If someone were to ask ‘How did Julie and Cyrielle become friends ?’ or ‘Why is Julie so devoted to Cyrielle ?’, the answer wouldn’t be simple to expin. It all started years ago, when Cyrielle first came to Bordeaux for her studies.

  Picture this scene : A group of students enter a bar. There are some older ones, clearly leading the youngsters with a mischievous smile. Everyone who has been to Bordeaux, the prime city for studying, knows why they are all here at this time of the year : hazing. The older students start asking the younger ones for several things : Buying them something to drink, taking off their shirts, kissing a stranger, etc… Amongst all the 18 year olds who do it without thinking, there is one girl who stands against the wall, refusing to move. The older students start to get angry, saying she will get isoted all year, and to not even think of going to extracurricur activities or parties, but she just listens without a word. She doesn’t seem to be strong-willed or particurly defiant, she just looks really tired. As if she had been suffering all her life, as if the behavior of the other students was something she was used to.

  It was Cyrielle. And at the other end of the room, in a corner, was a very drunk Julie. The two didn’t know each other yet.

  Julie was half colpsed on the table, muttering unintelligible words while fiddling with her pint of beer. Seeing her in this state, a man ughed with his friends, making a bet, and came to sit next to her. He talked to Julie a little bit, but seeing she wasn’t responsive, he said with a big smile :

  “I’ll take you home !”

  And pulled her towards the door. When he was about to reach the entrance, a very tall and imposing woman stood in front of him.

  “You leave her alone, or I call the police. Your choice.”

  The man tried to say that she was her girlfriend, but the tall woman wasn’t having any of it. In the end, he left the drunk girl and went away with a bad look in his eyes.

  Cyrielle took Julie in her arms. She was so small, it was like a bear holding a kitten.

  ‘What am I getting myself into… I shouldn’t have gone out today.’

  With no way of knowing what that drunk woman’s name was, or where she lived, Cyrielle took her with her.

  The next morning, Julie woke up in an unfamiliar pce with a terrible hangover.

  ‘Am I at a guy’s pce again ? My life is really going downhill…’

  But contrary to her expectations, it was a woman who woke her up.

  “Come eat breakfast. By the way, I just picked you up because someone was trying to take you, but what’s your name ?”

  They talked a lot that morning. Julie expined that she was going through a bad breakup, and Cyrielle listened silently. She didn’t confess to it, but she was being abused by her father’s wife. She was taking antidepressants, and it was absurd for her to go to a bar in the first pce when she couldn’t drink, but she had been forced to by the older students. In short, their meeting was a trick of fate, something improbable that wouldn’t have happened under normal circumstances.

  After that day, they became friends even though they had conflicting personalities. Julie was really extroverted, and it wasn’t just once or twice that Cyrielle had to come pick her up at a bar, holding her hair while she was puking. But eventually, little by little, Julie started to get over her breakup and move on with her life. Her strong will inspired Cyrielle to cut off her father, and in return for that newfound peace, that Julie had no idea she had contributed to, Cyrielle found her a job as a cashier in a supermarket.

  From Julie’s point of view, Cyrielle had helped her during the darkest part of her life. So it was obvious for her what she had to do when Cyrielle lost her job and became filled with despair.

  ‘I’ll help her, and always will be here for her. Just like she has done for me.’

  ***

  Back to the present, Cyrielle was having a panic attack in front of her sketchbook, only retaining her sanity thanks to ‘coolheadedness’. Papers with the concept, the moodboard, and the model’s photo were spread out on the table.

  ‘I need to get the designs approved by tomorrow so that I have enough time to sew, but I just can’t decide on three outfits !’

  She had drawn a dozen designs, all as beautiful as the others, but she would never have enough time to finish them all, so she needed to choose. Without any alternative, she decided to send every drawing to the editor-in-chief of the magazine, and let them choose in her pce. She was just asked for designs after all, it was their responsibility to select the ones they wanted.

  Cyrielle sighted, finally free of this task, and looked under the table. Her sewing machine rested on top of her guitar case. She would have loved to have a proper pce for her stuff, but Julie’s apartment was really small. It was a miracle she could even keep them here.

  ‘This really can’t go on. If I start having more abilities that need equipment, we won’t be able to procure them anymore, purely by ck of space. I need to find a solution.’

  But she couldn’t do anything about it. She didn’t make enough money to buy a pce yet, and since her independent activities were less than a year old, she didn’t have any materials to rent something. The best she could do was maybe rent a storage unit, but the conditions were unfit to keep delicate equipment such as instruments.

  She sighted once again and looked at the couch.

  ‘I miss the hotel’s bed… Thankfully, I will be back in Paris soon.’

  ***

  Two weeks ter, the 27th of march. Cyrielle was in a fitting room, pinning fabric around a beautiful woman's waist. The model was a petunt girl in her twenties, with luscious golden hair that curled into perfect locks.

  “Your designs were so good, I almost fainted when I saw the drawings, but seeing it on me, wow, I might really start crying ! I didn’t believe it when my agent told me you were an unknown designer, he was reluctant to accept the photoshoot because of that.”

  The manager, a man with a protruding belly, coughed to signal her model to shut up. But she pulled her tongue and continued.

  “Your name is Mademoiselle Cyrielle, right ? I was curious so I searched you online, and I was surprised when I discovered you also sing and do interior design ! Seriously, the world is unfair !”

  Cyrielle was listening to her while doing her job, making sure the outfit was fitting the model perfectly. It was a long flowy dress inspired by 1860’s fashion, but with a touch of modernity brought by the tulle gathered at the waist and the shoulder. The apple green color went so well with the model’s skin that it looked like it was made for her, which it was.

  ‘She never stops talking, it’s making me uncomfortable…’

  She was still awkward around people, but her silence was taken as the dignity of an artist dedicated to her craft, which made the model admire her even more.

  “You can call me Coline, you know, no need to use family names between us. I mean, I don’t know yours since everybody calls you Mademoiselle Cyrielle, so it’s only fair you call me by my first name too.”

  Cyrielle helped her change into another outfit, a wedding-gown-inspired dress with a lot of ce and touches of silver on the bottom.

  ‘Please just shut up, I want to finish my job and quickly go back to bed ! The mattress is so soft, I want to sleep for a thousand years…’

  “But seriously, your outfits are really good ! I would love to see the process of creating such nice looking clothes. Why don’t you make videos about this on your MyTube channel, like with interior design ?”

  Cyrielle was a bit troubled. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it, but there wasn’t enough space in Julie’s apartment. When she filmed inside, she always made sure to position her phone so that nobody could tell she was in a small space, but if she had to show her designing and sewing process, she would have to reveal her living conditions, which was the best way to ruin her image as a high society woman.

  “Maybe ter.”

  Her answer was quite curt, even if polite, and the staff stiffened. But it didn’t discourage Coline who continued bbbering.

  “You know, even though I’m pretty snder, you’re still the first designer who doesn’t comment on the size of my thighs. I can’t help it, modeling might be my job, but my first love will always be horse riding. And you know how that builds muscles in your legs !”

  Cyrielle’s ears perked up.

  ‘Horse riding ? Wait, there might be something to do here…’

  Her brain started working at full speed, searching for a way to make the most out of this opportunity. Seeing her slow down, the stylists and assistants around her started to look at each other, wondering if someone made a mistake. Cyrielle was hard to read for someone who didn’t know her well, and her intimidating aura didn’t help to see her as an easygoing person.

  After a few minutes of silence, Cyrielle opened her mouth.

  “It just so happens that I like horse riding too. What do you say, should we go and see a show at the Versailles Equestrian Academy after the photoshoot ?”

  All the staff opened their eyes wide at the offer. Going to see an equestrian show with the mysterious Mademoiselle Cyrielle who barely talked to people ? Now, that was an event they couldn’t miss ! They all expressed their will to join on the trip, and Coline replied with an excited ‘Yes’. Only one person stayed silent, her mouth agape. It was Julie.

  ‘Horse riding too ? Am I dreaming ? I never even saw a horse in real life !’