I gave Claire another smile, and broke off the eye-contact, turning my head towards Olivia. Her smile looked a bit strained. No shit, Sherlock, I would’ve been long since livid from jealousy if I were in her place.

I took my hand from her head and slid it down to her waist, hugging her tighter into my side. My second hand caught her chin, tilting her face a bit upward. And then I gave her a deep, greedy kiss.

After an initial moment of surprise, my mistress threw her arms around my neck, responding to my kiss with passion. Mmm, seems like she had the same cocktail as last week. Grenadine syrup, orange juice and a hint of tequila. Something Sunrise. Or was it a Sunset?

The kiss itself wasn’t all that long, but, judging by how noticeably more cheerful the expression on the beautiful face of my girlfriend became, it was the right course of action.

Maybe it wasn't an optimal choice in this situation, but my priorities were straightforward. Obviously, alleviating Olivia's insecurities was more important than whatever was going on between Claire and me.

“Um, should I leave?” asked the counter girl.

“Do you want to?” I met her words with a question of my own.

“I… am not sure,” she answered.

“You know, Claire, you are sending really mixed signals here.” I shook my head. “How about we make it much simpler? I think it should be pretty obvious what I want from you. So, all that is left is a question. What do you want from me?”

“Ha, mixed signals! A bit rich coming from you, don't you think?” Claire responded to my words with a chuckle. “I mean, every time I feel like the logic behind your behavior finally makes sense to me, you change the way you act!”

Olivia, who was currently happily clinging to my arm, kept her silence while watching our exchange with interest.

“Eh? Haven’t I already told you?” I shook my head, trying to fight back the genuine confusion. “Everything I’m doing is a part of my nefarious plan. I just keep adjusting my actions according to the situation, my own circumstances, and also new things I learn about you.”

Claire just stared at me, as if waiting for a more in-depth explanation. Why do people tend to be so complicated?

“Fine, since you still think that my signals are mixed, I will stop beating around the bush and explain it to you in detail,” I said, my voice laced with the irritation I felt inside. “I want to fuck you. Simple as that. So, I went for the easiest way to accomplish such a goal: getting you drunk and taking advantage of you afterward. Granted, you did your hardest to play along with the whole thing. The problem is, I found the idea to be so incredibly lacking at the time that I ultimately decided not to. For the most part, because of my own set of moral principles, lacking as they are, but in no small way due to feeling curious to see your reaction.”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I paused briefly to catch my breath and to take a sip of my almost empty cocktail. Bloody hell, with all the endless talking, this night felt so long at the moment.

“Your actual reactions from that point onward were a Christmas Tree of mixed signals. I can cook an explanation on why you played along with my obvious scheme. The guy keeps ignoring you, you want to feel the attention, and, maybe, a wee bit of revenge mixed in. Been there, done that. You won’t believe how many girls slept with me for that exact reason.” I wasn’t sure myself, I lost count long ago. “But keeping close contact with me, especially after learning I have multiple relationships going on, just doesn’t make much sense, however I think about that. Even now, you are still sitting here with me and one of my girlfriends, instead of taking my previous offer to send you home safely. All the while repeating that you already have someone you like.”

I reached my hand to my glass, only to find it empty. Damn. Olivia just finished hers as well. Just my luck, I guess.

“So, enlighten me on this, oh Counter Girl. What the hell do you want from me?” I finished my speech with pathos.

Claire lowered her gaze, as if finding her drink incredibly interesting all of a sudden. Deciding to give her time to think through whatever was going through her head, I made a gesture to a server to come over. While giving our orders to a briefly arrived waitress, I again played around with the idea of simply getting wasted, but I already promised Olivia a night of dancing regardless of how tonight would go, haven’t I?

“Hey, honey, why are you making this so overly complicated?” my mistress suddenly said. “The poor girl already told you that she isn’t sure, and you made yourself clear enough, I think. How about postponing the hard stuff for now and just focusing on the important stuff right now? Let’s dance! You promised!”

Olivia’s upbeat words, coupled with a light pinch I felt on my arm, still hugged by her, took my mind off this track. She was right. Leaving hard stuff for later was the best course of action right now. The girl across the table also raised her eyes from her glass.

“Sure,” I nodded. “Claire, I will give you one more out. Just to make sure that I interpret your signals properly, well, as far as it is possible. With conditions that we already discussed previously, still in power, do you want to stay with us for the night? Or would you rather prefer for me to send you home?”

There was a bit of a wordplay in my question, but this wouldn’t be much of an evil scheme otherwise, right?

“Stay.” I heard her voice

What an interesting answer that was for my future self to think about.

***

Once more, I decided to let Olivia lead on the dance floor, and that was a great decision, indeed. It started with me dancing with Olivia. Then my girlfriend managed to gradually include Claire in our dance. Which really helped to break the ice left after the last conversation.

Dancing, talking, drinking. More dancing than anything else. With either of the girls. With both of them at the same time. Or just watching how they danced together. That’s how the rest of the night went. Pretty uneventful, all things considered.

Until, eventually, the counter girl, either making good on her words from much earlier, or just being carried away by the atmosphere, finally blacked out, drunk. Good thing that by this point we changed our resting location to my personal lounge.

I still double-checked her smartphone, locked for good, before exchanging glances with pretty tipsy herself, Olivia. Receiving only a simple shrug back, I gave up and called a taxi. Claire consented explicitly to my conditions earlier, so I decided to follow on my promise as well.

I absentmindedly checked the ETA for the taxi, and noticed a new message icon on my phone.