Dangerous Game

I Told You So

Jaz was testing out new makeup looks in various shades of purple in her bedroom when Lucy found her. Various eyeshadow palettes and eyeliners and lipsticks covered the surface of her dressing table. Frowning, Jaz picked up the cloth to wipe away her last look. It had meant to mimic purple butterflies, except the colours had smudged horribly and looked like a swirled mess.

"So how was he and the interview?" Jaz asked with raised eyebrows as she finished wiping her face with the cloth.
"Weird." Lucy flopped down on the bed, staring at the ceiling as she crossed her arms. "He knew things that I've barely told anyone, and he didn't like mentioning my father using the Cooperative's money. I mean, that's the whole reason I'm alive and all." But how did he know all those things? Had they been on file from when her father worked for the Cooperative?

Lucy looked over to her friend to find her staring at her from her seat in front of the dressing table's mirror.
"I don't want to say 'I told you so' but..." She smirked as she turned back to the mirror and sorted through her makeup.
"It's not like he's done anything evil," Lucy said quickly. Nothing openly evil, at least. But Jaz had been sort of right, he had acted quite weird. The interview questions were odd too, what did her nan have to do with anything? "And he didn't do anything close to the flirting Gallant apparently got from him."
"Maybe he's just gay." Jaz shrugged and then turned back to the mirror. "Or Gallant's lying. That's possible too."

Lucy sighed and sat up, shuffling to the end of the bed to watch her friend apply more makeup.
"Your makeup looks pretty," she said, watching as Jaz put purple eyeshadow on her cheeks and blended it out to make a purple blush. "But Langdon, he seemed weirdly interested in my family." And then not at all interested when she mentioned her father using the Cooperative's money. He likely wasn't meant to, but her father was dead now anyway.

"Why? Who's your family?"
"No one's important," she said with a shrug. Her father had worked for the Cooperative but that was about it. She'd never really gotten along with them for the most part, she'd been happy for her father to pay for an apartment while she went to Princeton just to get away from them. "They never talked about work or anything. My father was barely home, my mom was happy to just go shopping and spend my dad's money. I was forever arguing with them over stupid things." Like where she wanted to shop or go to college.

Now she'd wished for more time with them, despite the arguing.

Jaz turned to look at her for a moment before turning back to the mirror and adding wings to her eyeliner.
"I didn't have much of a family," Jaz said quietly. "Ended up at a boarding school on some scholarship because I didn't have any parents around."
"I'm so sorry," Lucy said. She'd never realised, they hadn't really talked about this kind of thing. Everyone was mostly ignoring it, knowing the truth was too painful to face. Everything outside had been obliterated. A pang of guilt hit her. Some people like Jaz didn't have much family, and she'd never been grateful to have her own.

"Honestly, I have less to miss. I had an older brother but he wasn't nice and he was constantly in and out of prison." she said, shrugging again. Lucy was surprised at how nonchalant she was, but maybe her friend had come to terms with her situation long before the apocalypse had happened.
"For what?"
"Shoplifting, stealing cars, he'd been left in charge of me for a while and was trying to make money the only way he knew how." She frowned and put her makeup down, picking up a tissue to dab at the tears in the corner of her eyes. "I only really miss him, even though I probably shouldn't, but he tried his best."

Lucy moved over to her friend and hugged her. Jaz smiled slightly as she hugged back.
"You're still allowed to miss him," she said. "Even if he was a bit of a dick, you don't have to like that the end of the world happened."
"Yeah, I know. But still," she sighed and Lucy nodded. "I bet you have lot sof people you miss, having gone to Princeton and everything."
"It's mostly just my parents to be honest. Most of my friends at Princeton either drifted away or I wasn't a good enough connection for them once I left. And my grandparents all passed away long before the apocalypse and I never really knew my cousins, they moved when I was seven and my aunt and uncle divorced and it was all a mess."

She did miss her nan though. Was there something special about her nan? She too had orange eyes, and her parents hadn't liked talking about her since she passed. While Lucy didn't like the thought of it, maybe Michael Langdon was right about that, something wasn't right about it.

"It doesn't really stop me from missing them, I guess. Even if not all of them died from the literal apocalypse." Jaz nodded and stared at her makeup.
"I'm so fed up with this, but there's hardly anything else to do," Jaz sighed as she put her makeup away in the drawer of the dressing table.
"Dinner is soon, isn't it?"
"It's hardly dinner, it's half a vitamin cube, but I guess it's better than nothing," she said with a roll of her eyes. Ms. Venable never liked excessive makeup so it was good she'd stopped now. "Hopefully the Sanctuary has real food, otherwise I'd cry."
"They better do, otherwise what's the point if it's just going to be the same as here?" Lucy said hopefully.

"Are you going to come to the music room afterwards for cocktails?" Jaz asked. "I wish you would, you make it more interesting for me. We can just watch the others arguing and wish we had popcorn again."
"I suppose I could," said Lucy. If she was away from the others, there was a chance she'd bump into Langdon again and right now, that was the last thing she wanted. "And honestly? I think I need a drink after that interview anyway. I still feel kind of weirded out."