She decided she would be Evangeline today, Clare mused to herself, as she pulled the chord in the dimly lit street car to request to get off at stop #27 and head toward the river, just a block and a half away from St. Charles Avenue to La Crêpe Nanou - her favorite romantic bistro, which sat quietly close to the corners of Prytania and Robert Streets.
Once she exited, thoughts ran rampant in her cool and calculating mind as she gingerly strolled and perfected her evening's strategy, intent on using her bag of tricks for all matters involved in that night's seduction of her childhood love that she hoped would save her.
She laid out a mental picture of how the events should transpire: he would be there waiting for her, having pre-ordered cocktails that she would in turn acknowledge with appreciation and a cat-shy glance that teased and whispered, favors will be bestowed in the boudoir after dinner for a pre-requisite to desert.
Casual conversation would then lead them through breadsticks and strawberries swimming in fondue as she planned to affix his glance downwards with the haphazard and continuous crossing and re-crossing of her legs, and when he can take no more, the main course should arrive, and as they devoured the cleverly ordered Moules Mariniéres she hoped of reminding him of a texture he longs to taste.
After the table has been cleared of their pre-feast, she would excuse herself momentarily and disappear as his eyes would follow her every move, and with the gentle but hypnotic sway of her hips, she could lure him into her web; indenturing him to her power and graces thus proving to him that the attention she hoped to draw from the masses would be obsolete as he would then see himself as the lucky suitor whose been picked from a pool of powerful potentials.
The opening of the door to the bistro carried her back to the present, and as she passed through the red velvet drapes that hung across the entrance, it was like a curtain rising on the opening act of a play and when the petite frenchman who played the accordion most nights swayed to the left she instantly recognized the face at the bar... when handed the menu of digestifs and cocktails, she knew that it would be in vain — for she knew without a doubt what he would be having....
