Claire sat at the dinner table, slowly and calmly eating her honey puffs. She chewed delicately on the cereal without looking up at Eve’s puppy dog eyes. Claire sighed and rested her spoon against the bowl and she looked up at Eve.
“Eve. Can I help you with something?”
Eve’s smile grew even wider. “I totally know what you can wear to the party.”
Claire rolled her eyes and picked up her spoon. “What?”
“That dress I bought you for you birthday.”
“You bought me a lot of dresses, Eve.”
“Yeah, but the one with the tight corset thingy and the puffy skirt.”
Claire raised her eyebrows and swallowed a mouthful of cereal and milk. She licked her lips. “The black one? With the red ribbon?”
“Yes!” Eve clapped her hands excitedly. “That one.”
“It’s just a party. I don’t get why you’re so excited.”
“Come on, C.B. It’s a party! It’s like you don’t even know me at all.” Claire shrugged and rolled her eyes again as she listened to Eve chatter. “Frat guys normally throw wicked parties too.”
Claire scoffed. “Yeah. Remember the Dead Girls Dance a couple years ago? Wow, wasn’t that fun?”
Eve winced and drummed her nails on the table as she bit her bottom lip and watched Claire eat her breakfast. She took in a breath, as if she was about to say something, but she didn’t.
Eve said softly, “I bet Shane would like that dress.”
Claire paused and hesitated a few seconds, before she let out a large, defeated sigh and picked her bowl up to place it in the sink. “Okay, fine. I’ll wear the dress, happy?”
Eve squealed and jumped out of the chair. She hadn’t had a real purpose to be sitting there. Eve had mostly wanted to irritate enough Claire until she agreed to wear the dress. It was a tight dress that Claire wasn’t normally comfortable wearing, but Eve knew what she was doing, and the dress looked awesome on Claire. Somehow, Eve knew it would before she’d even seen Claire wear it.
“Claire Bear, you are going to look so hot.” Eve’s eyes went wide. “I can do your hair, and your makeup.”
Claire smiled, but as soon as she turned her back to Eve, she rolled her eyes. She glanced down at her watch, and she almost yelped. “I’m late for school,” Claire sighed and reached for her bag that sat on one of the chairs. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
Eve frowned, and looked generally confused. “School? I thought this was your day off from everything?”
“It was. I need to make up an exam though.”
“No,” Eve looked worried. “But, the party? I need to glamour you up and –“
“I’ll be home before three. That gives us at least three hours to get ready. Is that okay?”
Eve sighed but she nodded her head, causing her black ponytails to bounce. Claire blew Eve an air kiss, and turned to head out the kitchen door, but she bumped onto someone hard.
“Where are you going?” Shane asked, fresh from the shower. His hair still had beads of water dripping down, as if he hadn’t bothered to wash his hair properly.
“School,” Claire smiled and stepped around him. Shane took one large step, and he was already at her side.
“What, you can’t be serious? You’re not going, Claire.”
Claire furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m not?”
“Come on, don’t give me that look. Naomi is still on the prowl, Claire.”
“She’s weak. It will take her at least another couple of days before she is strong enough to come out at her own free will. Besides, I’ll be home before the sun goes down. I’ll be safe in the sun, okay?” Shane moved closer to her and took hold of her hand. Eve took that as her cue to leave, and she quietly moved past them.
“This is Morganville,” Shane’s voice was low when he spoke. “We’re never safe. Not really.”
“Then what do you want to do, Shane? Do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I was joking.”
Shane smirked. “I would love to come with you to school. It would bring back so many memories.”
Claire rolled her eyes and made her way down the hallway and towards the front door. Shane followed behind her, and she could just imagine the smirk on his face. Clare opened the front door and turned around to kiss him goodbye, but stepped out with her and gave her a funny look.
“What are you doing?” Claire asked slowly as Shane closed the door and locked it. He took her bag from her and hefted it onto his own shoulder. He winked at her and started descending the few steps that led them towards the white picket fence. He looked over his shoulder and motioned for her to follow. Slowly, Claire began to descend the steps and she joined her boyfriend at the fence. He took hold of her hand and opened the gate. “Hold on. You’re serious?”
“Hell yeah. School equals fun.”
Claire rolled her eyes at the sarcasm in his voice. “You do realize how bored you’re going to be?”
He shrugged and kissed her knuckles. “Anything to keep you safe.”
* * *
Claire had forgotten how annoying Shane could be at times.
He’d told at least three guys to piss off when they asked Claire if she would go to the party with them. The guys knew who he was and that Shane could knock them out in one punch, so they decided to stick to fierce glares and minded their own business. Shane thought it was hilarious at the time, but he was always on the lookout.
Claire had taken a seat in science when Shane slowly sunk into the spot next to her and looked around.
Claire sighed. “For the love of God, Shane. Seriously, its just science. We’re fine.”
Shane raised a sceptical eyebrow at her and lent back in the chair. He pulled over one of Claire’s science books and flipped through the pages. Claire watched him as the expression of utter bewilderment crossed his face.
“What the hell is this?” Shane muttered and glanced at Claire. “How the hell do you know what this is?” Claire giggled and pulled the book away, planting a kiss on his cheek. Shane’s lopsided smile danced on his lips as he tried not to grin in front of the scowling teacher.
“Hey, Claire.” Dylan said quietly from next to Claire.
She smiled. “Hey.”
“Are you going to the party tonight?” Claire shrank deeper into her chair and turned to look at Shane. Surprisingly, he hadn’t heard and his eyes were on the teacher. She looked back to Dylan and nodded. “That’s cool. So uh, what’s he doing here?” He gestured to Shane and folded his arms as he lent back in his chair.
Claire frowned a little at him, but she replaced it with a smile. “He wanted to come down with me.”
“Why?”
“Is that any of your business?”
Dylan shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to cut into your personal life.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“You going to be singing tonight?”
“Singing? What do you mean?”
“They’ll have karaoke or something on at the party. You going to sing?”
“Oh, no. I don’t sing.” Dylan laughed and Shane turned to look at him.
“You don’t sing? Yeah, that’s a massive lie.”
“I don’t sing in public.”
“That’s a shame. You’re a good singer.”
Claire heard Shane clear his throat next to her, but she refused to look at him. He was suspicious, which was incredibly stupid, but Claire couldn’t help but find it kind of cute too.
* * *
“The boy is jealous,” Eve stated as she ran the flat-iron through Claire’s reddish-brown hair. “Which is kind of weird. He never got jealous when other guys were around his girls until he met you, you know?”
Claire smiled and tried pulling on the red studded heels Eve had let her borrow, without disrupting her friend from styling her hair.
Claire was dressed in a black dress, with a poofy black skirt that reached just mid-thigh, and red ribbon used to hold the tight corset together. Eve had professionally applied her makeup, and had straightened her auburn hair. She’d also added a few red highlights too. Eve looked drop-dead gorgeous, as always.
She was dressed in her gothic-glory, but this time, she wore long, black extensions in her hair that made her hair look like it fell down to her tailbone. She wore a tight black dress, complete with skull stockings.
“Shane’s kind of like a dog,” Eve continued. “You’ve got to praise him when he does something right, and scold him when he does something wrong.” Claire laughed and slipped on the other shoe.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Claire smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. She honestly couldn’t recognize herself. But damn, Eve had her ways on making Claire look good. “You should really consider working as a stylist or something.” Eve shrugged as she put the flat-iron on the bench and flipped of the power switch.
“Maybe I have considered it,” Eve sighed as she admired her work. “But who would want to get their hair and makeup done by a Gothic vamp-banger?”
Claire winced and looked down at the ground. “Whoever thinks that is stupid.”
“Whatever,” Eve smiled and took a step back. “I am actually contemplating on not letting Shane come.” Claire raised her eyebrows and stood up, smoothing out her dress. “He’ll drool all over you, and ruin your makeup.”
Claire made a face and laughed. Things had been a little weird between her and Eve ever since she’d lost her memory. Maybe Eve was worried that it could happen again, and she was scared that she would lose Claire all over again.
“Hey,” Claire began as she turned to face Eve. “How are you and Michael going?”
Eve smiled, and Claire could see the pink blush through her makeup. Eve twisted the wedding ring around her left finger. “Everything’s good. We’re great.” Claire smiled, but she had to look down and away from Eve’s dreamy expression. “I guess I could ask the same about you and Shane, but I already know the answer to that.” Claire bit her lip. “Claire Bear? What’s wrong?”
“Do you think Naomi will come back?” Eve lowered herself onto the edge of the bathtub. She lowered her eyes, and rubbed her legs. “It’s just that, I’m scared that she’ll go after him. She poisoned Frank, you know?”
Eve looked up at her then. “Naomi did it? She was the one that messed him up?”
Claire nodded. “She said that she would go after Shane, and well. I’m worried.”
Eve stood back up and gently rubbed Claire’s arms. Claire had to look up at her friend, even with high heels.
“Shane will be fine. Next time we see Naomi, we’ll stake her ass.” Claire smiled and rolled her eyes. The bathroom door opened and Shane walked in.
"Well hey there," He smiled at Claire. "You look very familiar. Have you met my girlfriend, Claire by any chance?"
Claire laughed and playfully slapped him across the chest. "You're such a dork."
Shane was wearing black skinny jeans, along with a black button up shirt and the look was completed by spiking his hair up a little. Shane always looked incredibly hot, even Eve couldn't deny that. But wow, he looked so good tonight. Shane must have been thinking the same about Claire, because the way that he looked at her was filled with so many emotions.
"Maybe we should just stay home tonight," Shane said, his voice low and husky. He didn't take his eyes off Claire's body.
"See," Eve suddenly said. "I told you that he was going to drool all over you." Shane sobered fast, and he put an arm around Claire's waist.
Eve cleared her throat, "Now, Collins. I don't want any funny business tonight."
Shane pulled a face at her."Bite me."
Eve smiled and winked. "Later. Now come on. We’ve got a party to get to.”