CHAPTER 3
They had just pulled up to Claire's house and were sitting in Quil's Camaro when Claire asked,
"What should I tell my parents?"
Quil looked over to see she was looking down at herself in pajamas.
"Didn't you see Rachel's text?" he asked her confused.
"Yeah but…. when have I ever left the house in my pajamas…. without doing my makeup….or my hair…?" she pointed out.
"Just go with it. Blame PMS if you have to." He told her winking down at her.
This was the first time that she had ever snuck out. He knew that she felt guilty for deceiving her parents so much, and overly-worried that they would question her about it. Quil suspected that her parents currently had their own issues on their minds and he was hoping that just this one time they wouldn't pay attention to what Claire had been up to.
They walked inside to see Jamie working on a puzzle at the kitchen table with his mom, while Robert was watching a game in the family room. Rachel was nowhere to be seen but Quil could hear her annoyingly whiney music playing in her room and… he had to cock his head to be certain he heard it clearly…Rachel wasn't alone.
He had immediately sensed a tension in the room when they had walked in but suspected (and hoped) that Claire was so nervous from her own deception that she didn't notice.
"Hey Claire-Bear, we missed you at breakfast this morning." Robert said casually.
"Yeah sorry, I didn't realize that we had a family breakfast planned." She answered a little lamely. Quil was trying not to smile but he couldn't help it, he thought he could actually see her sweating. Oh, sweet little Makah Claire was just so innocent, deception did not come easily to her.
"Did you go to breakfast in your pajamas?" Susan asked her sounding surprised.
"Um yeah…." Claire answered hesitantly, her eyes became about as wide as Quil had ever seen them as she looked at him, silently beseeching him for help.
"She wanted to change before we left, but I was so hungry I just dragged her out as is." Quil responded easily. No one that had seen Quil eat before had any problem believing that.
Claire looked so relieved when her parents bought this story that he actually laughed at her reaction.
"So, what's Rachel up to?" he asked casually changing the subject.
"She's working on some homework upstairs." Robert answered
So, they didn't know about Rachel's hidden guest upstairs! Quil was so tempted to bust her to her parents, but she had just covered for Claire when she was at his place, so he figured he owed her this one.
"Well Claire, you had better hurry." He gently reminder her while looking at his watch.
She was so relieved her parents hadn't noticed her absence that she seemed to have forgotten why they were there. She gave a quick "Oh, yeah!" and then ran upstairs to get ready.
She came back down fully ready twenty-five minutes later. Quil had been enjoying the college football game with Robert but it was already 11:20 so he asked,
"Aren't you a little late?"
"I texted Bennett and asked to bump it to 11:30." She responded.
Quil noticed it seemed like she might have put a little extra effort into what she was wearing. He wanted her to feel free to be with whoever she wanted, especially at this age. She should be out dating and having fun instead of spending all her time with a guy who had turned thirty that year. But he knew if she cared enough to try harder to look good for a guy then he was definitely going to need to sniff this Bennett out.
He followed Claire back out to the Camaro. She was hurrying, and obviously didn't want to be late, he could also see that she seemed to have a little extra nervous energy.
It was raining, and she was bouncing around and covering her hair that she had straitened, and she was wearing a pair of dark and artfully ripped skinny jeans she almost never wore because they were so uncomfortable.
He opened her door for her and then walked around to the driver's side. He got in and pulled out, they went a few blocks in silence before he finally broke her silent reprieve,
"You doing okay, Nino?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered a little stoically
"You nervous?" he asked
She shrugged and then admitted, "A little."
Claire was mature for her age and always liked to seem put together and in control. Quil knew that he was the only one that she trusted enough to admit this to.
"Well, you look great!" He smiled at her, hoping to calm her nerves.
She smiled back and seemed a little relieved.
"So, you like this 'Bennett Callahan'?" he gently probed her.
"I don't know yet… Maybe… He's kind of cute, and he seems to like me, plus I like that he's not afraid to admit that he's interested in me. That's attractive, right?" she seemed to be sincerely asking him.
"I would think so." He answered honestly.
She blew out a nervous breath as he pulled into the student parking lot in front of the library. Unlike most high schools, Chief Paloma High (named after the last official Chief of the Makah Tribe) kept the student library opened on Saturdays for students to work in.
When Quil pulled the car into one of the many open parking spots instead of pulling up in front of the doors, Claire quickly responded suspiciously,
"Quil, what are you doing?"
"Um going into the library, obviously Claire." He teased her.
"And what are you going to do in a high school library?" she responded, teasing him back. The mild banter seemed to be calming her nerves a bit. Good. That had been Quil's goal.
"Why study, of course!" He said while pulling out his GED prep course book from the back seat with a flourish. "Let's go!" he said excitedly while opening the car door.
"Quil, NO!" she said while grabbing his arm and pulling him back with all her strength. She was laughing but had a firm hold on his arm.
"What?" he asked with a face of mock surprise
"Quil, really, you can't go in there. You know that, right?" she said growing serious.
"Why not...?" he asked matching her serious tone, he noticed he sounded slightly whiney. "I just want to meet him." He continued a little beseechingly
"You can't, Quil." She said slightly sympathetically
"Why not?"
Again, he noted he was getting a bit whiney. I might need to work on that he quickly thought to himself.
"Because look at you." She said like an explanation, while gesturing towards him with her hand.
"What?" he asked looking at his khaki-dickies and gray t-shirt. How was this not appropriate attire to meet a teenaged boy in?
"Quil, you're 6'4 and about 600 pounds." She said
"600 POUNDS!? You think I weigh 600 pounds!?" he scoffed while laughing and reaching over to tickler her waist as punishment.
She squealed and laughed, before growing somber again and saying,
"I'm serious, Quil. You're too much for him to meet today."
"How does my size make me too much to meet him? I can't control my size, Claire." He said a little defensively.
She paused for a moment before asking him sincerely,
"Quil, what is your number one priority at all times?"
"Your safety." He responded almost automatically.
"And your number two priority?"
"For you to be happy." He answered like it was obvious.
"And I love you for it, but that's too much for a boy who has only committed to one dance and a history project." She explained kindly but firmly.
He knew she wasn't budging and after last night the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel like he was being over-intrusive in her love life. But he was definitely not happy about her spending time with someone he didn't know anything about. Seeing the conflicted and perturbed look on his face she quickly added,
"What if I promise to let you meet him before the dance!? Would that make you feel better?"
He thought about it for a second. He could live with that.
"Yeah, that would work for me." He told her with a sigh, he did after all want her to be happy with the arrangement too.
"'kay, I got to go. I'm late now." She said a little anxiously.
"Will you call me when you're done?" he asked probably too intensely.
"Yes. I promise." She answered just as intensely.
"Okay," he said while sighing out all his air in one breath.
"I love you. You know that, right?" she told him sweetly with a smile as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
"I love you too." He said smiling back at her.
"'kay, I'll see you later." She promised and then reached over to quickly kiss his cheek before she got out of the car and ran through the rain into the door of the library without a backward glance.
He watched her go while feeling like she just took his heart with her. He sighed but put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking lot while thinking about how Claire always seemed to know exactly what he needed at any given moment. He didn't think it was because of the imprint, he actually thought he imprinted on her because of it. He knew that the reminder that she loved him was the only thing that was going to keep him together through the next few hours while she was studying with one 'Bennett Callahan'.
Quil got a LOT of work done over the next few hours, working was all he could do to try to keep his mind off Claire. He also had a strange feeling that he wanted to be available for her as much as possible over the next week so getting ahead in work and freeing up some time seemed like a promising idea. He had been just about to start freaking out when he got a text from her at around 2:30.
Don't start freaking out. We're still working. Will ttyl. 3
He almost laughed, but he just couldn't. If he was being honest, he was only holding it together on the outside. On the inside he was completely freaking out. Claire was out of his reach. With a boy he didn't know anything about. And there was nothing he could do about it.
At about 4:33 she just casually strolled into the shop. He had been expecting to pick her and had been checking his phone about once every thirty seconds, so he was completely caught off guard when she just walked in.
"Claire!"
This time he was the one who didn't stop walking until he was holding her.
"Wow!" she said caught off guard as suddenly she was basically engulfed in his huge body. "Hi! Miss me much?" she laughed.
He just sighed, relieved to have her in his arms again.
"Wait! I thought I was going to pick you up? What are you doing here?" he asked almost accusingly.
"Well after we finished working Bennett took me to lunch at Bubba's." she said with a smile "He wanted to take me home but since we were so close, I just said goodbye to him there and came over." Bubba's was just down the street from Quil's shop.
"Oh, okay." He answered while having some mixed feelings about all of that.
"But I wanted to know if you wanted to go get dinner in a bit? I can't hang out tomorrow, I'm going dress shopping with Macy, I need to tell her that I'm going to Homecoming with Bennett."
"Sure, are you hungry now?" he replied easily.
He appreciated that she was making sure to squeeze time in for him in her busy schedule, but he honestly wished she had more time to spend with him. He actually wished he could spend every minute of every day with her, but he was trying to be reasonable.
"Naw, I just ate. Let's hang out for a bit first. Do you need to keep working? I can wait. Should I go upstairs?" she quickly answered.
He couldn't believe that after the afternoon she had just put him through she wanted to get out of his way now….
"Nope. I was only working to distract myself while you were gone." He told her. "What do you want to do?" he asked as he grabbed her hand and immediately felt a sense of relief at being able to feel her safe and within his reach.
"Um…. Well, have you studied yet?" she asked a little too innocently
He could feel his face fall drastically.
"I meant let's do something fun!" he responded.
"Quil, you HAVE to study if you want to pass! Getting your GED is a big deal! Don't blow it off for some cute girl." She teased before laughing at her own joke in a self-deprecating kind of way.
"'Some cute girl' huh?" he scoffed teasing her back.
He immediately started tickling her stomach where he knew she was most ticklish. She started squealing and laughing and trying to twist away from him, but he caught her up by wrapping his long arm around her and then lifting her off the ground so that her torso was sticking out behind him and her legs and feet were kicking out in front of him. She sounded like she was almost dying with laughter and kept begging him to stop. He only tickled her harder for a moment before saying.
"Alright I'll stop, but only if you promise to not make me study. I'll study tomorrow, I promise. What else am I going to do all day without you anyways?"
"Alright, alright, you win! Just put me down!" she squealed with laughter.
He was just setting her back on her feet when they were interrupted,
"Hey there, Lovebirds!"
They looked around to find Leah walking through the open garage door.
"Leah!" Claire said excitedly and ran over to greet her with a hug. "I'm so sorry I missed you at the game last night!"
"Yeah, that was weird! What was with you last night? Why didn't you come say hi?" Leah being her usual obnoxious self, responded.
"Something came up." Quil responded quickly while shooting Leah a warning look, behind Claire's back.
"Okay…. well I just got off my best-aunt-ever duty and wanted to see if you guys wanted to hit Bubba's before my patrol tonight?" she responded letting it drop.
Seth Clearwater, Leah's younger brother, had imprinted on his wife Tara six years earlier and then immediately quit phasing. They, like Jared and Kim before them, had no drama getting together once the imprint had taken effect. They had gotten married as quickly as possible. The drama for them had come afterward. They had tried for almost five heartbreaking years to get pregnant and had finally managed to through IVF, the year before. Tara had struggled through her entire pregnancy on bedrest and then had fairly severe Post-Partum Depression that she still struggled with over eight months after their twins were born. Everyone tried to help when they could, all the wolves were a family after all, but Leah tried to watch the twins at least twice a week to help Tara have the baby-free time she desperately needed.
"Oh yes! Let's do it." Claire said immediately answering Leah's question.
"Claire, you just ate at Bubba's and said you weren't hungry." Quil pointed out skeptically.
"Yeah, but you're hungry." She said knowing that Quil was pretty much always hungry. "and I'll just get a shake. Please Quil, we haven't hung out with Leah in forever!"
"I hung out with her last night!" Quil immediately argued.
"Please, Quil." She said while turning her full gaze on him. "Please?" she asked with a smile. She knew he would always end up giving her whatever she wanted, especially if she unleashed her big doe eyes on him.
He just sighed in response and grabbed her hand before he started walking out toward the button that closed the garage door.
Claire just said "Yes!" and laughed victoriously like she had never won a dispute with Quil before, she wins every time. Quil thought to himself good- naturedly with an eye-roll. Claire used her free hand to grab one of Leah's and dragged her out with them.
The next day Claire did go dress shopping with Macy and was gone for pretty much the entire day. She didn't find a dress, but she seemed to feel good about the progress she made with Macy. Quil had gone back and spent the night at his place like usual, so the only time he saw her was for about twenty minutes in the afternoon before she had to run to an emergency cheer practice (whatever that was) and then he went back to his place to spend another night alone. On the plus side he did get some studying for his GED exam in. A lot of studying. He wanted to blow his brains out by the time he was done, but that was just about the time that Claire texted him to meet up with her.
The next week they seemed to fall into a strange pattern around Claire's busy schedule. She would go to school first thing in the morning, then immediately go to cheer practice which was an extra hour long this week due to their first competition on Friday. She would then spend the next hour with Bennett working on their project. Then FINALLY she would come and see Quil, where they would have dinner together (usually with her family) and then she would work on her homework while he studied for the GED until about 9:30 or 10 when he would go back to his place to get some rest before another day of waiting around to see Claire.
Fortunately, he had patrol shifts on Monday, Wednesday and again on Thursday night. He didn't usually have so many shifts but this week he was grateful. The transformation into his wolf-self was a welcome escape from his human mind which always seemed to have a constant whining need for Claire. He just wasn't seeing enough of her each day and he knew it. As a wolf he could still think of her, but it came second to his instincts. And running, running was so much better as a wolf. He always felt like if he ran hard enough and fast enough he could escape his problems, but he could never outrun his need for Claire.
FINALLY, it was Friday and Quil was incredibly relieved. Claire's competition was today so she didn't have practice and she had promised to spend the evening with Quil to catch up on some of the time they had lost together during the week. He went to the competition, which took place at high school in Treeport with Claire's family. He was relieved that they all made it there to support her instead of just her dad with Jamie which was the usually turn out.
They were sitting in the stands about halfway up. It was towards the middle of the competition, but they were still waiting for Claire's squad, who were on deck, to compete, when Rachel suddenly said,
"Ooh, look, there's Claire new boyfriend."
"oooohhh!" Jamie immediately chimed, while Quil responded with a quick "Where!?"
He still had never met Bennett and didn't even know what he looked like.
"Over there, the kid in the poncho-looking hoodie they sell to the tourists." Rachel quickly pointed out.
He looked down at the kid that Rachel had pointed out. He was sitting with a group of guys Quil was fairly certain were on the football team and were sitting in some of the first rows of the bleachers. He looked normal enough to Quil, he couldn't see any signs of piercings or noticeable tattoos. (Not that he could complain if he did have any. Quil himself had the same tribal tattoo on his right shoulder and bicep that all the Wolves got when they first joined the pack, only his was fairly massive. Paul's tattoo came the closest in size to Quil's but was only about two thirds the size. Jamie had even taken to calling him 'Maui' for a week after he and Claire had watched Moana with him. Claire had found it hilarious.) Bennett looked like he was in decent shape, but he was also sixteen and on the football team so that was expected. He had dark hair and was about 6 feet tall and maybe a buck eighty. Quil was pleased with his fairly non-threatening appearance. He was mostly interested in seeing how Claire interacted with him when the competition ended though.
When the competition was finally over they all made their way down the stands to the gym floor. Quil spotted Claire across the gym, taking a knee as she bent over her gym bag and dug through it. As if she could feel Quil's stare pulling at her, she looked up and immediately made eye contact with him. She smiled and winked up at him from about a hundred feet away. Then she got up and started talking to her teammates while hefting her large bag up on her shoulder. That was when the group of football players, including Bennett, made their way to them.
Quil watched as Bennett immediately made his way to Claire and said something that made her laugh. Normally Quil would be able to hear them from this distance but the gym was so crowded with cheerleaders and their families that he couldn't hear anything from them over the background noise. He did however see Bennett lift her gym bag off her shoulder and drop it back on the ground so that she would have to keep talking to him. Claire didn't seem the slightest bit upset by this but did laugh again at something he had said and then put her hand on his arm where he immediately moved his hand into the opening her lifted arm had exposed and start tickling her side.
Quil immediately had to stop himself from going over and breaking them up, and then breaking Bennett's hand. He had never seen Claire flirt with someone before, but he knew that he had no claim to her and had to let her live her life. He did not like seeing someone else tickling her though. At all. In fact, if Claire was going to start dating, he was going to have to pick up some hobbies, because watching it happen or sitting around thinking about it were not going to be an option if he wanted to stay mentally healthy.
Claire seemed to say goodbye to him at that point. She gave him a quick side hug, then picked up her gym bag again and starting walking over to her family a few feet away, she did turn and wave at him as she walked though and that didn't escape Quil's notice. Once Bennett's group seemed to be moving away with some of the other cheerleaders, Quil moved in to where her family was greeting her to finally claim some of Claire's attention. She was just making it to her dad who she hugged and then brightly said, "Hey!" as soon as she saw him.
"Hey! You were great!" Quil said to her as she gave him the same side hug she had given to her family.
"Thanks, Quil, and third isn't too bad huh? Especially for this early in the season, I still think we have a good chance!" she said optimistically.
Quil loved how passionate Claire was about cheerleading. It had brought out a whole new confident side to her that wasn't there before, and he had loved seeing as she embraced the competition instead of shying away in fear of failure.
"Hold on, let me say goodbye to my family and the squad and then we can go! Do you want to pick up a pizza? I'm starving!" She said before giving him a chance to respond to her first comment. She must have been hyped by the competition because she then ran off before he could even say anything.
Quil waited patiently as she said her goodbyes and he picked up her gym bag from where she had dropped it on the floor next to him. She was quick though and ran back up to him saying,
"Sorry! Okay, I'm ready. Let's go!"
Quil laughed and said, "Alright let's go get you some pizza." he reached down to grab her hand and lead her out toward the parking lot.
Claire immediately said "Quil!" and yanked her hand out of his, giving him a dark, significant look before folding her arms across her chest and looking away to see who might have noticed the exchange in the gym that was still fairly crowded with people making their way out.
Quil was stunned. She had never done something like that before. Never. He knew that from the outside pretty much EVERYTHING about their relationship looked inappropriate. He looked about ten years older than her and in actuality was fifteen years older. They were always careful (after all he didn't want to get the cops called on him) but they had held hands before in various public settings and it had never bothered her before. But then again, she had never had a boyfriend before either.
"Sorry." He said too stunned to say anything else.
She was starting to look more upset the more he looked at her. That wasn't good.
"You want to get out of here?" he asked, "We can get your pizza." He added trying to make it sound enticing.
She just nodded without really looking at him. Uh-oh he thought. That definitely wasn't a good sign. She was quiet the entire time that they made their way out to the car in the crowded parking lot, but as soon as they got in she let him have it.
"QUIL! What the CRAP was that!?" she started almost yelling as she buckled her seatbelt and he pulled the car out.
"What?" he asked innocently and continued slightly defensively, "I hold your hand all the time, it was no big deal."
"NO. No way!" She started obviously upset now. "That's not what that was. You were staking a claim."
"WHAT!?" he asked in complete disbelieve
"You were! You saw Bennett talking to me and then the first chance you got, you stuck your claim!"
"Claire, I swear that wasn't it!" he said insistently, after all he was just trying to lead her out, he hadn't been trying to stake a claim…. had he?
"I saw you! When I was talking to him, I saw you watching us, and then next thing I know it's like someone call dateline, Quil is making a public move!" she said animatedly.
"Hey!" he said getting upset now, that seemed a little below the belt.
"What were you THINKING Quil!? My principle was there! What if she had seen us!?" Claire insisted.
"I'm sorry, okay!? It was a mistake, I just wasn't thinking about it! Alright? I haven't seen you all week and I just wanted to feel your hand in my hand for a second. So, can we just drop it already!?" he replied angrily.
Quil almost NEVER snapped at her. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time they had fought about anything, at all.
She didn't seem happy, but she seemed to drop it as they pulled into the pizza parlor. Quil put the car in park and was about to turn the ignition off when Claire fired up again,
"You wait here. I'll grab something to go. You obviously can't handle being in public right now!" she snapped as she got out and slammed the car door behind her.
She walked back out about ten minutes later with a pizza box in her hand and she looked angrier than ever. She got back in the car with him but didn't say anything. They drove the rest of the way to Quil's shop in complete silence. When they got there, Claire jumped out and marched in ahead of him like she owned the place. If it hadn't been so upsetting, Quil would have thought it was cute how she was marching around, still in her cheer uniform, glaring at a pizza like it had done something to her.
He was definitely starting to regret things now. It seemed that Claire was getting more upset with every passing minute. If he didn't reign things in soon he knew she would start crying. She always cried if she got too mad, and any time Claire cried it felt like each tear was a drop of blood cut from Quil's chest.
They quickly made their way inside the apartment and Claire started stomping around the kitchen, pulling down plates and banging them on the counter. She seemed to be trying to make as much noise as possible without actually speaking.
"Claire, I'm sorry, I was stupid-" he began hoping to repair things before she got even more upset, but she cut him off.
"YOU said! YOU said I could date! You said I SHOULD date and then the second you even SEE me with a guy who might…. who I might…"
She had started crying right in the middle of shouting at him, she had burst into tears like he knew that she would.
"Hey, hey, hey!" he said trying to get close to her and pull her to him, but she shoved him angrily away from her. "Claire! Hey, please don't cry. I'm sorry, honey. I really am. I shouldn't have done it, alright? It was stupid and maybe you're right... I was upset when I saw you flirting with him. Maybe I was staking a claim. I'm sorry. And it won't happen again, I promise." He was practically begging her.
She had stopped crying but hadn't looked up at him yet, she did however, let him pull her into his chest.
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again." He promised again.
"Okay." She said thickly.
"Okay? Okay as in you'll forgive me?" he asked cheerfully.
She just huffed against his chest.
"Come on, forgive me! Please, I'll let you pick out the movie to watch?" he said softly and enticingly.
She just nodded against his chest.
"Come on, say you'll forgive me..." He said teasingly as he started tickling her,
"…say you'll forgive me."
She was squirming and then he started tickling her harder while saying,
"Say you'll forgive me, I won't stop unless you say it."
She was laughing now and trying to escape his embrace. He just held her closer and tickled her even harder, saying,
"Say it! Say you'll forgive me!" while laughing now.
"Alright! I forgive you!" she caved.
"Good." He said as he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
Then he grabbed the entire pizza box and headed over to the couch where they could watch Two Weeks Notice because he had promised that she could pick the movie.
Claire:
Claire didn't wake up the next morning until 10:45. She was immediately glad that it was the weekend and that she would have a chance to catch her breath from her hectic week. She checked her phone to see that she had five texts already. Two from members of the squad letting her know their chances of making regionals after their competition last night. She had a text from Quil seeing if this Saturday morning she really did want to go to breakfast (a lot of time with Quil was spent eating.) and two messages from Bennett,
Good morning beautiful 😊 I woke up thinking about you this morning!
And then a second message that said,
When can I see you?
Claire smiled and her mind spun as she reviewed through in her mind the past week she had spent getting to know Bennett better. They were spending so much time together that they were making some substantial progress with their project. But Claire secretly thought she might actually be using the project as an excuse to spend time with him. She couldn't be sure, she had never experienced something like this before, but she thought she might be falling for him. And falling hard.
She loved the way he was so open with her. It was like he couldn't imagine having secrets from her, even though they had only known each other for a couple weeks. He always told her exactly what he seemed to be thinking and feeling. He had already confided in her some of his mixed feelings he had about his dad and his parents' divorce.
She smiled to herself remembering the moment on Thursday when they had been in the library and he had been telling her about how rationing during World War Two had actually set the stage for the marketing of some major companies like Heines ketchup, when he suddenly just went silent while looking at her. She had looked up from the computer she was typing on as he dictated to her and saw him staring at her.
"Everything alright?" She asked him confused.
"Yeah, everything is great." He said while smiling at her, he had then placed his hand on top of hers next to the keyboard, interlocked their fingers and tentatively given it a squeeze.
Quil had held her hand before of course, but she knew that that was different. She had never had a boy hold her hand like that. She had really liked it. A lot. They had spent the rest of their time together with Bennett holding her right hand in his left and her laughing until her sides ached while he told her all about why his favorite color was purple and why it should be everyone else's too. He had some compelling points, she had to admit.
She then thought back to the cheer competition the night before. It had gone so well. She had been so stressed about her round off into a back handspring, but she had stuck it perfectly and her squad had scored well, setting themselves up nicely for final placing at the end of the season. And then to see so many people there to support her and her squad had really touched her. At least half of the football team had been there (Claire secretly thought that they should do a lot more to support cheer, seeing as all they do during football season is support the team) plus about a dozen of her friends from school (including Macy!), she had even seen at least three of her teachers and her principle plus some of the staff and her entire family. Claire had been shocked that Rachel had actually come to watch her compete, she never had before.
She had been so disappointed that the night had ended on such a sour note. She had never been so upset with Quil before. Ever. She would have thought that he would have been the one thing to make the night even better and instead he had almost ruined it for her. She was really excited to see Bennett there, and happy when he had singled her out afterwards. He had even flirted with her in front of all his teammates, she had definitively been curious to see if he would be the same towards her publicly as he was whenever they were alone in the library and he hadn't disappointed her.
She had of course seen Quil watching their exchange, but she knew that he respected her feelings too much to interrupt them. Bennett had been really sweet. He even complimented her specific parts of the routine, making her laugh when he didn't know the names of her stunts and would just say things like "I liked your back, twisty, flippy thing you did." while using his hands to demonstrate, instead.
He had even offered to carry her bag and walk out with her, but she told him no since she needed to get together with her family. He had been so cool about the whole thing and she had felt like everything had gone perfectly that. And then just as she was about to leave with Quil he had pulled his stunt.
She was mortified. What if someone had seen them holding hands there in the middle of the crowded gym? Claire couldn't believe that Quil would risk her reputation like that, not to mention what would happen to his reputation if he was seen appearing to come on to a fifteen-year-old cheerleader in a high school gymnasium. The only motivation she could think of was that he wasn't thinking, he was reacting.
There had already been a couple of incidents and Claire was eager to avoid anymore. The first had been when she was in seventh grade; Quil had walked her to school while holding her hand. When they got there, he had tickled her vigorously (she had been stressed about some mean girls in gym class and he was trying to lighten her up.) and then he had kissed her head before saying goodbye. It had all been normal for them but one of Claire's teachers had seen the exchange and been concerned about it. She had been pulled out of the middle of her first class to sit in a room alone with one of the counselors and someone from the school district where she had to answer a LOT of questions. She had to assure the entire staff that she had never been touched, spoken too, or even looked at inappropriately. Ever.
It had been humiliating. One of her classmates was a student-office-aid and overheard some of what was going on and told a few other kids about it. It had been awful. That night she had cried herself to sleep. Quil had had patrol that night so she hadn't seen him since that morning. By the time she saw him the next morning she did NOT want to talk about it and after that she could just never bring herself to tell him about it. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel like some sort of pervert in their small town.
The second incident had been last year when Macy had noticed Quil at one of their competitions and had seen Claire interacting with him afterwards. She had asked Claire about it the next day. Fortunately, Claire had been able to put an end to that one quickly. She told Macy that Quil was her young uncle who she was really close with since they were only ten years apart getting the inspiration from Emily who she was close to and actually her aunt. Macy had (gratefully) accepted the story and let it drop. But now Claire was always hyper-aware of the impression she was giving off whenever she and Quil were in public together.
She knew that since Quil didn't actually know any of this he just probably wasn't as aware as she was of the consequences their public interactions had, but she still felt that it had been an incredibly stupid move on his part. She hated fighting with him though, and she knew that the strain of the week spent mostly apart hadn't helped.
Claire sighed thinking about it and decided it was time to get out of bed and she needed to make some decisions about who she wanted to spend time with today. She decided it would be best if she spent her time with Jamie. She felt that he was being the most neglected by her during the past few busy weeks. She texted Quil and told him as much but told him to come over for dinner. Then she texted Bennett and asked if they could get together the next day to work on their project. The Library would be closed but he could come over to her house and work on it there. She heard the ding and saw that Quil had responded,
Can't do dinner, my patrol starts at 6. You're busy ALL day? Can't I spend time with you WHILE you spend time with Jamie? I'll even take you two to a movie if you want.
He had even included a big lipped emoji that looked like a little beggy face. She knew that time away from her was always hard on Quil, he needed to be with her after all. It was all part of the imprint magic. None of the wolves could be away from their imprints for any length of time without completely falling apart…physically, emotionally, even psychologically.
She sighed, her poor Quil. The past week had been harder on him than he had let on. She responded to his text,
Okay sounds good 😊 come over in half an hour so I can shower first.
Her phone dinged about halfway through her typing her response. It was Bennett responding to her invite to get together the next day,
Sure, that sounds amazing 😉. Will your family be there? I can't wait to meet them!
Claire smiled, she was a little shocked that he would want to meet her family so soon but pleased and impressed by his initiative and how much bolder he seemed than all the other boys around her age who really just wanted a relationship based on texting and getting as much action as they possibly could. She responded,
Yeah, they should all be here. They're excited to meet you too!
She put her phone down and ran to take a shower. She had stayed so late at Quil's place the night before that she had just crashed in her bed instead of showering first. Quil had wanted her to stay the night at his place again but she hadn't showered since the competition and she didn't want to share a bed with anyone until she had.
Fifteen minutes later she got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and quickly brushed her teeth. She cracked the door open to check on Jamie's whereabouts and could hear him running around downstairs, so she opened the door fully and walked out in her towel to go get dressed in her room.
She had closed the door and was about to drop her towel when she turned around to see someone so large and dark it could only possibly be Quil waiting for her in her room.
"WA!" she shrieked completely shocked. "Quil, what are you doing in my room?!" she asked while placing a hand on her pounding heart.
"I was waiting for you." He responded like it was obvious.
He was sitting on her bed and he scooted over to the edge next to her and tried to wrap his arm around her waist, but she dodged around him.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, clearly not happy with her denying him contact with her.
"Um… I'm kind of naked here, Quil." She said while gesturing down towards her towel and wet hair with her hand not securely holding her towel in place under her arms.
"Oh." He responded looking confused and sounding unsure.
It was silent for a second before Claire gestured towards the door and said,
"Soo… can you give me a minute to get dressed?"
"Oh. Right. Yeah of course." He seemed dazed and flustered.
Claire shut the door behind him while shaking her head. I swear sometimes it's like he still thinks I'm four years old. She thought to herself. She quickly got dressed in her favorite lounging sweats (that's what she called last year's matching sweat pants from junior cheer squad) and an old white cotton t-shirt that seemed to somehow get looser and softer with time but unfortunately had three random slashes in the middle that you could see her midriff through, so she never wore it in public. She opened the door to head downstairs to join Quil and Jamie but she was surprised to see Quil right outside her door waiting for her.
"OH!" she said surprised again, she had almost walked right into him.
He just grabbed her and pulled her tight to him, getting his shirt wet from her hair in the process.
"Claire, I'm really sorry." He whispered to her sincerely.
"Hey!" she said softly, surprised and concerned by his reaction. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here now. It's okay." She said soothingly while rubbing his back up and down while he hugged her.
He took a deep breath while he held her close for a second and then released her while he said,
"Yeah, you are." He smiled and then said, "Now let's go find Jamie."
