Claire Kinsey

“You bought him a PlayStation and in exchange he let you give him oral sex?”

Elle choked on her food, cheeks reddening as she choked out a laugh. “Close. I bought him an xbox and we slept together. He was, how to put it, a bit of a one pump chump, if you follow.”

— look at her. “Sorry- I just think it’s funny the way you say secondary school-“

“Mhm,” Eleanor rolled her eyes, barely concealing a smirk. “Anyway, he was very much the popular one, and I was the rich bitch who got what she wanted. You can see where this is going.”

Daphne raised an eyebrow.

Eleanor tapped her chin, her other hand tracing a finger around the rim of her wine glass.

“Mine is a man, unfortunately. Perils of realising you’re a lesbian later in life. His name was Henry, and we went to the same secondary school.”

Claire let out a bark of laughter, heads turning to—

“You looking in the mirror, Ciri?”

“Yeah hold on. I’m getting a signal.

They’re saying you’re a bitch?”

- across the table. “Well. There is very little to do in rural France. Her name was Claudia…”

“Maman, that’s… so cute. What happened to her?”

Daphne shrugged. “She moved abroad. Found a husband. Children, the usual story. French nobility isn’t what it once was, ma petit Clair.”

It was Daphne’s turn to blush, her cheeks turning pink as she sipped her wine, the silence punctuated by the gentle tinkle of shifting crockery.

“It was a beautiful comtesse’s daughter. We were pretty teenagers in a chateau for the summer, and…” she trailed off, smirking at Claire leaning closer-

“Hey~”

// wow v remembered their login

- the person her adopted parents had raised her to be. Her love of gardening, though? That, she carried on from her mother.

"Yeah, you should see it," Ellie nodded. "Rose bushes, lilies, lavender. Anything you can think of, she's got it to grow there."

- under control and she'll be back giving as good as she gets.

Ellie turned to Joan. "How is Mimi, anyway? I haven't seen her in a little while now. Does she still have that little place with the beautiful garden?"

Claire perked up at this. "Garden?" In many ways, Claire Kinsey was far from-

- her breath, worried they'd pushed Claire too far.

"Petit Clair? Are you okay?" Daphne beat her to it, reaching a hand across the table. Claire flipped her off by way of response, cause Ellie to snort and almost start laughing again.

"Yeah, she's fine. Give her five minutes to get her blushing-

"Mom, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱, oh my god!"

Claire's cheeks were bright red She buried her head in her hands, groaning loudly, while across the table her sister and maman held on to each other, wheezing with laughter, tears streaming from their eyes.

"𝘖𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥-" Ellie was trying desperately to catch-

// Claire Kinsey live footage

- "I miss you" awaited.

- maybe someday.

"A-anyway- I heard the same about that Pope," she said, changing the subject. "The new one is nice, I hear. Even if she is a horny little beast."

Wordlessly, she opened her text messages and slid her phone over to Joan. An endless wall of cat and dog emojis and iterations on-

Yes, she could. It was barely a token resistance on the teenager's part.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure she's back in the States already... And it's family dinner anyway! She's not family."

"Yet."

Claire flipped her older sister off, pouting at her as she did. It was too early for that.

But-

Claire was powerless to resist when Joan's hands started to wander. She reached a hand into her jacket pocket, pulling out her phone, it immediately lighting up to a picture of her and Lottie mid-laugh.

It made her blush harder.

"Can't just... grope my thigh to get your way, mom..."

- her like," she turned to Joan, "what was it Jamie said, Mon Cher, a lovesick little puppy~?"

Ellie blew her a kiss. "I promise, we'll all be thinking the same thing about you and her. This is the longest you've gone without texting her since you got back from that party, you know. You're 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥."

Daphne nodded, joining in. "Oui, Petit Clair, I've heard from other guests. You followed-

- the same thing with the Pope. God, she was beautiful. I wonder whatever happened to her..."

Claire gagged audibly across the table.

"Next time, I'm definitely bringing Lottie, y'all are unbelievable. I can't believe we have a million more courses to go before you three can go fuck."

- feigned shock.

"Careful, Petit Clair, you're not too big to go over my knee for speaking to your maman like that~.

But no, I never did anything of the sort. I longed from afar, and imagined a life together, like a proper lesbian."

Beside her, Ellie nodded, sipping her wine. "Yeah, I used to do-

Claire tore into the lobster, easily one of her favourite foods. Being a country girl didn't mean she didn't enjoy the finer things in life.

"Yeah, Daph, did you fuck her?"

The girl paused for a moment, realising how crude she'd just sounded, before shrugging.

Daphne, for her part, gasped in-

- have what she's having..."

- of my father's maids. She was, perhaps, in her forties. She wore it well. The tiniest touch of grey in her hair already, the way her dresses hugged her...

Her voice trailed off, lost in thought, her breath coming heavier.

Claire looked at the other two, before coughing politely.

"Yeah, I'll-

- married~"

It was Eleanor's turn to blush, at the mention of being Daphne's wife. She leaned over, giving her wife-to be a peck on the cheek

Daphne sighed, pursing her lips in thought. "I didn't have time for youthful dalliances, but... the first time I was aware of women was Chantal, one-

- Ellie laughed.

"We were, god, eight? Nine? We went to school together, and he decided one day that we were married, in that charming way young children do."

Daphne gasped in feigned shock.

"I'll have to find Monsieur Talbot and make sure that is annulled. Can't have my wife being already-

Ellie smiled at a particularly fond memory as she sipped her wine.

"He was rather more smitten with me then I was with him, but my first husband was a boy named St John Talbot."

Claire furrowed her brow. Ellie had been married? She'd never mentioned.

Seeing the confusion in her sister's face-

- chair.

"I mean fuck, my first kiss was with the pastor's son, now I'm dating politicians' daughters. Plus," she waved a hand around the table, "this fuckin' family. Y'all are lucky I love you."

- her throat. "Uh, I met her at Auntie Amelie's masquerade. And, like, because no one in this family can date anyone 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭, she's... the FBI director's daughter? Or something?"

She let out a snort of laughter as she took another sip of champagne - yep, still didn't like it - and sat back in her-