I do own Degrassi.
Psych. I bet I tricked you there for a second. I totally had you going. Don't be afraid to admit it! Okay, I'm kidding, and weird. I also don't own Degrassi, but I'm sure you guys have picked up on that by now.
So, anyway, welcome to the second half of Love Lockdown- Part 1. It's first date time! I must warn you- this chapter will probably be chock full of EClare cuteness. Enjoy my dear readers. 3 :
Clare and I burst through the double doors that dumped us out into the back parking lot; Clare leading the way. I couldn't help but revel in the irony: mere weeks earlier I had been leading Clare out into the parking lot with a similar look of rebellion and determination on my face. However, this was much more exciting than simply skipping school and Clare was no longer just an intriguing acquaintance- she was my girlfriend. The thought instantly made me feel warm. Clare had finally forgiven me, her out of character behavior was fascinating, and we were about to embark on our very first date. That is my definition of fun.
"You're so slow," Clare complained, practically sprinting toward Morty. I came to a complete stop, and my hand slipped out of Clare's as she kept running. When she realized that I was no longer behind her she reeled around to face me. "What are you doing?" she asked me, puzzled.
My lips curled up slowly into a rare teeth-exposing smile. "I'm just taking in this moment," I assured her, sucking in a deep breath. The air was warm and smelled like rain, but it wasn't humid. Clare looked beautiful in her bright blue dress that was hinting at her curve and accenting her ice-blue eyes which were narrowing skeptically at me. The moon was out, shining brightly, and Clare's hair was holding an unusual sheen to it because of the light. I could practically hear the violins playing in the background- that was probably my overactive imagination, though. "Everything just seems so perfect right now," I told her quietly, "I want to catalogue it in my mind before it's too late."
"What do you mean?" Clare took a few steps toward me, closing the distance between us. She looked up at me through her eyelashes, baffled.
"All of life's moments are so fragile," I mused, "so, if you don't take the time to appreciate them, they're gone before you get the chance." My thoughts jumped to Julia for a brief second before focusing back on Clare. I wrapped my arms lightly around her waist.
"You never cease to amaze me," Clare commented, tapping my nose with her pointer finger. "I just never know what's going on up there in that head of yours." Her gaze was boring right into mine.
"For the sake of your sanity, I think we should keep it that way," I winked at her, and bent down to kiss her forehead before she could read the seriousness behind that comment on my face. "Now," I started, slipping my hand into hers, "we have kick-ass plans tonight. Are you ready for this?"
"Are you kidding me?" Clare laughed- the gleam in her eyes back, "I was born ready." I rolled my eyes at the cliché, but pulled her over to where I had parked Morty. Clare slipped in without her usual moment of hesitation. I paused, surprised. This rebellious Clare was going to take some getting used to.
I jumped into the driver's side, and headed toward the coffee shop where Palahniuk was reading. I had been there a few times for some poetry slams, and to hear other authors, but this was Clare's first time. I assured her she was in for a treat.
"I have another surprise for you," I told her as we pulled out of Degrassi's parking lot.
Clare raised her eyebrows, "Is that so?"
"'Tis," I winked at her. "Go into the glove compartment, will you?" She opened it up and then glanced at me expectantly, "Grab my CD case," I requested. She opened it, and handed the black book over to me. While keeping one hand on the wheel, I flipped to the last page of sleeves, slipped out the only CD there, and handed it to her. I set the book down on the bench between us.
"Clare?" She read what I had written on the CD questioningly.
"You're always complaining about my music," I explained, "so, instead of torturing you any further, I made a mix of all the cheesy love songs that remind me of you. Pop it in."
Clare was skeptical until the first track, Awake by Secondhand Serenade, started to play. A light blush bloomed on Clare's cheeks, and a small smile slipped on her face. "Thank you. This was really thoughtful. I'm…touched," she admitted. Then she put the CD case back in the glove compartment, and slid over to me. I slipped my arm over her shoulders, pulling her close to me. She leaned up to press her lips right to my jaw bone. I glanced at her quickly, loving that her eyes were reflecting back everything I was feeling at that moment. "Eyes on the road," she teased me lightly, and I reluctantly complied.
We reached the coffee place just as Palahniuk was taking the stage. I lead Clare to a table near the front, but off to the side. The only light on was a single spotlight directed at the stage. Everyone was quiet, anticipating what Palahniuk was going to say. He opened his mouth and started to speak- his deep voice accentuation the emotions perfectly. Clare slid her chair closer to mine, resting her head in the nook of shoulder and neck. As the reading went on Clare and I became totally absorbed. I absentmindedly played with Clare's hair-twirling it around my fingers, and every now and then Clare would shiver, but other than that we were both in the universe that Palahniuk had created for us. The words were so powerfully crafted to make you wonder and question; delivered for maximum impact, and I knew I would never find another girl who would appreciate it as much as Clare did. She understood me, and my world, like no one else could- I could tell she was just as affected by the reading as I was.
Chuck Palahniuk wrapped up, thanked us all for coming, and the dimmed lights around the shop were brought up again.
"Where should we go next?" I asked her, daring her with my eyes to declare the date finished.
Clare's face almost looked like it was glowing in the dim lighting, but that could have had something to do with her broad smile. "Let's walk around a little; I'm sure something will catch our interest. Also, that was…amazing," her eyes widened, as we got up to walk out, "I have never been to anything like that before, but I would love to do it again sometime. Everything he said was just so powerful!" Clare gushed. We stopped at the door to get our copy of the work we had just heard. Clare and I both nodded appreciatively before pushing out the door.
"I know! God, I love Palahniuk's prose," I agreed, walking backward out into the street, deeply breathing in the cool air, "It's just so raw and forceful and dark!"
Clare followed, an excited smile still lighting up her face. "But not half as dark as his characters," she countered, "Jeeze, they're sociopathic."
We reached the other side of the street, and I continued walking backward down the sidewalk just so I could watch Clare's face. "But to be a truly great writer you need some damage to draw on," I deliberated. The best writers were the ones who had lived through the emotion, and knew how to capture it just right.
"Guess you're halfway to the Pulitzer, then," Clare joked with me. Just then, the shrill ring of her cell phone sliced into the night. I would place bets on my life that it was Clare's parents wanting to know where their precious daughter had vanished to. I cringed thinking of how they would feel if they knew I had condoned this. I didn't want them to hate me- that meant I wouldn't be able to see Clare very often.
Clare pulled her phone out of her purse and made a sour expression at it, as if it could have prevented the interruption. The look on her face confirmed my thoughts. "Parents calling to end our fun?" I asked delicately. I really didn't want this to end yet, but I would probably have to take Clare home.
Or so I thought until she tucked the phone back into her purse. "Doesn't matter because I'm not answering," Clare insisted, the defiant gleam back.
I was a little shocked. The Clare I was used to would not have risked disappointing her parents so greatly. Clare was a goody two shoes- the yin to my yang. Although, I loved Clare normally, I had to say I liked rebellious Clare. She was interesting, different. But I still couldn't help poke fun at her drastic change in attitude, "An award, and author's talk, and youthful rebellion," I raised my eyebrows playfully at her, "Wow, big night." I let sarcasm sneak into my voice.
"Hey," Clare complained, defending herself, "I can be rebellious."
"Oh, yeah?" I asked her. She was talking to the master of rebellion, so I hoped she was prepared to back up her claim, "what's next? Sneaking into a…'R' rated movie?" I looked around like talking about such a thing was a scandal that we shouldn't be caught discussing.
Clare narrowed her eyes at me, and looked around for something 'rebellious' to do. Her eyes landed in the bright blue neon sign announcing 'Piercings'. The devilish gleam in her eyes grew more pronounced, and she smirked at me, backing up to lean against the building. My eyebrows came together in confusion. There was no way she was about to suggest what I thought she was. But she opened her mouth, and proved me wrong. "Matching piercings?" She asked me innocently.
"Won't your parents hate that?" I pointed out to her, making sure this was something she really wanted to do. Of course, I was game, but I didn't want her waking up tomorrow morning to regret this whole thing. It was strange; assuming the role of responsibility- I was usually the reckless one.
"Definitely," Clare told me, as if that were the point. I raised my eyebrows at her, deliberating if I should let her go through with this. "What?" she jokingly mocked; "scared to keep up with me?" The suggestive smile on her face was what did me in. Clearly she was going through with this whether I did it with her or not, and truth be told, I wanted to do it. I didn't know many couples that had matching piercings, and it was a cute idea. I pretended to turn away, like I was going to leave, but then I busted a small dance move, and pranced before her into the lobby.
The only light in the place was supplied by neon signs. They were everywhere- pink, blue, and yellow; just being the room was giving me a headache. I didn't like it in here, especially since the man behind the counter was wearing a muscle shirt, was covered in tattoos from head to toe, had piercings everywhere, and was probably four times the size of me. I generally try not to pass judgment, but not only was the guy a walking cliché, he just seemed shady. I glanced at Clare, but amazingly she seemed to be completely unfazed, and even at ease. Clearly this bout of rebellion had turned off the logic part of her brain. Every nerve in my body was standing on end, and my instincts were shouting at me to get out.
"What can I do you for?" The man's gruff voice sliced through my mental panic.
"I actually think we're going to," I started to say 'go', but Clare cut me off.
"We're looking to get matching piercings," she announced proudly, and then shot me a questioning look. I just shrugged and pretended to be enthralled with one of the books full of tattoo designs. "Do you have any suggestions?" Clare asked politely.
"How naughty are you looking to get?" the man asked, winking at Clare.
I stepped in front of her possessively, narrowing my eyes at the creep. "We're going to stick with something common," I let my disgust color my tone, "like the ear." My lip curled up at him; who the hell did he think he was. And what kind of sick question is that anyway? Clare's hand slipped into mine, and she gave me a restraining squeeze. I got the message loud and clear- she wanted me to cool down.
"I can do that," the man held his hands up in surrender, and I backed down. "Where on the ear are you thinking?" he asked all business now. I looked at Clare, wondering what she had in mind.
"Cartilage?" the word came out as a question, and not at all like an answer. I shrugged and smiled at her; why the hell not.
"You heard the lady," I said turning back to the man.
He nodded, "I'll start you off with a standard hoop, then. That okay?" he raised his eyebrows at me, waiting for a response. Surprisingly enough, I had never done anything like this, so that sounded fine to me. It wasn't like I had anything to go off of. I nodded at him. "Which one of you first?" he asked a smile creeping onto his face as he gestured to the char in the corner of the room.
"I'll go first," Clare chirped, walking over to the chair, and hoping on without hesitation. Creepy man and I both followed her over. I grabbed her hand as the man prepared the gun. Clare's eyes widened when she saw it, but she quickly composed her face into the come-what-may mask she had been wearing seconds before.
"I'm going to ask you one last time," I whispered to her quietly, "are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes," Clare's voice rung with certainty. "Don't tell me you're backing out," she accused me.
"Wouldn't dream of it," I assured her, even though I wasn't at all sure anymore. Clare had her heart set on it, though, and I'd be damned if I was going to let her down.
"You ready," Creepy man asked her, holding the gun to her ear. Clare nodded, and squeezed her eyes shut, gripping my hand tighter. I brought it up to my lips, and kissed her hand softly just as the gun rang out. Clare gasped, but otherwise didn't make a noise. I was proud of her; she had handled that well. Clare tucked her hair behind her ear, and turned her head so I could see. "What do you think?" she asked.
"Holy shit!" I yelled.
Clare looked at me, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. "Is something wrong?" she asked, worried.
I shrugged. "Nope, looks like your average earring to me," I winked at her, and she smacked me in the arm.
"Not funny," she commented under her breath, and we traded places. After seeing Clare handle it so casually I was much less worried about this venture. After all, if Clare could take it without screaming in pain, so could I.
Still, when Creepy man placed the gun against my ear my pulse quickened, and I could hear my heart thumping so loud that I was worried Clare could hear it, too. I folded my hands in my lap- I didn't want Clare to feel how sweaty they were from my nerves. I took a few deep breaths, and didn't let myself close my eyes. "One…two…three," Creepy man counted down, and then a shot rang out in my ear, and a shooting pain rippled through my head. I clamped down on my tongue so I wouldn't make any noise, but I did flinch after the gun was taken away from my head. I didn't know how people pierced things like their tongues; that would hurt like a bitch.
"Let me see," Clare requested beaming at me.
I placed my hand over my ear, trying to stop the ringing. "Not right now," I told her, massaging my ear gently. Damn, that had really hurt more than I had expected.
"Why not?" Clare persisted.
"Because I have to pay, and then I would really like to get out of here. All this neon is making my head pound," I told her lightly. She rolled her eyes at me, but we got up and went back to the front counter. I handed over the money for Clare's bizarre whim, and then I wrapped my arm around her waist and we walked to Morty. "What time do you suppose it is?" I asked Clare.
She leaned into me, and grabbed her phone from her bag. "Uh, oh," she said under her breath.
"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.
She chuckled to herself as she told me, "I have six missed calls from my parents." I narrowed my eyes at her. How was she so okay with that? Her parents were obviously upset, and normally that would be eating Clare up alive. Instead, new Clare seemed to take that as fuel.
"And that's funny because…?" I prompted her, genuinely curious about her carefree attitude.
"I've never felt so free. It's kind of a rush, you know, this whole regular teenage disobedience. I like it; the tables have turned," she murmured the last part under her breath, and I wasn't sure if she had meant for me to hear it. "And it's 10:30," Clare said, not forgetting the reason she pulled her phone out in the first place.
"Well, Miss Defiant, would you like to go get some coffee at The Dot, or call it a night?" I hoped she would choose the former, but I almost wanted her to pick the latter just because her parents would be happier to have her home.
"I'm definitely parched," she winked at me as we arrived at Morty.
"The Dot it is, then," I smiled at her, and climbed into the car. As soon as we were in though, her phone started to buzz. "You don't think it might be a good idea to go home?" I asked her again.
Clare just shook her head. "That's a silly question. Going home means leaving you." I smiled, and leaned down to place a kiss on the top of her head, breathing in her luscious sent before pulling away, and heading toward The Dot. Clare and I didn't say anything on the ride there, we just listened to the CD I had made for her, our hands intertwined.
When we did reach the Dot I had Clare pick us out a table, and I walked inside to buy us some drinks. Clare had picked a table outside, and away from the other customers. I set the tray down, and settled into the chair across from her. "Thank you," Clare remarked happily as she picked up her drink to take a sip.
"You are most welcome," I told her, and reached up to scratch my head. As I did so, though, I bumped into my ear which was very sore. "Ow," I yelped before I could stop myself.
"What is it?" Clare asked anxiously.
"I forgot about the piercing," I told her, wincing.
"Oh, yeah," Clare perked up, "Let me see!"
"No," I complained, but she kept up a steam of pleading until I caved. "Okay!" I told her, brushing my hair out of the way.
Clare leaned in to observe the piercing that looked identical to her own. "Oh, my God," she said in awe, a smile on her face. She was baffled that we had gone through with it.
"Why didn't you tell me this would hurt so much?" I asked. After all, she was the one who had other piercings in her ear- she should have at least warned me.
"Hey," she said playfully, "rebellion is not the pain of ear. Here," she said, grabbing a bottle off the table and unscrewing the cap, "hot sauce will take your mind off the pain," she raised her eyebrows at me flirtatiously.
She was acting so different than the girl I had fallen in love with. It was so weird, and yet, "I love first date Clare," I decided. Clare's rebellion had made her the kind of spontaneous that was challenging and dangerous, but so much fun. "Do you think she'll make an appearance on date two?" I asked hopefully.
Clare shot me a stern look, "Hey, date one is not over yet," she reminded me, and we both laughed. But our moment was cut short by the buzzing of Clare's phone. She shot an anxious look at it before flipping it open. At first, I thought she was going to answer it, but she 'ignored' the call instead. "I'm an hour late, mom" Clare yelled at the phone, "deal with it."
"That's the tenth time they've called," I pointed out cautiously, "won't they worry?"
"Who cares," Clare shrugged candidly, "let them."
It seemed like the perfect time to finally voice my concerns over Clare's parents. "I guess…I care," I informed her earnestly. "I really like you," understatement of the century, "ergo; I want them to like me."
Clare's face softened, and a small, sweet smile brightened her face, "What's not to like, Captain Curfew?" she asked me playfully.
I sighed. She wasn't getting it. "They're going to blame me for keeping you out so late." And then I would never have the chance to charm them; make a good impression.
Clare considered that for a moment, looking down at the table. When she met my eyes again, though, a new kind of determination was lighting up her face. Curiosity was written all over my face. "You know how…public displays of affection at banned in school?" Clare asked me coyly. I nodded, liking the sound of where this was headed. "Could I convince you to stay out for some contraband kissing?" she asked, seductively grabbing my tie, and pulling me closer. I couldn't help it, I caved. Clare had never come on to me like this, and, well, I was a guy. She looked so beautiful sitting there, an alluring gleam in her eye.
I maintained our eye contact until our lips were just touching, and then I let mine slip closed. Clare was wearing a lip gloss that smelled like vanilla, and I licked it off her lips just lightly. She giggled as I did so, her teeth grazing my lip. I let my hands slip into her hair, and I deepened the kiss just before pulling away. "I really should get you home," I muttered against her lips, my head slightly faint from the kiss.
Clare groaned just slightly. "Are you sure about that?" she asked, slipping her lips back between mine. I kissed back for a moment before fully pulling away.
"Yes, I'm sure." Clare rolled her eyes, but we both slipped into Morty. I pulled up to her house a few minutes later, slipping Morty into park. "Thank you. That was probably the best night of my life," I told her honestly.
Her eyes sparkled hear me say that. "Mine too," she agreed. I ejected the CD and handed it to her. She placed in her purse. "Thank you," she smiled at me, "for everything."
"For you, I would do anything," I reminded her.
"Even give me one last goodnight kiss?" Clare asked me, glancing up at me through her eyelashes. Her face was flushed with emotion.
"I don't know…," I started jokingly, "that seems like a lot to ask."
She looked up at me, about to retort, I assumed, but I cut her off by sliding close to her. I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and kissed the piercing. Then I moved up to her temple, placing a kiss there as well. I traveled all around her face, placing kisses on her jaw, forehead, nose, and cheeks. I stopped right at the edge of her lips. "Goodnight Clare," I whispered softly, and then she and I shared the sweetest, softest kiss. I applied the minimum amount of pressure; Clare's lips parted just slightly. I slipped my lips between hers, and we paused like that for a moment before pulling away.
"Night, Eli," Clare replied, breathless. She slipped out of the hearse, and walked into her house.
I leaned against my seat, too intoxicated by Clare to move. That was the best first date ever.
Well, what do you think, lovelies- did I do the first date justice, or was it bad? Cute enough? I hope so. Let me know what you think, pretty please!