Brie and Claire

twenty-four

"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."- The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald

"What are you two doing here?"

They spun around to see Paula standing there, with a few people surrounding her, talking, too busy to even notice them.

Well looks like they weren't so lucky after all. They didn't even need any money to test their luck that night!

"Oh hi", Brie said awkwardly, as she stared at the woman in front of her. 

She looked a lot different than she did when they first met her. She was sporting a casual looking, but elegant red dress that hugged her body and stopped a little above her knees. Her hair, which was in a professional looking bun the other day, was down and flowing down her back. 

She was smiling, and her demeanor had changed dramatically, in contrast with her unbending aura she gave off the other day. 

She looked just as surprised seeing Brie and Claire as they were, seeing her.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise", she smiled at them, letting the shock wear off.

Claire was frozen in her place. She had been feeling cocky about holding the painting while being in her own casino, and now she was just a little too scared. The girl was truly too childish for her own good.

"We just wanted to check out the place, caught our interest after the deal", Brie said, smiling right back at her.

"Well that's nice, what a coincidence", she turned to Claire, "I like to check on all casinos once in a while, make sure everything is in order"

"Of course, I'd say things are in order, crowds of people, great business", Brie chuckled.

"Oh yes of course, but it's a challenge to check if people are really lucky sometimes or just cheating their way through the night, walking out with huge profits."

"I don't believe anyone would have the audacity to cheat someone as powerful as you", Claire smiles sweetly before tugging at Brie's arm, going unnoticed by Paula.

Brie gave her a questioning look, and saw that Claire looked quite uncomfortable.

She tried to tell Paula that they were going to continue their night of gambling but she spoke before, "Can I talk to you two in private?"

It took everything in them to not react to her words, and Claire looked as casual as she could possibly look, "About?"

"About the painting. Can we take this conversation outside, in my room maybe?"

They tried to think of a way to get out of the situation, but making lame excuses seemed to be a bad idea. They were already trying so hard not to look suspicious.

As they went up to Paula's room, Brie recognised the man standing at her door. She took a moment, but realised that it was the man she'd seen the other day, at the farmer's market.

Paula saw her and chuckled, "Sometimes they're not so good at mingling with crowds"

Brie stared at her, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh don't act like you don't know. You recognise him don't you. Don't worry, I was just making sure I could trust you. That's it"

With that, both of their anxiety was through the roof, as with each realisation they found out how scary of a person Paula could be.

But to their surprise, Paula was being quite nice to them. 

Soon the three of them were sitting in Paula's room, which was on the very top floor, and much more fancy looking than Brie and Claire's.