Claire was trying to think what could be Alex's problem. But she didn't have a clue, so she turned on the radio to avoid the silence. Alex realized this was stupid, they could always talk to each other and he didn't even know why he was so cranky. He tried to act as natural as possible when he asked her about her time in city. It broke the silence to Claire's relieve and she told him what she'd been up to, although she had been everywhere with Tom she tried to avoid his name, somehow she felt Alex didn't like him much. After a while they were laughing and having fun as it had always been between them. But Alex still felt this rotten feeling of jealousy, even though he tried to tuck it away.
As night time fell his eyes kept dwelling to the left of him where Claire was sound asleep. He didn't understand what he was feeling. She was just a friend, a mate. Why was he feeling all jealous all of a sudden? He'd never thought of her that way but ever since that Tom had entered the scene all he could do was think about her. Anyway that Tom was out of the picture now he thought, she'll forget about him in a jiffy. Long distance relationships never work. He was sure his jealousy was irrational, the moment she'd be available again all this weird feelings would disappear and she'd be back to being his mate. This kind of put his mind at ease as he was driving home.
It was after midnight when they arrived at Drovers. Claire was still asleep, god she's beautiful he thought and he immediately tried to stop himself from thinking that. As he got out of the car he went to open her door but she still didn't wake up. He leant in over her wanting to shake her softly to wake her but when he put his hands on her shoulders she opened her eyes half and he couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. As his lips softly touched hers, she regained consciousness fully and confused she pushed him away. "What are you doing?" "Ehm, nothing, sorry" he said as she got out he had already gotten in to the car again en drove off. Leaving Claire standing there wondering what had just happened.
The next couple of days Alex tried to avoid Claire and she noticed and she wasn't the only one, everyone noticed. After Alex hadn't been to Drovers for days and Claire hadn't told Tess why, Tess decided to just ask her but she pretended not to have a clue what this was all about. She just wanted to forget about this whole misunderstanding, or whatever it was. There was a get together next day at Killarney and she decided she should go, if only to clear the air between them. She didn't want to loose her best friend over nothing.
Alex had been angry at himself ever since he kissed her. He was afraid their friendship was ruined because he hadn't been able to control himself. He hadn't gone over to Drovers all week just to avoid having to explain anything. Now he was wondering if he should have just gone over right away as if nothing had happened but it was too late now, what's done is done he told himself and went back to work hoping that it would resolve itself. When Nick told him later that day that everyone was going over to Killarney the next day for some sort of party, he hoped he could set everything straight.
As Claire and Tess were getting ready to go over to Killarney they heard a car pull up the driveway and someone rang the doorbell. Claire went out the backdoor and when she came round the house she saw Tom, her hearts kipped a beat as she looked at him. She'd missed him and had been afraid that it had just been a one time thing, but if he had driven all the way out here to be with here, he must have missed her too she thought. He heard footsteps and turned around but before he could do anything she already had her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I take it you're happy to see me?" he asked before kissing her back. "Yup!" "Claire!" she heard Tess call for her "We have to go now, or we'll be late………Oh hi Tom" she said as she saw her sister and Tom standing in front of the house. "Oh right" Claire said disappointed, she didn't want to go now he was here. But she knew she couldn't get out of it and she decided he should just come with. "Sure, I'll come, just give me directions and I'll come after you once I've freshened up". She quickly showed him around the house, gave him directions to Killarney and told him to hurry up. "I promise we'll leave early" she said giving him the look. "I will hold you to that" he whispered in her ear before stepping into the shower.
When Claire and Tess arrived at Killarney, it was already pretty busy; it seemed as if the entire district had been invited for this "little" get together. As Tess went to Nick who was standing by the barbecue with Alex, Claire walked after her without knowing where she was going, her thoughts were miles away. Actually only a couple of miles, they were at Drovers with Tom in the shower. "Claire?" She heard Nicks voice. "Yeah what's up?" she said as she awoke from her thoughts "Well you have been standing here for 10 minutes without saying a word" "Oh sorry, I was just thinking" She looked away absentmindedly. Alex thought she was acting strange because of what had happened, but from the moment Tom had shown up she hadn't thought about that. As he tried to have a conversation with her she seemed distant and she really wasn't hearing a word he was saying. "Don't mind her Alex," Tess said "She's just a bit distracted 'cause Tom came by" As she heard his name Claire looked up, Tess laughed "See, I told you" Nick laughed as well but Alex was right back to being in the bad mood he had been in all week. "He was supposed to be a long distance fling, he wasn't supposed to show up here" he thought and walked off. Nick and Tess looked at each other totally oblivious and Claire didn't even notice she had just seen Toms car coming down the road and walked towards it.