”.

“Oh no problem, but the reservation at the restaurant is in an hour, you better quickly get ready”, Monique said tapping her wrist.

Lily sighed quietly to herself, the last few days had taken their toll on her, leaving her feeling stressed and exhausted, “OK, Mama, I’m going”, she replied, before turning to Antoine, “I need to get ready and so do you, we’ll talk about this later, ok”? she said before walking across the living room and disappearing into her bedroom.

Back in Zara’s room, Antoine was still a nervous wreck, the last thing he wanted to do was dress up in Zara’s clothes and go out, but with little choice, he went about making himself look presentable for dinner.

Having spent the day in a skirt, he wanted something to cover his legs that evening and after thinking about it for a second, he just grabbed the shiny tight leggings, he had worn for his date with Pedro a few nights ago, and with a little effort, forced them into position tightly around his legs.

Not bothering to change out of his blouse, he took down his ponytail, squeezed a little styling mousse on to his hand, and fluffed up his hair a little to give it some volume, still amazed that the long flowing locks were actually attached to his head.

Not wanting to mess around with makeup, he picked up the red lipstick he was used to wearing on nights out these days, and brushed it across his lips, before standing back and nodding satisfied that it would do.

To complete the look, he found a red blazer in the wardrobe and slipped his feet back into the same red wooded wedges he had worn last time with the leggings, knowing they went with the look and that the shoes were at least bearable to walk in. Once ready, Antoine exited the bedroom and went over to sit on the sofa to wait. 

15 minutes later, Lily exited the bedroom wearing a tan skirt, a loosely fitting sweater, and a pair of low heels, as Antoine wondered if he had even needed to change, but with other things on his mind, he jumped up and clomped over to talk to her.

“Lily, please we have to talk about Marianne”, he said flustered.

“I know baby, but don’t worry, I told you, I have a plan, it’s going to be ok”, Lily said stroking gently through his hair, “she can stay for a few days, a week tops while I find her somewhere else to live, you can just stay out of her way”.

“Another week, merde”, Antoine exclaimed, “but I’m not going to be able to stay out of her way, your mother wants me to show her around, we’re meeting her at Charles de Gaulle in the morning”.

“Merde”, Lily repeated, “that does make things awkward, but she’s never met Zara and you’ve fooled everyone so far, you just need to carry on doing what you’re doing”.

“Lily, I don’t think you realise how bad this is, Marianne may never have met Zara, but she has met Antoine! Remember when she came up to visit, and we bumped into each other while I was leaving the apartment”.

Lily looked at him and went as white as a sheet, “oh my god, I had totally forgotten about that”, she said panicked, “but it was a long time ago, right? She can’t possibly remember you”?

“Are you sure? I remember her, the stuck up little princess with a high and mighty attitude”, Antoine said shaking his head.

Lily went quiet and looked away for a second before turning slowly back towards Antoine with a sad look on her face, “you’re right, it’s over, we’ll have to come clean. When Mama comes out of her room, we’ll sit her down and tell her everything”.

“what”! Antoine shouted, “no, you can’t do that, not dressed like this? Do you really want to tell her that the girl she’s just spent the last few days with is actually her daughter's boyfriend? She’ll kill me, and she’ll feel like a fool, Lil, you can’t”!

“arrrggg”, Lily exclaimed bashing her forehead into the wall, “I don’t know what to do, everything is so messed up”, she screamed.

“Hey, please, you’ll hurt yourself”, Antoine said worried, placing his hand on her head, “your right, it was a long time ago, she can’t possibly remember me, especially dressed like this, I’ll just have to be extra careful, we can make it work”.

Lily turned just as the door to Monique’s room opened, “what’s all the shouting out here, is everything ok”? she asked concerned.

“Yes, Mama, we’re fine, everything’s fine, you look nice, are you ready to go”? Lily replied with a smile.

(See image 20)

It was an early start the next morning as Antoine sat at the kitchen table forcing down some corn flakes, feeling as though he was on death row and eating his last meal.

“Thank you again for agreeing to help Marianne settle in, Zara", Monique said from across the table, “she’s such a sweet innocent thing, I'd hate to think of her being in the big city all by herself”.

Antoine looked up, his eyelids heavy, not just because of the double coating of mascara on his lashes, but due to the sleepless night of worry, where he had stared up at the ceiling, trying desperately to come up with some excuse to get out of meeting Marianne, “your welcome, Monique”, he replied meekly, thinking back to when he had met Marianne and she had made a nasty comment about the way he was dressed, cute and innocent were definitely not the words he would have used to describe her.

“I know I’m going to be with you two for the next few days, but I really appreciate you coming along, I’m sure she doesn’t want to spend all her time with an old person like me”, Monique said restating the point, making Antoine feel even worse, “I just know you two are going to get on like a house on fire, you’re both around the same age and both have a love of fashion, I can’t believe you’ve never met each other before”.

Antoine forced a smile, “yeah, looking forward to it”, he replied before going back for another spoonful to his tasteless breakfast.

Almost two hours later.

“Zara, hurry please, we’re late and her plane has already landed”, Monique said panicked as they rushed through the door to the airport arrivals building.

Antoine didn’t reply, he just kept moving focussing on his posture and the way he was walking, trying to be as feminine as possible and not do anything remotely masculine that might give away his true gender.

They rushed on through the building as Monique got more and more flustered and continuing to comment that they were late, until in the distance Antoine thought he could make out the figure of a girl, sat alone looking out of the window of the waiting area, she definitely looked the part, sat up straight with her head held high, dressed entirely in pink. 

Antoine lifted his hand and pointed towards her as Monique looked in the direction and smiled, “ah there she is”, she announced as they powered on towards her.

As the girl in pink got larger and larger in his field of view, Antoine’s heart was beating so fast he feared it might bust out of his chest as he wiped his sweaty palms on the side of his coat and hoped for a miracle.

“Marianne, we’re here, I’m so sorry we’re late”, Monique announced as they got within earshot. 

Marianne looked over at her aunt annoyed at having been kept waiting, before turning her gaze towards the flustered looking girl, she knew her aunt had dragged along, and she had no interest in meeting. But as she examined the rather tall girl, in her miss-matched outfit, her facial expression suddenly changed from pissed off to surprised, “do I know her”? She thought to herself, "she looks familiar".

(See image 21)