A Friendly Date (Closed for Now)

[Sapphy]

"I always end up picking the lone grey," Sapphy said, pointing. "I know it's not the best strategy, but they're my lucky charm at the tracks."

[Racetrack]

"I've had far less logical strategies," Race assured her. Like, for example, always picking the horse that's never won a race. Sure, the odds were stacked sky-high against him, but that only meant he'd make a fortune if he'd ever just pick the right damn longshot.

He pulled out his watch and glanced at it. "They'll be taking off soon. Gonna place a bet, or just laugh at me when your grey leaves Shadow Queen in his dust?" he asked with a rueful grin.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy shook her head. She had enough to gamble and play, but she was being frugal and safe.

"I'll be here as your shoulder to cry on and hold your hand if you need," she smiled back just as ruefully.

[Racetrack]

"I'll hold you to that," he said, glancing at her shoulder and her hand involuntarily. And the rest of her, for that matter. Yes, girls were more interesting than horses.

Though he still turned to look as the horses lined up at the gate. If he won this, he could take her to Mama's. Introduce her to biscotti. Maybe he should've picked the favorite, just this once.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy leaned forward, elbows on her knees and face in her hands. Any second now... She held her breath.

((Off to get lunch, toots. Talk to you later. ))

[Racetrack]

The gun went off. The horses flew down the track. Race let out an ear-splitting cheer with the rest of the crowd and leapt out of his seat to watch them run.

((Lunch! *dazzled by the time difference* See ya later! P.S. I'm really hoping Race will get into all the angst and drama of the Brooklyn plot, and then find an opportunity to seek comfort from Sapphy. ^_^))

[Sapphy]

Sapphy was the opposite of the usual crowd reaction. She sat silently, eyes glued to her grey mare the entire time its legs powerfully moved over the turf, hooves striking the ground loudly.

Sapphy always wanted to ride a horse.

She felt that if she didn't stay still or if she said anything while the horses ran, one would fall. She witnessed a shooting at the track when she was little. Her father tried to get her out of there as fast as he could, but the gunshot deafened her for hours and was a reoccurring nightmare for months. She wanted her horse to win. But mostly she wanted all the horses to finish.

((Haha, Sapphy's going to be sympathetic but wayy too practical about Brooklyn. She'll be like, "Why are you piling drama on yourself when you're trying to work and get your next meal? You should be worried about *that* instead of playing war like children. Blah blah blah." ))

[Racetrack]

For the first turn or two, Race watched all the horses. He spotted Sapphy's grey, pulling steadily farther ahead, and he checked out the techniques of Red Devil, McKinley's Pride, Smoke Trail, and the others. He hadn't been familiar with any of them before tonight, but now he would have an idea of how they moved and how their jockeys handled them.

Right before the third turn, he finally scanned the blur of movement and color for Shadow Queen. There she was! A pitch-black mare, she was running hard tonight, actually pulling ahead of a crowd favorite or two! She was going faster, faster...she was giving it her all...she was...coming in third.

Race hadn't taken the odds on third. He sat down with a philosophical sigh and took a drag on his cigar, not even noticing which two horses had beaten his choice. He turned to Sapphy to see how she'd enjoyed the race.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy let out a breath of relief, smiling. The races always energized her. She looked back at Race, beaming.

"My most favorite smell in the world? Cri du Coeur men's cologne. Sorry you didn't win."

[Racetrack]

"I never win," Race confessed, "but don't worry, I'll earn it all back tomorrow." He thumbed through the deck of cards in his pocket and grinned, then immediately tried to look devastated instead. "I may still have to cry on your shoulder, though. Give it a few minutes and we'll see.

"How'd your grey do?" he added, looking over the horses curiously.

Cologne, where do you get cologne? Ain't that a rich-person thing?

[Sapphy]

She was kicking herself for telling Race about Matthew. Okay, she didn't tell him about Matthew. But telling anyone about his cologne was close enough. Sometimes she'd be walking down the street and thought she got a whiff of it. It always sent her running away.

It was her favorite smell in the world and she fucking hated it to the point of illness. It was a year ago, but it was her biggest betrayal. She still had open wounds from him. She wanted to move on. She thought she would with California, but...

She had many wounds, not just Matthew. He just happened to leave one of the bigger ones, that conceited social ladder-climbing jack-off. Rich boys wanted nothing to do with a girl like Sapphy and it was stupid of her to be fooled.

Maybe I want to tell Race all about it. Let it all out so I can move on and set my sights on the west. Being here at the tracks with him instead of Da... It kinda sucks, but he seems like an alright guy. ...That'd send him for the hills. Shut it, Nolan. Who cares?

"Fourth, I think," Sapphy frowned, already forgotten. "Aren't I a great gambler?"

[Racetrack]

"Fourth ain't bad." Race smiled. "He's young, give him time. In another year or two, he might make you a fortune."

The crowd was dispersing now, most of them either beaming and going off to collect their winnings or striding off angrily, cursing the horses under their breath. Race waved to a couple departing friends, but he liked to linger in the stands after an evening race, puffing on a cigar and watching night fall around him. It was all the better with Sapphy here. "So...Cri du Coeur," he said softly, still mangling the French. "Where d'you smell a fancy thing like that?"

[Sapphy]

Sapphy twirled her fingers in her hair, looking down at her knees.

"A boy I loved," she muttered under her breath. So she'll tell him. If he spread it around the lodge -- who cared? She wasn't going to be around forever. She didn't really know any of these people and if they judged her, fuck them. And on the other hand, was her past so important and different from any of the other kids that ended up there? No. So why should she protect it like it was something special and poor Sapphy and her sad, sad past?

Pathetic.

[Racetrack]

"Oh." Somehow, Race hadn't seen that coming. He'd expected something else along the lines of the fairy-princess, famous-thief, and serial-killer stories. Having Sapphy actually open up to him about something real was kind of a milestone. Maybe he shouldn't push it...but then, reading faces was one of the tricks of Racetrack's trade, and hers was saying that she might be ready to delve deeper into this story. Might. "You wanna talk about it?"

[Sapphy]

"There's really nothing to say. I gave him my heart, and he stomped on it. Ran around with some other girls, talked down to me because he came from a rich family and I didn't. Jesus, he was even selfish in bed. He broke my heart and it made me wish I was dead." She looked up at Race, smile still frozen on her face. "Pretty sure with the exception of my family, I can never love again. Not truly. Except the west. California is my boyfriend and we're pretty serious."