The hateful glare aimed in her direction was the first sign that he wasn't just giving up on life.  Anyone with that amount of loathing wasn't quite ready to go belly up just yet.  If she'd known him any better, she would have blanched under his glare.  As it was, all she did was quirk an eyebrow at him.<br/><br/>The waitress setting their plates in front of them broke the tension just a hair.  Claire sat back to give the woman room to set down her breakfast while she set her napkin on her lap and picked up her knife and fork.  After smearing butter on each pancake in the stack, Claire doused the whole thing heavily with syrup.  She cut the first bite and lifted the fork to her mouth just as he began to say his piece.  She was happy to let him as she chewed and swallowed.<br/><br/>"First of all, this is not charity.  I interrupted your busy Budweiser morning so I figured the<i>nice</i>thing to do was buy you some food.  I guess it's been a while since you've had someone actually want to do something nice for you.  Although," she gestured toward him with her fork, "if this is how you act, I can see why people don't really want to do it."<br/><br/>She had more to say but first, she required another bite of breakfast followed by a sip of coffee.  This time she put her silverware down, pushed her plate away a little, and folded her hands in front of her on the table.  "My opinion of<i>you</i>isn't negative.  My opinion of the way you're acting like an overgrown child having a temper tantrum is what's negative.  I just think it's so<i>stupid</i>that you're just willing to give up.  I guess I just thought they made football players tougher than that.  It's like you never got back up from that tackle.  Would college Mark Windham have done that?  Would high school Mark Windham have done that?  Fuck no, because he was busy trying to work hard and make something of himself.  Big whoop. you can't play anymore.  Do something else with your knowledge and skills.  Hell, do<i>something</i>."<br/><br/>She let out a quiet growl of frustration before returning her attention to her food.  The promotion was still on her mind but right now, Claire was annoyed by his sad sack routine.