Hold Me Closer

Chapter 4

Clare's eyes fluttered open to the bright sunlight shining through her window shades.

Ugh. Clare thought sitting up in bed. It's Monday. Monday meant that she had to work with Felix on the silly little project she found out about the day prior. The way Felix spoke over the phone still rang through Clare's ears. The way he was talking to her. Just her. I mean, Zinnia was there, but he didn't know that.

"God. Kill me," Clare said as she peeled herself out from under her warm covers. "Out of all people." She walked over to her closet to find a new cute outfit to wear. Dressing nice always made Clare feel very confident, and it was always the highlight of her day.

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Clare pushed open the heavy metal gate, leading the sidewalk in front of her house. Clare looked both ways down the sidewalk to see if anyone from her school was walking, because her neighborhood was filled with students from Withwood High School. That had to be the worst part of going to a public school. You see everyone.

Clare connected her black earbuds to her phone and started playing some upbeat pop songs to get her morning off to a better start than it already was at. Her Mom had just bombarded her-by putting a note on the counter of course, because she needed beauty sleep-with a bunch of chores to do once she got home, so hopefully she could get her mind off her home life problems with good music.

Clare walked down the sidewalk admiring all the dying trees. Fall was really a dead time. It made everything feel so cold and defeated. The leaves lined the streets and sidewalks making a small pathway for Clare to walk on. She shivered in the bitter wind and shut her eyes for just a second so she could focus on her favorite song which had just started playing.

Right when she opened her eyes, a tall man ran out from the gate in front of her that led to a big fancy house.

"Ah!" Clare said. His sudden appearance was so close it caused Clare to stumble backwards and fall onto the cold concrete ground on her butt. Her earbud fell out of her ear, and her back was shoved into a charger that was inconveniently placed in her backpack. "Ouch," Clare looked at her hand, which had a new scab on it from catching her fall on the rough ground. It didn't bleed at all, but boy, it stung.

"Shoot! My bad!" The man said, but that voice was familiar. It was Felix's. "Oh, Clare. Fancy meeting you here." He held out a hand to help Clare up.

"Felix?!" Clare exclaimed, shocked by his instantaneous arrival. Clare refused his help and got up on her own. "That's alright."

"Here. Your earbud fell," He said, holding it out with a soft smile on his pretty face. He looked so good in the morning sunlight. His eye color almost seemed to change from a dark green, to green-yellow. It was so hot. Clare took the earbud gratefully. "Oh, did you hurt your hand too? Do you want a band-aid? I've got loads inside."

"No no no. That's alright," Clare's heart raced as she looked at Felix, "You know? I think I actually have a bunch at my house. Bye!" Clare gave him a small bow as a thank you and quickly ran back down the block to her house-which wasn't very far because Clare only made it one house away from hers before she collided with Felix. She did not know that they were neighbors. So much for trying to avoid him for Zinnia.

Closing the gate abruptly behind her, Clare ran back to the house, stopping in front of the front door. She was hidden safely behind multiple trees now, so she couldn't see Felix anymore. Knowing that Felix was next door was horrible. She had known that someone was moving in but she didn't know it was Felix.

Clare rested her forehead against the front door, contemplating what had just happened. Her heart pounded in her chest remembering the way Felix had looked at her with worried eyes. The way he held a hand out to help her up. The way he was worried about her injury. All of it. This was bad. If Clare kept running into him in these ways Clare was gonna fall for him. She had to do something in order to stop herself from letting that happen. Anything to stay away from the horrible feeling of love. The pain that came from it still lingered in the back of Clare's head.