Author's Note: This chapter sat on my computer since I posted the last one. It's the longest chapter I've written but it moves the story along. Yes, it is different from the show, but I did sneak in familiar lines ;) Hope you all enjoy! Make sure you all review and tell your friends!
Different Perspectives
Eli Goldsworthy and Clare Edwards
Summary: Clare is the rebel; the black-wearing, smirking, bantering, fiction writer. Eli is the altar boy; the brightly colored, sweet and kind, aspiring journalist. Opposites attract, don't they?
Chapter 14: First Dates and Last Straws
"Good evening families, students and faculty. I'm proud to welcome you all to the Degrassi hosted Grundy Awards!" For the first time in a while, Eli saw a genuine smile upon Mr. Simpson's face. It wasn't just because he was under intense lighting; the man actually didn't show any embarrassment or disappointment of his school. It had been weeks since Mr. Simpson had sensed or was notified of any of trouble with his students. The GPA's had been rising and the attendance record was improving significantly. "I'm so proud of every single talented and dedicated student here. Tonight, we celebrate the brightest and most creative minds from schools all over the city. Now, I would like to introduce you to the legend himself, Idem Grundy!" The crowd applauded immensely. A man in a tailored suit approached the stage the same moment Eli felt Bullfrog slide into the seat beside him.
"Hey, son," He whispered. He tossed a feigned apologetic smile to Cece. "Cece," He added coolly. Bullfrog wrapped his arm across his son's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you, buddy." His father was grinning from ear to ear, but Eli only tried to sink lower in his seat. His father didn't smell like the office. No, he smelt like something else, something pretty.
"Nice of you to finally show up Bullfrog." Cece snapped and crossed her legs.
"I would never miss my son's big debut." The hand on Eli's shoulder squeezed at Eli's collar bone a few times more.
"I'm sure you wouldn't." Eli glanced between his parents and wanted to scream.
"I want to hear what Mr. Grundy has to say." Eli hissed impatiently and with that, the bickering ceased temporarily.
Xxx
His ears hurt and with every word his parents harshly exchanged, Eli sank deeper into the auditorium seat. The entire time the host proclaimed the excellent work and presented the accolades, Bullfrog and Cece Goldsworthy fought. Eli wanted to puke. With each new award presented, one of them would sigh in awe at the work and other would bash it.
"And now for the students who devoted their time, effort and abilities to behind the scenes." Mr. Grundy announced from the podium. "In the end, without an excellent crew, no production could ever be performed…" Eli's hands melted into sweat. He caught Adam's eye across the room. Adam gave him a small nod.
"Of course we got this." Eli muttered under his breath.
"…Which is why this next award is presented to the Degrassi Drama Backstage Crew." At first, Eli couldn't believe what he had just heard. He turned his head to the isles and saw four or five of the crew members make their way to the stage. He was about to join them when Cece and Bullfrog's fighting was no longer confined to whispers. He couldn't understand what they were arguing about. All he heard was noise; awful, ear deafening noise. It never stopped.
Eli climbed to his feet and wanted to explode. "Guys!" They both stopped to stare at him. "For once can something not be about you and your petty arguing?!" He shouted. Eli saw the eyes of the audience flicker to his shaking frame. He shook off their stares and stepped onto the stage where Adam had the microphone.
Adam cleared his throat. "Well, the crew is thankful for your nomination and win, but none of our work would be done so well without a play to begin with. So, we want to thank our directors, Declan Coyne and Holly J Sinclair, and the actors." The crowd went wild.
Before leaving the stage with the rest of the crew, Adam shot Eli a glare. In return Eli shook his head and took off down one of the wings. He wasn't going back out there.
"Bravo, Prop master." Eli looked up quickly to see Clare standing in front of him. "Job well done." She smiled at him like a friendly Cheshire cat.
"Thank you, although I might be well known now for that outburst back there, not just my props." Eli rubbed the back of his neck.
"Relax. It's over now, okay?" Clare's hands found their way to his shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. "It's gonna be me, you and Chuck this evening. No parents, no worries, no problems. And a quick stop at the Grundy after party to finish off the night." Clare's lips brushed against his cheek. "Sound cool?"
"Very cool," Eli told her and wound his arms around her torso. "Except my parents didn't approve. I'm looking at three weeks of grounding tops if I miss my curfew."
Disappointment clouded Clare's eyes. "Oh,"
Eli didn't want to go home. He dreaded the excruciating car ride and the conversation of whose taking custody of who back at the house. Screw it. Eli had obeyed his folks for as long as he could remember. One little night of fun – one last hurrah –would be just what he needed before his parents' split and it seemed like just the right medicine. "You know what, screw curfews. We're going to that reading whether my parents like it or not." Eli smirked.
The same expression infatuated Clare's face before she kissed him briefly on the lips. "What are we waiting for?"
Xxx
The night was cool and calm, but Eli's heart wouldn't stop beating fast. He had just spent the past hour in the same vicinity as Chuck Palahniuk listening to his work. As soon as he and Clare left the venue, the two instantly began quoting and discussing and praising the genius material. Their analyzing had taken them all the way to the part of town where Fiona Coyne's apartment was. In all the excitement of the reading, Clare was practically skipping down the sidewalk. It was completely ironic, really. The girl in her heavy duty combat boots, leather jacket, and blood red mini skirt was floating on air. "God, I love Palahniuk's prose. It's just so raw and forceful and dark-"
"But not half as dark as his characters. Geez, they're sociopathic." Eli replied with a grin. He was surprised Clare wasn't spinning in circles at the moment waiting for rain.
"But to be a truly great writer, you need some damage to draw on." She countered with a devious grin.
"Guess you're halfway to the Pulitzer then." Eli told her and was about to follow her around the corner when his phone began to vibrate. He assumed it was Adam telling him to hurry his ass up, but instead Cece's text lit up his screen. "Crap." He muttered under his breath and shoved the phone back in his pocket.
"Woah, you okay? Everything cool?"
"Yup, everything's fine. It wasn't Adam texting me, but I still think we should hurry on up there." Eli and Clare had finally made it to the front doors of Fiona's apartment building.
"Are you sure everything's okay? Was that your parents?" Eli didn't look her in the eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "It was your parents Eli, wasn't it?" He sadly nodded.
"But the text was something stupid, Clare. There's nothing to fret over-"
"Eli," Clare's hands wrapped around his forearms. "I don't want them to get the wrong impression of me." Eli stood there puzzled. "I like you and I want to keep seeing you. I know, I'm playing Captain Curfew at the moment, but I don't want to lose you. I just got you."
"Clare, the text was nothing. Everything's okay. If anything, my parents love you. They think you're awesome!" Clare smiled down at the ground. "Listen," He tucked a finger underneath her chin to make her look at him. "Tonight is out first date-"
"I'm really liking first date Eli, by the way." Clare interjected with a grin.
"Same here, first date Clare is pretty amazing herself."
"Maybe a date number two could happen soon?"
"What a sec, date number one isn't even over yet." Eli took Clare by the hand and led her to the door. He pulled at the handle and held the door ajar. "After you, m'lady."
"Why thank you, kind sir." Clare said and reached up to kiss him once more on the cheek before flying inside.
Xxx
The music wasn't loud enough to make him feel the beat in his bones, but it definitely was rocking, especially with Sav as DJ. Eli pointed up to the loft to Sav and threw him a wave. As soon as Eli and Clare stepped inside, Clare took Eli's hand so the two remained connected by their intertwined fingers. They weaved through the light crowd. Eli wasn't quite sure what to except. He had never been to a Coyne party before, but the party was nice.
Clare spotted Adam by the refreshments table chatting with Fiona. Fiona was loosely clutching a frosted wine glass. She laughed and giggled at Adam's jokes.
Clare then led Eli to the living room. "Congratz, Goldsworthy." A voice said over the music. Before them was Declan. Eli jumped up to extend his hand.
"Thank you, Declan. And congratulations to you too! That's some mighty award you earned tonight. You must be feeling pretty fantastic right now." Eli hadn't stopped shaking Declan's until he felt a pinch in his side from Clare and saw a wary look from the Coyne. "Sorry." Eli snaked his hand back into his pocket.
"Enjoy yourselves," Declan said with a grin before wandering off and taking another sip of his drink. Eli eyed the beverage. He knew what it was: champagne. At fundraise dinners they would have champagne on the tables. Rarely his parents drank it, but Eli thought it must taste okay.
"Care for a drink?" He asked Clare. The girl nodded. Eli took her hand momentarily and gave it a squeeze before running off to collect a few glasses. At the table, technically the kitchen island, Eli stumbled upon Adam and Fiona. Adam had a firm grip on Fiona's hip while Fiona was seconds away from devouring his friend. Eli tried not to cause a disturbance but when he reached for he and Clare's drinks- Eli opted for the punch- the glass chimed. Fiona looked up from her and Adam's lip lock and suddenly turned rosy.
"How about we take this elsewhere, Adam," She whispered with a gleam in her eye. Adam became flustered and flattered and let her lead him upstairs. He didn't even bother to send Eli a wave. Eli only watched them disappear. Adam was definitely going to be freaking out tomorrow morning.
Eli returned to Clare sitting on the couch. She was absorbing her surroundings and didn't notice him at first. He placed the drink in her hand and landed a light kiss on her cheek. "Enjoying yourself?" He asked her with a smirk. Clare took a sip of the sparkling liquid and nodded.
"I love this." She scooted closer to him on the couch and settled into the nook of his arm. "I'm so glad you could come with me to the reading." Clare peered up at Eli to smile. Suddenly very parched, he gulped down the entire glass of punch. There was a funny after taste, a very bitter one, but he took no notice.
"I'm glad I came too." Eli replied with an unexpected hiccup.
"Excuse you," Clare laughed.
Eli wasn't sure how many drinks had been drunk or how much time had passed, but one way or another, the two landed on the dance floor in close contact. The music was upbeat, neither Clare nor Eli's taste, but Eli really didn't mind. He had never been so physically close to Clare before. He felt her breathing against his chest; he smelt the jasmine and sweat off her skin and for a writer, her hips went wild. Sooner than later their intimate dancing turned into kissing. In his intoxicated daze, which he couldn't determine if it was from this girl or something else, he heard Clare giggle and pull him away from the crowd. Somehow, the later it got, the more people accumulated in the apartment. Eli stumbled behind Clare and followed her bouncing curls. She led him down a hallway off the main living space.
"Come here, you," She laughed and gripped the collar of his jacket.
"You know how at school there's no PDA?" Eli asked. A smile danced along Clare's lips. "Are you up for some contraband kissing?" She didn't even answer him; instead she brought his lips to hers with one last tug on his blazer.
Xxx
His head hurt, he felt like he was spinning and he felt something or someone beside him. In his sleepy state, Eli heard a yawn and then a sudden gasp. In seconds he was shaken awake to find Clare beside him. Her eyes were wide. "Eli! Eli, wake up! We're late for school." She jumped up and readjusted her clothing. Her outfit was rumpled and wrinkled. What happened last night? "Shit." Clare spat when her eyes focused back on him.
Eli squinted from the bright sunlight flooding the condo- Condo? Fiona's condo? "Shit!" Eli jolted from his drowsy stupor and hit his head on the wall. His hand reached for the tender spot and he groaned. "What the hell happened last night?" He asked Clare, but he got the feeling she wasn't very sure either. His pocket vibrated. Eli extracted his cell phone to find twelve brand new messages from Cece, even some from Bullfrog, all of which were urgent. A pain ran through Eli's brain, he winced. "I feel awful, is this what being hung over feels like?"
"I think someone spiked the punch." Clare said to him. "How much did you drink last night?"
Eli tried to think back, but was incapable. "I lost count after about five." He confessed.
"Can you walk? Are you thinking straight? Are you gonna barf?" Eli shook his head.
"Not really, just a tad dizzy that's all. But Clare, I'm fine." Eli eased himself off the floor and steadied on his feet. "See? All good." He offered Clare a reassuring smile and reached out to kiss her. She still tasted sweet.
"Oh no," Clare teased and pushed him away. "No kissing until you're cleaned up."
"I have an extra polo in my gym locker, I'm fine. " Eli glanced down at what he wore. His shoes were fine and his khakis from the night before were only a little wrinkly. "What about you?"
"I'm covered, not to worry. Imogen is bound to have some back up outfits in her locker I can borrow." Clare laughed. "It's like her personal wardrobe in there…"
"Oh I bet," He said with a smirk. Now that they had a plan, Eli thought it was acceptable to lean in for a kiss, but his eyes sidetracked to see Adam sneaking down the stairwell that led to the loft. "Adam?" He whispered. "What the-" There was Adam, creeping from Fiona's bedroom with what looked like a heart shaped hickey on his collar bone.
Adam instantly shushed him and hastily motioned for the exit. Eli turned to Clare who was stuck staring at the misfit boy. Overhead, there was rustling and movement. "Get out of here!" Adam hissed at them and waited for Clare and Eli to be safely across the living room before climbing back upstairs to care to a hung over, sleepy Fiona Coyne.
Once outside, Eli squinted at the blast of brightness. It was early, but they were still going to be late for school. The two rushed down the street- Clare actually running; Eli stumbling frantically behind her- back to Clare's hearse which was parked three blocks away near the book shop. They scrambled inside and headed to school. Just as they were pulling into the parking lot, the first period bell sounded. "Catch you at lunch?" Eli asked Clare. She nodded. He reached for her face and kissed her roughly on the lips. He wasn't completely sure why he felt the need to do this, maybe it was the remaining dosage of alcohol in his bloodstream, or possibly the hormones that were still craving from last night, either way he enjoyed his kisses with Clare. When he finally detached himself from her, her eyelids were left fluttering and her lips raw.
"See you later." She replied breathlessly. Eli wanted to wait for the smile to form on her lips, but turned and climbed out of the hearse. He closed the door but spun around because he knew he had forgotten something.
"By the way, what happened last night?" His elbows rested on the rolled down window.
Clare sputtered out a laugh. "An intense make out session for two hours," Eli's face grew warm. "Nothing too racy and then we cuddled in the hallway. You passed out first." She smirked at him. Eli tried to cover his face. "Get going, Goldsworthy. As it is, we're already late for first period." She threw him one last smile before he trekked to the front doors. In his pocket, his phone vibrated again, but Eli ignored it and glanced back at Clare who had just exited the hearse.
Xxx
The rest of the morning cruised by smoothly. Eli's phone had stopped receiving messages from his parents, Adam appeared late in third period with a grin plastered to his face and now he was about to meet Clare for lunch. It may have been hard to believe, but Eli was still buzzed. Somehow the toxins had remained in his system from last night. He still wasn't sure of how much of the spiked punch he consumed, but thankfully, no barfing had occurred though Eli found himself distracted most of the time. During all of his early classes, Clare was all he could think about. Her touch, her taste and her smile wafted through his mind. That is, until he got to lunch.
Clare waited for Eli by his locker. Instead of her mini skirt and combat boots from last night, she adorned a red polo and khaki pants. Imogen even lent her a pair of spikey purple flats. "Hello again," She half-heartedly smiled. Her hair had been rearranged into a tight bun and her makeup was redone.
"Hello to you too," Eli didn't even bother to open up his locker; instead he caught Clare around the waist and kissed her deeply. At first she welcomed him, but her sweetness went sour. She pulled away and held Eli at arm's length.
"What has gotten into this morning?" She hissed. Clare's eyes flickered from Eli's face to the stares they were receiving. "You know there's no PDA at school. And seriously? What's with being so handy all of a sudden?" She slapped at his hand on her waist. "School codes: follow them. I don't need another detention."
Suddenly Eli's phone went off again. He rolled his eyes at another message from his mom. Just as he was about to put it away, Clare snatched it. "This has been going off all night and all morning. Something is seriously wrong at home." She clicked on the most recent message and scowled in disgust, but Eli saw a hint of sympathy in her eyes. "You said last night things were fine, this doesn't look fine at all."
"I thought if I kept ignoring the problem it would go away…"
"Life doesn't happen that way, Eli."
"My parents are going through a divorce, Clare, and as soon as I walk through that door they're going to tell me that it's over. Twenty-two years of marriage gone to shit."
The disgust on Clare's face remained. "How is playing me as a pawn in your parental showdown help anyone, Eli?"
"I thought that if they were both mad at me, they'd stop being mad at each other and have something in common!"
"Eli, you can't fix your parents spitting up, they've already decided."
"Then maybe they'll realize that their family is deteriorating, how it's messing up their son."
"Well I'm not playing that game." Clare spat bitterly. Then her eyes clouded with hurt. "So the only reason you wanted to go to the reading and the party was to get them mad at you? You got drunk, it was all for them too, right?" Her eyes never met his gaze. "You tried to hurt them, but I'm the one who got burned." She shook her head, completely mortified and broken.
"Clare-" He tried to reach out to her but she backed away sharply.
"That's enough." She adjusted the strap on her bag, which was a moment away from dropping to the floor. "Sober up, Eli, and get your shit together." She looked over his trembling frame one last time before disappearing down the next corridor.
Eli was crushed. He forgot about lunch, about his homework and his next few classes and immediately headed for the double doors. He needed to go home. Clare was right. He had put off the inevitable for too long. Walking home cleared his mind momentarily. In a store front window he tried to fix his bedhead before returning home but his reflection wasn't cooperating.
Eli trudged up the front steps and found his house key in his backpack. The door clicked open. It was quiet, except for some small chatter in the kitchen. He didn't announce his arrival but it was like he had. Cece appeared in the living room and looked like she was about to either hug him or murder him. Even Bullfrog who followed close behind had worry etched into his wearing features. Eli fought the urge to apologize because why would it matter? In seconds his parents would tell him what he already knew. He trained his eyes to the floor, unable to look at his parents face to face.
"Baby boy," Cece began. "You father and I-"
"Bullfrog! You always call him Bullfrog, Mom." Eli shouted. Cece looked strained.
"Son, what Cece and I are trying to say is-" Bullfrog didn't need to finish that sentence.
Eli finished for them. "You guys are getting a divorce."
"I'm sorry Baby boy," Cece whimpered. She slowly approached him and he let her hold him tightly. There weren't any tears. Eli made sure of it. He wasn't going to cry. Bullfrog watched his son crumple to pieces and extended and arm to squeeze his shoulder.
"Everything will blow over soon, Bud, don't you worry." Eli highly doubted that and hugged Cece tighter.
REVIEW!