Lame. That pretty much summed up his feelings at the moment. Lame was by no means a "Leon"-word—but it was still an accurate description as he stood listlessly in the middle of the crowded train station searching for the eternal ponytail that would inevitably be bouncing into view at any moment. Clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, Leon stifled a yawn. He had just gotten off a plane about an hour ago and had proceeded to rent a car in order to pick up his friend, Claire Redfield. Ever since the incident at Harvardville a year before, Claire refused to ride in an airplane or go anywhere even remotely close to an airport. Leon had advised her that such avoidance behavior wasn't healthy. Claire's reply was to smack him in the back of his head to which Leon gritted his teeth into his lip; he wasn't the type, by instinct, to ignore something hitting him from behind. His first impulse was to reach around and grab her, flipping her over and possibly even ripping her arm off—if she had been anyone else but Claire. She was his friend, probably the only real friend he had, and she got certain privileges most others would be terrified to accept.
A train whistle roared in the distance and Leon turned to see a big black engine approach the station. People began to mill about in front of him, anxious to meet up with their loved ones and acquaintances. A few minutes passed and the train had stopped, letting its passengers stream from its doors onto the platform. Amidst a flurry of hugs and salutations, Leon glimpsed the reddish-brown ponytail hopping off a coach a few sections from the back. Stepping away from the crowd and into a more open space, he waved. After casting a few uncertain glances in each direction, Claire spotted him; she gave a typical Claire Redfield, arm-hyper-extended-over-her-head wave and jogged toward him.
"Leon!" she greeted enthusiastically, nearly colliding with him.
"Hey." He returned, patting her back.
Stepping away, Claire lifted an eyebrow. " 'Hey.' " she mimicked him in an exaggerated monotone. "Why are you always so lackluster, Kennedy?"
Shrugging apologetically, Leon widened his eyes, a large smiling splitting his face. "Oh my god, it's been so long! How have you been?" he went high on the last word. "There. Sex in the City enough for you?"
"Whatever, dorkacus." She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Where's your car? I am dying for a bath. That train ride was torturous."
Leon led her out to the parking lot where a cool, fresh breeze awaited them. He handed Claire his extra jacket; he brought it along because she was infamous for never dressing appropriately for the weather.
"Thanks," she said as she slipped it over shoulders, immediately becoming entrenched in its folds.
"If you had taken a plane you wouldn't have had to go through two days of travel." Leon chided.
"It was actually only 36 hours." Claire defended with a toss of her head. "Do you know where the hotel is?"
Without answering, he simply unlocked the car, opened her door and gestured to the impressive navigation system on the dashboard.
"Of course." Claire replied. "I'm guessing that's not a standard for this car?"
"Of course not." Leon said. "I brought it along. Think I can give it to the bride and groom as a present?"
"Not likely." Claire said, pretending to give the matter some thought. "I think they would rather have a toaster."
"Oh, like the one you got them?" he asked slyly.
Claire was quiet as he turned the engine on before exhaling. "You don't know everything, Leon."
"So you got them a cordless phone, did you?" he grinned.
"Shut up and drive, Kennedy." Claire groaned with another roll of her eyes. As they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road, she asked, "Don't you think they could use a cordless phone?"
Fifteen minutes later, Claire gritted her teeth in frustration. "Oh well, Leon, if you're so wonderful, what did you get them?"
"Nothing." Leon smiled. "My presence is good enough."
Crossing her legs, Claire stared out the window. She couldn't remember the last time she saw so much green. "Oh god, I hope Jill booked a place with a bath tub."
Leon snorted. "You are so spoiled. A free vacation and you're wondering if they considered your need for a bubble bath."
"Leon, I don't think you are fully appreciating how therapeutic a tub full of bubbles can be…especially if there happens to be a stereo system with classical music at the ready—and a nice glass of wine with fine literature."
"Not that it takes a lot to make you happy." Leon said.
" 'Course not." She replied, staring out the window. The trees were beginning to thin out now, giving way to the presence of buildings. In the distance she saw the city of Halifax surrounding the sea. "If you see a Lush or Bath & Body Works, could you stop?"
Leon said nothing, just kept driving. When he didn't answer, Claire turned to him. "Leon? Please?"
"Christ." Leon said. "Yes, if I see any of those girly shops or anything even remotely smelling like one, I will, ok?"
"Thank you." She replied sweetly and returned to staring out the window.
"Just pack all your frilly, perfume-y crap next time."
"Oh, you like shopping with me."
"No. I don't."
"Yes. I think you do."
When they had reached the city limits, Claire had immediately found a shopping complex that advertised a bath shop. After finding parking, she had dragged Leon inside where they were immediately engulfed in a cloud of sweet-smelling bath bubbles and fizzes and other such apothecary articles.
Leon stood amidst all the pink, yellows, pale blues, flowers and glitter in abject horror. Seeing how lost he was, Claire took him by the arm and pulled him forward.
"Come on, we'll make this quick and painless."
"If I had known you would be constantly subjecting me to this type of punishment, I would never have saved you in Racoon." Leon hissed as she picked up a weird concoction that resembled a cupcake. "No way, not if I had known you had some insane fascination with bath products that look like props from Candy Land."
"Oh Leon, you are so dramatic." Claire said with a scoff.
After about a half hour of comparing bath fizzes and bath bubbles with different scents and colours, Claire had finally purchased about $50 worth of merchandise. Much of it in pink. Leon walked ahead of her as she rifled through her bag of goodies. When they were back inside of the rental, Claire handed him a round object wrapped inside paper.
"What's this?" he asked suspiciously.
"For you." She said with a wink. "It's citrus—and totally acceptable for men to use. To thank you for putting up with me."
Hiding a smile he didn't want to grant lest she take it as a sign that she was entitled to make him endure such outings for the rest of his life, he set the package in the cup holder.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Claire replied.
After pulling back on to the main road, Leon cast a glance in her direction. "Um, how do you use that thing?"
Claire gave a sort of snort-laugh and went on to explain to him the very science-sounding process of running the bath water and dropping the ball into the tub. Leon vaguely recalled a chemistry experiment he had done back in high school. Some chemical or other had been added to the mixture by mistake and had flowed up and out of the beaker onto the table. The table had nearly been burned through…he wondered if it was necessarily wise to lower his body into something that fizzed up when it came in contact with water. He didn't mention the thought to Claire because he still had some pride he wanted to hang on to for at least a couple more hours.
Halifax was actually a pretty cool looking place. He wished they had taken a taxi so he could enjoy the scenery more but as it was he let Claire's delighted breaths and "Ooh, look at that!" suffice for the moment. The large road wound around a big park-like spread of grass with an immense, jagged-edged building in the center; the building's walls jutted out in each direction looking like a weird hybrid of Pentagon and camping compass. Claire had broken out her travel book and was flipping frantically through the pages before answering Leon's unspoken question, "That's the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site." She read off the facts and figures of the building, something about it being a significant symbol of the city's role as a principal naval station in the British Empire and how it was a defining feature in Canada's nationhood.
"I wonder if they give tours…" she mused, craning her head to keep the Citadel in view as they passed by.
"Oh Jesus." Leon groaned. There was not one person in the world who wanted to go with Claire on a tour of any building. If there was a tour for that place, the guide would have a boring, droning, I-couldn't-get-up-the-nerve-to-kill-myself-today-so-I'll-try-tomorrow voice and talk about rugs and vases and other things that made Leon feel like Dorothy in the poppy field. Zzzzzz… he had only been to a tour of a place with Claire once—and it had been by default as no one else wanted to go.
"What?" Claire asked, indignantly.
"I just know I'm the one whose going to get stuck going to that thing with you." He sighed. Maybe it was immature but he couldn't help it. History was never his favorite subject and the thought of spending a perfectly good day digesting old things was too much for him. Why dwell on the past when there were perfectly good, functional things here in the present to appreciate?
"If there is a tour, you don't need to go. I'll go by myself. I don't mind." She sat back in her chair mildly insulted and stared out the window.
Claire remained subdued until they reached their destination, the Prince George Hotel. The entrance had a curved black awning arched over spotless and, ahem, streak-less glass doors. A bell hop stood outside with an old school, gilded baggage rack that stood about his height. Next to him was a huge potted tree that had been trimmed to resemble three separate ovals, one on top of the other.
"Pretty snazzy, eh?" Leon said, turning toward Claire. She didn't say anything, just nodded and unbuckled herself. "You okay?"
"God, Leon, yes." She snapped in an irritated voice. A voice which indicated that everything was NOT fine. She caught herself and said, "I'm fine. I'm just tired. I have a bubble bath waiting for me, remember?"
"You aren't still mad about the whole tour thing, are you?"
Claire gave an airy laugh and a dismissive wave but didn't look at him. "Of course not. Once I get settled in and pamper myself, I'll be great…it doesn't take much to make me happy, remember?"
Her tone was tinged with something sad, something far away that he couldn't quite place. Leon looked at her face and saw she was smiling easily enough, her eyes were a little tired but other than that she looked cheerful.
"I'm probably also PMS-ing. So drop the subject before I make you go out and buy fifty-pounds of chocolate for me."
"I hear the chocolate's pretty good up here." He began.
The bellhop opened Claire's door and was helping her out. Stepping onto the sidewalk, Claire thanked him and then argued back and forth with him about letting him take in her bags.
"Don't worry." Leon assured her as the bellhop won and began loading their bags onto the rack. "I'll give him a good tip."
Claire smiled. "Great. Don't forget your bubble fizz."
Leon smacked his forehead in exaggerated horror. "Of course. I can't believe I just left it there." He reached back into the car, grabbed the orange powdered ball and tossed it nonchalantly as they walked through the revolving doors into the marble encrusted lobby. He looked a little foolish whistling and tossing the bath fizz up in the air while they checked in but it got Claire smiling once again.
"You are a dork, you know that?" she said as they retrieved their room keys.
"I know." He said jovially.
A scream from across the lobby interrupted them and they turned to see an excited girl with shoulder-length blonde hair jumping up and down.
"Sherry!" Claire exclaimed and ran toward her. "Oh my god, it's been too long! How are you?"
Leon smiled as Sherry continued jumping up and down and pulling them both in for hug after hug. She was in her second year at college and she certainly had stories for them.
"But I'll tell you all about them at dinner." Sherry said, gazing adoringly at the two of them. "And I totally canNOT wait until I hear everything that you have all been up to!" She gave one last squeal and linked her arm through Claire's. "We have the same room, you know. It'll be just like a sleepover—and our first fitting is tomorrow. Jill's orders are that we be punctual to all the wedding prep stuff and pamper ourselves ridiculously—so I've already scheduled massages for us this week and other spa treatments the hotel offers. Jill said to put it on her and Raphael's tab so we don't have anything to worry about."
Claire cast a wide-eyed look at Leon who grinned. Just listening to the young girl made him tired. He was glad that he lacked the estrogen levels to be included in their outings.
Sherry turned and offered her arm to Leon as well. "Oh, Leon, don't think I've forgotten about you! I've been thinking of all the fun sight-seeing we could do around Halifax. It's a beautiful city, don't you think? You know that big building you see off of Sackville? The Citadel, I think it's called? Well, they offer tours there and I definitely want all of us to go!"
Leon froze momentarily. He forgot that Sherry was a history major. With a minor in archeology. Which meant she liked old, historical, dusty things. Crap.