Chapter 20 - Showdown (3 of 4)

Part 8 - Simmer

"Did you really pick her up with a tandem?!" Chris guffawed aloud, slapping his knee at Leon's helpless shrug.

"It'd have taken longer by foot, so…" Leon justified.

"Geez! I can almost see the face she made when she saw you coming on that clunker!" Chris imagined and that really gave him a belly laugh, genuine like everything concerning Rebecca.

"Oh, c'mon! It's not that wrecked!" Leon amusedly protested.

"Did you wear your mother's helmet?" Chris gushed almost choking on his own laughter and the smoke. "Please, tell me you didn't put a fucking flowery meadow on your head!"

"Chill out, bud. I gave Mom's one to Becky." Leon replied. In fact he had preferred to use the helmet that once belonged to his father. In the end, there was something regarding heads that the two Kennedys had in common: the size.

"Remind me to give you some driving lessons, Leon." Chris laughed, blowing out a drag of smoke. "You can't keep picking up girls on a bicycle!"

Leon snorted in derision.

"Even though I'm curious to see how you'd deal with boning a girl on a two-wheeler!" Chris sassed.

"Is that a challenge?" Leon suggestively smirked.

Leon couldn't even recall the last time he'd had a conversation like that with Chris.

One of those chilling small talks between bros about motors, girls, pussy and fellatio before a good cigarette. Only a pair of beer cans was missing to complete the scenery of their bromantic reunion. Being both at their second round of tobacco, they'd have surely emptied the cigarettes holders to talk the falling evening away if only that moment of – apparent – normality wasn't meant to end soon.

Now that Leon finally knew the true tragedy that had struck the Redfields, it leapt out how Chris had been a whole fucking different person until some time ago! Hadn't it all been about such an unthinkable and unordinary event, Leon could've even figured it all out by himself for how darn evident the identity alteration of his friend had been.

For a whole month Chris had simply quitted being Chris.

Never once a comment on any of those deep cleavages the girls in the school seemed to wear only to impress and be noticed by a guy like him. Never once had he acted like the cocky guy who used to say to show no mercy when it came to impress a girl and ask her out – or to humiliate a bully. Never once had he flirted in the hallways with a passing chick like he used to: a seductive smile, a charming gaze and the innate appeal of the nice guy you'd have called Daddy while he fucked your brains out against the same window he had sneaked through, giving zero fucks about your parents being downstairs – certainly, it was a fairly edulcorated vision of Chris but that was the kind of aura that surrounded him and made girls and panties drop to the floor at his feet anytime he'd be around.

When Chris had told him the cosmic hoax of Lily's cancer, Leon had wanted to convince himself that each of Chris's anomalies – from the depressed look, to the dejected posture, to the lack of energy – had been due to the strong anxiety the fright of losing his mom to a bad illness generated. Logically it was inarguable but, anyway, the easiness in which a natural born combatant like him had gotten knocked-out by an adversity that was all yet to happen, had left Leon perplexed.

Now instead… now it all made sense. The fake Chris had stood the blow even too bravely.

Albeit, apparently, his friend had returned for a while now, he hadn't resumed all the habits he had had to interrupt on the 24th of September. And this was giving Leon some other headache.

The real old Chris hadn't returned as, instead, it was logical to expect.

At school, he seemed to be paying zero attention to girls or to the continuous goading exhortations of Carlos that tried to match him with anyone who hadn't a penis dangling between their legs. But Chris seemed always distracted, he always dismissed it as not important, as if the opposite sex (or sex in general) didn't concern him, except for those rarest cases when his attention was casually caught by a Piers praising fruity condoms or lubes or Kevin describing sex positions or new remote locations in Arklay City where he'd taken his new girlfriend. Those were the only moments when Chris seemed to remember he was a man. Without considering Piers and all the sad cases he dated, by then Chris was the last guy in the squad without a girl – well, uh… actually Leon was pretty sure he couldn't say he had a girlfriend yet, like a "regular one" but… maybe… well… a-at least he was dat-… he was going to date someone!

Moreover, Chris had become an ascetic. He had disappeared from the radars and this regardless of the switch. Leon guesstimated that since Chris had repossessed his body, the times he had hung out with him could be counted on one hand: there was that time down at the RPD, then a Saturday night at Jack Bar with the others and, lastly, that last-minute party on Friday – that by the way hadn't even been his idea.

If that wasn't a confirmation that Chris was still undergoing some issues, then Leon didn't know what else it'd mean nor what to expect.

For the time being though, all those considerations hovered in the background of Leon's mind, unspoken, unworded, whilst the boy simply enjoyed listening to Chris talking racy about girls again like the inner lech he was, while flicking the tobacco roll with a hand and mimicking to flick… other things with the other.

The narrative of the pantry accident had entertained Chris a lot and he was now complimenting Leon about his boldness, happy that the boy had followed his advice and made a move on Rebecca.

Mentally though, the big boy preened and victoriously rubbed his hands for having involuntarily killed two birds with a stone. With his stroke of genius back on Friday night – when he'd made Leon notice that the girl was utterly lost for him – he had shrewdly fobbed Leon off to Rebecca and, by doing so, he had not only got rid of a thorn in his side, pesky like the idea of a boy secretly still infatuated of your sister hovering around her, but also, he had gotten Rebecca even more than she'd have even dared to hope for.

Beyond all his selfish satisfactions and aims for possession, Chris was genuinely happy for Rebecca. She'd been so sweet, attentive, lovely with him when he'd been disguised as his sister, that now Chris had grown fond of her and he considered her a friend alike a Leon or a Piers.

Whilst cradling himself in those memories of Rebecca's attentions, Chris – almost telepathically with the girls inside the house – remembered an episode that, in account of all the bustle in his life, he had throughout forgotten. His mind (and heart) had been so overtly filled by Claire and her breath-taking body that the remembrance of another two stark naked bodies he'd had the quite recent chance to admire closely and get lost in their beauty, had slipped into the most remote corners of his mind. That impromptu remembering put him into a state of uncomfortable worry, jeering the vainglorious Chris of a few moments before.

He had no other choice but to face the music and… hope this wouldn't screw his precious friendship with Leon.

"I had a shower with Rebecca."

Bam. Out of nowhere. Tact wasn't Chris's forte.

Leon's eyebrows jumped up in surprise and confusion. "The fuck, man?!"

"It happened when I was Claire." Chris muttered.

Chris recounted of that time the girls had shown up with a jar of body scrub – "don't ask why I even know what it is, I just took my being a girl seriously, ok?" – and once he had finally understood what that shit was about it was too late to turn tail as both girls were already naked... and close, so dangerously close! He made great effort to underline how hard it had been and how vulnerable he had felt, but the heat rising in his lower belly compelled him to look away lest Leon might have read the shadow of past arousal in his eyes.

The blond was too busy in pondering that new information to notice anything. After the big revelation of the day, he was fairly sure that Becky had put two and two together and knew by then that the strange Claire she had wanted to cheer with some girlish cuddles was anything but a girl. And, behind a smirk he had the consideration to suppress, Leon wished he'd known it before! Rebecca had made such a scene for a mere kiss with Claire – who, surprise surprise, wasn't even her! – and now it turns out she had had a deadass shower with Chris! Damn, that would've been one hell of a retort back inside the pantry!

"I hope it's not a problem for you." Chris concluded.

Leon returned to Earth and pondered that last statement. He wanted to feel jealous. He kinda had to feel jealous at this point. Leon expected jealousy to rush to his brain and make him go spare, but it never happened. "It's ok, buddy." He shrugged.

Curiously, Chris had the same expectation, and when his was failed too, he carefully observed him while taking the last drag and butted out the cigarette. A dark shadow grew to overlay his features. "So, you're fine with it."

"Yeah… you were walking on eggshells back then, I would've done the same, I think." Leon mumbled. "And Rebecca can be so… insistent. You had no choice."

"What's your angle with her?" Chris enigmatically asked, side-glancing at him.

"What do you mean?"

"She has a crush on you, Kennedy."

"I know." The boy gloatingly smiled, purposefully ignoring the alarming sign that to be called by his last name was.

"Are you two an item?"

Leon gasped in surprise and chewed on it a little. Were they? It was a bit too early to state such a thing, wasn't it? He hadn't even taken her on a real date yet! "We're… we're just getting to know each other, that's it."

"Well, don't you take advantage of her if you're not interested." Chris said, trying to muffle his grunt the best he could.

Leon gave him a dirty look. "What makes you think so?"

"I'd go apeshit if anybody told me he'd got a nude massage with the girl I'm dating." Chris growled, squinting his eyes in annoyance. "And you didn't."

"I didn't even know her back then!" Leon prickled. That conversation was getting downright absurd. Was Chris going to be a douche even when it came to Rebecca now? Honestly, Leon was fed up. He could understand – with much effort of imagination – that a brother would be somehow protective towards his sister, especially if younger (and so beautiful…), but to be towards his sister's friends as well was… it was getting a little annoying, ok? "Besides, I'm not you."

"No, you're not." Chris taunted, a tone of arrogance finally getting to leak his narrowing barrier of self-control. He adjusted on the wooden step he was sitting on, straightening his back and slightly inflating his chest as though he wanted to appear bigger and instil… reverence? Fear?

"Chris, what the fuck are you trying to tell me?" Leon asked, growing miffed at Chris's conceited gaze.

"You better hash it out with her if she's only a fill-in to you." The older boy harshly gruffed.

Again, Chris pierced him with the same forbidding glare as he did during the drinking game, when the spinning bottle wanted Claire to kiss Leon. Again, Leon didn't recognise his friend. That sudden burst of pugnacity in Chris's words was like a bolt out of the blue. Leon was dumbfounded. Chris seemed so instable lately. Now he was the friendliest person in the world, but then, all at once he would just scowl and get touchy for no apparent reason.

"A fill-in?! Dammit, Chris! What's wrong you? You know I don't use girls!"

"Oh, really? Then look at me and tell me you're not using Rebecca as a fallback!"

"A fallback for what?" Leon asked in defiance.

"You still like my sister, don't you?" Chris scornfully snickered.

Leon widened his eyes in dismay at such direct question. Did he? He wasn't expecting Chris to address the issue again and so straightforwardly. They had settled it all out about his crush on Claire back at the firing range. He had already promised he'd never make a move on her and stick to the sister rule, nonetheless whether he liked her or not didn't pertain Chris at all. As he didn't own his sister – and perhaps one day he'll even understand it – Chris didn't own other people's feelings either! Even if he was really dating a girl to get over a hopeless crush, then so what? Anybody has the right to move on and get a second chance from life even if their hearts move slower.

"Tsk! I knew it." Chris snorted, diabolically smirking to the lawn. "You can't get Claire so you settle for the friend. The second-best!"

"This is none of your fucking business, Chris!" the younger boy snarled. He ought've better to state it clear that he was into Rebecca, instead he'd let uncertainty to take over his mind and fill him with doubt. Chris instilled no reverence nor fear nor whatever he may have wished to, instead, he got to instil confusion in his friend's already faltering heart and mind. Oh, that was so helpful of him! A real good friend indeed!

But Leon wasn't supposed to extend his defence any further. Chris was still scoffing in scorn when the front door behind them flung open. Jill Valentine emerged from the doorframe and stomped outwards without the slightest hesitation at the sight of her path obstructed by those sitting guys.

"Jill, are you leaving already?" Chris asked in a voice that immediately shifted back to his usual gentle tone, as the girl fled in the narrow space between him and Leon.

The girl didn't bother to reply, she just kept going.

"Jill, wait!" Claire's voice pleaded from behind.

Chris eyed his sister but didn't get to figure out what was going on. Had the girls had a fight? One way to discover. He stood up and chased the running brunette, who by then had almost reached the sidewalk.

"Jill." Chris soothed, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Jill let him tug her to turn and as soon as she faced him, she inclemently bitch-slapped his cheek. The smack resounded in the whole street. Chris froze. Leon froze. Claire froze. Even the setting sun froze. Jill's grey eyes expressed a mixture of hurt and rage that hit the big boy even harder than the burning sting of pain rising on his quickly reddening face.

He understood he wasn't the only one who'd remembered the shower accident.

"You're a total swine." Jill snarled in a quivering voice, her palm still burning.

"Please understand." Chris begged, unsuccessfully trying to hold her hands and calm her. "I couldn't tell you I wasn't her."

"You could just don't let us get there!"

"I'm sorry, Jill. I didn't mean to…"

"You didn't mean to what?" Jill yelled. "You saw a chance to grope a naked girl and you took it!"

Chris didn't want the wrong message to pass – that he had took advantage of the girls' ignorance on purpose. Alright, the shower had crashed him with a train of emotions, one hotter than the other, but he'd also felt terribly uncomfortable for doing such a wrong thing at their backs. And now, with Claire within earshot, Jill fuming before him, Leon intently observing behind him, Chris and his reputation would've done anything to change the past and the truth that he had indeed groped a girl because he failed to curb his instincts. Anything. "I didn't grope you! You asked me to help you with the scrub and so I did." Chris retaliated. "It's not my fault if you saw things."

Oh, he opted for a lame, childish scapegoating. Smart boy.

Those last words hurt Jill somewhere deep inside, right in the softest core of her feelings, and it was destructive. Had she been seeing things all along? The looks at school, the kiss, his smile after it? It really meant nothing then, as long as he was talking like that right now. How stupid she'd been! She knew she'd better not listen to Rebecca's bunks nor to… her own heart. Terrible mistake. Tight-lipped and heartsore, Jill did what she does best: she stood tall. And soon Chris would've discovered how taller than him the thin girl was.

"You can wipe that sneer off your face, asshole! You had the gun! I didn't invent your fucking fingers going down on... my... on my ass-hole!" Jill thundered, striving to muster the right words to verbally punish him. She had no intention to let him convince her she was the one to blame.

Denying the truth further was out of question. It'd have only worsened his precarious position now. Chris couldn't let Jill to reveal other details about how events had gone inside the shower tray. He didn't want his sister to listen – even if she already knew, but he despised the idea of his lover having to listen to such things. Neither he wanted Jill to understand she had hit both a nerve and the target. Love urged him to think fast about anything to defend himself and his reputation but, under the unforgiving stare of the girl, his brain went haywire.

"Look, I might've looked like Claire, but I was Chris." He murmured. "And it happens that I am a boy an-"

The second slap hit even harder. But on the other cheek.

"Don't you dare." Jill warned in a broken voice, tears pricking into her grey eyes.

Despite her blurring vision she glared at him for a long moment before turning on her heels and leave.

He didn't stop her.

Among all the possible answers, he couldn't quite believe he had actually chosen the worst one. Had he really appealed to his masculinity? Had a month inside his sister taught him nothing? Had he forgotten how it feels to be harassed and groped or whistled at?

What's wrong with me today?

It was with a grave look and two red hand-shaped marks on his face that Chris turned to his house and silently walked past his best friend, and right into his human home. Chris let Claire envelope him in her softest hug before holding her tight against his chest. He was falling apart and her thin arms were the sole things able to keep his pieces together. The moral slap he had just received was burning more than Jill's hits.

I need you, my love.

There were precisely two sets of eyes in excess for him to get to satisfy his need in that moment. Caringly, he drew back and caressed her head. "I'm thirsty." His tone was low and normal but his eyes conveyed a whole different kind of drought. But none in the room but Claire could notice it.

"Ok…" Claire whispered, letting him go. "Want some juice?"

"No, I… I'm going to… I just need to…" Chris trailed off. What did he need? Her. But not this way, not with people around and most importantly he didn't need her to talk. He was sick and tired of talking. He needed her to ride him like in her wildest nights. "I need to be alone a little."

"Alright, we'll be waiting in the living room." Claire smiled caressing his arm.

"About you? Are you okay?"

"I'm alright. You know, girls know how to lift each other." Claire cooed in sincerity.

"Good." He nodded and glanced at Rebecca who was looking at them with a sweet smile pursing her lips. Damn, he had to apologise with her too, but he needed a break from that motherfucking afternoon. Thus he simply walked away and disappeared in the kitchen, certain that Claire was fine – seemingly happy – and in good hands.

"I reckon I gotta talk with him." Rebecca whispered, clustering with Leon and Claire in the small entrance hall.

"Yeah. He wants to be by himself but… I don't think it's what's better for him right now." Claire sighed.

"Can you girls explain me what happened?" Leon asked.

The girls exchanged a look in which Claire silently passed the ball to Rebecca in order to decide whether or not telling Leon about the whole body scrub story.

"Well, let's just say we treated him like Claire a little bit too much." The brunette said and briefly explained what had occurred.

"Yeah, Chris told me." Leon stated. "He feels kinda guilty."

"You totally need to talk with him, Becky. It's something unresolved between you and… and…" Claire muttered. "And I don't want him to go to bed tonight with one more worry keeping him awake."

Rebecca nodded and turned towards the dining room.

"He already has plenty of them…" Claire concluded under her breath, while watching Rebecca on her way to her brother, her home, her lover.

Part 9 – Hot stuff

Chris was sitting on a stool by the kitchen island pouring himself a glass of water. Not the best way to drink his problems out but surely the healthier – even if not as much as that disgusting orange juice in the fridge. He needed to binge on fucking whiskey, anything that could sedate his pains and mind for good. But as long as he spotted his mother in the backyard, anything more alcoholic than water was out of reach. He'd had enough for that day, he could spare himself a reproach.

The stool on his left made a screeching sound as it was towed backwards.

"Hello there, my friend." Rebecca said, sitting on top of it as if they were at a bar or something. "Got anything for me?"

Chris slid his glass over the quartz surface and waved the bottle he'd drink from, the water sloshing briskly inside it. "Let's just pretend it's vodka."

Rebecca nodded and grabbed the glass. "Cheers, Big Guy." She said raising her glass and clinked it to his bottle, drinking to that incredible, twisted, tiring afternoon.

"Cheers." He muttered and gulped down a sip.

Rebecca looked at him through her sparkling green eyes, taking her time to metabolize that the huge bulk of a boy beside her was the same person she'd shared lunches, homework, classes, gossips, secrets, showers with. Rebecca sighed and went for another sip to help herself gulp down the thought that the boy next to her could ideally see through her clothes and watch her naked by his mere memory. That was embarrassing but… well, after all she'd done quite the same to him with the girls anytime his athletic physique was brought to the table. So they were quite even? Right? Better believe to that lie.

She snorted and shook her head as she thought of all the times the real Chris Redfield had witnessed a bunch of oblivious girls to fangirl over him.

"So, how it feels to know what girls think of you, uh?" she asked, quirking a brow in curiosity.

Chris scoffed. "Harassing." He hoarsely replied.

Rebecca heartily laughed and softly slapped his shoulder. "Oh shut up! You loved it!"

Chris flashed one of his bratty, wide grins against the bottle orifice. "Touché."

"I can see your ego inflating from here!" She bantered.

"Alright, your compliments were so flattering but sometimes you kinda scared me, you bunch of little perverts!" Chris said, satisfying the girl's want for more details.

"Welcome to girlhood!" She sassed.

For a while, they looked through the window above the sink, watching his parents chattering far in the distance, probably arguing about the state of their garden, in the silver light of the approaching dusk. It was all so quiet on the outside alike it was so noisy inside the weary mind of the boy.

"I'm sorry, Rebecca." Chris murmured, thumbing the sweat off the fridge-cool plastic bottle.

"What for?" She asked.

"For like every-"

"It was a rhetorical question, Chris." She tittered, cutting him off. "You got nothing you should be sorry for."

The big boy side-glanced at her over his bicep.

"You couldn't breathe a word about what happened. So you didn't even really lie." She continued.

"Still, Jill slapped my face twice."

"Oh, well… Don't mind it." She enigmatically shrugged.

"Don't mind it?! I hurt her!" Chris reposted, wide-eyed.

"Naaah..." she waved a dismissive hand. "She's a big girl, she's just fine."

"Becky, do I have to remind you what happened in the shower?"

Rebecca maliciously rolled her eyes away from him – involuntarily glancing at the pantry door… oh, those memories! – and she mewled through her nose. "No need to. But Jill is just… she's just Jill. She slapped you only because she can't slap herself as she's too retarded to realize she'd better seize the day with you and ask you out."

Prior to the silence of the boy, the girl decided to up the ante and coax him to finally leave behind any restriction and make a move on the girl he definitely knew had a crush on him. "You know, Jill may seem a little cold at first but she's so sweet, she can be so affectionat-"

Chris swiftly interrupted her by resting a warm big hand on her forearm. He rather have anything but a nosy wingman giving him unrequested tips. "Rebecca." He earnestly stated, intensely staring at her. "I know how Jill is. I know her too now, remember?"

"Right, right!" Rebecca giggled, scraping her neck, but she soon got serious anew and continued her charge. "Then you know how lost she's for you and how hard it's for her to admit her own feelings."

"I do."

"Then ask her out! Watcha waiting for?!"

Chris sadly shook his head and blew out a breath. He knew he couldn't explain her why he wouldn't ask Jill out, so he preferred to just shut up. But his silence only offered Rebecca the chance to insist in her coaxing attempt.

"Here me out, Big Guy. You already kissed her once! And you even saw her naked, and don't tell me she's not a knockout 'cause I'm punching you, Redfield!" She joked, hoping that a laugh would kick her recommendations in his mind. "You sorta must be attracted to her at this point!"

"Becky, guys don't work that way." Chris gruffed. "It's not just about... boobs and butts. And I'm not looking for a love story right now…" His voice became softer and softer as he spoke those last words. No need to look for what you already have.

He turned back to the girl and locked his hazel, caramel-streaked eyes with her light emerald ones. Rebecca had never seen him so… closely. They say that eyes are windows to the soul and, in the silence of him, while his irises only shuttled between hers, Rebecca tried to explore his soul just to learn that to her he was inscrutable. He had been the girl next desk, next seat, the friend she was so devoted to, but she hadn't learned yet how to read Chris from the inside out. Nonetheless, it seemed to her that some sort of inner desolation transpired to umber his face.

He may be quite a stranger to her, nevertheless she held him dear. In spite of the forced disguise, some kind of connection had established between them, at last, and had lasted over time.

In her illiteracy, she couldn't read his self-blaming thoughts, but she perceived his consternation. And it was more than enough to move her to the bone and compel her to fondly stroke his shoulder.

"I'm not telling you to propose and marry her! But you could date her and just see how it goes! You know, keeping it friendly! You'd have a girl and she wouldn't have to question her feelings for you and everyone's happy!" Rebecca enthused.

"Becky, I can't."

"But why?!" Rebecca eyerolled.

"I can't give her false hope." And he gave her a look that spoke volumes about his inner feelings.

Under the pressure of his earnestness, Rebecca's everlasting smile slowly faded and all her enthusiasm was blown away like dust in the wind. Chris was not into Jill. The hard truth. "Oh… I see…"

Chris ducked his head and began observing the faint pinkish veining in the mineral countertop. His guilt went far beyond the simple regret of having made a girl feel harassed. He couldn't forgive himself for all the false hopes he had actually given Jill when he'd kissed her for his own (and Claire's) purposes. He had deceived and used her. He deserved all the bitch slaps available in this world.

But Rebecca was anything but easy into giving up. If it was not Jill the girl he kept checking on... "Then tell me, Hot Stuff, who's the chick?"

"Mh?" he hummed in confusion.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Chris had to blink a few times before he got her point and remembered a remote series of conversations at the school cafeteria. Nevertheless he was confused. "It was Claire, not me. I thought it was clear by now."

"I mean these days. You keep staring at a girl."

"I'm just not."

"I was ready to gamble on Jill!" Rebecca mumbled, ignoring his obvious attempt to deny the evidence. "And I almost convinced even her I was right!"

"It's not her." Chris murmured, downcast with the thought he'd indirectly deluded Jill even more than he imagined.

Rebecca frowned. So who is then? Only one option remained. And it was uncanny. "Geez… isn't it… Ashley?!"

"Oh, Jesus, no!" Chris exclaimed and gave her a dirty look. The squealing blonde would be like the missing icing on the cake in that quirk afternoon and he'd rather... not. "How could you even suspect such a thing? I'm downright ashleyed out! I'd never… brrr!" And shuddered.

"Oh, you eventually get used to her after a couple of years…" Rebecca laughed, quite relieved.

"Two years?! No thanks!" Chris exclaimed.

"So, is this girl actually Claire? Like she said?" Rebecca asked, unawares she had put the boy in a state of utter agitation.

Chris listened trying not to betray his new rush of fright. Before any reaction, he had to make sure he had heard well. Had Claire told her friends he was actually staring at her? No, no… there must've been some reason behind it for sure! Claire would've never…

"What did Claire say?" He gingerly asked, trying to feign a mere curiosity.

"She said you look only at her and nobody else – not that it makes any sense though – uhm… In fact she said she doesn't really know why you do it, she just presumes it helps you dealing with…" Rebecca trailed off as she suddenly realised she was minimizing her friends' sufferings just for the obstinacy of wanting to be right – and get Jill a boy. "I'm sorry. It's… it's none of my business."

"No worries, Egghead." Chris attempted to joke and ease her. "But Claire's right… it helps me."

"So… you really don't feel like hanging out with a girl? Not even a tiny tiny bit?" She asked more to kid than to coax him for one last time, pinching an imaginary little grain of want-to-have-a-girlfriend between her index finger and thumb.

"I already have anything I need. Family, Claire, friends. Even a new nosy one!" He replied and cupped the back of her crown to tenderly draw her short hair into his little, affectionate peck. "We're lucky to have someone like you." He added as he let go of her smiling head.

"Huff… as you wish! But if you'll ever change your mind…" Rebecca winked and flashed him a bright smile. "Don't hesitate! I'll find you a… valentine!"

Chris reached out with his arm, looped it around her and drew her frame into his hug. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Rebecca and Chris shared a little moment of silence in their friendly hug, the very first hug they'd ever shared, yet it felt so right and comfortable as if they were two old time friends.

"Alright, big guy. Lick your wounds. And when you'll be better, just know I'll strike back!" She cheered and drew back from his embrace, but he didn't let her. Instead he held her close and speared his gaze dead in her eyes.

"Leon's a good guy." He muttered after a long moment of just watching. "But if he ever fucks up with you, tell me." He murmured with all the protectiveness of the good natural-born older brother. "You don't hesitate, ok?"

"Sure thing. So you can come and save his ass from my kicks!"

This was the third part. The fourth needs some more work and it will conclude this weird day in their lives and the chapter as well.

A big thank you to Xaori for her super-precious tips and hilarious comments! And thank you to awanami08 for the suggested quote I'm sure won't pass unnoticed.

See you all in… I hope in 7 days… I can't promise how long it will take me. Anyway see you all soon!

P.S. Do you remember the Redfield's house floor maps I drew and posted on my Instagram? Well, I'm about to post the 3D versions I did just for fun. In case you wanna take a look at them, simply search for a straw hat on a green wall named masteroffangirlingart on Instagram or "girlishnerd" Twitter.