Chapter Eleven

Cece shrieked when Eli poked her sides from behind. "Eli!"

He smirked and pecked her cheek, taking the chair across from her at the breakfast table. She looked him over the top of her coffee mug and noticed his wardrobe. "Did you just get in?"

He poured a cup of coffee of his own and nodded. She pursed her lips. "Eli, were you with Clare?" When he didn't answer she continued, "Baby, be careful, she's the reverend's daughter."

"Mom," he stopped her and smiled sheepishly. "It's different with her."

Cece studied her son's face and sighed. "It better be different with her." She took a sip of her coffee, and when Eli wasn't looking, threw a crumbled piece of paper at his head. He gave her a perplexed look, and she said, "Open it."

He unravelled the paper to see his own writing: Go to college, write a novel, record a song.

"It's an ambitious list, Eli," Cece commented. She stopped briefly to mull over her choice of words. "But you're gonna have to work really hard, baby boy."

"I can do that." He said defensively. She smiled softly taking her son's hands in his. "Yeah, you can."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Mama, Clare, Clare has faith in me. She makes me want to be . . . different. Better. She's like my rock."

Cece smiled at Eli and kissed his forehead. Her baby boy had grown up and fallen in love.

Eli held Clare's hand as they walked the streets, casually passing by the tattoo parlour where they had gotten their ears pierced, and passing The Dot where he saw Adam, Fitz, Bianca and Jenna. He couldn't believe how much he had changed ever since meeting Clare. He took one look at Clare's face and smiled inwardly. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He pulled Clare under his arm but squinted when she seemed to resist.

Eli stopped her and faced her to him. For the first time, he noticed how pale she looked. Yes, Clare had always had fair skin, but recently she looked . . .tired and ill. He noticed that her curls had less bounce to it, and he wondered if he had gotten her sick the week before. Damn. He knew he shouldn't have kissed her when he had that cold.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked draping his leather jacket over her shoulders. She smiled weakly and nodded.

He didn't necessarily believe her, but the passionate kiss her gave her made him forget what they were talking about. He was surprised when he felt Clare's tongue poke at Eli's lips. Usually he was the one who initiated it. He deepened the kiss getting complete control of it and smiled against her mouth when he heard Clare gasp breathlessly. She tensed up almost automatically and pulled away looking towards the sidewalk. Eli ducked his head to look at Clare's face. "Clare, what is it?"

Clare's eyes whelled up with tears and Eli automatically held her, but she shimmied out of his grasp taking deep breaths and wiping away her tears. Eli held his breath preparing himself. She's gonna break up with me. I know it. She's gonna leave me.

After a few silent moments, she looked up into his eyes. Her usual baby blues turned royal blue with the tears. "I'm sick."

He nodded understandingly and pinned his jacket tighter around her. "Okay, we'll get you home, and you'll feel better tomorrow."

She ripped Eli's jacket off her and pushed it into his hands. "No, Eli. I'm sick."

He face had a mixture of shock from her sudden outrage and confusion. He understood what sick meant. Hence, taking her home. But why was she crying?

She put her hand to her forehead shielding her tears briefly before looking up and whispering in a shaky voice. "I have leukemia."

He chuckled nervously once thinking it was some sick joke. When she didn't laugh with him, his breathing hitched. "Wha-, no. No, you're, you're eighteen. You-"

Clare held back a sob as she watched Eli's face crumple up in pain. "No, I found out two years ago, and I've stopped responding to treatments."

He gulped and tensed his jaw, wiping his face from his watery eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" He said with more venom then he would have liked.

"The doctors said to live my life as best as I could. I didn't want anyone to be weird around me."

"Even me?"

"Especially you!" She hugged herself, letting out a heart-wrenching gasp. "I-I was getting along with everything great, and then you came along!"

Eli closed his eyes but opened them quickly, scared that if he kept them closed for too long, Clare would disappear. He saw her frail, sickly looking bodily and just wanted to hold her and hide her away from the world. But if he squeezed too hard, he might hurt her even more.

How could this happen to her? To Clare? Not his Clare. He could feel his fists tighten. So much for God. Just when he thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something beyond him. Some sort of force, this happens! Look at what he did! Taking away the most innocent, most perfect person in the world. He did his best to hide his anger, but it was as if Clare was reading his mind. She always had a knack for that. "I don't need a reason to be angry with God."

Eli pushed Morty to his limits, and the old hearse whined in protest. Tears blurred his vision so much so that driving under the circumstances was hazardous. From Toronto all the way to Mississauga, Eli kept replaying what had happened that night. At first their date had started out as normal and happy, and out of nowhere, a house came crashing down on them. Clare is dying. When she turned and ran away from him in tears, Eli wanted to run after her and hold her, but he couldn't move from the spot she had left him.

Driving close to 100 miles an hour, all h could imagine was Clare's lifeless form. She's dying. Eli gasped when he heard a horn honk from another car he had almost t-boned. He didn't even care of the man cursing at him. All he could think of was to save Clare.

Arriving at his father's large house well into the night, Eli ran out of Morty, too anxious to turn off the engine and held his finger down on the door bell and banging on the mahogany wood door. "Dad! Dad, open up!"

A few unresponsive seconds later, Eli deemed his father a failure and banged his fist against the door putting a dent in it. He was about to storm away when the porch late came on and Bill came out wearing a Dead Hand shirt and plaid pyjama bottoms. "Eli? Boy, why are you crying?"

"It's my girlfriend. Clare, she's . . ." he took a breath to steady himself, scared that if he admitted what was wrong, it would be real. "She has cancer. And I need you to come and see her right now. I need you to make her better."

Bill closed his eyes in sorrow. Not only did his son come rushing in the middle of the night because he needed him, his son came rushing for his girlfriend. He sighed and put a hand on Eli's shoulder. It was the most contact they've had since Eli's birth. However the small intimacy was broken just as quick as it happened.

Eli smacked his father's hand off his shoulder and yelled in frustration, "Can you help me or not?"

"Eli, I don't know her history. I'm a cardiologist, I'm not that kind of doctor."

Eli sneered. Even when Eli needed him the most, his father was always making excuses. He wasn't even trying to help Clare. Eli shook his head and backed away. "Forget it."

Eli hopped into Morty ignoring the calls from his father.

Clare had been avoiding Eli's calls, texts and messages for the past three days. Even at school, she avoided him. She'd get there extra early, work on articles for the school newspaper, be polite in class, and during her lunch, she'd work vigorously on the yearbook. It was killing Eli to know that Clare was going through this without him.

Eli, still completing his school punishment, was disposing of the litter he collected on school grounds when he felt a presence behind him. He wanted it to be Clare, but he knew that wasn't the feel of how she walked. He did, however, recognize the presence behind him. He'd known it since the grade school days.

"Hey," Adam said feebly.

Eli nodded his acknowledgment as he replaced the gloves and garbage bag. He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited for Adam to speak. He was here for a reason wasn't he? "I talked to your mom."

Eli tensed up instantly. He knew what Adam was referring to. He had spent hours laying numb in Cece's lap like a little boy, but after that, he had locked himself in his room blaring music. Eli nodded letting Adam continue. "So you and Clare huh?"

"Yeah, me and Clare. She's the best person I've ever known."

The two boys glanced at each other, neither saying any more or any less, but the silence between them was comforting and understanding.

Adam looked down, "Listen, Eli. I'm sorry."

Eli waited a few moments. Clare had taught him to forgive and to have faith. It was, after all, Adam. "I didn't know what she meant to you and that night-"

"It's all right man." Eli clasped his hand on Adam's shoulder. "It's okay."

The month of silence and cold shoulders between the two best friends were forgotten with the handshake they had created in their youth. Eli knew he couldn't stay mad at Adam forever, and Adam knew that no matter what Eli was going through, he'd support him. Eli grinned inwardly. Clare would be so proud of him.