The Good Boy's Facade

9

Adam had taken the couch. She remembered it quite clearly. He definitely took the couch, let Claire sleep on the bed since the extra bed they had ordered never arrived even after registering a complaint against the hotel management.

So if Adam had really taken the couch, then why? Why was Claire looking at a curled up Adam beside her, nuzzling his face into her arm as he slept in silence and peace?

She couldn't help but bring her other hand which wasn't being nuzzled by Adam to run her fingers through his midnight black hair in the dark. As she did so, she also pulled the covers over them so that they wouldn't fall cold later on and sighed contently.

Her long fingers threaded through his hair softly, trying to not wake him up. But his eyes still shot open, looking a little lost for a while.

"Sorry did I wake you up?" Claire almost pulled her hand away apologetically, before he held her wrist from moving away.

"Don't stop" He breathes, and brought her back. She gulped, while she did her thing again, just looking at the way Adam sighed contently. "No one.."

"No one?"

"No one ever ran a hand through my hair. It feels.. weirdly nice."

Oh yeah. Adam never really received affection, did he? Her lips curled down just a little and she was glad that it was dark. It pained Claire to know that Adam was treated brutally by his own father.

Adam smiled, his cheeks pressing against Claire's skin against her arm.

How could anyone lay a finger on this precious soul?

"Go back to sleep." She whispered, turning around to completely face him now, and her fingers never leaving his hair. "Tomorrow's going to be tiring."

"Claire," and then, suddenly, Adam was looking into he eyes with such intensity, that Claire forgot how to breathe. "Doesn't it bother you even one bit?"

"What?" She blinked.

"That.. that Lucas looks like a different guy now."

Her fingers stopped, as her wrist started aching and she brought her hand back down, now looking away from Adam. "It doesn't."

"Be honest. You've known the real man back in time."

Claire was tired, and honesty? It wasn't in the house anymore. Nothing could be done with honesty.

"I've seen a lot of him. Happiness, sadness, tears, even.. even regret." She paused for a second. "You can't be sure that all these features sum up to him. People grow, people change."

"It's Lucas."

"He's still a man."

"Claire,"

Claire pursed her lips, before she met his eyes again. "There's one thing that still remained. It's his kindness. It's still in him."

————

Jamming to her music and a pen flipping around  between her fingers, she sat at a cafe, a plate of fries in front of her, untouched.

Claire was trying to get ideas, write them down, on how she could START her chapter or how she could end her book. Her eyes lazily gazed on tables around her, found nothing that could be of help and looked back at the small note pad beside the plate of fries.

Her phone buzzed, immediately cutting off her music, totally killing her mood with it.

Groaning at the caller ID, she answered it anyway, earphones plugged in and convenient. "What the fuck do you want?" Maybe she was a little too loud, gaining few glances from around the neighbouring tables, old ladies looking through the corner of their eyes and kids giggling at the swear words. Claire licked her lips and in a small, low tone, whispered again "what the fuck do you want?"

"I want your ass back here." Adam, always, sounded like a mother trying to control her teen son.

"No." Claire rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to work. You make nothing possible for me."

"Claire, I'd write for you..." he paused, "If I could."

"Exactly. Get off my back and go kiss Connors ass since you wanna help them that bad."

"Your attitude towards me, should immediately be dumped."

"You cannot absolutely make me."

The kid three tables away, looking around 6 years old kept her eyes on Claire as Claire stared back, as if it had turned into knowing who would win.

"For the love of me, can you come back to our room? I can't watch these channels on this television. I need Netflix."

"You need Netflix, I gotta pay. I gotta pay, I need money. I need money, I gotta-"

"Work. I know, you gotta work. I've lived with you long enough to know all your next words."

"Bastard." Claire sighed, before breaking the eye contact from the kid, and packing up her stuff from her table. It was chaos. "Right, I'm coming."

She was walking out of the cafe now, a cup of coffee in her hand. She dug into her bag, still walking down the sidewalk, looking for some tissues she would have placed in some zipper, for times like these when the coffee would be too hot to even hold and she desperately needed-

Claire's cup was suddenly falling, colliding against something that felt expensive, and she gasped, before she bumped into the person in front of her and stumbled back on her feet.

The man groaned, looking down at his stained shirt and tie, a black stained coat in his arms.

"What did you do?!" He grimaced.

"I'm so sorry-" she instinctively blurted out, and when she looked up at him, she swore she would have rather been judged by 60 year old ladies back in the cafe for cursing out loud that be here, looking at his face. She gulped, as he furiously wiped over and over his clothes.

And the next time she apologises, she's aware of her words tingling on her tongue, as of she was sorry for something else.. "I'm- Im sorry."

It might take a lifetime to pay for his clothes, they probably cost more than an entire estate.

Lucas raised his head the moment he heard her voice, eyes widening ever so slightly. He breathed, lips splitting into a little smile.

"It's... it's absolutely fine." He replied, "Everything's fine."

And his words sounded as though he was reassuring about something that definitely wasn't coffee.