DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi or anything else.

Chapter 2

I was lying in bed, staring at my clock. 8:53.

It was the first Friday night of break and I hadn't seen Clare since the morning after Vegas Night.

For the past five nights, I have called her each day at 9 p.m. on the dot. We haven't gotten off the phone before midnight even once. At first it was really awkward, since neither of us really talk on the phone anymore, preferring to IM or text message, and it felt like things between us were really bad.

But as our conversations went on I could tell Clare was feeling more comfortable with me. I told her everything she wanted to know, about being bullied as a child, about my mom's death and my father's semi-abusive neglect, and how Julia and I got together and everything went so wrong.

I was starting to run out of depressing past stories to tell her, which was a good thing because every night I would make her cry. And I hated it, especially when a certain memory would bring tears to my eyes as well, and I wasn't able to be there for her.

Last night, I really got her to open up to me. She told me about her sister Darcy who had gone through a rough time and then moved to Africa to do relief work. She was really mad at her sister for abandoning her, since she never made an effort to stay in touch. She told me that she had dated K.C. last year (I don't know how I managed to miss finding out about that at school) and that he had dumped her for Jenna. I couldn't believe that guy. Not only did he dump the greatest girl in school, but he somehow managed to outdick himself by knocking up Jenna and refusing to help her.

I even had to tell her what had happened to Alli on Vegas Night. Adam had snuck out of his house to hang out with me one afternoon (his mother no longer approved of me once she found out I was involved in the knife incident) and he told me how Drew had cheated. (I know Drew and Adam are close, but I really don't like that guy. The only good thing about Mrs. Torres's disapproval is I won't have to spend much time with him in order to see Adam.) Clare immediately hung up to call Alli but she didn't answer so she called me back. She got a text from her later saying she didn't want to talk, and I know Clare was really worried about her.

She didn't talk much about her parents, but since I could occasionally hear them fighting outside her door, and I had seen her Dad's car back at their house when I passed on my way to the Dot, I knew things weren't great.

My eyes drifted back to my alarm clock for the fifth time and I realized it was 9.

"Hi Eli," Clare answered.

"Hey, beautiful." I was always flirty with her but somehow the distance made it even easier to say the things I my mind. I knew her well enough that I could picture her reactions and it made me smile to think of her blushing cheeks.

"So what's the topic of conversation for tonight?"

"Well, I think we've pretty much exhausted every sad and depressing life event we have gone through, so maybe we should focus on happier times."

"Sounds good. My eyes can use a rest from all the crying."

"Mine too."

"Well, what happy thing would you like to know?" Clare asked.

"Hmmm…" Where can I go with this? "So what are you wearing?"

"Eli!"

"I'm serious. I can't see you and it's hard to get a clear mental picture without the full information."

"I'm wearing pajamas."

"Well there are lots of different kind of pajamas, so I'm going to need a little more information than that."

"Blue pajamas."

"And what exactly do these pajamas consist of?"

"Shorts and a tank top."

"Thick straps or thin straps?"

"This is a really detailed picture you're imagining."

Oh Clare, you have no idea. "Yes, and I don't want to get anything wrong."

She laughed. "Thin straps."

That probably means… "Bra or no bra?"

"I'm not telling you that." Which totally means no bra. Which totally means…wow.

"This is a very nice picture."

"Well then I need a picture of you."

I smirked. "Well, I'm wearing what I usually wear to bed."

"And what might that be?"

"Just a pair of boxers."

I could hear her swallow and silently congratulated myself for getting under her skin. She didn't say anything so I asked, "Need any more information or is the picture in your head clear enough?"

"Oh, I think it's good enough, thanks. Aren't you cold without a shirt on?"

"I'm already snuggled under the covers. I get hot when I sleep."

"Ugh, so do I and my grandmother keeps the heat in this house jacked up to the point where it's unbearable."

"Ah, so you might need to lose those pajamas. You know, just to be comfortable."

I could practically feel Clare's eyes rolling through the phone. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be uncomfortable."

"Your laptop doesn't have a webcam, does it?"

"Wow, Eli. I know my pjs are sexy, but I don't think you need to see them that badly."

I didn't know whether it was better to be a horny jerk or a sap, so I told her the truth. "I just miss seeing you, Clare. It's been almost a week."

"Well, my laptop does have a webcam, but my grandmother doesn't have wireless and my parents are sleeping in her spare bedroom that she uses as an office. So that's not going to work. Maybe during the day sometime this week we could do that."

"But then you won't be wearing your sexy pajamas."

"But don't I always look sexy?" Clare giggled.

"Okay, you got me there."

"I can't believe there is another whole week before I get to come home. I've really been enjoying these phone calls, but I can't wait to see you." Clare hadn't officially said we were still together, but from this sentence I finally let out a sigh of relief that we had worked things out well enough that she still wanted to be with me.

"Oh yeah, what are you going to do when you see me?"

"Eli, that sounded really dirty."

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, it didn't have to be dirty, but I see that's where your mind went first."

"It wasn't."

"Uh huh. You don't have to lie, Clare. You know you want me."

She laughed. "Oh Eli."

"Seriously, if I walked into your room right now, what would you do?"

I could hear her get up and move around her room. "You're not actually outside, are you?"

"As much as I'd love to make a sweeping grand romantic gesture, your Grandmother lives six hours away and there's no chance that Morty will make it that far."

"Too bad." Too bad is right.

"Don't avoid the question. If I walked into your room right now, what would you do?"

"I would kiss you."

Wow. I didn't expect Clare to be so direct. "What kind of kiss?"

"Do you remember that kiss in the school library?"

I would never forget that kiss in the school library. "Yeah."

"Every bit as intense, but a whole lot longer."

I almost forgot to breathe for a second. "Wow. That sounds amazing." I grinned, remembering. "Sounds like you're going to ace your French exam."

Clare laughed. "I can't believe I said that. You just surprised me so much when you kissed me, my brain didn't have time to catch up."

It came as a surprise to me too. I mean, I wanted to kiss her every time I saw her, but I was trying to wait until I was sure I was ready. But when I found out she set off the stink bomb to protect me and Adam I knew that I didn't have to worry about hurting her. And even though the next thing I did was totally hurt her, I knew it was the right thing to do to kiss her and try to make this work with her.

"Okay, so you're kissing me," I said, trying to drag her back into the fantasy. "Where are we?"

"I just pulled you onto my bed."

"Am I on top of you?"

"No, I'm on top." Wow.

"Alright, I just need a little more information before this picture is complete. Where are my hands right now?"

"Where do you want them to be?"

I laughed. "I'm not sure you want to hear the answer to that."

"You'd be surprised." I raised my eyebrow but didn't say anything. "If you put them somewhere I don't want, I'll let you know."

"Well, I think I'd start by running them down your back until I reached the hem of your tank top. I'd run my fingers lightly against your back, just barely touching your skin."

I could hear her breathing increase through the phone. Where exactly were we going with this? Were we actually going to have phone sex? Not that I'd mind, of course, but I sort of expected I might get to have more than two kisses with a girl before we did this.

"Mine are running through your hair, and then I'd trail one finger down your neck and into the collar of your shirt."

"That sounds nice." I was hoping she'd continue because I didn't trust myself to say something that wouldn't piss her off.

"And I'd follow my finger with my lips, kissing down your neck and sucking gently."

I smirked. "Are you going to give me a hickey?"

"Not where people could see. What kind of girl would they think I am?" I could picture Clare looking at me with her usually innocent eyes and wished she would describe taking my shirt off and marking me with her lips.

"Hmm, I don't know. A girl with a vampire fetish and a sexy boyfriend."

She giggled. I was glad she seemed to be enjoying herself and thought I'd see if I could push this a little farther.

"Well, when you're finished with your vampire biting, I'm going to use my lips on your neck, and run my fingers over your collarbone, pulling your strap down off your shoulder."

Clare let out a sound that sounded like a moan. I had to adjust myself in my boxers after hearing that. The only thing that would be sexier is if she cried out my name. She didn't say anything so I continued. "Then I'd move my hands back down to your waist, run my hands up the smooth skin of your back and pull up on your shirt, hoping desperately that you'd let me take it off."

"I would let you," Clare said breathily.

I groaned. "Clare, we've got to stop this."

She laughed. "We're not even in the same room. Nothing's going to happen."

"But if I hear you say this stuff, I'm going to want this to happen. And I'm afraid I'm going to push you and I don't want to do that. I care about you. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"Well, I'm not uncomfortable. I'm a little embarrassed that I'm talking dirty to you on the phone. But Eli, if you were here and you were kissing me and you tried to take off my shirt, I would let you. And I'd blush and try to cover myself because I've never let a guy see that side of me before, but I'd do it because I really want to share that with you."

"Really?" I couldn't believe she would want to do that with me.

"Really."

I laughed. "For the first time in my life, I wish I had a better car."

"Oh, but think of all the fun times, we can have in Morty once I get home."

"Clare Edwards, you are blowing my mind here."

"I don't know why you think I'm so innocent. You were there for that kiss. Both kisses, really, even if Adam was there for the first one."

They were pretty mind blowing. "Yeah, but kissing is one thing. I mean, you wear a purity ring."

"Well, I'm not planning on having sex with you."

"Ever?" I teased.

"Sure, if we're married."

"That sounds like the Clare I know and…like." I know that I love her, but I'm not quite ready to tell her, especially not as a joke. I want to make sure she feels the same way before I put that out there.

"But there's a lot of stuff between kissing and sex. And some of that is stuff I'm ready and willing to do."

"You know this is all I'm going to be thinking about between now and next week, right?"

She giggled. "Me too."