Announcement: Due to some things in the real world regular long stories will not be updated next week. That means that "He Touched Me & I Let Him Love Me", "How'd I Let You Slip Away", "Like I'm Your Lover or More Like Your Ghost", "Best Served Hot" and "Ghosts of Who We Were" will not be posted next week. The two extra stories, "It's Euphoria, It's Anger" and "Walking Through Fire without a Burn" chapter 2 will be posted on the weekend instead of Thursday and Friday. The regular schedule will resume Monday May 12th with "He Touched Me & I Let Him Love Me" getting a new chapter.
Legal: I do not own DeGrassi
Important to know before reading this:
I actually plotted this way back at the beginning of the fall season, just ask tomfeltonlover1991 she sees my plots when their done.
Anyway Adam does not die and is still alive in this.
Drew and Bianca broke up amicably at the end of summer and in this fic it's late October in this fic.
Owen goes to U of T because I miss him and he needs to be in everything!
Okay that should do it enjoy this Clew fluff shot!
Secrets of Silk & Lace
(CLARE)
I sat in the student council office with my phone to my ear while Drew was actually being the responsible one. He'd been carrying this whole meeting and I'd been entirely preoccupied by trying to get a hold of Eli. My supposedly totally devoted boyfriend had not called me back for a week, when he did get back to me it was usually a late night text that he was sorry but he'd had a really long day and would call me back tomorrow. After 7 straight days of not hearing his voice I was sure that something was wrong.
"Hey Veep you want to actually pay attention and participate in student council," Drew admonishes with an annoyed tone.
"I'm sorry Drew, it's just…" I pause biting my lip and looking at Adam he's Eli's best friend as well as mine, "I think Eli's cheating on me," I tell them brushing my long bangs away from my forehead. They were the longest part of my hair now since it had started growing back.
"No, there's no way Eli would cheat on you Clare," Adam tells me hugging me close.
"You know statistically long distance relationships fail in…"
"Connor be quiet," Jenna snaps at her boyfriend and cuts him off. "Come on Clare we're talking about the boy who crashed his car and wrote a play for you," Jenna reminds me.
"Yeah Eli would never cheat on you, look at all he went through at prom and nursing you through chemo," Dallas says.
"They're right Clare Eli wouldn't cheat, can we back to the meeting now?" Drew requests.
"Sorry Drew continue," I sigh setting my phone back in my book bag.
We get back to student council business and I actually do participate but the thought that Eli is cheating never leaves the back of my mind. After the meeting Drew gives me a ride home and Adam spends the whole ride telling me that Eli could never cheat on me. After dinner alone, because my mom and Glen are living like they have no kids in the house anymore, I go to my room to start on my homework and turn on my laptop. I don't know what made me think of it but I go to Eli's Facerange page. I see pics of us and us with Adam, I notice that he has several new friends from NYU and then I see a lot of activity with him and his project partner Lenore. Which would all be fine if their posts didn't sound so flirty and if they weren't touching each other in every single picture of them and then I click on her profile and find out that their roommates, she posted about moving into his dorm room! She even has pictures of them making out on his bed! He has been cheating on me and it looks like he's been doing it since he moved into his dorm two months ago! I grab my phone and call him I don't care if he answers anymore but he can't cheat on me. He of course doesn't answer and I get his voice mail.
"I didn't really want to do this over voicemail, I was hoping to actually yell at you but this will have to do. I know you've been cheating on me Eli and we're breaking up. You ignore me for two months, barely calling me back and sending me texts that you've had a long day and can't talk when I need you and you're probably making out with Lenore! I don't ever want to see you again Eli!"
I hang up and wish I could slam down my phone but I settle for screaming in frustration. Then just to be sure that Eli gets the message I send him a breakup text and then a break up e-mail. After that I turn off my phone, go downstairs and put on my favorite movie and get the rocky road ice cream from the fridge. After smothering my anger and hurt in rocky road I finally get to my homework. When Mom and Glen get home I tell them I broke up with Eli but not that he was cheating. They give me the usual pitiful looks and falsely sympathetic hugs before they go to bed. I stay up watching TV late into the night because I'm so angry and go to school angry the next day. I'm not sure what I'm more upset about, the fact that Eli really was cheating on me or that it's been going on so long with him simply ignoring me and he never told me that Lenore was in his dorm room! I see Adam, Drew and Dallas on the steps.
"Eli called he said you broke up with him," Adam says when I join them.
"He's been cheating on me Adam, probably since August, with some blonde named Lenore who moved into his dorm room," I tell them.
"You're kidding," Dallas exclaims.
"Are you sure Clare?" Adam questions.
"It's all over his Facerange page Adam," I reply in a hard tone that is meant for Eli not Adam.
"Come on Clare I'll walk you to your locker," Drew offers. I nod and follow Drew inside while Adam gets out his phone. "Are you going to the game tonight?" Drew asks.
"No I'll probably just go home and drown my sorrows in ice cream again," I reply.
"You could come over to our place," Drew proposes.
"Thanks, maybe tomorrow but I think I'd rather be alone tonight," I tell Drew, he nods but doesn't say anything.
"Clare what's the matter?" Jenna asks when I get to my locker, she's at hers with Connor.
"Eli was cheating on me and I broke up with him," I inform them.
"I'll see you in class Clare," Drew smiles sympathetically and leaves me with Jenna.
Jenna of course calls Alli, while Jenna is telling Alli Adam and Becky join us and Becky gives me a hug. My friends stay with me all day and we don't have student council this afternoon. Most people are going to the Ice Hounds game or the football game, I get several offers to hang out but I really just want to be alone. I decide to go to Danforth street which is the small shopping district in the Riverdale neighborhood. I am in desperate need of chocolate and retail shopping, not that I usually buy anything other than maybe a book but still I need to do something for myself. I stop at Cloud Nine Café and get chocolate decadence cake and then I walk several blocks to walk it off. Then I see a lingerie shop, I don't normally stop at lingerie shops but this one happens to have some really pretty bras in the window and they look comfortable. So I go in and pick out several to try on, a few satin, a few lace and in many different colors and patterns. I'm in the dressing room for a while trying them all on and finally decide on one purple lace one and a satin one with a black and white paisley pattern. After getting dressed again I take my purchase to the checkout counter. The bras are really not that expensive so buying two isn't that much of a splurge. The woman behind the counter is maybe 30 and has a sweet face and nice smile.
"Have you ever thought of modeling?" She asks as she rings me up.
"Uh no every model I've ever seen is a size 0 and six feet tall," I respond handing her my credit card.
"No I don't mean a runway model, my husband and I run this store and we've been looking for someone to model for our website and print ads. Lingerie and bras don't look right on someone that's super skinny and a size 0 but with your voluptuous curves and ample breasts I think you would be perfect. You have such a classic beauty and bright eyes would you consider taking the job?" She offers.
I think she's just complimented my looks more in two minutes than Eli ever has. Still being a lingerie model seems like it's not a good idea.
"I don't know, I'm only seventeen a…"
"Oh we wouldn't show anything illegal," she assures me cutting me off, "you'd have a contract and everything, you can bring your mom and have her go through it if you want to. Like I said it's just for our website and local print ads, nothing national but we'll pay $500 a shoot."
$500 for a days work of getting my picture taken is really good, way better than the $10 an hour Mom gives me for occasionally helping at her office. If I do just a few shoots then I could put a down payment on my own car. Anyway like she said it's not like it's playboy, it's all legal, not to mention it might actually be fun. Maybe I'll send one of the pictures to Eli and show him what he lost.
"Okay I'll do it," I smile.
"Great can you meet us tomorrow? Here's the address of our loft we have everything there and you can bring your mom or anyone else with you. How's one tomorrow?" She asks.
"One is good," I reply taking the piece of paper with her address on it.
"Perfect, I'm Annie by the way," she tells me holding her hand out.
"Clare," I reply shaking her hand. I leave the store with my bag and a job then get a call from Adam, I'm sure that Eli's tried to call but I blocked his number. "Hey the game just got out and everyone's going for pizza, I know you want to be alone but…"
"Actually pizza sounds great," I interrupt him, "where are we going I'll grab a taxi."
"Where are you?" Adam asks back.
"I'm just on Danforth street, near the Cloud Nine Café," I inform him.
"Hang on," Adam says covering the mouth piece and talking to whoever he's with. "Drew will be there in ten wait at Cloud Nine Café," Adam instructs.
I say okay and hang up walking the short distance to the café to wait for Drew. The elder Torres brother shows up a short time later and I get in his car.
"Thanks for picking me up Drew," I say when I get in his car and he starts driving.
"No problem," he grins, he sees the black bag in my hand but doesn't say anything about it.
I do leave my bag in his car before we go into the pizza place, I smile at everyone, Becky and Jenna hug me as does Adam.
"You look a lot happier," Adam comments.
"Retail therapy," is my reply.
We all hang out for about three hours and Drew drops me at home before taking himself, Adam and Dallas home. I sleep pretty well that night and find that I'm actually pretty excited about this shoot tomorrow. I never thought of myself as the model type but this could be fun. I wake up late Saturday morning; Mom and Glen are gone as I knew they would be. I eat breakfast and then take a shower before I get on the bus to go to Annie and her husband's loft. Their loft isn't far from my neighborhood, it's in an old industrial building, it's very artsy and nothing like Fiona's loft. I knock on the door and Annie opens the door with a big smile and lets me in.
"Hi Clare it's good to see you, this is my husband Emmett," Annie smiles as she closes the door.
"It's nice to meet you Clare, Annie was right you'll be perfect. She brought some things home from the shop for you to model. We'll be doing it right here in the living room in front of this canvas here. We have a number of wigs you can wear too if you'd like to disguise yourself a bit," Emmett tells me.
He's very tall and thin with dark red hair and lots of freckles, he's a few years younger than Annie, he looks about the same age Jay would be now. He's very pleasant, his demeanor reminds of Dave, open and friendly.
"Yeah wigs might be a good idea," I smile.
"Come with me I'll show you where you can change and look at the wigs. Why don't we start with bras, those will all be from the waist up and you can leave your jeans on for those. Then when you're comfortable we'll move on to lingerie," Annie suggests.
She shows me into what appears to be an office/guest room type thing, there are several bras and various lingerie laid out on the bed. They have four shelves on the wall lined with wigs; they look like much nicer wigs than I had while going through chemo. Annie asks me if I want any water or anything and I ask for water then she leaves me to get changed. I make sure the door is locked, set down my purse and look at all the stuff on the bed. I decide to go with an elegant black satin and lace bra first. Taking off my jacket, sweater and top I check the door lock one more time before taking off my bra. Once I have the bra on I look at the wig choices, deciding on a long black one with curls a lot like Mia's, Once the wig is secure I slowly exit the room with my arms covering my chest. Annie shows me the contract which I read very carefully before signing. Then she does some quick makeup on me to as she put it; keep from shining under the lights and to bring out my eyes. Then they tell me to sit on the stool and get comfortable, Emmett takes a few test shots and I start to relax, Emmett doesn't say anything at first, just snaps the pictures, but Annie keeps telling me how good I'm doing and how great I look. Emmett stops after a few minutes and I drink some water but I'm totally relaxed now, I'm not even covering my arms with my chest now. I get back on the stool, do a couple while standing and then I go back to the dressing room grab a blue checkered bra and a blonde wig.
After a couple of hours of modeling various bras…and wigs I'm entirely relaxed and having fun. We stop to eat a little and they order sushi for us to eat. Then I start modeling the lingerie, it's nothing that shows too much, mostly camisoles, baby doll nighties, a couple robes and one teddy. I'm at their loft for 10 hours all together but I had a blast but I leave not only with $500 cash and another photo shoot scheduled for next Thursday night but they let me keep one of the baby doll nighties. I had a great time and they tell me the pictures on the website will be up by Monday. I might just print one out and send it to Eli with a note that says: Look what you lost because you're a cheating bastard!
(OWEN)
"Sam will you get off the porn site and concentrate on our homework," I gripe at my project partner, he's been looking at some site with girls in lingerie for at least 20 minutes and I want to get this done so I can get to my other homework.
"Dude check out this lingerie model, they've never had a model on the site before. She's all curvy with big boobs, it's a local shop I wonder if this chick lives here," Sam comments.
"Sam you can look at the hot girls wearing hardly anything le…" I stop when I actually look up and see the model and it's not because she's hot. She is super hot though but she looks familiar, very familiar I just can't place her. "I know her," I blurt out.
"No way who is she?" Sam asks.
"I…I think I went to school with her," I remark trying desperately to place this girl. She's got a several different wigs on but it's always the same girl. I know that I know her but I can't think of her name, or even really place her. I wasn't friends with her I know that much. Sam scrolls down a little and I grab the laptop, this one is a closer shot of her from the chest up, she's modeling a bra but I can see her face much better in this one. The way she bites her lip and her very bright blue eyes…it's Clare! With lots of different hairstyles, at least I think it's Clare but I know some guys that would know for sure. "I gotta go we'll do this tomorrow," I tell Sam getting off his bed and leaving his dorm room.
"Hey Owen where you going?" He calls but I don't answer as I'm already walking down the hall and getting out my phone.
"Hey Drew are you three home?" I question when Drew opens.
"Uh I'm in the basement with Adam and Dallas if that's what you mean," Drew responds.
"Yep on my way over," I tell him and hang up before he says anything else.
It takes me about fifteen minutes to drive from the university to Drew's place and I go through the basement door.
"What's up?" Drew questions when I come through the door.
"Adam can I see your laptop?" I request sitting on the other side of him.
"Uh okay," Adam says handing it to me.
I open a new browser window typing in that site again. The homepage is littered with pictures of Clare in various lingerie and I look at Adam.
"Is that Clare?" I question.
"Can't be, Clare would never do something like that," Dallas responds.
"It…it looks a lot like her but Dallas is right Clare would never model lingerie not for a public website," Adam says but sounds more like he's trying to convince himself.
"That can't be Clare there's no way she'd do that, she wouldn't expose herself like that," Drew says in a bit of an angry tone.
"Yeah but look at this picture, the way she's biting her lip, her very bright blue eyes. Ignore the deep red hair and you can't tell me that isn't Clare," I comment showing them the picture of her in the bra that's more of a close up of her face.
"Shit that is Clare!" Dallas exclaims.
"Okay I agree it looks a lot like her but there's just no way that Clare would do something like that," Adam asserts but his tone is defensive, he just doesn't want to believe it's Clare.
"Why don't we just call her and have her come over?" Dallas suggests and Adam gets out his phone.
"Her phone is off," Adam tells us after trying to call Clare.
"Her house is five minutes away let's just go over there," Dallas suggests.
"No we can't. Whether or not it's Clare if her mom even thinks that it is she'll freak out and probably ship Clare halfway across the country to some Christian school. I'll keep trying to call her but we might have to wait until tomorrow at school to talk to her," Adam tells us.
"Fine then I'm coming with you guys to school tomorrow," I remark.
After about an hour of Clare having her phone off Adam finally gets a hold of her. He talks to her for just a second and then hangs up.
"She forgot to turn her phone back on, she was doing homework and stuff, told me she had to go and she'll see me at school tomorrow," Adam informs us after hanging up.
"Ok then I'll meet you guys at DeGrassi in the morning. I probably should get back to my dorm and do some homework though," I comment getting off the sofa.
I go back to my dorm and stay up half the night doing homework; I still set my alarm and get up early enough to meet the other at DeGrassi in the morning. I'm the first one there and I wait for the others on the steps but Clare gets there first.
"Did you get lost or something?" She questions in a sardonic tone.
"No I came to see you, did you get a new job?" I shoot back.
"Oh," she says with her cheeks going red, "saw the pictures I guess."
"Yeah I saw the pictures does Eli know about those?" I question.
"He will when he reads his e-mail I sent him one. He's been cheating on me and I broke up with him," Clare informs me.
"Eli is a crazy fuck but why would you take a job like that?! Other people will see those pictures you know," I point out.
"That's usually the point of a website, I was wearing a bunch of wigs," she says.
"Yeah but I recognized you…eventually and other people will too," I tell her.
"As long as my mom never sees them it doesn't matter," she shrugs and walks past me into the school.
I watch her go and can't believe that she actually took a job like that. I stand there another couple of minutes and then see Drew pull in so I wait to talk to them.
"It was her and she's proud of it," I inform them.
"You talked to her?" Drew asks.
"Yeah I saw her a few minutes ago, she said it was her, told me Eli had been cheating on her and she e-mailed him one of the pictures. She didn't seem to care at all so long as her mom doesn't find out," I enlighten them.
"She…Clare's modeling lingerie…why…Eli's going to lose it," Adam trips over his words as he tries to come to terms with it.
"I can't believe she would actually do that, why would she do that? If she wanted to get back at Eli I could have gone to New York and punched him out," Drew remarks.
"Yeah I would have gone with you," I nod and we're all quiet for a minute. "I guess I should get to school. Keep an eye on her; I doubt I'm the only one that saw that site. Call you guys later," I tell them waving and walking to my car.
I still can't believe that St. Clare took a job like that, I mean it's not like she's a call girl or something but still. She is not the girl to show skin or get revenge by making her boyfriend jealous. Eli really screwed with her head; I always knew that death obsessed Dr. Doom was bad news.
(DREW)
After Owen left the three of us went inside to find Clare but she wouldn't talk about the photo shoot or why she did it. All she said was she had a new job and she could make her own decisions. I caught a few guys looking at her with a little more attention than usual but between me and Dallas we told them to back the hell off and they did. Now it's lunch and I'm eating in the student council with Clare, we do this a few times a week as pres and veep. We were talking about business but I just couldn't get that website out of my mind and couldn't understand why she took that job.
"Why did you?" I ask her midsentence and she looks at me. "The website, the pictures, why Clare?"
"I was so deeply hurt and yet filled with anger when I found out Eli had cheated on me, and not just once but that he's probably been doing it since August. He chased me, more than once, he became Prince Charming at prom, he rigged the vote so we could be king and queen. I lost my virginity to him, I fell deep for him, he left his dream job to come home and sit with me in a hospital room. I thought he was it for me, I was sure that we'd be married one day. After all that, after all the chasing and everything he doesn't even tell me his roommate is a girl and then he starts cheating on me with her! My heart broke Drew, shattered into a billion twisted little pieces. I felt like no one would ever love me after Eli. I was so angry I couldn't even process it all and I sort of ran away from it. I went shopping and happened to find some new bras that I liked. When I was buying them the lady behind the counter said she wanted me to model their lingerie. I was unsure at first but it paid $500 and she seemed nice, she said I could bring my mom, not that I would ever. I finally gave in and decided it would be fun so on Saturday I went to their loft a…"
"Hold it!" I stop her explanation with a harsh tone. "You went to their house?!" I exclaim and she nods. "CLARE WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU WENT TO SOME STRANGERS HOUSE AND LET THEM TAKE PICTURES OF YOU IN ALMOST NOTHING?!" I holler making her jump a little but I can't believe she was that stupid! "They could have been sadists or human traffickers or…"
"Drew calm down I'm fine, they were nothing but a very nice married couple, I was never alone with the husband and he wasn't skeevy or anything. They took pictures for their site and their print ads and I made $500. I had fun it wasn't dangerous," she defends herself.
"But you had no way of knowing that they weren't psycho killers or perverts when you went there Clare! You're supposed to be the smart one you must have known how dangerous that was! Did you not care at all?! Did it not occur to you that you could have ended up dead in an alley or something?!"
"No and I didn't why are you so enraged about this they were just some pictures," she snaps at me getting annoyed.
"They weren't just some pictures they are pictures of you barely dressed! Pictures that other horny perverts will see and some of them might recognize you! What if one of them tries to stalk you or something?! What if one of them wants more pictures and comes looking for you?! Owen figured out it was you!"
"Okay now you're just sounding paranoid and sounding a little like Eli. If we're not going to concentrate on student council business then I'm leaving," she seethes standing up and trying to walk past me.
I grab her arm and turn her to me trapping her cherub lips in a blistering kiss. She's just still for a few seconds but slowly begins to respond, her lips parting and her body relaxing. After a few seconds her arm comes up and her hand rests at the back of my neck. I comb my fingers into her hair and slowly probe her mouth my tongue. I wait for a few minutes before pulling away, I'd love to keep kissing her but if I don't pull away and explain then she'll pull away and she might just get scared and run. I keep my hand cupping her face and look at her, she looks shocked and blinks at me in wonder.
"I'm getting so angry because I care about you Clare, I like you actually, a lot and the thought of you getting hurt or being in danger is painful to me. I don't like other guys seeing you that way because your body should be cherished and not gawked at. I know it's only been a few days since you broke up with Eli but be with me, be my girlfriend," I request but she doesn't respond.
Actually she doesn't do anything; I don't think she's even breathing. She doesn't seem to be turned off by our kiss or the thought of me dating her more like in shock. So I decide the best thing to do is kiss her to break her from the shock and I touch my lips to hers again. This time she's not frozen and melts into the kiss right away, her lips part, her hand comes up pulling at the short hairs on the back of my head. Her tongue comes out and meets mine, they stroke each other and I feel her smiling into the kiss.
"Whoa what's going on?" Owen's voice breaks us out of the kiss; we look at the doorway to see Owen, Dallas and my brother. Owen and Dallas are smiling but Adam looks both amazed and is smirking a little. "If I knew student council was like this I would have joined when I went here," Owen remarks and Clare bites her lip.
"Yeah uh we were…" I start but Clare cuts me off.
"We're dating now," she tells them which means she is my girlfriend and I grin wide.
I turn to her putting my hand at her lower back, pressing her to me and leaning in to kiss her again. "No more photo shoots," I tell her, "unless of course they're just you and me in the privacy of my room," I smirk and she giggles then our lips couple again.
"Well if that picture of you in lingerie doesn't piss Eli off then knowing you're dating Drew will definitely do it," Adam comments snapping a picture of us with his phone.
Clare smiles deepening the kiss and I hear Adam, Owen and Dallas leaving the room and closing the door behind them so that I can kiss my girlfriend.
Hope you enjoyed the shot! Remember next week there will be no Thursday story, the story scheduled for Thursday "Walking Through Fire without a Burn" chapter 2 will be posted on Saturday. "Best Served Hot", like the other weekly stories is on hiatus for one week but they will return starting May 12th.