"So that's it?"
Claire stifled a gasp and froze. Crap, she's been caught.
So much for walking on tiptoes.
"You're going, just like that? Again?"
Again.
Claire took a breath. The creaking of the floorboards answered him as she slowly faced him. It was a quiet night, so quiet that she could hear the nocturnal critters outside the house, the clock ticking like a time bomb in the kitchen, and the rapid thumping of her heart. Gods, she hopes Owen can't hear it.
"You're leaving me?"
But it sounded more of a statement than a question, and Claire wanted to cringe. But she didn't.
Control. Breathe evenly. Blank face. Back straight. Chin up. Control, Claire. Control.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, she only succeeded in just placing a hand, a rather shaky hand on her chest.
Silence.
She chanced a look on Owen and she immediately regretted it. He was standing there, mere feet from her, with a stiff stance, fists clenched in the dark. And those eyes. Those eyes were burning, burning right through her.
The greenest eyes she has ever seen—that she fell for really, really, really hard. His eyes were pained and betrayed, and she can't imagine the hurt in them as he hoarsely asked that she was leaving. Oh God, she was a goddamn coward.
"Owen, I…" she said, hesitancy evident in her voice.
"Claire, we can't keep doing this," Owen whispered.
A mere whisper. But it was enough. Enough for her ears to ring, and her head to throb, and her stomach to clench. And God, dear God, she wanted him. But Claire, poor, insecure Claire never thought that she was enough. She was a handful of a traumatized mess. It wouldn't be fair for him to handle her.
"Why me?" she asked him. Because, why indeed?
She saw more than heard him sigh. She saw how he visibly relaxed, comforted of something that Claire couldn't comprehend just yet.
"Because you're worth it."
And she just stood there. Out of words. It was funny how the old Claire would probably frown upon her right now—probably looking dumb, distressed and dishevelled.
She was out of words. And probably out of her mind.
Because who was she kidding? No matter how hard she denied it, no matter how many times she would walk away, she would always return back to Owen.
A/N: This is my first Clawen fanfic. I was obsessing over this pairing even before the movie aired. Just seeing them in the trailers were 3 I've seen the movie twice because, um, duh, why not? I am going down with this ship! But hopefully it doesn't sink. lol. Anyhoo, you see that little cute button down there? You can definitely click it along with the things you want to say. Reviews are love. Reviews are life.