Dwayne’s family and business partners throw a large debutante ball in Nantes, France. All bachelors and debutantes are flown out, all expenses paid. The ball is thrown annually and this year Dwayne is a bachelor. Although he has no interest in going, he feels as if he must to uphold his families name.

Randal shows interest in the trip, he’s always wanted to go to France. He thinks it would be fun to act rich and fancy for a week, eating caviar and flaunting jewels and whatever else the 1% does. Dwayne tells him it will be nothing like that but Randal doesn't listen, he’s already imagining all of the extravagant outfits and hats.

They take a plane to Nantes. Randal sleeps for most of the flight while Dwayne looks out the window. He’s obviously nervous, he hasn't said much to Randal since they’ve boarded. Everything is running through his head, past traumas, his father, his mother, his childhood. He doesn't want Randal to breathe the same air as these disgusting monsters. He tries to focus on something else, he reads the safety instruction pamphlet at least 5 times over but it doesn't seem to help. At least he knows what to do in case of emergency. When they touch down, Randal takes out a small disposable camera and immediately starts snapping photos of everything he possibly can. Most of the photos contain Dwayne looking directly in to the camera with a grim expression.

Once the excitement of being somewhere new wares off (it takes about an hour), Randal notices that Dwayne is obviously upset and asks him what’s wrong, isn’t he excited to be with his family? Randal knows next to nothing about Dwayne’s childhood, it isn’t something he likes to discuss. Dwayne tells Randal that he’s just a little nervous, he doesn’t want to scare him before the ball even starts.

They walk in to the hotel and are instantly greeted by 3 men, all in suits. They offer pastries and water and fancy looking chocolates. Dwayne politely refuses while Randal grabs all he can, flying makes him hungry! After checking in, they are led to their room. The elevator ride is long and awkward, its at least 3 minutes of silence and uncomfortable sleeve fiddling. The elevator finally dings and they are greeted by a luxuriously lavish room. White and gold drapes hung over windows and intricate statues stood at attention before every doorway. A 3-tier dessert tower sat on one of the coffee tables, waiting to be eaten off of. The air smelled of clean linen and old cigar smoke. The room was huge, it must’ve been at least 10k a night, Randal has never experienced something this classy. Dwayne is also in awe, but doesn’t show much emotion. He quickly inspects the room from where he stands and takes note of every detail, eventually setting his luggage down and flopping down on a velvet chaise lounge opposite of the lavish dessert tower. He reaches over and swipes a few lemon tarts, scarfing them down quickly.

Randal rolls Dwayne’s luggage in to the room he chose, he knows he didn’t sleep during the flight, he deserves some rest. Randal zips open Dwayne’s suitcase and is greeted by a switchblade with doves carrying an olive branch engraved onto it. He quickly closes the lid of the suitcase, freaked out by the knife. He has so many questions; why? how? when? why??? Not wanting to make it seem like he was snooping, he doesn't bring it up to Dwayne.

After a good nights sleep and a lot of fancy French food that Randal pretended to enjoy, it was time to attend the ball. Now Randal was super nervous, Dwayne’s attitude towards it didn’t help either. What has he gotten himself in to?

While Randal is getting ready in the bathroom connected to his bedroom, Dwayne knocks on the door to bring him his suit. Dwayne is wearing his hair down, his facial hair is trimmed and looks clean. His suit is just a normal pinstripe tuxedo with a yellow handkerchief in the breast pocket. The suit he brought in is the same one he wore to his senior prom. It’s a bit old and worn, but it’s still a suit. This was the best suit he could lend, and the only one that would fit Randal’s smaller body. Randal tells him to come in and he lays the suit down on his messy bed. Randal comes out of the bathroom with his hair combed back, it looks good on him; he looks formal, but not too formal. Dwayne gestures to the worn outfit on the bed and Randal gives him a weird look, this can’t possibly be the right suit; Dwayne said he has something perfect, this is way too small. After a few minutes of slight panic, he decides to try it on.

It fits…barely. The waistcoat feels like a binder that’s too small, it’s hard to breathe and his movement is restricted. The sleeves are a bit too long and so are the pant legs. Randal can feel the buttons on the undershirt trying to stay latched, he prays that they can hold on for a few hours. It must’ve been tailor made for Dwayne’s 18 year old body, he sure has grown a lot. Randal groans and paces around, how are they going to fix this? One streak of blonde hair falls back in place, bouncing against his forehead.

After some rolling and pinning, the suit starts to look a bit better. If only it would feel better, too. He’s only been wearing it for 10 minutes and he already wants to rip it off and take a shower. Dwayne puts a hand on Randal’s shoulder and tells him it’ll be fine, they won’t have to stay for long. And after they can get some burgers (if they can find any) and go back to normal life, or at least not all this fancy crap. In the middle of a not-so-peppy pep talk, Dwayne gets interrupted by a knock at the door. It’s a butler sent by the family hosting the ball this year, he’s here to take them both to the estate by limo. Randal stuffs his phone, a charger, and a few pastries wrapped in branded napkins into his suit pockets while Dwayne grabs the invitations and a few other items.

The limo ride was long, but nice. Randal looked out the window and watched as hills rolled by, munching on a raspberry macaron. He felt more comfortable in the suit, he just had to hold himself in a certain way. Dwayne picked at his fingers and flipped the invitation over in his hands. Every couple minutes Randal would try to start a conversation, maybe asking Dwayne about Bo, or explaining some funny video he saw online. Dwayne would engage in conversation, but not for long. Too many thoughts were swarming his brain, fear, anger, resentment, anticipation. He wanted this day to be over and it was only 8 in the morning.

The limo driver says something in French that Randal doesn't quite catch as Dwayne leans over and points to the window, Randal turns his head and sees what seems to be a palace. Columns and arcs, trees shaped like animals or cones, a giant fountain, this can’t be real. Randal tries his best to stay proper and formal, but this is all too much. He’s never been near anything like this, he’s only seen houses like these on reality TV. He puts his face up to the tinted window and stares in awe. Dwayne has seen this place before, 3 years ago to be exact, but he’s still surprised. How can someone afford something this grand?

The limo pulls up to the entrance and the two are ushered inside the large building, they are led to the grand hall. There must be at least 300 people in this room alone, it’s overwhelming. Everyone is wearing suits and lavish dresses, some have hats with feathers and others are holding fans. It all feels so old-fashioned, so traditional; Randal doesn’t belong here. Dwayne flashes a fake smile at everyone who says hello, he hates all of these people. He grabs Randal by the arm and walks with him through the crowd, not wanting to lose him. Randal asks where they’re going and Dwayne responds, “To see my parents.”

They exit the crowd after being stopped a few times to share hugs and fake kisses and walk up a large staircase. Dwayne stops before a large door and turns to Randal, he looks stressed. His eyes are wide and his bottom lip looks like it’s been chewed on by a small hungry animal of sorts. He tells Randal to be quiet and show no fear. These people prey on people like him, they’ll be in and out. Randal nods and pretends to zip his lips shut but Dwayne doesn’t find it funny. Dwayne turns towards the door and takes a deep breath in before opening the door and walking in. The room is smoky and filled with older people lounging on chairs, or playing card games of sorts. Dwayne is greeted by his aunts and cousins, his father is seated at the end of the room; he pays no mind to him. Randal follows behind the larger man, receiving odd looks and cruel glances.

One of Dwayne’s relative asks about his guest and why he hasn’t spoken yet. Randal opens his mouth to respond but Dwayne interrupts him, telling the curious relative that he’s just a good friend. After a few more introductions and greetings, Dwayne tells Randal to stay put and to please not talk to anyone. He has to go talk to his father and he doesn’t want Randal to be there for that whole ordeal.

Randal walks over to an empty lounge chair under a window and looks down at his hands, hoping that no one comes up to him. Little does he know, all eyes are on him. He’s with Dwayne, the family outcast, the one who no one has spoken to in at least 3 years. Everyone has at least ten questions to ask. Where is Dwayne now? Does he have a girl? Is he still that weird little kid he used to be? No one wastes a second, Randal looks up and sees two elderly ladies standing in front of him; they seem to be taking note of every aspect of his appearance. They both sit down next to him and the woman on the left asks him his name. “Randal.”, he replies. The woman on the right asks him who he’s with, as if they didn’t already know. “Dwayne.” Another question, “How do you know Dwayne, dear?” Randal uncomfortably shifts, “He was a frequent customer at my old job, we went to the same high school.”

The two women nod and one places a hand on Randal’s, “You’re very handsome, dear. Dwayne is lucky to have a friend like you.” Randal flushes, both from embarrassment and nervousness. He lets his guard down a bit, these ladies are too sweet to do anything bad, right? They just want to know a few things about their dear relative, nothing wrong with that! They ask a few more innocent questions and Randal answers. “Is he with anyone? A girl, perhaps?” The woman on the left raises her eyebrows and smirks at Randal who widens his eyes and shakes his head, “No, I don’t even think he- I’ve never seen him with any girl.” The two nod, as if they already knew the answer. They both stand up and thank Randal for the wonderful talk, they compliment him and he blushes. As they’re walking away one of them stops and turns around, as if she had forgotten something, “Oh honey, I forgot to ask, has Dwayne ever done anything odd? We worry about him so much, we really hope he’s changed..”

“Changed? What do you mean by that?” The two women look at Randal pitifully, one puts her hand on her chest and shakes her head. “Has he told you nothing? Gracious, Dwayne was an odd child, always disobeying his father. I heard he would hurt small creatures just for the fun of it. Once he moved into Grandma Edna’s old place, he stopped speaking to us. Isn’t that terrible?” Randal didn’t know any of this and to be frank, he was a bit creeped out by it. Lowering his head he responded, “Wow, I didn’t know th-” But by the time he had looked up, the two women were gone and the large door he had walked in earlier was closing shut. Randal checks his watch, it's already been 40 minutes, where is Dwayne?

10 more minutes pass and the door at the end of the room hasn't moved. Randal starts to get antsy, bouncing his leg and looking around the room with a furrowed brow. While he was waiting, another family member came to him with more questions but he flat out ignored him. He no longer wanted to be here, he felt shameful for telling those women those things, he did exactly what Dwayne told him not to do. Getting up, he started walking towards the door at the end of the room, weaving through people with cigarettes and fancy looking drinks. Finally making it to the door, he reaches his hand out to open it but hears muffled yelling from inside. He shouldn’t do this, Dwayne told him not to and he’s already gone against his wishes tonight. He takes a step to the right and leans against the wall next to the door, deciding to wait for him instead. He opens his phone and plays some built-in game to pass time.

Randal hears footsteps approaching the door from inside and turns to look at it, Dwayne’s father bursts out and walks right past him, ignoring him entirely. Randal flattens against the wall for a second, eventually peeking his head into the room. He sees Dwayne seated in a chair facing away from him and quickly slips inside, shutting the door behind him. He slowly walks up to Dwayne, asking if he’s okay. Dwayne stands up and faces him, his body is stiff as a board and his expression is unreadable. The two silently stare at each other for a moment or two.