Chapter 11: Good Friends

The fireworks display of Mineral Town lasted for 10 minutes.

Afterwards, Mayor Thomas called the attendees for some food and drinks.

Ann pulled Cliff to the table. She helped in serving the food. Of course, she asked Cliff first. "Cliff would you like to have some sandwich and juice?"

"Thank you Ann but no. I'm fine. I'm sorry I have to go."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Just somewhere."

Cliff hastily left. Ann pouted. She knew what Cliff was up to.

Near the stairs, Cliff passed by Gray.

"Cliff! Where are you going?" Gray murmured to Cliff.

"I'm going to correct my mistakes." Cliff whispered in response.

Gray patted his back. "Good luck dude."

"Gray I still owe a talk with you."

"It can wait. But you hurry now, go to her."

"Thanks."

oOo

Beethoven approached the bush and the moving figure showed up. He was looking down with guilt and regret on his face.

"Cliff!" Claire softly said, then ran and jumped to hug him.

"Claire, I'm sor.."

She covered his mouth with her hands. "Hmp. Don't talk. Come on. It's still on," she kindly said, then pulled him to the summit of the hill.

As they walked, he looked at their hands holding each other. He was still feeling guilty and embarrassed.

At the summit, they sat together with Beethoven.

Claire's eyes were sparkling as they reflected the bright colors bursting at the sky. "Isn't it a wonderful view from here?"

"Uh.. yeah." Cliff was surprised to see Claire genuinely happy.

Soon all the booming finished, and the only sounds they could hear were those from crickets.

Claire was stroking Beethoven. Right then and there, Cliff took his chance to speak.

"Claire, I'm so sorry. I'm such a moron. I made baseless assumptions."

"Huh? Of what?"

"A few days ago, Ann mentioned she saw you and Gray at the square and that he would invite you for the festival. You didn't know it but I went there and hid. I heard he invited you and that you accepted it…so I..invited Ann to go with me."

Claire smiled a little. "Ann and you must have misunderstood us. We did talk about the festival that day. But.. what you don't know is that it was all about Gray's plan to invite Mary. What you heard must be when he was practicing his approach to her." She giggled.

"Kai was right then. I didn't catch everything you talked about and hastily made my conclusion. I'm so sorry Claire."

"Don't be, Cliff. You still came…although you were quite late." Claire chuckled. "Don't feel like you owe to invite me for this festival. You can invite anyone."

"No Claire, I should have invited you at the first place."

"But why?"

"That's because you..I..I.."

Claire curiously looked at him in the eyes. Soon, their faces drew close to each other.

Cliff suddenly blinked his eyes rapidly and turned his head.

"I…I…got to take you home now. Well…to your home that is. The night is getting deeper," Cliff said.

Claire looked away from him. "Oh.. yeah..okay." She turned to Beethoven. "Hey buddy..time to go home."

oOo

At her doorstep, Claire once again gave Cliff a hug and told him, "Thank you for spending the night with me, Cliff."

When Claire released him, Cliff said, "No. It's I who has to thank you. Thank you Claire for letting me spend the night with you." He lifted her hands and kissed her knuckles.

Claire blushed.

"And I really am sorry for the trouble I caused."

But Claire reached Cliff's cheeks, making him blush as well. "It doesn't matter now. I still had a wonderful night with you."

oOo

Cliff came back to the inn before Ann and the others arrived.

When Ann stepped in, he immediately approached her. "I'm sorry I left earlier..I..I wasn't feeling well."

"Oh." Ann made a straight face, but played it through. She touched Cliff's forehead and stroke his back. "Is there anything you need? Medicine? Warm food maybe?"

"I'm fine. I just had to take a rest."

Then Cliff excused himself to go upstairs.

oOo

"Whaaat?! You still didn't tell her?" Gray and Kai were in a soft chorus since it was already late night. They asked Cliff if he already confessed his feelings to Claire.

"Seriously? Should I really tell that right away? I just said sorry about what I did. I couldn't confess to her immediately after that. And besides, I still have an unfinished business.."

"Unfinished business?" Gray and Kai asked together.

"With you two… I'm sorry I doubted you."

Gray held Cliff's right shoulder. "You didn't doubt us dude, you were just confused."

Kai was on his left. "Yeah, and misinformed. If I were in your place, I think I would have reacted the same."

"Me too. If the person who informed me was someone I trusted and then I would catch just that part of the conversation at the square, I would feel messed up too," Gray said.

"But seriously dude, you should be careful of believing in Ann," said Kai.

"Let's not think that way about Ann, guys. Just like Claire said, maybe she just misunderstood you Gray when she saw you with Claire," Cliff said.

"I hope that's the case man," Gray said.

"Alright. There's no bad blood among us. Before I forget, Gray! Congratulations! So Mary accepted your invitation!" said Kai.

"Yeah, congratulations Gray," said Cliff.

"Thank you guys."

"I'm also happy tonight. I got to spend the night with Popuri," said Kai. "Cliff, you must still be happy."

"Uh..actually, I am." The image of Claire with eyes sparkling as they reflected the fireworks flashed in his mind.

"Hoooaahh!" Kai yawned. "I'm exhausted. Let's get some rest."

Gray and Cliff laughed and agreed.

As he lied on his bed, Cliff replayed the festival moments he spent with Claire. He was really happy that Claire was happy. He wanted to do something special to make up for her. But then he realized that he was running out of funds, by the way, and still couldn't find a job.

oOo

A couple of days later, Claire went to the poultry to buy medicine for her chickens.

After her purchase, Popuri called her.

"Claire, I'd like to have a little chat with you if you're not busy."

"Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

"It's about the festival."

Popuri invited Claire to their living room.

"Most of us were really surprised that Cliff spent the fireworks show with Ann instead of with you. Then yesterday, Kai shared to me what he thinks is the explanation to that. So now, I'm here to share it to you."

"Gray and I were misunderstood by Cliff and Ann. I think that that's enough explanation."

"No Claire. You have to know something. Ann likes Cliff. Actually, she shared to us girls her interest on him even in his early days here at the town. I agree with Kai that Ann must have intentionally made Cliff believe that Gray actually invited you for the festival so Cliff would invite her instead."

"Maybe you're mistaken Popuri. If I remember it correctly, Gray wasn't actually able to explain that time to her that he would ask me to rehearse his invitation to Mary. Even I didn't have an idea until Ann left."

"You're like Cliff, Claire." Popuri chuckled.

Streaks of red appeared on Claire's cheeks. "Huh..uh..why?"

"He also did not agree with Kai when they talked about this. You both gave Ann the benefit of the doubt. Well, Kai and I are also not sure but we decided to tell this to you so at least you would be aware and careful next time."

"Thank you Popuri."

"You, Cliff, and Ann are all our friends and we don't want you to be in bad terms with each other. I personally like you and Cliff together, and I don't think anyone should get in between you."

"Popuri…Cliff and I are friends. And he may invite anyone he likes for any event."

"But you like him. I can tell that from how you look when I mention his name. Heehee.. Didn't you also have even a teeny tiny expectation he would invite you for the festival?"

"Well..I.. I'm not really sure about him having interest on me, Popuri. He might be better off with Ann."

"And why do you say that?"

"Uh..for one I am quite busy. I don't see him as often as Ann does. And I don't know maybe I am a boring sentimental companion."

Popuri held her blonde friend's hand and smiled. "Don't look at yourself like that Claire. You are special in your own ways. Besides, we don't really know about Cliff's preferences for girls so don't lose hope on him."

Claire made an awkward grin.

"Oh yeah. And this is one more thing. I just want you to know that I am here for you and you can talk to me about anything…about the town, the people, matters of the heart, and of course, chickens. Hihi."

"Thank you so much Popuri."

Popuri did not mention to Claire that she sees that Cliff also likes her. She believed that the person who should tell that to Claire is Cliff himself.