(x-posted over at Ao3!)
Jack Ryan didn't often venture out to Fort Frolic all by himself. Usually he was accompanying his father and Miss McClintock, with friends, or out on a date with some girl he could barely stand. Tonight he was drawn to Sander Cohen's domain out of curiosity over the sensation that was Cohen's latest addition to his disciples, a young woman by the name of Elizabeth Comstock dubbed "Songbird" by the media in Rapture. Posters of Elizabeth and Cohen advertising their hit song "You Belong With Me" were up all over Rapture. Hell, Jack was sure there were a few up within ten feet of his apartment in Athena's Glory. In any case his interest in seeing Miss Comstock increased the more and more he heard rave reviews of her performances. Even Andrew Ryan himself seemed to visibly enjoy the sweet but sad songs she crooned.
That all but settled the matter for Jack. He would go and see Elizabeth Comstock perform and perhaps…perhaps he could get to meet her as well. There was something about her that Jack found intriguing. He couldn't put his finger on it but it was something that was certain to drive the Prodigal Son of Rapture wild.
So that was how Jack Ryan found himself in Fleet Hall on a Thursday night watching Cohen's new Songbird sweetly croon songs that brought a tear to many an eye. For the whole of Elizabeth's performance Jack's gaze remained fixed on the singer as she sang. It felt like, in a way, that she was singing to him and he would swear that her eyes met his so far away.
That night it seems like luck is on Jack's side when he retires to a bar later on in the night after the performance. He's hunched over nursing a whisky on the rocks and hoping no one notices him when someone slides into the seat on his right.
"My usual please, Jim." The voice is quiet as if its owner wishes to not draw attention to herself either. When Jack glances over he can see why, his stomach doing flip flops when it's Miss Comstock who has taken the seat next to him. He feels tongue tied and all but buries his face in his whisky which meant that his nose was nearly submerged in the glass. Almost inhaling whisky leaves Jack coughing and sputtering and red in the face. In his coughing fit he almost doesn't notice the handkerchief offered to him but when he does he's met with a smile from the finest-looking girl in all of Rapture.
"Are you alright? I don't think alcohol works the way cocaine does when you inhale it." Miss Comstock sounds amused and Jack hesitates before accepting the handkerchief to lightly dab at his face.
"Well, y'know, I was just experimenting." Jack clears his throat and offers the handkerchief back but is only waved off.
"Don't worry about it. I have plenty of those things." He can feel her eyes studying him now and he can almost see the recognition on her face when she realizes who he is. "You're Jack Ryan, right?"
He nods and her face seems to brighten up a bit. "I've seen you here a few times before, and you came to my show tonight, I believe?" So she was looking at him. Jack feels a bit smug and maybe his chest pufts out from the nice addition to his ego and confidence.
"That must make you Elizabeth Comstock then if we're to introduce one another. Your singing is fantastic, you know. The best I've ever heard." There are lots of other things that Jack finds 'fantastic' about Elizabeth but right now, when they've just met one another, they would be too inappropriate to say. Jim brings Elizabeth her rum and coke and a new glass of whisky for Jack. "Put anything Miss Comstock orders tonight on my tab." He's finding himself rebounding quickly from his embarrassing first impression and luckily Jim the barkeep is a silent type who just nods and grunts. Elizabeth looks like she's about to protest before reconsidering and picking up her glass.
"Aren't I a lucky girl to have such a fine gentleman paying for my drinks." She winks at him and Jack feels his stomach flip flop again.
As the evening goes on Jack and Elizabeth ignore everyone else in the bar except for each other. They just talk and talk, drinks barely touched, and by the end of the evening he's bold enough to set his hand over her's.
Elizabeth, he learns, had been one of hundreds of applicants chosen by Sander Cohen to become one of his disciples and work and study under him. She'd been born in New York and had come down to Rapture with her widower father as a child. Her mother had died in childbirth and her father a few years previous. Before working for Cohen she'd been a waitress at the Silver Fin and living in Pauper's Drop scraping to get by. A rags to riches story would be Elizabeth's, Jack was sure.
By the time the bar closes it feels like they've known each other forever.
Their conversation went from the bar and to her apartment in the Mercury Suites. It's a dangerous move, especially if the paparazzi are lurking around somewhere. But Jack Ryan is a gentleman and a gentleman who pays for a pretty gal's drinks ought to see her home too. Their goodbyes linger for longer than necessary but Jack manages to muster up the courage to ask Elizabeth out on a date. She agrees and they make a date for Saturday evening, a movie and then dinner and drinks.
Elizabeth kisses him good-night and goes into her apartment. Jack makes sure to send her a bouquet of flowers the next day and a note saying that he'd pick her up around 6 pm on Saturday for the movie.
[[This is a one-shot that I hope to morph into a longer story! Please read and review and enjoy! :) ]]