January 9th, 2016

I haven't put in the translations for the French spoken in this chapter. If you feel that the French is important to the story and you'd like the translations, let me know and I'll add them. (Do you want them with the line, at the beginning of the chapter, at the end of the chapter?) I'm currently trying to figure out who my perfect Sophie/Daniel are, but for Hugo, I'm going with Clément Chabernaud. Picture up there ^^^ Sarah xx

~*~*~

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Why would something be wrong?"

"You're calling me before midday. I assumed that something was wrong."

"No, everything is fine. I'm bored, that's all."

"You're calling me because you're bored? How nice of you."

"I'm at the Eurostar terminal and there are some delays. I'm taking advantage of the situation and decided to call my new best friend!"

"That last part was overly enthusiastic. So, you're going to Paris?"

"Trying to. We're half an hour behind schedule, though."

"Is going to Paris safe? They shot a terrorist there this week."

"I'll be fine. I hope. I have a better chance of getting killed walking across the street in London, so I'll take my chances in Paris."

"Well, text or call me when you get there so I know you're ok."

"Yes, mother. - Non, ce n'est pas ma mère. Mon ami. Hugo, dégagez! - My friend, Hugo, says hello."

"You have a very nice accent when you speak French."

"Haha. - Non, it est drôle, c'est tout. Il me dit que j'ai un beau accent. Oui, je sais. Tu vas où? Bha, oui. Une noisette, s'il te plaît. Merci, Hugo. - You know, it took me twenty eight years to perfect my accent."

"Well, it paid off. Tell me why you're going to France?"

"Photoshoot."

"Sounds exciting. Excuse my ignorance, but are you the best person to be going? I thought you only wrote about fashion."

"That's my very generic job title. I do other stuff on top of writing about clothes. Admittedly, I wouldn't usually be the one going but they asked for Hugo and he won't go if I don't go, so I have to go in order to make sure that he goes."

"You're his babysitter?"

"For lack of a better word. Hugo's temperamental. All the best models are."

"Your best friend is not only a guy but he's a male model too?"

"Yep. He's also not gay."

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between you both?"

"God, no! Hugo once had an orgy with a couple of models that lasted days. The man is depraved."

"He sounds like an interesting fellow."

"Well, that's one way to describe him. Now, do you want to pick up our conversation from last night? I was about to tell you about me and Tobias and how our relationship ended."

"Is it as bad as the demise of mine and Arabella's relationship? I only want to hear it if it is."

"How about I tell you and then you can decide. Ok, my last real relationship was with Tobias and I was nineteen when it ended. We started dating when we were fourteen and his family and mine were close."

"Isn't fourteen a little young be getting serious with a boy?"

"Oh, it didn't get serious until we were sixteen and we had sex after his grandmother's funeral."

"Inappropriate, Sophie."

"He was upset! Now, stop interrupting me. We dated throughout sixth form and for the first year of uni, even though I was at Oxford and he was in Edinburgh. I thought he'd come home for summer break but he didn't. Being the naive, totally besotted girlfriend I was, I decided to go up and give him a surprise visit."

"Never surprise them. You might be the one that gets surprised instead."

"I'm getting to that. So, I jumped on the train, which took hours, and finally got to Edinburgh. I went to his flat and his house mate greeted me with a huge grin on his face. I asked where Tobias was, and the house mate gave me the name of a club where I could find him."

"Was he cheating on you?"

"Oh, no. This is better! So, I changed into the sexiest outfit I'd packed, put on my tallest heels and made myself look like a brunette Bardot all in the hopes that Tobias would ravish me the second our eyes met. I arrived at the club and realised it was a cabaret kind of place. I took a seat at the bar and kept an eye out for my boyfriend. Then this announcement comes over the speakers- 'please welcome onto the stage Lola Golightly.' Guess who Lola Golightly is?"

"Um..."

"Tobias! My boyfriend is a fucking Drag Queen!"

"..."

"..."

"Haha. Haha. Haha. Haha."

"Knew you'd like it."

"Oh, holy shit! That is amazing."

"I haven't finished yet. So, Lola Golightly is in the middle of her act and spots me sitting at the bar. She stops the show mid song and tells the crowd that I'm her girlfriend. They start cheering and chanting for me to go up on stage. From nowhere, this huge guy comes up and takes my hand and shoves me up the steps onto the podium where Lola Golightly is."

"What did she say? Or he? Or... what happened next?"

"She says, 'Hey, babe.' I'm like, 'What is going on?' Then Lola Golightly asks the DJ for a song and as soon as it started to play, Lola Golightly takes my hand and starts to lead me into the dance that had been our talent show dance from Year 10!"

"Your Drag Queen boyfriend made you dance on stage with him as if nothing was wrong with the whole thing?"

"Basically, yeah."

"What did you do?"

"What do you think I did? I danced! To this day, it remains the best evening of my life!"

"I'm confused. You danced and then what?"

"Oh, we talked and Tobias said that he'd always been fascinated by clothes and such and when he got to uni, it was time he explored that. He's not gay and he's not transgender, he just likes dressing up as women for a living. He has his own show at a club in Soho."

"I'm speechless."

"But does my story trump yours?"

"Not really, but you were right about it making me laugh. That story is hilarious."

"Why, thank you, kind sir."

"Are you and Tobias still friends?"

"Yeah. Every year for my birthday, we all go to see his show. He does a special one each year just for me."

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Didn't you feel betrayed? Angry? Confused? Vengeful?"

"Not with Tobias. It actually explained a lot. I always wondered why he liked to keep my underwear, although he took me to La Senza to stock up on new sets as an apology. My break up with Chester, now that was a different story altogether!"

"Do I get to hear about that?"

"He screwed my friend. This was back when I had friends that were girls, of course. Our relationship wasn't serious so it didn't hurt me, but it was the principle of the matter. How dare he fuck one of my friends?! Anyway, revenge is a fish dish best stitched cold into the linings of his curtains."

"What?!"

"My parting gift to him. I cut into the bottom seam lining of his curtains and put fresh sardines in there. Let's just say they didn't stay fresh for long. Apparently, the flat smelt like rotting fish for weeks before Chester figured out where the smell was coming from. I felt sorry for his house mate. I liked Ritchie."

"You're an evil genius."

"Well, I don't want to brag or anything, but I totally am."

"When are you back from Paris?"

"Monday. The photoshoot is early this evening and then we get all day tomorrow to see the sights, unless we need to do some re-shoots but Hugo's generally a one take kind of guy."

"Uh, will you- will you have time to call me tomorrow?"

"Of course. I still need to tell you about that footballer I dated that one time. You'll love that story!"

"Can't wait."

"I bet you can't. - Ah, merci, mon petit chou. - Hugo just got back and apparently our train is ready. When's best to call you tomorrow? Do you have plans?"

"I'm having Sunday lunch with my family. Brother included."

"Is this the first time you've seen Samuel since New Year's Eve?"

"Yes."

"Does he know that you know about him and her?"

"Probably."

"Do you want me to phone you midway through lunch? I can pretend to have an emergency and you have to leave to come and rescue me."

"Thanks for the offer, but we're a technology free family at lunch and dinners. My grandmother would shoot us all if we took phones anywhere near the dining room. That's not a joke, either. She has a gun room at her country house."

"Gangster Granny."

"A scarily accurate description, Miss Clément."

"Well, I hope you survive. I'll phone you at two pm your time. Is that ok?"

"Can't wait."

"Speak to you then, duck."

"Until tomorrow... Uh, I don't have an animal nickname for you."

"Shame. I really wanted one, too."

"Funny. Bye, Soph."

"Bye, Daniel."

~*~*~

A requested, here are the French translations:

Non, ce n'est pas ma mère. Mon ami. Hugo, dégagez! ~ No, it's not my mother. My friend. Hugo, piss off!

Non, it est drôle, c'est tout. Il me dit que j'ai un beau accent. Oui, je sais. Tu vas où? Bha, oui. Une noisette, s'il te plaît. Merci, Hugo. ~ No, he's funny, that's all. He says I have a nice accent. Yes, I know. Where are you going? Yeah. Coffee with milk, please. Thanks, Hugo.

Ah, merci, mon petit chou. ~ Ah, thanks, sweetheart.