The morning seemed to come much faster than usual for Adam Torres. After a fitful night of dreams filled with all the possible outcomes from the last night – Clare kissing him (this had been a common theme) and Eli walking in on them, screaming that Adam had broken the one good thing in Eli's life – Adam was ready to get back in bed, curl up, and pretend he didn't exist.

He was NOT looking forward to seeing Clare and Eli today, for the first time in a long time. It was very clear that he and Clare needed to have a talk without Eli, but since the two were basically attached at the hip, the concept of that happening without arousing suspicion was slim. Eli usually showed up to school about ten minutes after Clare, and Adam realized that this would probably be his only chance in the day to get to Clare to discuss the last night.

"Drew, get your ass up!" he shouted, quickly binding down his chest and throwing on a t-shirt and a hat over his messy hair. "We've gotta go!"

"Jesus, Adam, why so fast today? You usually take forever to get ready in the morning!" Drew grumped as his brother ran into his room, already fully dressed, and grabbed his Axe off of Drew's unnecessarily messy dresser. "Fiona must have really gotten you excited, eh?"

"Drew, not today. Fiona and I are not existent, okay? Dead to me."

"Well, that would make the play a bit awkward…" Drew commented dryly.

"Hey man, I can be professional. She seriously needs to apologize to me. And there's no way in hell I'm dropping out of the play. She's going to have to either quit or write me a nice letter telling me how sorry she is."

"Damn, what'd she do? I thought you liked her."

"Don't want to talk about it, Drew. Can we just get going? I need to talk to Clare."

"And Eli?"

"No. Just Clare."

Laughing slightly, Drew joked, "Maybe you should just stay away from girls for awhile. First Bianca, then Fiona, now Clare too? Man, you're more of a slut than me!"

"Hey, I've never been to the boiler room…" Adam threw back, getting a little angry. Just because Adam had absolutely zero luck with women didn't mean that his brother needed to call him a slut. "Let's just get going," he huffed, grabbing his backpack and running down the stairs.

"If you don't hurry up, I'm walking!" he shouted as he sat on the couch, anxiously awaiting his lazy brother's arrival down the stairs.

An idea suddenly struck Adam. "Actually, I think I will walk. You can get a ride from mom or something. I need the time to think. Bye mom!" he shouted as he headed out the door and turned on his iPod.

Finally, a chance to plan out what he'd say to Clare. Would he ask what happened last night? If it was real? Would he tell her that he understands if she doesn't want to be with him, if she wants him to disappear forever, that he'd transfer out of the school. If she wanted him to never speak to her or Eli ever again, he'd comply completely.

In his head he planned the entire conversation out. "Look, Clare, you're my best friend. And you're dating my other best friend. I know you and Eli are having a rough spot right now, but you're my friends… And Eli is my bro… I don't know that I can do this, even if you wanted to."

Adam told himself that even if Clare did want to be with him, he'd have the courage and strength to say no, for Eli's sake.

He told himself that Clare would tell him it was a mistake.

Or hell, maybe he had just imagined the whole thing and Clare would look at him like he was insane. Honestly, at this point, that would probably have been the best option for him. He had no idea what would happen.

Of course he liked Clare! He'd had a thing for Clare since the day she covered for him with the whole tampon incident. She was the first girl who would do something like that, cover for the stupid trans boy. And she had stuck by his side after the Bianca incident. But she was Eli's. He was dating her. He'd had her first, and Adam wasn't sure he could live with himself if he took the one good thing in Eli's life away from him.

The evil voice of jealousy in the back of Adam's head chose this moment to speak up.

"If she really was his, she wouldn't be interested in you. Maybe she loves you more. Maybe if she'd gotten to know you first, you'd be the one she's kissing, the one she's dating. Maybe she was never his to begin with."

With those thoughts in his mind, Adam arrived at school, only to be stopped by the person he wanted to see least in the world – Fiona.

"Adam, can I please talk to you?" she begged, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"No. Not right now. Fiona, I've got to go. I've got something to take care of," he said stonily, taking her hand and moving it away from him. "I think you clearly said all you needed to last night. I don't' want to talk about this right now. Bye."

He rushed down the hallway where he knew Clare would be and stopped a few feet in front of where she stood, alone, a book in her hand and a dull, expressionless look on her face.

"Clare… hey," Adam said slowly, trying to get her attention.

"Oh, hey Adam…" She looked up, and Adam clearly saw the puffy red eyes that meant that she hadn't slept the night before. "About last night…"

"That's what I'm here about," he interrupted, "I think we need to talk about this before Eli gets here. We need to figure this out before he finds out."

"Adam, I broke up with Eli."

"Wait… what?" Adam asked, his jaw dropping to the ground.

"Well, actually, things haven't been so good lately. He's getting obsessive over me and I realized that I'm stringing him along. If I have emotions for more than just him, I'm not being fair. He deserves better," she explained quietly, a single tear falling down her cheek.

"Oh, Clare, I'm so sorry," he whispered, automatically pulling her into a tight hug. "Are you okay? Obviously you're not okay, that was a stupid question, I'm sorry."

Clare sadly lay her head on Adam's shoulder. "I don't know what I'm doing any more, Adam. I'm lost."

Holding her tightly, Adam and Clare stood in silence for a moment, each listening to the other's heartbeat. One moment of perfect silence and solitude.

But it couldn't last long.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"

Adam and Clare separated quickly and looked around to see a clearly livid Eli walking towards them.

"She was mine! My girlfriend! And you took her away. You bastard… I can't believe you betrayed me like this, Adam."

Eli got into Adam's face and moved to punch him.

"Eli, stop it! Stop it! It's not his fault! I'm the one who ended it!" Clare shouted, terrified tears rolling down her face.

"But he started it. I know it. Fuck you, Adam. I trusted you. Fuck you," Eli shouted, rage distorting his features. "I'm gone. This friendship is over."

"Eli, come back!" Clare shouted, tears streaming down faster and faster. "I never wanted it to be like this…"

Grabbing her hand, Adam pulled Clare to a secluded area in the Caf and sat her down. Her tears seemed to be never ending. "Clare, I'm sorry…" he whispered.

Adam never wanted it to be like this, either.

A/N: Well, that's the end of part two. Is there interest in a part three?