Phenomenal

12~ Whoops

The next day, Sunday afternoon, Clarissa, Charlotte, Adam and Jason were lounging on the grass in the courtyard, blankets stretched out, work and drinks spread around them, blending a work session and a picnic into one while the summer weather lasted.

"Miss Sinclair?"

Clarissa looked up from her work, lying on her front and squinting when she looked straight up into the sun, the speaker silhouetted against the blue sky.

"Dante?" she said, though she couldn't really see him - he was the only one who addressed her by her last name however. Dante stepped to the side, blocked out the sun and she could lower her hand.

"Sorry, bothering you, can I talk to you for a moment?" Dante asked, looking down at her.

Her eyebrows rose then she pushed up to her knees. "Sure," she said and Dante held out a hand for her. She took it and he helped her to her feet.

"If we could talk in private?"

Clarissa looked around, then pointed to one of the benches under a tree that wasn't occupied. As the others watched, then took a seat and Clarissa gripped the fabric of her skirt.

Dante was the brother out of the three that she was unsure about.

She wasn't sure he liked it - of course he could have simply not been interested, they barely knew each other after all.

Dante turned towards her, resting his arm over the back of the bench.

"About last night," he said.

"Sorry!" Clarissa cut in, squeezing her eyes shut and missing Dante's look of surprise. "I'm sorry, barging in on a family meeting like that, interrupting things. It was so rude when I had nothing to do with it."

"Is this because I called you an outsider?" Dante asked.

"Well... kind of."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Dante said and Clarissa looked at him. "I was irritated last night and Damien wasn't cooperating and Violet was upset and Darcy was just stressed out... so I wasn't in the mood to deal with people who didn't know why we were fighting."

"I'm still sorry for barging in like that."

"No, you were looking out for Violet when you came in, I can't fault you for that. You giving her that kind of attention is really helping actually - more then you know. And... look I have a favour to ask you."

"About Violet?"

"No, about Damien."

Clarissa stared at him. "...Huh?" she said, frowning - this conversation was, admittedly, not going in any direction she'd expected.

"I know this is really cheeky of me, considering we only just got to know each other two weeks ago, but Damien's in a foul mood with me and won't let me check in on him. You two get on though, right?"

"Well," Clarissa said, stumbling over the word, "I guess? Like you said, we barely know each other so."

"And that's why I know I'm being really cheeky asking this. Just for today though, that's all I ask. He's not going to see any men today."

"Any men?" Clarissa said, raising an eyebrow and Dante waved it off.

"Just the way he is. He won't see any men but a woman? I need someone to check on him and our friends can't call in today."

"What am I supposed to do?" Clarissa asked, frowning at the whole situation.

"Just check in on him, make sure he's awake and eaten. If he hasn't don't worry about it, just remind him to eat something. That's all."