Oh my gosh. I love your reviews. They rock. This little piece was inspired by my grandmother, who continues to amaze me with her long lasting marriage. She and my grandfather are literally my role-models for love.

Enjoy!

Love is a leap of faith.

This was ridiculous, in Clare's opinion. Her English teacher had announced that they were to write an essay with those words as the starting point.

Clare tapped her pen irately against the desk. It was silent in her home. With her mother and father absent, Clare and Eli had plenty of time to work. The two were seated on the loveseat comfortably.

"This is absurd. Why on earth would she want us to write an essay on love?" Clare vented.

"Well, she said she want us to better understand the world's best romance novels by expressing our views on love. Personally, I think we finished our book reports a little too early and she needed to fill the gap between that and our next assignment." Eli explained.

"This is hard." She mumbled irritably. Eli smiled to himself and shook his head when she gave him an exasperated expression.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Clare. Just…write whatever comes to mind." He suggested. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She mulled over the sentence. How would she ever finish this assignment?

"Well, what are you going to write about?" She questioned. He smiled and pulled out his already done article.

"'Love grows from one stage to another. Love does not jump.' By Prince Arusi Obi. So, you chose to disagree with the statement?" He nodded. Clare frowned as she skimmed through his essay. It was good. Really good.She sighed and handed it back to him.

"Okay, try to make the statement a question. If love is a leap of faith…" He trailed off to let her continue. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"If love is a leap of faith, what awaits us at the bottom?" Clare questioned, mostly to herself.

"That's a good start. Keep going." He encouraged. She wrote down the sentence and really tried to concentrate.

"Maybe pain is at the bottom. Maybe heartbreak. And, if you find the right person to love, they act as a bungee and prevent you from being hurt." She turned to Eli who nodded in understanding. He was surprised at how in depth she had ventured. Another thought occurred to her.

"Or, what if happiness is at the bottom, but people are just too afraid to jump, so they dance around the ledge?" Eli smirked at her.

"There, you go. Start writing." He instructed. Eli studied her as her pen worked furiously against the paper. She was adorable when she was focused. Her brows furrowed together and her lips moved silently as she made sure her sentences were correct and logical. He chuckled when she quickly crossed out a sentence.

"It's rude to stare, Elijah." She said suddenly, her eyes flashing to his face briefly. He frowned, but secretly liked the way she drawled out his full name, slow and leisurely.

"Just keep writing, Clare-bear." He teased. She turned to him and frowned deeply. She hated that nickname. Jenna had created that nickname for her and she loathed it. He raised his hands up in an innocent gesture.

A half hour later, Clare had finished and was quite pleased with the results. She handed the rough draft to him and smiled when he finished with a nod of approval.

"This is pretty good." He praised. She stretched her arms above her head, ridding the knots in her back. She sighed and leaned back against her seat. His eyes watched her every move, enticed.

Acting on impulse, he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers in the briefest of seconds. His lips were soft and inviting. Clare pulled herself away from him and stared at him wildly when she had felt his teeth nibble her bottom lip. Her heart was beating frantically.

She was conflicted, a battle raging inside of her. A big part of her wanted him to do it again, but a small voice was nagging at her.

"W-Why?" She stuttered out, feeling stupid. Instead of being his usual self-assured self, Eli felt like he had done something wrong, by the look on her face.

"I thought it was obvious." He added a forced laugh, trying to make light of the current tension. But the awkwardness was heavy in the air. She stood up abruptly and turned away from him.

Standing, he made his way over to stand in front of her.

"I like you a lot, Clare. And I want-"

"You don't know what you want." She interrupted while shaking her head and taking a step back. Eli shook his head, growing annoyed. Could she at least let him finish? Could she at least hear his true feeling for her?

"Neither do you." He countered. "Maybe you're just too scared that someone might actually want to be with you." He added, advancing towards her. Every step closer he took, she stepped back. She gasped when her back hit the wall. She mustered up all of her frustration and forced it into a harsh glare.

"And why would that scare me?" She questioned hotly. He put both hands on either side of her, trapping her.

"Because then you wouldn't be able to hide behind your books, or your fictional stories, or your faith. No, no, you know the real reason why you're scared?" He challenged, inching his way closer to her face. Her breathing hitched and caught in her throat.

"It's because you wanna be with me too." Clare shook her head, but there was no denying it. "Why are you afraid to be with me, Clare?" He asked, genuinely hurt and confused. His gaze was piercing, demanding an answer from her.

"Because you'll hurt me." She murmured her excuse, her eyes choosing to focus on his shoes.

"You can't know that! You won't even give me a chance. Were we not just discussing that love is a leap of faith?" He inquired.

"That's different!" She interrupted.

"How?" To that, she could not reply. They stared into each other's eyes. Sapphire clashing violently with emerald.

"Let me show you that there are nice guys out there. Let me show you how caring and trustworthy I can be. I want to be with you. I really do. I won't hurt you. So, take that leap, Clare." He pleaded. She could not answer. It was true. She liked Eli, probably more than she should.

But, would Eli be different? Or would he hurt her like K.C. had? Would he dump her for someone prettier or smarter?

She could never know. So, gathering up all the courage she had, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his softly. Her heart pounded and her mind went blank. All she could think about was how right this felt. How he was her escape, her safe haven. If love is a leap of faith, then Clare just took the biggest plunge of her teenage life.

Yay! I thought this piece was rather nice.

CLARE'S VIEW ON LOVE WAS BY ME! I'm serious. The whole 'if love is a leap of faith, what awaits us at the bottom' thing was created by yours truly.

I thought it was pretty poetic, so I went along with it. Also, I hope you don't kill me for taking the argument from A Walk to Remember. I effing love that movie! Go watch it if you haven't seen it! I would think Jamie would be a role-model for Clare. Review?

~S.S.