Clare sat on the couch in her living room one Friday night. She mindlessly watched the characters on the television screen conversing. There was nothing new on and she'd probably seen this re-run just about a thousand times.
Glen and her mom had gone out to dinner with some church friends. And, Jake was nowhere in sight.
Thank God, she thought.
She didn't care where he was or what he was doing. As long as he wasn't home taunting her; reminding her every second of the rejection he'd put her through.
Things had been awkward between the step-brother and sister ever since she'd broken up with him. She regretted ever getting back together with him on the cabin trip. Sure, he'd broken up with her the first time at prom and it'd broken her heart. But maybe it would have been for the best. Then maybe things wouldn't be so awkward now that they were living together under the same roof.
But now... It was too late. Too much damage had been done. He'd rejected her, leaving her to cry herself to sleep that night by herself in her room; crawled up in a bawl, wrapped in her blankets.
Clare shook her head trying to clear her mind and pay attention to the boring re-run set before her on the TV screen.
But it was just so hard... She'd made so many mistakes, had so many regrets lately. She wasn't herself.
She should have had never broken off her friendship with Alli. Now she realized, Jake was definitely not worth losing a friendship over. Not even close to it.
Maybe then she wouldn't be so alone right now...
She wouldn't be sitting inside a big empty house by herself with the boring TV as her only source of entertainment. Or maybe she'd at least have some kind of companion to accompany her while watching television.
Clare sighed in frustration. She grabbed the TV remote and harshly clicked the power button until the pixels on the screen faded to black.
It wasn't fair. She wished she could take that remote, rewind back in time and erase her mistakes. But she couldn't...
Clare rose from the couch and made her way over to the staircase where she'd drag her slipper adorned feet up the steps until she reached her room.
She entered her room and slammed the door shut.
As if anyone would hear it...
The brunette pushed her messy curls out of her face as she flopped onto her bed. She sighed as she bent over off the side of the mattress, reaching under the bed for her latest read. But instead of feeling the glossy hard-cover, her hand had collided something else.
Confused, she scooped the object up in her hand and brought it up to her eye level.
And there she was, face-to-face with the old bulky pair of headphones.
She stared at them, holding them firmly in her hands as memories began to fill her mind.
She subconsciously began envisioning a pair of gorgeous green eyes as her mind drifted off to a year ago...
~Flashback~
Eli got out of his hearse as Clare exited her house. "What are you doing here?", she inquired of him. "'Hi, Eli. How are you?' Fine, Clare. Thanks for asking.", he replied sarcastically; a huge smirk plastered on his face. "Hi!", she retorted kind of annoyed- she still wasn't used to his sarcasm yet being that they had practically just met. "If you don't want to tell your mom how you're feeling... I respect that. "Too late", she smiled smugly while stepping off her doorstep and walking toward him. A confused yet pleased look played on his features. "You read your mom the letter?" "And she wants to know what's wrong as much as I do. She and my dad are talking right now", she explained, gesturing back toward her house. "So, what you're saying is... My plan worked" He put his hand over his heart as if admiring his good work. Clare smiled as she scoffed. "Could you be more smug?" "Absolutely!" he exclaimed sarcastically. They both chuckled. "Here", Eli said reaching for the big headphones around his neck and handing them to her. "You might want to borrow these. They're a noise cancellation. Might come in handy if things get worse with your folks" "Thanks", she bade while accepting the headphones. "And I'm sorry for interfering. I promise not to do it again" Clare hurriedly walked toward him and put her hand over his that was resting on the door of the hearse. He looked down at their overlapping hands as she continued. "But, I'm still going to do whatever I want" He smirked. "I wouldn't expect anything less" She smiled up at him as he turned away, getting into Morty. He looked up at her after taking his seat behind the wheel and shutting the door. She looked down shyly as he started up the car. Once he began to drive off, she watched the hearse driving smoothly from a distance. Her heart thumped as she thought of the way he looked at her.
And with that, he turned back toward his hearse and opened the car door.
"You can interfere every once in a while..." she offered.
Clare felt her eyes tearing up at the memory as she continued staring down at the headphones in her hands. Her heart ached at the thought that she'd probably never have another memory like that with Eli again, seeing as she'd ended her relationship with him months ago.
It amazed her how many memories she had of her and Eli that made her heart ache.
Meanwhile, the only memory she had with Jake that made her heart ache...was the night he rejected her.
Her heart ached for Eli because she longed for what they once had; the happiness it'd brought her.
But for Jake…she didn't long for what they had. She longed to see him get hit by a bus. Because that's exactly how rejection made her feel. Like she was pushed in front of a bus in motion.
Clare retrieved her iPod from her pants pocket and plugged the headphones into it.
She placed the large padded speakers over her ears and laid back in her bed. The volume was turned all the way up and was currently blasting an angry punk song.
She stared up at the ceiling as she contemplated life's irony.
Eli had given her these headphones so that she could block out the sound of the her parents' constant fighting.
Now, they were her escape from the silence.