Wow. I didn't think anyone would even read this but a few did! Thanks for the reviews guys, I hope you enjoy(:

Clare's POV

I could feel his breath on my neck, his grip on my wrists, but more importantly I could sense his overbearing demeanor.

"Showtime, Baby," he whispered while slowly slipping my skirt down and off my body….

"STOP!" My eyes flashed open and I began to take in my surroundings. Where am I? I began to blink rapidly, bringing my hands to my eyes to wipe away the sleep that lingered. Soon I could sense the tears lining up against my lids and I shook my head in despair.

"Sorry…" someone spoke softly. My eyes focused on the foot of the bed where a figure stood, their head bowed. "I was just cleaning up your foot, seeing as it looked pretty bad last night.. I didn't want you waking up in any pain.." they sighed, "Guess that mission wasn't accomplished." They then picked up their head.

"Eli…?" I gasped. Why was he here? Where am I? Does he know..? Then it all came flooding back to me. The encounter with Jake, running to the abandoned church, seeing Eli, him taking me to his home. I couldn't take it anymore. Sobs began to slip from my lips, and I bowed my head in shame. I brought my knees to my chest and just let the tears fall. Eli immediately rushed over, climbing into the bed and taking me into a tight hold. I took advantage of our position and slipped into his lap, gripping the collar of his shirt wanting to be as close to him as I could. My vulnerabilities were taking over me but I didn't care. Eli was here, taking care of me. Caring for me and I sure as hell wasn't going to lose this moment. I needed him right now. "I-I'm s-sorry E-Eli.. I shouldn't b-be here a-and," I began but he soon cut me off,

"Don't you even dare apologize. You did nothing wrong, just please stop crying. You'll get a headache, I promise that you're safe here and I won't let anyone or anything come near you to hurt you, okay? You're safe," he rubbed circles on my back hoping to calm me but the tears just kept coming.

"I-I can't s-stop c-crying, all the i-images in m-my head a-are, they just won't go away!" I cried holding onto him tighter and pressing my head into the crook of his neck.

"Look at me." He put his hand on either side of my head forcing me to face him, but I averted my eyes away from his not wanting him to see the fear within me. The fear I just couldn't shake off. It was as if it were a parasite crawling up my skin and killing me every second it traced my body. "Clare, look at me."

I finally brought my eyes to meet his and I was shocked to see how drained he looked. Not just physically, but emotionally too. He had bags under his eyes, and I could see the tears slowly trickling down to his chin. I could sense the worry in his eyes, it was basically radiating off his body.

"D-Don't cry," I stuttered out, looking him dead in the eye. I brought my fingers to his cheeks and wiped away the tears that had already fallen. At this gesture, he removed his hands from my face and slight smirk emerged on his lips.

He chuckled slowly, pain lingering in the air, "I won't, if you won't."

"D-Deal," I breathed. I brought my hands to the collar of my own shirt and used it to wipe away the water that had poured from my eyes.

"Thanks for the clothes.." I spoke breaking the trance the two of us had been sitting in.

"Anytime, I wanted you to be comfortable while sleeping," he slowly began, "Do you want me to get you something to eat? I bet you're starving, it's already three in the afternoon."

"What?" I gasped quickly scrambling to my feet and out of his lap.

"Clare, you had a rough night, I'm sure your parents will understand if you're home a little later then you had originally planned.." his words drifted off as our eyes connected.

"N-no. My parents aren't even in town."

"What? Then..where are you staying?"

"At home.," I crossed my arms over my chest and looked down at my apparel. He had given me a pair of my favorite sweats of his. Whenever I would come over for movie nights, or just wanted to wear something of his to bed, he'd always give me these. A smile slowly graced my lips as I picked my head back up. He had remembered.. but..

"Your house is way more than a mile away from that church. Why.. why were you even out that late at night?"

"You remembered."

"W-What? I remembered what?"

"The sweats."

"Oh, my Mom probably just figured you'd want something familiar. But, wait. Answer my question."

My heart dropped at this statement. "It's a long story..," I spoke, letting my head face the hardwood, my fingers fumbling with the hem of the shirt.

"I have time. But, let's just get you something to eat, and then we'll talk?" he asked.

"Um..yeah. Sure," I replied. Would I really tell him? He'd probably be so ashamed that I would even put myself in a position like that. He'd be disgusted. How could we ever be friends after I tell him what happened? How could he forgive me after how horrible I was to him at the end of the school year? He hated me.

"You okay?" he glided over to me.

"Not really, but better I guess.." I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind.

"Let's…just.. get something in your stomach. Food will make you feel better, trust me."

"I do," I whispered as he motioned for me to go over to the door. I walked towards it but my nerves were on fire. I could feel my hands shaking as I opened it. Once out of the room, my feet planted themselves not wanting to move an inch closer to his kitchen. I brought my right hand to my face examining the shaking but it was soon pulled away from my face and placed in Eli's. He tugged a little, encouraging me to keep moving. I agreed and gripped his hand tighter as we made our way to the kitchen. My heartbeat quickened as we finally stepped onto the tile, my feet gliding over the smooth surface. He soon began to break away from our grasp on each others hands but I just gripped his harder signaling a reaction out of him I wasn't expecting. He turned around to face me and brought me extremely close,

"So..What would you like to eat?" I smile spread upon his face but I knew, oh I knew he was trying to hide his true feelings. His eyes were saying it all, so I smiled.

"Any-" I began but was quickly cut off . I abruptly slid my arms around Eli's waist and hid my head in his chest. I wasn't ready to face his Mom. Not after last night.. Not after all those months ago..

"Eli! You down- Oh hey baby girl, I didn't know if you'd be awake by now," Cece murmured. I didn't budge from my hold on Eli and he soon whispered in my ear,

"She doesn't hate you, trust me. It's okay she wants to help, just like me." At his words I broke our grip and turned around to face his mother, still extremely close to his body. His arms soon slid to hold me from behind and I smiled at this gesture, he knew all the right things to do when I was nervous. My heart fluttered as I brought my hands up to hold his around my waist.

"Hey, Cece," I smiled.

"You hungry? I just went to the store to pick up all your favorites. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which would you prefer I make now?" she questioned while walking into the kitchen and putting the groceries on the countertop. Eli backed us up a bit as I answered,

"Um..I think a carton of ice cream would suffice for now.. I'm not sure if I can even hold anything down.." my words faltered at the end.

"Perfect! I got your favorite honey, mint chocolate chip and I made sure I bough two cartons just in case."

Eli chuckled as I responded, "Cece you didn't have to... you guys have already done so much. Plus all that food is going to go to waste once I go home and that's not fair to you at all."

"Oh, no no no. It's no problem at all sweetheart, I want you to feel at home."

As I went to respond Eli interjected, "Plus, the food won't go to waste. Mom Clare's parents are out of town."

"Eli!" I spat. What is he thinking?

"Oh. Then you are definitely staying here at least one more night. Just so I can make sure you're alright?"

"But.." I was so shocked and swiftly turned to face him. Why are they helping me after what I did..?

"No buts Clare," Eli teased a pleading look on his face. I surely didn't want to go home.. but being a burden was not at the top of my list of things to do either.

"But," confusion was racing through my veins.

"Nope. Let's grab you your ice cream and go watch some t.v. We can work out the housing arrangements later, okay?" I nodded in response as he turned to the bags on the counter and thanked his Mom by placing a kiss on her cheek. He plucked two spoons from a drawer and led the way to the living room. I followed him but soon turned back and ran to gather Cece up in a hug. She was shocked at first but soon relaxed against my grip and patted my curls.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Anytime baby girl, anytime," she kissed my head and I soon broke the embrace. She smiled down at me as I turned around and came face to face with a smiling Eli. He stretched out his hand for me to grab and I happily laced our fingers together.