Chapter 4

"Remind me again what I am doing here?" Claire asked as Tess was dragging her towards the Gungellan pub.

"You are here to relax in a nice company." Tess explained as he winked at her sister.

"I'm not sure nice company is a good way to describe it. Have you forgotten about me and Alex… you know?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten. But maybe you and Alex will get a chance to talk and explain everything."

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to talking to Alex."

"Oh come on, Claire." Tess took her sister's hand and motioned for her to hurry up. "Everything will be fine between you and Alex. And now would you please move your feet and stop thinking about it so much."

"Yeah, it's no big deal. I slept with my best friend and he won't even talk to me about it. No need to get all worked up about it." Claire said with a note of sarcasm.

"Claire!" Tess was getting impatient.

"OK, OK, I'm coming." She promised and the two of them entered the pub. Nick and Alex were already waiting at one of the tables. Nick smiled motioned for them to come over. Claire sighed and gulped before she and Tess walked over to the boys' table. She still wasn't sure how she was supposed to act around Alex and she had no idea how Alex would act around her. She thought that maybe this time he would act the way he should – all weirded out and insecure. Just like she felt.

"Hey." She said quietly as her and Tess were taking their places.

"Nice of you to join us, Claire." Alex said smirking. "What do you want to drink? I would assume beer is out of the question." He laughed.

That was definitely not the tone of someone who feels uncomfortable. Claire quickly looked away so that she didn't have to look Alex in the eyes.

"Orange juice will be fine." She quickly answered and Alex turned to Tess. "You?"

"I will gladly take a beer." She smiled.

"Coming right up." Alex answered and went to the bar to fetch the dinks for Claire and Tess. Claire looked nervously at her sister, but the uncomfortable moment was interrupted by Nick.

"How he can drink beer after yesterday I will never understand." Nick laughed.

"After yesterday?" Tess asked curious.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him so stoned in a long time. He can't even remember how he got home."

As soon as Nick said it Claire and Tess shot each other understanding glances. Nick noticed that.

"Is everything OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything is just fine." Claire answered with a big sigh. At the same moment Alex came back to their table with the drinks.

"There you go." He placed the drinks in front of Tess and Claire and put a bottle of beer for himself. He brought back the tray to the counter and came back to his seat. "So, anything interesting happened recently?" he asked with an ignorant smile on his face.

Claire had to almost squeeze her fist when she heard that question. She couldn't believe he didn't remember anything and that she was the only one who felt that strange tension between the two of them. She couldn't believe Alex was so lucky not to remember it, while she was being eaten up inside by the memories. Tess noticed the expression on Claire's face and was worried about her reaction to everything that was happening. She feared that Claire was going to lose it and starts confronting Alex about the previous night, but fortunately nothing of that sort happened. At least not for the time being.

"Nothing much happening." Tess answered. "Same old, same old at Drovers." She added and felt very uncomfortable herself saying that. "You know, a lot of work keeps us all busy. No time for anything unusual."

"You gals are working yourself to death." Nick joked.

"Yeah, well, there is a farm to run and if we don't do the work then no one will." Claire answered a little harshly.

"I guess so." Nick smiled. "You're doing so great at Drovers. I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks Nick." Claire smiled back at him. "I'm just surprised you get any work done with one of you constantly being drunk." She just couldn't help it.

"Excuse me?" Alex asked, sensing that something was wrong with Claire. He didn't know what it was, so he decided to defend himself. "I am not constantly drunk, I just like an occasional drink."

"Whatever Alex." Claire said in an unpleasant tone and Alex started to really get a little bit annoyed.

"Hey, what is your problem?" he asked.

"I don't have a problem! Do you have a problem?" she answered nonchalantly.

"Then what's with the comments?"

"Just stating the obvious." she said matter of factly.

"This evening was supposed to be fun. If your idea of fun is coming here and insulting me then maybe you shouldn't have come here at all." Alex was getting really angry, especially that he had no idea where all this was coming from.

"Maybe I shouldn't have." Claire agreed with him and rose up from their table. "This was definitely a mistake." She added and stormed out of the pub.