Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 40

It's a bit unnerving to see there are 9 people in the house when the front door opens. It takes Castiel a moment to realize that with Claire, there should be ten people. Oh, right. Anna left earlier. That must be her coming home.

"Bye, Cain," her soft voice says from somewhere near the front door.

"See ya," Cain replies.

"I wanna see if they're being cute or if I can't ship it," Lucifer announces, his voice a whisper. He quickly but silently runs to the front door, hiding behind a wall and peaking his head around the corner.

Cain and Anna speak indistinctly for a few moments, until suddenly, Anna raises her voice to say, "Lucifer, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Deciding if you're ship-worthy," he replies as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

"Well, don't," she snaps. "Go. Shoo."

"But ships!" Lucifer whines.

"I think it's time I leave, anyway," Cain tells her.

"But ships?" It's more a question this time, which doesn't really make sense in this context but since when have Lucifer's ships made sense, anyway?

"But no," Anna replies. "Bye, Cain."

"Bye, Anna," Cain replies, then adds, "Again."

"'Scuse me," Claire says to no one in particular before walking towards them.

Confused, Castiel follows, staying out of view but within earshot, and Lucifer follows so he's not left out.

"Hey, Cain," she greets the boy.

"Claire," he says politely.

"What do you want, Claire?" Anna snaps.

"Not much," Claire replies. "Just want to talk to Cain for a minute. Don't worry, Raggedy Ann. Not gonna steal him away from you. I've got a little more self respect than that."

"Cain was just leaving," Anna replies.

"It'll only take a moment," Claire says with a smile so obviously fake that she might as well have just said "I'm gonna make sure he knows how much I hate him." She gestures for him to follow her. "Cain?"

"I should —" he starts to protest.

Claire grabs his wrist and forcefully pulls him after her. Anna calls after her, but Claire ignores her as she drags Cain upstairs.

Anna starts to follow them, but Castiel walks out and gestures for her to go to the kitchen before following them himself. If someone's going to break this up, it's not going to be the drama queen of the house.

"What are you doing?" Castiel hears Cain hiss. "Do you want them to find out?"

"Well, I can't say I'd mind," Claire replies.

"Then tell them yourself, but quit playing games," he snaps. "If you want me and Anna to break up, fine. But don't keep leading me on like this."

"But where's the fun in that?" she asks teasingly.

"This isn't fun for anyone," he snaps. "Just make up your damn mind. Do you want us together or not?"

"I'm not telling you," she replies. "Half the fun of blackmail is watching the other person not know what's coming."

"I'm serious, Claire. Make up your fucking mind. I'm sick of living in a fucking minefield. I left you alone. Why can't you do the same for me?"

Claire doesn't speak for a moment, and when she does, her voice has lowered considerably. "Because I don't want her to end up like Alex."

Cain scoffs, incredulity filling his voice as he says, "You're looking out for Anna? Please. You two hate each other."

"I don't hate her," she corrects him. "We may not be friends, but I knew Alex, and I respect Anna too much to let her end up like she did."

"What happened to Alex was her own fault," he says factually.

"Her own —? She loved you, Cain. She trusted you!"

"Then you can't really say it was my fault, can you?" he replies carelessly.

"You —" Claire begins, doubtlessly about to follow it with countless expletives, but Cain interrupts.

"And Anna already knows, anyway. Unlike Alex, she can handle it. Some people are just more mature."

"She knows," Claire repeats, her disbelief obvious. "And yet she's still been going out with you for years?"

"Yep. Our relationship is a win/win situation for both of us. She doesn't care about... technicalities like that."

"Then why are you so afraid of me telling her?" she challenges.

"I'm not afraid of you telling her. I don't want you to tell — wait, why would I tell you who I don't want you to tell?"

"Lucifer?" Claire guesses. She takes the silence as her answer. "Yeah, I don't blame you. He can be the annoying father figure or like a little brother, and he's the biggest matchmaker you'll ever meet. He wouldn't let that slide. Not at all."

Cain doesn't say anything at first. Then, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Damn straight, I am," she replies as if it's obvious. "I finally have a way to screw with you. I mean, breaking your nose was fun and all, but this... You made it too easy."

He sighs, obviously fed up with her. "Seriously, Claire, what do you want?"

"I just want you to know who's in control here," she replies. "I know you want to stay with Anna, and it's selfish, but I get it. But I could take that away from you in less than a minute, just by telling Lucifer what's really ping on. I don't even have to tell I'm the truth; he'd believe my rhino I said. Remember that."

"I don't get it," he tells her. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You hurt Alex, and you hurt me," she replies. "Be thankful I don't do the same thing to you that you did to her."

Castiel, who spent the last few hundred words eavesdropping on their conversation, decides he should probably step in. He walks into view, acting as if he wasn't listening to whatever it was that they were just talking about. He puts on a fake smile to cover his confusion.

"Hey," he greets them.

"'Sup?" Claire replies nonchalantly.

"Hi, Castiel," Cain says at the same time, giving him a kind smile as if Claire wasn't just threatening him with... something... He's a hell of an actor; Castiel has to give him that.

"There's some leftover pizza downstairs if you want it," Castiel offers him in a friendly manner because Anna might kill him if he isn't nice to the boy.

"Anna and I just ate, actually, but thank you," he replies politely. "I should probably go home now. It was nice to see you again, Castiel."

"You too," Castiel replies.

Without looking at Claire, Cain walks back downstairs. She follows, seeming peeved at the interrupting. Castiel sighs softly and follows them. High school drama just keeps getting worse and worse.