Author's note: So this chapter had a lot of cussing in it. But ya know if you're old enough to be reading stuff on here you should be old enough to be ok with reading a cuss word. So you can skip it if you want but its a big part in this chapter! Sorry its been a while guys! xoxo
Claire's p.o.v.
"Oh my god, i'm so full." Plovert said and leaning back. After everyone had changed out of their dresses they decided to go get something to eat.
"Ugh I don't want to drive back." Alicia said putting on some lip gloss.
Massie paused for a second and then leaned forward, catching everyone's attention.
"Let's just stay in a hotel, I mean no ones parents will care. And that means tomorrow we can shop some more!" Massie said pulling out her phone while the girls nodded in excitement and the guys groaned and slumped down in their chairs.
After Massie called and made reservations at the closest 5 star hotel. When we got there we tried to figure out who would be staying with who. It ended up with everyone together but Ben and I, who had seperate rooms. When I got to my room I flopped down on the bed and remembered what happened at the dress store.
I slipped on the dress and looked into the mirror. I knew it was the one even before I tried it on. I heard everyone talking outside so I opened the door and saw everyone standing around in their dresses. When I walked out my eyes scanned everyone's faces and then landed on Derrick.
I couldn't turn my eyes away from his brown puppy dog eyes. I could feel myself walking forward but all I could think about what him. I could almost feel the love that we used to have. I wanted to run up to him and feel his strong arms around me.
A knock on my door broke me from my thoughts. I walked over to the door thinking it was Massie or something but to my surprise I saw Olivia through the peep hole. I opened the door cautiously.
"Olivia?"
"Uh, yeah. Can I come in?" Olivia said. I nodded and opened the door for her.
She sat down uncomfortably in the chair and I sat on the bed. I looked at her waiting for her to say something. When she seemed to not want to talk for a while I began saying something.
"So the wea-"
"He still loves you." She blurted out. I stopped and blinked at her.
"Uh what?" I asked
She got up and started pacing. "He still loves you. So much I can see it every time he looks at you." She said and then stopped and looking into my blue eyes. "But you know what? I don't care because I love him. And ill be damned if I let you have him with out a fight." She said breathing heavily like she might just punch me.
"Olivia. Were not together. You guys are. I'm going to prom with Ben. You have nothing to worry about." I got up and walked up to her. "Derrick and I- we weren't meant to be. So its youre turn to try. I know we have had some- um disagreements but I want to be cool. Deal? I said and held out my little french manicured hand. She stared at it with wide eyes for a second then shook it. I pulled my hand away and walked over to my shopping bags to get a pair of pajamas I bought.
"I'll see you tomorrow." I said without turning around and I heard her mumble something then the door open and close. I lifted up and took a deep breath. I t hurt me to think of them being in love, but I knew I couldn't give him what he wanted. He deserved better. A hot tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away and changed.
An hour later I was laying in bed staring at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep because of all the damn thoughts in my head. I threw the covers off me and grabbed a room key. I walked out of the room and walked down to the elevator. When it opened I stepped inside and pressed floor one and leaned my head against the cool walls. When it dinged I opened my eyes to see an elderly couple walking into the elevator.
I smiled at the cute old couple. The man had his arm around his wife and was helping her walk. He had brown eyes and she had cool blue eyes that looked at him with adoration they stood close to each other and I could feel the love they ahd for each other.
"What floor?" I asked and the elderly woman replied.
"2nd please." She said. I pressed the button and turned to them.
"How long have you guys been married?" I asked.
The man replied with a large smile. "45 years." He said and saw the woman squeeze his hand.
"Wow, that's amazing." I said.
"Yes, we met in high school. It wasnt easy but we made it." She said and I saw her look at him with so much love that I couldn't help but think of Derrick. I put the thought out of my mind just as the doors opened. They started to walk out but the woman turned around. and stood in front of the door so it wouldnt close.
"You're a beautiful girl. You remind me of myself at your age." She said laughing alittle. "When you fall in love, dont let him go. I almost lost him. I don't know what I would've done if I didnt have him." And with that she walked away and the doors closed. I stared at the door until they opened to the first floor and I pushed past a family and walked barefoot to the pool. I walked outside and walked over to one of the chairs and layed down on it and stared up at the stars.
I thought of the couple and how they never stopped touching whether it was just holding each other's hand or his arm around her shoulder. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and just let the rest fall in a stream down my face. I was so screwed up. The man I loved was with another girl because I let her take him. I gave him up. A sob racked my body.
Everything was so messed up.
"Claire? What wrong?" I heard and I lifted up to see Ben staring down at me in worry. I shook my head and another sob went through my body. He sat down in front of me and I leaned into his chest and he held me while I cried.
"It's all so messed up. I'm so messed up, Ben." I sobbed into his shirt.
"No you're not Claire. You're just lost. You're still the same Claire." He whispered and I shook my head.
"No ben. I just can't be the Claire they want me to be. I cant ben I cant." I said and he just rubbed my back and I continued to cry into his shirt.
After a while I got myself together and pulled away. "I'm sorry" I said while wiping my eyes.
Ben smiled and shook his head. "Any time." He said and started leaning forward so I met him in the middle. When our lips met I expected fireworks and sparks shooting up my spine like I had with Derrick but there was nothing. We pulled away and sat there awkwardly for a minute before I stood up. "Uh I should go back to my room." I said and he stood up.
"I'll walk you back." He said ang grabbed my hand. On the way up I thought about the kiss. Maybe I was just doing that to myself. Maybe those feeling had to grow or something. I should give this a try.
Derrick's p.o.v.
I couldn't sleep so I was going down to the pool. When I got there I heard voices and stopped. I peaked across the corner and saw Claire and Ben. They were sitting on a chair and she looked like she has been crying. I saw her say something then him smile and reply. They started leaning forward and I realized what was happening and turned away before I saw anything. I clenched my fists.
Then it hit me and I slid down the wall. She was officially gone. She wasn't mine anymore. I heard them get up so I hid behind some racks of towels. I turned toward the wall and laid my head against the cool wall. I punched the wall and walked back to my room.
Claire's p.o.v.
The next day we headed home and went our seperate ways, each to our own mansion. Luckily my parents would be gone for a couple more days so when I got home I went straight upstairs and flopped down onto my bed. I was exhausted. I hadnt slept much the night before because of all the thoughts whirring around in my head. Ben had kissed me. And i had kissed back. Do I want that? Do I want to try a relationship again? I pushed the thoughts aside and pulled out my iphone. I plugged headphones and started playing Mirror by Justin Timberlake. I pulled the covers over my head and layed there until I finally fell asleep.
A loud crack of thunder woke me up. My playlist had long been over so I pulled out my headphones and looked at the time. It was 1:30. I had to be up in 4 and a half hours for school. I sighed and lifted up. A noise from my window made me jump. I walked over to my window and looked out the window to see Massie standing in the pouring rain outside in front of my house. I gestured saying 1 second and I ran down the stairs. I knew something was wrong because she never does this without a warning text.
When I got to my front foor I flung it open and Massie ran into my arms.
"Mass what happened?" I asked? She just sobbed and I led her upstairs to my room. When I got up there I turned on the light and went to the bathroom to get tissues and a towel. When I got back I looked at Massie for the first time in the light. She had a red swollen eye that would soon be black and bruised, and she had a bunch of cuts on her hands.
"Oh my god, Massie what the fuck happened!?" I asked and I dropped the stuff and ran to the bed.
"Claire he- he- I was texting Kemp about plans for prom and- and he saw and he got mad and he-" She stopped and let out a sob.
"Massie I need to know what happened." I said and grabbing her hand.
"He threw that glass vase in my- in my living room and I tried to get away but he gra- grabbed my wrist and I pulled away and fell. When I got up and threw me into a wall- and he- and he punch- punched me." She said and I grabbed her and hugged her while she sobbed into my shoulder.
"Oh Mass it'll be ok." I said and then a rapid knock came from the front door. I felt Massie tense. I pulled away and got up.
"Mass stay up here." I said and she shook her head and let out a sob. "I'll be fine. I'm serious stay up here." She nodded and I went downstairs and looked out of the peephole and saw josh standing there clenching and unclenching his fists. I opened the door a little bit.
"Claire, get out of the way." He said and I shook my head. "Claire, I'm fucking serious get the fuck out of the way."
"Josh, no. Take a step in here and i'm calling the police."
"Claire, she's my girl friend let me see her!" He said but I stood my ground. I heard massie behind me.
"Josh stop." But he pushed me down and went toward Massie.
"Claire!" Massie screamed and tried to go up the stairs but Josh grabbed her and started shaking her.
I ran over to a drawer and pulled out the gun that my parents leave in there for emergencies. I turned around and held it up to josh.
"Josh, back up." I said and he turned to me and when he noticed the gun he dropped Massie and walked away with his hands up in a surrender position.
"Leave now or im calling the police." I said, my voice steady and forceful. He nodded and slowly went out the door. When he walked out I ran over to the door and locked it then did the same with the back door.
"Oh god, Claire" Massie said and I hugged her.
"It's over Mass" I said and rubbed her back. She pulled away and started to laugh which turned into a hysterical laughter. I laughed with her.
"What?" I asked her.
"You pulled a gun on him Claire!" And she pointed to the gun still laughing.
"It's not loaded!" I said and showed her it was empty. "The bullets are in the drawer." I said.
When we were done laughing she turned to me. "What do we do now?"
"Let's go to sleep and we'll figure it out in the morning." I said and she nodded. I let her borrow some pajamas and I put a pair on too. When we laid down she grabbed my hands and squeezed it.
"Thank you claire. So much." She said and I smiled and looked at her.
"What are best friends for?" I said and flipped over and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning when my alarm went off and I looked at Massie's eye which was swollen and black. We decided she should stay home. I got up tiredly and took a long shower. I knew I was going to be late for school but I didn't care. When I got out I picked out some dark wash ripped jeans and a plain white t shirt with a floral scarf and brown flats. I braided my hair to the side and put on alittle bit of eye liner and mascara. When I walked back into my room Massie was laying down staring at the ceiling.
"I'll come by at lunch and see how youre doing." I said and grabbed my purse and phone. "Keep the doors locked." I said and with that I walked out of my house and walked to my car. I looked at the time and saw I had 20 minutes left in first hour so I drove by Starbucks and then headed for the school. When I got there no one was in the halls so I went to my locker and grabbed the books I needed.
When the bell rang I shut my locker and heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Where were you? And where's Massie?" Derrick said and I turned around. I looked around and motioned for him to follow me. We walked to the stairwell that no one used.
I looked at Derrick who looked at me expectantly.
"Um so Massie showed up at my house last night at 1:30 in the morning and she had a black eye." I said and Derrick's eyes got wide.
"Did she get into a fights? what happened?" He asked and I looked down at my feet.
"Josh uh- Josh hit her." I said and looked up. He had a look of fury and pity. "He came a little bit later and I wouldn't let him in so he pushed me down and I got the gun from that drawer in the kitchen and threatened to call the police." I said.
"Where is she?" He asked clenching his jaw.
"She's at my house. You need to calm down Derrick." I said and put a hand on his chest and he seemed to calm down to my touch. "You can go with me to visit her at lunch." I said and he nodded. "It's happened before, that day I came in after our fight and I pulled Massie out I had remembered the first time I caught it. In the mean time stay away from Josh. Ok?" I asked and he nodded. We said goodbye and parted ways.
I walked into my class, and everyone's eyes were directly on me. I sat down at the back of the room and pulled out my phone. The teachers never gave me crap because I had really good grades.
My mind started drifting and before I knew it the bell rand and Ben was in front of my desk. I gave him a quick smile and then got up. When we got into the hallway Ben looked at me and opened his mouth like he was going to say something and then stopped. We walked for a second then he got up the courage to speak.
"Is something wrong, I uh texted you and you didnt reply." He said and put his hands into his pockets.
"Oh sorry, uh I was uh busy this morning, Doctor's appointment." I said and looked the other way. "I'll see you after class." I said and jumped into my classroom. I sat down in the back and waited for class to start. Derrick walked in and when he saw me he sat down next to me. I could feel the heat from his body next to me. I had the urge to grab his hand which was laying on his leg. I pushed it to the back of my mind and tried to focus on the lesson.
When the bell rang I got up and turned to Derrick.
"Lemme tell Olivia i'm going and then we can leave. I'll meet you in the cafeteria." He said and walked out of the room. I stared at the place he was at and rubbed a hand over my face. My life is so fucked up right now. I thought and stood up to see Ben walked over to me. I gave him a smile and we walked toward the cafeteria. When we walked into the lunch room I looked for my friends and immediately found Derrick who was talking to Olivia. Ben slipped his clammy cold hand around mine.
I walked up to the table and gave everyone a wave. When Olivia noticed me she grabbed Derrick's hand and scooted a little closer to him.
"But, Derr!" Olivia said and Dylan spit her water all over Kristin who didnt say anything because she was staring at me with her eyes wide. I looked around confused. After an awkward confusing second Derrick cleared his throat and pulled his hand out of Olivia's grasp.
"Claire and I have to go get some stuff for this project." He said and eyed me so I nodded.
"Wait what?" Ben said and I mentally cursed myself for forgetting to tell him I was leaving.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you I was leaving. I'll be back later" I said and he nodded.
"Ok, babe." Ben said and kissed me which made Kristen spit out her water onto Dylan.
"Ok, you guys need to stop doing that. That's just gross." Alicia said and Kemp and the others laughed.
After that Derrick and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. When we were walking through the front doors I turned to look at Derrick.
"Why did they look so shocked when Olivia said that?" I asked.
"The Derr thing? Well that used to be what you used to call me. No one ever called me that because that was your thing." He said and looked down. I nodded and we got into the car.
Derrick's p.o.v.
When we pulled into Claire's driveway I put the car into park and turned to Claire.
"Claire, I'm done waiting for you." I said my face straight.
"What?" she asked asked.
"I- i'm done waiting for you to love me. I 've been waiting for you to remember and just run back to me and- and now that you're- together with Ben, I know there is so chance. I will always be there but just know that i'm done waiting." I said looking into her beautiful blue eyes that had seemed to have lost the shine they used to have.
She just sat there and stared into her yard after nodded for a little while. Then she finally spoke.
"I understand. Derrick, i'm sorry I- that I can't give you the love you deserve I just- can't." She said and her eyes filled with tears. I leaned forward and hugged her.
"Claire, I will always love you, I'm just done waiting. I'm gonna move on" or at least try " You have so I need to." I felt her nod into my chest so I pulled away from her and kissed her forehead.
She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath and we got out of the car. I saw her close her eyes and then open them and smile with a smile that I knew was fake but I decided not to say anything.
When we got into her house we walked up to her room and Massie was scrolling through twitter spread out on Claire's bed. When she saw us she smiled and sat up.
"Thank god. I was so freaking bored!" She said and we laughed. "So Claire told you?"
I nodded and turned her face so I could look at her bruised eye better. I pulled away and clenched my jaw.
"Derrick it's okay." She said and put a hand on my arm. Even though Massie and I had dated, our relationship now was just like a brother and sister. I never felt an attraction to her.
"Hey, why dont we just skip the rest of the day and go to a movie or something?" Claire said and Massie nodded and grinned.
"Sounds good. I want to see the new Iron Man movie." I said and Massie hopped up.
"I'm gonna run next door and grab some clothes." Massie slipped on her flip flops and ran out of the door.
Alicia's p.o.v.
After they left Olivia and Ben drifted ff talking to each other. I turned to the table and cleared my thout so I could get their attention. When everyone had turned to me I spoke.
"What the hell? Ben and Claire? Olivia and Derrick? This feels so wrong." I said and looked around the table. Everyone nodded except for Josh who was staring into his lap.
"I think Claire is afraid because she can't remember so she doesnt want a real relationship. I mean it's obvious they still love each other. Did you see them in the city?" Cam said.
Everyone nodded. "It feels wrong. them not being together. Even the the constant PDA was a lot, it still felt right. like they were the parents of the group or something. They kept us sane. Do you think she will ever remember?" Dylan asked.
"Well the doctor wasn't sure if she would get all of it back." Kristen said and Cam squeezed her hand.
"I miss everyone being together and happy" I said. "Josh where is Massie?" I asked and he didnt say anything so I waved my hand in front of his face.
"Earth to josh." I said and he snapped his head up.
"What?" He snapped and I shrunk back.
"what the hell is your problem?" Plovert said and rubbed my back soothingly.
Josh rolled his eyes and slid his chair back loudly so that the whole room got quiet and stared. He stormed out leaving us shocked. The whole room was quiet and then whispers filled the room.
"What the hell was that about?" Kemp said. We all shrugged tried to finish our lunch but every single one of us had a very bad feeling.
Olivia's p.o.v.
When they left I sighed and asked Ben if he wanted to go get lunch off campus. He agreed and we walked out.
"As much as I try I never feel like i'm as good as Derrick was, even though she can't even remember her relationship with him. Is that weird?" He blurted out when we got to my car. I looked at him for a second and then I shook my head.
"Try him actually remembering. Derrick always sits there staring off into space and even though he tries to hide it I know hes thinking of her. I mean she's perfect. I wish he would love me atleast half of he much he loved her." I said and started the car.
"It sucks." He said and I nodded. I didnt think that Claire had been feeling basically the same way as Derrick. I had a quick thought that maybe I should let them be together. But I pushes it aside and thought about how she had her chance.
We talked about everything, even more than I did to Derrick even though he probably isnt even listening half the time. It felt nice because I actually forgot and felt safe when compared to Derrick I felt vulnerable. we decided to skip the rest of the day and just hang out. Later when I drove him back to the school to get his car we sat there for a second.
"We should do this again." I said and he nodded and got out.