Christine was a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid.
Introverted. Sure. She was more comfortable living within the confines of her books rather than facing the ugly reality of her everyday life. She woke up at the same time, had lunch at the same time and even went to bed at the same time.
Flighty? She could see that. She had the same conversations with the other residents day after day and nothing ever really changed. The rooms were cold. The food was predictable. Their everyday clothing never changed except for special occasions and those were few and far between so she often daydreamed in the middle of conversations only to fade back into awareness after a few seconds of silence during which her conversation partner absolutely expected a reply and all she could do was give a half hearted noise.
But stupid? No way.
The one thing about being a 'wallflower' was that she heard and noticed a lot more than other people gave her credit for which was a blessing and a curse. There were a few people on her mental list that had her senses automatically tuned in to their every move.
Vault 101's doctor, James, was near the top of her list.
He towered over a majority of the residents and there was a hardness to his eyes that never failed to make someone freeze in their tracks when he turned his gaze toward them. Christine had seen it happen only a handful of times, most of them involving the Overseer backhandedly complimenting said doctor's daughter which always made the Vault's Overseer skitter away while trying not to look like he was escaping the claws of a predator.
Officer Gomez was another.
She knew from experience that he was a good man at heart. She'd seen him in action plenty of times throughout the years. He always kept an eye on the self proclaimed 'Tunnel Snakes' gang and paid special attention to a special group of people which she was privy to being a part of. He always offered an ear for listening or a shoulder to cry on and he was one of Christine's favorite people because of his selflessness.
Christine's absolute favorite person, though, was the Vault doctor's daughter.
All of the traits that Christine admired were combined into one body and it took everything in her power to try and keep her crush under wraps. After watching the girl throughout the years, however, she knew her admiration of the girl wasn't the only one.
Jonas Palmer, resident medtech, had made his own clumsy attempts at wooing his superior's daughter. Christine watched avidly and a bit of sorrow as he presented the teenager with various sweets and handmade crafts which she accepted with a charming amount of obliviousness.
Amata, the Overseer's daughter, had also made her own attempts at elevating their friendship status to a more romantic level. Christine had sighed as the two girls had shared food, drinks and rubbed shoulders as they discussed whatever assignment Mr. Brotch had given out. They had been friends since they were both in diapers and it looked like no matter how close Amata got that wouldn't change which was a relief, but also filled Christine's heart with remorse because how could she ever compete with that?
She slurped dejectedly at her chocolate malt for a few seconds before a shadow crossed her table and a body thumped into the seat across from her.
Butch DeLoria crossed his arms and sniffed before he said, "You wanna hang tonight?"
It was a code she was familiar with and it only took her a second to comprehend it before she nodded an acceptance. Christine's dark eyes immediately darted to slightly over his shoulder to see a pair of brown eyes lock onto Butch's slightly sprawled form.
Of course, she thought. In a room full of people of course it would be Butch she would focus on. She didn't blame the other girl of course. Butch was a thousand piece puzzle crammed into a 100 piece box and as much as they did what they, ahem, did it was obvious that Christine was nothing more than another notch on Butch's belt. Something to pass the time or refine an art that she would only be mentioned as one of many mistakes before the ultimate goal of perfection he was obviously aiming for.
Butch left first after that with barely a glance back but it wasn't for Christine. No, she watched as he met eyes with the brunette seated across the room who gazed steadily back.
Later, Christine would be bent over a storage box in a random storeroom with Butch thrusting deep inside her body and fingers rubbing experimentally over the bundle of nerves between her thighs. His other hand roamed up to muffle her passionate cries and a dark part of her knew it wasn't herself Butch wanted to be rutting into. She shuddered as her orgasm tore through her body and could only hold on to the crate beneath her as Butch forced her further down until her breasts were squished against the cold metal as he filled the condom.
He breathed a name that wasn't hers and Christine could only let out a heartfelt sigh.
He wasn't who she wanted either.