Claire POV
"When are you gonna come back?" I groaned as I got on the bus. I looked for a seat, particularly in the back which was empty. I was successful in doing so, but I knew that more students would fill the bus eventually. Meh, at least I get the window.
"I'm coming, okay? Don't be so gloomy about it. I may or may not be late for school, but I promise that when I see you, I will attack you with a hug. I'm getting into the car." He ensured.
"It's been too long." I mumbled. Eddie was my best friend and practically my brother. We acted like siblings sometimes.
"I know, it has. But can't you wait three hours?" I sighed.
"Fine. Anyways, how's the girl doing? Your dad's family friend's daughter?" He groaned when I brought up the topic of her.
"Still really annoying. I'll tell you about it when I see you." I chuckled.
"Is she right next to you?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then. Enjoy the time while you can, Eddie. Bye, and love you."
"Yeah, yeah. Love you, too." He barely whispered.
The call ended. But as soon as I hung up, someone else called.
"Tiger," I said with a smile. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Canary," he replied back. "How's your mom doing?"
"She's doing good. Better, actually. I gave her an inspirational speech about how she's gonna be better and nothing's gonna happen to her. After a while, she said that she would stop worrying about everything in the world and just stay happy."
"That's good."
"Yeah. I really hope she would get better soon. I want her to come home. I feel really lonely at home."
"You could call me over, right?" I laughed and shook my head.
"In what context are you talking about? I would like lots of hugs and cuddles while watching a Disney movie."
"Well, I was thinking of something else.... but that sounds fine too."
"Get your head out of the gutter."
The bus ride went like that. I was bored, but I was glad I was talking to Tiger along the way. With his company, I was in a totally different world.
With his company, time flew by so fast. Fifteen minutes was how long the bus ride takes to school. While talking with him, it didn't even feel like five minutes.
I got off the bus, once again thanking the bus driver for the ride, and adjusting the straps of my backpack.
"Okay, then. I'm getting into my car. I guess I'll see you at school, even if I don't know what you look like." I giggled.
"Okay. Bye. I guess I'll see you as well." I really wished we could talk more, but maybe would after school.
I was walking towards the main entrance of the school when I heard my name being called. Who would want to talk to me in school? I turned around.
I swear to God, if it's Ryan-
"Eddie!" I ran up to him and hugged him real tight, just like he asked.
He chuckled at my reaction. Sure, I was acting like a little kid, but I really did miss him. There was so much I had to tell.
"I missed you a little." I pulled away and slapped his arm playfully.
He quickly turned back and waved. The people in the car waved back. A man smiled wide. It seemed like he was Eddie's father. In the back, there was a teenage girl, who looked at Eddie heartbroken and me with jealousy. Hmm. It was pretty obvious who she was.
After about a minute, they drove off, leaving Eddie here.
"Come on, let's go to class." I dragged him along, though I knew we didn't have the same class.
He asked me about how Mom was. She was doing well. I was glad she was doing better. The only bad thing was that now she had to stay in the hospital for about a month and a half. So, until May, No one would be at home except for me.
Though I talked to my favorite guys this morning, I still felt really tired and unenthusiastic.
"I wanna go home." I mumbled as I came to my locker. I grabbed my Biology book and started walking to class.
"Already? Classes didn't even start." Eddie chuckled from beside me.
"That still doesn't change the fact that I want to go home."
"Whatever makes you sleep at night." He mumbled. I chuckled.
"Alright then, I'll see you later."
"Yup. bye." I waved at him, only to see him wave back. I sat at my seat and waited for class to start.
I quickly grabbed my notebook and laptop from my bag and opened them on my desk. I wrote the date on the top left corner of the page and continued to write the heading, whatever Ms. Beatrice said she would teach yesterday.
In the process, my pen stopped working. I've always hated when that happens. I started to shake it violently (lke any normal person would), but my pen fell down. I bent down to pick it up, when I realized that someone was standing right in front of me. I looked up.
My eyes widened at the sight.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry." Ryan's bottom lip was quivering as if he was going to cry at that moment. His eyes showed a sense of fear that I don't know where it came from. But even worse, his face was bruised. He was definitely beaten up, to state the obvious. I was shocked to say the least.
I didn't know what to say. Instead of saying anything like, "It's okay," I looked down at my lap, facing the screen. I didn't even nod. I heard him leave, probably going to sit all the way in the back.
I bit my lip, thinking about who would beat him up. About why he would say sorry in the first place.
Ms. Beatrice walked into the class at that moment, partially bring me back from my thoughts. I was still taking notes and listening in class, but it was still there at the back of my mind.
~~~
"Do you wanna come over today?" I snapped out of my thoughts. I smiled at Eddie, but as soon as it came, it turned into a frown. I groaned and held my head. "What happened?" He asked me,
"I have a math test tomorrow and I hate it. Ugh. I don't understand anything." I took my phone out of my pocket to check what other homework I had to do (and checking if Tiger texted me or anything). I still had English homework, as well as studying for the Math test. There were no texts from Tiger, though.
"I could help you. After a little studying, we could watch a movie or something. Then go back to studying?" He held my hand as we continued to walk to his car.
"Sounds fine with me. As long as you promise to teach me something useful for the test." He chuckled. Last time we decided to study, he started geeking out about how cool integration and differentiation in Physics was.
Of course he's a physics genius, but he doesn't even want to go into that stream anyways. It didn't matter. Even though, he made me do problems and bothered me the whole time we studied. #Benefitsofhavinganerdyfriend.
"Fine. But we're gonna watch a rom-com after studying." I nodded and sat in his car. He was always one for Chick-Flicks.
I loved the scent of fresh lemons in his car. It made me feel comfortable and warm. Though it's been years, over a decade, it reminded me of the Lemon Curd Pie that Mom used to make on special days.
My seventh birthday was probably the last time I tasted it. I've always loved how my mouth would water when I smelled the pie. How my jaws would clench when I eat it. Sure, she made it later on, but she never really gave me any. It was for potlucks at her work place. Since I started second grade, I would have always wanted to take her pie to school, but she would never make it, and I would never take it, nor have anything else to share with my classmates. Later on, even my teachers forgot my birthday since I never seemed to excited or get anything to share.
I sighed, coming back to reality. Mom wasn't like that anymore, and I was sure that when she comes back, she would teach me how to make the pie.
Nothing happened in the car. The music was playing softly in the background, and both of us were listening. Well, at least one of us was. I was thinking about Tiger. He still hasn't called or texted me since school was over. I found myself looking at my phone every two to three minutes. I wanted to talk to him, and tell him how my day went. I realized that I was checking my phone more than I thought when Eddie asked me about it.
"You seem anxious?" He smirked and glanced at me before looking back at the road.
"Not really." I checked my phone again.
"Are you sure?" His voice held a teasing tone; he probably knew what I was thinking about.
"Maybe." I looked at him, only to see him raise his eyebrows. I huffed. "Okay, I am. Pretty anxious."
"Tiger didn't call?" I nodded as my face felt warm.
"He didn't text either." I whispered.
"Turn that frown upside down. I'm sure he will call you later. He's probably super busy. And, there are some wrestling matches going on right now. Just wait a while." I told Eddie about what Tiger likes, interests, hobbies and other information.
"Alright, then."
"Aaaand we are here." He parked his car in the garage (along with all his other fancy cars). I grabbed my bag from the trunk, and we walked into the house.
Like every time we come into his house, the butler came up to us, greeted us, and offered to take our bags to Eddie's room. Of course, I refused, but Eddie insisted and I gave it to him.
We walk into the large kitchen and see that there was food on the counter. It would always be there when the maids were in the house. It smelled of french fries, buffalo wings, and more goodness.
"Here you go, Eddie. Claire, this is for you." The maid placed the plates in front of us.
"Thank you," I said. Eddie didn't even bother. He just dug into his food without anther thought.
"Eddie, learn your manners." She lightly hit the back of his head.
"Gia, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm eating like this because I'm at home, and Claire is my best friend." He whined. He had buffalo sauce all aound his mouth and on his hands. Gia took a napkin and wiper his face like a mother would to a baby.
"I know, but still. Look at how nasty the counter is, now? My one and a half year old eats better than you." She rolled her eyes playfully. "Fine. I'm going to go now. You be good. Make sure to give some of this to Dad, okay?" Eddie nodded and waved as she left.
Gia was a sweet woman of an average height of 5'5''. She was around twenty years old, and was very pretty. Her midnight black hair reached her shoulders, and her dark brown eyes matched with her dark complexion. Out of all the maids and butlers, she seemed to be the most informal with Eddie. She was like a mother.
Most of the maids and butlers stayed in the house until Eddie came home. It was mostly because he liked to do the cooking for him and his dad, and some of the house work.
We quickly finished eating, cleaning up our area and washing the plates. After that, Eddie piled up some food on a plate for his dad.
"You can leave it there." I heard a voice from behind me. Eddie and I turned around to see his dad walking down the stairs.
He looked younger now than he did in the morning. He would have easily been in his mid thirties. His eyes were a dark blue and hair was somewhere between a dirty blonde and brown.
"Dad, I thought you had a meeting." Eddie placed the plate on the counter.
"I did, but some director puked during the meeting, so we had to cancel it. It might be tomorrow." Then he looked at me. "Who's this pretty lady?" He asked. My face felt hot. No one really told me that apart from Steph.
"Oh, thank you." I mumbled. "I'm-" He cut me off.
"Let me guess. Claire?" I smiled and nodded.
"Yes, that's me." I put my hand out and he gladly shook my hand.
"Ahh... Eddie here talks a lot about you. All those times you two spent together."
"I wasn't aware." I glanced at Eddie, only to see his face in his hands.
"Dad, stop embarrassing me." He grumbled.
"Oh come on, son. Have fun while you can." He slapped Eddie's back. "How about you two finish your homework, and then we could watch a movie if you're interested?" Eddie and I looked at each other and nodded.
"Sounds good to me."
~~~
"Where the hell did you go? Do you know how worried I was? I called you a while ago, but you didn't answer. What the hell?" I paused so that he could say something. There was no response. "Hello? Tiger? Are you there?" I heard him breathing. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Of course I am." His voice was soft and strained. "I could listen to your voice for years and never get bored of it." I wanted to get annoyed because he wasn't really listening to what I was saying. Instead, a smile formed on my lips and I blushed.
"Are you okay?" I asked him after a second.
"Now that I'm talking to you, I feel a lot better. I'm sorry I couldn't call you. I had the wrestling matches."
"That's okay. Did you win?" I asked.
"No, but I was close. We were just one point apart." He sighed. He seemed disappointed. "But you know, there's always a next time, right?"
"Yeah. How was your day? anything interesting happened?"
"The match, a Physics test, loads of homework, and now I'm resting." I nodded, even though he couldn't see me.
"Sounds... fun." He chuckled. "Resting sounds like a good pass time."
"It is. What about you? How did your day go?"
"It was... okay. I mean, nothing interesting happened. I had my normal classes, and now I'm at a friend's house."
"Oh, cool."
"Yeah, but there was something different today. Ryan came up to me and apologized. He never really did that before. On top of that, it looked like someone beat him up." He chuckled, but it seemed nervous.
"Um, that as me. I beat him up." My eyes widened.
"Why? What did he do to you?"
"No, he didn't do anything to me. It was what he did to you. On Friday. He made you feel terrible." I sighed. "No one touches my Canary." I was at the point someone could fry eggs on my cheeks.
"Being possessive already? I thought it would take a while." I chuckled.
"One month has passed and I feel very connected to you, Canary. I wait for your call all the time, hoping you would call or for a time I'm so I can call."
"Me too." He sighed.
"Canary? I-I was thinking..."
"About what?"
"Would you be my girlfriend?" He blurted out. My eyes widened.
"Does that mean I would have to meet you? I mean, I'm not ready."
"Well, I mean, we don't have to see each other if you don't want to. I was thinking to continue this relationship, but I wanted you to be my girlfriend. My virtual girlfriend, if I have to say." I bit my bottom lip, looking down at my lap while firmly holding my phone against my ear. "What do you think?"
"C-Can I think about it? Can you give me a little time?" My voice was soft.
"I'll wait for your response. I'll wait for as long as you need me to. Just make a clear decision, okay?" I heard footsteps up the stairs. I was still at Eddie's house, and we were about to watch a movie until Tiger called.
"Yeah. I'll call you later."
"Bye." I just hummed and hung up. Only then, I looked up to see Eddie's dad holding a huge bowl of popcorn.
"Mr. Reynor." I stood up and put my phone in my pocket.
"No formalities please. Call me Travis." He gave me a warm smile. I mirrored it. "Were you talking to your boyfriend?" He asked me. My heart sputtered.
"N-No. He's not my boyfriend." I paused. "But he did ask me to be his girlfriend." I was quieter this time.
"That's nice. And what did you say?" He smiled as we walked to Eddie's room.
"I wasn't sure. I said I needed some time to think about it." I kept on walking until he stopped, making me stop as well.
"Do you like him?" I nodded shyly. "How much?"
"A-A lot."
"Take my advice and tell him 'yes'. A long time ago, I did a mistake of letting the woman I loved go. I betrayed her, and I never had the chance to apologize properly. She was gone before I knew it. If that boy made you like him that much, I think he's worth it. Try it out. If it doesn't work, then he's just one of the many. Make a decision you won't regret."
~~~
OMGGG!!!!!!!!!! Hunter asked Claire to be his girlfriend! Well, more like Tiger asked Canary but IT'S THE SAME THING. I should have said this two chapter ago but et me tell you now: With chapter 18, we were halfway through the book! We have 36 chapters including the epilogue, but I will post bonus chapters/one shots.
Anyways, how did you like the chapter?
I love you all my fluffy muffins (you choose the flavor ;)) Stay safe and happy!
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