stars in your eyes

quinque

"Ooh, jasper and Harry are both here?" Claire's best friend Rowan said as they walked in the door after school that Monday.

"Yup," Claire said awkwardly, kicking off her shoes.

"Hey, guys," Rowan said to them in the flirty way she had as she walked toward the living room where they were.

Rowan knew the best ways to make a guy give her a second look – besides just being beautiful, she possessed some sort of flirting magic.

"rowan!" Jasper called out excitedly.

Rowan giggled at him and Claire rolled her eyes. There was a weird sexual tension between them for years, but Claire was certain nothing ever came of it – which she was grateful for. She didn't want her best friend hooking up with her brother. Claire stopped in her tracks thinking about that thought. The realization sent a nervous chill through her body and caused her cheeks to redden. She was pretty hypocritical and she knew it.

"Hi, Claire," Harry said, his eyes staring into her. Her words failed her, so she just gave him a small wave.

"Let's go up to my room," Claire said, turning to Rowan, wanting to flee away from them.

"Sure," Rowan shrugged.

Claire turned out of the room and headed toward the stairs, trying to put as much distance as she could between her and Harry.

"Bye, boys," Rowan said before she followed Claire upstairs.

Claire fell onto her bed in a huff, suddenly feeling extremely guilty for what she was doing with her brother's best friend. And she realized she had her own double standard going on. She would never want her brother to get with her best friend, but she was getting with his best friend behind his back.

"What is with you today?" Rowan asked, flopping down on the bed with her.

"Nothing," Claire huffed, knowing she'd been in a funk all day.

"Nothing?" Rowan asked, eyeing her best friend.

Claire put her hands over her eyes and let out a deep sigh which sounded more like a growl.

"claire— seriously..." Rowan said, letting out a light laugh.

"I've... I've been doing something... something stupid," claire started to explain.

"What?" She asked, looking over at Claire curiously.

"Harry—we... ugh," claire breathed, shaking her head, not sure if she wanted to spill all the dirty details.

"What about him?" She asked wide-eyed, sitting up to look down at her. Claire sighed heavily again.

"Claire, you better tell me right now," Rowan demanded, completely intrigued.

"You can't tell anyone," Claire told her as she sat up too.

"Oh, this is going to be juicy. Claire, please tell me you banged his brains out,"Rowan said, smiling wildly at her.

"No. I didn't bang his brains out,"Claire said, rolling her eyes at her vixen of a best friend.

"You did something," she said, quaking her eyebrow.

"We, uh... we..." Claire stammered.

"Good God, girl. Spill it,"Rowan laughed.

"We've been making out... a lot," Claire cringed, speaking the words out loud for the first time.

"Oh my god, claire. He is so hot, seriously,"Rowan said excitedly.

"I know," Claire said, letting a smile curl up her lips.