Kiki and Jacques

“I’m not going out there.” Jacques Gagnon shook his head, curls flying, and planted his feet at the dressing room door. “I know that girl!”
Grandmère Jeannette lifted a long white wedding dress from the rack. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this alone… grab the train and make sure it don’t drag.”
Jacques’s heart was pounding in his ears. He’d helped out in Grandmère Jeannette’s bridal shop ever since he could remember; that was no big deal. But now, Monique St. Hilaire, the coolest senior at Lakemont High, sat with her mother on the old leather couch in the salesroom. Monique and Jacques both went to church at St. Francis; nearly every boy in his confirmation class had a crush on her. Her straight blonde hair was divided with a red streak, and she was quietly chewing on purple colored nails.
Grandmère Jeannette straightened her glasses and stormed ahead. “I have a real special wedding gown for you.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Monique glanced up without smiling.
“This one’s super hot!” Jacques gagged on his tongue. He swallowed hard and held his breath, waiting for Monique to say how stupid
he sounded.
But Monique simply crossed her long legs and turned away. She didn’t seem to notice him at all.
Jacques’s face was steaming as he bolted up the narrow steps to the office loft above the sales floor. He could hear Monique moan, “Let’s get out of here,” before the shop door slammed shut. Hoisting himself onto the old oak desk, Jacques thwacked the wood with his heels and gazed through the windows to the street, his heart still thumping with humiliation.
“Grandmère look!” Two black women dressed in long skirts and flowing shawls were leaning against the display window, peering in.