In the telephone box, Rody felt despair as he hung the telephone back onto it's mount beside him, how could Manon just go no contact? Maybe her telephone broke? Perhaps she had a family issue? Was he enough? She still loved him didn't she?
As Rody began to think of any reason she could possibly have to disappear, he heard a knock on the glass behind him. There stood Vince, wearing a black jacket with fur lining over his white chef uniform, upon seeing Rody's expression his brows furrowed slightly and he signaled Rody out with a small movement of his head.
Rody pushed open the door and walked out into the chilled autumn night air, rolling his sleeves down to try to shield his arms from the slight breeze, his gaze was fixed onto the sidewalk.
"What's wrong this time?" Vince asked with crossed arms and a sigh. "You quit and you've already got yourself in problems as soon as you leave" he added with slight disappointment.
There was silence for a few seconds. "I'm... My girlfriend..." Rody began, but couldn't bring himself to say the words, especially not in front of Vince who would most likely spin it to somehow embarrass him. "Nothing. Just a timing issue" He replied, hoping it was true that Manon just had something come up every time he reached out and hadn't gotten sick of him.
Vince raised an unamused brow and let out another small sigh. "I just closed up, I need to buy a few things from the market, you're coming with me" He said, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and beginning to walk away
"Huh?" Rody reacted, confusedly looking at Vince's back and wiping the lingering tear away from his right eye as he tried to organize the thoughts floating around his head.
"Don't lag behind. I just don't trust you being alone and upset, knowing you you might do something stupid" Vince called out, giving Rody a glance over the shoulder and walking again only when Rody began to walk behind him.
As Rody followed in silence, his eyes were glued to the ground, mind racing as his slow and unenthusiastic steps echoed slightly due to his shoes, the black dress shoes he wore as a waiter since he hadn't changed yet, eager to call Manon right after leaving La Gueule De Saturne, Vince's restaurant.
Vince grew slightly annoyed as he realized the usually loud personality of Rody wasn't shining through anymore. He stopped walking and felt Rody crash into his back since he wasn't paying attention.
"Ack!" Rody exclaimed, taking a step back and holding his nose which had been the first to make contact with Vince's back.
Vince turned around. "Stop being so distracted, it's a wonder you've survived this long. And quit being so quiet, it's unsettling coming from such a usually annoying person as you."
Rody looked at Vince with tired eyes for just a second. "Sorry, I'm just not in the mood right now" He answered, trying to give Vince a small smile that just ended up making him look even more worried.
Vince sighed and signaled to keep walking, slowing down his pace and remaining by Rody's side as he walked in the newly embraced silence alongside him.
In a few minutes, Vince turned to the right and opened the sage green painted door of a storefront. A bell rang above the door as the warm yellow light from the inside flooded over them. Rody stayed behind Vince for a bit as he looked around the store, having never been in it before himself. On the left side beside the wall was a small pantry with different breads on racks, the far back had storage for cold drinks beside the crates that we're half full of different types of fruits and vegetables, on the right side wall was a shelf with different quantity bags and jars/bottles of rice, flour, spices, oil and other cooking materials.
"Hey, make yourself useful, go grab some truffle oil, a jar of red pepper flakes, a medium bag of flour and ask the shopkeeper at the counter for a bottle of wine, she knows which one I want" Vince told Rody before grabbing a basket and going to the crates to pick out some things.
Rody could barely process the words and stood still for a few seconds before he walked to the shelf on the right side, he looked for everything Vince asked for and clumsily brought it to the counter before asking for the wine. Rody turned afterwards and saw Vince contemplating the wide selection of desserts on the left side wall with the basket resting on the bend of his elbow. Finally, Vince picked up two boxes and carefully placed a different dessert into each one before joining Rody at the counter.
"This too, Mrs. Laurent" Vince said to the shopkeeper with a polite smile. She added the prices for everything and packed them up into a blue woven shopping bag. Vince payed and thanked the shopkeeper before walking back outside with Rody close behind.
"Is this for the restaurant?" Rody asked as they walked back the way they came originally.
"No. This is for a recipe I'm trying out, I didn't want to use the restaurant supplies" Vince answered, looking beside him at Rody.
Rody gave Vince a confused expression. "Didn't you say you lost your sense of taste? How are you going to know if it's good?" He asked.
"You're doubting my cooking skills?" Vince asked sarcastically, though before Rody could answer he spoke again. "You're gonna help me with the tasting part. I was going to buy everything and make it tomorrow to ask one of the cooks for their opinion but since I saw you out here, I might as well speed up the process"
Rody was just a bit surprised and he remembered the slight negative feelings that arose from the thought of being in Vince's apartment again. It seemed like every time he was there he had to service Vince in some way he didn't agree to in the first place.
"Alright... It's free dinner anyways" Rody said after a few moments, wanting to feel some sense of control in accepting even though he was sure he would be dragged into doing it anyways.
"Good" Vince said simply as they proceeded to walk in silence again towards his apartment.