Blackbird (8 page)

“Your champagne, miss,” Nate said with an English
accent.

Claire turned and accepted the glass of wine from
Nate. “Why thank you, kind sir,” Claire replied with her own mock English
accent.

They were silent for a few minutes, both taking in
their surroundings.

“If you could be anywhere else in the world right
now- and don’t say here-” Nate winked, “Where would you be?”

“
Mmmm
that’s a tough
one. There are so many places I would love to be. But if I had to choose one it
would be Machu Picchu in South America. That place has always amazed me.”

“Interesting, I’ve always wanted to go there as
well.”

“But you have to hike the Inca Trail, none of this
train bullshit.”

He laughed. “Yeah I agree with you on that one.”

“So what about you?”
Claire asked.

“I’d like to be at Easter Island. I love a good
mystery.”

“Well  I guess since we’re already in South
America we might as well catch a flight over to Easter Island.”

“I like your way of thinking.” Nate smiled at her,
then his face turning serious. “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask
you…”

Claire looked at him, worried. Whatever he had to
say, it obviously wasn’t good.

Nate’s eyes moved to the glass in her hand,
nodding his head.

She looked at the glass, then back at Nate in
confusion. His eyes stayed focus on the glass in her hand.  Claire looked
back at her glass and it was then that she spotted it. A shiny silver item sat
in the bottom of her champagne glass.

Her heart was racing a million beats per minute.
It couldn’t be? She pulled the glass closer to her face and took a long hard
look.

It was a ring.

Holy mother- shit! Nate is proposing.
Proposing!

She looked up at him in confusion, her face paling.
I’m going to throw up.

A smile crept to Nate’s lips and he burst into a
fit of laughter. “Your face is priceless!”

“What…”

He grabbed the glass from her, tipping it to the side
he pulled the ring out and wiped his shirt with it. He placed it back on his
finger and continued to look at her laughing.

Claire, registering that it was a joke, sighed in
relief.
“You bastard!”

“You have to admit, it was pretty funny.”

Not two seconds ago it wasn’t Claire thought. She
didn’t even know why she thought Nate was being serious.
They weren’t even
seeing each other. It must have been the sunset
, she told herself. She must
have just gotten so caught up in the moment that she forgot who she was with
and why. That must be it.

She smiled. “You’re right, it was pretty funny.
Although I still feel kind of sick from it,” she said holding her stomach.

“The thought of marrying me makes you sick?”

“The thought of having to see you voluntarily
makes me sick.”

Nate faked a sad face. “I happen to think the
complete opposite. The thought of seeing you steals my breath away. Seeing you
in your perfect form makes my heart pound in my chest. You’re all I want.”

Hearing that from any guy would have melted Claire’s
heart.
Hearing it from Nate, however, and seeing the smug
look on his face, made her nearly gag.

“Righto, Romeo, you can tone it back a bit now,”
she said grabbing her glass from his hand and pushing past him.
“For a minute there I thought we’d have something to celebrate,” the hot air
balloon guy called out. “It’s a beautiful way to propose, though, if you two
decide to do it for real next time. You make a really nice couple.”

Claire’s mouth fell open. She looked at Nate who
seemed to be enjoying her discomfort. “We are not a couple,” she quickly shot
back.

The man looked at her confused. “Oh I’m sorry,
it’s just the way you two were together and… well let’s face it,
you
are
in a hot air balloon watching the sunset.
It’s a pretty romantic thing to do.”

“It’s not romantic. We are just two
frie
-… people that are spending time with each other,” she
said quickly, clearly uncomfortable.

The man shrugged.
“If you say
so.”

She shot a foul look at Nate and pointed her
finger at him. He shrugged at her and smiled. “Can you blame a guy for trying?”

Oh, she could and she would. She was playing with
fire when it came to Nate and she knew it.  There was just nothing she
could do about it. Claire calmed herself-The date was nearly over and that
meant so was her time with Nate. .

***

“This has been one of the best days
of my life!” Claire exclaimed. “Well apart from that little incident,” she
said, eying Nate. “Thank you, though, for everything.” Claire pulled her car up
in front of Nate’s apartment.

He smiled at her. “You’re
welcome,
it’s the least I could do for you.”

He opened the car door and, placing his crutches
to the ground, he turned to look back at her, sadness filling his eyes. “I’ll
be seeing you.”

This was it. They wouldn’t be seeing each other
anymore. Claire’s placement was finished and she would go back to her life.
They would go their separate ways.

A feeling of heartache and desolation suddenly
filled Claire.

This was meant to happen, but why did it feel
so wrong?

She wasn’t ready to say goodbye, to go away from
him, but she had to. None of this was fair to Dave, and she knew it.

 “Bye Nate. Good luck with everything,” she
said solemnly.

He stared at her for a moment, his mouth opening
to say something, but it froze and he turned away. He pushed his crutches to
the ground and pulled his body forward.

Crack!

“Fuck!
Just what I need!”
Nate cursed as he fell to the ground, holding the broken crutch up to examine
it.

“Shit. I’ll help you up to your apartment,” Claire
said quickly, opening her car door and running to his aide. He had three
flights of stairs to get to his apartment, and the thought of him injuring his
leg again made Claire wince.  All that pain and suffering would have been
for nothing.

She wrapped her arms under his and helped him to
his feet.

“Thanks,” Nate said, using Claire’s body strength
to limp to his building’s entrance.

By the time they reached Nate’s apartment Claire
was breathless.
Climbing all those stairs while supporting
his bodyweight had been hard.

“Jeez! Why the hell doesn’t this building have a
lift!
” Claire said, dropping Nate onto his couch.

“It does.”

She looked down at him in dismay. “What!”

“I thought you needed the exercise,” he chuckled.

Claire shook her head. “You can be such a prick
when you want to be.”

Nate shrugged. “Can you help me go and get my
spare set of crutches from my bedroom?”

“I can just go and get them.”

“No, I’m actually feeling pretty exhausted, I
wouldn’t mind going to go and have a lie down.”

“Sure,” Claire said, helping him up off the couch.

As they walked to the room she noticed how much
everything had changed. “You’ve cleaned…” She said, amazed.
“A
lot.”

She was in shock at just how clean the place
looked, almost as if a professional had come and cleaned.

“Yeah someone told me I was living in filth so I
thought I’d better clean it up.” He smiled down at her.

She smiled back at him and helped him to the bed.

“Could you grab my medication for me on the
kitchen bench?”

“Want me to cook you dinner too?” she said sarcastically.

“Actually-”

“Not happening,” she interrupted and walked back
out to the kitchen.

As Claire went to pick up the medication from the
bench she noticed a piece of paper next to it. It was from a University,
thanking Nate for his interest in finishing his business course.
Uni.
He was going back to
uni
?

She walked back into the room to find Nate where
she’d left him. She handed him the bottle of pills and held the letter out to
him. “You’re going back to
uni
?”

Nate looked up at her, and then to the piece of
paper she was holding. “It’s rude to pry.”

“I wasn’t prying, it was right
there,
I couldn’t help but notice it.”

Nate sighed. “Yeah I’m thinking about finishing my
degree.”

“That’s great, Nate!” she said excitedly.

“Yeah I thought you’d like that,” he replied
harshly.

“What’s that meant to-” Claire trailed off,
confused at Nate’s sudden change in attitude.

“That’s what you want isn’t it?” Nate asked as he
stood up, balancing on his strong leg.
“A successful, smart,
funny,
reliable
guy.”
Nate was breathing heavily now.

Claire didn’t understand what he was talking
about.
Why would he think that was what she wanted?
“I don’t know what
you’re talking about,” she replied softly.

“Oh, really?”
He grabbed
her wrists and pulled her close. “Admit it. You think I’m not good enough.”

Claire felt her breathing hitch. “Where did this
come from? Nate, I have a boyfriend.”

He let go of one of her wrists and held his hand
up to her face. He stroked her cheek slowly, delicately. “Then explain to me
what
this
is.
This thing between you and me.”

Please don’t go there,
Claire thought.

“There’s nothing going on between us,” she
whispered.
Breathe, Claire. Breathe!

“You sure about that?” his voice was raspy and
filled with need. “You want me.”

“I don’t want you,” she said, not quite as firmly
as she would have hoped.

She didn’t want him, she didn’t.
Right?
She didn’t know anymore, she was lost in the
moment, lost in Nate.

Nate tilted his head towards her, and she held her
breath. Claire could feel Nate’s breath on her lips he was so close.

“I’ve wanted you for so long, Claire. And I know
you’ve wanted me, too. You can try and deny it…us, but it won’t make it go
away.”

Claire couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, her chest
constricted. In that moment there was no Dave, no world around them, it was
just them.

His lips touched hers, and Claire closed her eyes
as Nate explored her mouth gently with his own. Every part of her mind told her
to stop, pull away, and leave now! But she didn’t, she couldn’t. She kissed him
back with greater force, their once delicate kiss now full of raging passion.

Claire stood on her toes, gripping Nate’s shirt
tightly.  A craving yearned inside of her. Nate, welcoming her passion,
cupped her face in his hand, his other hand sliding down her spine. 
Suddenly, he stopped.

Pulling away Nate looked into Claire’s eyes, an
uneasiness filling his own. “I remember…”

Claire’s’ hold on him loosened.

“I remember the day of the accident. You came in
for a tattoo…”

Claire gasped. She remembered that day as well,
almost like it was yesterday…

“You’re not seriously doing this are you!”
Layla
laughed at Claire hysterically as they walked into
the tattoo parlour.

“A bet’s a bet,” Claire replied smiling.

“But it will be on you forever!”

Claire shrugged. “It’s only a tattoo.”

They approached the counter, Claire’s eyes
darting back and forth to find someone to do her tattoo.

“You’re a crazy girl, Claire.”

“That’s why you love me so much,” Claire said,
winking at her.

A tall muscular man dressed in all black
approached the counter. Tattoos streamed down his arms like a beautiful
painting. She looked at him more closely, and her mouth opened in awe. He was
hot, very hot. He had characteristics women would melt over. Hell, she could
feel her own legs melting under his stare!

“Hope you get him,”
Layla
said quietly, nudging her in the side.

“I hope so, too,” she replied, unable to pull
her eyes away from him.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

Fuck, his voice is even sexy, Claire thought to
herself.

Claire pulled the small cut out piece of paper
onto the counter. “Yeah I was wondering if I could get this tattooed on
me?
”

The man looked down at the piece of paper then
back at her, his eyebrow raised.

“Have you ever had a tattoo before?”

Claire shook her head. “No, this will be my
first.”

He looked at her in disbelief. “You want ‘this’
to be your first tattoo?”

Claire beamed. “Sure do.”

He shrugged his shoulders.
“Fair
enough.
Did you to want to do it now?”

“Yeah if you could that would be great.” She
glanced
a smile at
Layla
. “It has
to be that size too, no smaller.”

“Righto.
I’ll
get everything set up, and come back and get you when I’m ready. I’ll also need
you to fill out some paperwork for me before we get started.
Maddie
will help you with that. You’ll need to prove you’re
eighteen as well,” he said, handing Claire some forms. “I’m Nate by the way.”

“Claire.”

He nodded and walked away.

Claire picked up a pen and started filling in
the forms in the paperwork.

“He was smoking hot!”
Layla
exclaimed a little bit too loudly.

“
Layla
!
He might hear you!”

Claire agreed with
Layla
-
he was hot all right! But he was also only in the next room and quite possibly
just heard her outburst.