"Duh! This is totally crazy. What are you going to do?"

Farrah looked uncomfortable as well. "I feel like I just stepped on a landmine."

"I can relate to that."

Farrah didn't really know Sav, other than what her parents told her about him. "I can see why you'd want to marry him too. He's going to make a handsome doctor."

"What?" Clare laughed. "He's studying music theory."

"How will be become a doctor doing that?"

"He refused to study medicine. What else did your parents tell you?"

Farrah explained that she had been told he was a devout Muslim who only ate halal, was training to be a doctor and was looking to settle down and wanted to start a family once he got his residency out of the way.

Alli and Clare were cracking up. "Sorry," Alli finally said. "That's all made up." She and Clare started to explain the real Sav. Clare skipped over the sex and the drugs, but the rest they included, even the booze.

"He's not at all what his parents promised."

"They lie," Alli informed her.

"And you want to marry him?" She looked at Clare.

"More than anything!"

"Good luck, and I think I should head home now."

Sav drove Farrah back to the house where she grabbed her bags and called a cab. From a hotel, she called her father, informing him the engagement was off. "Sav is not a devout man, and he is not even in medical school." Her father had quite a few words for Mr. Bhandari, and he changed her ticket so she could come home the next day.

Sav dropped off Clare and then he went to face his parents. Alli backed him up.

"How could you humiliate us like that?"

"How could you humiliate ME like that? Bringing home a surprise fiancee when you just saw me with my girlfriend three days ago. And you lied to her about me. She thought I was in med school."

Sav and his parents argued. Alli was scared to say anything at all. Finally she said, "enough already."

"Look. This engagement was never going to work. Once Farrah's parents found out that Sav isn't pre-med or any of the other stuff you made up about him, they would have backed out anyway. Maybe it's better that she's going home now."

Her parents sighed. They couldn't justify their own deception.

"Sav and Clare are really good together. I can't think of anyone who would take care of Sav like she would. She's honest, responsible, and I'm sure she'll make a great mother when she's older. She also loves Sav, as he is, and doesn't want to change him."

"That's our problem," Mr. Bhandari seethed. They wanted their son to be a devout muslim and a doctor. Clare didn't care if he was a beer-chugging guitarist, but they did.

"It's not that Clare isn't good enough," Sav said. "It's that I'm not good enough. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you." Sav got in his car and left.

"How could you say that? He's your son."

"Not the way he disrespected me. I didn't raise him like that."

Alli sighed and went upstairs.

Sav drove around until he was almost out of gas. Finally, he went to Clare's house.

Helen answered the door. "She's at the food bank, but she should be home soon."

"Can I wait inside?"

Helen let him in. "I take it your parents are not pleased."

"Did Clare tell you already?"

"Tell me what?"

"That they brought a fiancee for me from India this morning."

"WHAT!"

"And they told her family a bunch of lies about me, so that they would agree to the marriage."

"And when she found out the truth?"

"She got on the first plane back to India."

"And your parents?"

"Are furious that I'm not the man they tell people I am, that I'm not a doctor, that I don't always eat halal, that I would dare fall in love with a girl who's not a Muslim."

"How is that going to work?"

"What?"

"Marriage, kids, being of two different faiths can be complicated."

"I will do anything for Clare. If she wants to baptize out kids, she can. I just want them to understand my faith, so they can (as well as anyone can) understand my history and my family."

Helen was a bit relieved. She wanted her future grand babies baptized. "What will you do now?"

"I don't know." Helen rubbed his shoulder. He was a nice boy; why couldn't he have been born a Christian boy.

Clare came home. She saw Sav's car in the driveway. "Hey, Baby." She kissed his cheek.

He pulled her onto his lap, but didn't speak.

"It went that badly."

He nodded.

"They hate me."

"They don't hate you. They hate me, for failing them as a son."

"Because you want to marry me."

"Because I don't want to be a doctor, because I have had alcohol, because I love rock and roll, because I don't always eat halal. They only dislike you because you accept me as I am. They want a girl who will demand a perfect Muslim man."

Clare held him. "You're perfect to me."

"And you me."

"Stay with me tonight," she hissed into his ear. Helen had already gone upstairs.

"I may need to stay here for some time."

She led him to bed. "I have a surprise for you. I was going to wait until new years, but I think I should try and cheer you up now!"

She went into the bathroom and came back with a santa hat on and a white lingerie set. She started playing, "All I Want for Christmas is You," as she gave him a lap dance as he sat on the edge of her bed. She kissed him softly as she softly gyrated her hips on him. He grunted as she shamelessly thrust her boobs in his face. They were covered in this silver dust which turned out to be marsh mellow flavored. After the song ended, she went back to classic rock, the Rolling Stones, and Sav undressed her.

Sav was quiet as he took her under the sheets. He needed to feel her love for him. He needed her to keep him sane. She bit down on him hard, scratching his back as he pounded her, hissing and moaning for, telling him how she loved him, she belonged to him and she would marry him. He responded with deep grunts as he bit down on her flesh, letting the pleasure take over the pain as he gazed into her eyes. His were dark and brooding. Hers were bright and loving. She wouldn't stop until he felt how magical he was to her. She came for him again and again. Clare held nothing back. She needed Sav to know how only he could make her feel so good. He came, explosively and when he came too, he found that he had been resting on Clare's perfect breasts. He looked at her and smiled.

They fell asleep and Sav was careful to get dressed and into a different room before Helen found them. Darcy, however, caught him. "You better be using protection," she whispered.

"We are. Have been for over a year." Clare went on the shot over the summer. They used condoms before that.

Darcy was surprised by that confession. How quickly did she put out?

Clare woke up alone. She was afraid Sav went back to that house, but his car was still in the driveway. She took a shower and went down for breakfast. Sav was helping Helen cook.

The Bhandari house was not very pleasant. Mr. Bhandari was arguing on the phone with Farrah's dad all day and Mrs. Bhandari was crying. Alli couldn't handle the stress, so she asked Clare to pick her up. Clare parked down the street and Alli snuck out. "Thanks. I just can't watch this anymore."

"I know. Sav's reeling right now."

"I tried to stick up for him."

"I know."

"And in a year or two, this will be me. They'll bring me a fiancee and if I refuse, I'm done too."

"Let's blow off some steam."

"That sounds great."

Sav called. "Hey Baby! Where are you?"

"I just rescued Alli. I think it's time for laser tag."

"Can you pick me up? My car's pretty much out of gas."

"Give me 15 minutes."

She picked up Sav and they all headed to play laser tag. Owen was there with Jordan and some other football players. Clare challenged Owen, but they decided to join forces against some kids from Bardell.

We killed them, Owen bragged as they left the arcade.

"3-0." They all ended up at the Dot, getting milkshakes and fries. Clare dipping hers in her milkshake. Alli making the same face she always makes. Sav was hanging out with Peter. Mia was with Izzy, who was napping. As it got closer to dinner, the crowd waned until it was time to go home.

Helen was just getting started on dinner. "Are you staying Alli?"

"Can I?"

"Of course."

Alli and Clare headed upstairs. Darcy was having a heart to heart with Sav.

"You can't hide from your parents forever."

"I know, but they don't think I'm good enough, and they never will. What do I say to that?"

"I think their pride is in the way. You're in college, preparing for your future. It's not like you're a drug addict or a bum."

"I might as well be. It's their house and their rules, and I can't live by those rules anymore. They can't tell me who to marry or what classes to take."

She took his hand in hers. "This will workout. I know it."

Just hearing her voice made him feel better. "Did your parents approve of you going to Kenya?"

"Not at first. My dad started yelling, and my mother was crying. My sister was the only one who thought I should go."

"Really, she missed you like crazy."

"I know, but she said I needed to be on my own and find myself. She was right."

Alli and Clare

They started talking about magazines and celebrity fashion trends and other girly stuff like they used to. "I miss this," Alli told her.

"Me too."

"Why did everything have to change?"

"Because we grew up. You have Drew; I have Sav. We are no longer grade 9s eager for boyfriends."

Alli giggled. "I remember when you had first kissed K.C. You came back to the dance and looked like you were going to faint."

"Shut up!"

"Well I was going to faint when I saw you with Sav. Ew!"

"Sorry about that."

"Why hadn't he locked the door?"

"I don't think we were thinking at that point."

Alli threw a pillow at her. The girls had their little play fight and then Clare went down for water. Sav was right behind her.

His arms found her waist as she grabbed two glasses. She turned around and gave him a quick kiss.