(A/N Hi sorry this was a few days late coming. Still trying to get settled back in and used to the gloomy cold weather here. Anyway... here is the next chapter. Still don't own the characters. Oh and the street names are made up except for Michigan Ave which is aka Magnificent Mile and located in downtown Chicago.)

"Hey watch where you are running I could have killed you," yelled a feminine voice that rang with familiarity. Looking up through the windshield of the red jaguar my eyes met the deep brown ones of one Claire Standish.

I stopped and just stared for a moment. Time seemed to slow. She put her hands to her mouth in surprise and cried, "Andy? My god Andy Clarke!" Without turning off the engine she jumped out of the car and threw her arms around me. As with Bender I hadn't seen her since school. Unlike with Bender I actually continued to talk to her. The sports often dated the princesses; it was acceptable. We got on well and she was my confidant for the rest of my senior year. I didn't take her to prom although the school expected me to.

"Claire, you look great."

"So do you. A bit tired but good."

"I haven't slept well lately," I told her.

"I hope I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't have to. My knee was giving me problems, which is why I wasn't exactly watching out."

I could see the thoughts and memories flicker across her eyes. I felt as though she could see the same thing in mine. Funny how when you are in school you never truly comprehend what an important time in your life it was. Parents always say that it just seems important but in a few years you won't even remember it. In a way they are right. Once it's over and done with it doesn't seem like the things you worried about in school were that important, that is until you are faced with them and the memories hit you like a ton of bricks.

Claire turned and opened her car door. "Good thing it's so early that we aren't blocking traffic. She climbed in, leaned over, and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

"Where we going?"

"To get coffee and catch up."

"I should really get back to my mom." Then I looked at my watch. It was barely 8:30 am and I doubted that my mom would be awake yet. I heard her moving around several times last night, the sound of which woke me. She had never slept without my dad before unless he was accompanying my team on meets that were across the state. Even then she said that she couldn't sleep without him. I got in the car, "Never mind my mom won't be up for at least another hour. So where do you want to get coffee?"

"Is Skippy's still around?"

Skippy's was a local family owned doughnut shop that the kids from Shermer high would hang out at. "Actually I drove by yesterday and it was a Starbucks."

"A shame but I bet Deb's family made a killing from selling it."

"Deb?"

"Deborah Morton. You remember her she was co-co-head cheerleader and treasurer of the student counsel."

"Sure." I really didn't. I wasn't friends with the student counsel and the cheerleaders tended to date the football players rather than guys from the other teams regardless of if they were start athletes or not. "So what have you been up to?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Working. It seems like I have so much to do it isn't funny."

"What do you do?"

"I own my own boutique on Michigan Avenue."

"Wow."

"It's not that impressive."

"Come on Claire, you own a store on Magnificent Mile. Deb's family may have done well selling out to Starbucks but you have to be doing pretty well yourself." She blushed. It always amazed me about Claire that while she was so popular and knew it yet she was easily embarrassed.

"Well I'm not doing badly. Just starting out actually but I am out of the red. What do you do?" We pulled into the parking lot and went inside and got in line. It wasn't very long. Not many people work in Shermer and at that time of the morning most would be in the city buying their caffeine fix not here. We ordered and then took a seat in a booth near the back. "You didn't answer what is the great Andrew Clark up to? Let me guess. You are coaching the Olympic wrestling team."

"No nothing like that actually. I'm a lawyer."

"A lawyer?" She looked surprised.

"Why? Don't think I could be a lawyer?" I asked jokingly.

"Its not that it's...it's...wow. I knew you loved wrestling I just assumed that you would be a PE Coach or athletic director or ...I don't know announcing WWF every Friday night."

I laughed. "Yeah, a lot of people expected that from me. I went and decided to do something that I was interested in; something that wasn't expected of me instead. Now here I am fresh out of law school, bar exam completed and looking for a job.

"That is so amazing. What did your dad say?"

"That's the million dollar question huh?" I took a sip of my cappuccino before beginning.

"If you don't want to tell me..."

"No, its fine I just need to take a second. He was disappointed, to put it mildly."

"Didn't take it well then."

"He didn't take my knee going out well. He didn't take my losing my ride well. He didn't take any decision I made afterwards well either." As I looked at her my mind made a connection. "Wait a second you don't just own your own boutique do you? You design all the clothes you sell yourself."

"That's right. Claire's Closet."

"I don't know why I didn't put that together before. My ex-girlfriend Dina raved about your clothes."

She laughed, "Yeah my mom was upset that I didn't find a rich doctor and get married but opened my own business instead. She was a bit embarrassed that I went to school and didn't get my MRS degree but came away with a BA in business administration. I just didn't want to turn out like my mom. She went to school to get a husband and she did. Then she dropped out and lived off my dad's income spending her days shopping and going to play bridge with her friends. I guess I wanted more than that, you know? "

"Yeah I know. I realized once I injured my knee and couldn't wrestle it wasn't an end. It was an opportunity to do what I wanted with my life. I wasn't even sure about what I wanted I just found what I was interested in and did it."

"And now you're a lawyer."

"Yep."

We sat a while in silence. The gray overcast sky opened up into a quiet rainy drizzle. "Do you ever think about them?"

"About who?" I asked even though I was pretty sure I knew who she was talking about.

"The Breakfast Club."

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"I hadn't until I came back home."

"Same here. I almost hit you because I wasn't paying attention. That was the corner where John and I had a big fight. My mind was on that." She stared downward into her coffee and played with a plastic stirrer. I debated whether or not I should tell her about the yams.

"I wonder what happened to him." I guessed that was my cue.

"I saw him yesterday."

Claire looked up at me. I could tell she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted me to go on. Finally she asked, "So how is he?"

"Seems to be pretty good. Different than what I remember him being like. We didn't talk that long. He is the manager of the Jewel over on Mondale Boulevard."

"It good that he made something out of himself."

"You okay?"

"Ever think about soul mates?" That was an out of the blue question if I ever heard one.

"No. Never given it much thought." I wasn't sure if this was a good place to go to but if we eight years ago could open ourselves up to one another and we were virtually strangers then why not now?

"I think John was mine. Funny huh? Every guy I have ever dated I compare to John Bender and I have dated lots. Usually only go out with them once or twice because they don't live up to being what I want them to be."

"Bender?"

"Bender."

Once again silence settled between us. "I'm only going to be in town until Monday. What do you think about getting dinner Saturday evening?" She looked surprised that I asked but part of me had a plan. I just needed to see if I could work it out. If not she and I would have a nice dinner Sunday evening and nothing would change. "So what do you think? We could meet up at say eight o'clock at the Mikado for sushi?"

Sushi?

Rice, raw fish, and seaweed.
You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth, and you're going to eat that?

Can I eat?

I don't know. Give it a try.

"You don't eat sushi. You looked as disgusted as Bender did when I told you guys what it was."

"I didn't used to eat sushi but I came across a sushi bar in Evanston and decided to try it. Not my favorite but still pretty good. I'm a fan of wasabi."

"Okay you're on. Saturday at 8. How about I pick you up?"

"No, let's meet there."

"Sounds good. Done with your coffee?"

I nodded. "Shall I drive you somewhere or do you want to jog." I looked out at the rain and agreed to a ride back to my mom's. I just hoped that what I was planning would be possible.