Ch. 38 2 Parties and a Dinner
(ELI)
"You doin' okay Blue Eyes?" Eli questioned.
They had just sat down on the sofa at Wesley's party; they'd been there a couple of hours and Clare had been standing and talking with various people almost nonstop. He and Adam had barely left Clare's side and when her legs finally started to falter Eli took her to the sofa while Adam got her some water.
"I'm okay; standing is just more tiring than walking." She smiled and kissed Eli's cheek.
Adam came back and handed Clare her water, she thanked him and took a sip.
"You ready to get your tattoo tomorrow?" Adam inquired sitting on the other side of Eli.
"Yep." She nodded.
"Clare you're getting a tattoo?!" Jenna exclaimed quietly sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Clare.
"On my lower back over their initials." Clare told her.
Jenna gave her a sympathetic smile. "What are you getting?" Jenna asked. Clare pulled her down and whispered it in her ear. "That's perfect!" Jenna praised.
"I thought so but don't tell anyone else I want it to be a surprise and my mom doesn't know at all." Clare told her.
"My lips are sealed." Jenna assured her.
"I can't believe spring break is almost over!" Alli pouted joining them by sitting on the coffee table.
"We have another week Alli." Clare laughed.
"We should have a big party next Saturday a farewell spring break party." Alli suggested.
"Good idea, how about at Above the Dot." Adam suggested.
"Adam your brilliant!" Alli smiled.
"Well obviously." Adam said sarcastically.
Alli stood up on the coffee table cupping her hands around her mouth and yelled over the music. "PARTY NEXT SATURDAY, ABOVE THE DOT EIGHT TO MIDNIGHT!"
The party erupted into cheers briefly before everyone settled back to what they had been doing.
"We'll come over on Monday to start planning and you guys spread the word to Fiona, Owen and all the others." Alli insisted.
"Wait what do you mean you'll be coming over to start planning?" Eli questioned.
"Jenna and I can't do all the planning." Alli stated in a slightly exasperated tone.
"What makes you think we know how to plan a party?" Eli asked in a snarky voice.
"You three planned the party at the abandoned church." Jenna pointed out.
"She has a point." Adam said.
Eli gave up and wrapped his arms around Clare and she cuddled into him. They stayed talking with Alli and Jenna a while longer until a slow song came on the stereo and Clare requested a dance with Eli. He of course obliged, he simply couldn't say no to her.
(CLARE)
Eli parked the car outside the Torres house and they all got out and went in through the front door.
"Hi kids, it's good to see you." Audra smiled hugging them all tightly. "You're looking so much better Clare." She said.
"Thanks I've been doing great and feeling really good." Clare smiled.
"That's good to hear, you gave us all quite a scare. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes the other kids are in the basement." Audra told them.
They smiled and went downstairs where Drew, Bianca and Dallas were watching TV. They all looked over and smiled and when they saw them coming down the stairs.
"Did you get it?" Bianca inquired.
"Get what?" Dallas asked.
"She got a tattoo and refused to show us until we got here." Eli told them.
"I had to keep it bandaged Eli." She retorted.
"So lets see it." Drew said.
Eli and Adam sat down on the sofa, Clare turned around lifting her shirt and pulling down the waist band of her jeans so they could it see it. On her back, covering the initials her step bastards had carved on her was:
Always Remember
You're braver than
You believe and
Stronger than you seem
"I like it, it's appropriate." Adam commented.
"Jenna was right it's perfect." Eli smiled as she turned around to face them.
"It's from Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A. Milne. It was my favorite book when I was young." Clare told them.
"Just remember that quote when you go back to writing your statement." Bianca told her.
Clare frowned at the thought of writing her statement again, but Eli pulled her down onto his lap and Adam brought up the end of spring break bash next week and she soon forgot about it. Drew reminded everyone not to tell their parents that he and Bianca were married when Audra called them up for dinner.
"So what did you kids do in Atlantic City?" Omar asked when everyone was seated.
"We walked around the boardwalk a lot, it's really big. Well they all walked I was mostly carried but I walked some." Clare said.
"She did great and she's gotten even stronger since then. We go walking every day and she can make it all the way around the block now without help." Eli bragged for her.
"That's great Clare. When do you get your staples removed?" Audra inquired.
"I have a follow up appointment with the doctor on the Wednesday after we return to school. Hopefully they'll be ready to come out then because I'm tired of having them in." She told them.
"Yeah but as soon as they come out you have to start physical therapy." Adam reminded her and she groaned.
They stayed at the Torres house for hours so Adam could catch up with his parents. Clare spent most of the time on the sofa in the basement safely ensconced in Eli's arms. After assuring Audra they'd be back next Sunday for dinner and every Sunday after, they finally got back home a little after ten.
"I'm gonna get ready for bed." She yawned when they got upstairs. Eli got out her PJ's and went into the washroom with her to help her change. "I can't wait till the staples are out and I can change my own clothes again." She sighed as he helped her get her shirt off.
"But I like helping you change." Eli said in a mock whine.
She turned around giving him a lopsided smile and kissed him. "Not just changing Eli, I'll be able to bathe again, I mean actually shower and won't have to worry so much about my range of movement. Go back to being normal, almost…kind of…." her sentence trailed of off as she realized things would never be normal again. It wasn't entirely a bad thing but she was going to redefine what normal meant for her.
Six weeks ago normal had meant dates with Eli, hanging out with him and Adam but always coming home to her own bed alone. Normal had meant church on Sundays with her family, rarely seeing her father and only having one stepbrother, one good stepbrother, who also happened to be her ex-boyfriend. Normal had also meant that she really didn't know or pay attention to Owen, Drew, Bianca, Dallas and the other Ice Hounds and Imogen and Fiona were really more acquaintances to her than friends. Normal had also meant that she didn't need to think about how she moved, or feel so much pain when she moved. Normal had meant she didn't start getting short of breath after a short slow walk around the block. Normal had meant breathing, breathing normally and full and taking deep breaths, not wheezing or coughing up blood or needing an inhaler and oxygen. Normal….normal…normal…normal, the word repeated in her head so much it was beginning to sound weird. Eli put his arms around her and kissed her neck softly and she floated back to the moment.
"What's on your mind?" He asked, releasing her and helping her on with her PJ's.
She smiled at him. "Just thinking that I'm gonna have to redefine what normal means because things will never be like they were."
He kissed her softly. "No they won't but we don't need normal, we need perfect and as long as I'm with you everything's perfect."
She smiled blissfully and linked her arms around his neck. "I love you Eli."
"I love you too Clare." He smiled and kissed her again.
(ELI)
They were downstairs waiting for Alli and Jenna to arrive so they could begin planning the party. Most everyone knew about the party already and they hadn't even begun planning it. They were watching TV when Clare's phone rang, he hadn't seen who it was but she smiled and picked it up and he and Adam listened to her side of the conversation.
"Hey…I'm good, doing much better…yeah I'm a lot stronger…next week…well you guys can come to our party at Above the Dot on Saturday so long as you don't mind hanging out with a bunch of high school kids…great we'll see you guys Saturday around eight." She hung up and set down her phone.
"Who was that?" Eli inquired.
"Jay; he, Spin, Emma and Peter are coming to the party." She smiled.
"Yeah I gathered that much." Eli said.
Before Clare could snap back with an answer the doorbell rang and Alli and Jenna came in. Alli came in talking and didn't stop almost the whole time they were there planning the party. This wasn't exactly surprising to Eli, since the day he'd met Alli he'd never known her to be silent for more than a few minutes except for the days right after Clare was hurt but then no one had really been talking. After a couple of hours they had everything planned out and arranged all that was left to do was buy food and drinks and set up on Saturday evening.
"You wanna go for our walk now Blue Eyes?" Eli asked when Alli and Jenna had left.
Clare nodded and Eli stood up ready to help her up when her phone rang again. She picked it up, looked at the display, sighed a little and answered. "Hi…tomorrow should be fine…sure seven at Little Miss Steaks, see you there." She said and hung up.
"Who was that?" Eli asked.
"My dad, he and Stephanie want to have dinner with us on Tuesday night." She told him quietly.
"No way!" Eli said flatly. He still hated them for putting Clare in a situation to get hurt, he blamed them just as much as he blamed Ben and Trevor.
"Eli they paid for our trip to Atlantic City, for Drew and Bianca's wedding. I did promise I would work on repairing my relationship with my dad and building one with Stephanie. I know you're still mad at them Eli but it really wasn't their fault. You don't have to come, either of you but I'm going with or without you." She told them in a determined tone.
"I'll go with you Clare." Adam told her.
Eli closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath to calm himself, he still didn't like this but if she was going to see them then he was going to be with her. "Fine I'm coming too but I still don't like this." He gave in.
She got up and kissed his lips very gently. "Let's go for our walk." She said.
He took her hand, she slipped on her shoes by the door and they left the house with a wave to Adam. They started walking down the block hand in hand. Eli was trying not to think about it but it wasn't working.
"How can you not be mad at them Clare?" He blurted out after a couple of minutes.
"Eli they didn't know, I didn't say anything and Ben and Trevor didn't attack me in front of them. They made sure they didn't hear or see anything suspicious and I was too afraid and ashamed to speak up. I'm not saying they totally escape responsibility but they didn't know Eli. Just like you didn't know." She told him.
"But we knew something was going on, they must have known something was going on! Didn't they see your bruises? How scared and nervous and sad you became overnight?" He said his voice raising a little.
"No Eli I did everything I could to hide all of it. If Drew hadn't found me at the mall that first night none of you would have seen the bruises either. Not that night anyway and I would have still covered them with clothes and makeup. Owen still might have seen the ones on my neck in science class but I barely knew Owen back then. If I had remembered that Drew worked at the mall I never would have gone there that first night, I never would have spent the night at the loft and I never would have gone there the night of the wedding. I don't know where I would have gone but I wouldn't have ended up at the loft. You can't blame my dad and Stephanie for not doing anything about something they didn't know about Eli. Just like you can't blame yourself for not protecting me when didn't know what was going on." She affirmed.
"But I do blame myself Clare. I should have protected you, I knew something was going on and I should have protected you and I failed. We all feel that way but I'm more guilty than the others, I'm your boyfriend it's my job to protect you." He confessed to her, his tone getting strained with remorse.
"It's your job to love me Eli but you can't protect me from life. Especially when you don't know what's happening. I should have said something that first night, Adam called right after they first touched me and my head was screaming to tell him but I was too afraid. I didn't protect myself Eli, I tried to avoid it and ignore it. If I'd spoken up and told Adam right away none of the other attacks would have happened." She said, her voice getting very small and sad.
"Damn right because we would have come and got you and gotten you out of there and Adam and I would have killed them for touching you at all." Eli said angrily, his fists clenching thinking of everything her step bastards had put her through.
Clare stopped walking and kissed his cheek. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. We were supposed to be taking a vacation from this stuff during spring break." She said in a small, distressed voice and taking a deep interest in her feet.
"Your right, I'm sorry. Come on lets keep walking. We'll go to dinner tomorrow night and I promise to be civil at least okay?" He asked, tilting her chin up both to get her to look at him and so he could kiss her.
"Thanks Eli." She smiled a little.
He smiled too, putting an arm around her and they continued walking.
(CLARE)
The three of them entered Little Miss Steaks and spotted her dad and Stephanie in a booth at the far end. Neither Eli or Adam wanted to be at this dinner, they had come for her sake but at least they had both promised to be civil. Truth be told she wasn't thrilled about having dinner them either but she had promised to start repairing/building her relationship with them. Eli slid into the booth followed by Clare and Adam, her dad and Stephanie both smiled nervously at them.
"It's good to see you all. You look much better Sweetheart." Her dad said.
"Thanks dad I've been feeling and doing a lot better." She told them.
"That's great honey, really great." Her dad smiled as the waitress came and took their drink order.
"How was Atlantic City and the wedding?" Stephanie asked when the waitress left.
"It was great; we all had a lot of fun. The wedding was small and simple but beautiful and Drew and Bianca are very happy. Thanks again for making it happen." Clare said.
"You're welcome it was nothing really, more than happy to do it, so glad you kids had a great time. If you need anything else just ask, anything at all. I know nothing can make up for what happened but…" Stephanie's rant sort of trailed off as she sipped nervously at her wine and Clare noticed her dad take his wife's hand under the table.
There was several minutes of awkward silence before her father broke it by asking how they'd done on their exams. The rest of dinner went much like that, lots of awkward silences followed by some small talk. Eli and Adam were both fairly tense for the entire dinner but they did remain civil. At the end of dinner agreed to meet every two weeks, Eli making a point that he and Adam would always accompany her. She had the feeling that if he could Eli would bring all the backup he could get. If it were up to him they'd be attending these dinners with Jake, Owen, Drew and everyone else.
"Thanks for coming and being civil guys, I know that was…awkward." Clare said slowly as they got back in the car.
"You know we wouldn't have let you come alone." Eli told her.
"It was kind of entertaining actually. They were very nervous and so guilty I think we could have asked them to buy us a house in New York for when we move next year and I think they would have done it." Adam commented and Clare laughed but he wasn't all together wrong.
(ADAM)
"Jay and the others are going to meet us at Above the Dot to help set up." Clare said as they got in the car to go do just that.
"That's good we could use the help because you're not lifting a finger. You can sit and supervise." Eli informed her in an authoritative voice.
"Eli!" She huffed.
"I mean it Clare." He said with finality.
"Adam tell him I can help." She whined a bit.
"Sorry Clare I agree with Eli. We go back to school on Monday and you go to the doctor on Wednesday; we don't want to chance you over exerting yourself or trying to lift something and hurting yourself again or popping a stitch again." Adam told her.
She huffed and crossed her arms but she stopped arguing. When they pulled up behind the café they saw Jay's car and the door to Above the Dot was open so they figured they were up there already. Clare got out of the car first and headed up the stairs with he and Eli following closely behind.
"Hey guys, Clare you look great!" Emma greeted upon their entry to Above the Dot.
Eli and Adam shook hands with Jay, Spinner and Peter while Clare talked with Emma. Then Alli and Jenna arrived and after quick hellos Alli took charge and put everyone to work; except of course for Clare. She was given a perch of sorts on the stage and strict orders from pretty much all of them to stay put. With so many of them working it took them less than hour to have everything set up and ready and with an hour before the party started they all decided to go downstairs for coffee.
"So any news on your step bastards? Have they been arrested yet?" Spinner asked after they'd all sat down.
Clare looked down biting her lip and shaking her head slowly. Eli put his arm around her and kissed her temple.
"She was resisting writing her stamen and then she went back to the hospital after popping a stitch and we took spring break off from well everything. They're waiting on Clare's account before they hold a trial or anything else." Adam informed them.
"Why don't you want to write the statement?" Peter inquired.
"They want me to go into great detail, which means having to relive everything which is hard. Anyway no punishment they could get will feel like justice to me." Clare explained quietly.
After seeing how sad and forlorn Clare became after talking about Ben and Trevor the subject was dropped and changed. Soon they saw people arriving for the party so they quickly finished their coffee and went upstairs. Drew, Bianca, Imogen, Fiona, Dallas and Owen were the first to arrive but the club quickly filled up with DeGrassi students. Clare, much like at Wesley's party, spent most of her time being asked how she was and told she looked much better. Eli stayed with his arm around her, the whole time and Adam never wandered too far away. He was talking with Dave about doing the radio show again when he felt a light touch on his arm and looked over to see Clare.
"Eli went to the washroom will you tell him I went outside for some air, it's getting very hot and stuffy in here." She told him.
"You're going by yourself?" Dave questioned and she scrunched up her face at him.
"I'm just going outside for a minute; I'll stay at the top of the stairs." She told them with a slightly annoyed tone and then turned and walked away.
"Will she be okay?" Dave questioned.
"If she's not back inside in a couple minutes we'll go get her." Adam said. Then he saw Eli come out of the washroom and waved him over. "Clare just went outside to get some air; she said it was hot in here. She promised to stay at the top of the stairs." Adam told him.
Eli nodded and headed for the front door.
(CLARE)
The sudden feel of a hand on her shoulder made her jump.
"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." Eli apologized.
She turned around, leaning against the stair railing and taking his hand in hers, while putting her other hand on his chest.
"It's okay I just didn't hear you coming. How long have I been out here?" She asked doing her best to keep her voice even.
"Just a couple of minutes, are you okay?" Eli asked giving her a concerned look.
She forced a small smile onto her lips and kissed his cheek. "I'm alright, let's go back inside." She said.
He put his arm around her and they went back into the club, they walked to a table where Emma was sitting with Alli, Katie and Jake. Clare asked him to get her some water as she sat down.
"You alright?" Jake asked.
She nodded in response.
"You don't look alright, you look….worried." Alli said.
"Do you need to go home? You sure you're feeling okay?" Jake inquired.
"No I'm okay." She told them in a firm voice.
Eli returned with her water and sat down beside her. After a short time Emma went to go find Spinner, then Jake and Katie got up to dance and Alli went to get a drink leaving Clare and Eli at the table.
"Clare what's wrong?" He questioned when they were alone.
"Nothing Eli." She assured him, he grimaced at her and she got up from the table and went over to Jay. "Dance with me?" She requested.
Jay shrugged and they went to the dance floor, it was a slow song so Jay put his hands on her waist. "You alright you look worried or something?" He asked after a minute.
She growled in annoyance and tried to walk back to Eli at the table but Jay caught her hand.
"I'm fine." She insisted.
"You don't look fine." Jay told her then he waved to someone and she was picked up from behind.
She looked behind her, to see Peter, he set her down in a corner and they both hovered over her.
"What's up?" Peter inquired.
"She's worried about something." Jay said.
Clare growled in annoyance again. "If I tell you will you let it go?" She asked and they both nodded. She sighed and looked at her hands. "When I went out to get some air I saw…thought I saw Ben or Trevor walking into the Dot." She confessed.
Jay and Spinner looked at each other, turned and stormed out of the club grabbing Spinner on their way out. Clare sighed, throwing up her arms, they had no idea what Ben and Trevor looked like so she wasn't sure where they going. She was also almost a hundred percent certain her mind had been playing tricks on her again. She thought she'd seen them before only to have their faces vanished when she blinked and that's what had happened this time. Eli came over and took her by the hand, pulling her to him and embracing her.
"You want to tell me where they're going and what's wrong now?" Eli questioned.
"I'm tired I think I'd like to go home now, if you and Adam want to stay I can have my mom pick me up." She told him.
"What part of never leaving your sides again did you not understand Blue Eyes?" Eli retorted and Clare grimaced at him. "Stay here I'm going to find Adam I'll be right back." He instructed.
Eli walked away and Jay, Spinner and Peter returned.
"What do they look like?" Spinner asked in a hard tone.
"Guys I probably didn't even see them, it's happened before, thinking I see them and I don't. They've been on my mind today and it's playing tricks on me. I'm going home to rest; it was good to see you all." Clare said kissing their cheeks.
"What do they look like?" Spinner repeated.
She sighed. "Let it go, you can't go beat up every blonde haired blue eyed boy in the Dot." She asserted.
"You heard her, blonde hair, blue eyes." Jay said as they turned again and headed for the door.
"Guys stop I didn't see..." she called after them but gave up when they exited the club.
"You ready to go?" Eli asked coming up with Adam.
"Yeah I just want to say goodbye to Emma." Clare said. They found Emma back at the table and she got up to hug Clare goodbye. "You might want to stop the boys, they went downstairs to kill every blonde blue eyed boy they find because I thought I saw Ben or Trevor." Clare whispered in her ear as she hugged her.
"I'll take care of them." I smiled.
She went to Eli, he wrapped his arm around her and the three of them went home.
"So you going to tell us what was wrong now? Why we left the party so early?" Adam asked when they were all ready for bed.
"You could have stayed Adam." She responded.
"No something was wrong and you wanted to come home." Adam replied.
"Remember when I thought I saw them outside of the school but I looked away and looked back and they were gone? My mind was playing tricks on me and I talked to Drew about it." She said and they nodded. "It happened tonight when I went out to get some air." She told them.
Adam remained calm but Eli suddenly got very tense. "Why didn't you tell me?" Eli inquired.
"I told Jay and he Peter and Spinner went downstairs to kill them even though they have no idea what they look like and I didn't see them." She insisted.
"Clare…" Eli began but she cut him off.
"Eli I didn't see them, my mom got on my case about writing the statement again and Spinner asked about Ben and Trevor before the party; they've been on my mind today and it made me see them. They weren't there, I'm sure of it." She assured him and herself.
"You still should have told me." Eli grumbled.
She sighed and kissed his cheek, he put his arm around her and she asked Adam to put on a movie for her to fall asleep to.
Thanks again to WeShouldGetJerseys for the tattoo idea and helping me decide what it should be.
Well dear readers there are only 2 chapter left in this story, however having introduced the fact that the misfits will be moving to New York together I was thinking I might do a sequeal. It would start with them moving to New York and focus on them and their life there and since my brain never stops I already have a few plot bunnies for it. I will call it Misfits in New York but I want to know if you guys would be interested in reading it?