I've spent so much time throwing rocks at your window

That I never even knocked on your front door.

Chapter Eleven

Throwing Rocks

Clear quickly jumped to her feet, certain that her face was a mixture of disbelief and guilt as she studied Tod. Alex turned to see what had upset the brunette and was shocked to see his best friend standing five feet away from him; it was obvious by the look on his face that he had seen everything that had just happened.

"Tod-" Clear began but Tod cut her off by stepping closer to her and trusting the bouquet into her hands.

"Here, I was coming to apologize for the way I acted earlier." He explained, and without another word headed back down the sidewalk the way he had come seconds earlier.

With a shout of anguish, Clear tossed the bouquet onto the sidewalk and rushed after Tod, leaving Alex still sitting on the curb, feeling somewhat confused about what had just taken place.

It wasn't difficult for Clear to catch up with Tod, since he was trudging along so slowly, eyes rimmed with tears that he refused to let fall. "Tod, I am so sorry, please let me explain." She begged as she grabbed his arm and forced him to stop.

"What is there to explain?" He questioned, voice nearly devoid of emotion. "You kissed my best friend, pretty self explanatory." He jerked away from her and continued down the sidewalk. For the second time in so many minutes, Clear began to sob once again, feeling more desolate now then she had earlier.

* * *

All evening, Clear had been calling Tod, knowing that he was home and simply avoiding her despite what his brother said every time she called. She finally gave up, knowing that no matter how many times she called, Tod would never agree to talk to her. Not that he should, after what she had done; he had every right to ignore her, but that didn't make it any easier for her to accept. Clear wanted badly to speak with him, to apologize and try to explain, try to make sense of everything that had happened that afternoon. She had gotten fired and dumped, though only one of those problems weighed heavily in her mind.

Finally, able to take lying her bed any longer, she pulled on her tennis shoes and slipped out of her bedroom, creeping past her grandparents' room, not too worried about being caught since they were sound asleep by eight-thirty every night. Clear had only been to Tod's house once and she hoped that she could remember how to get there, especially at night when she couldn't really see three feet in front of her face.

She took a short cut through Alex's neighborhood, just as she had done the night her dog had run away, hoping that her memory of Tod and Alex living near to each other was correct. Clear couldn't help but notice that the light was on in Alex's bedroom, but she didn't allow her thoughts to go past that; she was through thinking about Alex, since that had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

After traipsing through underbrush and people's yards for nearly twenty minutes, she finally found Tod's neighborhood, which made finding her ex-boyfriend's house much easier. Once Clear was standing in the Wagner's front lawn, she wasn't quite sure what to do next; it was too late to simply knock on the door, yet she had made up her mind to talk to Tod and didn't want to wait until morning when she could chicken out.

As Clear stared up at Tod's dark room through his curtain-less window, she wondered just how she could get his attention. She tried whispering his name but couldn't raise her voice high enough, and not wake up the whole house, to get his attention. Just as she was about to give up, she realized that Mrs. Wagner's wilting garden had tiny pieces of gravel sprinkled around the plants to give it a little bit of decoration; the rocks were the right size to throw at Tod's window to get his attention and not break any glass.

Though she had never been a good aim, or throw for that matter, Clear gathered up a handful of gravel and began to toss the rocks one by one against the window pane, missing most of the time and hitting the side of the house. She hoped that she had hit the actual window enough to get Tod's attention, but the situation wasn't looking too promising, since there appeared to be no movement coming from the bedroom and the light had yet to be switched on.

The front door of the house opened which quickly got her attention and Clear whirled around to face the entrance, hoping that it wasn't one of Tod's parents awoken by the noise. She was surprised to see Tod standing in the doorway, staring at her with a very interested, yet confused, look upon his face. "Clear?" He question, stepping onto the front stoop to get a better look at her. "What are you doing here?"

Discarding the rest of the gravel in her hands, Clear headed toward the front door, relieved that Tod hadn't slammed the door as soon as he had seen who it was. "I really need to talk to you and you haven't been answering the phone and-" She explained before he cut her off.

"Of course I haven't been answering the phone, I'm pissed at you Clear. That's what people do when they're pissed, they don't answer the phone." Tod pointed out, no longer looking confused or interested but upset, which Clear didn't take as a good sign. "Now, if you'll please get out of my front yard, I have to get back to watching Jay Leno." He instructed, heading back into the house and preparing to shut the door.

"No, wait Tod." Clear called out, heading after him. "Please, just wait. I really need to talk to you, I need to explain-" Stopped by her words, Tod turned around to face her, anger now apparent upon his features.

"Explain what Clear?" He snapped, slamming the door behind him and stepping back out upon the stoop to face her. "Explain how you were never interested in me in the first place, how you were always in love with Alex? Explain how every time you kiss me you close your eyes 'cause you're really thinking about him?" His voice was rising louder as he spoke, causing Clear to involuntarily step backward.

She shook her head, chewing on her bottom lip for a second before saying, "No. That's not it, you're wrong." She sounded pathetic, even to herself, defending herself when what he was saying was true. Whenever she did kiss him she imagined herself kissing Alex, though she hated herself for doing so.

Tod scoffed, rolling his eyes as he studied her. "I'm wrong?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Well, one thing I'm not wrong about is that you kissed Alex and you can't deny that." When Clear didn't even make a sound in her defense, he looked slightly disappointed, as though he had hoped that she would be able to deny it. "I've played games with you ever since we started going out, Clear. Guess what? Game over." He told her, opening the door once more and slamming it before she could say anything.

For a moment, Clear stared at the shut door in disbelief, her grief and desolation suddenly returning in full force. "Wait Tod! Please!" She shouted, banging on the door with the palm of her hand. "Please, give me another chance." She pleaded shamelessly, ceasing her banging when she knew Tod wasn't going to open the door again.

Eyes welling with tears, she stepped away from the door and stepped onto the grass, staring up at the house, pleading silently for Tod to give her another chance, though she knew that she didn't deserve one.

After what seemed like forever, Clear finally turned away from the Wagner home and headed back down the street, hating herself even more for what she had done.

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So, I hope everyone's liking the little Final Destination melodrama. It's almost over, however, as sad as that is, but I have more FD stories planned plus the ever popular Musical. As for Curtis, who wants to see Billy, I'll make sure to put him in the story. Thanks for all the reviews. The song is "These Days" by Evanescence.