Warm Touch

Chapter Nine: Holding On & Letting Go |Part 1|

Claire's POV:

I take a bag of ice from the kitchen, peeking over to the living room where Kate is helping Zayn. After I'm done, I head back to Danny's room, and take the bag to him.

"Hey, how you feeling?" I ask

"Claire, I'm so sorry. He was basically asking for it. I don't want him here, I need you to tell him to go" He says.

"Danny, he's basically your brother. You guys can fight all you want, but at the end of the day, he's all you've got left here for you. He loves you, Danny. I'm sure whatever this is, you guys can figure it out."

"You have no idea what you're saying, Claire. But that's okay, I know Zayn, I know how good he is at fooling people. This time he's done it to you, hasn't he?"

"What did he mean when he called you Renner?" I ask, nervously. "I meant to ask you sooner, but I didn't know how. And I guess I thought it wasn't too important, but this is the second time I hear that. What does it mean?" He seems shocked, puzzled, and maybe even worried that I grabbed ahold of Zayn's every word, enough to realize this.

"See? Don't you see Claire? This is exactly what he wants. Okay? He wants us to fight, he-" He gets up, walking around the room, "He wants us to break apart. He wants you to doubt me" He leans in, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Then, I guess it's working, isn't it?" I say. My heart breaking each and every second of our disagreement. I finally look up at Danny, he sits down, head up, with eyes as red as ever. I can see him holding back the tears, but it's impossible; his eyes are pooling up as he shuts his lips, and takes a long, deep breath.

"Yeah I-" He stops, looking back down, "I guess it is."

I turn to the wall, refusing to face him. I don't want to let him see me cry, but it's also inevitable. He can't be honest with me, and I can't be with someone who can't trust me. I take a last glance at him over my shoulder, as I walk towards the door. I open it and walk away as fast as possible, never letting my tears fall. I walk towards the apartment door to leave, and I realize Kate and Zayn are long gone by now. As I walk outside, I call a taxi to get here as soon as possible, and I go back home. I cannot believe Danny and I would ever end this way. Why can't he just tell me something, anything about him? I mean, what do I really know?

When I get home, I see the house empty, and I'm so glad Kate didn't bring anyone over. I shut the door to my room closed, and just then, I decide I can freely allow the tears to escape. I slide down the wall, hopelessly screaming out. Never did I ever imagine something like this to happen again. Not with him at least. Not with Danny. He's everything to me, and breaking up with him like this just.... Makes me feel lost.

"Claire? You home?" I hear Kate's voice coming from downstairs. I immediately get up and walk towards my bed. I look at the mirror in front of me, wiping off my tears with a tissue.

"Claire?" She opens the door, "oh my god. You're crying!" She screams surprised, and walks towards me to hug me. I open my arms and hug her tightly, letting the tears break me apart. My best friend has always been there for me, this time is about to be no exception.

"What happened? Hey, you okay?" She asks, sliding her hand down my hair, and back.

"Danny and I broke up" I say, sobbing.

"Oh my god. Claire I- I am so sorry. Look, it this is my fault-"

"No, no Kate. This has nothing to do with you. This is about me," I cut her off, "Its me he won't trust. I feel like he's hiding something, but I just- I wish he would be honest with me, you know? He can't fully trust me. I feel like he's hiding something, he just won't tell me what- and I am-" I throw my head back to her shoulders sobbing my heart out.

"Hey, hey. Its okay, sweetheart. Its okay. We're on the same road; I broke up with Landon too. A while back actually."

"You never said anything. Why?" I ask.

"You were having the love story of your dreams. I didn't want to involve any of my boyfriend drama with it. Besides, I've been fine. I've been seeing Zayn for a little while, and I think he likes me" She says, smiling innocently.

"But why did you dump him?" I ask, calming myself down a bit.

"He was such a freak, I swear. He always wanted to have sex. Just sex, it's all he ever cared about!" She throws her hands up in laughter, and I join her along.

"Well then, I'm glad you did. You did what you had to in order to move on. I'm happy for you. Maybe Zayn isn't all as bad as Danny makes him seem." I say, shrugging.

"Not at all! He's the sweetest. He took me out to dinner twice in a row this week. Although he's always really wanting me to do the talking. Its okay though, I really like him" She says shrugging in laughter.

"I'm glad for you. You deserve better than Landon, the kid was a loser. I feel like he's secretly a dad or something" I say, and the room goes quiet, feeling like I've offended Kate. Just then, she bursts out into laughter, and so do I.

"Thanks for being here for me, Kate. You're the best friend ever."

"Aww, no problem. You ever heard that one quote that says something along the lines of: every brunette needs a blond best friend, or something? Because that's so us, I'd be lost without you Claire" She says, leaning in for a hug.

"No I've never heard it" I hug her back laughing, and realizing the tears are gone. "But I'm pretty sure a blond and a brunette could make the perfect safety team in the field" I say, making a fist, and tapping Kate's, then fluttering back our fingers as we both say "boooom."

"Love you Blondie" I say.

"Love you, my little Brunette" Kate says, "should I suggest bowling, or pizza night?" She asks.

"Mhhh. How bout both?" I say laughing loudly.

"You got it! Read my mind right now. We'll have some tequilas, too. Just hop on my car, and let the fun begin!" She gets up, jumping and getting her car keys.

"Show me a day in the Katherine Maverick life. Teach me how it's done!" I jump off the bed.

"Never thought this day would come, but I'm glad it did," She takes a receipt from my last shoes bought for work and hands it over to me, bowing down. "Your ticket to the Katherine Maverick world, my lady" She says, laughing hysterically.

A/N: Hey guys! Happy Sunday! Hope you guys are having a great day. As always, you know the drill: leave me your comments and opinions down below, vote, share, all that jazz. Also, just fyi, this is the first part of a whole chapter I wanted to kind of divide it into smaller parts. You'll understand why when the next parts go up, which will be very soon! If you're a TVD fan, you'll probably recognize this song right away, ever since I first heard it, I immediately thought about Claire and Danny, specially for this chapter. Alsoooo, you guys!!! We're at 400 reads already!!! I can't even believe this, I don't know what to do with myself right now ahhhhh!! This is the coolest thing ever, because that was supposed to be the goal for next month (my birthday.) I honestly, truly mean it when I say this: I love you kitties, I'm so happy and lucky to have you guys supporting and reading my book. Please continue to support me, I promise I will not let you down. I'll talk to you guys soon, bye!