CHAPTER ELEVEN

“It's a pleasure to meet you once more sister in law”

Donald was tall, not as tall as Luca. But there was a resemblance.

However, Donald had a warm loving aura around him, but Sharon was no fool

“What—what are you doing here?”

“Oh well” Donald ran his hands across his fine brown hair

“I want to steal your friend for today. I hope you don't mind”

Sharon looked at him, surprise written all over her face. Not a single word could escape from her mouth.

Then it came on it, strained but the words were clear

“It's too cliché to be genuine”

There it was, sharp as a bullet. Donald heard it, Luca heard it too, and Claire —

Claire was standing right there

Her purse dropped on the floor and tears welled up in her eyes

Sharon and Claire looked at each other for what seemed like ages without uttering a word.

Donald was just standing by the door watching the drama unfold.

Luca was fed up at that moment

“I'll be in the car in case you decide you finally want to go home”

His level of emotional detachment at that moment needed to be studied. Donald was his brother, and Claire was his wife's best friend. But none of that fazed him.

“ What the fuck are you doing here Sharon?”

“I came to grab something”

There was a long silent pause.

“Grab it, and leave”

Ordinarily, Sharon would wait to talk it out, smoothen some rough edges, clear the air.

But at that moment she remembered the seriousness of her situation. Luca was definitely not going to wait long, she had tested his patience enough. Moreover her real objective hadn't been achieved.

So when Claire told her to take what she wanted, she rushed into the house.

Claire stood in awe. Donald took her hand and whispered into her ear.

“You're a good friend to the wrong person”

Claire didn't want to accept it, but honestly she was beginning to believe it.

Sharon came out the next minute. Whatever she had taken was probably inside her purse, or was not with her at all.

Claire was starting to believe Sharon only came to chastise her and Donald's relationship

“I'll explain everything Claire, I'm so—”

“I think I've heard enough for today. Way to ruin my mood for the only date I've had in years”

Claire watched Sharon walk away without knowing the truth about her situation

She clung to Donald and looked him straight in the eye

Let's go, we've wasted time already

“Where are we going?” Claire asked while they were in the car

“Guess”

“Bar”

“Not yet”

“Restaurant”

“Nope”

“I'm bad at guessing, just tell me”

Donald turned for a moment to look at Claire

“You have say the magic word”

“Magic word, isn't it please”

“No it's not”

“Uhh you're getting annoying”

“It's baby”

Claire suddenly began to cough

“You're joking”

“I'm serious”

“Fuck, my curiosity!”

Claire took a deep breath

“Where-are-we-going-baby?”

Donald chuckled

“You say it like you're reading a script, but you'll get used to it”

We are going to the park

Babe

Claire's cheeks turned an instant shade of red

“Why there, we're not kids”

“I'm a kid, you called me baby”

Now he was pouting

It was as if he knew that her childhood was a mess. Like he knew she never really enjoyed the better things.

It was as though he was determined to pick up the broken pieces of her heart and glue them back together —

“I guess I'm a kid too then”

***************

“Ahhhhhh!”

“I want to end this now!”

“No babe we started this together”

A tear slipped from Claire's eyes

Who knew she would be so afraid of the Ferris wheel?

When they finally got down, Claire was relieved.

“Ice cream or cotton candy?” Donald asked

“Both she squealed”

“Okay, you can always run to me when you have cramps”

They sat on a bench while Claire finished what was left

“Donald”

“Claire”

Claire's gaze was fixed to the ground

“Do you love me Donald?”

Donald took her hand and placed it in his

“Of course I do, why will you even ask that?”

“We just met, do you even know who I am?”

“I know that my heart wants you, and that's enough”

Claire looked at Donald, tears streamed down her cheeks

You know nothing, If you knew who I was you wouldn't love me, you wouldn't fucking love me!

I'm a night club dancer!

At ten o'clock every day, I wear a mask and slutty lingerie and I dance on a pole till four in the morning.

I kiss a bunch of lustful men on stage and they tip me.

I've been doing it for longer than I remember, because it's the only thing I'm good for, the only thing I know how to—

He moved fast but his lips made contact with hers, and he was kissing her.

His tongue invaded her mouth and she let him explore, then she broke the kiss.

She could taste him, and he could taste her.

“There are kids here”

“I'm sure they've seen their parents go at it”

“You can't kiss me after everything I just told you—”

“Do you want me to kiss you again? I will, you know I will

I'm in love with you, all of you, your flaws included. I don't care if you dance at a club for a living.

“This is too good to be true, I'm not buying it”

“I'll buy you a drink, and maybe we could talk about it. Kids don't stay in bars, so we can kiss all we want —”

Claire was drunk, but not too drunk.

“Get this Donald. A guy walks into my life and tells me he loves my flaws, isn't that rich?”

She laughed and took another shot

“I think you should give him a chance”

“I'll have to discuss that with my best friend first”

Donald sighed

“Again with you and your “best friend” it's hurting my feelings”

You know what let's play a game. It's called How much do you know about your best friend

“Seems like a nice game, I'm going to win though”

“Is that so? If you don't know the answer you'll just have to drink some more”

“Agreed”

*I'll ask first, what was your best friend doing last night?”

That's a tough question. I thought you were going to ask her favourite colour or something. Plus we're having a little break in transmission but we'll fix it soon—

“Drink if you don't know the answer”

Donald said mockingly

“Claire drank”

“My turn”

Claire thought hard. She didn't really think it through because she didn't really know who Donald's best friend was, and she had no way of knowing if he said the correct answer or not

“What's your best friend's phone password?”

Donald thought for a while.

“It's his birthday, November 29th”

“Well that's boring”

Many drinks and questions later, Donald asked

“What's one thing you know about your best friend that she doesn't know about herself?”

“Well she's sexy as hell, I don't think she realised it yet”

Donald gave her a serious look

“Well fine”

Claire's speech was slurry, hell she was drunk

She couldn't even maintain eye contact

Then the words came just before she collapsed on his lap

“Sharon has a stepbrother from her father's side—”