Things begin to get interesting in this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter Four – Rumors

"Can I ask you a question?"

Eli and Clare were sitting outside again, eating breakfast on the porch a week later. For some strange reason they woke up at the same time, ran into each other in the hallway both showered and dressed, and finally when the awkwardness of the situation was put aside, they decided to eat breakfast together. They had at least done this 4 out of the 7 days after Eli ordered the catalytic converter for Clare's truck

"Sure," Clare replied.

"Why…am I the only one here?" This was one of the questions nagging Eli's mind from the start. When Clare had mentioned that she only had to look after one tenant the entire summer it took him by surprise. "The Moonlight" was a beautiful inn with the perfect beach view and yet he was the only one who booked a reservation.

"Do you want to know the truth?" Clare asked him. She turned his head to him while squinting. He nodded. "My…uh, my mom actually runs this place. After my parents got a divorce she took over the inn which has been run by family for so many years now. Let's just say she didn't give it a great reputation. And you're a Toronto boy so you haven't heard. People stay away from this place because of the bad rep."

"And where's your mom now?" Eli asked curiously.

Clare stiffened up and let out a deep breath. "That's something you don't need to know."

"Why not?"

"Well when you tell me why you're actually here, I'll tell you about that," Clare countered.

Eli knew that he'd never confess about why he left Toronto for the summer and it seemed that Clare was quite adamant about keeping that part of the story quiet. So he quietly submitted to it and let that go.

"So that picture on the fridge…it was here since this is your mom's place, right?"

Clare nodded her head. "That's right. I was a weird looking baby, wasn't I?"

"No," Eli chuckled. "A really adorable baby, actually. Still have those curls."

"Not so cute when you're sixteen years old," Clare said scrunching her face. "But hey, what can you do?"

"I like your hair," Eli told her honestly. "It's nice to see someone with short, curly hair which I assume is your natural hair. Everyone back home has either pin straight, dyed hair or curly, frizzy, unattractive hair. It's all fake."

"I didn't realize guys paid attention to that stuff. I always assumed that, you know, they don't care about that stuff. Just as long as they're cute."

Eli raised a brow. "You think I'm that shallow?"

"No, just guys in general. I don't know any guy otherwise. Well, except a few but they're actual sweethearts, childhood friends. But no guys in my school or recently have shown me otherwise. And maybe that's why I'm so cynical about that kind of thing."

"What thing?" Eli got really curious now that they were talking to each other about personal things. Whenever they had a discussion it was usually about the area, opinions on things, and whatever random things they could think of, but it was never about personal things. They hadn't gone to get to know each other and it didn't seem like that was a priority for either of them. Eli was just simply curious about the sixteen year old girl that was running the inn he was staying at.

"Love, romance, all that sappy stuff," Clare said with a repulsed voice. "Don't believe in it. I used to, used to think that I'd find 'prince charming' because I was really into Disney princess movies when I was younger. Now that I'm older, a bit more experienced and secular and have seen things unfold about love and romance, it just doesn't seem to work and it's not appealing. But that's just me. Just because I don't think I'll fall in love with anyone doesn't mean that no one else will have a successful love life. Me personally, not gonna happen."

While listening to Clare's words, it really hit Eli home. His experience with love wasn't successful either and though not by choice, it just didn't seem like he would have a good streak with relationships and love. He did have some hope though, more than Clare it seemed, but he could understand. "Though I agree," Eli began slowly. He was trying to find the words to counter with Clare's belief about love but he couldn't find them. "Nope, not even gonna argue with that. I agree. Once you see or experience a disappointing act of love, it just doesn't seem attainable."

"So you've had a bad experience?" Clare asked him, now very interested in what he had to say.

But of course Eli wasn't having any of it. "When you tell me about your experience, I'll tell you about mine." He smirked, knowing he'd got her there with his witty counter of what she said earlier, and she held up her hands in defeat.

"Fair enough," she laughed. Eli noticed that she began looking around the area behind the inn, eyeing a few people walking beside the water, and her eyebrows pushed together in confusion. "You know…for someone who went to a beach inn for the summer, you don't seem to be into being at the beach."

He didn't realize that at all. He wasn't looking to go to a beach, he just happened to come across the website for this inn. "Oh," he said. "I didn't come here for the beach. I just came here for the escape."

"But you're at the beach, you should at least enjoy it. Maybe get a tan, you're pretty pale," she said but when Eli looked over again, he saw a smirk on her face. She was getting influenced by his action and it made him smile.

"I don't tan, I burn," Eli confessed. "When I was a kid my parents and I were at a beach and I must've been like, 6 or something, but yeah, I refused to wear sunscreen and boom, couldn't move for like, two days. I looked like a gigantic tomato, I was that red. Ever since then I just avoid staying in the sun and I wear—"

"All black?" Clare teased again.

He rolled his eyes. "Long sleeves mostly, but yes I generally wear all black."

"Do you have any clothes that aren't?"

"Yes," Eli laughed. "I did bring some other clothing with me but mostly muted tones."

"Wow, muted tones, never heard a guy say that before," Clare chuckled. "Don't you get hot though? It is summer."

Shrugging in response, Eli nonchalantly replied, "I'm used to it."

Eventually they both got on with their days. Eli decided to take a walk around the beach since Clare seemed adamant about getting him out of the house. To shock her he even put on one of his long sleeve, light blue collared shirts over a black beater. Once he walked downstairs to leave he smirked at the fact that Clare's eyes were following him as he went out the back way, passing the kitchen where Clare was cleaning. He flashed her a wink before closing the back door and heading down the porch steps.

Once his shoes touched the sand, he stumbled a bit and realized that his shoes were probably not a good idea for walking in the sand. He didn't have any flip flops or sandals with him, a stupid decision, so grudgingly, Eli took off his shoes and put his socks into them and held them in his hands.

The area around The Moonlight was a bare one but if you went about two miles in each direction, you'd reach the town and the pier or some houses. But The Moonlight was the loneliest place.

While Eli walked, he turned around to admire the inn in its entirety. It looked very old but very sturdy. The wood was an off-white color and the some of the shutters looked like it was close to falling. Eli wondered about what Clare told him earlier, how her mother ran the inn. Was it a family business from the start? She mentioned it was years since her family ran it but was it her ancestors that built it? Then he also wondered about Clare's mother's absence. If she ran the inn, why was she not there and why was Clare running it?

Eli turned back around and continued to walk along the water, the sea coming to meet his feet for a few seconds then retreating back. He enjoyed that cold rush of water on his bare feet and liked how sand stuck to the bottom of sides of his feet. It was a relaxing feeling that Eli remembered from his childhood vacation with his parents. He watched his footsteps disappearing behind him as the water took away the remnants of the indents in the soft sand. Eli found himself smiling to himself during the time he was walking. His mind was only full of sweet memories.

By the time Eli finally looked up, the town was already in view. Eli turned around and barely saw the inn in the distance. He took in his surroundings and found that there were a few groups of people enjoying the sunny, warm day. There were families, many little children building sandcastles, and there was also a group of girls tanning side by side.

Without his phone and without a watch, Eli was wondering what the time was. Sighing he started to approach the girls who were tanning in their chairs, and asked, "Can someone tell me the time?"

One girl with fiery dyed red hair, took off her sunglasses and eyed him. Eli felt a little uncomfortable as she looked at him up and down while licking her lips. The fact that she was probably fifteen wasn't helping either. "Sure," she replied in a flirty voice. Eli rolled his eyes and turned his head away. "It's 3:20."

"Thanks," Eli said quickly and started walking back, hoping that the girl wouldn't call after him.

"Wait!"

He cursed to himself but turned around slowly. The girl was walking up to him, now wrapped in a tiny little cover-up. Eli saw her friends all looking at him with the sunglasses slightly tilted away from their eyes and smiling.

"You on vacation?" the girl asked him.

"Yeah," Eli answered shortly.

"Thought so," the girl smirked. "I've never seen you around here. I'm Raina."

Eli just nodded, not really wanting to tell a girl he didn't know his name. He just wanted to get the hell away from her.

"There's gonna be a bonfire tonight, it happens every week during the summer during this day of the week," Raina explained. "You should come."

"Probably not," Eli hesitated. He wanted to say no but he didn't want to be rude either. "I need to get back."

"Where are you staying?" Raina grabbed a hold of Eli's wrist as he walked away again.

"A…place…" Eli replied slowly. If he wasn't going to tell him name to some girl, he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her where he would be staying.

"Wait, you must be saying at that…what is it, The Midnight or…moonlight! That's it, The Moonlight!" Raina was pointing animatedly at him. "I thought that place was closed. The owner left or something."

"What?" Eli raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you're vacationing so you don't know." Raina stepped a bit closer to him and began to explain. "Around here it's no secret that Helen Edwards is a bit…you know, under. Everyone knows that she's divorced and her husband lives in the States with their daughter and Randall has this great life. He's a hot-shot doctor and their daughter's like, perfect. They used to come here for vacations years ago. But anyways, it's been like, seven years since they divorced and when that happened, Helen started running the inn. It's like, their family's business or whatever. But a few months ago Helen was getting into alcohol and drugs and started trashing the inn and people started avoiding it. Like, seriously, it was like, a rule that you should not go there. Even people vacationing don't go there anymore so that's weird that you're staying there. Who's running the place?"

So that was the story, Eli thought. Clare's mom did run the place but got into some bad things but that doesn't explain where she went and why Clare is there. "What happened to Helen?" he asked Raina curiously.

"That's what no one knows," she shrugged. "But seriously, who's there now?"

"Clare," Eli answered. "Clare Edwards."

Eli was a bit amused at Raina's reaction. Her mouth dropped and her face contorted into confusion. "But…she lives in Chicago with her dad. I haven't seen her in…years!" Raina was exclaiming. Once she stopped saying random things, Raina turned her attention back to Eli. "Look, just be careful there, yeah? Who knows what's going on with that family."

Eli scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Goodbye."

He headed back towards the inn's direction but kept hearing Raina calling after him. Finally, fed up with the girl, he started running so he could just get away quicker. He wasn't a great runner and the fact that he was running on sand wasn't lovely but he ran pretty fast. Eli just really wanted to get away from that gossipy girl.

When he got back to the inn he was coughing and heaving, tired from his run. He settled his shoes on the porch and walked to the door and through the screen he saw Clare still cleaning. She was cleaning the counters so diligently and he smiled. He noticed that she had her earphones in and was listening to her music. And she was actually singing along quietly, Eli could hear her voice.

He looked down and noticed his black beater was very damp with his sweat. Not enjoying the feeling of the fabric sticking to his skin, Eli shrugged off the collared shirt and took off the beater. He put the light collared shirt back on and left it unbuttoned. He went back into the house and caught Clare staring at him. She turned away very quickly and he saw her flushed face from the profile of her head. Smirking to himself he started walking past her and headed out of the kitchen. Before leaving he turned. "I'm gonna take a shower and then help you out. Try not to think about me while I'm gone." He winked teasingly and walked out, not staying for Clare's reaction.

In record time he was clean and dressed, now in a navy v-neck and regular jeans instead of his black shirt and skinny jeans. Now that he figured that Clare was attracted to him, he thought he'd mess with her a bit. Not that he was hoping Clare was attracted to him or that he was attracted to her, to him it was just fun to see her blushing.

But secretly he was trying to impress her. He'd never admit it though.

Eli towel dried his hair and flipped it once, examining himself in the mirror. It was weird to him that he was dressed in lighter clothing. Navy wasn't a bit step up from black but it was definitely lighter. He saw that he didn't look as pale as he usually did and he pursed his lips and shrugged to himself. He liked his appearance that day.

He headed downstairs to the kitchen and found Clare now cleaning the stove. "You clean a lot," Eli commented. Clare jumped in surprise and Eli laughed slightly. "And you're easily startled."

"Am not," Clare muttered and resumed scrubbing the stove.

"Or you're just excited to see me?" Eli teased, obviously referring to the moment she was staring at him without a shirt.

"Oh yeah that's it," Clare replied sarcastically. "I missed you terribly while you were on your walk. Tell me, any fascinating adventures?"

Eli walked around to sit at a stool. "Actually yes."

"Oh do tell," Clare replied in the same joking tone as before.

"Do you happen to know a Raina?"

Eli heard the drop of whatever Clare was using to clean the stove and she was now standing up straight, her back still to him. "What did you hear?"

"What makes you think I heard things?" Eli asked.

Clare turned around to him and he was little shocked at the very serious expression she now had on her face. "Raina has never had a discussion with anyone that didn't involve gossip," Clare replied. "Now what did you hear?"

"So you know her?" Eli asked, diverting from the obvious topic Clare was bringing up.

"I grew up with her," she answered. "Haven't seen her in a while. Doubt that she's changed."

"Was she a talkative, loud, boy-starer when you knew her?"

Clare actually cracked a smile through her serious demeanor. "Yes. Exactly."

"Then she hasn't changed," Eli laughed. "Her friends were staring at me like I was the first guy they've seen."

"It's because there hasn't been a lot of cute guys in this town," Clare said without looking at him. Her eyes widened and she started to stutter. "I mean…not many…new guys…"

"I think we both know what you meant." The awkwardness between them was more prominent now and Eli actually felt a little bad about his constant teasing. "Fine," he sighed and cleared his throat. "I'll tell you what I heard but you tell me what's true or not."

"So you're not assuming that what she said was right?"

"You did say that everything she said was gossip," Eli pointed out. "So…deal?"

"Deal," Clare sighed in defeat. She took a seat on the second stool at the island.

"She said that your parents divorced seven years ago," Eli began and Clare already looked down in her lap. Even though earlier that day Clare told him that her parents did divorce, he was hesitant to continue. "Um…she said that you live with your dad who's a doctor in Chicago and your mom was here…running the inn. Apparently your mom was getting into drugs and alcohol and pretty much made this place one to avoid. She was shocked to hear that I was staying here and that…you're here running it. And no one knows where your mom is."

Clare looked up with her lips pressed into a thin line. Her head chin resting on her hand as she leaned on the island, she opened her mouth but seemed to find it hard to figure out what to say. Eli waited for her to speak, his heart dropping as he saw a tear from her eyes. Suddenly she was crying into her hands.

When someone cries, it's never easy to decide what to do. Do you comfort them? Do you wait? What if you barely know the person? Eli played with his hands awkwardly and tried not watching Clare as she silently teared into her hands but he had a strong impulse to go and comfort her. So he stood up and stood beside Clare's stool, wrapping both of his arms around her. She tried to pull away but eventually she gave in and lent to him, still tearing and sniffling.

Eli woke up to a dark room, lying uncomfortably on the couch of the living room area of the inn, and he began to move but realized that someone had their head on his chest and her arm around him. Then he began to remember that he brought Clare to the living room so she could be comfortable and somehow they ended up laying down and sleeping.

The tear stains on Clare's face made Eli want to rub his thumb under her eyes and wipe them away. He reached over and gently ran the tips of his fingers over her face and pulled away when he saw her eyes fluttering open.

"It's all true," she whispered.

"What is?"

"Everything she told you. It's all true."