Pushing her hair back from where it was falling across her face, Claire surveyed her old room. Everything was packed and in the car, leaving the room unsettlingly bare. Trailing her fingers along the desk, she remembered all the time she had spent in here, sleeping ,studying, with Shane…
Feeling a flash of anger at herself for thinking about him, she gritted her teeth and walked out, shutting the door with a final sounding thud. She took a moment before leaving, going in every room, saying a last goodbye to the house that had been her home for the past 5 years.
Sitting on the sofa in the living room, she laid her key on the table and closed her eyes, remembering all the things that had happened here. Smelling the familiar smell of the house, which she suddenly realised had always had an undertone of spaghetti and chilli. Hearing ghosts of laughter, shouting. She could practically see them all. Eve in the kitchen, making herself coffee. Michael in his favourite chair, leaning over his guitar as he practiced a new song. Shane on the sofa, playing video games. A slight smile crept onto her face as she thought about them.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she became aware of the sound of breathing from the doorway. Her eyes sprang open and she rose to her feet, turning to look. It was Eve, her keys in her hand, her eyes wary. Claire tensed, ready for a shouting match, but all Eve said was "You got your stuff". Claire blinked, taken aback, and nodded. "Yeah... um, I was just… saying goodbye". Her cheeks flushed slightly at how stupid that sounded out loud, but Eve simply mimicked Claire's earlier nod. The stood in an awkward silence for a few beats, before Claire moved towards the door. "Well I should get going, it's getting late". This feels so wrong she thought. A month ago, everything was fine. The biggest thing on her mind was how to keep her relationship with Oliver a secret. Now… Now everything had fallen apart. Eve moved to the side to let her past, but just as she reached the bottom of the steps, she called her name. Turning, Claire looked at Eve.
"I….I'm not okay. Still. About you and... I mean… You're, well, not forgiven."
Claire felt the hope she hadn't even realised was rising, crash and burn. And then as she processed what had just been said, it ignited. Her face flushed like she'd just been slapped, and her eyebrows drew together. "I'm not forgiven? That's just perfect. Everything is my fault, isn't it?" Eve shifted slightly, obviously not anticipating this reaction. "You know, I actually thought for a minute you were going to say – well it doesn't even matter now, because clearly you aren't the person I thought you were." Eve's mouth dropped open, and there was renewed heat in her voice when she replied.
"Are you seriously saying that? The girl who is going with Oliver? Do you actually realise how wrong that is? What, you just thought you would be magically forgiven for- oh, I don't know, lying, cheating, basically betraying all of us!"
"Have you forgotten about the part where I was cheated on too?!" She yelled the last part. She had a vague notion they were causing a scene, but she didn't care. There was a part of her that had been dying to have this fight, and right now it was going all out. "And not only that, no, but you knew! You knew and you didn't even tell me! You were my best friend!" she shouted.
"Can you blame me, when you kept making sure I didn't know what was going on with you by having Oliver wipe my mind?!" Now Eve was shouting as well.
A car pulled up with a screech, and Claire heard a door open. "Hey! What's going – oh." Stopping next to Eve, Michael faced Claire, closely followed by Shane. "What's she doing here?" Shane asked in a flat voice. "Picking up my stuff" Claire said angrily before Eve could open her mouth. "Good" he said, and turned around to go inside. Michael intervened before she could say anything. "Claire, you should get out of here." Angry tears sprang to her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "Or what, you'll make me?" "I don't see your creepy-ass boyfriend around anywhere, and I also wouldn't push me right now." The dim red in his eyes just made her even angrier.
"You're all such hypocrites!" she cried. "After the amount of trouble you two went through, I would have expected a little bit of support, but no, I make one mistake and all of a sudden everything wrong in that house was my fault! Let's all forget the part where I wasn't the only one cheating! And you all knew! You're pathetic!" She spat the last part, shaking with anger.
"Hey now, come on. Break it up guys." It took a moment for Claire to recognise the voice. While she had been shouting, Hannah Moses had pulled up in her cruiser, and was now walking towards them all, one hand resting on her gun out of habit. "It's already done" she said bitterly, and got in her car. Eve and Michael exchanged a few words with the sheriff and went inside. Claire gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove off, barely noticing the few people that had gathered at a safe distance to watch the fight.
A few minutes later she pulled up and put her head in her hands, shaking and sobbing as she tried to get control of herself. She wiped her tears away hotly, hating herself for crying again, but unable to stop herself.