A/N: Thank you all SO MUCH for all the reviews, story alerts and favorites! I'm new to this and you have all made me feel so welcome :') Anyway, enough with the mush, I just appreciate the support. Onto the story! Enjoy :)

"Eli, you can't be serious."

"Come on, it'll be fun. That guy, right over there."

Clare looked at the innocent bystander, who was sitting on a park bench with a newspaper in his hand, unknowing that he had just become the next victim of one of Eli's harebrained schemes. She sighed deeply.

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly. Eli did a silent fist pump of triumph and Clare rolled her eyes. "You're insane, you know that?"

"Never said I wasn't." He pushed her towards the man, despite her protests that she wasn't ready. Before she could protest further, she was in front of the man, who'd lowered the paper he was reading to look at her.

"Hello," he said a skeptical look on his face.

"Hello," Clare replied, with an awkward wave of her hand, followed by an awkward silence.

"Can I help you?" The man, looking to be in his early 30's, raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, is that seat taken?" Clare asked, pointing to the empty space on the bench next to him.

"Nope, all yours."

"Great." Clare remained standing and another awkward silence passed.

"So, are you going to sit?" the man asked.

"Oh, no," Clare said. "I was asking for my imaginary friend."

The man's eyebrows shot into his light brown hair and his gray eyes widened. "Imaginary friend?"

"Yes," Clare said. "You see, she's very shy. Or else she would have asked herself."

"Um, I see…"

"Clare!" Eli came up behind her and glanced at the man. "Oh, I'm so sorry, was she bothering you?"

"Is she with you?"

"My girlfriend."

The stood from his spot on the bench and took Eli aside for a minute. "She was speaking of this…imaginary friend?"

"Ah, that," Eli said, looking over at Clare, who was in a very intense conversation with thin air. It was all he could do to keep a straight face. "Well, you see, she's never been the same since the aliens abducted her."

"Excuse me?"

"You see, she was perfectly normal until about a year ago. Until one night, when we were playing hide and seek with goblins, a UFO just appeared out of nowhere, and she was gone…" Eli was lucky he was involved in theater, or else he may have never been able to pull this off. Even though he didn't act, he'd seen enough to keep it together. He covered his eyes with his hands and sniffled. "That next week was the hardest of my life. If it weren't for the comfort of Bigfoot, I don't know what I would have done. He's my brother, you see. Well, half brother. Anyway, a week later, she returned from the abduction, and she believed in all these crazy things, like having an imaginary friend ant that Voldemort was out to get her, and I'd tell you more, but then you'd think I was crazy."

The man just stared at Eli. It seemed as if he couldn't do much else.

"Anyway, thank you for your time. And I'm sorry again about Clare. Like I said, ever since the abduction…" Eli waved a finger next to his ear, symbolizing that she'd lost her mind. He patted the man on the shoulder and said, "You know, you're not that bad. When the zombie apocalypse begins, I'll make sure they don't eat your brains." Without another word, Eli made his way back to Clare.

"What did you do to that poor guy?" she said, giggling, and punching Eli after he'd explained his story.

"Oh come on. You can't say that wasn't fun."

"It wasn't." Eli raised an eyebrow and Clare cracked a smile. "Okay, maybe it was a little fun."

"That's my girl." He slung an arm around her shoulders and they began walking through the park. "Convince someone that we've completely and utterly lost our minds? Check!"

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Shooting Stars and Midnight Kisses, because I just about peed my pants writing it! Kinda stupid, but I can see Eli doing something like this, just for the heck of it. Reviews, as always, are appreciated!