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Read and enjoy!
Adam, cheeks bulging with baloney sandwich, glares between the two sets of love struck eyes on either side of him.
"For the last time," he growls, as bits of bread come flying out of his full mouth, "whoever's playing footsie with me, knock the hell off."
"Sorry," they both mumble in unison, drawing backwards. With their sandwiches left untouched on their plates and their eyes never leaving one another's, the observable truth is that they aren't at all sorry- for the first time, they don't have to savour every second they have together. They don't have to worry about procrastinating their parting, or having to careen down the streets well over the speed limit in order to get Clare home in home. They needn't to fret over Helen barging in on them.
No worries, just an infinite stretch of time ahead of them filled to the brim with possibilities for exploration. There are places to see together, a physical relationship to set the pace of, things they would never have imagined doing in the near future. They had freedom, and yet, it would never fully satisfy their insatiable desire to be with one another. No, in secret, they both believed that as long as the leaves changed colours and snow continues to fall, they would always want more.
And to be honest, it frightened the hell out of them.
Between making their lunches, and between the cheerful banters between the three of them, Eli begins to find himself thinking above and beyond. The happiness, the feeling of a huge burden being lifted of his shoulders- it all seems to be too good to be true. More than he deserved, better than what he would gladly accept. It terrifies him how in love he is with her, how easily she could be taken away from him- and dare he thinks, permanently. His own parents were so cruelly stolen away from him from a tragic case of overdosing and heartache, so what gives him the certainty that the same thing can't happen to Clare? The years of incessant mourning for his parents' death taught him just how precious human life is, how easily it can slip away in a second of carelessness. He tortures himself by fearing a repeat to further taint his innocence and ignorance.
"Lettuce, cheese, and ranch sauce," Clare chews approvingly. "A- plus to whoever made mine."
"All Eli, Adam says, sounding muffled. He swallows deeply, giving him a disgusted look. "Why didn't you put ham in it?"
"She hate ham," he says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Because to him, it is.
Clare grins sheepishly at her meatless sandwich, as her thoughts, too, wanders far. It's no secret to her that she's in the most blissful state of being. Her footsteps are feather-light, as she practically glides and beams and glows in everything she's done in the past hour. There's a beautiful kind of indefiniteness she knows that lie ahead- a future so vast, so eternal, and yet she can't even see it.
But the doubt in her mind lingers, whether she likes it or not. She had thrown everything that meant the world to her away for a boy- her family, her home- . A boy whom according to her heart, is someone who she is certain would never pick up and leave. Eli is nothing if not loyal, she knows that with every fibre in her being. It nags her anyway, the unwavering doubt, because absolutely everything is depended on him.
Eli and Clare smile lovingly at each other, deciding silently to keep their worries locked away.
"So when are you going to get your stuff back?" Adam asks casually, chugging his glass of soda.
"Oh yeah," Clare suddenly remembers, frowning at the dilemma at hand. "All my belongings are with my-mom." She cringes at the last word.
"It's gonna be tough to get back," Adam munches encouragingly, pointing his second sandwich at her.
Eli's fingers 'walk' towards Clare's hand (though it looks more like a saunter, in her opinion) and climbs on top of it.
"Yeeees?" Clare asks, raising her eyebrow.
He grins.
"So I was thinking," he says seductively, gazing at her from beneath his eyelashes," that maybe we could celebrate our newfound freedom."
Clare smirks. "What do you have in mind?"
"He wants some ass," Adam says loudly, not even bothering to conceal the mashed up food in his mouth. "Don't give it to him Clare, you deserve better."
"We should celebrate, at the very least," Eli says persuasively, wiggling his fingers to fit between hers. He flashes her a white smile. "What do you think?"
"I don't think we've really done anything special in a long time," she says musingly. "But I can't go anywhere looking like this, so…"
"Why don't you text your parents? Tell them you'll be stopping by?" Eli suggests, but even he could detect the false optimism in his voice. Yeah hey mom and dad, I just emancipated myself from you two an hour ago and gave you nothing but hell for the past year but I'm just going to barge right in and get all the stuff from my room than we can go back to ignoring each other's existence okay
"Right," Clare says dully, looking dejected. Her shoulders slumped sorely, and she seems exceptionally reluctant to comply.
"Or," Eli quickly offers, "we can sneak up your bedroom window?"
The skeptism on her face doesn't waver.
"If we don't get caught," Clare says, looking deep in thought.
Eli snorts. "The window is usually unlocked from all the times I've snuck in and-"
Clare clears her throat unsubtly, looking pointedly at a curious, suddenly attentive Adam.
"-and did homework," Eli says hurriedly in an unconvincing voice.
Adam narrows his eyes, flickering between the flustering couple.
"And considering you live here now, I would call it breaking in, wouldn't you?" Eli winks, returning to his lunch.
"I don't have the proper footwear for this sort of ordeal," Clare purses her lips, beginning to break out of her short-lived reverie. She glances down at the pair of slippers she had put on haphazardly this morning. "I suppose you will have to gather all my things for me."
At first, Eli just looks up and smiles briefly, focusing for intently on the piece of tomato sticking out than anything else. But when he looks back at Clare again, he realizes that she isn't just kidding- in fact, she looks quite determined. As she lifts a serious brow, Eli gapes open-mouthed at her, as if a horn had sprouted from between her eyebrows. His half-eaten sandwich slips from between his fingers, landing as a graceful mess on his splattered white plate.
"Catching flies, now are you?" Adam says, peering casually into his open mouth. Eli snaps his trap shut at once, hastily scrubbing off the crumbs decorating his lips, but continues to stare at Clare with a look of unmistakable disbelief.
"You're joking," he says flatly, crossing his arms. "I was only kidding, you know that, right?"
"Doesn't matter if you were," Clare smirks rebelliously. "I think it's a fantastic idea."
"It doesn't bother you that your parents might flip their shit on us? Or call the police again? They're not afraid of acting rashly, Clare. You and I know that better than anyone else," Eli says incredulously, picking up his sandwich and attempting to eat it again. But as he is so busy gawking at Clare that he misses his mouth multiple times before he gets it in properly.
"So, what, are you scared of getting caught?" She says in a live dangerously kind of way.
"I'm only afraid of what they'll do to you," he says concernedly. "Everything is happening so fast- I don't want you to make a bunch of impulsive decisions with confidence fueled from your newfound freedom. You've been locked up for so long, it's only natural to be a little reckless."
"We've done this a million times before," Clare points out obstinately. "I don't see how this is any different."
"It was different," he says quietly. "It was all on my neck."
Truer words have never been spoken, as Clare realizes that all the times Eli had sneaked into her room, it was, in fact, on his neck. Eli would have most likely been blamed if they had been caught- the one time her father walked in on them, most of his anger had been directed towards him rather than her. He earned himself a screaming lecture, a deadly threat, and a shove out the door, her a stern warning to never let him in again. Of course, she only conceded when Eli had persuaded her the next day that it was perfectly safe. This time around, her parents would not let her off with only a scratch; not after she had permanently dishonored their family the moment she had choice Eli over them. There was not telling what they might do.
"So it's okay to risk your neck, but not mine?" Clare asks, not harshly nor accusingly.
"I care about you, that's all," Eli says in an undertone, not meeting her eyes.
Clare softens her voice considerably after that.
"Then what do you suggest I do? I can just repurchase a whole new wardrobe of clothes and toiletry all on one go. Especially not when I have perfectly good sets sitting at my ho- my parents' home."
"I don't know," he answers honestly. "Maybe I could get a second job or something and pitch it. It's not a big deal."
"Eli," she says reprovingly, but gently. "That's not very realistic. I need to get my own stuff, not but new ones. Your job at the auto shop is demanding enough as it is. You won't be able to find the time for another job, part-time or not."
"It's possible," he says stubbornly. "A night shift would give me time with you just the same."
"You're not being rational," Clare says. "You wouldn't be getting any sleep."
"Well, neither are you," he fires back, folding his arms across his chest."Rational, I mean."
Clare fidgets irritably, thoroughly annoyed by her boyfriend's protectiveness. The softness diminishes in an instant. "If you don't want to come, then fine. I'll go by myself or something."
"That doesn't make it any better," Eli says shortly.
"Well, I don't want you tiring yourself out silly because of me, so I guess we're both at ends here," she sniffs, narrowing her eyes.
The two glare stiffly at each other, both exasperated for different reasons. But on either side, they are annoyed at the other's adamancy, both equally unwilling to oblige.
"I volunteer as tribute," Adam says nervously, lifting his hand slightly.
"You'd do it?" Clare asks, looking pleasantly surprised.
Carefully avoiding his best friend's dangerous eyes, he nods slowly. He slouches down further when he feels Eli burning a hole on his forehead, having been more reluctant to take sides, but unable to resist edging onto Clare's- in his own opinion, which he's glad nobody asked him for, Eli was being quite irrational.
"That's great! Maybe after you're done, we can head off."
"Traitor," Eli mutters, with an ugly look on his face. Adam cranes his neck and looks sadly at the phone, hoping it would ring so he'd have an excuse to leave the dreadful argument about to erupt.
"Stop that," Clare says, bothered by his attitude.
"You're making a mistake," he growls.
"I'm not," she says fiercely. "Come on, you know you don't want to work all those extra hours."
"Your parents-" he begins vehemently.
"Won't know," Clare says firmly. "We'll slip through the open window, and we won't make a sound."
"You're returning to dangerous property after all you've been through?" he demands. "After all we've been through?"
"I'm not following," she says curtly. "This isn't as risky as you-"
"Whatever," he says coldly, shutting her off. "Do whatever you want. Just don't expect me to come to the rescue when they try to get you back on their side."
"What does that even mean?" Her eyes are no more than narrow, livid little slits now, mirroring Eli's to perfection.
"You know what I mean."
With a face of sheer aghast, Adam sinks even further down his seat, desperately wishing to be anywhere but here. "You're being unnecessarily difficult, Eli," Clare says, stung by his frosty tone. "You're the one who's always encouraging me to-"
"It's different this time," he reminds her irritably through gritted teeth, roughly shoving his plate aside. "You're not listening to me."
"Well you're not listening to-"
"I just don't see the point of throwing everything out on the line when they could very well change their minds-"
"Will you stop interrupting me?" Clare raises her voice sharply. Her lower lip appears to be quivering angrily, a sure warning sign that she is reaching the end of her patience. Eli, however pays no heed, and looks as if he's set in stone.
They glare daggers at each other in silence again, just daring the other to bend. The heated tension rises as quickly as it had formed, their muscles clenching involuntarily from the frustration of being unable to get their message across. Crystal blue and forest green clash, producing an uncomfortable static-type feel that drifts in the air between them. No talking, just soundless combating.
Eli finally breaks the ice, after what seems like forever."If you want to risk losing me again, then go on right ahead. I'm not going to stop you." he says bitterly, getting up in sharp huffiness and proceeding to storm up the stairs. He takes two steps at a time, purposely making a racket as he does.
Adam glances anxiously at Clare, whose fists are clenched tightly in her lap.
"You're blowing things way out of proportion," she yells after him, shooting up from her seat. Her chair topples over behind her, and Adam does as much as scrunch his face in discomfort.
The sound of a door slamming hard causes the lights dangling above them to tremble. Clare inhales sharply, part of her wanting to stalk up right after him and talk some sense into him, part of her bubbling over from anger and wanting to let out some more steam by screaming at him, and the last, rather small part, urging her to walk away. To breathe in some fresh air, to clear her mind before she said something she's regret. Her feet are temporarily rooted to the spot, shaking from rage.
It takes a while before she decides which part to listen to.
A interesting little cliffhanger that I'd like to leave up to you- which part should Clare listen to? ;)