"Just tell me where we're going." Claire trailed closely behind Piers, being very careful not to trip over anything. She had bugged him mercilessly over the past few days, demanding he keep his promise to go on a date with her. Now, they were walking along a path in the middle of the park, the newly fallen leaves crunching under their feet.
"So impatient." Piers mumbled under his breath. "Hold on. We're almost there." He continued to lead her forward, until they reached a scenic picnic set up.
"Wow. Fancy." Claire smiled, thinking over her genius plan. "So now all we have to do is take some pictures, pretend we're dating for a few weeks, and then "break up" and blame Chris for our broken hearts." She chuckled darkly at the thought. Piers gave her a worried look.
"I think you're having too much fun with this." He sat on the wooden bench and pulled two plastic water bottles out of the picnic basket. He tossed one to Claire, then chugged the other. She took a seat on the opposite side of the table, looking at him like he was some sort of wild animal. "Stop staring at me like that. I was thirsty." He said defensively. She continued to watch him, crossing her arms as she did so. "What? Take a picture, it'll last longer." He teased her, smiling. She smiled back.
"We'll soooorrrryy!" She giggled through her words. After taking a few moments to compose herself, she started making small talk. "You know, I've told you a lot about me. Isn't it your turn to share a little bit of background information?" It seemed fair to Piers that since she had so graciously shared her painful past with him, that he could, in turn, tell her about himself.
"Well, I'm from a military family. All the way back to my great-great grandfather, the men of my family have served their time to protect this country. When I was young, my mother died from a illness. On that day, I swore I would do her proud and carry on the family business. I ended up taking that determination all the way with me to graduation." He stopped and looked at her smugly. "I graduated, top of my class. My old man couldn't have been happier. He was even more ecstatic when I told him my future plans."
A question, that she just had to ask, popped into Claire's mind. "What did he say about Chris's offer?" Her eyes gleamed in the autumn sun. "Was he upset or supportive?" She leaned in closer.
"Hmm. I guess he would be supportive. As long as I'm fighting for what I think is right, he would understand."
"Ohh. So you haven't told him about it yet?" She teased him.
"I did, but dead people don't normally come out of their graves to give you advice." Piers stared at the ground, remembering all the good advice his father had given him over the years. Claire sat there, feeling remorseful.
"...I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose people close to you. If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did he die?"
"About two years ago. Cancer finally got the best of him." They were both silent for a moment. "What about your family?" Claire lifted her head, a pouty look on her face. Piers raised his eyebrow. "Don't want to talk about it?" She shook her head, letting him know that she, in fact, did not want to talk about it.
"Let's change the subject to something less depressing." She contemplated for a minute, hoping to think of something they could both talk about that wasn't emotional. While she thought, Piers unpacked the rest of the contents of the picnic basket. He laid the food on the table, handing Claire a soda. Her stomach growled loudly at the sight of something to eat. Piers heard it and tried to keep a straight face, but ended up snickering out loud.
"What?! I'm just hungry!" She laid her head on the table before he had the chance to see her blush. He picked up a sandwich and slid it across the table to her. She took it without moving anything but her arms, unwrapping it and taking a bite. She shot her head up and looked him dead in the eyes. "Did you put tomatoes on these?"
He gave her a sideways look. "Yea. Why?" Her eyes widened and she fell over on the ground. Piers shot up from his seat, in panic, and ran over to her. "Claire! Claire, are you ok?!" By the time he got to her, he noticed that she wasn't dying, but she was laughing her ass off. His face changed from panic, to relief, to anger and back. She pointed at him and laughed some more.
"Sorry! I couldn't help myself. The atmosphere was so tense and serious, that I had to do SOMETHING. And you were just sitting there with a dopey look on your face, not even trying to be spontaneous." She stuck her lip out. "Serves you right to get the bejeezus scared out of you."
Suddenly, Piers was on top of her, with an evil look in his eyes. "Not spontaneous you say?" Using his arms to prop up, he brought his face closer to hers. Her cheeks turned so red, that the color of her face meshed with her hair.
"Well, that escalated quickly." She laughed nervously, averting her eyes from his. He chuckled, so close to her that their lips were almost touching.
"You called this upon yourself, Ms. Redfield. Now I'll have to give you CPR." The few people that were actually roaming around the park had taken notice of the pair. The extra attention they were drawing was too much for Claire. She maneuvered out from under him, taking back her place at the table. Piers remained on the ground, rolling on his back to look up at the sky. "Now I see why Chris teases you so much." He grinned up at her.
"Oh? And why is that?" She answered his expression with a glare.
"Well, because. It's so much fun to watch you get all worked up. It's kinda cute." He made a kissy face at her.
She sighed and pulled her camera out of her purse. "Come on. I still have to take some damn pictures with you." He got up and sat beside her on the bench. She lifted the camera up, checking to make sure they were both in the shot. "Scoot closer." She grabbed his arm and forced him to slide right next to her. "At least look like you're having fun." She mumbled to him as she smiled for the picture. Right at the last second, he grabbed her face and pulled her in for a kiss. Right as the flash went off, their lips touched, leaving Claire both shocked and dazed. Somewhere in her processing stage, Piers had gotten up and moved back where he was sitting, chowing down on a sandwich. She slowly turned to face him, her heart still beating a million miles a second.
"Serves you right." He mocked her. She blinked away any feelings she had at the moment, telling herself it was all just an act. After her heart had settled, she sighed again, looking at the picture.
"You were never planning on letting me off easy, were you?" He put down half of his uneaten sandwich, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward.
"Now where would the fun be in that?"