Team Clare

Eli leaned back in the couch. He looked at the TV, examining the names of the two football teams. He tried to choose a team to support for the night.

"I like girls with something to offer," he replied after a pause, looking back at KC. He half-smiled, his mouth slanted. "I like a girl who can make me think, or challenge me. If all a girl has to offer is that she's hot, I don't really care."

"Oh, wow," Drew interrupted the conversation, and the rest of the group turned to look at him. He was grinning at his cell phone, his eyebrows raised and his bright white teeth gleaming. Sav tried to catch a glimpse of Drew's phone.

"Speaking of hot," Drew explained his text, still grinning widely. "Alli's having a girls' night. It doesn't get much hotter than a bunch of girls in Victoria's Secret pajamas confessing their deepest thoughts and sleeping together."

Eli laughed, Adam rolled his eyes, and KC raised his eyebrows and grinned. Sav made a face of sheer horror.

"Dude! That's my sister you're talking about!" he scooted away from Drew in disgust. Adam and Eli looked at each other and laughed. Drew shrugged.

"Hey, don't tell me you wouldn't love to see Holly J in a sexy outfit snuggled up with a bunch of other hot girls," Drew challenged Sav, who couldn't hide his smile. KC patted Sav on the back.

"What makes you think they're all wearing lingerie and pressed together?" Adam mocked Drew's fantasies. He had a playful glint in his bright blue eyes. "Maybe they're all in battle armor, plotting your demise."

"I can see that happening," Eli agreed. His lips were tilted in a lopsided smile.

"Yeah, that's a little more likely," KC agreed, tearing his eyes away from the game. He took one last gulp of his pepsi before setting the empty can on the coffee table. "I can see Alli or Jenna in Drew's little porno-fantasy world, but can you imagine Saint Clare in Victoria's Secret anything?"

All the boys laughed except for Eli. His smile disappeared, and he stared at KC.

"I mean seriously, she's a sweet girl, but when we dated she seemed to be uncomfortable even if we just kissed. I was like, okay, I get that you used to dress like you belong to a convent and you'll pretend you've never heard of sex until you're married or whatever, but come on!" Drew and Sav laughed. Adam faked a chuckle. Eli kept his green eyes locked on KC in a hard stare.

"You and Clare dated?" Eli asked. He tried to keep the hostility from showing in his voice, and just barely succeeded. KC didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah. It didn't last that long. I broke up with her for Jenna, but that didn't exactly work out either." He took another pepsi. Eli wanted to take the can and chuck it at his head. "She was pretty pissed about it. I wonder if she ever thinks about me."

Eli stifled a dark chuckle.

"Well, she's never mentioned you," he replied, turning back to face the television. He smirked a little when he realized the screen was showing a close-up of one of the players' faces as he walked, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He couldn't help but feel that his previous description of televised football games was dead-on.

KC's eyebrows rose. "Oh, are you and Clare friends?"

Adam coughed, only magnifying the awkwardness of the situation. Eli smiled.

"She's my girlfriend," he replied. KC nearly choked on his soda.

"Oh, oh um... that's uh, cool." KC avoided Eli's eyes for a moment. Eli's smirk intensified. Making an ass out of his girlfriend's ex was priceless.

"I was just joking when I said those things about Clare," he hastily tried to cover up his social catastrophe. Eli wanted to laugh at how predictable he was being. "Really, I was. You're a lucky man; she's a great girl."

Eli genuinely smiled this time instead of smirking. KC was a bit of an ass, but maybe not a total one. Still, Eli couldn't resist messing with him a little more.

"I figured you were joking," he replied with a nod. "I mean, the way you described her made her sound like a total prude. I'm sure you know from experience that that's not true."

Just like Eli expected, KC's eyes widened. Sav's and Drew's eyebrows shot up. Eli glanced at Adam, who was holding back a laugh. He knew Eli well enough to know what he was doing.

"What do you mean?"

Eli could have burst out laughing on the spot just by the sight of KC's face. He looked like he was about to die from perverted curiosity. Eli was eating it up.

"Well, you know what she's like," he faked nonchalance, looking down at his hands. He twisted the ring around his thumb twice, and the one on his ring finger three times. He examined the faded sharpie on his nails.

"Ohh yeah, Eli's told me some pretty... interesting stories about her," Adam agreed, playing along. Eli glanced at him, silently thanking him for joining the fun. KC looked like he was going to wet himself.

"Stories? About what?"

"This is weird," Drew interrupted once more. Eli mentally high-fived Drew for leaving KC hanging. It was perfect timing. The boys turned from the game and looked at Drew, who was making a face at his phone.

"Alli sent me a picture of all this make up, and she asked me to choose a lipstick color," he sounded puzzled as he pressed a button on his phone. "But the lighting is weird in the picture, like she's shining a flashlight on it. It kinda looks like the picture was taken outside, but why would Alli be putting on makeup outside?"

Drew's phone beeped again. He opened the next message, and made another face.

"Okay, now this one says 'knock on wood,' and it has a winking face. What does that even-"

The five boys jumped a foot off the couch as their ears were suddenly met with the roar of someone pounding as hard as they could on the door. Even Eli was startled, and he looked at Adam, his green eyes wide with shock and wonder.

"Oh shit! I forgot to lock the-" Adam was cut off when the doorknob jerked and the door swung open, slamming into the wall. The boys nearly had simultaneous heart attacks when a swarm of bodies came charging in, accompanied by a chorus of battle cries.

Eli was overwhelmed by the sudden ambush, but he started to realize what was going on shortly after one of the bodies pounced on him. He looked up to see Clare's devious grin and realized that Alli's girls' night had come to take over Adam's and Drew's guys' night.

"Thank you for saving me from football," Eli told his girlfriend, and he leaned forward for a kiss. Clare clamped her hand down over his mouth, and he looked at her, surprised.

"After this, you're going to wish you were still watching the game!" Clare teased, her voice thick with a devilish playfulness. Eli's eyebrows raised in curiosity and anticipation. He knew what was coming would be torture, but at the same time, he couldn't wait to find out what it was.

He pushed Clare off of him the second he saw the pink, glittery lip gloss in her hand. He jumped off the couch and ran, but Clare was too fast for him. She tackled him, pinned him to the ground, and attacked him with lip gloss. He tried to fight her off, but he was laughing too hard.

"There," Clare climbed off of Eli, standing over him triumphantly once she'd smeared the nasty stuff all over his mouth. Eli sat up, looking around the room, and he smiled at what he saw.

Alli was in Drew's lap, facing him, trying to put glittery blue eyeshadow on him, but he tried to cover his face. She had already succeeded in putting an obnoxious magenta lipstick on him, and she did a pretty good job of making it look good. Next to them, Holly J was patting Sav's cheeks with blush while he struggled to push her off, and Eli recognized Holly J's friend Fiona Coyne trying to put as many girly hair clips in Adam's hair, his hat in her hand. Alli's friend Jenna was chasing KC around the couch with a feather boa and blue mascara.

"Why did you stop at lip gloss?" Eli asked Clare, smirking. He grabbed Clare's legs and pulled her down, and she fell onto Eli's lap. She adjusted her position so that she was more comfortable, and she draped her arms over his shoulders.

"You already wear so much makeup," she responded, cocking an eyebrow. "I didn't want you to look like a hooker."

"Oooh, good call," Eli replied, the sarcasm evident in his voice. Clare smiled and leaned forward for a kiss. Eli should've pulled away to tease her, but he wanted to kiss her more than she wanted to kiss him.

"Mm," Clare was grinning when the kiss ended. Eli couldn't fight his own smile. "You taste like pineapple."

Eli licked the gloss off his lips. She was right.

"You know, I don't think this shade really matches my eyes," Eli replied, faking a lisp and batting his eyelashes. Clare rolled her eyes.

"Well, Alli did bring about twelve different colors. I could always try another shade. In fact, why don't I let you wear all of them, and we can compare?"

"On second thought, glittery pineapple pink? Excellent choice."

"Thought so," Clare teased. "By the way, like my pajamas?"

Eli was so distracted by the girls' makeup ambush that he hadn't noticed what Clare was wearing. He looked over her body and his eyes widened. The pink, silky night gown came down to Clare's mid-thighs, and black lace lined the top and bottom. It hugged her body in all the right places. Eli figured he shouldn't doubt Drew so much.

"Victoria's Secret?"

Clare nodded. "Don't underestimate me," she replied, and she leaned in for another kiss. Eli let his eyes fall shut and grabbed Clare's hips. He stuck one leg out, grinning against Clare's lips when he felt KC trip over it and fall. He opened one eye, loving the completely dumbfounded look on KC's face when he looked to see what tripped him and saw what Clare was wearing.

Damn, maybe football wasn't so bad after all.