Chapter 3

Alex woke up in the morning and it took him a few seconds to remember where he spent last evening. The memory of having dinner with a dressed up Claire brought a huge grin to his face. Just remembering her smile and her sparkling blue eyes made the world seem so much brighter. He was quickly brought back to reality by a loud knock on the door.

"Alex!" he heard his brother's voice through the door. "Are you up?"

"I am now." Alex answered a little annoyed that his nice thoughts about last night got interrupted by Nick. "What do you want?"

"I need some help out here! I can't run this place on my own."

"Just give me ten minutes." he replied and reluctantly got out of bed. He knew he needed to help Nick, but on the other hand he wanted to take a moment to remember how beautiful Claire looked last night. Her eyes, her smile, everything.

'I have got to stop this.' he thought. 'This is Claire. That's not the way to think about Claire McLeod.

" Finally!" Nick greeted Alex when he got out of the house. "I thought you were gonna spend the whole day there."

"I'm sorry, I got distracted a bit."

"A hot date last night, huh?" Nick asked jokingly.

"Kind of." Alex replied still not being able to erase the image of Claire smiling.

"So who's the lucky lady?" Nick was curious.

Alex smiled at the question and said. "Claire."

"Claire." Nick repeated. "As in Claire McLeod?"

"The one and only." Alex winked at his brother.

"I'm supposed to believe that you were out on a date with Claire?" Nick laughed. "She would rather eat raw meat than go on a date with you." Nick continued teasing his brother, but Alex was less than amused.

"Very funny." he said and continued. "Well she didn't exactly know that she was meeting me for dinner."

"How come?"

"Let's just say that it was kind of a blind date."

"Kind of a blind date? Who set you guys up?" Nick asked and Alex involuntarily looked towards his computer. "Don't tell me that you..." Nick stopped for a moment and looked at his brother's embarrassed expression that said it all. "Oh my God, you did! You used an online dating service to get a date!" he started laughing. "I can't believe this. Alex Ryan couldn't get a date, so he had to use internet to do it."

"I didn't have to use internet, I just happened to want to expand my horizons."

"Yeah, right." Nick chuckled. "I never thought I would live to see a day when Alex Ryan can't get a date.

"Oh would you cut it out already! With you even internet wouldn't work!" he retorted, but Nick was too busy laughing at his brother to fully grasp that comment.

It was later that day and Alex was alone at home as Nick went to town for some supplies. He had been working an entire day, so he finally decided to take a break and rink some cold beer. He took one out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen table. But as soon as he took his mind off of work, he started thinking about Claire again. He started remembering everything about the way she looked the previous night and finally he started wondering if maybe he should call her. Which was weird, because he never had to wonder whether to call her, he just did. But now for some reason he got all nervous about it.

'You idiot.' he thought to himself. 'It's just Claire." he tried to convince himself as he picked up the received. He dialed the number and soon he heard her voice on the other end.

"Drovers Run." she said. "How can I help you?"

"Hey Claire, it's me." he said, still a little bit nervous.

"Me who?" she teased.

"Haha!" he tried not to sound amused, but really he was.

"So what can I do for you Alex?" she asked and that simple question made him almost speechless. Why was he suddenly so nervous talking to her on the phone? It was weird, she was Claire. But for a couple of seconds he didn't say anything. "Alex, are you still there?" she inquired.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. I was just wondering how you were?" he said and realized how ridiculous he sounded.

"I am fine Alex, thank you. How about yourself?"

"I'm fine as well." he answered and laughed to himself at how incredibly weird that conversation was going. He was sure that Claire thought he was an idiot.

"Anything else?" she asked when another couple of seconds passed.

"I was wondering..." he stated, but wasn't really sure if he was going through with it. What if she says no, what if she laughs at me. This is ridiculous!

"You were wondering?" she tried to get him to talk, because he wasn't doing that great of a job with it.

"I was wondering if maybe we could do something tonight?" There, he finally said it. Now what would be her reply.

"Sure. The girls and I are planning a game of pool later, feel free to join in." Now that was not the answer he expected, but he realized that he didn't form his question in a very clear way. Of course she would think he meant hanging out as friends, why would she think otherwise.

"Well, actually I was kind of hoping it would be just the two of us?" he finally said it and waited for an outburst of laughter or other reaction like that.

"Why?" she asked and it took her a couple of seconds to realize what was going on. "Oh my God, Alex Ryan, are you asking me out on a date!" she almost screamed and knew that if he wasn't, he will have something to tease her about for the rest of their lives.

"If I was, would your answer be any different from what it was back then?"

"Well are you?" she didn't give up. She wanted him to say it, so that she can have something to torture him about.

"You know what, to save myself from further embarrassment, how about we don't call it a date, let's just call it a an outing."

"An outing?" Claire asked and couldn't stop smiling.

"Yes, an outing. Two friends having a meal together."

"But we do it all the time Alex." she said confused.

"Yes, I know. But this time there will be no other people with us and I will pick you up. So it won't be something we do all the time. But it also won't be a date." he said and took a deep breath. "Soooo... What do you say?"

"Hmmm, let me think." she replied and took a couple of seconds. "An outing you say?"

"Yes."

"Well then I guess I could probably say yes to that." she smiled at the idea of her and Alex going on an "outing."

"Does tomorrow night work for you?"

"I believe it does. 7 o'clock?"

"Perfect." he smiled to himself and sighed with relief. "It's da... I mean an outing then."

"Yes it is." she smiled "So if it's not a date I don't have to wear a dress, right?"

"I guess not." he said a little disappointed, but he knew she would be wearing that incredible smile that almost makes his heart stop.

"See you." she said and before she hang up she added. "Oh and Alex, I won't sleep with you if that's what you're trying to achieve."

He laughed. "I didn't really think about it, but now that you mentioned it..."

"Goodnight Alex." she finished the conversation and hang up.

"What's with the grin?" Claire suddenly heard her sister's voice.

"What grin?"

"Your grin. Why are you grinning?" Tess was intent on finding out the reason of Claire's good mood.

"I am not!" Claire tried to get out of it, but she couldn't stop smiling.

"So what happened? Did you win the lottery or something?"

Claire didn't feel like talking to Tess right now, but she knew that her sister wouldn't leave her alone until she finds out. She knew Tess, she was gonna follow her around everywhere trying to find out what was going on.

"I just got asked on a da... I mean an outing."

"An outing?" Tess laughed. "And what exactly is an outing?"

"I don't really know, but it's not a date." she said, as if trying to convince herself that what she was saying was true. She wasn't yet sure though whether she did indeed want an outing to be any different from a date.

"And who are you going on that outing with?"

Claire took a deep breath before she responded. She looked at Tess and knew that this was going to be funny. "Alex." she finally said and watched Tess interested to see what her reaction would be. At first Tess didn't say anything, but when it finally dawned on her what Claire said she exploded.

"Oh my God, you have a date with Alex!" she almost shouted.

"It's not a date!" Claire insisted.

"Oh yeah, whatever." Tess replied and started pacing around nervously. "I have to tell someone or I'm gonna go crazy." she blurted out and at the same time Meg and Jodi entered the kitchen. Claire looked at Tess meaningfully.

"Don't you dare!" she warned her, but Tess couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry." she said and turned to Meg and Jodi. "Claire is going on a date with Alex!" she shouted and Meg and Jodi looked at Claire a little bit stunned.

"No, I am not!" Claire disagreed.

"But you just told me." Tess said excitedly.

"I told you it was not a date." she shifted her sight to Meg and Jodi. "It's not a date." she said quickly and left the kitchen. Meg and Jodi looked at Tess questioningly.

"It's so a date, isn't it?" Meg asked as she knew exactly what was going on. She saw it in Claire's eyes, that short moment was enough for her to tell.

"Yes it is!" Tess seemed to be very enthusiastic about it. "It is soooo a date, even if neither of them wants to admit it."