"Julie, remind me to strangle you when this ends."
"Hey, we had a deal! And I couldn't have done this without Mike's persuasion."
"Then remind me to kill him, then beat you to death with his corpse."
The bold Motorcity attitude was rubbing off on Claire in positive and negative ways.
"Claire, it's only one evening with Chuck. One. Evening. An hour at the most. If things get too awkward, just let him down easy. But please, give him a chance. And when this is all over, you'll either walk away with a new boyfriend, or a good friend. Just don't forget the benefit: you'll bond."
"I'm pretty sure we've BONDED plenty over the hundreds of times I've come down here." Claire spat, the word "bonded" laced with venomous sarcasm she had picked up from the Amazons. "Why would this time be any different?"
Julie stared at her childhood friend, her face blank with a stubbornness reserved normally for Mike when he made especially rash decisions.
"Because you've grown. Both you and Chuck have."
Claire raised a curvy, skeptical eyebrow, Julie's supposedly wise words only succeeding in confusing and frustrating her further. "Grown how? What do you mean?"
The redhead's expression softened, and she held out her hand expectantly. "I'm sure you'll figure that out in the long run."
Claire rolled her eyes, taking Julie's hand and allowing herself to be lead into Antonio's; the last place Claire had in mind for a "date", as Mike and Julie kept referring to it as.
"You and your cryptic secrets..." She sighed, using her free hand to feel her hair and check for any loose strands and tangles. "Promise me this won't be a total waste of time?"
Her friend smiled at her reassuringly. "I swear it on my honor as a Burner."
Claire returned the smile in spite of herself. "I guess I'll see you in a bit."
Julie nodded, waving her toward a reserved table, where a familiar blond was waiting with obvious anticipation.
With a deep inhale and one last pat on the back from Julie, Claire took her seat across from the least weirdest member of the Burners.
He grinned, the bangs in his eyes preventing Claire from knowing if he was scared or not.
"Hiya! Um, Mike said you'd-,"
"Yeah, Julie told me you'd be-,"
"Right, right, of course. Those two are just-,"
"Heh, yeah, they are, aren't they?"
"Yeah..."
"..."
Well, this was already turning out to be absolutely fabulous. Claire cleared her throat uncomfortably, her eyes darting all over the place, switching between different objects in the unkempt restaurant. Television in the corner. Some drunk people hanging around the bar. A grease stain on the wall. The floor. Oh, what a nice looking floor. Yup. Truly a work of art.
"So...h-how have you been lately?" Chuck broke the awkward silence at last.
Claire was slightly surprised that he hadn't brought up algorithms yet. Maybe by now he'd learned that wasn't a good subject to woo a girl.
"Oh, I guess I can't complain." Claire said, tilting an empty glass toward herself with a dainty finger, still avoiding eye contact. "I mean, I'm just living life as best I can in Deluxe."
"Yeah? Cool. Cool..." Five more seconds past, but Chuck thankfully didn't let the silence thicken like it did before. "Any problems up there? Pod not working properly? Security breach?"
"It's fine. Can't expect much to happen up there now. It's safe, y'know? Really, really...secure." Her voice gained a distant edge to it, as if she wasn't sure what to think of that statement.
What else could she say about Deluxe? It was safe. It was clean. She didn't have to worry about a thing. She could just live her life without a fear of disease, violence, or danger. There was the occasional crazy Burner mission gone awry in Deluxe, but she had enough faith in the Burners to take care of everything. Julie had shown her countless times that she could handle herself, that Claire didn't have to worry about her. And she believed her. Simple as that.
Months ago, if anyone had asked Claire to state the positive aspects of Motorcity, she would have flatly said that there were quite literally none. It was just a filthy city that had somehow attracted the attention of her closest friend.
Now, as she compared her spotless home of Deluxe to the underground Motorcity...she could see why Julie had a double life. Once you taste a smidgen of adrenaline, you're hooked for life. Claire didn't know how she'd even existed without knowing the speed of a car. The though alone was mind boggling to say the least. The people weren't that bad either. Mike was decent enough as leaders go, Dutch was unbelievably creative, Texas was...interesting, and Chuck...
Chuck was...
"Cute?"
"Um, what?"
Claire's eyes widened, color flowing to her cheeks. Did she really just say that out loud?
"N-Nothing! Just thinking out loud! No big deal." Why was she acting so flustered? This was Chuck! He was supposed to be the nervous wreck, not her!
And where had that thought come from anyway? Chuck cute? Well, if she was honest with herself...
"You weren't...thinking about me, by any chance, were you?" There was a hopeful smile on Chuck's face, his cheeks tinged with red, just like Claire.
"I was not!" Her face only got brighter, doing little to help her lie.
"You totally are! Y-you think I'm cute?" He brushed back the curtain of his bangs, revealing his wide, eager blue eyes.
"No! Okay, wait-maybe-but, but, that's not the point here!" She wondered how he could act so nervous and trip over his words one minute then grow so bold and happy the next.
"Well, technically it is the point since our current topic is whether you're lying." Chuck said matter of factly. He didn't sound smug in the least, thank God.
"Alright, alright, so MAYBE I think you're cute."
He grinned triumphantly, and Claire pretended her stomach didn't perform a flip. "But before you say anything, hear me out. I REALLY don't know a damn thing about any of this."
Chuck frowned in confusion. "About what?"
"Just...this." Claire gestured furiously between herself and the blond. "You know as well as I do that Mike and Jules are just trying to hook us up, right?"
He deflated. "Yeah..."
Claire's face softened upon seeing his sad expression, and she sighed. "All I'm trying to say is that...I'm not interested in you..."
Chuck looked stunned, as if Claire had slapped him. For a few beats, he just stared at her incredulously, like he honestly did not see that comment coming despite all the obvious hints she had given off.
Then he lowered his gaze until the bangs fell back over his eyes; a cover for the tears he was trying so desperately to fight back.
Claire bit her lip, a twinge of guilt and sorrow piercing her heart like a dagger. She had NOT meant to sound that cruel at all-she'd just meant to let him down easy, just like she'd promised Julie if nothing went well. The bangs may have done their job of covering his eyes, but the hurt and hopelessness was coming off Chuck in thick, uncomfortable waves.
And now Claire was covering her face with a hand, wondering if there was any way to turn the mood around. Then again, she had been the one to start this, so it was her job to fix this, wasn't it? She didn't mean to hurt him that badly, she thought that he already knew!
Then Julie's words came back to her...
Because you've grown. Both you and Chuck have.
...He's grown. He wasn't as much of a bumbling wreck as he used to be. He was trying admirably hard to win her affections. But what about her? Motorcity had grown on her, but...what else?
Her face hardened in resolve as she finally came to a decision. She couldn't ignore him-she wasn't going to be that kind of person. He had given her a chance, so what right did she have to not return the favor?
"...Yet."
Chuck perked up, quickly wiping at his eyes. "What?"
"Yet. I'm not interested in you...yet." She smiled the slightest bit. "I'm not gonna lie to you and say that I'm crushing on you like you're crushing on me, Chuck. But I can tell you this: you're bright. You're funny at times. You don't give up. And you know what? I won't give up on you."
Each sentence made Chuck's mouth twitch upward, until he was smiling too. "Really?"
Claire placed her left hand on the table, tapping her fingers on its surface. "If you want to go out with me, cool. But that means I'll have to get to know you more. Know your likes and dislikes, see if we have anything in common. If we just hang out together-as FRIENDS;" She added upon seeing Chuck light up gleefully, "-then maybe, one day, I'll...wanna go out with you."
"You...you mean it?"
Claire decided right then and there that seeing Chuck's happy face would be worth all the techno babble she'd have to endure in the future. "Yes."
Chuck laughed joyously, suddenly raising his hand up at a passing waitress. "Hey! Can we have a pizza over here?! I got myself a DATE!"
Claire sank into her seat with a groan, though she was fighting a smile as she cursed and blessed Chuck's inappropriate boldness.
Just give him a chance. He wouldn't be so bad in the long run.
...
"Ha-ha! They're talking and eating pizza! I think they've made progress, Jules."
"Knew this would work somehow!"
Two adolescents laughed victoriously, passing binoculars back and forth as they watched their closest friends bond together. Neither had estimated that their little set-up date would work this well. They knew that, whether Claire would admit it or not, they were perfect for one another.
"I'd still like to know how you talked Claire into doing this. I'm guessing she needed more convincing than Chuck." Mike mused.
Julie shrugged. "I can be really persuasive when I wanna be."
"And Claire can be really stubborn when she wants to be." Mike retorted, smiling curiously. Julie chortled a little, having expected his prying.
"Claire is a bit of a shipper-like you and I."
"Right...wait, what do you mean ship-?"
"And she's all for me going after the guy I love. So all I had to do was agree to 'finally start dating him'", she mimicked Claire's perky voice, "And she'd endure a date with Chuck."
She grinned at him, a hint of a blush on her face. "Best deal I've ever made."
Mike returned the smile, leaning against her. "Best thing I've ever heard."