Chapter Five

By lunchtime, Claire found herself sitting in a nearby café, across Stephanie, the gorgeous Hispanic girl that she had met in the library a few hours back. She held her large cup of black iced tea with both hands and took a small sip. Despite her protests, Stephanie insisted to pay for her.

“How long have you been here?”

Claire placed her cup on the table before looking up to meet her eyes. Tilting her head in thought, she replied, “Not that long. We moved here when I was ten, and I’m seventeen now”

Stephanie nodded. She was about to respond when she was interrupted by the waiter with their lunch on a tray balanced with one hand. Both girls politely smiled as the waiter carefully set their utensils and plates on the table. When he was gone, Stephanie started eating her pasta, albeit, with poise.

Claire was suddenly conscious of her table manners. Trying her best to duplicate the elegance her companion is exuding, she carefully sliced a small portion of her chicken breast, enough for one small bite, before chewing self-consciously.

“I actually just arrived here yesterday”, Stephanie said, still in the midst of chewing her food, although she still managed to look chic. “I wanted to drive around town today, but it was boring as heck on my own”

“The roads here are kind of confusing for newcomers, too”, Claire added. “It felt like they just randomly built roads everywhere”

Stephanie chuckled. “Yeah, that, too”

They ate in silence for a while. But oddly, it was neither the awkward nor suffocating type— the café provided a calm background noise of people’s chatters, jazz music, and the mechanical churn of the coffee machine, so they were both comfortable. Claire then recalled that Stephanie had checked out a few art books earlier and thought that it would be a good thing to talk about.

“So…” she started and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I remember the books you checked out from the library today. Are you an artist?”

“Umm”, the other mumbled before mirroring her moves and wiping off sauce from her mouth with a napkin. “I’m not an artist, but I… have an interest in art”

“Oh”, she nodded in understanding. “I get that. I feel the same way about dancing”

“What do you mean?”

“I like watching people dance”, she explained, smiling, as images of her best friend, Jess, gracefully dancing filled her mind. “I appreciate it. But I can’t dance myself”

The corners of Stephanie’s lips slowly tugged upwards to form a smile. “Yes, exactly! It’s really hard to make people understand that”

“I know”, she nodded enthusiastically. “Most people just tend to think that to appreciate something, you have to practice it. But I don’t think that’s always the case, being a spectator can be fun, too”

“Ugh, tell me about it”, Stephanie rolled her eyes playfully.

After half an hour, which felt like a few minutes, Claire had to return to the library to finish her shift. They, much to her surprise, had actually quite a lot in common. They were both in high school, as Claire had suspected, although Stephanie had to take a break due to family affairs, and are planning to take up a business course in a prestigious university after graduation. They also happened to have read the same books, and share the same ideologies and interests.

Stephanie offered to drop her off at the library and by the time they were waving goodbye, they already had plans for their next lunch date.

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“It’s okay. I have time after school”

“I’m fine, geez, Claire”

Jess skipped school today. Claire figured that she must be running late again but when lunch came and she found no Jess sitting on their usual spot, she got worried. Now, she’s on a phone call with her best friend, and turns out, she had a cold.

“You’re not fine”, she insisted. “I can visit after school and bring you some medicine”

“No, you are not doing that”

“Watch me”

With unfortunate timing, Jess’s parents were out of town to have a few days' break from work— which she thought they genuinely deserved— and won’t be back until Friday. What’s even worse is that Jess chose not to tell her parents about her getting sick since she didn’t want to spoil their vacation by worrying them and have them rush home to take care of her.

“Claire Nicole Miller”

“Jessica Kim”, she responded, playfully imitating her tone.

“I’m serious!”

“Well, so am I”, she replied before hanging up the call and stuffing her phone back in her jean pocket. She didn’t like arguing with Jess, it was the one fight she couldn’t win with wit. That’s how stubborn her best friend was.

Not wanting to sit alone in the cafeteria and make herself look like a sad loser, she quickly grabbed a sandwich and a can of Coke, and headed out, not really knowing where to go.

She considered eating at one of the tables in the school courtyard but she figured a lot of students would be heading there, too, so it wasn’t an option. Fortunately, while she was wandering the campus, she spotted the door heading to the building’s rooftop ajar. It was usually locked to prevent students from loitering there, so she thought that perhaps one of the maintenance crew forgot to lock the door beforehand.

She craned her neck from side to side in order to check if anybody else was around. When she found that the coast was clear, she went up the stairs, closing the door behind her.

Claire found a good spot near the ledge and dusted off the dirt off the floor with her handkerchief before sitting down. The weather was great today, too. It was windy since she was on a rooftop of a five-story building but the warm sunlight nullified the quite cold breeze.

“Didn’t expect to see you here”

She shrieked and almost dropped her sandwich in surprise. Claire looked at her right and found Ethan leaning against a wall, smirking. Upon seeing him, she abruptly stood up and gathered her stuff to leave.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were hanging out here”, she said and started to walk towards the exit. “And by the way, make sure you don’t get caught. Students aren’t allowed here”

“And here I thought you were a goody-two-shoes”

“I just don’t want to eat in the cafeteria today”, she huffed in annoyance, turning around to face him.

“Me too”, he replied before walking towards the ledge and sitting down next to the spot she had cleaned earlier. “Sit with me”

“I don’t really want to”

Claire was telling the truth. She hated how uncomfortable he makes her feel by flirting with her endlessly and acting innocent about it. She also hated how even though she knew it was just how he was, she kept on falling for it and embarrassing herself by stuttering or blushing.

All that she learned just by spending a few hours alone with him last week.

“I’m hurt, Claire”, he chuckled while feigning a heart attack by placing a hand on his chest and groaning dramatically.

“I’m leaving”

“Just…” he said when she turned around to leave once again. “I purposely didn’t sit on your spot and you’re just going to leave like this”

“I don’t care”

“Oh come on”, Ethan whined. She could literally hear the pout in his voice, which gave her more reason to not turn around to look at him, so she continued walking.

“Hey, Claire”, he called out. “I want your sandwich, can I have it?”