Who: Bastian and Claire What: Claire's waiting on Jesse, and runs into his Boss Where: Brimstone When: Thursday evening Rating: TBA Status: Incomplete
Claire wasn't good at this.
Surprises. That is, keeping good ones to herself. She sucked at it. It was the reason why her mother didn't clue her in on her father's surprise party when she was eighteen, and why she could never wait until Christmas to give them both her gifts. Also, Claire was horrible at lying, which seemed to always play a part in surprise-giving. Omission - she could manage that, but only to a point.
Reason %328 that she no longer lived with her parents.
So, when Claire switched nights with one of he girls at work who needed more hours, she dolled herself up in her favorite flirty dress and headed to the casino to surprise him, only to find out he was slinging drinks for some party in the many VIP sections, it was damned near impossible to keep her hands off her phone.
She sat at the bar, legs crossed at the knee with the spike of her heel hooked on the stool next to her, staring at the thing with a glass of white wine in her hand. She wanted to surprise him so bad, but what if he just headed out the back after his shift and missed her? I should at least text him, she thought, tentatively running a hand through her hair, but her eyes never left the phone's screen. Her thumb ran over it, bringing up the 'send message' menu, hesitated, then closed it again. Claire swallowed her sigh with a good drink of wine, and looked toward the casino hallway for the eightieth time...
Only to see someone in her field of vision that hadn't been there before; the man with the pale eyes and deep oak hair, always in an obscenely expensive suit that looked painted on. The man who was smooth as anointing oil, no matter how much folks like her father vehemently opposed his presence in Babylon. The man Jesse worked for.
And he was looking at her.
Something like nerves twisted deep inside Claire, but it certainly wasn't completely unpleasant. Her reflex was to smile at him, which she did, then shyly looked back down at her phone.