It's been a while, isn't it? I hope this makes up for the long wait. The long tradition of clichés this story incarnates, continues.
Call me romantic but… I wanted to give back life and normality to RC streets after what we've all seen in the videogames. No wildfires, no barricades, no clogged alleyways, no zombies, no gore.
I wanted this chapter to be visualizable too.
NECESSARY RECAP: on Tuesday 13th of November, they go to the abandoned storehouse and, once home, agree to take a "soft approach" to end their romance; on that same night they have a really hot phone call. On the 14th, Wednesday, Chris sings "Human" on the terrace.
Chapter 26 – Downtown Ally (1 of 2)
Part 1 – Redstone St.
"Don't make that face, Moira!"
"What face?"
"That face." Rebecca's forefinger acutely pointed out.
It was Sunday night and it was Jill's birthday.
She was the last of the girls to turn sixteen but she wasn't the type of girl who'd throw a big party to celebrate it. All she wished for was a night out with her best friends, laugh, have a good time and a good cake. She always evaluated atmospheres and relationships over things.
Being born on the 18th of November, every year Jill Valentine ran the risk of having her birthday screwed by nasty weather. That year though, nature had been clement and gifted her of a breath-taking starry night. If it wasn't for the light pollution concealing it, the black star-beaded sky could quite see the whole squad out and about in their cutest dresses and smiles, all geared up for a birthday non-party.
"Moira, it's fine." Jill chuckled. "You can say it aloud: the movie sucked!"
"Okay, if you say so, then... THE MOVIE WAS THE CRAPPIEST JUNK EVER MADE, AFTER THE PRINCESS DIARIES!" Moira shouted in the crisp air of downtown streets, letting out a deadass one hour and a half of repressed fault-finding and causing more than one passer-by to turn and wrinkle their noses in annoyance.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Watch your tongue, Burton!" Ashley complained. "No one insults my favourite movie!"
"Don't get touchy, Graham. But you will agree with me that-"
"Oh, I do! Tonight's movie was total trash."
"Girls, what did you expect from something titled "Disaster"?" Claire sneered.
"It sure kept its word." Sheva nodded. "Nomen omen, gals."
"I won't trust Leon's reviews ever again."
"We can't say we didn't laugh though!"
"Oh, yeah, Claire! The computer graphics were… uh, rather weren't."
"And the double-headed shark? Ugh, please!"
Despite the terrible movie they had picked, one couldn't say the night lacked mirth and joy.
After a pizza in an Italian trattoria and the shitty movie in the theatre opposite Jack's Bar, the girls headed to Redstone Street, a must-go place for the city's nightlife with all its pubs, shops and restaurants.
Jill had wished to simply blow the candles to a homemade cake back at her place and end the night with a cute, old-fashioned sleepover, taking advantage of her father's night shift, but Claire and Rebecca had long insisted going to Moon's Donuts instead.
"C'mon! The galaxy limited edition donut is gonna expire soon!" "Oh my God, yes, Jill! American Rainbow, wasn't it your absolute fave?" "Sheva said there's a new iced-latte flavour! We must try it!" "Yeah, snickerdoodle!" "Donuts are the future! They can hold candles like a pro!" "What the hell, Becky? Seriously?" "Trust me. The future!"
Jill smelt a rat with all that sudden eagerness to have donuts. Something was off. She had the slight suspicion a certain conversation she'd had with them just a couple of days before had something to do with it, especially if Claire was so involved too! Those two were holding something out on her.
Still and all, Jill was so exhausted of listening to their jabbering that, in the end, she gave in and booked a table all for the six of them, whereas Rebecca made dure to properly instruct the owners on how to serve the donuts. The sleepover was postponed to her Dad's next night shift. What a wasted occasion!
The group walked down the streets enveloped in a cloud of chatter and laughs, Ashley's fresher gossips and Sheva's remarkable finger-snaps.
It was a good night.
Before they noticed, the big head on Toy Uncle's megastore's roof was already smiling and winking at the youngsters from above in its perennial dumb moustached face. In front of it, a double staircase led to the lower small plaza in which Moon's Donuts' space neon signboard blinked bright. Two sets of big flowerbeds cut the staircase in a half and quite automatically disciplined the crowd flow. People of all ages were crossing the streets, walking the sidewalks and crowding the pubs.
Raccoon City seemed to have displayed all its vitality just for Jill's birthday.
November is full of surprises!
"Carlos!" Sheva squealed, hastening to hop down the last part of the stairs, while mewling an indiscernible series of vowels.
Oliveira's curly head turned to peer at the calling voice direction. Likewise did the other four sets of eyes of the guys sitting along around the little square wayside table outside Jim's Crabs. Carlos stretched his neck to look beyond the concrete balustrade obstructing his view from where he was sitting below the red-and-white striped awning. As he stood up to go to welcome her in his arms, not everyone mirrored the boy's same jolly smirk at the sight of the girls cat-walking down the staircase.
Chris, in particular, didn't look enthusiastic that much.
His overall well-concealed frown didn't depend on girls seemingly gate-crashing an all-guys night as they approached the balustrade and lent over it to say hi. It was rather about one girl in particular crashing his night off.
With much of his surprise though, he noticed that Leon as well looked like anything but excited by the unexpected arrival. The younger boy simply kept sitting beside him, as cool and unaffected as anything. Now, that was confusing! That he'd noticed the girls – and with them Rebecca – approaching was out of question. Alright, Chris wasn't expecting Leon to exult and squeak like Sheva was doing at Carlos's backbone expenses but the boy was quite underreacting!
"Aren't you gonna greet your girl, Kennedy?"
The blond boy reckoned it was a good moment to shove a cigarette into his mouth, pretending he hadn't listened, not that it was enough to get rid of Chris's curiosity, though.
Have they had a fight?
With an air of bafflement about him, Chris glanced at the girls, all slowly clustering around the elegant streetlamp on the end lamppost. He looked for Rebecca's face. He was surprised to find it returning his smile with the typical sparkles of energy glistening in her green eyes, although he didn't miss to spot a faint shade of nervous expectation fanning upon it. It was like she was waiting for Leon's first move or for any sign of acknowledgement from him. With the corner of his eye, Chris saw Leon laconically wave a reciprocated hand at her from his spot, right next to the Sansevieria vase. And that was it. What was all that sudden shyness now? Still smiling, the girl gave Chris a thumb up and returned whispering in Claire's ear as though they were confabulating whatsoever.
Weird.
Something didn't feel quite right, not in the least.
Chris gave Leon a nudge with the knee under the tabletop. "Everything alright about you two?" Chris asked in a low voice, hiding his mouth in the tumbler not to let that brainy girl to lip-read him from the – actually quite narrow – distance.
"You bet." Leon replied without putting much emphasis into his speech. He just lighted up his cigarette and fiddled with the paper pack. "Want one?"
Chris dismissively waved a hand in polite refusal. He was still quite confused, but also slightly reassured by the bluntness in Leon's tone. Anyway, Chris didn't mind investigating further for now, though his quirked eyebrow looked askance at the "distancing duo". His mind was worried by another case of such – that involved him personally.
The iron bright streetlamp pictured a comely chiaroscuro upon Claire's silhouette as she walked next to it, in her black dress and matching over-the-knee socks. The dreamy sight of her heavenly curves, highlighted by the play of faint shadows and bright light, was enough to clutter his mind and kidnap him.
She was a sight for his sore eyes, and Chris's were so painfully hurt by her that he had to look somewhere else not to choke on his own repressed sighs of want. Despite he'd binged on crabs and fried fish, he suddenly felt like starving and thirsting on her. It was a kind of hunger and drought that all the food in the world could never satisfy. Chris's eyes decided to take just one more bite of her against his own will. He idly sipped his coke while pretending to watch the scene of Sheva attacking his friend like a lion to a wildebeest. But his mind was only to her.
Claire was absolutely stunning.
Not that Chris expected any different.
While the most of him was numbed by her striking beauty, the little remaining working part of his brain quickly replayed the accurate plan he'd put up in order to avoid her – just for the sake of watching it disintegrate.
Chris had been very careful to leave home very early that evening as he knew Claire had Jill's birthday party somewhere downtown that night. Therefore, he didn't want to be around when she'd step out of her room all geared up and beautiful and irresistible and smexy and… and not for him.
He'd been glad Piers had proposed to have dinner at Jim's Crabs since the younger boy aimed to flirt with the new waiter. What a better excuse for leaving while Claire was still in the shower than to go hanging out with his gang, in order to have a blowout on shellfish and be the wingman to his friend while charming an oblivious waiter?
To him, it'd been a win-win.
Chris had eagerly jumped on his car and driven over to Piers's place at six o'clock. The latter's reproach for showing this early didn't make him regret it at all. It was a needed break from a caging routine.
Those past days had been… quite challenging.
It'd barely been four whole days since the terrace thing, but to Chris it had seemed an eternity. Something that would easily make Purgatory look like milk and honey in comparison. The soft approach they had so heartily agreed on, had turned out being a whole-ass bluff. It was the most instable thing in town after Toy Uncle's stupid big head on the rooftop.
Basically, what had happened on Tuesday night had kept repeating in loop.
Except for the "hot hotline".
Not that he'd stopped acting nasty while thinking of her, but to replay the phone call would've put both of them in keen discomfort after the terrible way their very first – and last – time had ended.
Every following night, he just settled for the thought that she might be doing the same thing as him right on the other side of the wall – maybe with his rubber substitute. He knew she was doing it. He needed no confirmation. He knew he was still the only way she had to cope with all the crap still inside her. What a meagre consolation! Mere aim of possession, but still better than nothing.
So much for the night.
On daytime, instead, they basically avoided each other, with every possible excuse. Let it be not needing help while washing dishes, or sitting five feet apart while watching tv, or turning on their heels and leave if the other was alone in the same room they needed. How many snacks had they skipped only because they couldn't bear being so close! If it might be considered a pretty smart way to start a diet, it was a fallacious attitude that got them nothing but missing each other terribly. Insomuch that it wasn't rare they'd just exchange a fleeting kiss while bumping into each other in a desert room, immediately regretting it while ashamedly walking away. It had happened only twice so far: the first time occurred while he was about to leave the basement after a high intensity workout and she descended the stairs in her ballet suit, the sweaty pheromones in the air probably trumped their wills; the second and last time, instead, happened in the cool light of an open fridge in the dead of the night while both sought for some refreshing after-non-sex goody.
Despite the rarity and exceptionality of such "breach of contract", overall, he simply couldn't say he was proud of how they were managing their break-up.
Out of sight, out of mind they say, but what about it when it can't be gotten out of heart?
Now, he'd seen a whole day of efforts vanish as she approached but he'd be damned if he ever said he was displeased by the view. Claire was so enchanting that night. Chris wondered whether – even if only a little – she'd dressed up also for him to enjoy.
Stupid.
He knew she hadn't. Regardless, since they were there now… who knows if she was wondering what he thought about her looks.
Look… He couldn't stop looking. No matter how much he averted his gaze, it kept going back at her.
Chris was pretty aware of the insistence in which he was glancing, but he couldn't care less. He was like bewitched. Not even Leon's repetitive dirty looks were enough to shake him from his astounded trance. The buff guy kept watching, his lips glued to the icy edge of the glass. He couldn't help but wish to smack them onto her skin. And bite.
Fucking hell.
Chris shook that forbidden thought off, put his drink down, the ice cubes clinking, and pulled himself together. He wished Claire would just go away and leave him be. She'd said they'd celebrate in Moon's Donuts, so he only had to act casual until Sheva let go of his friend and fucked off in the adjacent bar along with the girls, Claire included.
Unable to guess her brother's mental ravings – even though she hadn't missed to notice some "interest" about her looks – Claire democratically smiled around and asked "you guys enjoyed your dinner?"
"Ugh, I'm stuffed." Piers huffed, patting his belly, and leaned backwards on his seat, suppressing a quiet burp. He'd ordered twice as much as the food they'd normally have only to share a word with the waiter, just to realize he didn't stand a chance, actually. It'd been quite a waste of time.
"We're not done yet over here." Carlos scoffed. "Speak for yourself!"
"Duh? I was." Piers retorted.
"One more round, guys?" Chris asked, eagerly grabbing the menu leaflet, in the hope that the girls would understand they better leave.
"Me in." Kevin exclaimed.
"Count me out." Leon replied, taking a drag. "I had enough crabs for the next three months. I'm good."
"Why don't you cut to the dessert?" Rebecca quickly asked.
"Yeah, y'all could join us." Claire proposed, stepping onwards.
Chris didn't answer, as he was caught in the middle of a deep indecision. He wanted to stay away from his sister, fly far away like that neon rocket over there, and leave his lost rocket queen behind, but, at the same time, he couldn't resist the temptation to rejoice in the torturous sight of her around. He couldn't be impartial.
He made up his mind to follow the tide.
"Yes! Please, please, honey!" Sheva mewled in her boyfriend's ear. "Come with us!"
Claire grabbed Jill's shoulders and gently shook her. "It's this girl's birthday and we got plenty of donuts for everybody!"
"Dunno, Claire." Leon faltered, scraping his nape. "We don't want to screw your ladies' night."
"C'mon! We're gon' have so much fun!"
"Well, it's up to the birthday girl to decide…" Leon said.
Suddenly feeling way too many eyes on her, Jill let out one of her cute, lopsided smiles and bit her lower lip. "Let's go guys. Next one's on me!"
Part 2 - Switch, Switch, Wish
"…Happy birthday to youuuuu!"
Eyes closed, cheeks inflated, Jill blew the candles on the donuts pyramid and everyone clapped their hands, girls and boys.
Moon's Donuts, with its typically American diner semblance, offered the perfect ambient for such a joyous moment. The sudden clapping immediately caught the attention of several strangers in the teeming room, who joined in the common greeting, much to Jill's embarrassment. For a long moment, the noise trumped the rock music on the radio speakers.
"Have you made a wish?" Ashley asked.
"You'd better believe it!" Jill spoke, a bashful little grin creasing her mouth as she mysteriously winked at Rebecca's direction.
"That's the spirit!" Sheva resolutely said. "Now get out of my way and let me do." She shooed everyone away and took control of the donut distribution, handing one to each attendee – both original invitees and unplanned new guests. If there was something Sheva despised it was lack of organisation and rigged-up things. Fortunately, whoever had made the order, had totally exaggerated on guessing the number of donuts a group of only six girls could have, so there was plenty for more than one round for everybody.
Soon everyone was rejoicing in the deliciousness of those colourful pieces of heaven with a hole in the centre. To prefer unorthodox donuts over the traditional cake eventuated into a straight success!
Since the booth they'd booked wasn't spacious enough for all of the expanded bunch to take a seat, the boys chivalrously left them to the girls – but in the general fuss they barely noticed the courtesy. Only Carlos got to sit down, just to end up being a human chair for his girlfriend once she was done with the improvised waitressing.
Sheva had barely the time to grab her donut that Rebecca squealed, quite chocking.
"The gift!" The brunette exclaimed, suddenly remindful of the most important task of the night. She fumbled somewhere under the tabletop and extracted a colourful paper bag with a glitter ribbon on it. "Here, that's from your friends!"
Jill struggled to grab the bag Rebecca forcefully handed her, without soiling it with her cream-stained fingers. "Oh, you didn't have to…" She said, licking her fingertips with loud pops.
"Oh, shut up and open it already!"
"We agreed to give it to you before the cake!" Ashley petulantly pointed out.
"Oh, then why didn't you remind us all before the cake?" Moira taunted.
It took a second for the table to explode in loudness again after the donut-inflicted silence.
Hardly sorting out words in that fuss, Chris slowly walked away, unseen. He made his way across the room up to the display counter by the opposite wall, where he'd found himself a spot a little afar from the others.
Not that he wanted to be antisocial, but the room was a little too loud and crammed for his taste, and he needed a moment to properly enjoy the donut on his own. He swore to himself that Claire's presence had nothing to do with that sudden desire for lonesome personal space. Absolutely nothing! Otherwise, would he be casting glances at her from his new spot as he was doing? Not at all, he'd lie if asked.
He was happy to see Claire have such a good time. He just couldn't afford to be part of it, for his own sake.
Any time the loud crowd concealed the view of her, Chris would tilt his head and admire her auburn mane swaying as she moved, the waves in her neat ponytail dancing above her shoulders. He vividly pictured the gorgeous smile that most likely was embellishing her features and, just out of reflex, his mouth creased in a faint little grin.
Bittersweet perks of distance.
Chris had hardly finished his donut when he spotted Leon's blond head approach. The younger boy politely elbowed his way to him, with a donut clasped in each hand. What a lucky fluke! Chris was just considering inquiring a little further on Leon and Rebecca's strange attitude of shortly before and – why not? – having another one of those delicious sweets as well.
"Are you competing with the potted plants on who's the greenest and steadiest?" Leon joked as he got close enough.
Chris didn't immediately catch the reference to the colour of his pine-green jumper but exhaled a fun snort through his nose as he did. "Guess I'm being outdone, then!"
"Here." Leon said. He handed him a donut and settled next to him, right beside the display counter.
Chris gladly accepted to embark in a second round of dessert as it would've allowed him to have a word with his friend. That's killing two birds with a stone! He lost no time to cast it.
"How's it going with Becky?" Chris asked casually, taking a bite.
Leon shrugged. "It goes."
Chris pretended to focus on mastication while overtly looking at his friend up and down in heedful observation. It was the second time in a row that Leon shrugged his utmost legitimate interest off and, instead of appeasing him – as the younger boy evidently wished – it was only arousing his suspicions.
"If it goes, then go!" Chris chuckled. "Watcha doin' here wasting your time on me?"
"Overdosing on sugar. Tryna get fat. Diabetes." Leon joked, silly. He licked the sticky glaze off his lips just to sink them again back in it right after. "Same old stuff, diet bro."
"Fair enough. Thanks for fattening me up then." Chris said, raising his donut against Leon's as to toast with it. He smiled warmly and took another bite, fully savouring the robust taste of the dark chocolate filling. About his enquiry, he preferred to temporize a little more, just not to look too eager to investigate, but he'd made up his mind to see that one through.
"You can just go and stay with your girl, by the way, there's no need for you hanging in here." Chris said in a tone of disinterest, after a short while. "I wouldn't mind it."
Leon wiped his mouth with a handkerchief then crumpled it up, clenching it in his fist. "She's not my girl."
Chris stopped chewing, as though he'd suddenly forgot what to do with his teeth. Wide eyed, he made an effort to process that breaking news. "Last time I checked, you two were dating." He said, trying to sound as friendly and casual as possible.
"Then fucking stop checking." Leon uttered, unperturbed, emotionless, carelessly dismissing the neutrality in Chris's voice as mere appearance. Leon wouldn't buy it. He knew Chris was being the usual oppressive douche with big brother issues and only aimed to grill him and induce him to spill the tea rather than be willing to have a small talk. Honestly, Leon was fed up with his little games.
Chris was baffled by such extemporaneous hostility in his friend's words. Well, that was a switch!
Eyebrow set hard on his face, Chris didn't hide his displease. "Hey, tone it down, man." He sternly retorted. "I was just caring for her."
Leon clicked his tongue and swiftly turned towards his older friend, glaring his quiet anger. "She's none of your business." Leon replied, in such a calm and restrained tone that would, most likely, lead to exacerbate Chris's annoyance and trigger his temper.
Leon looked unaffected and in control everywhere, except for his angelic-blue eyes and the icy sharpness in them. There was a recondite shadow of passionate rebellion laying under the apparent tranquillity on his features. A concealed passive aggressivity in his edgy gaze, like a consummate cop dealing with a low-end scumbag, warning that he'd no longer be the nice cop to joke with if he didn't toe the line. Leon wanted to make it clear that he'd tolerate no interference in his privacy anymore.
Chris felt that.
He sensed, in his friend's uncharacteristic and unexpected gravity, that something risked breaking up. But he didn't allude to take any step back before it'd escalate. In his eyes, Leon was pushing it a little too much, for no reason.
"She's my friend and, allegedly, not your girl, so I kinda have to make sur-"
"Make sure of what? That she keeps me, perhaps?" Leon spoke calm, disclosing no apparent irritation, certain it would annoy his older friend even worse than it would to just sputter it all to his face.
Sometimes, politeness is the worst offense.
Accordingly, Chris didn't like his friend's new candour. Leon might even be talking calmly, with his usual nice-guy voice and soothe pronunciation, but it wouldn't deny he was suddenly giving him the shits and acting quite like a pussy for no damn reason. Most importantly, he was taunting the wrong dude. In the "wrongest" time of his whole life.
Quite willing to see where Leon's new attitude was going, Chris let him speak. He had quite a hunch Leon was going to say something he'd make sure the blond would strongly regret.
"You know what, Chris? I got bad news for you." Leon continued, shaking crumbles off his hands with the balled handkerchief. "I've finally come to see what you're doing here. You ain't fooling me anymore."
Chris's hunch was now pure certainty. Leon was testing him. He then encouraged him to go on as his mind prepared to fight. Chris turned and positioned himself just a few inches across from the younger. He shoved the remains of the donut in his cheek and folded his arms over his broad chest, biceps and pectorals flexing threateningly and stretching the woollen fabric. "Let's hear it, then." The buff boy uttered, challengingly.
Leon stood his ground and bravely held his gaze. He'd have given Chris exactly what he asked for. "You're so concerned about me and Becky dating, you say you care about her happiness, but I know it's all fake." Leon said in earnest. He took a brief moment to let his words sink in and, then, delivered the final blow, fearless. "You just want her to keep me away from Claire."
Chris squinted a little as a rush of pure hatred stormed within him. He clenched his fists around his sleeves and arms, dipping his fingertips into his own hard flesh, as he listened to that last insightful sentence.
"If my heart is taken, then you got a dude less to watch out for." Leon continued, forthright, basking in the certainty he'd hit the mark.
"Stop talking shit, Kennedy." Chris warned, feeling rage rising in him. He had no intention to make a scene and give everyone a fistfight to enjoy, but he wouldn't let him push him around anymore. "Don't test me."
"Your new friend has the guy she likes, I have a girl, and everyone's happy." Leon said, undaunted. "Everyone but Claire."
Rage flashed in Chris's hazelnut eyes and shivered through his limbs, as those judgemental last three words made their way to his mind. "What do you fucking know about Claire's happiness?" Chris snapped, flaring.
"I could ask you just the same."
Before Chris would snap at such a provocation, Leon shifted forward until his chest almost grazed Chris's folded arms and pierced his dark eyes with his glacial load of unforgiving acuteness. "Stay out of me and whatever girl I want to date or not." He spoke in the usual serious calm.
"I don't take orders from anyone, let alone you, Kennedy." Chris replied, somehow relieved that Claire was no more the matter in hand. "I do and I care about whatever the fuck I want."
"If you like so much to check up on others, then…" Leon hissed, finally letting surface a shade of annoyance. "…why don't you check up on that dude over there?" Leon enigmatically asked, nodding at some point behind Chris's back.
Begrudgingly, the big boy turned and scoped the crowd, trying to locate whatever dude might've drawn Leon's attention. It took him only one second to notice and frown.
Thanks to a temporary crack in the thick wall of people in between, Chris saw a guy leaned over the backrest of the girls' booth, smiling cunningly and presumably talking to Claire. Chris couldn't see his sister's face as she had her back turned but the overall situation seemed quite intimate and… flirtatious. Especially because all the other girls paid no attention to him.
Something in his head clicked on the spot.
Therefore, Leon's next comment was absolutely unnecessary, but the guy couldn't know.
"Looks like he's having a great time hitting on your little sister." Leon observed.
Chris knew Leon had downright cornered him.
He was trying him, allegedly. Whatever the big boy chose to do, he was screwed, somehow or other. If he went for kicking the dude's ass, he'd automatically prove Leon right. If he didn't, he'd probably go crazy in jealousy. It was either losing face or losing mind. Chris was aware of it and he didn't give shit about it, neither any second thought. Chris only knew, only cared to get that guy away from Claire. His face be damned.
"Heaven forbid she'll get a boyfriend tonight!" Leon evilly commented, daring to mock Chris's possessiveness.
"That'll be the day!" Chris loudly snapped as he turned towards Leon whose icy eyes now oozed expectation.
Maybe the tough guy had misjudged the younger's intentions.
The look was there to confirm it. Leon just knew which strings to pull to get him to do the dirty job. Little smart-ass fucker! Only that the strings were more of a leash tied around Chris's throat now, choking him all the more with every second that passed. It took only an involuntary crease in the corner of Leon's mouth to unleash Chris like a hound dog after a burglar. A dog with no will, who would only obey his feral instincts while the owner enjoyed the chase from a safe point of view. But the dog wouldn't go without barking one last time.
"You can talk!"
And he walked away, drawn at the leash by the madness that sole owned him, leaving behind a deluded friend. At the end of the day, Leon was no better than him.
Part 3 – Shining Armour
"I'm pretty good, uh?" The dude said cockily, as the piece of crumpled paper dunked in the centre of a donut laying on the girls' table.
Sitting on the edge of the seat, facing the tufted backrest, Claire shrugged at the flexing baller. "Well, you're not a complete waste."
"You know, curvy pretty things and holes are definitely my thing." The dude said cheekily.
"I'm impressed." Claire muttered, deadpan.
With a slow gesture, he finger-combed a lock of hair aside his forehead. "And you haven't seen the best yet!" The dude exclaimed.
Claire hid behind an expressionless face the slight hunch that "the cheaper and ginger version of Leon" – as Rebecca had acutely summarized him in a quick glance – was going to either say or do something inappropriate or totally unimpressive again. She was kinda disappointed that the cute guy, who'd flamboyantly been winking from the near table, turned out being such a jerk. The Leon-esque hairstyle really had tricked her. Anyway, she indulged him, purely out of good manners, since the other girls had ideally left her alone to deal with that unwanted intruder from next booth.
After a little calculation, the guy had settled that, in such a stuffed table, girls outnumbered boys. There had to be at least one single lady in there! Accordingly, like a bad impression of Casanova, he'd simply taken his chances to hook up with whoever would bait the hook. Unfortunately for her, Claire was the only girl "present and responsive" when he threw it, even though, she couldn't deny that it was somehow flattering.
"Oh yeah?"
The Leon not-so-much look-alike flashed a bratty smirk and winked. "Sure thing! I know a big deal of kinky stuff I'm sure a pretty little thing like you would love."
"That is a big if." Claire replied. "You can't know how picky I get when it comes to things-I'd-love."
The dude leant even more onward until the girl quite felt his breath on her cheek. It smelled like a junkie's car on a Friday night, enough to make her grimace in disgust and tilt back her head. His widening grin almost threatened to bite her. "Things we can practice together."
"You wish!" Claire exclaimed. "But thanks for the help."
"You sure? You can be my donut and I-"
"Take a hike, punk!" The most familiar of snarls burst in from behind Claire's back, just in time to spare her the worst pun of her life.
Turning, the red-haired found her brother's very waist right in front of her eyes. As she casted them up, blood went out of her face. His dark eyes flared up with the most menacing scowl she'd ever seen on him. Despite the general loudness of the room, she sensed the rest of the table progressively pipe down as soon as everyone took account of Chris's presence. For the time being, the other customers hadn't noticed yet that the seed of a fistfight had been thrown but, and Claire could bet on it, all her friends knew what was bound to happen if no one intervened.
She had to stop it, before the irreparable occurred and tables turned.
"That's ok, Chris." Claire smiled, rubbing her brother's forearm. "Me and...?"
"Name's Steve." The dude bemoaned at Claire's questioning glance.
"Me and Steve here were just having some fun."
Chris averted his scowl on her, and softened immediately, even so it didn't lose its load of resentful accuse. "Fun is you calling this idiot's bullshit fun."
"Beware who you call idiot, Gym Rat!" Steve grunted in his high-pitched boyish voice.
Here we go again, Chris thought, another moron naively overrating himself!
Usually, Chris's bulky build was an effective disincentive to pick up a fight, although it wasn't rare that a douche would just go on and try their chances against his brawns. Chris had no desire to start any fight and, consequently, spoil everyone's night – especially if that night was Jill's birthday – but, geez, this Steve was making his blood boil for good!
"Haul ass outta here and you'll make it in one piece." Chris growled.
"You guy her boyfriend?" Steve asked, challengingly.
"I'm the one's who's gonna pound your teeth down your throat and feed you with it, if you don't stop bothering her."
"You can kiss my ass."
"Chris, please, it's no biggie." Claire intervened, breaking that idiotic testosterone show off. "I can handle him."
That's precisely what Chris wanted to avoid.
"Hold on, Claire." Steve said, underlining how well he remembered her name. "Your knight in shining armour is here, I'll take care of that douche." And he hopped down his couch in the general hollering of the other guys sitting with him.
Had she had the time for it, Claire would've rolled her eyes at the absolute rashness of Steve – can one possibly be this stupid, or stoned apparently, to challenge her brother? But she couldn't peel her eyes off them in the fear a fistfight would spark while she blinked and she'd reopen her eyes to a murder scene.
"Get lost." Chris snarled, running out of patience.
Steve loudly whistled and glanced at his even-more-stupid-than-him friends, heatedly supporting him. Clearly, he felt covered and sided by his gang, otherwise he'd have already evaporated from eyesight long ago. "This guy is begging to get his ass kicked!"
Claire and Chris exchanged an intense look. The one begging the other to just let it go and don't get into trouble, especially now that it was clear that idiot wouldn't confront him alone. The other chiding the one for daring socialize with such dopehead.
Chris was livid, his teeth gritted so hard that Claire could almost hear the creak. Despite all Steve's best efforts to get him to blow his top, Chris was struggling against his one and only real enemy in the room: his own temper.
Thankfully, he could count on loyal allies on his private war.
"Guess he's not gonna be the only one then." Piers intervened, regarding the stranger with a deadpan look of warning.
"Oh, so Big Guy needs Mommy's help now." Steve replied, eliciting a few whoops from his gang.
"You wish you could call me that." Piers sniggered, smirking in amusement at Carlos, Kevin and the girls. "But I'd rather be called Daddy by someone who's out of my league, unlike you." He quickly fist-bumped in complicity with Chris below their waists and winked at Leon who had just approached.
"Oh, I see now… I thought you're all bark and no bite, Chris, but it looks more like you're a-" Steve laughed, but before he could come up with any offensive and homophobic comment, Claire stood up and interposed herself between the two quarrellers.
She'd had enough of male pride.
"Alright, guys stop. You're ridiculous." She turned towards Chris and chided him with her blue pearls of eyes. "Chill out, Chris, ok?"
"Yeah, Chris! Chill!" Steve parroted, gesturing like a rapper in a cheap videoclip.
Ponytail cutting the air, Claire pivoted on her heels and faced him. "The day I'll need a knight in armour, I'll make sure you'll be the last one to know."
Impressed and astounded, Steve laughed her off and shrugged, but didn't let down his bully manners. "Then call your coward over there. I'm sure he-" But Claire and, with her the boys, had already turned their backs on him and silenced him with a cold shoulder. Only Chris was harder to make turn and he took half a step towards Steve as he named him "coward", but Claire got to push him to the right direction.
"Hasta luego." Leon sneered, flashing a contemptuous smile at Steve. And he paid no more attention to him.
Buried in praises by Rebecca and Sheva, Claire sat back in their booth, determined to leave that accident behind as soon as possible, and shrugged off what had just happened with an eyeroll. "Boys."
Nonetheless, she didn't miss to notice Chris walk away, past and around the central booth with the coffee machines, and disappear beyond the double seafoam-green door he'd thrusted open with a punch.
Downtown Ally is much longer than this. It shouldn't be split, but I can't just release an over 11k words chapter. It's too much. So I split it. And posted it, otherwise I'd keep re-reading and editing it infinitely.
Please enjoy, as I finish writing the second half of the remaining part.
Did I all but missed Steve Burnside's qualities and character? Oh, well, I needed a jerk. And I get jealous when Claire's "partner" is not either Chris or Leon. No hate on Steve, but... dude better steer clear :D
P.S. Oh, yeah, I borrowed some Code Veronica's lines here and there.