Finding Claire

Chapter 5

The next couple of days went by the same: me trying to ignore Nathan while he tried to bother me. I thought I was winning, but Friday morning I noticed that he was starting to slowly open me up.

How? I didn't even notice until I saw the big smile on his face as he walked into English with a big bag of Snickers. I felt my smile getting bigger and then I started to wonder how it got there in the first place.

"Miss me?" Was the first thing he said and I rolled my eyes. I looked down and not even a minute later, I saw a small handful of the candy in front of me.

"What's up with you and all this candy?" I asked him, motioning to the chocolate. "First it was the Twizzler, then it was skittles. Dum-Dum's yesterday and now Snickers? Are you trying to rot my teeth?"

"No. Why are you complaining about free candy?"

"I'm not."

"It sounds like you are. Besides, it's almost Halloween and my parents are stocking up on the candy like crazy. It's not like they are going to notice a couple of bags missing."

"You're stealing candy from young kids? You are evil," I laughed softly and looked up for a couple of seconds. Class had already started and we were currently taking notes, which would be the beginning of our next project I believed. But with this boy next to me, it was impossible to pay attention.

"No. I'm stealing candy from my parents. There's a big difference."

"Whatever," I mumbled under my breath. We were quiet for a couple of minutes but the entire time, the candy was catching my eye. I sighed softly and whispered, "Thanks."

It took him a while to respond, but once I looked to him, he had a small smile on his face and he murmured, "You're welcome," as the bell rang.

Math passed by without a peep from both of us and then when the bell signaled for lunch, that's when he spoke.

"So what are you doing for lunch?"

I paused midway from putting my notebook in my bag. I stared at him with wide eyes and blinked rapidly when I saw him waiting for my answer.

"Umm..... I never eat here so I usually go out of campus."

"Huh. I was planning on going out of campus. Want to join me to save gas and help the ecosystem?" He asked sheepishly. I just stared at him open mouthed, feeling the blush spread all over my face.

"Uhh.... Maybe next time." Was all I said before stuffing my things in my bag and sprinting out the door. I didn't realize the meaning of my words until I was in my car and halfway out the school.

I had just agreed on a lunch date with Nathan.

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Saturday and Sunday rolled by in a blink, and I tried my best to keep my mind out of my thoughts. The thoughts that had Nathan in them. Laundry distracted me for a couple of hours, cleaning my room for another two and baking homemade fudge brownies for another hour. My mother was giving me a suspicious glance the entire time I was cleaning my room but then changed it once she saw my brownies.
She was a sucker for them.

Slap! "Hey! Don't ruin your appetite for dinner young lady!" I scolded her with a laugh and she gave me a puppy dog face.

"Buuut mooooommm!" She whined and I laughed. I shook my head, grabbed the plate and placed it on top of the fridge. Her small pout remained on her face as she saw me get down from the chair and I had to crack a smile.

"Seriously mom. Dad will kill you if you eat them all. You know how much he loves them."

"He doesn't have to know," she said with a wink.

"Then how do we explain the aroma of brownies? It's not like we can say that we bought a brownie scented spray...."

"Hey..... that's a good idea! I like your plan!" She giggled and I rolled my eyes. Seriously who was the adult in this conversation?

"Where is dad by the way?"

"Work. He has his 48 hour shift going on."

"So we won't see him until Tuesday morning?" She nodded sadly and I smiled.

"Well too bad cause by that time the aroma will be gone....."

She practically screamed, all but mounted the fridge and ripped the plate apart to get a piece. I joined her with two glasses of milk and laughed as she inhaled two before I even had one. What was so good about my brownies? Well I gave them a very small amount of spice to give them a little kick and then I placed small chocolate bites in the batter so when you bit into it, you could taste/feel the chocolate chunks. On top of the brownie itself, I added my recipe of "hot fudge" and something else. Hey! I'm not gonna say what it is!! It's a secret!!

After inhaling half the plate and then complaining of a stomach ache, we decided to skip dinner and went straight to bed. I decided to close my eyes for a couple of seconds and when I opened them again, I saw that the light was coming through my windows.

Shit! I slept with my glasses on and my clothes from yesterday! I guess I went into a brownie coma....

After getting up and groaning from staying in one spot all night, I showered, got dressed in some black skinny jeans and purple long sleeve shirt and paired them with my Converse. I cleaned out my glasses, placed my long black hair into a pony tail and walked downstairs.

It was surprisingly quiet and I frowned, looking everywhere for my mother. I heard her groan and not even minutes later, she dragged in, rubbing her head and looking like shit.

"Brownie coma?" I laughed and she groaned again. "Yeah, I went through it too. But since you ate more than me, you'll be worse I guess."

"Shhh!" Was all she said before going to the steaming coffee machine that I had started and waited for the rest of the three minutes for it to finish. She grabbed her mug and sat down after taking a giant gulp, groaning and then finally looking up at me. "Good morning honey."

"Good morning to you too," I laughed and she cracked a smile. It was nice to see her like this once in a while -carefree and not worrying about everything. I think she knew about my so called "secret" but she never pushed me to tell. I knew she wanted me to tell her, but I just didn't want her to be disappointed in me....

"Do you have money for school?"

"Yeah. Should be enough for the rest of the week but then I might need some more for next week."

She nodded, ran her fingers through her brown hair and sighed. "Never again."

"Never again what?"

"Make those demon chocolate squares disappear. I don't want to see them or else I know I'm going to end up eating them all."

I laughed, rolled my eyes and then shrugged. After placing them in two separate containers, I stuffed them in my bag and gave her a small kiss. "Gotta go! I'm going to pass by the hospital and see dad before I head for school."

"Take a banana or a muffin," she mumbled and I grabbed a banana. After making sure I had everything, I got in my car and pulled out, smiling at my thoughts.

Dad sure was going to be surprised by this....