Chapter 3: night club
1108 Words
“Don’t you think its high time you got an apartment of your own? It's been almost a month since you arrived,” Jason told Claire, fixing his gaze upon her while they had lunch in his office.
Claire had ordered the lunch for both of them to be brought to the office. After that incident that happened previously, she preferred having her lunch in her office.
“I have actually been thinking about it and I know I will have to get my own place soon, but I do not really know where to start from," she told him, while taking a bite off her burger.
“I could actually help you with that, I just need to make a few calls,” Jason said as he reached into his pocket for his mobile phone. “ My friend Mark, can help with that. He is an estate manager,” he said to her with an assuring voice, nodding his head slightly.
Mark Michaels was Jason’s best friend. They had been childhood friends ever since elementary school. They were so close to each other that people thought they were siblings. Jason gives Mark a call, to inquire about any available apartment for Claire.
Mark was on a business trip at the moment and would be back by the weekend. He assured Jason that he would be able to get an apartment once he was back from the trip.
“ My parents will be having their fortieth anniversary celebration this weekend, and I would really love you to attend it,” Jason told her.
“wow! That is a really long time,” she said, “but I am not really sure I would make it since I have a seminar to attend,” she replied to him, “but I will try my best to show up,” she said.
“ Okay, if you say so,” Jason replied, sounding a little bit disappointed. “I will talk to you later,” he said as he quietly turned and left the office.
On arriving at the hotel, Claire noticed a road block with a lot of blue and red colours blaring, hearing sirens all around. It was an armed robbery at a nearby bank. It had just been handled by the SWAT team a few moments ago and the criminals had been arrested. “ What if this happened in the bank I work with?” she pondered for a while but just shrugged it off as a negative thought.
It was Friday night, it had been a while she experienced the pounding music that was played at clubs. So she decided to go to the club that night. Moreover, the next day was weekend.
It had been a while since Claire went to a club, because of how busy she had been since she arrived at LOS Angeles. When she arrived at the club, the blinding pulsation of different colours of light and the loud music and the smell of alcohol in the air, reminded her of the good old days with her friends.
Back then in Arizona, she, Amanda and Catherine would attend the club every Friday, but one thing they avoided doing was engaging in a one night stand. For them, making out was something that should happen out of love.
While she sat by the bar, sipping her chilled beer slowly, she noticed a young lady sitting to her left, all by herself, at the end of the bar. She was roughly in her mid to late twenties, just like her, wearing a button-up blouse and a skirt that was slightly above her knees, she had braided her hair and she wore a lot of jewellery. Sitting alone, my first thought was she was just waiting for a boyfriend, or a friend that was running a little late.
After a short while, Claire looked at her watch and it was a few minutes past 10 and she thought to herself that it was time to leave and head back to her hotel because she was tired.
She scanned the room again, careful not to be obvious about it, when she noticed a young guy staring at her. She felt weird but, as usual, guys would stare at her in the club for a while before walking up to her and trying their luck to get her in their bed.
But this was different. The guy stared like he knew her from somewhere. While she continued sipping her beer, she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. She turned in shock, with her eyebrows raised and her eyes opened to see the same guy that stared at her in the club.
“excuse me, did you attend Dream high school?” he asked with the look on his face like he had seen her somewhere but could not remember.
“ Yes I did,” she replied to him, “but that was some years back,” she further added.
“ You are Claire right?” he asked, now more convinced.
“ Yes I am,” she replied. But hearing him call her name made her remember who he was, “wait, what! Are you Charles?” she asked.
“ Finally, you have remembered. It has been ages since I last saw you,” he said, “so how have you been all this while?” Charles asked as he sat beside her at the bar.
“I have been good. I just moved to Los Angeles a few weeks ago,” she said as she smiled warmly.
Charles Henry was her classmate in high school. They were part of this drama club back then. They were really happy to see each other after a long time.
“ So what brings you to LOS Angeles, all the way from Arizona?” Claire asked him.
“I moved here once I was done with college, to build a family of my own,” he replied, “can I get you an extra bottle?” he asked, gesturing towards her almost empty glass of beer.
“ That will not be necessary. I have already had enough and moreover, I will go soon,” she replied, peeping at her wristwatch. It was quite late, she had not been out that long since she arrived in Los Angeles.
As she walked home, Claire came across a dark alley just a few blocks from her hotel.
“ Oh snap!” she exclaimed, noticing a silhouette in the dark. It seemed like she was being followed. At that moment she immediately regretted why she had turned down Charles’s offer to walk her home.
- Writer
