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So, thanks for the reviews, I'm feeling the love and it makes me feel good. For those of you who care, my fingers are much better, so as promised, yet another chapter. So, like I said before, this story is almost over but I'll write a sequel if anyone wants one. Also, I'm watching "From Justin to Kelly" for the tenth time and I'm thinking "Final Destination: The Musical." Okay, anyway....sorry for that craziness but I'm kinda serious about the musical thing, it would be funny. But here's another chapter, please review.

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Chapter Eleven

Between Friends

Tod showed up Alex's house a little after eight, telling Mrs. Browning that they were having a last minute study session. But, studying was the farthest thing on Tod's mind, needing to talk to Alex about Clear and Adrienne and hopefully sort things out in his own mind. It had taken him until dinner time that evening to realized that he liked Clear Rivers, perhaps more then he'd like any other girl in his life so far.

He found his friend talking shamelessly on the phone to Adrienne, no doubt listening to her gab on about her latest mini-skirt or something of the like. Alex looked surprised when he noticed Tod, told Adrienne he'd call her back and turned to face his friend. "Hey, what's up?" He questioned, a slight smile upon his face. He could tell by Tod's face that he had something important to talk about and knew that it wouldn't do either of them any good to beat around the bush.

Tod pulled the chair out from Alex's desk and positioned it front of the bed, so that he could easily look at his friend while he was talking to him. "I need to talk to you, about Clear and Adrienne." He confessed, figuring the direct approach would surely work the best.

Alex pursed his lips and cocked his head, brows knitting. "What is it with you and Clear? Why do you keep pushing that?" He questioned, in no mood to deal with Tod giving him a hard time about leaving Clear. He knew his friend had a point, having realized that as he thought back on the scene; he shouldn't have just left the brunette in mid-sentence but he wasn't really too into asking her out in the first place. It wasn't just any girl that he'd left her for, it was Adrienne Grant, the object of his affections for many years.

"That's not exactly what I want to talk to you about but now that you brought it up, are you sure Adrienne is the right girl for you?" Tod asked, suddenly nervous and embarrassed about talking to Alex about his possibly feelings for Clear, even though he had known his friend since they were four.

Alex expression changed from one of anger to one of confusion. "Yeah, I mean, I've wanted to go out with her for a long time and now I finally get the chance to. It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me." He explained, speaking candidly. "Why?"

Tod took a deep breath, chewing on his bottom lip and trying to decide the best way to go about opening his mouth. "I was just wondering because I wanted to make sure that you weren't going to change your mind and decide you wanted to go out with Clear because..." He trailed off, hoping Alex would take the hint and not force him to utter the continuing words.

Luckily, Alex knew exactly what his friend and getting out and a confused but slightly happy smile spread across his face. "You like Clear?" He asked, finishing the sentence for his friend. "If you liked Clear, why did you keep trying to get us together?"

The only thing Tod could do was shrug, honestly not sure of that fact himself. "Well, I didn't really realize that I liked her until just recently but it's hard not to...I mean, she's pretty, funny, a little weird sure but who isn't? And, she can hold her ground against Carter Horton." He hadn't really meant for all those things to come out of his mouth but once he had spoken, he knew he trusted Alex not to repeat any of that stuff.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Geez Wagner, you're going make me vomit." He mumbled, shaking his head. "If you like her so much, why don't you ask her out?" It was a question Tod had been asking himself a lot in the past hour.

"Well, I think that I might but I wanted to make sure that it was okay with you first. Plus, I'm not even sure she'd want to go with me; she's head over heels in love with you." Tod pointed out glumly, frowning.

Alex frowned as well, shaking his head once again. "No, I think you're exaggerating." He mumbled, though he wasn't so sure. Inwardly, he didn't doubt what his friend was saying but he wasn't exactly ready to admit that to himself; knowing that Clear was madly in love with him would only make him feel guilty about going out with Adrienne. And he had suffered enough in his school-life to feel guilty about a good thing.

"Trust me, I'm not, I know these things...she told me." Tod assured him, raising an eyebrow. He worried that Clear wouldn't return his affections because she was in love with Alex or that she would go with him for all the wrong reasons, like using him as a way to get closer to Alex.

Alex wished he could say something incredibly reassuring to his friend but all he could find to say was, "Well maybe when she realizes that someone actually likes her, she'll forget all about me."

Tod seemed to lighten up a bit with those words, though he wasn't quite sure how true they would be. "I'll ask her if she wants to go to the movies." He decided, nodding his once to finalize his words.

"Well, just make sure you don't ask her to go on Friday night because that's when Adrienne and I are going out. I don't think it would be a good idea to get the two of them together." Alex told his friend, leaving out the 'and me in the middle' part that seemed so important. Clear looked like she could kick serious ass if she put her mind to it and he wasn't really in the mood to test out his theory.

Tod nodded for the second time in so many minutes but inwardly, a plan was forming.