Haze
Clare pulls the quilt tighter around her body and leans back against the house. It's cold. She considers getting up to make a cup of tea or hot chocolate but she can't make her legs work. She's not sure if they're numb from the cold or numb from how long she's been sitting with them folded up underneath her. Clare has been sitting on the roof under her window for hours, staring off into space and letting her mind wander. She can't stop thinking and overthinking about what had happened hours before.
Her eyelids begin to droop and she finally begins the difficult task of unfolding her pins and needles legs because she doesn't want to nod off while sitting on the roof. Once she gets to her feet, she slips back inside the house, but leaves the quilt behind. She stops at the purse she had dumped on the floor and digs through it in an attempt to find her phone. Pressing the home button, she sees that it's already four in the morning and she also sees that she has three texts from Eli. Her thumb hovers over the select button, not sure if she wants to read them just yet.
Pocketing her phone, she decides to wait until after she's made something to warm her up. Stepping out into the hallways, this thinks briefly about going down to her mother's bedroom. Deciding against that as well, she turns and heads down the stairs. She makes her way to the kitchen, pulls a mug down from the cabinet, fills it with water, and puts it in the microwave to heat. While it's heating, Clare rummages through the canister on the counter and pulls out her favorite tea. The microwave beeps just as Clare places the unwrapped tea bag on the counter. She removes the mug and sets it next to the tea bag. Clare retrieves the sugar and a spoon and makes the tea just how she likes it. When it's ready, she cleans up her mess, wraps her hands around the warm mug, and heads back up to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she moves to her window and sets her mug carefully down on the sill. She picks up the book that's sitting on her nightstand and also the small lamp that sits there. Clare leans out the window and balances the book on top of the quilt below the window. Then she sets about figuring out how to get the lamp to cast enough light through the window and onto the space she had been sitting. Once everything is set up, she steps back out through the window, moves her book, and wraps herself up in her quilt again.
She sits back down, leans against the house, and pulls out her phone. She pulls up the first text from Eli and reads through it. He had told her that he cleaned up the living room, put everything in her room, and locked the front door behind him when he left. She scrolled to the next one.
How did everything go? I bet Asher was amazing about everything. He usually is…or so you tell me. Let me know when you're home.
The last text was sent at ten o'clock.
Didn't hear from you. Maybe you went straight to bed or your phone died. Hope everything's okay. Can't wait to see you and the article tomorrow! So proud of you! Love you. Sleep well.
Clare backs out of the messages and closes her eyes. She takes a few deep breaths and then opens her eyes and places her phone on the windowsill next to her mug. She picks up the mug of tea, blows across the surface, and takes a careful sip. Seeing that it's no longer scalding, she swallows a few gulps before setting it down on the sill and picking up her book.
While she sips her tea, she gets lost in the text. She lets the story pull her to a world that isn't as confusing or frightening as the one playing out around her. The next time she looks up, the sun is starting to peek up over the house across the street. Clare also notices that a hazy fog has settled low across the front lawn. The gloomy atmosphere perfectly matches her mood and Clare can't help but cringe at how horribly cliché it is. She closes her book and sets it on the sill next to her empty mug. She checks the time and sees that it's almost seven. Clare extracts herself from the quilt and leans in through the window to set everything on the floor. Her mom and Glen will be waking up soon and she really doesn't want them to catch her sitting on the roof. She puts everything back in its place and Clare turns to shut and lock her window. She picks up her mug and heads downstairs. After putting the mug in the dishwasher, Clare stands at the counter and thinks.
The sound of knocking pulls her from her thoughts and she looks up to see Eli entering her front door carrying a very large stack of newspapers.
Flame
Adam throws another log onto the fire, pokes at it to stoke the flame, and sits back down next to Maya. She holds out a roasting fork with two marshmallows stuck to the end.
"Thanks," he grins before placing the marshmallows directly over the flame.
"Dude, you're going to burn them," Eli says, as he shakes his own roasting fork.
"They're best that way," Adam shrugs. He pulls the fork back to reveal two flaming marshmallows. Adam allows them to burn for a few more seconds before blowing them out and placing them on the graham crackers and chocolate that Clare had assembled for everyone.
"Perfect," Adam admires his work before taking a bite.
"You have some chocolate," Maya begins before leaning in to kiss him. "On your lips," she blushes as she pulls away, glancing quickly at Eli and Clare who are both grinning back at the pair.
Maya finishes making her s'more and takes a bite. She's surprised when Adam leans in and copies her previous action.
"No chocolate. I just wanted to kiss you."
Formal
Eli steps up to the door, knocks twice, and waits. It takes a bit, but he finally hears the inner door open and then the door in front of him opens a few seconds later.
"Hey, man. They're not ready yet," Jake turns and heads back inside the house. Eli shuts the door behind him and follows Jake inside.
He sees that Jake has thrown himself down on the couch, feet up on the coffee table in front of him, and he's flipping through channels on the TV.
"I figured they weren't. Girls always take forever to get ready for these things," Eli places the corsage box he's holding down on the counter and joins Jake on the couch.
The two sit on the couch in their suits and watch some movie that contains too many fake explosions and a lot of cheesy dialogue. Jake shuts the TV off when he hears Katie yell from the top of the stairs that they're ready. Both boys get to their feet and Jake moves to stand at the bottom of the stairs. He looks up and a grin spreads across his face. Katie descends the stairs, careful not to trip over her long, green dress. When she gets to the bottom, Jake pulls her into his arms and kisses her.
"You look beautiful," he tells her as he holds her at arm's length so he can take her in.
"You don't look too bad yourself," Katie tugs on his tie and pulls him in for another kiss.
"Stop sucking face and move. It's my turn," Clare chastises from the top of the stairs.
Katie laughs, grabs Jake's hand, and pulls him into the living room.
Eli stands in the spot that the two had just vacated and looks up to where Clare should be standing.
"I'm ready," Eli calls up.
Clare steps out from behind the hallway wall into sight and smiles down at Eli. She's wearing a strapless, deep purple floor length dress and her hair is pulled up into an elaborate style. She gathers up the bottom of her dress and makes her way down the stairs. When she reaches the bottom, Eli grabs her hand and spins her.
"Wow," he breathes. "You look incredible."
"Thank you," she leans in and kisses him. "I can't believe I got you to wear a purple tie."
"Only for you, Edwards," he slips an arm around her waist and leads her to the counter where he had deposited her corsage. Eli opens the plastic container and slips the purple flowers onto her wrist.
"Thank you, Eli. It's beautiful. I have something for you too," she says as she makes her way to the refrigerator and pulls out a similar plastic container.
"I figured you'd never forgive me if I made you wear a purple tie and a purple boutonnière, so I asked if there was any way they could make it black," she pulls a black flower from the container and Eli can't help but laugh.
"You're amazing," Eli does his best to help Clare pin the flower to his lapel and tries hard not to wince when she accidentally sticks him.
"Sorry," Clare exclaims. "I've never pinned one of these on anyone before."
After fiddling with the pin and flower for a few more minutes, Clare manages to successfully pin the flower to his suit. When the back door opens, all four turn to look as Helen hurries in.
"I'm so sorry, Clare. I lost track of time."
"It's fine, Mom," Clare waves her off. "You're here now," she turns to her friends. "Ready for some pictures?"
Eli and Jake both groan and Clare hands the camera to her mom. The two couples pose for entirely too many pictures and Helen would have kept snapping away if Clare had not told her that they were going to be late if they didn't stop and leave now.
Clare and Katie gather up their things before turning to their boyfriends. Jake slides an arm around Katie's shoulders and leads her out of the house.
Eli offers his elbow to Clare and says, "Ready for Prom?"