Delectable (Sinclair Bryant)

Christmas Party: Part 1

The Christmas tape that Sinclair had purchased was playing Bing Crosby throughout the flat as he poured glasses of wine for the two of them. Sinclair hummed along, dressed in his grey suit and a black t-shirt. Sian had said nothing too fancy for her Christmas Party, so he had foregone a collared shirt.

Sian, was almost ready, she was just curling her hair in the bedroom before they needed to leave. She saw Sinclair enter the bedroom from the corner of her eye but she heard him softly singing as he came down the hallway beforehand. He had a lovely voice.

"There we go, madam," he said as he placed the glass of wine down on the top of the drawers in front of her.

"Thank you," he pecked her lips carefully, having already been warned not to smudge her lipstick. She didn't often wear a full face of makeup, so she wasn't the fastest at putting it on, so she didn't need to have to reapply so soon.

"You look lovely." He stepped back and admired her. Sipping the glass of white as he did. The dark blue material complemented her pale skin as her brunette ringlets fell and tickled her bare shoulders. The way the dress cinched in at her waist had Sinclair's eyes wandering every few seconds. It then puffed out over her hips and ended just before the knee. It was an excellent pick Sinclair thought, and he had told her so at least three times since seeing it.

"You know you told me that 2 minutes ago." She curled a piece of hair around the tongs and stretched her neck, she regretted starting the process.

"It was true then and it is true now, darling," he stated confidently, unwilling to have his praise censored. Darling was something he had introduced slowly over the last few days, and although it had taken Sian aback the first few times, she quickly began to like the way it sounded.

The ringing of the phone lifted his eyes from his admiration and Sian looked directly at Sinclair in the reflection. He didn't realise the look she gave him was out of a slightly panicked feeling.

"I'll get it," Sinclair was heading out of the bedroom before Sian could deter him. Her instructions to just let it ring out, not being followed.

"It's okay, I don't mind," he called back before she heard the ringing end and his usual cheery "hello."

"Who's this? This is Sinclair," he replied to whoever was on the other end of the phone. Sian quickly released the tongs and put them down carefully so as not to burn the top of her drawers.

"What do you mean am I one of her weird friends? What kind of question is that?" Sinclair's usual calm manner started to crumble, not quite believing the rude question. He was frowning as Sian rushed into the hallway and grabbed the phone out of his hand.

"Bloody hell," he whispered as she took up his place. Not used to rough behaviour from her.

"Hello?" There was a slight pause and Sinclair could hear mumbling on the other end, Sian looked over to him and then quickly looked down to her bare feet. "No. No."

Another pause. Sinclair rested his hands on his hips and tilted his head to the side a tad. He didn't want to eavesdrop but if someone could be that rude to a complete stranger, he didn't want to leave Sian to have to deal with them by herself. Was this the brother? He briefly thought.

"Now is not a good time," Sian sighed, "I've got to go out in 20 minutes....yes...yes I will call. Okay...okay...bye."

Sian slowly replaced the receiver and paused for a second. That couldn't have gone any worse, she thought.

"I'm sorry about that," she whispered before she even turned to Sinclair. He could hear the wobble of her voice as she spoke, which dissolved his annoyance into concern.