Chapter Five

The Wednesday sunrise and breakfast had become routine with Claire and Trent. Every time was different and memorable, and every time she'd fall more and more in love with him. Sometimes he'd make them the food, and sometimes she would. Sometimes they'd talk for a full hour about her family, and other times he'd talk about some amazing new discoveries in science. Sometimes the view would be absolutely clear, and other times, there would be tons of clouds in the sky. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to see him. Claire still went every day to give him herbs (which now had much more conversation since they knew each other better), but the days she loved the most was when they got together on their special days set aside from the rest of the week. It made all of the difficult farming worthwhile, being with him and watching those sunrises together. She'd even started writing her mother about him, who had responded that Claire had better hold on to him with all her might. That was exactly what she had intended on doing, too.

It was Fall now in Mineral Town, Claire's favorite season of all. The trees were such beautiful shades of red, orange, and brown. The crunch beneath her feet from the fallen leaves always made her beam with a light happiness, as did the lovely smell of the crisp, autumn air. Back in the city, she'd never had such an experience with the nature like this! Also, because it was definitely getting colder, a lot of the townspeople went to Doug's Inn for some central heating and warm food. Since Kai was no longer in town, Claire mostly hung out with Ann and Cliff on her nights there. Almost two weeks into fall, however, Kai's girlfriend Popuri had stopped by to eat dinner with them.

"I wish Kai could be here for the Full Moon Festival," The pink-haired beauty pouted. "It's always so romantic! Now, I've just got to stay home and talk to him on the phone..."

"Aww, you poor thing," Ann near-shouted. "Cliff and I were going to go, too, but they have a lot of business at the winery that night, so he's stuck at work." The fiery redhead looked at Cliff, who was blushing in embarrassment.

"Right." He mumbled softly.

"What's that?" Claire asked, not even glancing up in their direction as she cut through her dinner. They had so many different festivals it was hard to keep track.

Ann and Popuri stared at her in awe. "You don't know the Full Moon Festival?" Ann yelled. Claire winced, raising her eyebrows.

"It's only one of the most romantic nights of the year! It's where you and your significant other go watch the full moon of the fall season! Usually, you stay out there all night, get dressed up, eat dinner, and drink wine with him. The moon is always so beautiful, too!"

Significant other? Claire thought about Trent. Did she even have the right to call him that? What did he even think of her anyway?

"Do two friends ever go together?" Claire asked, her voice seeming to shrink.

Ann snorted, patting Cliff hard on the shoulder. "Of course not! Two people only go together if they're romantically involved. That's the whole point!" A wide sneer appeared on her lips. "Why? You thinking of asking someone?"

Thoughts of the Doctor disappeared and she broke out into a sweat. "O-of course n-not! I-I don't have a-anyone like t-that around here! N-nobody would ask me a-anyway!" Claire wanted to leave, but she hadn't paid for her meal, and besides, she knew better than to storm out of there now.

"Hmmm," Popuri curled her lips in excitement. "Sounds like you want to be asked, though."

"Don't be ridiculous." Claire reached for a napkin and wiped off her mouth, hoping it would hide her pink cheeks.

However, the days were starting to grow closer to the Full Moon Festival, and Claire was growing equally anxious. She still dropped off the herbs every day, but Trent never mentioned anything! That is, until the day of their sunrise breakfast.

It was when they were all packed up and walking back to her house. Trent called her name carefully, and she turned to look at him, she saw that his face was looking a bit rosy.

"What?"

"I'm not sure if you know this, but we have sort of a traditional holiday at Mineral Town, so to speak," He said sternly, avoiding her eyes. "It's called the Full Moon Festival, when we get out to look at the full moon from any point in the city. Usually, dinner accompanies this, and people get dressed up in nice clothes. It's actually tomorrow night, now that I think of it."

Claire's heart was pumping blood so quickly, she had to stop walking to process all of this and calm herself down. Was he asking her to the Full Moon Festival? The festival that was reserved for the romantically involved? Trent turned around and stopped too, bringing his eyebrows in a little. Why did he always look so damn calm all of the time? She started walking again, flustered. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Right. Well, I was just thinking, I've never been to the Full Moon Festival with anyone before, and since you and I do go to see the sunrise all of the time, maybe it would be nice to watch the full moon for once." Trent glanced over at her, biting his lips with his eyes hopeful.

She had to stop again, placing her hand on the side of her fence surrounding her yard. He just asked her! What did this all mean? Maybe… since he wasn't a true resident of the town, he thought that two friends could go too? But maybe not! Maybe he did like her too!

Trent stood a few paces in front of her, waiting for her to speak.

"Of course! I'd love to go with you!" She tried smiling cutely at him, but it came out sort of twitchy.

He cleared his throat and held his head high. "Well, good, " he said seriously. "Why don't I meet you up at the peak of Mother's Hill at about eight tomorrow? I'll get all of the food and everything, too."

"Alright."

Trent nodded once, then spun around to go walk back to the Clinic. She could barely contain her excitement! No way! She was going with him to the Full Moon Festival! No way!

Needing to get it off her chest, Claire ran all of the way to Doug's Inn. It wasn't open yet (still in the morning), but Ann was outside anyway, watering some flowers.

"Claire! What's u-"

"I GOT ASKED TO THE FULL MOON FESTIVAL!" Claire yelled giddily, throwing her arms around her friend. "ME! IMAGINE THAT!"

Ann widened her eyes, holding a wiggly Claire out in front of her. "No way! By who?!"

Claire shook her head, grinning hugely with her mouth closed. She didn't want to tell Ann about Trent, because if she did everyone was sure to find out. Not that Ann seemed to mind.

"That's so awesome, Claire!" Ann brought her back in for another hug. "You're gonna have to get a dress and do your makeup and everything, you know?"

She stopped jumping around, suddenly feeling disappointed. "B…but I don't have any dresses… and I don't know how to wear makeup…"

Ann blinked at her for a while. Hastily, she set down her watering can and grabbed Claire's thin arm, dragging her down the road. They walked like this until they were at the huge chicken coop in town, which was Lilia, Rick, and Popuri's house.

Luckily enough, Popuri answered the door from Ann's harsh knocking. "Hello, you two! How a-"

Ann grabbed her arm too, pulling them both up to Popuri's girly room. The redhead delayed all of the information to their pretty friend.

"Wow, Claire! Good for you!" Popuri squealed, patting Claire's bony shoulder. "Do you know what you'll wear?"

"That's the problem…" the blonde sighed, hanging her head. "I don't have any dresses and don't know how to wear makeup or do my hair or stuff like that." She felt weird. It was the only time that she had ever wanted to do any of those things!

Popuri held up her hand, as if to say "say no more!" She disappeared for a second, then returned with a pile of dresses in different colors, a huge box full of makeup, and a heaping of hair tools. "Let's get to work!"

First, they had Claire try on all of Popuri's dresses (they were the same size, although Claire was a tiny bit thinner). It was a bit difficult, since all Popuri really had was a bunch of girly things. Eventually, Claire decided on a sleek, velvet blue slip dress with a few pretty sparkles on it (Popuri said that Lilia bought it, but she'd never worn it). Next, Popuri showed Claire how to do a lot of different makeup techniques, but all of them made her look like a clown, so they just decided to keep it light. The easiest part of all of this was when Popuri showed Claire how to curl her hair, which ended up looking rather pretty.

At the end of it all, her two friends stared at Claire in awe, wondering how in the heck they'd gotten her to look so beautiful. Claire was surprised, too, and even liked it a little.

"I hope you'll call me if you have any trouble." Popuri picked off a strand of hair from Claire's new dress. "And make sure you don't burn yourself on that iron!"

The three of them parted ways, then. When Claire got home, even Ringo didn't recognize her at first. She went on with her farm work as normal (after she changed into her work clothes, of course), but her mind was occupied the entire time. Going to sleep was the hardest, but eventually she let her fatigue take her into a lovely dream.

Waking up, Claire shot up from her bed, face filled with a goofy smile. Today was the day! As fast as she could, she ran to her horse's stable, gave her stallion Lennon a good brushing, took care of all of her chickens, milked her cows, and watered her crops. The rest of the day she spent cleaning her house (she was incredibly antsy), and finally, when it was only two hours away from meeting Trent, started to get ready.

Curling her hair wasn't quite as easy as she remembered, but after half an hour, her blonde hair was fixed in long, loose ringlets that hung nicely on her back. Her makeup was simple-Popuri showed her how to do it tastefully. With just a little swipe of mascara on each lash, a soft brushing of blush on her cheeks, and a light amount of a quiet coral lipstick, she ended up looking like she normally did, but with a bit of a kick. Throwing on her dress, which seemed to melt onto her body, Claire looked timidly at herself in the mirror's reflection. It wasn't normal for herself to look like this. She knew that she looked pretty, but she was stunned at how grown-up and, well, different she seemed. It wasn't like she was unrecognizable, but she sort-of was. Maybe it was just because she was in love now-whatever it was, she could never go back to that sheepish, hazy-eyed girl from the city she once was.

Before she left, she ran a quick phone call to her mother, then grabbed a light jacket before heading up the hill. To her luck, she was used to climbing it every week, so she wasn't as sweaty as the first time she'd been up there.

When she saw him, his lean body turned towards the navy-blue sky, she felt her knees go weak. Trent was dressed in dark blue pants and a gray shirt, a light blue tie falling across his muscled abs. His hair was relaxed, as always, and he was dressed formally, as always, but for some reason she looked at him so differently now… similar to the way she looked at herself.

Behind him was their dinner. It was nothing like their normal picnic, and nothing short of romantic: a small, circular table with a red tablecloth, two wooden chairs positioned across from each other, a lit candle, two wine glasses, and two plates with silverware. The food was all in a basket, right beside the table. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine them holding hands and staring lovingly at each other.

"Ha!" she snorted aloud. While maybe Trent could stay that serious, there was no way she could do that without cracking up!

When Claire realized what she'd done, it was too late. Trent had spun around quickly, startled that she was there already. He looked confused for a minute. Well, of course he's like that! It looks like I just laughed at his hard work! Claire thought to herself. How stupid could you be?

"I'm sorry! I'm not laughing, I was just thinking about something-" she stopped talking mid-sentence when he walked over to her in his gorgeous way, eyes sparkling. He gazed at her in amazement, her laugh seeming to not bother him at all now that he saw what she looked like. Claire held her breath. Does he think I look pretty?

Trent looked back into her eyes, seeming dumbfounded. "Hello."

She reddened. Why did she wear blush in the first place? "Hi."

He coughed, glancing at the sky, then back to her, then the dinner table, then her again. "Are you hungry?"

Trying to ease the tension, she let out a snort and smacked him playfully on the shoulder. "When am I not?" She could barely pick her head up again. Oh, yeah. Great going, Claire. Way to ruin your ladylike image. When she'd regained her pride, she saw that he was smirking a little, making her feel a lot better.

They talked to the table and Trent began dishing food onto her plate. He'd prepared some salmon and vegetables, along with a flour-less cake for dessert ("It's very healthy,").

"Would you care for some wine?" He twisted his lips, then. "Oh, that's right, I wasn't sure if you drank alcohol or not. If that's the case, I have water, too-"

"Nope, I drink all of the time!" Claire exclaimed. That was exactly what she needed to loosen up from all of this!

Trent stared at her, on the verge of saying something about drinking too much being unhealthy, but Claire rushed to change the subject on another matter so they could start eating. Every bite she took resulted in a satisfied moan, thus making him ogle her even more strangely.

"I'm sorry, it just tastes so amazing…" Claire sighed heartily, taking a sip of the dark wine and going back to eat. "How did you learn to cook like this, anyway?"

He had almost forgotten to eat, due to watching her for so long. Picking up his fork and knife, he started cutting thin slices into the already tender fish. "I signed up for many cooking and nutrition classes in university when I was younger. I figured that I'd be living alone after I graduated, so I needed to learn how to take care of myself, too." Claire's first glass of wine was already empty, so he took to the liberty of filling it back up. "You're a great cook too, Claire. Did you take classes as well?"

"Nope, my mother taught me. She was a stay at home mom, see," Claire grinned softly, thinking of her beautiful mom. "So she was the best chef all around. Always making me breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even after I graduated high school, she'd bring me things to eat. That was how we bonded when I was really young-we'd bake and cook everything together so my dad would have a big, delicious meal when he got home from work! My dad is a fireman, and he'd always get so hungry on the job." Claire had to shove another piece of food in her mouth to keep herself from babbling on. She never realized how much she missed her parents until now…

"You must really look up to them," Trent tilted his head a little, his eyes gleaming in the candlelight. "They seem like great parents."

"Oh they are! I was their only child, so we spent a lot of time together. Sometimes, my dad would let me come to his work and help him wash the firetrucks!" She giggled at the memory. "And on his days off, we'd have family game night, playing for hours! You know, I think maybe they loved me a little too much. I could barely be without them for a week without crying after I'd moved out!"

Trent's looked a bit forlorn, but he still smiled. Claire totally forgot in her moment of memory that he had a difficult relationship with his parents. Loved me too much? What was she saying? How could she even think of saying that in front of him? Just as she started to open her mouth and apologize, he spoke.

"They did an amazing job raising you. I'd love to meet them." He looked away, sipping down the rest of his wine and pouring himself more.

Her heart rate was increasing yet again, surprised he'd said that with no worry at all. They did an amazing job raising her? What did that even mean? Did Trent like the way she turned out? And what was it that he liked exactly? That she was nice to him? That she gave him herbs all of the time? Or maybe he just thought his parents didn't do a good job raising him… Oh, how she'd hate it if he thought that! He turned out wonderful even with his neglectful parents! If only she had the bravery to tell him that…

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you, too," Claire mumbled. Thinking of the situation was rather comical; she could just imagine her bulky dad coming to shake Trent's hand (who was much bigger than the trim Doctor), and her mom, shoving a freshly baked pie under his nose before wrapping him in a thin-armed hug. Her parents would ask him a ton of questions about his profession, and then about Mineral Town, before finally asking him what it was exactly he was trying to do with their daughter.

What were his parents like? Would they even like her because she wasn't super intelligent like all of them?

"I'd like to meet your mom and dad someday," she said slowly, being honest. In fact, she wanted to meet all of his family, no matter how they had raised Trent. They were his family, and for some reason, that seemed important.

Trent kept his angular face pointed at the sky, which now had a big bright moon shining down at them. "Oh. Well, maybe." The rest of his wine went through his lips. "I don't believe they'd be quite as enjoyable as yours."

"I'm sure they'd be! Even if, you know, you weren't around them all of the time, you still really respected both of them, didn't you?"

He smiled in a bashful way. "I guess you're right. Well, then. Someday it is."

They'd finished eating, so he pulled out their picnic blanket and lay it down in front of the table. He motioned to her to have a seat, so she did, and he started cleaning up their plates.

"Oh, come on! Sit down next to me, you can worry about that later!" Claire giggled, feeling a slight bit buzzed. While he looked astonished at this, Trent decided to listen to her and took a seat beside her. The two were so close they were touching, causing Claire to grow even warmer and even happier.

The full moon was shining down on them in a spectacular, glowing white orb. Tons of little stars had sprinkled around it, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Claire stared breathlessly at the scene, wanting to keep it in her mind for as long as she lived. "It's so beautiful, isn't it?" She let out a sigh.

"Yeah, it is." Trent replied, but instead of looking at the moon, he was looking at her. Claire didn't notice.

They watched the moon, talking about each other's lives and drinking down the rest of the first bottle of wine. When it was gone, Trent went to grab the next one, pouring her a glass carefully (probably not the best idea on his behalf). The night went on slowly, much to Claire's delight, and they sat together closely, drinking it all in minute by minute. She honestly couldn't have dreamed for the night to have gone any better.

Midnight reached them at last. The moon was at it's biggest and brightest phase, so illuminating it seemed like daytime.

"Would you just look at that," Trent gawped in amazement. "I've never seen it so big. Have you, Claire?"

She was unresponsive, so he called her name again.

"Claire?"

When Trent turned to look at her, he noticed that she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder. His heart beat a bit quicker, looking at her like that; her blonde hair spilling down the front and back of his shirt, her sun-kissed cheeks a warm shade of pink, her eyelids fluttering dreamily. Trent exhaled sharply, not wanting to wake her. She usually got to sleep at around nine, so it was much past her bedtime. As gently as he could, he picked her lolling head off of his shoulder, then lifted her thin body into his arms in one swift movement. Claire didn't seem to be disturbed in the lightest bit, nuzzling her head back into the crook of his neck, causing Trent's heart to bang his ribs again.

He walked back down the mountain and up the path to her house in success, surprised at how tiny and light she was (her body was always covered in her work clothes). While he did want to let this moment last longer, he'd reached her house and knew that after he put her to bed, he'd have to head home as well. Reaching out his open hand from underneath Claire's lower back, he turned the brassy handle. It didn't budge. That's when he realized she'd locked the door.

Trent stood, perplexed. A citizen of Mineral Town actually locking a door! Who would have thought? The town was so crime-free, it was a surprise that people didn't leave them hanging open all of the time. Cursing himself for this, he nudged her little blonde head with his chin, not wanting to let her on the floor without waking her first.

"Claire…Claire, your door seems to be locked." He said softly.

She grumbled, moving around in his arms before stepping down onto the grass. "Oh, I did lock the door, didn't I?" Claire mumbled sluggishly. It took Trent a minute to realize it was because she was still inebriated. Clumsily, she stumbled forward, taking a key from the door's overhead ledge. It took her a few tries, but she finally unlocked it, pushing the door forward so harshly it crashed into the wall and rattled the floor. Nervously, he took ahold of her shoulders. The way she was acting now, she could seriously get hurt-

BONK! Claire's body jerked for a moment, then tensed as she hit her head on one of the shelves by the door. The doctor panicked, spinning her around to see the damage. There was a medium sized gash on the right side of her forehead, a bit of blood dribbling out from it.

"Owwwwieeeee," Claire groaned. She started giggling drunkenly. "Owie, Trent-y! That rhymed! Owie, Trent-y, owie, Trent-y-"

Alarmed, Trent moved Claire to the couch and ran to grab a bit of ice and a towel, pressing it to her forehead. She started laughing even louder, her body still waving around.

"Trent-y!" Claire laughed, snorting through her nose. "That's so cold, Trent-y!"

"Where's your antibiotic cream?" He tried asking, holding the back of her head to prevent her from falling forward.

"My anti-what-ie?" She stopped giggling, closing her eyes and grabbing onto his arm. "Mmm, Trent-y, your shirt is so soft!" Claire bent down, rubbing her warm cheek against his right peck.

Trent knew that he couldn't really do much with her like this, and when he lifted up the ice and the towel, he saw that it wasn't that bad of a cut anyway. She was still resting her head against his chest.

"Trent-y, why's your heart beating so fast? It's saying 'bumbumbumbumbumbum,' like it's talking to me or something." She lifted her glassy blue eyes to meet his, wide goofy grin spreading on her full pink lips. "Oooh, what's it saying, Doctor? What's it saying, what's it saying?"

"It's saying that you need to go to bed," he chuckled a little, picking her up by the shoulders again and steering her to what he could only guess was her bedroom. Opening the door, he saw her neatly made full-sized bed and her puppy Ringo, sleeping atop the red flannel sheets.

"Nooooo, I don't wanna sleep yet," She whined, trying unsuccessfully to push him back into the living room. "I wanna stay up all night with you, Trent-y! You're so nice, and sweet, and thoughtful, and handsome…" Claire started squealing with laughter as she pushed his shoulders with her hands and her head rammed up against his chest. "Ooooh, you're heart's going even faster!"

He wondered absent-mindedly if that's really what she thought of him. Nice? Sweet? Thoughtful? Handsome? The only compliments he ever seemed to get were "bright" or "intelligent."

"Come on, Claire, it's way too late for you to be awake," he tried, reaching around her body and attempting to lift her up again. Claire let out another squeal.

"Trent-y, stoppit!" She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lithe body onto him so he couldn't pick her up. He wasn't sure that his heart could beat any faster than it was now. "I don't wanna go to sleep if you're still here!"

"You didn't seem to have that problem up on the mountain," he chuckled again, letting his hands rest for a moment on her back, the velvety smooth texture feeling so nice against his skin. "Why don't we get you changed into your pajamas, so you can go to bed and sleep all night. I will come see you first thing tomorrow morning to make sure you're okay, alright?" Trent was surprised at how gentle his voice sounded. Thinking about it, he'd never dealt with a drunk woman before.

"Ooooh, Trent-y wants to change me aallll by himself, doesn't he?" Claire snorted, starting to stroke his tie.

He blushed a little, trying to locate her wardrobe. It seemed to be a small, wooden chest at the foot of her bed. "T-that's not my intention!" he stammered, opening the chest as she hung around his waist.

"Are you suuuuure, Trent-y? Are you really, really sure? You don't wanna see me in my-" she let out a loud laugh. "-underpanties?"

Of course I do. But your blood alcohol content is way too high for me to enjoy this, he thought stubbornly, searching furiously through her clothes. He took a deep breath, feeling his body break out into a sweat. Okay, maybe I'll enjoy it a little.

Trent found the huge yellow t-shirt he saw her in when he came to her house before and figured it be the easiest to change her into. "Stop clinging to me like that-come around so I can-Claire would you please-"

Claire kept giggling, screaming giddily every time he tried to remove her dress as respectfully as possible. "Say it first, say that you wanna see my underwear! Say 'Trent-y wants so see Claire-y's underwear-y!' Say it!" She was cracking up at the idea of this.

No way in Hell am I saying that! But he couldn't help cracking a smile. "Come on Claire, please? Just stand still for a minute?" With a quick thought, he added, "For me?"

A wave of relaxation seemed to rush through her body as she finally stopped wriggling, gazing at him sheepishly. "Okay."

Trent moved forward, taking the bottom of her dress and pulling it up over her head. Once it was off, he did all he could to not look at her body, but he couldn't help it. Her body was so thin, but so curvy at the same time: hipbones jutting forward in front of a round backside, belly flat and indented with a light-colored navel, and breasts that seemed to be struggling as they lay heaping from her plain, black cotton bra. He shook it off, a rush of guilt coursing through his body. "Lift your arms up for me, okay?"

She did so, and he slipped the t-shirt easily over her body, concealing his views of her half-naked. Still embarrassed, he lifted her again and went to lay her down in bed.

"Thank you, Trent," she mumbled softly. He had ignored her at first, pulling her blankets up to her shoulders and fixing the pillow so her head rested comfortably. "Thank you." Trent stopped tucking her sheets under her mattress snugly to look at her. Claire's beautiful blue eyes gazed at him dreamily. She looked so beautiful, all of her blonde, wispy hair splayed all over her pillow, and long eyelashes making lovely shadows on her cheekbones. He had to stop and take it in-which was something he never did. Take in all of the beauty in front of him and let his heart and mind surrender to it fully. She reached out, running her thin fingers along his jawline. "Thank you," she repeated again, but this time, she wrung her arm around his shoulder and brought him down closer to her.

"You're welcome, Claire," Trent whispered. She turned her head a bit, touching her nose against his, then sliding her face the rest of the way so their lips met. He didn't even hesitate in kissing her back, didn't even feel guilty. He was still so mystified by her beauty and by the moment that he took her chin, pressing his head to hers.

Claire let out a soft sound that drove him absolutely crazy; he moved so now he held her face in both his hands and her own hands began gliding down his back. He kissed her more and more, loving the feeling of her lips against his, until she…just stopped.

Stopped?

Trent lifted his head up a bit to see that Claire's eyes were closed. Her mouth was open slightly, her chest falling and rising in a rythimic way. She'd fallen asleep again. Quickly, reality snapped him out of his lovey-eyed haze, making him realize how bad he felt about all of this. He stood up all of the way, her arms slipping off of his body. Quietly, with a wide array of mixed emotions filling his mind, he left her home and let her sleep in peace.