Boys, Blues and Shoes

by Cindy Jefferies

  The lift stopped and the doors opened. To her surprise, Ellie was greeted with a hubbub that she certainly hadn’t expected. There was no sign of Karen or Joe, but the members of Zone One were there, all chatting to Piano, and Jacob Frou was making his way towards the door, with Bohemia carrying a load of bags in his wake. It seemed the day wasn’t quite over yet.

  Monsieur Frou smiled at Ellie. Then he frowned, and looked back at Bohemia. “The box.”

  Bohemia looked puzzled for a moment, and then her expression cleared. “Of course.” She put her load of bags down and disappeared back into Angel’s office. In a moment she returned, carrying yet another of the shoeboxes, which she gave to Monsieur Frou. He opened it and rummaged about amongst the tissue for a few moments, looking at what lay inside. Then he grunted, and replaced the lid.

  “For you,” he said to Ellie, and to her astonishment, thrust the box into her arms. “You didn’t complain. You did a good job. Thank you.” He looked at her feet, encased in her office shoes and grunted again. “Look after your feet,” he told her. “They are the only ones you’ve got. Come on, Bohemia. We must go.”

  “I will,” said Ellie as he began to move off. “And…” She raised the box in her hands. “Thank you!”

  Bohemia gave her a grin as she passed. “Enjoy them!” she said.

  Once the old man and Bohemia had gone, the boys crowded round Ellie. “What’s he given you?” said Jay.

  “Open it!” said Ben.

  Piano was pretending not to care what might be in the box. “It’s probably a bottle of foot balm,” she said dismissively.

  Ellie put the box on a corner of the reception desk. Holding her breath, she took off the lid. Inside was a profusion of dark blue tissue. She could see a glint of gold underneath. She felt her heart race.

  “Go on,” said Al at her shoulder, quietly urging her. “Take them out.”

  With her heart in her mouth, Ellie parted the tissue and looked in. She gasped. Suddenly, it was like all her Christmasses and birthdays rolled into one. There, nestling amongst the navy blue tissue, was what she had hoped for more than anything: a pair of the Pirate!

  For a moment Ellie thought she might cry. They were such a wonderful gift. She lifted one out and gazed at it. These shoes would be a fantastic reminder of an extraordinary day. Hadn’t Monsieur Frou himself chosen the Pirate especially for her feet back when he’d first met her in his workshop? He’d known what suited her best. Ellie couldn’t imagine that many people had shoes personally selected for them by the designer. She would treasure them for ever.

  Piano had glanced at the shoes, sniffed, and was now bending to pick up her bag before leaving, but Francesca had a smile on her tired face. “Am I right in thinking this is your first bit of designer wear?” she asked.

  Ellie nodded.

  “Well,” said Francesca, “while working at this magazine, I’m sure there’ll be more to come. But there’s nothing like your first piece, and those shoes are exquisite. Don’t be afraid to wear them though. You wear them and enjoy them. That’s what they’re made for. Well done, Ellie.”

  “Put your new shoes on,” said Al in her ear.

  But before Ellie could take them out of the box, Francesca was speaking to her. “Angel wants to see you in her office,” she said. “You can try your shoes on later.”

  Casting Al a regretful look, Ellie went to see Angel. She was sitting behind her desk. “I think you wanted to see me.”

  Ellie’s mind went blank. “Sorry?”

  Angel tightened her lips. “That is an appropriate thing to say. The correct answer is yes.”

  For another moment Ellie had no idea what Angel was on about…then it hit her. She glanced at Ferdinand, lying innocently in his basket, with his coat looking more than usually fluffed up, and back to Angel, who had changed her clothes since Ellie had last seen her.

  She felt a blush working its way up her neck, over her face and into her hairline. “Oh yes. I am sorry about that, Angel. I didn’t ask for Ferdinand to be washed though. They did it without telling me…”

  Angel wasn’t interested in listening to excuses. “When I ask you to do a job, I expect that job to be done.”

  “Yes, Angel.”

  “And when the unexpected happens I expect you to use your common sense to work out how to get round it. I don’t expect you to come rampaging in here with a wet dog.”

  “No, Angel.”

  “And if you think I don’t realize that you rushed back here solely to see those four boys –” she paused and fixed Ellie with a steely gaze – “you’re not as intelligent as I thought you were.”

  Ellie bit her lip. “No, Angel.”

  Angel Makepeace pushed a rectangular piece of plastic towards Ellie. “While you are working for Heart, the magazine is the most important thing. Which is why, instead of sending you home, I want an article out of you.”

  Ellie nodded eagerly. “Of course, Angel. Anything.”

  “An account of your day with the band. Emailed to me without fail by tomorrow afternoon. And give this to Francesca. Don’t let me down, will you?”

  Ellie picked up the credit card Angel had passed her and held it tightly. “No, Angel, I won’t let you down. I promise.”

  “All right then. Just don’t ever ever bring my dog back into my office in that state again. In future, I don’t care how long it takes you, but he must be clean, and completely dry.”

  “Yes, Angel. I promise.”

  It seemed the Editor in Chief had no more to say, so after waiting a couple more seconds, Ellie retreated. She closed the door quietly behind her and took a deep breath. Thank goodness no one had been around to witness that. So much had happened today that she’d forgotten all about Ferdinand’s unwanted shampoo. Well, at least Angel hadn’t said that she didn’t want Ellie to show her face in the office again. And she was quite within her rights to be angry. Ellie took the credit card to Francesca, feeling as if, on balance, she’d had a very lucky escape.

  “Thank you,” said Francesca, tucking the card into her bag. “Now hurry up if you want to wear your new shoes. The car’s waiting.”

  “Sorry?”

  “You want to come and eat with us, don’t you?” said Francesca. “Everyone else is starving. And it’ll be good for your article, having a meal with Zone One.”

  Ellie was a total mixture of emotions. So Francesca knew about the article Angel wanted her to write, and probably about the telling-off she’d just received too…that was embarrassing. But she was getting to go out for a meal with Al and the others…that was beyond amazing!

  “Well go on,” said Francesca, with a slight smile. “Get those shoes on.”

  “Yes!” said Ben, wandering over to them. “Wear them out to eat with us. They look so great.”

  “So are you joining us then?” said Al as Ellie scrambled to put on her Pirates.

  Piano rolled her eyes. “She’s just a child,” she told the boys. “She’s too young. She’d need to ask her mummy.”

  Al looked a bit annoyed. “But not childish,” he replied mildly.

  Piano didn’t look at all pleased at that. She looked even less impressed when Francesca stood up for Ellie too.

  “Ellie is staff,” she told Piano mildly. “Of course she’s coming. Phone your mum if you want to,” she added to Ellie. “But you shouldn’t be late home.”

  If anything could have spoiled Ellie’s mood it might have been the realization that Piano was going to be joining them. But nothing could alter Ellie’s feeling that the day had gone from good, to great, to fantastic! Going for a meal with Al and his fellow band members was a dream come true for Ellie Ixos!

  Piano was still looking grumpy as they went down in the lift and piled into a large people carrier with blacked-out windows, but she didn’t seem to mind being squashed next to Matt too much. It only took a few minutes for the car to reach the restaurant, and when it did, Ellie had a sudden panic about money. Surely the food would cost a fortune! Did s
he have enough cash on her to eat anything? But Francesca soon put her at her ease.

  “The meal is on the magazine,” she told Ellie quietly. “That’s why I’ve got the company credit card. You can choose what you like.”

  It was far too early for dinner, and very late for lunch, but the restaurant had been warned, and were ready for them. Ellie found herself sitting between Al and Jay at the table, which meant she was in seventh heaven. She didn’t forget about the article Angel wanted though, and tried to think of good questions to ask them.

  “Do you often get to eat out like this?” she asked Al.

  “Not often at the moment,” he said. “We’ve been in the studio a lot recently, finishing the album. We usually get food sent in while we’re there. And then we’re going on tour soon, so that’ll mostly be hotel food in our rooms, I expect. This is cool. It’s great having a meal without people coming up and asking us for our autographs all the time.”

  “Oh.”

  Ellie remembered about the CDs she had in her bag and wondered what to do. She’d promised Hannah, but now she knew that Al at least would rather not sign autographs. She wished she’d proffered the CD earlier, before she’d known the truth. But then he might have been annoyed. Sometimes life could be very tricky. Maybe he wouldn’t mind after the meal, just before they parted…if she didn’t actually badger him. She’d have to see. But it seemed he’d noticed her fallen face.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “We love signing for people usually. It’s just nice not to occasionally.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Ellie. “I’ve got a couple of your CDs in my bag, but I didn’t want to ask if it was going to annoy you.”

  Al leaned in and whispered in Ellie’s ear. “I’d sign for you any time,” he whispered.

  Ellie felt as if she was melting all over again and she found herself giggling to cover her feelings.

  “What are you laughing at?” asked Al, laughing too.

  “Nothing,” said Ellie, trying to stop. “I’m just enjoying myself.”

  “You’re as bad as my sister,” said Matt, who was sitting opposite her. “She’s always giggling. If I’m not careful I start giggling too. Then neither of us can stop.”

  One glance at the expression on Piano’s face made Ellie want to giggle even more. Piano looked furious when Matt spoke to Ellie. She seemed to have decided that Matt was her favourite, which meant that Ellie shouldn’t speak to him, but no way was her expression going to put Ellie off. Besides, she had her article to think about. She couldn’t stop talking to any of the boys just to please Piano.

  “I thought you didn’t eat meat,” said Ellie, overhearing that Al and Matt were going to order steak.

  “You’ve been reading up about us,” said Al with a grin.

  “You can’t believe everything you read,” said Matt. “We did try being vegetarian for a while, but we like meat too much.”

  Ellie laughed.

  “We’re always being asked stuff,” Al explained. “And we can’t always remember what we’ve said. I expect you change your mind about things from time to time.”

  “That’s true,” said Ellie, feeling in her bag for her phone. She’d just decided that she ought to text Hannah about what she was doing. It would be fun to put the text in the article, as well as Hannah’s response to it. While she was about it she thought she’d send the same text to her mum to let her know what she was up to. Al looked a bit concerned when she opened her phone.

  “You’re not going to tell your mates where you are, I hope, because if you do that and they pass it on we’ll end up with loads of people arriving to gawp at us.”

  “No way!” said Ellie. “No. I was just letting my friend Hannah and Mum know what I was doing.” She explained about the article she had to write. “I thought it would be fun to get a real response from Hannah,” she explained, “rather than make one up. You can see the text if you like.”

  Al peered over her shoulder and read the message aloud. “Having a meal with Heart staff and Zone One! Tell you all about it later. That’s okay,” he said. “Sorry to be so paranoid, only it’s fun not having any fans around for a change.”

  Except me and Piano, thought Ellie as she sent the text. In no time an answer came back.

  You lucky thing!!!! Give Jay a snog from me. Don’t forget to get the CDs signed. I am sooooooooo jealous.

  “Let’s have a look,” said Al.

  “It’s embarrassing!” said Ellie, trying to close the phone, but Al was too quick for her.

  “Ha! So Jay is her favourite is he? Shall we get him to send her a kiss on your phone?”

  Ellie laughed. “Go on then, if you like. She’ll be totally overcome.”

  “Do you get free picture texts on this phone?” asked Al.

  “I’ve got quite a few left,” said Ellie. “Why?”

  “We can take a pic of Jay blowing her a kiss, and send that to her as well as a text,” said Al with a grin.

  “Oh wow!” said Ellie. “That will make her entire life!”

  It only took a few seconds to take a picture of Jay. Ellie sent the picture and text with a giggle. “I can’t imagine what she’ll say in reply,” she said.

  In a couple of minutes Hannah’s response was clear.

  !!!!!!!!!@@@%%%$$$***xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  Jay pretended to be worried. “Does that mean she’s annoyed?” he said.

  Ellie couldn’t stop laughing. “I think it means she’s my friend for life,” she said.

  When a reply came from Ellie’s mum it was much more sedate.

  Good for you! Have fun, and behave yourself. See you later, Mum xx

  Ellie smiled and put her phone away.

  The waiter who took their order didn’t show any signs of recognizing the band members, but while they were waiting for their food, Ellie noticed a couple of customers staring at them. She glanced at the boys, but they didn’t seem to have noticed. When the food arrived however, it was brought by a waitress, who spent ages fiddling around with their plates, drinks and cutlery. Ellie was sure that the waitress must know who the boys were. She looked as if she badly wanted to say so, but managed to restrain herself. Ellie felt full of sympathy. She was sure that if she was a waitress and had to serve someone famous she’d find it impossible not to say hello.

  Eventually, the waitress didn’t have an excuse to hang around any longer, and was forced to leave them to eat while she served other tables.

  “What do you do when people stare at you?” Ellie asked Al.

  “Ignore them until they come over and say hello,” he said, helping himself to more vegetables.

  “Does it get annoying?”

  Matt took a long swig of his drink and set it back down, steadfastly keeping his gaze away from the other customers, and joined in the conversation.

  “It’s funny,” he said. “When we first became famous we thought it was great. All that attention! People want to give you things, they tell you how brilliant you are, all that stuff. But you soon get tired of it. We’re very grateful that we’re so popular, but you lose something by being famous. Simple things like this –” he gestured at his meal – “can become difficult.”

  “But you can’t beat eating out for a change,” said Ben. “Even if there is a risk of being mobbed before the end of the meal.”

  “Damn!” said Al. “There are a couple of people at the table by the window busy texting. They might not be texting about us, but they keep looking over. I reckon they’ve clocked us. And if those texts are about us we might be getting some company pretty soon.”

  Piano let out a squeak of alarm, stabbed a piece of celery onto her fork and put it into her mouth. Ellie swallowed, and took another bite of her chicken.

  “It’ll be fine,” said Jay soothingly. “This restaurant is very good about keeping people at bay on their premises.”

  Ellie was sure Al must be right. The people at the table in the window probably were texting their friends about the band. S
he could imagine how quickly the news might spread, and felt a bit anxious. Then she felt Al’s hand on her arm.

  “Don’t look so worried,” he said. “It’s no problem. You’ve got nothing to be concerned about and, just think, if by any chance there are fans waiting outside by the time we go, it’ll be great for your article. You’ll get to find out first-hand what it’s like to be famous!”

  “That’s true,” said Ellie, hoping that there would be some fans. It would be fantastic to be able to write about that!

  Just then, a gaggle of young people burst in through the door of the restaurant, laughing, and looking hyped-up and excited. They stared openly at Jay and the rest of the band, while the band studiously pretended not to have seen them. The six young people were soon approached by a couple of waiters and the manager who, with very little fuss, guided them back outside.

  Al grinned at Ellie. “See what I mean?”

  Ellie did see. The restaurant seemed well able to deal with anyone who was inclined to be a nuisance. She relaxed. She had to admit to herself that the whole thing was rather exciting. She knew of course that it wasn’t her that people were interested in seeing, but to be a little part of such attention…well, it was fun!

  Jay finished his steak and looked at the others. “So. It looks as if there are a few fans here already,” he said with a smile. “And we’re not going to avoid them by hurrying. So I vote we enjoy the rest of our meal, then go out the front way, and be prepared for a bit of a crush on the way to the car. I don’t want to creep out through the kitchens. What do you think?”

  “Fine!” said Ben in a relaxed voice. “Who wants pudding?”

  Everyone else was happy with the suggestion. Ellie thought it sounded great! Going out of the restaurant like a film star would be fun, but Piano was looking distinctly uneasy. “I don’t like crowds,” she said in a small voice. “Matt, why can’t we go out the back?” She took hold of his arm and gazed into his eyes. “Just you and me.”