Hearts Afar

...20...

...20...



The closer it came to Thanksgiving, I had to be thankful because things were back to normal between me and the guys. Mom already made plans to have a big dinner over at our house and invited the Buchanan’s and the Redden’s over. She also told me to be sure that Jesse knows he can stop by anytime.

I hate to say it but I was also thankful that we were on break. I have worked hard from where I was sick to get my dancing back on track. Jessica has only tried to mess with me a couple of times but I think I finally made her realize that if she wanted to take this somewhere, I would not back down.

The morning of Thanksgiving, I was rudely awaken by an insistent pounding on my door. I knew that it wasn’t mom and the girls because they would have just walked in to wake me up. When I could no longer ignore the knocking, I pulled myself out from under my warm and cozy blankets and crossed to the door. When I opened it, I was confronted with a smiling Brent. I looked at him, grunted and walked back over to my bed. I curled back under my blanket as he sat on the edge of my bed.



    “Good morning, sweetheart,” he smiled.

    “Ugh,” I groaned.

    “Girl, you need to wake up. I’m here now so put your best face forward.”

    “Foot,” I said, peaking from under my blanket.

    “What?” he asked confused.

    “It’s put your best foot forward.”

    “Well, considering you look like you’ve been hit by a Mac truck and then fell out of the ugly tree, I would say face.”

    “Get out of my room,” I yelled, throwing a pillow at him.



I heard footsteps coming upstairs and wondered who it could be. Haylee burst through the door, out of breath. She looked between her brother and me before leaning forward to catch her breath.



    “I thought there was something seriously wrong.”

    “Get your brother out of here, Haylee. He called me ugly.”

    “Brent!” she exclaimed.

    “Correction. I said that she looked like she fell out of the ugly tree.”

    “Brent,” I heard another voice come from my door. I looked over and saw Clay leaning against the door frame. “Man, if you think you are ever going to charm a girl, that is not the way you do it.”

    “Can everyone just leave my room, please. I’ve been told I was ugly, I’m sleepy and since there are going to be so many people over here today, I need to make myself look presentable.”

    “Sure Claire,” Clay said.



As soon as everyone was out of my room, I drug myself back out of the bed and started pulling clothes out. After placing them on the bed, I went to my bathroom and started my shower and took the longest shower I could. When the water started getting cold, I got out and went to get dressed. When I was presentable, I stood up and straightened my dress and headed toward the door. Just as I opened it, I felt a knock on my head.




    “Ouch,” I mumbled, rubbing my head.

    “Sorry,” I heard Clay say. “Um... your mom sent me up here to check on you.”

    “Thanks,” I said. He stepped to the side and allowed me to walk out in front of him. Once I was fully in the hallway, he motioned for me to walk on down the hallway. I walked out with him right behind me. I still wasn't sure what that was between us on Halloween but whatever it was, seemed to be growing stronger for me. 

    “Your mom is going a little overboard today, huh?” he asked.

    “It’s the first big holiday since finding out about dad so she just wants everything to be perfect,” I replied.

    “It was really nice of her to invite us over.”

    “We didn’t want you all to be alone,” I shrugged.

    “So...” he said awkwardly. “Is Jesse going to come by today?”

    “I’m not sure. He said he would try but...” I trailed off.

    “I’m going to be a little blunt and I apologize in advance but I don’t think that he’s good enough for you,” Clay said, stopping just as we reached the staircase.

    “Well, I appreciate your advanced apology but it’s not really any of your business. Clay, you are a great friend I guess you feel some sort of need to protect me but I really care about Jesse,” I told him and headed downstairs.



I wasn’t mad at Clay, I mean how could I be. He voiced his opinion and he even apologized for it. I just didn’t want him to think that he could tell me who I could or could not date. I wanted to remain friends with him and didn’t want him to think that just because of the situation now that we were linked through my dad, that he owed me anything.

The day wore on and everyone enjoyed each other’s company. Mom absolutely loved having a house full and it was great. The darker it got, the more depressed I started feeling because I had not heard from Jesse at all. I excused myself to step outside for some fresh air and as I leaned against the porch, I saw a car driving slowly down our street. It was a black sedan and I couldn’t help but start to think the worst. Memories of the black car driving to us in North Carolina came flooding back and I instantly thought about Brent and Clay. I used logic though because they were both in my house safe and sound.



    “Claire,” I heard my grandfather’s voice call out. I looked over and he and Nan were walking to the porch. I smiled at them and walked to the bottom, giving them both a hug.

    “What were you thinking, sweetheart?” Nan asked me.

    “What?”

    “When we pulled up, you had this look on your face. It was the same look your father would get when he was over-thinking something.”

    “I didn’t recognize your car. I thought you all had a little SUV.”

    “Oh, we have two cars. This one is Papa’s and the other is mine.”

    “Pap, you look old driving that thing,” I laughed.

    “Claire bear, I am old,” he laughed.



I held onto Nanny’s hand as we walked into the house together. Mom was just as surprised by their arrival as I was. She took them around and introduced them to everyone. Nan absolutely loved Caroline and told her to let her know if she needed anything. Of course, Hannah and Mikey took up with Pap and Papa took them right in.

Shortly after Nanny and Papa arrived, there was a knock on the door. I couldn’t help but feel a little excited because I just knew that it would be Jesse. I rushed over to the door and flung it opened to see him standing there with a somber look on his face. He didn’t say anything as he took my hands and led me to the end of the porch.



    “What’s wrong, Jesse?” I asked after a few minutes of silence.

    “Claire, I really didn’t want to tell you this but...”

    “Are you breaking up with me?” I asked. His whole demeanor changed when I asked that. I pulled my hands away from him and took a step back.

    “Claire, it’s not you...”

    “You’re really going to feed me that line, Jesse! I knew it was to good to be true. I should have known better.”

    “Claire, you need to know something. This thing between you and me, it’s the most real thing I’ve felt in a long time. I thought that my parents had gave the idea up but they informed me today at dinner that it was still a go.”

    “What are you talking about?” I looked at him confused.

    “My parents made some kind of arrangement with a really good friend of theirs that we would... be married.”

    “You’re in an arranged marriage?” I laughed. “That is the lamest excuse ever. I could have dealt with you cheating on me. I mean, come on, arranged marriage? Didn’t that crap stop two hundred years ago.”

    “Claire...”

    “There’s nothing else to say,” I said, holding my hand up. “you could have come up with something a little more realistic than that.”

    “Will you please just give me a minute,” he said. I motioned for him to continue and he started talking again. “My mom is from Italy, did you know?” he asked.

    “No but apparently there’s a lot I don’t know about you.”

    “Mom has a lot of big name friends still and she and dad made an agreement just after I was born that I would marry their daughter right after I graduate high school.”

    “You can refuse, you know that right?”

    “If I refuse, I’ll lose everything.”

    “Oh,” I laughed. “So this is all about money.”

    “Claire, my parents are paying for my law school, every bit of it. The only thing I have to do is maintain my grades. I’m getting a free ride through school and I can’t do what I really want unless I please them.”

    “Well, I guess that’s it, huh?”

    “I was hoping it wouldn’t be. I really thought that they gave it up so imagine my surprise when Natalia shows up at my door today, telling me that she’s an exchange student until graduation,” he said.

    “Wow, so not only do I have to have the pain of knowing that you’re breaking up with me but I have to witness it at school. That’s great,” I laughed. I took one last look at him and then turned on my heel, “I’ll see y’all around school than.”



When I walked back into the house, I leaned against the door. I wondered why he couldn’t tell me the truth. Maybe I wasn’t enough for him but did he really have to tell me the bogus “arranged marriage” story. I didn’t want to talk to anyone so as soon as I heard Jesse’s car start and gave him a few minutes to leave, I walked back outside and sat down. It was really getting cold but I didn’t care right now.

I heard footsteps but didn’t look when they were in front of me. Whoever sat down and draped a coat around me. I looked over to see Brent and he smiled at me, and pulled me closer to him.



    “What’s wrong, kid?”

    “Jesse broke up with me,” I stated.

    “What! I’ll break his neck,” he said, making a move to leave.

    “He fed me some story about an arranged marriage.”

    “Natalia?”

    “You know her?” I asked.

    “Well, not really. I know about her from Jesse and his parents. The two parents got together and said that Jesse was to marry Natalia when he was in college or some crap like that.”

    “He was telling the truth,” I whispered. “That’s not the worse of it. She apparently showed up at his door today and is now an exchange student. So, I have to see them together, walking around school.”

    “You are to good for the likes of him anyway,” he said causing me to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

    “Clay said the same thing earlier today.”

    “Well, I hope you took it to heart because you really are. What do you have planned for this weekend?” he asked, changing the subject.

    “One of my old friends is coming in from Germany for a wedding and I’m driving to New York so I can see her.”

    “New York City? Maybe you need someone to go with you. I’m free if you want me to go.”

    “I don’t want you to go out of your way,” I told him.

    “It’s a two and a half hour drive that you should not take by yourself. Have you told Caroline what your weekend plans are?”

    “Nope, maybe I should do that now,” I said, standing up with Brent behind me.



I went straight over to Caroline who was sitting on the couch laughing with mom, Nanny and Clay right beside her. I told her that I would not be available this weekend because I was traveling to New York to see an old friend. She told me that it would be okay because Clay would be with her. I smiled and gave her a hug in thanks. I was asked if I would be going alone and when I told everyone that Brent was going, I saw a look of apprehension cross Clay’s face but I let it go.

After everyone was gone, I helped mom with the little bit of cleaning that she did not finish with Barbie’s help. After getting things done, I gave mom a hug and went to my room. As I was getting ready for bed, a thought ran through my mind. I’m not sure why but I wondered in the few months since I’ve met Brent and Clay, they have only been gone once. Being in the military family, I knew that my dad wasn’t home this often and wondered how they were getting by with it. I figured that I would ask Brent on our drive tomorrow but for now, I was going to bed.



**************************************************************

UGH ! ! ! ! !

Not sure if I’m completely happy with this chapter and I know you all are probably wondering... Arranged marriage??? Really Lana???? This is 2013, not 1813 or whatever... but in my defense... I wanted it to seem like Jesse was really heartbroken over having to break up with Claire. I also had to come up with something to see to that Claire and Clay start advancing their relationhsip... I know the whole arranged marriage sounds so goofy but there it is and it's sticking... lol...

I'm a little sad because tomorrow a bunch of my friends are graduating college and I' not... Is that jealousy you hear??? Not at all but I just wish I was with my friends. It's okay though because I have changed my degree from medical assisting to try to advance as a teacher. 

Anyway... hope you liked the chapter...