Okay, first of all I would like to apologize for the whole brother/boyfriend thing. I should have checked what I was writing, thank God my loyal readers understood what I meant and didn't go into that Kansas backwoods, Wrong Turn style thing. Anyways, thanks for the reviews, loved them all!

Some days you stammer, some days you rhyme.

Some days your theirs, some days your mine. Mine for all time.

Chapter Eight

Longing for Flight

It was nearly six thirty by the time Clear was finally able to leave the Green Igloo and start heading back to her grandparents' house. With a weary sigh, she began heading down the sidewalk, surprised when she saw Tod sitting on the curb, leaned against a streetlight pole. Squinting her eyes, as though that would help her see better, Clear questioned, "Tod?" causing the figure to turn around.

It was indeed Tod, who forced a sheepish smile upon his face he stood up, brushing his palms across his pant legs. "Hi, Clear, I really need to talk to you." He said as he walked over to her, causing Clear to raise an eyebrow.

"Have you been sitting there ever since you left the restaurant?" She questioned, hoping that he would say no so that the guilt that she already felt wouldn't grow even more.

Tod nodded, looking even more sheepish then he had moments before. "After I left, I realized that arguing isn't going to fix anything but I needed to talk to you in private. So, I thought I'd wait until you got off work." He explained, falling in step beside her when she continued down the sidewalk.

"You didn't have to sit on the sidewalk for two hours, Tod." Clear said, inwardly touched by his actions. "You could have called me later tonight."

Her boyfriend nodded, smiling slightly as he looked at her. "I know, but I kinda wanted to talk to you, face to face." He remarked, causing Clear to smile as well. Tod knew that looking her in the eyes would help him determine whether or not she was really telling the truth about Alex.

"All right." Clear muttered, knowing exactly what he wanted to talk to her about. "I know you think there's something going on between me and Alex..." She began but Tod cut her off by stopping abruptly.

"Is there? Honestly, I mean, I really want to know. Is there anything going on between you and Alex?" Tod asked, locking eyes with her and forcing the question out much more forcibly then he had intended. He really wanted...needed and straight answer from her.

Clear thought for a moment, deciding how she could phrase the answer so that Tod would finally get the idea and drop the subject. "I used to like him, but now I like you. You're sweet and funny and you're my boyfriend. And there is nothing going on between Alex and I." She finally assured him, remembering Bree's words from earlier. She was having a harder and harder time attempting to deny that there anything going on between her and Alex; she had felt it when they were in his kitchen alone and had seen the jealousy in his face when Tod had kissed her earlier that morning. But Clear didn't want to hurt Tod, or hurt herself or ruin the childhood relationship that Alex and Tod had and knew that she would do all of those things if she told Tod the truth.

Tod studied her, as though trying to read the thoughts that she didn't want to share. Finally he sighed, looking apologetic once more. "I only keep bringing this up because I really like you, Clear and I don't want to lose you. I see the way Alex looks at you sometimes, and don't want to lose you to him." He told her, cupping her cheek with his hand and smiling slightly.

Clear felt her cheeks redden and her guilt increase; Tod was so caring and romantic, she didn't deserve someone like him, not for all the looks and smiles she gave Alex. She was still contemplating her guilt when Tod kissed her; Clear's eyes fluttered closed and she returned the kiss, surprised when she found herself imaging that she would see Alex when she opened her eyes. Almost as soon she thought those things, Tod broke the kiss and studied her quizzically.

"Why do you that?" He questioned, causing Clear to become confused through her guilt. She realized that she was foolish for thinking that Tod could read her thoughts but knew that she deserved the emotions that she felt. She had imagined kissing someone else after all of those things Tod had said to her.

"Do what?" Clear forced herself to say, trying not to look like she had just run over someone's pet dog and curious to see what Tod was talking about.

"Close your eyes when I kiss you." Tod answered, still regarding her quizzically. "Why do you do that?"

Clear frowned, wondering where his question had come from; she didn't even realize that did close her eyes when he kissed her. "I don't know." She answered, realizing that it was the first bit of truth that she had spoken since they had started talking. "I guess it helps me forget about everything, get away from everything." Clear wasn't certain that those were the right words to say but they were the only ones she could think of.

Tod smiled slightly, looking neither confused nor assured. "What do you want to get away from?" He asked, causing the brunette's frown to deepen.

Clear didn't answer, knowing that her words would not be anything that Tod wanted to her; she wanted to get away from the whole ordeal between her, Alex and him. She wanted to be kissing Alex on the sidewalk and not his best friend but Alex had ignored her in favor of some blonde bimbo. She had gone for second best, and it had caused more trouble then she had realized.

* * *

Alex was experiencing a strange sense of deja-vu and knowing exactly where it was coming from; it was no supernatural occurrence, it was the fact that he was sitting in his kitchen once more staring at his math homework and listening to his girlfriend, the lovely but not too bright Adrienne Grant prattle on about cheerleading camp. And he was, once again, thinking about Clear and the events of the previous night; he had been happy to run into her last night, though he wished things had turned out better. And now, not even pretending to listen to Adrienne, Alex was sketching a pictured of a German Shepard puppy that looked like a car had run over it.

Noticing that her supposedly devoted boyfriend was doing something other then hanging on her every word, Adrienne narrowed her eyes as she studied Alex, who was concentrating on scribbling a picture on his algebra homework. "What are you doing? And what is that you're drawing?" She questioned, pursing her lips.

Alex looked up at Adrienne then back down at his drawing before looking at her once more. "A puppy dog, I was thinking I would make Lost Dog fliers because Clear's puppy ran away." He answered, not sure why he had told his girlfriend what he was planning to do. Adrienne was notoriously jealous, though he was beginning to see how easy it was to experience that emotion.

Adrienne frowned, staring at the sickly looking dog as though it had caused World War II. "That beaver-looking girl? Why do you want to help her?" She questioned, flipping her hair behind her shoulders as she so often did.

Alex rolled his eyes and shut his notebook, causing the dog and the jumbled numbers to disappear. "Because it's my fault that her dog ran away in the first place." He answered, wishing that he was anywhere but the kitchen. "And she doesn't look like a beaver."

Adrienne rolled her eyes as well, doing her best not to look shocked at Alex's retort and decided that now would be a good time to file her nails, continuing her story. Alex sighed and leaned back against his chair, deciding that knocking his head against the table would be too obvious, even for Adrienne. How he had ever picked this bimbo over Clear, he would never know but one thing Alex did know was that if terrorists had ever wanted to bust into his kitchen and gun him down, now would be a good time.

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So, "Stuck" is trying to make a comeback, crawling its way over the block that his imprisoned it. Well, that was a bit dramatic but, what can I say? As for Clear and Tod's discussion about her closing her eyes when she kisses him, I must have to say that I got a lot of it from the movie Wuthering Heights that was on MTV. The song is "Shine" by Mike Vogel.