A/N: Ta da! Here's chapter six okay, and don'tcha worry, I'll be posting chapter seven real soon! I hope you enjoy this chapter and hey I may be hinting to a little bit of eclare fluff next chapter maybe, maybe? Oh and maybe you'll start seeing how this is a little bit like easy a? pretty much adore that movie js emma stone is my goddess. OKAY enough of my rambling ENJOY IT LOVELIES.

"How's this?" He said, handing his paper over to her and she scanned it over before snorting.

"No, you're doing this all wrong." Clare laughed, shaking her head at his work. "You're over analyzing the words, not analyzing the lyrics."

"Wait, there's a difference?" Eli asked, laughing along with her while Clare groaned. "Hey, I'm not used to this partner work either, okay. So if it weren't for you, I probably would have failed this project. I may love writing, but the writing part. You're the journalist, I'm the creativity here."

"You're just lucky to have me." Clare said in mock pride. She pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned against the wall. "Try again." She said in a serious tone, earning a raise of the eyebrow from Eli across from her.

Eli looked down at the sheet of music in his hands and went over the lyrics in his mind. He had been over at her house for about an hour now – thankfully, with no sight of Alli or Jenna yet – and he had still been stumped on the first line. Mentally, he was sure that if this was any other band, Clare would have let him give up by now – but this was The Beatles Clare was talking about. And she wasn't going to let him give up with that. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment before laughing softly. "I feel like anything I say you're going to decide is wrong. I can't mess with your precious Beatles." Eli teased, and Clare scoffed, leaning forward and hitting his shoulder playfully.

"They're not just my precious Beatles, Eli. They're the worlds."

"Can I ask you something?" He said quickly, throwing away all previous conversation Clare hummed in response, as if that was a suitable answer for yes. "I don't get it, what got you so into the Beatles? I don't want to intrude on your past but… there has to be some reason why Paul McCartney is your God."

"George Harrison." Clare corrected.

"Oh," Eli said, putting a hand over his heart. "My apologies."

Clare smiled at his teasing, but it quickly faded. It was because of her family. It was because of her father, mostly. Because that was her parents favorite thing to listen to, and how that was the last thing she heard before he left. And how her mother was crying and told him to never come back and Clare just sat at the top of the stairs watching the whole thing unfold before her. And there was nothing she could do about it. They hated each other for years before they ever decided to end it. They had practically tortured Clare and her sister with yelling before they finally split and the yelling was replaced with tears. Clare always waited for her mother to remarry but it never happened. Maybe she was just too stubborn.

But when she opened her mouth to speak to Eli, to tell him all about her parents' divorce and how her and her father would listen to the Beatles every Sunday on the way to church - words didn't want to come out. Her mouth had gone dry, and she sat there staring open mouthed at him like a codfish, and Eli chuckled a little at her.

"You okay, fish-face?" he asked, and Clare only sighed.

"It was a family thing, I guess." She finally said, shrugging a little. "My dad liked the Beatles, and I did and I guessed he passed it down onto me. It's not much of a story to tell." Eli raised his eyebrows, and decided to drop it. There was something about the way she had become suddenly reserved about the situation that made him want to stray away from the topic. Maybe it really was a sore subject for her. "Anyway, try again." She told him, and Eli nodded opening his mouth to speak when –

"Clare!" Jenna's whiney voice cried as the front door swung open and Clare froze. Her friends thought she had dropped Eli Goldsworthy from her life and now here they were walking inside and seeing her and Eli on the ground of their house. "Are you serious? Where were you last night! Four o'clock! Remember, my performance?" Jenna screamed, neither one of her or Alli taking notice in Eli just yet. "I had to call Jake and ask him to take me!" she paused, and her mood softened a bit. "Then again it wasn't that bad of a plan, considering he's smoking hot and got to listen to me sing – but that's not the point! I almost didn't get to perform and it's because of you!" she shouted, and Eli just looked between both of them, watching this argument going down.

"Uh…" he whispered, as Alli stepped inside with four shopping bags, each of them with the Victoria's Secret label on them.

"Clare, I called you probably a thousand times! We needed a ride home from the mall, where hell were you –" she stopped, both of them finally taking notice of Eli Goldsworthy sitting beside Clare on the floor.

"Why –" both of them began, before immediately cutting themselves off. Right. Clare had threatened to leave if either of them brought up Eli Goldsworthy again, didn't she? Or maybe it was just if they brought up the sex life between her and Eli. Either way they didn't want to risk it, and both of the girls just looked at each other.

"We had to call a cab, that's all." Alli murmured, walking to the couch and placing her bags down. "Do you want to see what I bought?" Alli asked, not even taking no for an answer as she pulled a hot pink, lacy bra out of her bag and held it up to her chest. Considering she was holding it up over clothes, the hot pink in the bra clashed completely with the light pink in the dress she was wearing. Clare sighed. The pink obsession was getting outrageous. "Isn't it super sexy!?" Alli squealed, and Eli held up a hand as if he was going to be called on during school.

"Uh, Alli, that's your name, right?" Eli asked, clicking his tongue and analyzing the bra she was holding up. "Sure, it's sexy and all, but, uh…" he paused, trying to find the correct words to say. "What's with all the pink? It's kind of…revolting."

Alli's mouth fell open in disgust as she turned on her heels and started to walk away from them. "Clare, I don't like your friend!" she shouted, throwing her long dark brown hair over her shoulder and walking into the kitchen. Clare covered her mouth – she couldn't be seen laughing at her friend, no matter how many times they laughed at her.

"S-Sorry, Jenna." Clare said through muffled laughter. "I forgot during my break. I had too much to think about."

"You mean my good looks and charm?" Eli mused, causing a gasp to follow from Jenna. Clare rolled her eyes at the dark haired boy and shook her head.

"You wish; Palahniuk head." Clare threw back at him, still trying to hide giggles. She stood to her feet and held a hand out towards him. "It's getting crowded in here, let's go up to my room." She suggested, as their hands met for a brief moment. On the outside she played it cool, stayed calm – she was collected. But on the inside she was a raging hurricane of hormones, and she wasn't even sure why. She had established to herself many times that she was not falling for Eli Goldsworthy. Falling for someone majorly different than she would just be a bad idea. It was like when she was younger, and her father told her to never fall for a man in the force – a blue meanie as Clare would say. You might fall in love with them, but it would be a fatal relationship.

"So what, are you two like friends with benefits now?" Jenna said, putting her hands on her hips while the two walked up the stairs to Clare's bedroom. "Are you two going to go up there and fuck or something? That's disgusting! We're in the house!"

"If I hear any sex noises you are sooooo in trouble, Clare!" Alli called after her, both her and Jenna standing at the bottom of the staircase and looking at each other.

Clare shut the bedroom door behind them and sighed a bit, watching as Eli rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. This was the second time in a week that they had been in a bedroom together alone. Was that supposed to be weird, or normal, or what? Neither of them really said a word though, until Eli took in his surroundings. Her walls were a light blue shade, and her bed had tall bedposts, and what hung off of that was a flow-y light blue fabric. Eli tried to contain himself from not laughing at the fact that the bedroom looked as if it belonged to a seven year old. It was all white and light blue, like it was supposed to be a color scheme.

Clare sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the end of her bed and sighing slightly. "Sorry." She whispered. "They're… they're embarrassing…"

"Hey, Adam's embarrassing too, remember?" Eli told her, and Clare nodded. "Can I sit?" She nodded again, and he took a seat across from her on the floor.

"So, this project."

"I don't want to talk about the project anymore." Eli muttered, and the curly haired girl furrowed her eyebrows. "Let's talk about ourselves. You talk about yourself."

"I don't understand." Clare said, clearing her throat slightly. "Why would we want to talk about that?"

"You wanted me to find out your mental issue."

And Clare nodded for what seemed like the thousandth time. There weren't really words that could describe what she wanted to say, or how she was starting to feel around him. How he treated her genuinely, and how he didn't seem to care when her friends were being totally bitches. How he was caring… and how she had never met someone like him before. It was like he had morals, but he didn't – but he would respect hers anyway. But she wouldn't say anything to him. She really, really didn't know how.

"Okay," she said, looking up at him and their eyes locked. "Ask me things." Eli looked around the room, breaking the stare between them.

"Were you born here? In Toronto?"

"Yes." She answered his question almost immediately after he had asked, and she shrugged slightly. "Maybe a few small towns over but it was still basically Toronto. Until… until my parents split. That's when we moved to the city."

"Why did your parents get a divorce?"

"They said… they said they were too…" and then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes looked from the ground to Eli in front of her and she was beginning to realize how much of an idiot she was becoming. "…Different." Clare and Eli were different. Way too different to even describe. From the way he dressed, to the way he was studying something he didn't even care about. Eli didn't really care about anything, while Clare cared about everything. They were just like her parents, and the two hadn't even developed feelings for each other.

No, no – that wasn't true. Clare had been mustering up an old school girl crush on Eli. It was beginning to show through, too - until now. When she realized that if the two ever struck something up it would eventually crash and burn just like her parents' relationship had.

"I'm sorry, Clare." Eli said softly, sincerity laced throughout his voice and it was almost as if it was taunting her. She was falling for him, dammit! Becky was right. "I wish I could say I know what you're going through but I don't. My parents relationship was a strange one… but we're not talking about me." There was a sheepish smile on his face and Clare just looked away, feeling utterly shameful.

"I don't want to talk about my parents anymore." Clare said bitterly, wringing her hands in her lap slightly. And Eli had taken note of every single action she was doing. His eyes were always on her, and that frightened her a bit – because if he were feeling the same feelings towards her that she had begun to feel towards him that would have… it just would have ruined everything!

"Are you okay?" he asked, and Clare nodded her head and took in a breath.

"Fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"I said I was fine." Clare snapped, picking up the piece of sheet music that they had been going over their project with and pretended to read over the words. "Can we just work on our project? I don't want to talk about my parents, or me, or anything but this stupid project." She said sternly, and Eli held his hands up in defense. If she didn't want to get into her past, he wouldn't break through just yet.

"Sorry." Eli said lowly, taking up his paper and looking over the words. And just as it had happened earlier, the moment he opened his mouth to speak someone else instantly interrupted him. Eli's phone rang in his pocket, some cheesy Fall Out Boy song that Clare didn't know, but had heard a few times on the radio. Something about memories, or dancing, or not caring – one of those. "Hello?" Eli said into his phone, and Clare looked away.

She found it rude that he was taking a phone call at her home when he was hanging out with her, but it must have been important because she knew how chivalrous he was.

"Fucking repeat that again." Eli growled into his cell phone, and Clare shivered upon hearing his foul language. "This is a joke, right? You did what? Her reputation is shit as it is, and you told people that? Adam, it better have been a desperate move!" Clare's breathing stopped. Were they talking about… her? But suddenly Eli's anger softened and he nodded slightly. "I'm not telling her. You're telling her. Do you know where she lives?" There was someone speaking on the other end, but Clare couldn't hear – and in all honesty at this point she didn't want to hear or know what they were talking about.

It had to have been about her.

It just had to.

"Okay, I'll tell her what happened." Eli said finally, biting his lip and only glancing at Clare slightly. "I'll tell her, but I'm telling her about you, Adam. She deserves that at least." Eli ended the call and stared at his phone for what seemed like it was minutes. Was he purposely-avoiding eye contact with Clare? Neither of them was speaking, and she suspected Eli could hear her heart thumping from across from him. When he finally looked at her – there was sympathy in his eyes, and he swallowed, as if he was afraid to tell her what he knew. "Do you know about Adam?" he asked.

"Know what about Adam?"

"Know his… situation." Eli said. His voice was low and almost fearful, cracking every few syllables.

"No, I don't think so."

"Adam is a female-to-male transgender." Clare cocked an eyebrow. "It means that he's a guy stuck in a girl's body. I'm not one to tell you this stuff, but he's afraid, okay? He's afraid to tell you now after what he did. Are you following?"

Clare shook her head, breathing in and out slowly. "N-No… not at all…" Eli ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"He's been going through his transitioning lately. We've been keeping his FTM business on the down low. Besides you, me, Drew and Jake, no one else knows. Your friends don't know – my friends don't know. And I'm going to ask you to be quiet about it too, please." Eli told her, and Clare nodded in agreement. She wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone. Then again, she had no one to tell it to anyway. "I guess some guys were fucking with him today, and… and I don't know what happened completely, but he told them something."

"What did he tell them?" Clare asked, practically begging him to get on with it. It was like this was a game show, and he was milking it as long as he could to tell her what had happened. Had she won the prize, or lost it all?

"He told them that you two slept together. And I guess considering everyone thinks we slept together, it's believable."

Clare didn't breathe a word. In fact, she didn't breathe at all. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs, and she felt almost faint at his words. Adam Torres, a boy she barely knew at all was now spreading lies about her. Lies about her promiscuity! As if Becky Baker was going to believe her anymore. But Becky Baker was the least of her problems now. She went pale, looking at Eli as if he had just told her that her sister had died or something. There were emotions building up inside of her and she wasn't sure how to react to them all. Should she start crying, or yelling, or just… stay speechless.

"Clare, there's more." Eli spoke quietly, in the calmest tone he could. He had to keep her steady. "You're going to have to go along with it." Clare finally grew an expression, complete and utter disbelief. She had to agree to all of this? Pretend it was all-true and that she was now some… some slut? "Clare, I've known Adam since grade eleven. He's gone to more schools than he has ever needed to. Adam Torres is a really strong guy, and…" he paused, biting on his lip. "You remember how yesterday afternoon in Mrs. Dawes' class you asked me if there was someone or something in my life that if you insulted I'd be pissed about?"

"Yeah…" Clare said, finally muttering a word for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"Well this is it for me. I've seen Adam Torres be pushed around too fucking much and I can't stand to let it happen to him here. We're in college for fucks sake, you'd think we would lose the homophobic attitudes towards everyone but I guess some people haven't grown up yet. I know this is hard for you, Clare, but this is harder for Adam. I just need you to go along with it. You've pretended well enough that we've slept together." He gestured between the two of them. "I need you to do the same for Adam."

This couldn't have been happening to her. It just couldn't have. It was a big joke, right? One to play on Clare because she had pretended to sleep with Eli and now was getting revenge for lying? Right? Her friends were probably in on it, too – they all knew it was all one big fucking joke and Eli was in on it, Adam was in on it – everyone at the university knew about it. It was all one big joke, wasn't it.

But it wasn't a joke. She knew it wasn't a joke. And everything was crumbling down around her. These new feelings for Eli were crumbling around her. Her life with her friends was breaking apart. What was next, her school work? Probably. She looked up at Eli and shook her head slowly.

"Eli… I can't… I can't, I'm already in past my head I can't…keep going…"

"Clare, you have to."

"Please." He begged, and Clare looked into his eyes. He was serious. He had this sincere look in his eyes like he had just lied to his parents and was begging for forgiveness. The green speckles in his eyes shone most at this point. They glistened and were full of apology and plead. She hadn't known Eli for long but she had seen several sides of him. The generous side, the cocky side, the nice side… and now here was his desperate side. "I need this from you. I can't see him get hurt anymore. I can't see –"

"Okay." Clare said sternly. "Okay I'll do it. I'll go along with this; I'll say I slept with Adam. Just… stop looking at me with those eyes."

A small smile crept up on Eli's face and he cocked his head to the side. "What eyes?" he asked softly. He wasn't being cocky either. It was as if he was generally interested in what she meant.

"Those desperate scared eyes." Clare replied breathlessly, finally looking away from him. She didn't want to look at him anymore. It was like being caught in a trance.

"Thank you." He said finally, reaching forward and pressing a hand to her arm gently. "I mean it, thank you." She looked at the hand on her arm and nodded.

"I don't like other people getting hurt, so I guess this was… this was my way of helping out."

Eli smiled at her, and the smile scared her. It scared the crap out of her because it was one of those smiles you'd see in the movies right before the boy kissed the girl that he liked. And he was close to her, too. His hand on her arm and his body seeming to get closer every few seconds. He couldn't kiss her. He couldn't do it. As much as she wanted to taste that dark creative taste on his lips once again she… she couldn't allow it.

But his face kept getting closer to hers. And she stared fearfully back at him. What was it supposed to be, a kiss of thanks? Oh, thanks for sticking up for my friend, Clare, now let me repay you with a kiss. She didn't want it. She didn't want his kisses. But something within her did! The hopeless romantic deep within her was longing for the kiss she saw coming on the horizon. Her mouth fell open slightly and her eyes closed as she braced herself for it. For his lips to kiss her and… and…

"OH MY FUCKING GOD." A voice screeched from downstairs and Clare's eyes shot open, and her body scrambled to her feet and away from his lips. Her heart was beating erratically in her chest because she knew what had almost happened. What she had almost allowed! Clare looked down at him with fright in her eyes. Her head was about to shake and almost scold him for what he almost did but she didn't do it. Instead she took off away from him, opening the door to her bedroom and walking out to the stairs.

"W-What… what happened?" she asked down to her friends as they both walked to the foot of the staircase and stared at their phones.

"You slept with Adam Torres!" Alli yelled, looking up from her cell phone and at Clare at the top of the stairs. "What the fuck, why?"

"And when did you even get the time for that!?" Jenna questioned, not taking her eyes off the text message, which probably was letting them know about Clare's new sexual adventure.

"Oh…" Clare whispered, her eyes looking back to her bedroom where Eli was still sitting, in the same position she had left him on the floor. It was like he was waiting for her to return so he could pick up where he had stopped, and kiss her finally. He wasn't serious, was he? "I, um…" her head kept coming up with ideas of what to tell them, and she shrugged. "I just felt like it." Clare said casually. "And yesterday, that's why I didn't pick you up, Jenna. I was… too busy… having steamy hot sex with Adam Torres."

She practically heard Eli choking in her bedroom from her words.

"So are you some slut now, Clare?" Alli said, putting her hands on her hips. "You losing your virginity were just supposed to be a one-time get it over with thing! We didn't think you were going to keep on doing it!"

"Well, you should have thought of that!" Clare said, starting to feel sarcasm rolling off of her tongue. "Once I did it with Eli, I just… I couldn't get enough!"

"I cannot believe this." Jenna said softly, and Clare scoffed.

"Well believe it!" she snapped, turning on her heels and walking back into her bedroom and slamming the door behind her. She slid down against the door and onto the floor, closing her eyes and finding herself in a state of misery. "How was that, convincing enough?" she whispered, and Eli turned around from looking at the end of her bed to her against the door and nodded.

"Perfect." He whispered, and as he started to move closer towards her the same as he had been doing earlier, as if he was about to go in for the kiss all over again. Clare took in a breath.

"You should go." She murmured, and Eli almost raised his eyebrows. What, did he not want to leave? "We've done enough work for today… just… just go now; I've got to think about all of this. It's way too much to be on a girls mind."

"Okay." Eli said, moving away from her and starting to stand up. "You can come over to my dorm tomorrow if you want; we can work on this, or hang out or something."

"I have to work tomorrow." Clare said, looking straight ahead of her. "Maybe Thursday, or Friday."

"What, no crazy parties to lose your virginity at this Friday?" Eli joked, and Clare scowled. "Sorry." Eli backed up and bit his lip. "I'm going to need you to move so I can leave." She nodded, standing up to her feet and looking at him in front of her. The two were exchanging these looks. It was like he felt sorry for her and she didn't know what to feel anymore. She moved out of his way, and he walked out the door, leaving her alone in her room. Alone to do whatever she wanted. So if she wanted to cry, now would be the correct time.

But she was stronger than this. She wouldn't cry. But she would imagine that almost kiss that happened twice, in her head over and over again all night.

She might as well just admit it now.

She was falling for Eli Goldsworthy.