Friday. The weekend was so close I could almost taste the relaxation. I would not have to worry about any lab write-ups, drafting any essays, or studying for any tests. I knew most of my teachers weren't going to assign any homework for the weekend, so that meant my weekend would be filled with hanging at The Dot with Alli and watching Adam and Eli play video games in Adam's basement. Maybe I'll even ask Eli to hang out, just us. Maybe I'll nonchalantly ask him to go venture with me to that hole in the wall bookstore a couple blocks from The Dot I've been meaning to check out. I mean I do like him, a lot actually, and I want to take our friendship to the next level. I sense that he seems to feel the same way about me and maybe if we just spent some time alone-

"Earth to Claaaaaare…"

I snapped out of my daydream and realized that Eli had taken a seat in front of me and was now turned around facing me.

"Off in la la land?" he said making his face turn in another direction with his stare blank and his eyes empty and wide.

I laughed, "Ha ha no, I was just thinking about what I was going to do this weekend, that's all"

"I know exactly what you're doing this weekend"

He caught me off guard. Was he going to ask me out? Oh man, I hope I smell decent, I forgot to put on some perfume this morning. Stupid alarm clock making me late!

"So my dad, Bullfrog, is in a band. They don't plan to make it big or anything like that, they just like jamming together and they actually have 8 or so decent original songs. Anyway, they're playing at a bar downtown on Saturday night. My mom, Cece, and a couple of my aunts and uncles are going to be there. We're gonna order some pizza, hang out, watch Bullfrog and other bands play…"

A smile crept on my face; he IS asking me out! Well, we're hanging out with his family, but he's still asking just me to hang out with him. Oh crap, I'm going to meet basically his entire family in one night, at a bar no less. It's a date no less though! At this point my smile was ear to ear as I watched him continue to talk to me.

"And don't you fret Clare…" he said pointing at me "…we'll be drinking soda since we're obviously not old enough to legally drink alcohol, unless…?"

He looked so cute wiggling his eyebrows at me. Damn this Friday just may be the best Friday of my entire high school career thus far.

I smirked at him, "Nope, I'm good on the beer, Eli." I said winking at him. Wait. I just winked at Eli. He's smiling at me now. Not smirking, he's actually smiling. Oh no my palms are sweaty. I hope my face isn't red.

"What are you two talking about?" I heard from behind me. Adam, ugh. I mean it's not like I didn't want to see one of my best friends, but he sure knew how to ruin a moment.

"Bullfrog's playing a show on Saturday night and I was inviting Clare to come watch with my family and I-"

"What and no invite for me?" Adam interrupted with a bit hurt in his voice, but he also said it teasingly as if he was hinting at the thought of Eli and I together. I. Wish.

"No man, I was going to invite you too, I just saw Clare first" I looked away hoping they wouldn't see the disappointment on my face. Crap. I mean I love Adam, but I just want that one on one time with Eli, even if it is with his family. Also I thought Eli was asking me out on a date. I went from absolutely elated to sulking in a matter of seconds.

"Sure Eli, suuuuuure" Adam said as he rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows at me.

I almost slapped Adam's arm but at that moment Ms. Dawes showed up and started class.

She lectured the entire time, which basically meant sit there quietly, listen intently, take notes, and you won't have any homework over the weekend. Which for me meant, sit there, half listen/half daydream about Saturday night, and doodle in my notebook rather than listen to another lecture on Shakespeare.

Lunch FINALLY came around and I found Eli and Adam sitting at a table together in the lunch room, so I headed over and took a seat next Adam because Eli's seat was next to the door that kept bringing cold air in when people were going in and out of the room. Ok fine, I also took the seat next to Adam so I could sneak stares at Eli all throughout lunch without Adam noticing too much and thus making fun of me.

"So tell me more about Bullfrog's show." I said as I pulled a thermos out from my backpack "I'll need some details if I am going to convince my mom to let me to go a bar downtown on a Saturday night."

Eli's eyes brightened as he started to speak. "Ok. So since it's a bar, Bullfrog asked the bar owner if his cool under aged son and 2 best friends could come to the show so long as Cece was with us the entire time and the owner agreed. Just make sure when you get there you pay the $7 fee to get into the bar and tell the bouncer your name and show him your ID because he'll have a list with our names on it so that we're cleared to get in."

Two best friends. So this is what being friend zoned felt like. Ouch. I looked down as I continued to eat my soup.

"Crap I definitely wanna be there, but my mom is taking Drew and I out for a 'mother and sons bonding time' during the day Saturday." Adam complained as Eli and I chuckled, but Adam just gave us a look begging us to stop laughing at his pain, so we calmed down.

"What time is the show dude? Since Drew's been doing pretty horrible in school lately and mom is still worried about my 'safety'," he said making air quotes and rolling his eyes, "we unfortunately have a strict 9:30 PM curfew."

I chimed in, "9:30 PM? Even I, Saint Clare, don't have that early of a curfew!"

Adam glared at me, "Haha, very funny SAINT Clare. I'll be sure to introduce Audra to Helen soon so we can fix that."

"Yeah that won't be necessary Adam, but thanks" I said quickly. He was such a butt head sometimes.

"Well that sounds like a TON of fun Adam" Eli said sarcastically. His sarcasm isn't even annoying anymore, it's actually kind of cute. Dang it Eli. Stupid crushes. Dang it.

"Anyway, Bullfrog's band is first, so they go on at 8:30 PM and their set will end around 9 PM, so I think you'll be good to go, you just won't be able to hang out much."

Adam put his hand to his chin and acted like he was seriously thinking about whether or not he wanted to go when he finally said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can swing it, but I just have to be picked up as soon as Bullfrog's set ends" and then he took a huge bite out of his sandwich.

Then just as I put a big spoonful of soup in my mouth Eli spoke up.

"So Clare…will you be there?" he was shyly looking up from his food and I swear I saw a spec of hope in his gorgeous eyes.

"Well, I definitely won't be telling my mom I'm going to a bar, she would probably check for a tattoo on my body, lecture me, and then forbid me from going out at all the rest of my high school career."

Eli was looking down at his food smiling at my joke. His eyelashes looked heavenly covering his eyes and it didn't help that he had cute crinkles around his eyes when he smiled either. He looked up and I quickly went to look at something other than his perfectly sculpted face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Adam, once again, roll his eyes at us and continued eating instead of ruining our moment.

I looked back and spoke again. "Uhm, I'll just say we're doing a movie marathon at Adam's. It's a good thing I have a license and my own car now, makes it easier to lie even though this will be the first time I am lying to my mom about my whereabouts"

Eli suddenly sat up. "Great! You'll be fine Clare, just don't worry, we'll put the tattoo somewhere on your body you can easily hide from your mom" Eli retorted with a wink right before the lunch bell rang. We all got up to go our own ways to our own classes and I knew I wouldn't be seeing Eli again for the rest of the day. Adam was already walking to his class after quickly saying bye, but Eli reached for my arm, as I was about to walk away.

"I can't wait for tomorrow night." He said smiling and looking directly into my eyes but he quickly turned around to leave as if he was embarrassed by what he said.

I smiled as I watched him exit the room. I don't think a tomato could have been redder than I was in that moment.