Lights seep into my eyes, making me groan and turn away.
"Wake up sleepy ass" Belle sings happily. I look over at her as she dances to the other side of my bed before jumping on me. If it wasn't for her profanity she would definitely seem like a princess.
"Get off of me fatty" I laugh, pushing her away. She fakes a hurt expression before sitting up and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "What happened to you last night? I didn't see you after the play" she asks me.
I bite my lip thinking about the tower Luke and I danced on. It was like a corny romance movie. Then I remember the yelling we did and I remember my life would never be a fairytale.
"I didn't feel good so I went home" I lied. I can tell she doesn't believe me but she doesn't get a chance to argue because at that moment Nicole strolls into the room.
"Oh, hey Claire" she says a little tightly and I realize that the last time she saw me I was running off with her planned sleeping partner. I groan. "Nicole about last night-"
"It's fine Belle already told me" Nicole interupts with a smile that looks too big to be real. "You had food poisoning and Luke offered to take you back to the hotel. No biggy".
I glance quickly at Belle before looking back at Nicole. "Right".
"Anyway" Nicole continues. "I just found out they are having a music festival this night and we are all going to it" she squeals.
Belle shrugs "I'm down for that" she says staring oddly at Nicole for a second. "Yeah, sure" I say. She squeals again and claps. "Great! I'll go tell the boys!".
"I'll go with you" Belle states and stands up and soon the door closes behind them and I am alone again.
Belle's P.O.V
"Tonight is going to be so fun" Nicole squeals as we walk down the hall. I roll my eyes. "You can drop the act whenever you feel like it" I get right down to the point of why I came out here with her.
Nicole turns around with scrunched eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" she asks in the sweet voice that makes me grit my teeth.
"My friend Claire likes to try and see the goodness in people" I start, walking towards her, arms crossed. "Me? I like to see the truth".
"What is that supposed to mean?" Nicole asks, arching an eyebrow. I stare back at her. "It means I'm onto your little act. People don't go from spilling milk on people for talking to a guy they like to just simply brushing it off when the same person runs away from them with the same guy" I state.
She smirks slightly. "What can I say? I'm a changed person".
"Bullshit" I exclaim. "And if you even think of hurting Claire I will end you" I growl fiercely at her.
Nicole puts a hand on her heart with a shocked expression. "Why would I ever think of hurting my new best friend?"
"Wrong. She is not your best friend, she is mine. You're just the little bitch trying to ruin her life" I correct her.
She smirks. "Defensive aren't you".
I scowl at her "lets just say I protect the people I care about" and with that I turn on my heel and walk back to our hotel room, leaving Nicole standing in the hallway.
Claire's P.O.V
"Are we there yet?" Danny asks from behind me, causing me to grin as Zack says yet again "We have walked 5 steps from the last time you asked. Do you really think we are there?".
"5 steps? More like a thousand" he grumbles making Zack roll his eyes in irritation. To me, even when he is annoyed, he always has the cutest expressions on his face.
"I hear music so we must be close" I speak up. "Thank god" Danny mutters. We turn the corner and see a large crowd surrounding a stage with CD booths lined up along the stage.
"Come on Lukey, I want to get a CD before there is a long line" Nicole cooes, grabbing Luke's hand and dragging him ahead of us. Belle grits her teeth "is no one else suspicious of her sudden change in heart?".
"Belle, just drop it. She is trying to be nice. Not everyone is out to get us" I reply. She rolls her eyes and mumbles something inaudible under her breath.
Zack suddenly nudges me. "You wanna race to the CD booth?". I grin and nod up at him. "On your mark, get set-"
"Go!" I yell sprinting forwards. "Hey!" Zack states, catching up to me. I pump my legs as fast as I can towards the closest booth. We pass Nicole and Luke and I accidently run through them, making them drop hands. "Sorry" I yell over my shoulder.
Zack and I are now neck and neck. I run as fast as I possibly can. We are only a few yards from the booth. I stop myself before running into the booth but Zack doesn't and I watch as he runs into the booth and knocks down a stack of CDs.
"Hey! What's your problem!" The guy manning the booth asks, angry at Zack. Zack stands up as I let out a burst of laughter. "I'm so sorry, here" he says bending down and scooping up the cd's. And I'll take 2" he continues, holding out a 20 dollar bill.
The guy glares at him before taking the 20. Zack walks back over to me. "You could have told me to slow down you little snake" he humorously says trying to poke me, making me laugh harder. "You should have seen the booth".
"Yeah, yeah. You owe me 10 dollars" he states handing me a CD. I smile and we walk away, passing Nicole and Luke in the sudden line that has formed for the booth. Luke doesn't scowl, he doesn't smile. He simply stares at me, as if asking me the question why?.
I look away and join Zack in the crowd that has formed around the stage as the first act starts.
--------------------------------------------
It has now been 3 hours and I was having a blast with Zack. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom" he states in my ear, talking over the blasting music. I nod and watch him walk away while raising my cup to take another sip of whatever it is. It makes my stomach warm.
Suddenly a pair of hands grabs me, making me drop my drink as they drag me away from the crowd.
"Hey buddy, get your hands off me!" I shout, turning around to see Luke standing in front of me. "Oh it's you" I say and cross my arms. "What do you want?".
"What do I want?" he asks exasparated. "I want you to look at me for more than 3 seconds before turning away. I want you to talk to me and not act like I'm a deadly virus that will contaminate you if you even get close to me!".
"I've already explained to you that-"
"Yeah I know 'I want to focus on Zack and you're a distraction Luke' " Luke says in a high pitched imitation of my voice making me scowl "but when did that become 'I can't be friends with you anymore'?" he asks.
I shake my head. "I know you don't believe that we can be friends after everything we've been through" I say.
"Everything we've been through? I didn't realize that we got married and had 3 kids" Luke states sarcastically. I start to walk away but can't before he grabs me and turns me back around.
"So this is what you want Claire? You want me to lie to you and say you're the most important thing in my life? That I'll die without you? I thought you liked the truth Claire".
"And what exactly is that?" I ask. "Why are you even bothering with me when Nicole is willing to sleep with you at any moment?".
"I honestly don't know but you.... you're just so..... ugh! See this is why I hate this, I hate what you're doing to me!" Luke says exasperated, running his hands through his hair in a way I was familiar with. When he didn't know the answer to a question he would run his hands through his hair. For some reason it was one of my favorites of his many habits.
"Well once you figure out what this" I motion to us "is, then come bother me" I turn around and walk back to the crowd and he doesn't stop me.
"Hey" Zack says, coming up to me. "I want to get away from here" I say suddenly. He raises his eyebrows. "Okay" he says. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
Luke's P.O.V
I run my fingers through my hair as I open my hotel door and step inside. Claire just told me to figure out what I'm feeling and for some reason I came back to my hotel room.
"What is going on with me" I ask myself, frustrated. Why did she do this to me. I mean, she was just a girl. Just another girl. She was pretty but not gorgeous like Nicole.
You know that's a lie my inner consciense says she's different from the others. She has her own opinions that usually don't agree with yours, she's just not afraid to tell you that you're wrong.
Suddenly I am reaching for a pen and paper. I put the pen on the paper and my hand starts writing things that have been on my mind for too long.
5 things everyone knows about Claire Adams
1) She is smart
2) She is nice
3) She is opinionated
4) She is confident
5) She is pretty cool
5 things I know about Claire Adams
1) Her brain works in such a fast paced and extraordinary way that she leaves the rest of us in the dust looking like morons compared to her
2) She isn't just nice. She is forgiving. She gives people kindness that can't be measured with a simple word like 'nice'. She believes in the best in everyone, even when they don't believe it themselves
3) If she doesn't agree with you, she will raise hell about it. She doesn't care what other people think about her opinions. If it was her against a hundred other people, I would put my money on her. She won't change her opinions for anyone making her annoying as hell sometimes and other times, an extraordinarily interesting person.
4) She glows with this self assurance that makes everyone else have no choice but to stare in awe at her every once in a while. She believes in herself and holds herself with such an extraordinary amount of pride and courage that even a lion would cower at her confidence.
5) All together, she is a pain and annoying and frustrating and sometimes makes me want to scream. But she is also completely different from anyone else that I have ever met. She has shown me it is possible for someone to be smart and creative, confident yet humble, sexy and at the same time classy, and the most frustrating person sometimes but other times be the most extraordinary, incredible, marvelous and most fascinating person I have ever met.
Claire,
I know you told me to sort out my feelings and I am trying to, believe me. But whenever you stare at me with those confident blue eyes or defiantly cross your arms at me or even when you smirk that sneaky devilish smile, my mind jumbles together.
I am used to girls throwing themselves at me. Before now I liked it that way. Breezing by life with dozens of different women and my football, going to parties every night and getting wasted. I didn't care about something so little at the time like an F on a test or a 0 average on homework.
But I was also afraid. Afraid of my past and what my future would look like. All of that was bottled up into the deepest part of me and I covered the feeling with girls and beer and sex.
I don't know whether it was the first time I winked at you and you just rolled your eyes at my cockiness or the time where you back talked the math teacher so everyone would forget about the stupid way I couldn't answer a single question on the worksheet (yeah, I remember) but at some point in time you made me intrigued. You interested me Claire.
Yes, at first you were just a way for me to get into Nicole's pants but at some time I realized you had actual opinions and actual thoughts. And most importantly you helped my fear. I was terrified of my past but you taught me to not be ashamed of it. You helped me with my past and I, hopefully, helped you embrace yours too.
Then you started helping me in history and I finally had a person in my life that cared about me for more than a booty call or a good laugh. I had someone who cared about how I would end up.
I can tell you one thing Claire, you bring out the most in me. You don't just bring out my good side in school and in personality, you bring out my frustrated side, my mad side, my scared side, my jealous side, my happy side, my honest side, you bring out everything in me. I think you are taking that brilliant, bright light that radiates off of you and are trying to ignite my burned out match. And I think you are giving me a flame of light of my own.
Claire I'm not going to sugar coat this. I don't love you. I don't love you because I don't even know what that means. I've never told my family that and I can't say that to someone like you without completely meaning it. People today just toss the word around like its nothing and I don't want to do that. I want it to mean something. Maybe you can help me find out what it means and maybe someday I will be able to tell you that.
P.S. I'm probably never going to give you this but anyway
Forever changed,
Luke
I look down at the paper in amazement. I finally found a way to transform what I thought into words.
Suddenly Danny walks into our room. I quickly shove the paper under a book. He eyes the book before saying "hey dude".
"Hey" I say, trying to sound normal but it doesn't work. "What are you doing back?" I ask.
"Got bored" he says walking forward. "Cool" I state. "Uh, yeah" Danny says walking towards his bed.
Suddenly he lunges for the piece of paper. I desperately grab for him but he sprints away from me and towards the bathroom. I lunge for him again but he swings open the door and yanks it shut. I desperately twist at the handle but he locked it.
That little bastard!
"Danny, open up now or I swear I will rip your head off!" I yell and pound on the door. I do it a couple times before I realize my threats are useless. He is reading the paper that I have stupidly spilled all of my feelings onto.
I rest my head on the door and breath heavily. I am surprised when I don't hear snorts or taunts, but silence. I lean against the opposite wall as the silence continues for minutes.
After what feels like an eternity, Danny opens the door, staring directly at me with an expressionless face. I snatch the paper away from him and suddenly lose the urge to kill him. We stand in silence as I swallow multiple times.
"She's like my sister" Danny finally speaks. "If you hurt her I swear I will-"
"Don't worry, she's never going to get this paper" I say and go to rip the paper before he stops me by asking "is all of that true?".
"Of course not, just some bullshit I wrote down" I grumble. He raises an eyebrow "I won't tell her you know, if you admit it".
"Why don't you stay out of my fucking buisness" I snap. And walk over to the other side of the room. "She is walking back with Zack" Danny suddenly says.
I whip my head towards him as he continues "if you're waiting for a chance, this is your last one. Go now before Zack steals her away".
"I'm not going to fucking go running after her like in those corny movies" I spit. He shrugs "you would if you had some balls".
I stand up straighter "I have balls" I mumble.
"Then fucking go after her!" Danny shouts motioning towards the door. "Go fight for something in your life for a change and stop acting like a little prick!". For some reason his pep talk works and before I can think it through I am running out the door and soon I am sprinting down the hall, hoping against all odds that I am not too late.
Claire's P.O.V
"And the water went all over him" Zack finishes his story and I burst into a fit of laughter along with him. "And he just stares up shocked and" Zack pauses to laugh "we just ran for it" I laugh louder now, not being able to hold it in.
"Oh..my..god" I say between breaths. "Were you fired?".
"Oh yeah" he says making me laugh again. We turn a corner and the hotel comes into view. "Tonight was amazing Zack" I say honestly. "Thank you for hanging out with me".
"Hey the pleasure was all mine" he says and I smile up at him. "I really appreciate it" I say. He stares down at me. "Yeah, I do too".
We stare at each other in silence. Zack's eyes dart to my lips. "I shouldn't kiss you. You're too good for me" he whispers, his head moving closer. My eyes dart to his lips "that's not true".
"It is" he whispers. I slightly shake my head "just shut up and kiss me you fool" I say and slowly close my eyes. Finally his lips meet mine and I melt into the kiss.
Luke's P.O.V
I sprint down the staircases, not waiting for the elevator. I reach the lobby and dive through crowds of people, flying through the door.
I run onto the street and look right and left. I start to run left. I slow down when I see 2 dark figures in front of me with their faces extremely close.
Please my inner self begs please don't let it be her I walk closer and I can finally make out them. The girl has dirty blonde hair and the boy has brown hair, and the girl has Claire's clothing on. Zack has both hands in her hair and Claire has her hands on his chest. Their lips are moving in synch, fast and passionately.
The air is knocked out of me and my heart doesn't just clench, it squeezes so impossibly tightly that I feel like I am about to faint but I don't get that relief. Instead, I am forced to watch the scene in front of me. I am forced to watch the most important girl in my life choose another boy, a boy that is better for her than me.
I don't know when my body finally unfreezes but it eventually does and I take a step backward, and then another. I finally reach the lobby door when I finally realize it is over. Whatever I hoped would happen was crushed and shattered deep inside me.
I was too late.
A/N- Wow pretty long chapter I know you guys but I hope it was worth the wait. I know some of you probably hate me right now but oh well this is my story. Leave your opinions of this chapter in the comment section. I love you guys!