-Past-
"How's Alex been?" Delphine's husband asks politely as they get ready for bed.
"Fine. She's doing a piece on bars and clubs in the city," Delphine answers, absently watching him undress. "We went to Martell Lounge. They had live music".
"Was it any good?"
She shrugs her shoulders and follows the man to their bed. "I'm not the music expert".
"I'm no expert," he scoffs. "I do get paid quite a bit to pretend I am, though".
"Fine, I'm not the one who works at a big record label and gets to decide what counts as good, worthy, and profitable music".
They slip under their covers and switch their respective lamps off. "I still think you could spot talent, babe," the man continues in the dark. "You just let me know if there's an artist that grabs your attention. I'll prove you have an ear for it".
Delphine thinks back a few hours, picturing the not-so-busy dancefloor and cherry stained wooden bar counter. Alex sat next to her at the bar, chatting aimlessly, but focused most of her attention on her little blue notepad. It prompted Delphine to let her own attention stray, eventually settling on a brunette with thick glasses and long dreadlocks who was hitting on another woman at the very end of the bar. She watched the interaction – brief, gentle touches, warm smiles, and little room between their bodies – until the brunette got a rather passionate kiss out of it.
An abrupt "hey" came from a man setting up a microphone, yelled in Delphine's general direction. She was surprised though when the unreserved woman turned around and walked up on the stage, making herself comfortable behind flashy tech equipment. Alex left and she hardly noticed. From the moment the show started, she couldn't take her eyes off of the woman, intrigued for reasons she couldn't identify.
Present
"Hey sexy," Cosima's voice comes suddenly from behind Delphine. "Can I buy you a drink?"
She tries her best to not look back at the brunette, but still ends up giving her a passing glance. "I already have one," Delphine points at the martini in front of her, only a sip or two taken from it, but another empty glass sits behind it. She showed up a little earlier today, no real reason, and alcohol seems to be the only thing with which to occupy her time while Cosima isn't there.
"Hm," Cosima hums thoughtfully for a moment before stealing the glass and gulping the rest of the alcohol. When she finishes, a cringe takes over her face with more force than she expected. "Can I buy you a drink?" Cosima repeats, but this time with less enthusiasm and more rasp.
Delphine giggles softly, brightening Cosima's face instantly like a child receiving an overwhelming amount of praise for an underwhelming accomplishment. "Yes, I'd like that vodka martini, please," the blonde answers, still smiling and now gazing back at Cosima, entertained.
"Ugh, I thought you got the regular one," Cosima complains, sitting on the barstool next to her.
"Yes, but sometimes I like to mix it up. Apparently, I chose the right night to do so".
"Hey," Cosima gets the bartender's attention. "Please don't ever serve her that again if I'm around".
"I serve what's ordered," he replies with a blank face.
"What's your favorite drink? Order two," Delphine turns her head to look at the brunette.
"I thought you already knew what it was?" she replies, grateful for the interruption. The bartender goes back to ignoring them.
"I know what you choose regularly, but I don't know what you actually like to drink," Delphine shrugs her shoulders. Cosima glares at her and opens her mouth to talk but doesn't make it far, "And don't say Old Fashioned, because I know that's not it".
Cosima tries to keep her stare steady, but an embarrassed smile cracks through. She shakes her head and calls the bartender over again. "Two Mojitos please".
"Why don't you have that every night instead of an Old Fashioned?"
"It's a super girly drink and the guys kept making fun of me for it," Cosima looks back at her bandmates, packing their instruments aside from her soundboards and laptop. "Plus, it's yummy, so I think I'd drink too much and just get hammered every night and then wouldn't be able to make it through the show. Thanks," Cosima takes her glass from the bartender.
"Should I be worried, then?" Delphine nods toward the bright beverages.
"Very," Cosima grins charmingly. "Hey, please put these on my tab," she adds before the bartender leaves.
"Took you long enough to buy me a drink," Delphine comments, sipping on the beverage.
"Yeah, yeah. Not my fault," Cosima picks up her glass and slides off the stool to lean against the bar next to Delphine. "Come sit with me," she says, nodding toward the booths and tables in the back.
"Hm, I don't know," Delphine sighs, attempting to hide her growing smile by peering over to the stage. "I can't see Jack very well from back there".
Cosima scoffs and shakes her head. "Do you like the drink?"
"I do," she takes another sip to prove her approval.
"Well," Cosima gently grabs the glass out of Delphine's hand, slipping her fingers between the blonde's to get ahold of it. "Then come sit with me," she says, holding both glasses and backing away toward the tables.
Delphine doesn't move for a moment, too busy trying to contain the surprised chuckle that wants so badly to escape. She glances behind briefly and sees Cosima almost all the way to a booth in the back corner. It takes her a second still, but she eventually gets up and follows her.
"So, Delphine," Cosima starts once they've both settled in the half-circle booth, side by side and about a foot apart. "What does your husband do to earn so much money?"
"He is an executive something or other at a very large corporation and makes wise investment choices," she answers mechanically, crossing her arms and watching the crowd die down.
"And what do you do?"
"I work at an art dealership and behave like a good wife," Delphine sighs, hoping her couch got cleaned.
"Art dealership. What does that entail?"
"I have a lot of different responsibilities. I prefer managing venues and filtering what pieces we purchase, but I mostly deal with…technical business responsibilities".
"What, you get to just pick what you do and don't do?"
"Kind of. There's more to my job, but those are my favored tasks".
"Well, it sounds fancy. Does it pay well?" Cosima takes a long drink, irresponsibly hoping it will help her seem like she has a complete grasp on the topic.
She shrugs, "I don't make as much as Will, but I'm sure I make at least ten times your wage".
"You must be a busy woman. What about when you're not at work?"
"I'm here, of course," Delphine smiles at the now-empty dance floor.
"Yes, here you are behaving like a good wife," Cosima nods and squints at the woman. "What would Will think about you coming here every week? You know, alone, dressed up".
"He knows exactly where I am," Delphine smiles and stares at her drink. "I'm not doing anything wrong. I haven't been flirting with other men or letting them buy me drinks".
"True, but as of tonight, you let me buy you drinks. And you definitely flirt with me," Cosima fires back in a confident tone.
"Debatable," she takes a sip of her drink to mask the growing grin. Cosima just rolls her eyes, and follows her lead, sipping and smiling out at the remaining patrons. After a few more minutes of silence go by, Delphine breaks it, "You stopped talking".
"You didn't seem interested," Cosima responds in a huffy voice.
"Because I'm not looking at you?" Delphine bites her lip and tries her best not to turn her head.
"Precisely," she snaps her fingers. "Maybe I just won't talk if you won't look at me," she threatens.
"I thought I told you how to fix that last week," Delphine says without turning her head, not ready to give in.
"Well, our seating doesn't really allow for me to be in front of you, unless you want me to sit on your lap. Which I can do…" Cosima smiles and flicks her eyebrow up. "So, I guess I just won't talk if you won't look at me".
"Fine, then I suppose I'll just go home now," she sighs, setting her drink on their table, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward to get up.
"Hey, hey," Cosima says warningly, just before laying her hand on Delphine's thigh. It's the first thing that has caught Delphine off-guard since they first met. She scoffs, halting her upward motions, and then instinctually looks over at Cosima against all her willpower. "See, that wasn't so hard," Cosima finally turns to her, smiling.
Delphine brings herself to look forward again "You–"
"Ah, ah, ah," Cosima scolds, moving her hand an inch further up Delphine's thigh. "C'mon, you were doing so well".
"I don't know why you think that is a deterrent," Delphine nods toward her thigh and the hand resting comfortably on it.
"Well-behaved wives don't let this kind of stuff happen, Delphine," Cosima says, her thumb moving gently across Delphine's skin.
"Why do you want me to look at you so badly?" Delphine asks, crossing her arms. Her voice is quieter, weak almost. She's sure that Cosima can hear the difference.
"Why do you so badly not want to?" Delphine shakes her head at Cosima's retort. Her lips fight the urge to turn up into a smile and she has to stare at the table. "Oh, wow. Is there an actual reason? Does it only count as good behavior if you don't look at me? Or maybe you think I'm Medusa? I promise these are just dreadlocks. Or maybe maybe maybe you just think I'm too pretty to look at," Cosima fires off a few options. At the last one, Delphine can't hold her grin back any longer.
"Something like that," she says without looking up. Delphine closes her eyes and leans back in her seat.
"Something like that?" Cosima confirms. The blonde nods and hums. "What does that mean exactly?"
Delphine cracks her eyes open to glare at Cosima, and sighs. She downs the rest of her beverage and then turns her body to face Cosima completely, folding one of her legs on the seat. After a moment or two of flitting from Cosima's right eye to her left, Delphine brings her index finger up under Cosima's chin. She gently guides it in one direction and leans in slowly to kiss her cheek, and soon after, she does the same to the other side. Both kisses last much longer than they should have and are much shorter than Cosima would've liked.
"Goodnight, Cosima," she whispers in her ear before pulling away.
Cosima watches Delphine slide out of the booth in a daze with tingling cheeks. She's lucid enough to grab Delphine's wrist as she's walking in front of the table to the front entrance. "Come back tomorrow," she smiles.
"Here? Why?" Delphine doesn't try to walk away this time.
"I'm filling in for half of tomorrow's show, and then I have the rest of the night off".
"Maybe I'm busy," she argues.
"Come anyways," Cosima orders with a smile.
"Thanks for the drink," Delphine lets Cosima's hand slide down her wrist and hand before they disconnect completely. She walks away without looking back, and Cosima doesn't take her eyes off her until the door shuts behind the woman.
For tonight, Delphine can excuse her behavior because of the alcohol, but she can't come up with any reasonable explanation for why she feels so different around Cosima the rest of the time. There's no reason for her to keep going back every week. She doesn't care about the music or the drinks or the atmosphere. Just sitting next to Cosima, talking about nothing, makes her feel high. And Cosima's warm hand with contrasting cold rings sliding across her leg is not something she would normally approve of, let alone enjoy. But she did, and it wouldn't surprise her if she still enjoyed it sober.
Delphine's cab pulls halfway up their driveway to let her out. Two more cars are parked along the walkway – neither of them belonging to her or her husband. She tries to inspect as she passes the vehicles, but it's too dark to see anything useful.
A vague feeling of second-hand arrogance strikes her when she's passing William's car, as it usually does, but snuffs out when the bright front lights flick on and the door opens.
"I'll come in early tomorrow," she hears Will say just before two men appear from the house. Delphine recognizes them both from William's many work functions she's obligated to attend. Their marriage is for appearances' sake, Delphine knows and accepts this just fine, but Will seems to think she has no idea and needs him to play the part at home as well as in public.
"Mrs. Black," both of the men acknowledge simultaneously as they pass her to find their respective cars.
"Cormier," she reminds them.
With her husband's possessive and controlling habits, she was surprised when he agreed to letting her keep her last name. Even though she was more or less fooled by the perfect couple they were when they first started dating, she sensed something business-like about their relationship. Keeping her last name was her way of excluding assets from the transaction. She appreciates her younger self for the choice now.
"Where's your car?" William asks once she's in the foyer.
"I drank more than usual tonight, so I took a cab. I'll go back tomorrow to get it," she explains, heading to the stairs, but then stopping when she sees the coffee table covered in documents, folders, and hand-written notes.
"Why didn't you call me?" The loud clank of the door locking echoes in their foyer.
"It appears you were busy…" she avoids the question and nods to the living room.
"Oh…yeah," William hurries over to tidy up. "Looks like we'll be going through an audit investigation pretty soon and we had to go over a few things".
"Will there be an issue?" She looks at his anxious expression, pleased to see his confidence rattled.
"Huh, well…" he stuffs the stack into his bag. "They might run into some fraud issues, maybe tax evasion," he nods his head toward the door where the two men left. "And I may be involved in some…accounting discrepancies".
"Ah," she shrugs, leading the way to their bedroom. "I didn't know you had the bravery for embezzlement".
"Uh, yeah, more of a team effort…" he mumbles, obviously surprised, not only by her perceptiveness, but also by her indifference toward it. He forgets sometimes that she is also involved in the business world.
"Bonne chance, my dear," she exhales and rolls her eyes, though she can only hope it goes poorly for him.