by Marie Cole
"Welcome to Aquanis," she'd said softly before turning away. I watched her walk away wishing she were wearing pants so I could see what shape her bottom actually was. Trevor nudged me with his elbow and I looked at his shit-eating grin.
"Someone has a crush on the elusive Claire Hughes." I scoffed and did what all boys do when faced with the realization that they aren't as smooth as they'd like to think. I lied.
"Her boobs aren't big enough. I like a full rack on my ladies." Trevor laughed again and wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me towards home room.
"We are going to be good friends, I can tell already. Wait til you meet Kelly, she's totally stacked." And she was. And I lost my virginity to her a few weeks after that.
I re-read the note and slipped the chain into my pocket. I'd lost my lucky penny last year when I'd gone backpacking in Europe for the summer. I had no idea that I'd told anyone about losing it, much less Claire. This was one of the reasons why I'd never let anyone hurt her ever again, myself included.
I was the last one into class again and had no choice but to take the seat across the room from Claire. I glanced at her all class long but she never once looked my way. Was it proper to thank someone for a thank you gift? I was sure that it was. I stood up quickly when the professor dismissed us. I tried to head off Claire but she was out the door before I could stop her.
The girl in front of me turned around and told me to quit pushing her and I felt my shoulders fall. "Sorry," I mumbled. I'd just wanted to get to her, to thank her for the gift. I hadn't been thinking about anything else and didn't until I was able to catch up with her outside. I was panting softly as I stepped in front of her, blocking her path and making her stop. Her blue eyes looked at mine and I felt my heart race faster.
"Hey. I just wanted to thank you for the gift. I-That was-"
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders softly, cutting me off. "Cheesy, I know. I'm sorry. I just wasn't sure what to get for someone who saved my life. Merit got a homemade coupon book for free chores. Do you want to swap?" The thought of a coupon book redeemable for services from Claire was making blood rush to the place below the belt that I was trying to keep in check. I shook the thought of her dusting my room in a french maid costume out of my head.
"Uh, no. No, it was very thoughtful. So, thank you." She smiled softly and nodded, evidently satisfied that I'd accepted her gift.
"The least I could do, really." She glanced behind me and I turned to see Merit a few feet away, waiting for Claire. She waved to me and I nodded to her and then turned back to Claire.
"I'll uh-" She nodded, waved her hand in a semi-circle at my chest and stepped around me to join her friend.
"Yeah. See you later, Neil."
I rubbed the back of my neck as I watched her walk away. Merit smiled sadly at me. Her pity made me boil. It was obvious to everyone how I felt about Claire. Obvious to everyone but her. I had to keep telling myself that it was better this way. I wouldn't bring her anything but pain when we had to part ways after college was over. I was done hurting her but my life suddenly felt very empty at the realization that in a few years Claire would no longer be in it.
Chapter 26
Claire
Merit pulled me in close to her as we walked towards the dorms. "Girl, he's got it bad for you. I can see it."
I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Neil? No, he's probably just lost without Justice." My smile faltered, "I can't believe they're both dead."
She hugged me tighter to her, "I can't believe they actually tried to...," her voice faded as she killed the thought from coming out, "I can't imagine being here without you." I nodded in acknowledgement as we walked together.
"And I'm sure Neil is feeling the same about Justice. They've been sleeping together for years. You can't sleep with someone and not feel something for them, can you?"
She shrugged. "We all knew Justice had her ways of making a guy sleep with her. We're lucky that the council decided to cover it up or Neil and I would be in jail."
"Are you going to their vigils tonight?"
She scoffed, "Heck no! They deserved what they had coming."
I frowned at her, "Merit... Psyche threatened them. Imagine what you would do if she'd kidnapped me and told you you'd only be able to save me if you killed someone else. That would be a hard choice." She was quiet for a few minutes and then sighed softly.
"Do you want me to go?"
I hugged her softly with the arm that was around her waist. "It doesn't matter to me. I just wish you wouldn't bad mouth them. It was a terrible situation for everyone."
She sighed again and reluctantly nodded. "Fine. You're right. ...Good job changing the subject, by the way." I let a little chuckle escape, releasing some of the tension.
"You're terrible. Just because he saved my life doesn't change anything. He's still Neil Begley. He is still the star quarterback, still every girl on campus's dream. He will still be leaving just like everyone else in a few years. He should find a girl that will leave with him. And even if what you say is true, and he has feelings for me, I'm not going to be able to leave. He deserves something that will last forever." I didn't add it but I didn't want to be hurt again. I didn't want to give him my heart, I knew what he'd do with it. He'd crush it, just like he had before.
She shook her head and sighed. "I still think you're selling him short. But I'll let it go and take it easy on you...for now."
"Thanks so much." I chuckled again and bumped my hip with hers, parting us as we arrived to the dining hall.
Chapter 27
Neil
"Good morning!" The professor sure was in a chipper mood this morning. I sunk down into my seat a little, I was not feeling quite so chipper. I'd been tossing and turning most of the morning after waking up from my nightmare, going to Cassandra's funeral after watching her drown, kissing her cold dead lips. The vigil for Justice and Will was packed and part of me felt bitter that they were being touted as victims. In the end darkness had lost so I was trying hard to let it go. "Today we'll be discussing the guidelines for the last assignment of the semester." He was rubbing in our faces that there was going to a two month break in a couple of weeks. I knew Claire would stay here and the thought of leaving her alone here was niggling at me. "The author who will star in all your assignments is none other than the extraordinary playwright and poet, Mr. William Shakespeare." I looked around the room. Everyone was rapt with attention, no one was cheering though. I found it amazing that Shakespeare's works had lasted so long and still captured such a wide audience. I hoped that for myself, to be remembered, to be revered.
"I've divided you into groups already and you will have to write a collaborative paper in which you will write the modern play - television. You will write three scenes in screenwriting format and then you will act out one of them. You can do a classical version or a modern twist, it's up to you. In the past students have done live performances mostly but some have shown us their scene using the AV equipment. If you need such equipment you'll need to let me know in advance." The professor spent the rest of the class time going over how to properly write a screenplay. Just before it was time to leave he read out the groups. I sat up straighter when he'd said my name after Claire's. He dismissed the class and I stood up slowly, watching Claire as she raced to the professor.
"I would much rather do 'The Taming of the Shrew' or 'MacBeth', is it possible I could switch with someone?" She was batting her beautiful eyelashes at the professor but as I saw him sigh heavily I knew he wasn't going to give into her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Hughes, sometimes in life we have to work with others we may not get along with. I still expect a superior product." Her shoulders slumped slightly and she nodded slowly. She stepped back and headed for the door. I caught up with her and spoke low as I brushed my shoulder against hers. I felt the sparks and I was pretty sure she did too judging by the jolt of her body and the blush on her cheeks.
"At least you tried, but it seems you're stuck
with me." I inhaled her scent while I was still close enough to do so. I winced as I watched her step to the side, putting distance between us.
"Yes, it seems I am. When do you want to get together and do this?" She stepped to the side of the hallway to let others pass by us. I stopped with her, pressing my shoulder into the wall. She was trying her best to be cordial but it stung just a little that she didn't want to spend time with me. I was dying to spend time with her. I should probably buy the professor a thank you bottle of whiskey.
"My days are pretty packed but my evenings are free if yours are."
Her wide blue eyes searched mine and she nodded, breaking eye contact. "Sure. I'll meet you in the library tonight so we can get started." She didn't give me a chance to respond. She walked in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. I let her.
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I wasn't sure what time she wanted to meet at the library so I went there after dinner, freshly showered. As I shaved I realized I was getting dolled up for Claire and forewent the after-shave. I'd thrown on a black button down shirt and some jeans. I sat down at an empty table in a secluded corner of the library and I texted her after I'd let my backpack fall to the ground at my feet.
Neil: I'm here and ready 2 work when u r.
Claire: I'm here 2. Where r u?
Neil: Could b more fun if I don't tell u.
I smirked as I thought about her walking around the library, craning her pretty little neck looking for me.
Claire: Or not.
I chuckled. She was feisty tonight. I informed her of how to find me and hadn't completely wiped the smirk from my face when she approached and sat down across from me.
"What the hell is so funny, Begley?" She pulled out her notebook and her laptop, glancing at me between tasks.
I shook my head. "Oh, nothing. Why are you so angry tonight?"
"Because I'm here with you." That wiped the smirk right off my face. Ouch. I sat up and frowned at her.
"Brutal, Claire." I watched her face but it was steeled with anger.
She shook her head as she glanced at me. "Lets just get this over with."
I sat back and frowned at her words, my hands covering my copy of Romeo and Juliet. "Fine. What scenes should we do? I was thinking Act 1 Scene 1 between Romeo and Benvolio, Act 1 Scene 5 when they meet and the death scene." She was writing down what I'd said and nodded, not looking at me as she shifted her gaze to the computer.
"That's fine. Do you want to do classical dialogue or try to modernize it?"
I thought about it and looked over the paper in front of me outlining what the professor wanted for the assignment. "He would like it more if we modernized it."
She sighed and nodded, "More work. You're right."
She rubbed her forehead with an open palm and then opened her copy of Romeo and Juliet. She put her finger on the first scene and read it over. "So where should the setting be?"
"A dorm room."
She nodded and typed the setting into the proper format on the screen and while she did I kept talking. "So we'll rename Benvolio to Ben and Romeo can be Roman. So we start with Ben entering the dorm room that they share and he can say something like, 'Hey, cuz, what's up?' And then Roman will reply, 'What are you doing here, its late.' and he'll respond, 'No, its early, like 9am dude.'" I waited, letting her catch that. She nodded as I spoke and she typed.
As we went through that scene my heart stuttered. Romeo was mourning the loss of a girl, a beautiful girl, a girl he loved, a girl who didn't love him back. A girl who wouldn't give him the time of day. I suddenly felt what Romeo did and after I read Romeo's line I blurted my thoughts out to Claire, "So are you seeing anyone or...?" Her fingers stopped typing on the keyboard and she looked at me as if I had just sprouted another head.
"...I don't see how that's relevant to anything." She was still frozen, watching me like a wolf, waiting to see what I would do. I shrugged my shoulders and flipped the page corners of the book upwards so it made a soft swooshing noise, trying to act casual.
"I was just curious. Your last two relationships didn't work out so well I was just wondering when you were planning on getting back on the horse." She looked at her screen and started typing again. She apparently wasn't in the mood to answer my question. I put my hand on her wrist and squeezed softly. "Claire, come on. We've been friends for years. Just talk to me." She pulled her hand away as if I'd scorched her.
"I don't want to talk to you about my love life. I don't want to be your friend anymore, Neil. I can't. Lets just do this project, get an A, and move on with our lives." I sat back slowly in my chair. She had no idea, probably, how beautiful she was when she was fighting back anger. It was all I had in me not to grab ahold of her so she could unleash it on me through her lips. I nodded slowly, it was all I could do.
Chapter 28
Claire
He was staring at me, undressing me with his eyes and it was making me extremely uncomfortable. Didn't he know that when he looked at me like that I almost forgot about what had happened between us and what couldn't happen again between us again? I cleared my throat and got back to business, hoping it would snap him out of his bedroom gaze.
"So, the next scene... what should the setting be?" I dared a glance and luckily he was looking at his book. He cleared his throat as he leaned over the text and ran a hand through his hair.
"A party?" His steel blue eyes met mine. "What do you think?"
I glanced at my copy of the play and shook my head. "I think its too close to the actual. Maybe we could make it at a game. Romeo is an opposing football player and Juliet is the cheerleader who stares at the quarterback on the opposing team." I glanced at him and he was studying me, as if he didn't know I was capable of being creative. I raised my eyebrows when he stared too long. "Well, what do you think?"
He scratched at the back of his neck and leaned back. "Yeah, that sounds great. Are we decided yet which scene we are going to act out ourselves?" A scene where I dressed a man, a scene where I was a cheerleader kissing Neil or a scene where I'm supposed to be dead and Neil kissed me... these were not tough choices. I was going to avoid kissing him.
"The first scene. I'll be Benvolio and you will be Romeo." He grinned at me and I tried to ignore how my body was reacting to it. I frowned at him. "What?"
"Afraid to kiss me, Ms. Hughes? You -know- I don't bite." I felt my cheeks color at the thought of him biting me. I pushed the thought away, it was his aim to tease me. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
"And you -know- I just want to spare us both heartache." Our relationship would end with college, it was a dead-end-street.
"So you think I want to kiss you?"
"I know you want to kiss me. Its written all over your body." I motioned to his spectacular body with my pen.
He chuckled. "You're not wrong. Why don't we do the football game scene?"
I scoffed at him, "I'm not going to concede to doing that scene just to prove to you that I'm not afraid to kiss you. The first scene will be the best one to film."
"I disagree." I glared at him, he looked so relaxed, so sure of himself sitting across from me. I jolted when I felt his shoe touch mine and he laughed at me...again. "Relax, Claire. Jeez. If you want to do the first scene, that's fine."
I did relax, letting out a sigh, but tried not to let my relief show beyond that, raising my chin. I looked back to the computer, "Good." I glanced at him and he was still smiling at me, rather annoyingly. I needed to set him up with someone. Someone like me but a girl who could actually leave campus once college was over. It was my turn to smile, I had a plan. Finally. His eyebrows raised as he watched the play of emotions run across my face. "What's wrong, love?" Oh how I loved throwing his pet name back at him.