Sweet Disposition

Two weeks had passed since Claude had confessed his feelings to Claire in the small New Jersey coffee shop. The pair, out of sheer paranoia, acted as they always did, somehow managing to get away with hiding any changes in their interactions between each other. Neither the guys nor the staff suspected anything between them and the young couple continued to act as naturally as they had before deciding to give things a try. Danny, who was the only one who knew about their coffee date, had sworn to secrecy, promising Claude that he wouldn’t say a word.

Tonight, Claude had finally asked her out for their first real date. Thanks to their crazy schedule, there hadn’t been much time for a date night and most of the time both of them were usually too tired to go out, instead opting to hang out and have movie nights, much as they had before.

They finally had a brief lull in their hectic lives and Claude didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity that had so fortuitously presented itself. He wanted to leave her with a good first impression of what their relationship could be like. He wouldn’t tell her where they were going; however he did tell her to dress nicely.

Claire was nervous and excited as she opened her closet door to assess all of her possible clothing choices for that evening. She eventually settled on a simple red dress and a nice pair of flats, tying her hair half-up-half-down, the ever-present wisps and escaped curls framing her face. She was hunting through her hall closet for her coat when a knock sounded at the door. She sighed, frustrated that her coat couldn’t just appear in front of her and make her life easier. “Coming!” she called as she quickly buried herself back in the small closet in a last attempt of finding it.

She finally found it, wrenching it out from where it was wedged behind some unpacked boxes that had never made their way out of the closet and into her apartment. Grabbing her purse and keys off of the breakfast bar counter she hurried to the door, quickly opening it to reveal a very sharply dressed Claude. He wore a dark blue button down and black slacks, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Hey,” she smiled softly, any frustrations that came with excavating her hall closet dissolved almost instantaneously at his presence. “Hey,” he grinned back, his hazel eyes bright and warm as he quickly drank in her appearance, “You ready to go?” She nodded, quickly closing and locking her door, slinging on her coat as they walked down the hall.

Her knee bounced nervously as they drove to the restaurant, the two choosing to sit in a relatively uncomfortable silence. Admitting that they liked each other was one thing, but for some strange reason, despite their strong, easy friendship, neither knew quite how to go about the whole dating thing.

Claire didn’t know why she felt so nervous. Perhaps it was because a guy like Claude was interested in her or maybe it was the fact that they had leaped head first into a developing relationship that could potentially doom the extremely close bond that the two had formed.

The cacophony of thoughts swarming her mined quelled instantly at the feel of his large, warm hand on her knee. She turned her gaze to meet his gentle hazel orbs. He gave her a soft smile before turning his attention back on the road, his hand never leaving its place on her leg, offering untold amounts of comfort for the girl in the passenger seat. “You look beautiful tonight,” he murmured, giving her knee a squeeze.

She felt her cheeks heat up as she averted her gaze, “Thank you.” He couldn’t help but smile as he glanced over at her. He absolutely loved how easily he could get her to blush, even at the simplest complements.

They pulled into a space in a parking structure nearby the restaurant. Claude ran to the passenger’s side to get her door for her mere seconds after he had cut the engine. If she wasn’t already pink from his previous actions, she certainly was so now, courtesy of his chivalrous gesture. She thanked him, lightly taking the hand he offered her to help her out of her seat. Locking the car, he gently placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding her to the elevator to the street.

*********

Claude pulled a face at their waitress who walked off with their orders, causing Claire to laugh, unable to hide her amusement. The woman had been flirting up a storm with the young hockey player, almost ignoring Claire completely. He found himself having to remind her of the existence of the woman sitting across the table from him.

Claire would have, in any normal situation, become very irritated, but the clear desperation in the waitress’ eagerness to get his order along with her pathetic and blatant attempts to draw his attention to her “assets” were just too humourous to call a stop to. He looked rather uncomfortable by the bottle-blonde’s rather forward and failed effort of subtlety and he was quick to shoot apologetic glances in his date’s direction.

“Mon dieu, I thought she would never leave,” he sighed, running a hand through his short, rust-coloured hair. He hated when women acted like this, especially when he was clearly out with someone.

The brunette chuckled, “She was totally undressing you with her eyes. I thought if she stayed here any longer she was going to jump you and have her way with you right on the table.” He couldn’t help but laugh at her bluntness, the discomfort caused by the overtly flirtatious server almost completely dissipated thanks to the beautiful young woman who sat before him.

“Hey, are you saying I couldn’t take her Dubois? You forgetting I’m a hockey player, I could easily just push her off,” he joked, allowing an affronted façade to seep into his tone, his warm eyes twinkling merrily and the smile on his lips both working against him unable to disguise his amusement. “I’m saying you’d be surprised what a horny fan girl can do when the opportunity arises. It’s like those mothers who lift the cars off their children. Crazy feats of strength can happen,” she teased.

Claude chuckled, shaking his head, “Maybe, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that she’s being so rude to you. I mean she’s pretty much ignoring you when we’re obviously on a date, together.”

“Eh,” she shrugged, “It’s to be expected I guess. I mean, I am on a date with Claude Giroux, one of Philadelphia’s most eligible bachelors. Let’s be honest, I’m probably on top of almost every woman in the city’s shit list right now.”

An easy smile spread on his handsome face as he shook his head, “Non, cher, I think that I’m on top of many men’s shit lists tonight.” She arched an eyebrow inquisitively, cocking her head slightly with a soft, amused smile adorning her lips, her slender fingers coyly tracing the rim of her wine glass, “And why would that be Mr. Giroux?”

“Because I managed to get such a beautiful woman to go out on a date with me, he replied, the grin never leaving his face, drawing out the pretty pink flush that he loved to see tint her cheeks, “They’re all jealous that I have you all to myself.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, unable to take a jab at his rather corny statement as their waitress returned with their food. Once more, she tried to catch his eye and once more she was rejected as he instead found himself gazing at his date, wondering how such a stunning young woman could be so oblivious to her own beauty and yet so unintentionally sexy.

Mary, if that was her name (not that he could remember nor did he really care to for that matter), sent one last glare at Claire before storming off in a huff, clearly displeased that her pathetic attempts of flirtation went unnoticed and ignored by the hockey player. Claude made a mental note to dock from her tip, irritated by her behaviour towards his date. This was a prime example of why he rarely took women out, not wanting to subject them to the nastiness other women frequently displayed.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” he asked, curiosity about her rather calm, slightly amused, and indifferent behaviour in reaction to the waitress. A small smile graced her lips as her eyes locked onto his once more, “What do you mean?”

“Don’t all the death glares and harsh attitudes get to you? I mean our waitress has been nothing but rude to you and some of the looks you’ve been getting from the women in this place aren’t exactly nice.” He was genuinely curious as to how she managed to maintain a calm and relatively stoic air about her in reaction to the almost painful negativity that oozed from the surrounding women.

“Eh,” she shrugged, “It’s nothing worth getting too worked up over. Don’t get me wrong… it’s annoying, but like I said, it’s to be expected, especially since I’m having dinner with you. To be honest, I’m just kind of ignoring it, I mean what else can I do?” He smiled at her, hoping to all hell that they could make this work. Her response to his inquiry knew that she’d probably be able to endure being his girlfriend (when they got to this point of course), they could be in this for the long haul.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as she eyed her food warily. “I have this sneaking suspicion that she probably spit in my food,” she murmured, using her fork to pick about in it as if to find any evidence of her hunch. “Well, if you’re worried about that, I don’t mind sharing with you,” he chuckled, offering up his plate. “Nah, I think I’ll tough it out,” she smiled, “A little saliva isn’t going to stop me from enjoying my meal.”

He laughed at her resiliency. It was the same kind of attitude she had with his teammates when they picked her as their target for the day, usually dishing what they served right back at them. He found it endearing, reminding him of how he was on and off the ice. He was falling for this girl, and he was falling fast and he wasn’t sure he wanted to stop.