"You're crazy Rowena…" Clarice picked up her glass with a shaking head.
"If you want to call me that." The red-haired shrugged nonchalantly but with another sneaky glance at the two hotties across the bar. "I don't mind as long as I go home with one of them."
Clarice rolled her eyes, not only was Rowena crazy she was also determined and now that she had her eye on some guy with big muscles she wasn't going to stop. "You know…" she sighed upset. "This is so… you." She narrowed her green eyes. "You dragged me out for a drink and I'm not even half way through my white wine and you're already considering ditching me for some stranger."
Rowena scooped closer to Clarice. "Everyone is a stranger before you give them an opportunity."
Clarice twirled what was left inside of her glass, meeting strangers was not part of her plan for tonight, or for the next year for that matter. "I'll pass." She stated before finishing her drink.
"Even if they look like two super-hot models straight out of my wildest dreams?" Rowena looked at the pair again and smiled back at the one on the right, he was tall, handsome and flirting back with her. "Did you just see that?" she whispered between teeth. "He just smiled at me." She could get past the fact that the other one was ignoring her.
With an eye-roll Clarice left her high stool. "Maybe you should go over there and say hi to him, you've been undressing him for the last hour, so it probably should be nice to have a name to go along with it." She whispered back at Rowena.
"I just might." Rowena waved at her flirt. "Maybe they're related to Taylor Lautner."
"Ok… I'm going to the bathroom." Clarice turned away knowing that Rowena was going to find a way to start conversation with the two guys and she didn't even bother looking at them on her way to the restrooms, she did notice before how attractive they were but there wasn't a real reason to fuel Rowena's excitement any further.
The restroom was empty, so Clarice did take the chance to have a breather, things hadn't been exactly wonderful lately in her life and a girls' night out had sounded good at first but now she was hiding in the bathroom and staring at a particularly dirty mirror.
"I should've stayed home watching Dancing with the Stars." She sighed at her own reflection, she could be curled up on her sofa with a warm blanket and eating junk food and sweets until she felt sick from all the unhealthy overload.
Clarice dived into one of the pockets of her leather jacket, she didn't have any sweets on her but she did have a stunning wild rose shade, so she resigned with putting on another layer of lipstick.
When she left the small space she was genuinely expecting to see Rowena happily mingling with the boys yet somehow they weren't where she last saw them and her friend wasn't at the bar either, confused Clarice spun around looking for them but as a random small group at the bar dissipated she identified one of the hotties that Rowena had been targeting all night.
He was alone and asking for a Corona and when she came closer to the stool where she had been sitting all night he seemed to sense her presence and immediately searched for her eyes with a smile.
It was awkward or maybe it was just Clarice's raw reaction to how soft his big dark eyes were, still riding that awkward train she replied with a small smile. "Hi…" she lifted her hand the tiniest. "Have you seen my friend?"
"She left with my brother." He answered back with a press of his lips, nothing hit the awkward bullseye as much as being left at the bar like a third unwanted wheel.
Clarice received the explanation at the same time she unlocked a message full of smileys from Rowena stating an apology and a I will make it up to you later. I promise. "Great…" she tossed the phone on the counter upset. "She was my ride."
"Umm… sorry about that."
The tone was genuine and Clarice responded to that. "It's not that much of a surprise." She admitted. "Rowena spent the last two hours gushing about the cute guys in the back." She edited the last bit but only because she didn't feel comfortable saying that he was hot, at least not to his very hot face.
"Yeah… same thing with James." He frowned, it wouldn't be wise to tell her right away that he had been hoping all night that she would at least look in his direction. "I'm John Proudstar." he said with a nod which was stupid because now he came across way too somber.
"Clarice…" she smiled noticing the small shake of his head, like he was reprimanding himself for the weird formal introduction.
John sat at the vacant stool ordering himself to relax, granted that she was a beautiful girl but he wasn't a man to usually fluster around women. "I would offer to take you home but that would sound so incredibly bad considering that my brother just left with your friend and…" he paused clasping his lips. "… they probably went back to the hotel room."
Unexpectedly his expression made Clarice laugh and she gave in without much resistance.
"It's turning out to be an odd night." He confessed with a sigh, he tried to stop James from being so rash but his younger brother was too impulsive for his own good.
"We're in New Orleans, so…" Clarice accepted a fresh glass of wine from the barista, he was a friend and he was looking after her.
"Tell me when you're ready to go home and I'll call a cab for you." He smiled assuring her that he was keeping an eye on the big guy starting a conversation with her.
Clarice's smile was warm, she really appreciated the gesture. "Thanks Scotty."
John had his beer quietly, he didn't like to impose conversation on anyone but crossing lines was a big deal for him as well. "I can take another seat if you want to wait for your ride home undisturbed."
That was something that really took Clarice off guard, John was sitting on his stool with enough space between them to fit another person, he wasn't even trying to get advantage of the proximity that the small space required and not once had he dropped his eyes from the same level as hers without being too intense or forceful, instead he was respectful and natural about it. "You don't have to move because of me."
He smiled boastful, or at least he would've if it wasn't for the beer that he pushed against his lips. Get a grip John. He forced on himself at the same time the extra activity outside made him look at the door of the bar.
There was a band crossing the other side of the street and the sound echoed all the way inside of the bar, just like the people following it and all the while Clarice was attentive to how John reacted to it. "There's this entire vibe of adamant confidence coming from you but strangely music makes you twitchy and fidgety." She scrunched her lips really intrigued by that.
"I'm way out of my element in this city to be honest." He confessed with his eyes on the bottle, slowly he started lifting the corner of the label while his thumb glided across the perspiration caused by the icy temperature of the beer. "In my line of work whenever there's a big commotion it's always a distraction and something to look out for and it's hard for me to stray away from that. When James insisted that we spent our two weeks of leave in New Orleans I knew that it would be a challenge." He turned his head to look at her in a slow motion. "I still can't get used to the spontaneous burst of parties happening every ten minutes."
Clarice rested her elbows on top of the counter with an incisive look at him. "Are you insinuating that you're a soldier?"
He hid the answer behind another sip of beer.
"Come on…" Clarice started laughing.
It was defiantly a look that suited her, her magical green eyes were sparkling and her delicate face lit up while the long hair with purple locks effortlessly danced around her shoulders.
"I'm flattered that you want to impress me with the military card but I might be insulted if you insist on the soldiery thing." She commented between laughs.
He turned on the stool entirely so that he was completely facing her and he couldn't be more grave about it.
"Wait…" she murmured just as the laughter faded.
He widened his eyes a tad, enough to reinforce the unspoken statement.
"No one in the army would ever let you get away with that hair." She pointed at the silky beauty that reached his neck. "More than two inches of hair sticks out like a sour thumb and no branch of the United States Armed Forces would ever sanction that."
He parted his lips impressed and this time the boastful smile was a real smirk. "I'm special."
"Oh, in that case…" she huffed mockingly.
"I'm not bragging about it." He eased up into a laugh.
"Of course not." She picked up her glass for a big sip. "You're just implying that you're allowed to do anything because your skills entitle you to do that and I bet that you're also going to say that you belong to some obscure special ops under the jurisdiction of the United States Army."
He leaned in forward the tiniest. "Have we met before?"
She rested the glass back on top of the wooden counter and smiled at him, sweetly and candidly. "I would've remembered if we did."
"So you're just good at reading soldiery people…" he teased her.
"That's me… the world's best reader of people." She joked but the easiness froze a little with the daunting memory creeping in and unconsciously she reached up to touch the small scar that she had above her eyebrow.
Touched by her reaction John retracted as well. "I didn't mean to…" he lowered his voice and tone. "I'm sorry." He obviously stumbled upon a sensitive subject.
"I'm fine." She sold the lie she perfect over the last six months.
"I get that."
Unexpectedly Clarice wanted him to carry on and she looked at him vaguely wondering what he would say next.
"I lost a good friend last year and the first thing that I said was that I was fine."
"Were you?" she asked him cautiously.
"No." he answered with a sad smile. "But it stopped people from asking."
She looked away feeling slightly exposed, it wasn't often that she felt a crack in her hard shield and rarely she allowed anyone to catch a glimpse of it but there was something trustworthy about John and she wanted to let go for only that tiny bit. "Was your friend a soldier as well?" she asked on her way to face him, in time to notice that he hadn't moved his stare away an inch.
John nodded. "We were cornered into a building in ruins and Logan and I fought them off until we were both out of ammunition, when they were about to charge in on us with everything they had Logan ran out of the building with the last grenade…"
Affected Clarice gulped down. "I'm sorry about your friend."
He shook it off with a change of subject. "We've only met for what… half an hour? And we've already apologized to each other. I'm not sure that's the best omen."
That subtle hint of a smile really made him sexy and Clarice didn't hide her thoughts when she made her first flirting attempt, it was a simple lingering of her gaze upon his but those two seconds turned into a moment. "So, where's home? You've mentioned that you were here on vacation."
"I'm always on the move… it's just the way it is with work and I got used to it. I mean, there's a house in Georgia with a lot of boxes in it but I can hardly call it a home, as it is I spend more time at the HQ than I do in that house." He started peeling off the label of the bottle. "How about you? Are you a NOLA native?"
"Hardly." Clarice bitterly chuckled. "I just landed here five months ago and I'll possibly be gone before the year ends."
"You don't like having roots?"
"I don't like rules!" she pointed at him with a bit of sass.
"What about family?"
"Dad is a very important man who loves rules and I was the free-spirited daughter who just liked to dance."
And so the puzzle started to have pieces that fit in, from the second she walked in with her friend that Clarice caught his eye, it wasn't the purple hair or the casual look of a steamy top under a worn-out leather jacket, it wasn't even that exotic beauty of hers that left him shaken, it was that strident wildfire that lived inside of her and that was on display for everyone to see, she was a wild one and she wasn't to be tamed by anyone.
"It's way less exciting than it sounds." She joked, toning down her complicated relationship with her father.
"You've just described my ability to dance."
Again she started laughing without care, he was good at that, making her so at ease that she forgot how guarded she was.
"Give me someone to track and I will do it blindly but play a tune and my feet will turn into lead."
"Dancing is easy." She assured him. "It's just a matter of letting go and feeling the music like it's a part of you." She trapped a lock of wavy hair behind her ear enthusiastic about her passion. "Dancing for me is an escape, it's my chance to be completely free and it's the one thing no one can take away from me."
He felt his body stiffen, he was a protective man by nature and although he barely knew her he hated the hint in her voice of all the pain she already experienced during her short life, because he could tell how young she was, Clarice was barely in her twenties which was also a problem considering how he probably had 10 extra years on her.
"Do I have to worry about the big monologue happening right now inside of your head?" she hoped not, it would royally suck for her if he was just another control freak with boundary issues.
"I was trying to figure out the best way to ask you to have dinner with me without being too straightforward and creepy about it." Screw logic, he really liked Clarice and he wanted to get to know her better.
"It's too soon for an intimate meal." She burst his hopeful bubble, no matter how different John appeared she was too burnt to throw herself out there just like that.
John lowered his shoulders discouraged, hell, his entire body shrunk with sorrow.
"But I'm going to ask Scotty for that cab now and that leaves you with ten solid minutes to ask me where I'm going to have breakfast tomorrow."
His entire chest filled with this strange warmth, like she was breathing new life into him. "Coffee is as good for now." After all he still had another free week before he had to leave.
"Coffee is my second favorite thing in the world." She signaled Scotty to make the call. "Right after dancing."
That was ok, he could conceal for now how famous he was in the corps for his horrible unbearable coffee. "Coffee and beignets it is."
Clarice stood up from her stool with an artful leer. "I don't like rules, remember? I'm more of a warm jelly donut type of girl."
He widened his corny-ass smirk, this girl was something else.
She stopped just next to him shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Your ten minutes are ticking away."
"I don't know the city that well."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Are you playing hard to get Georgia boy?"
He opened his mouth dithering on a reply, apparently she had the nagging ability of prying away his buoyance confidence. "Just pointing out that we should exchange numbers."
She pondered it for a moment. "Nope…" she clasped her lips playfully. "I don't know you enough for that."
"Yet." He dropped open to the possibility that they would have the chance to change all that.
"There's a small café right in the middle of the French Quarter, it's one of the fifty cafes that exist there but it has the best coffee in town." She tilted her head in a spirited way. "I'm sure you can use your unique soldiery skills to find it."
Those were her chosen words of goodbye and as Clarice started to walk away John looked back to watch her leave. "Well John…" he spoke up smitten. "You're screwed." He really liked her.