The ENTOURAGE

6. d i s a p p e a r

Ferg was a very mysterious person. His completely intangible personality we were drip-fed mere glimpses of in class. His vocabulary had me consulting dictionaries - "well, I tergiversate!" - after every class. The man was always seen in long cardigans and ocre trousers, and almost anything with a different colour stitching to that of the garment colour. 

He was also incredibly difficult to get ahold of. He disappeared so frequently, he could be a figment of our collective imagination. Especially day of the interviews, which were running from 10am until 7pm. I knew he had scheduled breaks in there, I could see it on the list. I could also see vocalist and trumpet player Bella had her interview just after midday, so I was the only person in the band in this dilemma.

Edith had messaged me a good-luck clover emoji for the day at midday, but nothing else when I messaged her about the actual dilemma I now faced. I tossed up the idea of going to see Ferg after I finished playing at 6, maybe I could catch him after the last interview? I figured Edith was likely recovering from the party the day before, or was sick of hearing about it. I was sick of thinking about it, too.

I tried Ferg's office, but an intern working on the desk said he wasn't in due to some interviews he was conducting. How very helpful, I had no idea.

"Back again?" He was still on the desk hours later, one hour until soundcheck, less than two hours until the interview. I didn't like his smug face. I didn't like anyone, at the moment.

With Ferg unreachable, Bella who's contact I didn't have to ask if she got any information about delaying the interviews today, and Edith not responding, the walls were closing in on me. I legged it to Honeymoon for a quick coffee before soundcheck, the exercise felt natural when adrenaline was pumping through me. Pre-show nerves.

In haste, Gretel was packing up a cart outside, arms cradling boxes and bags. I didn't mind Gretel. I called for her.

"Oh, hey Brooks! Sorry, I'm just-" She dropped two of the bags when she swung around, as well as the other trying to save them. "Just trying to load this stupid thing, but fuck me, I'll never learn to do one thing at a time, will I?"

"Why on earth would you do that?" I kept it light, feeling it was very much my fault she dropped them. I grabbed the bags while her arms were full - she couldn't stop me in time and her protests fell on deaf ears. "No, one trip is very efficient."

"It would be if I had more hands and just more time," she huffed, placing the boxes inside the underneath compartment of the cart.

"What's all this for?" I gestured to the cart.

She grabbed the bags out of my hand, and put them inside another compartment I wouldn't have known about without her revealing it.

"The unveiling of the Heike building. They've got all these stalls and stuff set up, campus clubs are gonna have a field day with round two of recruiting, and everyone is going to get a bit fucked up. They also want coffee, and that's where I come in," she grabbed another bag from me.

"Stupid Stewart pulled out of this cart-shift last minute, the fucker, and I'm stressed and depressed because my interview for AAC is at 6pm and I'll be fucking working and I couldn't contact Ferg all day! Emails sent, no replies. Being part-time really doesn't help my case right now, so it looks like any chances I had at getting into the Consortium are screwed. Literally didn't have a choice, so that's just superb, right?"

I was gobsmacked, floored with both the information overload and coincidence of similar situations. Hers seemed a bit worse than mine, though.

"Sorry," She wiped her fringe away from her face.