Chapter Six

The morning after The Full Moon Festival, Claire woke up with an incredibly intense headache. She groaned, turning over a few times in her little bed. She'd only ever been drunk once before, and she could safely say that this was way worse than her first time.

What happened last night? She thought to herself, ringing her arms around her head. A bit of cotton blend fabric rubbed up against her thigh as she moved. Huh? Claire opened her eyes wearily, catching sight of her dad's big, old t-shirt. How did I get in this?

Slowly, she closed her eyes again and fell back onto her pillow, trying to think of absolutely everything that had happened during her perfect evening with Trent. They had their dinner, went to go sit in front of the table, watched the moon, talked about nonsense, then she remembered waking up…vaguely. She grabbed a key, and then they were inside…something that really, really hurt… and then, there was her arms, and his face, and his nose, and his lips…

"We kissed!" Claire exclaimed breathlessly, jumping up suddenly, then falling back down from the awful throbbing in her temple. "Oh man, we kissed when I was that drunk… how am I supposed to talk to him now?"

Ringo was awake now, wagging his little tail and coming over to lick her face.

"What should I do, Ringo? He probably thinks I'm super trashy or something. Should I confront him? Or pretend that it never happened?"

The dog's eyes blinked cluelessly at her, causing Claire to let out a huff of air. This was all so difficult, and there was definitely no way out of it. However…

Maybe she could just brush it off and they could just keep moving forward! Trent must have known how crazy people get when they drink, so he probably understood her actions and everything, right? Claire clenched her fists. Right. He'd have to believe that… and even if he'd only ever seen her drunk once, he was super respectable. He must have known that the way she acted wasn't serious, so he kissed her back to help her get to sleep. That must have been it.

She lay in bed for a while, thinking a bit too much about everything and causing her head to hurt much more than it did already. It had been a little past half an hour when Ringo started to get antsy, so she sucked up the horrible hangover and moved to go take care of all of her animals and crops.

"Don't overexert yourself," Claire could just imagine the Doctor lecturing her. "It's not good to consume that much alcohol in one night, and then work past your limit the next day. My advice would be to take it easy."

"Right, right," she whined at his nagging voice in her head, walking past her ripened plants. Knowing that it would be too much of a hassle to worry about all of them, she put them off for harvesting the next day.

As Claire went to take care of her cows and sheep in the barn, she couldn't help thinking about Trent. It would seem really stuck-up if she didn't go visit him with his herbs today. There was a big possibility he'd be really understanding about all of it, Claire was still worried he might read everything the wrong way and think she didn't like him. Because… he had to have liked her back to of kissed her… he had to.

She sighed, scratching her cow Micah between the ears and going to clean up. She was going to see him alright. She was going to walk right into his office just like usual, pretending there was absolutely nothing going on. Plus, a big, greasy plate of french fries from Doug's would really help the hangover stomachache.

After Claire had hastily grabbed the herbs from around her house, she marched with her head held high to the office (though, after a while of this, she began to feel nauseous again and returned to a normal-paced walk).

Inside the clinic, Elli was at her desk as usual. Jeff, the grocery store owner, was waiting on one of the chairs, clutching his stomach and face looking sullen.

"Hello, Claire," Elli greeted politely. "Doctor's just taking down some notes right now; I'll let you know when-"

But Claire ignored her, walking up to his office and pulling back the curtain with a force. Sure enough, Trent was at his desk, writing down some notes in his usual professional manner. Her appearance had startled him, as he wasn't used to being interrupted like this. He had jumped up a bit, sliding back in his chair towards the wall, eyes as wide as golf balls and hands held up a bit. Claire closed the curtain behind him, staring at him intensely and not knowing what to say. She'd come all the way over here with the herbs with all of the intention of being normal, and all she could do was be all angry and harsh? Trying to lighten up, she straightened her back and tried to ignore the fact she was sweating profusely.

"Hi, I've got your herbs." The little blonde inched closer to his desk and attempted to be less frightening. Trent still seemed to be terrified. His face was near purple in color; even his ears were blushing. He wasn't looking at her anymore, but his expression was the same.

"J…just leave 'em. Thanks." Using his legs, he moved his way back to his notes and put his head down, scribbling again. Claire stood her ground, feeling uneasy. That was it? He was clearly very embarrassed, so she just decided to leave right then and there.

The chilly air didn't feel that great, and her head was in much more pain than before, so she decided to just walk home and get more rest instead of going for a bite in the noisy Inn. On the way back, she thought about what had just happened. It was weird to see him like that… so embarrassed and everything. He seemed fine when he kissed her back last night, so Claire thought he wouldn't really take it as that big of a deal. But maybe it was a big deal to him? It certainly was to her. Was he embarrassed because he didn't enjoy the kiss? Just thinking of her as a friend or something? Or was it different?

Is he embarrassed because he likes me?

Claire stopped in her tracks, her expression resembling Trent's wide-eyed mad-blushing one face back at the clinic. Just thinking about it made her entire body tremble and heart ache. A guy like him with a girl like her? He was so educated; always working and reading and researching. Then, there was Claire; she wasn't really good at much of anything, just trying to take life easy around the farm. How could he like a girl like her?

"Are you okay?" asked Rick, Popuri's brother. Claire turned to see she had stopped right in front the chicken farm. He was raising his eyebrows, pushing his large glasses right up onto his nose. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling the best right now. I'm just headed back to get some sleep." Claire started walking again, but Rick called after her.

"Want me to go grab the Doctor? He always helps my mom-"

"Don't!" she screamed, spinning around. The mention of his name had made her hair stand up on end. Rick was rather taken aback, so she sighed and said in a softer voice, "Please don't. I should be fine tomorrow. Just a bit of a headache."

Her "bit of a headache" had turned out to be extremely exhausting, so after she finally got home, as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell into a deep slumber.

A bit of howling woke Claire up the next morning. Apparently, she'd left Ringo outside without realizing it. She sat up and stretched out, feeling so much better than the day before. Glancing at her clock and calendar, it was 6:30 on Wednesday morning-Trent's day off and their tradition of breakfast at Mother's Hill. Her heart still ached thinking about it. There was no doubt in her mind that Trent wasn't going to meet her for breakfast today; they always met at 6:00, so if he really wanted to watch the sunrise to her, he'd come and see why she was half-an-hour late. Shaking it off, she decided to just make some breakfast of her own.

"Come on, Ringo," Claire yawned, sleepily, opening her door. Then she froze.

Trent was in front of her door, fist half-raised as if he was just about to knock. He'd been taken by a bit of surprise again, golf-ball eyes returning for a moment. Behind her ribs her heart made a harshthump, nearly pulsing her forward.

"Where have you been?" Trent asked curiously. "I've been waiting for thirty minutes."

Claire stared at the ground.This guy was totally impossible!"I…I thought maybe you wouldn't want to today."

He tilted his head. "Well, of course I would. Why would I cancel our normal plans without telling you?"

Because you totally freaked out by the mere sight of me yesterday? She thought angrily, but instead of saying what was on her mind, she just shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well everything's getting cold. Come on." He took off at a bit of a jog. Claire decided to walk slowly behind him, queasy feeling coming in her stomach (and it wasn't because of a hangover).

The sun had already started to come up by the time they made it to the peak. Trent wasn't as immersed in the beauty as he usually was, eating his omelette with the crown of his head pointed at her, not saying a single word.

Really? He dragged me all of the way here to not even look at me? Claire folded her arms, losing her appetite. "I know what happened that night," she said loudly. He looked up.

"What?"

"At the Full Moon Festival. When I was drunk from all of the wine. I only remember it in little fragments, but I remember you carrying me home, changing me into my pajamas, and I definitely remember the kiss between us." She paused, examining his unreadable face. "Well I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry that I kissed you when I was like that. It was the only time-well, the second time-I've been drunk, and I guess I just do stupid stuff. I didn't have any intention of making you act like this, so can we just forget it happened? I'm sorry!"

Trent's cheeks gained a bit of color, but it wasn't as bad as before. He was calm, or so it seemed, his dark eyes narrow as he responded. "That's alright. You don't need to apologize. It wasn't like you had any control over the matter." He turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at her. "It wasn't so bad, anyway."

Claire wanted to leap up from where she was sitting and run around in glee. It wasn't so bad?! So, that meant he liked it! He definitely liked it, and he definitely liked her!

She brought her knees to her chest, smiling to herself quietly. Trent cleared his throat as if to signal he was ready to change the subject. Claire was rather fine with that-they didn't have to talk about their standpoint (because she knew now that he totally liked their kiss!) but she was still curious about his romantic life. Had he ever been with girls before?

As if reading her mind, the Doctor spoke. "Have you kissed many guys before?" Not knowing how to respond to this, Claire curled her eyebrows and winced. Nervously, Trent looked back at her, waving his hands. "That's not what I meant. I intended to ask if you've had previous romantic affairs?"

Previous romantic affairs? Why did he always have to be so professional? Nevertheless, Claire found herself giggling. It seemed to be part of his charm, his cultivated manner. The way he pieced such casual words together like that was so cute!

"Not really. I had a few crushes back in high school, but they never went far. When I started working in the city, there was this one guy. We dated for a few months, but it wasn't really that serious, and I really didn't feel that attracted to him or anything." She held her breath. I've never felt for anyone what I feel for you, she thought.

"What was he like?"

Claire couldn't really remember. She couldn't really even picture his face all that well. "I guess he was pretty plain. He worked with me, or rather, worked above me (I was a cubicle girl and he had his own office). He really liked to do his job, which was nice, but other than that he didn't like much else. We went on a couple dates, but it was always really fancy restaurant so he could show off how much money he had. He never liked to talk about anything besides business either. A bit of a bore, actually." She snorted into her orange juice. "Oh, there was this one time, the only time I had ever gone back to his apartment, and guess what? His mom was there! We were kind of kissing and everything, the most exciting thing that had happened between us, and she was just in his kitchen! I guess she'd come over to clean up for him." Claire burst into a fit of laughter, remembering the look on her ex-boyfriend's face. "Two days after that, I told him I really wasn't looking for a relationship and that was that."

Trent really seemed to be taking this all in. He was hanging on to every last word, gazing off into space. His eyes were flicking in a studious way, like he was taking mental notes on everything.

"What about you? Any girls in medical school?"

She imagined Trent as a little boy with a girl in her twenties strapped around his shoulder.

"There was…one," he mumbled, not really looking too disturbed. "While I was in college. As I said before, I entered university at a much younger age, so everyone in my classes were older than me. I didn't enjoy talking to anyone and I was quite busy with my studies, but there was this girl who lived with her parents across my apartment. She was the same age as me, about eighteen. We saw each other every so often; sometimes she'd come over and watch a movie or we'd eat dinner, but I was studying quite literally all of the time, so she just got annoyed and decided to go pursue others. It wasn't exactly that I minded much, I really only enjoyed her company every so often. But at that moment, I had led myself to believe that being romantic with another person just wasn't for me. I knew I'd be busy a lot, and I would never like to put someone who was affectionate towards me in a state of boredom."

Claire blinked her round eyes at him. "Do you still feel that way?"

He offered a sideways smile. "No, I don't. I've grown."

She bit her lip, thinking all sorts of things now. A sudden desire filled her heart-to just reach out and kiss him, kiss him for a very long time with his strong arms wrapped around her. Her eyelids fluttered a bit, finding it hard to imagine it. Still, Trent had said all of that stuff today as if he liked her…so maybe there was a chance for that. Maybe.

***Author's Note***

Hi, everyone! I really appreciated the nice feedback from you guys, and I'll promise I will keep writing. I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to write as much as I did earlier in the summer. But, I've already written a summary of every chapter from this point on, so I know exactly how I want everything to go, and I should be writing them when the time comes. I just, well, haven't written them yet! Please keep waiting patiently, and I promise you won't be disappointed in the rest of the chapters! Thanks so much!

p.s. Things are also about to get more exciting between the two. ;D