Chapter 7
Claire woke up a little bit around eight in the morning and had gone out to the park near her hotel. Today was be a special occasion for her since she decided to be Leon's date for the president's party tonight. She was currently waiting for Ashley Graham who had said she would lend Claire a dress since Claire had clearly not thought about going to a party when she was packing for her mission.
"Where is she, she told me to meet her hear at around nine, and its already near nine thirty" uttered Claire with a hint of annoyance in her face.
"Claaaaaaaaaaaaaire" came a high pitched voice.
Claire turned around to see the young blond running towards her with Lott Thompson trailing not to hard behind.
"I'm glad that you decided to make it" squealed the blond as she gave Claire a mini bear hug.
"I already told you a million times not to run off like that you could get yourself kidnapped again and God knows what Leon would do to me if that ever happened again." Screamed Lott, who was catching up with her.
Ashley laughed
"I'm sorry that were late but there was quite a bit of traffic this morning I hope you didn't wait long"
"It's no big deal" Claire lied.
"So what now?" asked Claire.
"We go and get you a dress so you can look super gorgeous for Leon tonight" stated Ashley which caused Claire to blush slightly.
With that she grabbed her hand and started running off to the nearest shopping center.
9 hours later
Claire was now putting the finishing touches of her makeup. After nearly six hours of looking she had managed to buy a strapless blue silk dress with a line going up the side that exposed her leg (much like Ada's dress in RE4) and matching gloves which went up to her elbows. Ashley had convinced her to wear heels as well. As much as she hated wearing heels she would make an exception since this was a special occasion. She also let her hair down which was sure to get the attention of a lot of people tonight.
Claire had just finished preparing when she heard a knock on her hotel door.
"Just a sec" Shouted Claire as she stepped out her bathroom and walked towards the door.
When the door opened standing there was none other than Leon S Kennedy who was sporting a black tuxedo, matching dress shoes and a bow tie. Claire also noticed he was wearing cologne which added a nice touch to his already handsome figure.
"Wow you look amazing" said Leon as he was gazing up and down at Claire. He had never seen Claire in a dress before or with her hair down. He felt as if he were about to drool until Claire replied.
"You don't look that bad yourself" Even with a Tux on she can still notice his muscular figure underneath, and the cologne he was wearing was working wonders on her nose.
"Shall we" said Leon extending his arm to Claire.
"Lets" said Claire as she hooked her arm around his and made their way towards his R8.
It took about half an hour to get to the presidents mansion. Both Leon and Claire would steal quick glances at each other while the other didn't notice along the way.
The president's mansion looked incredible. There was a large courtyard in the front that had a fountain with statues of the president's family mounted over it. Both Leon and Claire agreed that Ashley's statue looked somewhat like a monkey.
The yard was filled with lush green grass and bush cut outs of animals. When Claire saw the back of the mansion there was a tennis court, a giant swimming pool, and what looked like a golf course that stretched out about several acres.
When they stepped into the mansion they were greeted by a magnificent ball room of European architecture with crystal chandeliers, granite floor tiles and marble statues depicting famous people and events. There was also a grand staircase on the far side that led up to the upper levels of the mansion and a large dance floor in the middle. The place was packed with all types of people that were dressed up in fancy dresses and suits.
"Well how do you like the place" Leon asked.
"It's amazing I don't think I've ever been to a place this fancy in my entire life.
"Leeeeeeoooon, Claaaaaaaiiiire."
Ashley who was sporting a yellow dress had come running towards them and lunged at the two before they could even have a chance to react.
"Wow you two look great" squealed the blond.
"It's nice to see you too Ashley" said Claire trying her best not to look annoyed.
Leon just let out a sigh.
"So where is everyone" asked the government agent.
"Oh their all waiting for us at our table, why don't I take you there right now"
With that Ashley led them to the more exclusive and fancy side of the room that were only for the most important guest where there was a table waiting for them.
Claire recognized Lott who was sitting there ready to scold Ashley for running off again, a younger girl who was sitting next to him that seem to bear a resemblance to him, a man with reddish brown hair that seem to be around the same age as Leon, and a woman that looked an awful lot like herself except for her long shiny blond hair that extended halfway up her back.
"Well look who finally decided to show up" said the older man.
"It's nice to see you too Ark did you and Elza enjoy the Bahamas."
"We sure did, except for the part where Ark almost fainted when he saw a sting ray swim by him in the water" said the blond woman trying to hold back a snicker.
"Hey those things are vicious don't you know that they killed the crocodile hunter"(A/N RIP man)
"Anyway so who's the pretty lady that's accompanying a poor sap like you tonight" said Ark who was eyeing Claire from head to toe.
"Hi I'm Claire Redfield; it's nice to meet you."
"I'm Ark Thompson, this is my girlfriend Elza Walker, and my daughter Lilly it's nice to meet you too"
"So how do you know Leon" asked Elza.
"Well you could say that were old friends, me and Leon have been through a lot in the past"
"Oh, really" said Ark who gave a noticeable wink at them causing both of them to blush.
"So there you are Leon, I was getting worried you wouldn't show up"
In came Ingrid Hunnigan who was wearing a long black dress with her arm hooked onto a man with semi long brown hair that looked of Latin American descent.
"Hey Hunnigan it's nice to see you too" said Leon.
"Who's this with you" everyone asked with curiosity
"Oh this is my boyfriend corporal Carlos Olivera"
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, especially all you lovely senoritas" mouthed Carlos.
Hunnigan let out a small scowl in which Carlos immediately noticed and apologized.
"Why don't we all go dance" suggested Ashley with look of excitement written on her face.
"Do I have to I'm already dead tired from chasing you around all day" said Lott with a look of discomfort on his face.
"Yes you do or I will tell daddy, now come on" with that Ashley forcefully dragged Lott on to the dance floor.
"May I have this dance my lady" said Leon as he picked up Claire's hand and kissed it gently.
"Why I'd love to" said Claire.
With that the two made their way to the dance floor and were soon followed by Ark, Elza, Ingrid, and Carlos.
After about the half an hour of fast dancing the music started to turn into slow dance songs. Both Claire and Leon had to admit that they were pretty good dancers despite their backgrounds.
"So do you want to go sit back down or do you care to slow dance with me" asked Leon.
"I wouldn't mind" said Claire with a gleam of excitement in her voice.
With that the two wrapped their hands around each other and started to slowly waltz, with Claire putting her head onto Leon's shoulder.
"Leon" Claire whispered.
"Hmm what is it" asked the government agent.
"What you said to me last night about how important I am to you did you actually mean it"
"Every word" replied Leon who put on a sincere smile.
Claire looked into his gorgeous blue eyes and saw that there was nothing but truth and passion in them. She felt herself being drawn into them and before she knew it his face was leaning closer to her.
Once again Claire closed her eyes, waiting for the moment she had been yearning for these past few days when she suddenly heard a mature feminine voice call out Leon's name and broke apart from him.
"What in the blue hell are you doing here" said Leon with fury in his eyes.
There standing before them was none other than Angela Miller wearing that same poca dotted dress she had been wearing the last time Claire saw her.
"Oh is that any way to treat an old friend Leon, I mean we did used to go out"
"You are not my friend Angela, nor will you ever be so why don't you do everyone a favor and leave" shouted Leon.
"I don't get you Leon" said Angela while looking at Claire.
"Why would you choose her over me, I'm so much more pretty and more feminine than she is"
"You must be blind; Claire has always been more beautiful than you, and when you say more feminine does that mean being a complete slut who goes around sleeping with ever guy they see"
Angela had gone silent.
"Come on Claire lets go" Leon took her hand and started heading back to their table.
Claire blushed feeling all tingly inside after Leon stood up for her she had never seen him do that for anyone before, but before she knew it she saw Angela charging them from behind with her hand raised as if ready to slap Leon.
Claire immediately pushed Leon to the side and nailed Angela with a swift kick to the chest that sent her flying into the desert table and landing into a giant cake completely destroying it and covering her from head to toe in cream.
Sticky and embarrassed Angela grabbed a pie from the remains of the table and lunged it at Claire. Claire instinctively though ducked out of the way and the pie instead went crashing into the face of Ashley.
Ashley screamed and shouted for security which immediately came and grabbed Angela strapping a pair of handcuffs on her before leading her out the ball room and into a police car. (I guess that's considered assault)
Lott helped Ashley to the washroom to clean up while everyone else at the table were either cheering or trying their best to hold back a laugh.
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The party continued relatively well, Ashley and Lott returned from the Washroom with her face clean about twenty minutes after the incident. They had relatively large grins on their faces, which caused everyone to wonder if cleaning her face was all they did. The other couples had continued to dance while Leon had led Claire out onto a balcony overlooking the massive courtyard.
"That was great what you did back there" said Leon with a smile.
"Well you can thank Chris for that, I saw him do that to a bully when we were younger except the guy landed in a pile of garbage instead"
Leon laughed and brushed a strand of loose hair out of Claire's face. She was once again captured by his blue eyes which seemed even more radiant with the moonlight shining down upon them.
"You look so beautiful tonight why don't you let your hair down more often" asked Leon.
"I never had a reason to" said Claire silently while wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Well maybe I can give you one"
With that Leon closed the remaining space between them and captured her in a passionate kiss. Claire felt butterflies in her stomach as she continued to feel his soft lips and intake his minty breath. Niether of them knew how long it lasted but eventually let go to cath their breaths.
"Is that enough convincing" asked Leon with a huge smile on his face.
"Not even close" said Claire before immediately capturing his lips with hers once more.
Tonight would be a night that neither of them would ever forget.
(A/N Hey everyone thanks for reading I hope you all enjoyed this Chapter I put quite some time into it. Sorry there wasn't much action this chapter but there will be in the next one so don't worry. Anyway please review it keeps me motivated to continue this story and special thanks to Hobohunter who gave me the idea of the Steve and Sherry pairing in the previous chapters with her great stories)
