Games of Deception (Hawkeye/Avengers)

Chapter 7 - Situations

-Jacqueline's P.O.V-

"So, you ever gonna tell me how your date went?"

"I told you, it was not a date."

Mariah raised her eyebrows at me, and I rolled my eyes, taking the last bite of my sandwich. We were sitting at one of the outside tables at work, having lunch. It was a cool afternoon, normal for late March, but still warm enough to enjoy sitting outside for a break. She was referring to the afternoon that I'd spent with Clint, which I really had no interest in talking about with anyone. I wasn't really sure what it had been, myself.

"I'm having a hard time believing that one, Jac," she piped up again as she leaned back in her chair and lit a cigarette, interrupting her own sentence to hold out the box in my direction, "I'll share?"

I shook my head, "No thanks." Mariah shrugged and slipped the box and lighter back into her pocket before she continued. "I mean, it's perfect. It's just like in that book when--"

"Please, Mariah, none of your shitty romance novel stuff again," I interrupted, trying to hold in a mix of a laugh and a groan. Mariah had this weird obsession with those overly cliche romance novels that you buy at the drug store, the ones that you always see little old women reading. I really didn't understand it at all, that romance nonsense wasn't of interest to me. "Besides, since when do you care about my, er, love life?"

"Oh, I don't." she stated, matter-of-factly. She laughed as she put the cigarette back to her lips. I couldn't hold back my smile as I stood up and grabbed my now-empty water bottle and sandwich bag, tossing them in the garbage while walking past Mariah.

"Riiiight. Well, I'm going to do this thing that some of us like to call work, have fun with your lung-killers."

Mariah shot some sort of remark toward me, but I didn't comprehend it. As I was opening the door to go back inside the cafe, that jolting feeling shot through my head once again, and another image flashed in my eyes. I put a palm to my forehead to try to make sense of what I was seeing. This time, it was Mariah being grabbed by the throat by her ex-boyfriend, Bryan. Wait, how did I know that? It couldn't have been anyone else, though. He was screaming at her, but I couldn't hear anything he was saying. The two had broken up around the time that Mariah and I had met; she had told me that during their long-term relationship he was really abusive and violent, and he swore to make her pay for leaving him the next time he saw her. Fortunately, he had been arrested a while back for a few counts of DUI, but he would have gotten out by now...he was looking for her.

I walked back over to Mariah, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along with me. She dropped her cigarette and glared at me, trying to pull away. "Jacqueline what the hell! This isn't funny--"

"No, it's not. Go inside, in the back, now." I look her in the eyes and she immediately realized something was wrong. Luckily, she listened to me and quickly did as I told her. I followed in behind her and stood behind the register, hoping that I wasn't just going psycho after all.

Then, it happened. About a minute later, he came walking briskly down the sidewalk. He shoved open the door and walked straight to me, slamming his hands down onto the counter. I could smell alcohol on his breath. I contained my shock that he was actually here, but let my disgust slip a little.

"Where is she?" he asked, eyeing me up and down. I wasn't particularly nervous, I knew how to handle myself in these sorts of situations.

"I'm sorry, where's who?" I asked, completely unphased. "Would you like something to drink?"

He glared at me, inching his face a bit closer to mine. "You don't serve what I drink here, and you know exactly who the hell I'm talking about. Mariah Costello. Where is she?"