Chosen Sides

Chapter 1

Claire wasn't particularly enamored with him or anything. Sure her 19-year-old self would disagree, but that was a long time ago – nine years to be exact. She was no longer the starry-eyed teen who couldn't take her eyes off him, grinning like an absolute idiot even though a hoard of flesh eating zombies were all but ready to tear her face of.

The silly school girl crush she developed when she first gazed into his baby blues had been long gone, and every single time she looked back on it, she felt stupid, really stupid. Feeling all giddy while she sat on the passenger seat of a stolen police car, trying not to seem too self-conscious because her savior happened to look like someone who just stepped out of a magazine cover. She shook her head.

That was then, and this was now. Whatever... inclination she might have had for him back then could be chalked up to the naivety of youth, the influx of teenage hormones, or the heightened awareness of everything around her due to the imminent threat of death at every corner.

It was the suspension bridge effect. She was sure of it. Her body just couldn't differentiate the cause of the sudden, never-ending rush of adrenaline. Was it survival, or was it... love? She shook her head again. It felt weird to call it that. Perhaps it would be more apt to label it as... an attachment. Yes. That word was a better fit.

Her drive, her motivation towards keeping herself alive, simply morphed into some sort of strange... affinity towards him. It was hard not to after all. He did save her back at that gas station, so seeing him always reminded her of security, of protection.

Seeing him, being with him, just made her feel... safe.

But again, that was nearly a decade ago, a lifetime ago, or so it seemed. Her fingers tightened over the glass of wine in her hand, frustrated at the spark of annoyance in her chest at the sight of him flirting with one woman after another as he moved through the room.

Leon Kennedy had always been a flirt–no, he was a shameless flirt. He wasn't particularly picky. Anyone with breasts and a pretty face was enough to get his attention, but he wasn't lecherous about it or anything, and he wasn't disgusting or disrespectful in any way. He was just... playful, witty, and so damn charming. And with a face like that? On a body like that? It was almost criminal. He was like a walking, talking lethal weapon tailored for the entire female population. She rolled her eyes.

But like she said, it wasn't like she was after him. Nine years was a long time. More than enough to get over her silly little crush on him.

Claire moved her glass against her lips, just about to take another sip when the sight of him chatting Jill up made her hand pause.

Leon Kennedy obviously didn't care that her brother could literally crush his skull open with one fisted hand as long as he got a line in with someone as gorgeous as Jill.

The familiar flicker of irritation was back, not because she was feeling jealous or anything. No way. Those days were long over. But every single time she saw him flirting with a woman, which in his case basically meant sliding up to every attractive female within the vicinity, she couldn't help but feel... cross, put off, offended.

He never flirted with her. Ever.

He was polite, yes. He was an absolute gentleman, no doubt about that; but not once, in all the years they've known each other, had he so much as dropped a line, or a hint, or even a joke, that he saw her as a woman.

And it stung. Just a tad bit, of course.

She didn't need the approval of any man to feel validated, but some days, when she saw how he really was around women, she couldn't help but feel... spiteful.