Brigitte Ainsworth

“It’s alright, really - my work involves a lot of talking to people that I might not like and who might not like me, but it gives you some great stories to tell in the pub afterwards.” Right, that was safe then, her brother wasn’t exactly the kind of journalist to go making big political interviews. “What station? Maybe I’ll give it a listen sometime, although I don’t think I’d want my problems spoken about on the radio if I had any. Does he disguise their voices or something? What if you were talking about someone and they heard your voice on the radio? That would be such an awkward conversation…”

“Really? You could totally have asked to come with me, you know. I want you to meet Greer eventually anyways. She’s like, the older sister I always wanted.” He could probably gush about Greer all day, so he shut his mouth instead, trying to decide what he wanted. “I can text Greer, let her know where I’m going. I’m not her ride, anyways.”

“Good!” They danced for a little while, Fitzy humming along and careful to keep from stepping on her feet at all. It was silent, but not awkward, and when she kissed him, it was not so much a surprise as it was an eventuality. He smiled, cheeks dimpling up, watching her as she spoke. “When did you wanna go? Right now?”

“Excuse you, I’m a good dancer!” Pretending to be appalled, Fitzy let her pull him to the dance floor, holding out his other hand for her to take. “I took dance lessons when I was younger, for my cousin’s wedding.”

“Okay, I’m trusting you,” she finished before taking his other hand, being careful to stay out of people’s way and taking a deep breath, Brigitte smiled. This was the perfect atmosphere to just take a chance. What was it Raphael always told her growing up? You have to take chances? Something like that at least. Stepping in closer to him, she kept her eyes on him before leaning in and giving him a very light kiss on the lips. “I um, I got you something. For Valentine’s Day, but it’s at my place if you want to...leave early, we can go to mine unless you have to have to get home.”

“I’d love to!” His smile brightened, and he extended his arm for her to take. “Where do you wanna put your shoes?” Looking around, Fitzy hummed in thought. “Under a table maybe? So they’re under the tablecloth?”

“Yeah, perfect,” she looked at the table and then walked over, shoving them under and making sure they were hidden before making her way back over to him, taking his hand and starting to walk. “Just don’t step on my feet okay? Please.”

“Sit down? Brig, this is a dance. You’re supposed to, y’know, dance.” He laughed. “Greer and I got separated, I can’t find her in all the people. But she’d call or text or something if she needed my company.”

Taking a deep breath, Brigitte thought it over, her eyes darting to the dance floor and then back to him before kneeling down and unstrapping her shoes, taking them off before picking them up and standing up straight again. It felt so much better being out of those torture devices. “Wanna dance with me Fitzy?”

“Yeah, you totally planned this, didn’t you?” He didn’t believe her for a moment and it was obvious from his grin. His heart felt like it was in his throat, practically - he hadn’t been expecting to run into her. “Oh, yeah? My boss helped me get this suit fitted, I feel so cool! It’s got extra stuff to make my shoulders look more broad.” He bit at his lip, trying to decide if complimenting her back would make it seem like he didn’t mean it.

Where was that push of confidence that being behind a mask was supposed to give you? Nowhere to be found apparently because she was still the same old Brigitte. “That was really nice of your boss, looks like you’re getting pampered which is a good thing.” Shifting her weight foot to foot, she cleared her throat. “So...um...yeah! Do you want to go sit down or something? Where’s the person you said you were coming with? Did they disappear on you already?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer her question. Was everything alright? His thoughts seemed to be going all over the place, nothing sticking long enough to sort any out. Luckily, he had the chance to move on from that question when she mentioned not believing he could dance. “I could prove that I was trained really well, but I don’t want to do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with. Otherwise, I’d go all Dancing with the Stars on you and show you what I know.” His talking game was strong, sure, but he had never actually been that confident in dancing. Stopping on the dance floor, Kendrick turned to his dance partner to answer her. “My name’s Kendrick. I think I might prefer book boy. Just a little. What about you? Can I know your name, or will I be made to create a nickname for you? You’ll have to help me, because I am literally the most non-creative person in the world.”

He almost laughed at the idea of any of his friends wanting to spend time with the man outside of political work. “Oh God, yes, I am absolutely sure. He’s one of those colleagues that you don’t particularly want to deal with but that you can never seem to totally avoid.” Sitting down beside her, he was concerned that he might have been interviewed by her brother in the past. Journalists all kind of merged into one these days. “Your brother’s got his own programme, then? Sounds exciting.”

“Oh, that sounds like a horrible thing, I couldn’t imagine having to put up with someone I didn’t want to outside the work place. Lucky for me where I’m currently working I love my co-workers.” Nodding her head in response to his question she just smiled. She was proud of her brother. “Yeah, in the evening on the radio, he’s sort of a relationship guru and plays music. Really good at what he does. His name is Raphael Ainsworth and if you ever need relationship advice, I recommend trying to hunt him down.”

“I’d like that,” Kendrick told her, stopping himself from finishing his sentence out loud. His time on leave was going to be up in less than a month. Leave it to him to form an unexpected friendship at such a time in his life. The idea that he’d be doing to Brigette what Crystin had done to him made him uncomfortable. Brigette deserved better than a one month friendship. It was then that he vowed he’d not let their friendship end up the way his had with Crystin. “No, I didn’t zone out,” he defended himself, quite weakly which even he was painfully aware of, causing him to laugh at himself. “As long as you promise to not step on mine,” Kendrick added with a wink. He probably shouldn’t have, but it was literally the only facial expression he could think to use that would be visible without taking his mask off. “I should warn you, I know how to dance. I know that doesn’t sound like it should be a warning, but I feel like it should be, if that even makes sense. By the end of this, you’ll probably be standing on my feet just to keep up. I won’t mind if you do.”

He made a show of leading her over to the chairs, as if he was some kind of Victorian gentleman. What with the music and the masks, it did seem a little bit like a period drama in here. “Nice to meet you too, Brigitte. Yeah, it’s fine, he’s just wanting to meet with my friend Isla when she’s in town. It’s all business stuff, I’d rather leave it out for tonight. Work should stay at work, don’t you think?”

The atmosphere did lend a certain air of wanting to act different. Not just the mask but the setting itself, at least to her. “Oh, are you sure it’s business and not something more?” She gave a small smile, seating herself before looking up at him. “Sometimes work follows you wherever you go unfortunately. At least that’s how it is with my brother, we can be grocery shopping and someone could walk up to discuss something he said on air.”

“I guess I’m just unobservant. I really will have to work on fixing that.” It didn’t take him much time at all to figure out where to start; her eyes. Kendrick remembered them looking much darker when he’d last seen her. Now they were an incredibly light brown, almost like a caramel colour. No one he knew had eyes like hers. Realising he was staring, he broke eye contact. “Ah, the book.” Making a show of patting his jacket pockets with his free hand, Kendrick shook his head after. “Nope. No book here. Should I help you find this book guy you’re looking for?” If she could see Kendrick’s face, she’d see a smirk forming with the teasing tone of his voice. All that was visible though were his own eyes, which seemed to sparkle mischievously.

“How did you figure out who I was that quickly,” Kendrick questioned, sounding impressed. “I’m wearing a full face mask, I’m not carrying a book and I didn’t even say anything when I walked up just then. It took me nearly an hour to spot you and I had clues to help me.” He didn’t just sound impressed, he was impressed. She’d pretty much already proven the theory they’d read about correct, except in reverse. She figured out it was him with no obvious way of recognising him. “I was going to start off a conversation with that theory we talked about yesterday, but I don’t think we have to now since you’ve already proved it right. I think that only leaves dancing in silence as an option, unless you have something else on your mind you want to talk about?”

“Walls! Oh, my God, babes, are ya sure you’re alright,” Kam asked, far more concerned now, until she realised it was a joke. “Oh, my God, don’t do that. I was honestly worried about ya. And it’s no problem. I used to be in the same sort of situation you’re in, and it’s all down to practise really. At least, it was for me. I didn’t have anyone to give me tips on how not to fall flat on my face, but I’d be willing to help ya if ya ever need it.”

“Sorry,” another sheepish grin from Brigitte before she actually smiled broadly to the other female. “Thanks, I will definitely take you up on that. My brother showed me, I mean he can walk in heels like nobody’s business, somehow he got all the beauty and the grace and I got the tomboy genes cause I’d be wearing sneakers if I could right now, thankfully, now I know to pick the dress up while I walk. I’m an idiot and didn’t even think about doing that.”

“Don’t worry about it, we were just finishing up here anyway -” He paused, to turn to the person he’d been talking to. “ - it’s really best you talk to Isla about that, I think, anyway. She’ll be in London on Monday.” They shook hands on it - no harm done. He suspected the Secretary of State didn’t particularly want to talk business while dressed in a mask anyway. He smiled, holding his arm out as if to help her to the chairs. “My Lady, your escort awaits.” It was too difficult to take the posh image seriously, and he laughed. “Tell you what, we’ll leave the Sir stuff out. Call me Charlie. What’s your name?”

Brigitte turned her head away, occupying herself with scanning over the crowd again while Charlie finished up his conversation, it was rude to listen to other people’s conversations anyway. Looking back, she laughed at the formality before linking her arm with his. “Sounds like a great idea to me actually. I’m Brigitte, nice to meet you Charlie. That guy didn’t look too happy, everything alright?”

Despite considering actually bringing a book to the event, after a couple of hours of back and forth between whether he should or not, Kendrick decided not to. It wasn’t until he saw the purple dress out of the corner of his eye that he knew why he hadn’t. Kendrick had been hoping to see her. Why, he wasn’t all that sure. He’d never found a good time to go and talk to her, so most of the night he’d been wandering around, lost in thought. He was quickly jarred out of his thoughts when the girl in the purple dress tripped into view, bumping into another person and Kendrick made a split second decision. Walking up to them, Kendrick nodded in greeting to the pair before holding his hand out to Brigette as a way of asking her if she’d like to dance with him. He silently hoped she would realise that he had witnessed the incident and that it didn’t deter him one bit.