One Shots - Claire Browne and Neil Melendez

Fire Meet Gasoline

Dread was what Claire was feeling by having to go to her high school reunion party. Or well, they did advertise it as a "gathering", but if the people she went to high school with were anything like they were before, a lot of alcohol would be involved. 

High school did not bring up great memories for her. It was a tough time in her life, struggling with her mother, financial problems at home, everyone seeing her as the "weird girl". Besides, she found it stupid. It had been quiiite a while since they graduated, what was the point of getting together so many years later?

She hadn't been wanting og planning to go, because, even though she had made it through med school and had become a surgical resident, she knew people were going to comment on the fact that she did not have a partner. 

She dated one very crappy boy in high school. He did drugs, failed all his classes, etc. She knew it was stupid, but she did not want to hear all those dumb comments from the people she went to high school with. She had very few friends, and even though she hadn't kept contact with any of them, she knew their comments were somewhat still going to annoy her. 

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Neil asked as he entered the resident lounge, smiling at her. 

She sighed. "My high school reunion is coming up this weekend," 

"What's so bad about that?" he asked while pouring himself a cup of coffee. 

"Of course you like it," Claire stated. "You were prom king, everyone probably adored you," she rolled her eyes. 

"They did. I mean, who wouldn't?" he asked jokingly. She couldn't help but chuckle slightly at how cocky he was. 

He sat down opposite her. "No seriously, I know high school was not a good time for you, but you could still show up and shove the fact that you're a brilliant surgical resident in their faces. That might be fun." 

She smiled but shook her head. "It could be fun, but many of them are married with kids, I can't bear all the questions and looks for the whole night because I don't have a partner." She sighed. 

Neil narrowed his eyes at her. She took another sip of her coffee before realizing he was practically staring at her. 

"What?" she asked, unsure, placing the white mug back on the table. 

"No-no, it's nothing, I'm sorry, it was stupid," he smiled, hoping she would let it go. But she's Claire, she's stubborn as hell. 

"You can't just look at me like that and then not tell me," she said, leaning back in her chair. 

"I was just-" Neil sighed. He didn't know if this was a good idea. Well, it doesn't mean anything, so would it really be that bad?

"You went to high school not that far from here, right?" he asked, and she nodded. 

"I was just thinking that I could go with you," he admitted, and Claire lifted her eyebrows in surprise. 

"Really?" she asked. 

"Yeah, if people are being annoying, you can just introduce me as your boyfriend," he shrugged like it was no big deal. 

Claire felt her heart skip a quick beat at the last word in that sentence. 

When she wasn't really answering, Neil spoke up again. "Besides, I really want to see you tell these people how far you've gotten," he smiled, and she grinned a little. 

"Alright," she nodded, and soon they both left to each their duty. 

Saturday arrived, and Neil had just parked outside Claire's apartment. She was running just a little bit late. She had debated what to wear. She wanted to look nice. Not for her old classmates, though. 

Her doorbell rang and she rushed to it while putting a bobby pin in place. She didn't feel like she was overdressed. She had chosen a simple dress, it wasn't too much, and she just wanted to go with a half-up hairstyle to get some of her hair out of her face. 

"Hi," she smiled when she saw Neil on the other side of the doorstep, wearing jeans and a dressing shirt. 

"Hi," he returned. "You look nice," 

She turned back around to grab her purse. "Thanks," she said, blushing just slightly

When she returned to the door again, Neil asked if she was ready to go before they left. 

Claire had feared the just about an hour drive would be awkward, but it wasn't. They had been friends for a while now, and they were talking and joking like always while she softly hummed along to the songs on the radio. 

"So," Neil started after a moment of silence. "About this whole... fake dating thing," 

Claire wasn't quite sure what to say. "Yeah?" she asked. 

"Should we like... make up a story? Just to make it believable?" he asked. She hadn't quite realized he wanted to take it that seriously. 

"Yeah, we can do that," she replied. "How much detail do you want to get into?" she asked, making Neil chuckle slightly. 

"Not much, I thought we just might as well make it a little bit believable," he stated. Claire blushed, hating herself for the things that came to her mind when he said that. 

"Right, what if we just keep it simple and tell them something that's close to our individual lives now?" she asked. He nodded. "Maybe not the thing about me being your resident though," she joked, and Neil chuckled again. 

"Why not? You know some people have a kink for the superior kind of thing-" he stated jokingly, but Claire cut him off by scoffing at him and slapping his arm gently. 

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he laughed. Claire shook her head at him disapprovingly, even though she enjoyed the joke. 

"We'll just tell them that we met when working together, without the residency-thing," Claire explained. "Does that work for you?" she asked, turning to look at him. 

He nodded. "What about after that, though?" he asked. 

"What do you mean?" she squinted her eyes slightly. 

"What about after we 'meet'? I charm you with my perfect smile and good looks, and you just fall for me immediately?" he was teasing her, but she liked it. 

"Actually," she said, playing along. "I think you fell for me first," 

"Really?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

"Yes," she said confidently. "I would never fall for a dumb smile like that so quickly, you would just fall head over heels in love after you saw how brilliant I am," she smiled, satisfied with herself. 

Neil chuckled, even though he knew that thing applied in real life as well. A minute later, they pulled up outside Claire's old high school, ending their little moment of teasing each other. 

"You ready?" he asked, Claire sighing deeply. 

"As ready as I'll get, I guess," she answered before walking out of the car towards the gym it was held in. 

//AN// this story will have multiple parts, but only about 2-3