The Reporter and The Photographer

XI

Tintin

We walked into restaurant. It was calm and quiet. "See," I whispered to Abigale, "everything is normal." She deathglared me. "Just because we are in public does not mean I won't slap you." She replied. I put my hands up in defeat. A waiter walked up to us.

"Hello Monsieur an Mademoiselle, I will be your server, follow me." He said politely. He lead us to a table set for two. I pulled out Abigale's chair and let her sit down. Once I sat down the waiter handed us our menus. "I'll give you two a few minutes to look." He said and walked off.

"I think you just wanted to ask me on a date..." I said skimming over the menu. "Please don't be full of yourself." She mumbled. I looked up at her and shook my head. I went back to reading the menu, such variety.

I decided to go with a soup while Abigale went with a salad. As we were talking a waiter came up to us with a glass of champagne. "On the house for the lovely lady." He said and handed to glass to Abigale. "Thank you sir." She said softly.

"Are you seriously going to drink that?" I questioned. "Do you remember why we are here?" I added. She rolled her eyes. "And I thought it was because you liked me," She said sarcastically, "look, champagne is almost clear... You can tell if someone tampered with it." I rolled my eyes. "You are really stubborn, you know that?" I told her. She nodded and to a sip of her drink. "Taste like regular champagne." She said with a witty smirk.

I huffed out. Abigale continued with her drink. "Have you even had alcohol before?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Calm down mother, I can hold my alcohol fine. You should have some." She said. "I don't drink." I told her. "I can tell." She said gingerly.

Our food arrived soon after. "So how long have you been working for the news paper?" Abigale asked. "A while." I said. "Mmh, you get yourself in a lot of trouble." She said softly. "Calm down, mum, I can handle myself." I said mocking her tone.

She laughed. "What did I say? Funny was my thing." She said with the brightest smile. I smirked "I guess I'm better at it now, aye, Abigale." I said cheekily. She looked down a her salad. "My friends called me Abi." She said softly. I looked up at her shocked. "Are you saying we're friends?" I asked. She looked up and shook her head. "I'm saying we're best friends." She said sincerely.

A slow song started to play. "Would you care for a dance?" I asked holding out my hand. "Oh, Tintin, I don't dance... In fact I don't even know how." She spoke as nervousness coated her voice. "Come on Farm girl," I teased, "I'll teach you." She took my hand. We stood up and made our way to the dance floor. I placed my hand on her waists and she put her hand on the shoulder. I held her other hand.

"Just look down and count. You do the opposite of what I do." I instructed. Abi looked down at our feet, I took a step back and she to a step forward. After a while she finally got the hang of it. "See, your great." I told her. She smiled. "Well it's all because you are a very patient teacher." She said a bit sluggishly. "Are you all right?" I asked. "When I was a little girl I used to get terrible headaches, I think I'm started to get one." She informed me.

"You should sit down." I said slightly concerned. At that point I had forgotten all about her free drink. Abigale gladly agreed to sit. "I'll go get you a wash cloth from the loo." I told her and rushed off.

When I got back Abigale was gone. I went to a waiter. "The girl that was sitting there, where is she?" I asked sternly. "Ah, yes, she was feeling a bit under the weather so a young lad offered to take her home." He told me. I haven't know Abigale long, but it took her weeks just to tolerate me, let alone drive her home. There is no way in sanity that she would go home with a stranger.

I rushed outside but there was not a car to be seen. The street was calm and quiet.. To quiet. "Abigale!" I yelled. I started frantically looking around when I saw it. The pink rose hair-pin that had been in her hair. I picked it up gently. "I will find you." I mumbled to myself.