Feels so strange, it feels so crazy to be in your world
In your arms, lost for words, you've got me

You got me
You got me speechless

-Speechless, Beyonce

A/N Well, I'm back! Finally! Had some time to think of a lot of cool ideas, so hopefully upcoming chapters will be pretty awesome and enjoyable. This one is kind of short, but I just wanted to get back in the swing of things while I have time. Enjoy and review!

While Brian had been spending time with Saidie, and Andrew's life had been tumbling into crisis, Claire and Bender had been in their own personal heaven in Claire's BMW.

As Bender climbed into the front seat next to Claire, he realized that, while he'd mastered the art of playing it cool in public, he was actually a bit nervous right now. This was the first time he'd really been alone with Claire since that fateful arcade date all those months ago. And, while they hadn't seen a whole lot of each other at all since she'd gotten him to give in to the one guy, one girl thing, what they had seen of each other had been so good that Bender really didn't want that to change. He'd even maybe like to prove that he and Claire could go more than five minutes without ripping into each other. And since he knew their alone time together would always be rare (social structures and obligations and all) he really didn't want to spend it at each other's throats like they had been for awhile prior to the last day of school last year.

But fuck that. He couldn't let her know how nervous he was. Even if it meant taking a risk of starting another war with the Cherry.

He turned to her and put on that smooth, asshole John Bender persona and smirk. "I'd ask you if I'm keeping you from something, Cherry, but seeing as how you practically stalked all of us to get us to hang out tonight, I take it you must not have any plans with the fellow princesses tonight? No gossip about who said what to who at whose locker? No country club meetings tonight?"

But Claire was not about to play that game. She was not about to let Bender tease her and ultimately pick a fight so easily.

Well, the second part, she wasn't about to let him do. The teasing? He might be able to get away with that part. Depending on what kind of teasing he was planning on doing.

Claire just smiled at him. She could see (and practically feel) Bender being disappointed that he hadn't gotten a rise out of her.

"Well, actually, I was supposed to hang out with my friend Annabelle. She wanted me to help her pick out an outfit for tomorrow. I told her I'd stop by her house later. I wanted to hang with you guys, you know? I'm kind of, like, bored with being dull old pristine Claire, you know?"

How did Bender's smirk manage to get even wider? Claire usually loved that sexy smirk, but not when it was making fun of her. "So you decided to rebel by turning down picking out clothes with another richie? You're a wild one, Cherry. Hope Daddy doesn't take away your credit card for ditching the richie for the likes of me."

Claire blushed a little at that. But at least Bender's tone was teasing and not harsh and bitter, or even sarcastic. Then she got an idea. She decided to play another one of his games.

She looked over at him and directly into his eyes. "Oh, well I can play dress up with Annabelle any time. Why would I want to do that when I could be hanging out with you doing this?"

And then she grabbed him by the nape of his neck and pulled him close to her and kissed him as hard as she could. She even used her tongue, the way she'd been practicing over the summer (thank goodness for girly magazines with tips on how to give a guy a kiss he'll never forget, even though Claire would never, ever admit to Bender that she read anything of the sort.)

Claire slid her tongue in and out of Bender's mouth slowly, and made sure to finish the kiss by slightly sucking his lower lip for a second.

Finally she let him go and slid back over to her side of the car. And it took everything in her not to burst into laughter. She fought it so hard she almost choked.

John Bender looked like a child who had come downstairs on Christmas morning to find under the tree the one toy he wanted the most, but didn't dare ask for because he knew his parents wouldn't buy it.

He didn't say anything for at least a few minutes. Claire felt proud of herself for rendering the great John Bender speechless.

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Bender finally asked.

"Why? Did you not enjoy it?" Claire teased, pouting and drooping her eyes, the way she'd done when she was smoking with him in the library. She'd been able to tell that that Bender found that sexy. One of the good things about being a popular princess was being able to just instinctively know when a guy was into her.

Bender looked her up and down like he could barely control himself. Then her reached over, grabbed Claire, and practically pulled her into his lap. Then he kissed her the way he'd been dreaming about doing all summer. But he didn't stop there. He pulled off her jacket and begin to nibble on her neck a little. Claire scooted a little closer to him on his lap (neither of them cared very much that they were in an uncomfortable position.) Bender slid a hand under her shirt and up her back.

Claire was leaning into him and Bender was pretty sure he'd died and gone to heaven.

It wasn't until his hand had made it almost to her bra that things stopped.

Bender pulled his hand back as if he'd touched something hot. He knew he'd kick himself for stopping in about five minutes, but he couldn't do continue. Not like this.

Not after what Brian had told him about how frisky that loser Dan Hogan had been with Claire. He didn't want Claire to think of him that way. He didn't want anyone he cared about to think of him that way. Sure, he let people think he was like that (he had a reputation to uphold, after all,) but he could never be that much of an asshole. Not after Brian had told him how upset Claire had been about her date with Dan Hogan, and not when he'd been there to witness the aftermath of some of Saidie's encounters with some of the asshole jocks who thought it was their right to try to touch her whenever and wherever they wanted to.

But there was a difference between Saidie's encounters (and Claire's with Dan Hogan) and this one. Bender realized that, unlike those, this time Claire hadn't actually tried to stop him.

And now she was looking at him with that innocent, confused look on her face, and Bender realized that it didn't matter that she hadn't stopped him. Even if she had been too caught up in the moment to stop him, this girl was so damn innocent and looking at him like she trusted him completely, and like she was ready to let him take the lead.

He wasn't going to take that for granted.

He rubbed her arm gently and motioned for her to get back in the driver's seat.

He was glad to see Claire didn't look offended or angry. It was as if she understood what had been going through his mind. And she looked at him in a soft way that was probably meant to tell him she was grateful for it.

He couldn't help but smile at that. Who'd have thought some richie princess girl from a totally different lifestyle would understand the rebellious John Bender so well?

"You're too fucking much, Princess." He said.

"You know, I, like, totally get why you stopped, and I really appreciate it. Because I probably wouldn't have been able to. But just because I might be inexperienced and not ready to do everything doesn't mean we can't have a little fun, right?"

Bender's eyes got wide. Where the fuck did this dangerous Claire Standish come from? "You're playing with fire, princess." He teased.

But then he got serious. "No shit, though, Claire. I wanna say something. This? This is as far as things need to go right now. Especially after how I treated you and all the stupid perverted shit I said to you when we met that day. I should have said this a long time ago… What I did under the table that day, in detention? It was an asshole thing to do. And I'm so fucking sorry I did it. I don't know why I do shit like that sometimes."

Claire hadn't been expecting that. She'd gotten so used to Bender's asshole behavior (they all had) that she'd just thought of it as part of the deal. An actual apology had always seemed out of the question. Especially for something he'd done months ago.

"Well, duh, idiot, obviously I've forgiven you. Like, that same day, even." She smiled at him reassuringly. Claire could see Bender sigh with relief at that, and smirk back at her.

"Now, can we please go back to where we were before? Or do you just want to sit and talk all night, when I could be showing you all the kissing techniques I've learned?" Claire continued.

Claire thought that would bring back out the animal in Bender. Instead, first, he leaned over and gently kissed her forehead and then her cheek.

Claire was just starting to realize that her scary, rebellious boyfriend wasn't quite so scary after all. If only people knew how gentle he could be, apologizing to her and giving her what she was sure her mom meant by "butterfly kisses."

She was just starting to have those thoughts when Bender went for her neck again, leaving her not only unable to think, but completely speechless herself.

She thought about all that happened between them as she drove to Annabelle's house later, as she drove home, and as she ate her dinner alone and got ready for bed. She thought about the things Bender had apologized for; the things he'd said in detention. And then she giggled to herself at what Bender would say if he only knew that she wanted him to do all those things to her...at least, some day.

A/N Well, what do you think? Let me know. This was totally a filler chapter, so I understand it's not my best, for sure.

Coming up soon: Andy gets rescued from loneliness in a very unlikely way.