The constant low hum of conversations that emitted from the building behind her was thunderous compared to the silence of the town's streets. The only thing Cosima heard that wasn't muffled talking was the clicking of heels on pavement from the woman she had followed out. She also heard the flick of a lighter. Not once, not twice, but multiple times before she barely made out he irritated sigh of defeat that the woman let out as she was walking farther down the street and away from Cosima.
"Need a light?" The girl yelled after her, determined to not let her get away from her so quickly.
The woman stopped at the same time Cosima began walking towards her to try and close the distance so she wouldn't have to yell again. The blonde turned around partially to look at Cosima, "Oh, um, no," she shook her head, "No thank you," she gave a small, nervous wave before she turned around and kept walking.
"You sure?" Cosima asked, trying to speed up her steps subtly so that the gap between them wasn't lengthened again, "You seemed to be struggling to get a response out of your lighter for a while there."
The clicking of heels stopped again, accompanied by another sigh from the woman. Cosima quickly appeared beside her and the woman held up the cigarette that was placed neatly between her index and middle fingers and put it between her lips instead. The smaller woman flashed a grin up at her and fished her lighter out of her coat pocket, holding it up to the blonde's cigarette.
Instinctively, the woman cupped her hands around the lighter to block off any offending wind, and Cosima flicked her thumb down to spark a flame for her.
She pulled back, gave a small, insignificant smile, and said, "Thank you," but before Cosima could tell her that it was no problem, the blonde's focus was pulled away from her by the sound of a heavy, metal door slamming itself shut.
She visibly tensed and because of that, so did Cosima, but as the woman flinched away to attempt an escape, Cosima grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back until their previous positions were switched so that the blonde was now the one facing the security guard who came stomping out of the building. He was looking around a bit rapidly, and Cosima's eyes flicked back to the woman who now looked painfully aware and helpless to the situation going on around her.
Cosima offered her a smile and whispered, "No one looks more suspicious than the person rapidly walking away, trust me," she said, "even if you changed your hair, people will still recognize a face, so stop being so fidgety, or you'll get me in trouble too."
Cosima's grip on her arm loosened and she let it fall until she was lightly grasping her hand instead, trusting that she was smart enough to not try and run away again.
The woman looked at Cosima, but the shorter woman wasn't looking back at her anymore. She was looking beyond her, at the security guard, no doubt.
Heavy, booted footsteps sounded closer and closer to them with each beat on the sidewalk and when the guard stopped and let out a deep-voiced, "Excuse me," the blonde snapped her eyes shut tightly, silently praying to anyone who might be listening.
As if the only person who was listening was Cosima herself, the brunette gave her hand a small but reassuring squeeze before she gave her full attention to the guard.
"Yes?" She said, "Is there a problem?"
"Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for someone who just left that building there," he gestured to it by pointing with his thumb, and he had his other hand gripping his belt, "Did you see anyone leave, by chance?"
By this time, the blonde had slowly opened her eyes again in time to see Cosima give him a confused look and ask, "What did they look like?"
The blonde dug her fingernails into the flesh of the shorter woman's hand to silently beg her to stop messing around. Cosima was still watching the guard, but she had a shameless grin on her face that the blonde knew was for her.
The guard quickly and vaguely described the suspect as a female with black hair and a black dress, and the blonde nearly wanted to drop dead when he told Cosima that she was 'about your friend's height.'
Cosima told him that she thought she had actually seen her, and the blonde shot her a warning glare although the other girl couldn't see it.
"I saw her cross the street, actually," she continued, and put her arm up to point in the complete opposite direction that the woman had originally been walking. She squinted, "and I think she rounded that corner there. Don't hold me to that, though."
The guard gave a deep sigh and said, "Alright. Well, thank you."
"No prob," she told him, and the blonde almost gave a sigh of relief. She was almost free when the brunette opened her mouth yet again, "Can I ask why you're looking for her?"
The urge to hit her was overwhelming. This girl was going to kill her. Or get her killed. Whichever was quicker. She had completely forgotten about the lit cigarette between her fingers, and she flicked off the growing bud ash at the tip before taking a drag off of it, hoping to draw forth any sort of calming effects it may offer her.
Despite her longing to get as far away from the conversation as possible, the woman couldn't help but be impressed and even charmed by the other woman, as odd as it might have sounded. She had obviously seen completely through her at the 'party', so she knew what she had been up to. She didn't exactly look like she made a habit of giving criminals a helping hand. She simply looked too nice. Her grin wasn't unnerving; it was bright, maybe even playful. It left the blonde wanting to smile back despite her unforgiving anxiety at that given moment.
The guard began to respond, "Well, I probably shouldn't really be telling you, but…" There was a pause, and the blonde took that moment to observe that she wasn't the only person falling victim to the girl's enticing nature. The guard was easily being persuaded into giving her details about his search. Details that the girl already knew. He wasn't aware of that, though, "There's been two consecutive reports of stolen wallets. Both of the victims said they had been talking to the same black-haired woman before realizing that their wallets were gone, though."
"Oh, geeze," the brunette's grin was replaced by a cringe, "Well, good luck, man. Sorry I couldn't help much," she shrugged, and she genuinely looked sorry. The blonde allowed herself to smile, and though it was small, it was the first real smile she had given anyone that night.
"It's quite alright," he assured her, "Have a safe night, ma'am."
"Yeah, you too," she said, and the guard turned on his heel. Cosima finally looked back at the woman, and the grin that was now famous to the blonde returned in full.
Before even reacting to the dreadlocked girl, the woman twisted around to watch the guard walk away. She brought the cigarette up to her lips and back down again, exhaling grey smoke that quickly dissipated above them. Once the guard was out of her voice's range, she turned back around with a smile that was wider than before, "Merci."
The other girl nodded once, "Of course, of course. Don't worry about it," she had to tilt her chin upwards slightly to admire the way the yellow light of the street lamp hit the woman in front of her, "You can pay me back by telling me your name, maybe?" She sounded hopeful, and she leaned towards her slightly.
The blonde looked down momentarily to silence her laugh, and when she looked back up, she decided to tell her, "Delphine."
"Delphine?" The brunette repeated, testing out the name for herself. The woman nodded. Cosima broke into another fanged smile, "So, Delphine, is that actually your real name, or-?"
"Oui, yes, it is," she assured her, "I promise."
"Also…" Cosima began, but paused to think before she continued, "Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention earlier or something, but," she gave a small wave of one of her hands, "were you French, like, forty-five seconds ago? Usually I notice that kind of thing right off the bat, but I didn't catch your accent 'til just now."
Delphine thought back. She had used an American accent to the people she had talked to at the party, she knew that much. She must have still had it when the brunette first approached her by force of habit. She didn't exactly mean to fall back into speaking with her natural French lilt, and usually she would have wanted to hit herself for being so reckless, but at the moment she just couldn't bring herself to care. She broke into another light smile, for herself more than anyone, and said, "No, I was not French forty-five seconds ago. Don't worry, your observation skills are not off."
"That totally great to hear, actually. Thanks for the reassurance, Delphine," Cosima made sure to say the name rather delicately, as if that were the only way her name could be said, "But what's up with you letting me hear your real accent and telling me your real name? I just watched you steal a bunch of dudes' wallets, don'tcha think that's a little risky?"
"Oui, very risky," Delphine quickly agreed and looked over her shoulder to see that the guard wasn't even in sight any more. She was only glancing away for a fraction of a second before she turned back to Cosima, "Maybe it sounds silly, but I think I trust you a little bit after all of that," she said, "although you carried on the conversation with the security guard much too long."
"Yeah? The indentions your nails left on the back of my hand told me the same thing," she laughed, and Delphine's shoulders dropped, as did her jaw moments before any actual sounds came out. Cosima knew that she was about to apologize for it, but she didn't even let her begin. She put up one hand and said, "Don't worry about it. It's not like you asked me to protect you from the law, after all," she dropped her hand and her grin reappeared, although this time, Delphine noticed, it appeared more mischievous than the ones before it, "You should probably be taking some notes, Miss Runs-Away-at-the-Sight-of-A-Cop."
Delphine smacked her arm, like she had wanted to long before.
AN; Wow, yeah, it was about time I updated this. Fuck. Sorry. Updates after this will hopefully be more frequent, I've just been kinda sorta stressed out lately by my impending doom aka adult life. Whoops.