A/N: Ok, so here, about a week has passed since Eli and Clare last spoke. I don't know if I've mentioned that, but just in case I didn't, there you go.


Eli looked out his phone and saw that he was ten minutes late in meeting Adam for lunch. He started to send him a text message when he saw that Adam had texted him first. He chuckled to himself when Adam's message said he was running late. Slowing down his pace, Eli walked to the restaurant. A familiar face caught his eye – it was the same guy that Clare was with at the coffee shop. This time he was with a different girl, a petite blonde. The girl smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss.

Eli's eyes widened, coffee shop guy was kissing a girl who wasn't Clare. Just then, Clare showed up. He watched with curiosity since he thought Clare would get mad at coffee shop guy. Eli felt bad, Clare was hurt once before and she didn't deserve to be hurt again. He thought of walking up to them, but was stopped as the scene unfolded before him – the two pulled away to greet Clare, who gave them both hugs. Confusion filled his mind as the three entered the building.

Alli snuck up behind Eli, "Hey."

He jumped at her greeting, "Alli! Sheesh."

"Sorry," she shrugged, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just getting a bite to eat and waiting for Adam," he said, "How about you?"

"I'm meeting with Clare and Nick a few buildings down," she gestured.

"Nick?" he asked.

Alli nodded, "Clare's ex-boyfriend."

"Oh…" Eli briefly looked down.

"Yeah, it sounds odd but they ended in good terms," she explained, "He's engaged and we're meeting his fiancée today. We're helping with the wedding."

Eli suddenly felt horrible for overreacting during the dinner night… As if he needed to feel even more horrible. He really should have just spoken to Clare as soon as possible rather than avoiding her for so long. Alli said goodbye and made her way to her destination. He watched them go inside the restaurant and decided that there was something he needed to do that evening.


Clare had the apartment to herself for the evening, while Alli spent some time with Sav. She was in her pajamas, cooking dinner for herself when there was a knock on the door. Hesitating, she wiped her hands and made her way to the door. She was greeted by Eli, holding a plastic bag filled with ice cream.

"Hey," he gave her a small smile, "I brought you vanilla ice cream."

Clare smiled at the gesture, "Come on in."

He followed her into the kitchen, where he put the ice cream in the fridge. She offered him a plate, which he gently refused.

She set it down, "You're here anyway and I made enough for the both of us."

They sat down on the table and ate in silence. Every once in a while, Eli would hesitate and look up at Clare. If they ever made eye contact, they would immediately look away. He knew that he had to apologize but he didn't know how to phrase everything else. He let out a breath, which didn't go unnoticed by Clare.

Eli looked at her, "So… dinner…"

She let out an awkward laugh, "Yeah… dinner."

He kept silent for a few seconds, going back to his food.

Clare spoke up, "Eli… what happened that night?"

He kept his eyes down, "I overreacted to something silly. I'm sorry, Clare. I'm sorry for overreacting and I'm sorry it took me so long to apologize."

"I'm sorry too," she said, "I kind of just snapped at you that night."

"Don't worry about it," he chuckled, "I deserved it."

She bit her lip, "What were you overreacting to?"

Eli contemplated his answer, trying to figure out how to explain it to her, "A few days before the dinner, I saw you at the coffee shop with some guy."

"Ok," Clare said slowly.

"Well, when I saw you with him, I guess, uh, I guess I was, um, you know…" he struggled to finish the sentence.

She watched him with interest. Suddenly, it clicked.

"Were you jealous?" a huge smile formed on her lips.

"No!" he quickly answered, "I was just curious who that guy was that you were with."

"You were jealous," she let out a small laugh.

Eli continued to struggle with his words. Clare lightly laughed but took notice of the warm feeling she got as she thought of the possibility that he might like her back. Ever since they were reunited, she found herself falling for him again. She tried to brush it off because she thought he would never feel the same. However, as they sat eating dinner, Clare came to realize that maybe he did return those feelings.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this," he smirked.

She controlled her laughter, "Sorry."

"Alli told me that coffee shop guy was your ex-boyfriend," he continued, "Who's getting married."

Clare nodded, "Yeah, the wedding is in a month."

She suddenly came up with an idea, "Did you, maybe, want to go with me?"

"What?" Eli was caught off guard.

"To the wedding," she said, "Alli is probably going with Jeremy and I don't have a date yet."

"You're not going to use me to make him jealous are you?" he teased back, turning the tables on her.

Clare rolled her eyes, remembering an incident back in junior year – It had been over a year since her and K.C. broke up, but with the mess of her parents' divorce, Alli's transfer to another school, Fitz's constant bullying of Eli and Adam, the lack of communication between her and Darcy, Clare had a setback. She was convinced that she wasn't over K.C. and enlisted the help of Eli in trying to get him back. She constantly asked him to fake date her, but he refused. After weeks of convincing, Eli was finally able to crack her. He never let her live it down.

"No, I'm not going to pester you about being my fake boyfriend," Clare playfully narrowed her eyes at him.

Now it was Eli's turn to laugh, "You were ridiculous."

"It was a momentary lapse of judgment," she defended.

He just laughed further, "I'm never going to forget your attempt at flirting with me at The Dot when K.C. walked by."

She started to blush, "So are you coming with me or not?"

"Relax Edwards," his laughing subsided, "I'll go with you."

They couldn't contain their smiles.


A/N: Good – yes? No? I seriously struggled with this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. =)