A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate the increase in favorites and follows. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 7

"Clare, it was a date," Alli said emphatically, reaching for my hand to squeeze it with assurance.

"I don't know, Alli. I mean, did you guys kiss? Did he compliment the way you looked?" Jenna asked me, causing even more confusion.

We were in my apartment, having finished watching a movie and now we were catching up. Alli was busy with work and Jenna's relationship was easygoing. My life, on the other hand, was at question when it came to the type of relationship I had with Eli.

"No, he didn't," I said solemnly, tired about speaking of Eli. "But it doesn't matter. I'm fine with being friends."

"Sure you are," Alli hymned.

"Let's change topics," I finally said.

"I'll start," Alli said excitedly. "Dallas mentioned marriage the other day."

"Holy shit," I said, both girls stared at me, slightly surprised that I cursed. "It's just that this sounds so surreal. Marriage, Alli? Last month you said you didn't want to be tied down."

"I know, I know," Alli sighed, a grin spreading on her face. "I thought so too but, when I think about it, I want to get married and have kids even though my job is demanding. Maybe just marrying Dallas can happen now and kids later. We're 23 and have been together for almost five years, I think that it's more than appropriate to mention it."

"Well, I'm ecstatic," Jenna squealed, reaching to grab Alli. "I can finally be a maid of honor!"

Alli laughed and I did too but I was disappointed that Jenna was closer to Alli than I was. Alli and I have been through a lot but so have she and Jenna. My job is so unexpected and they live so far that it's hard to catch up. Alli noticed my discomfort and when Jenna left to the bathroom, she scooted closer to me.

"It's not like I'm actually getting married but if I had to choose someone as my maid of honor, it'd be you."

"Really? I mean, I know I haven't been a good friend for the past year and we haven't seen each other that much."

"So what, Clare? One year! You and I have been through so much for nine years."

Although Alli said those kind words, I didn't feel the sincerity behind them. I knew she was saying it because she didn't want to hurt my feelings. The truth was: we weren't as close as we used to be and that was something party uncontrollable and partly my fault. I regretted not putting enough effort into our friendship. I regretted choosing a life of unexpected isolation. But, in that moment, I didn't regret having to pretend that things were the same between us.

"Thanks, Alli."

On Friday, I went to work and everything was the same except that Kathy wasn't there because she called in sick but I suspected that she was busy spending time with Kevin.

Out of nowhere, someone tapped on my shoulder and I saw Lenny hovering over me with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Yes?"

"I just spoke with Adam on the phone," Lenny said enthusiastically. "I'm going to head out to the amphitheater soon, like in an hour. Wanna come? Since he's your friend and all."

"Uhh," I said, looking at the boatload of paperwork in front of me. "I have this story due soon. I'll let you know in half an hour if I'm going."

"Sure thing," Lenny said, leaving already. "It's supposed to be fun though. Other bands are gonna be there and Adam is friends with this moderately famous playwright who's probably going as well."

My thoughts went straight to Eli and as pathetic as it was, I gained more motivation to finish my story so I could go and see him.

I eventually finished and rushed to find Lenny. I knocked on his door and Michael opened it.

"Hi there," he said warmly, throwing me off guard.

"Hi," I said tentatively. "Is Lenny here? Did I get the wrong office?"

"No, no, he just went to go give something to someone," Michael said kindly. "I'm just here because I'm sharing this office with him for now. There's something wrong with the electricity in my office."

"I see," I said understandingly, waiting by the door.

"You want to enter and wait?"

"Oh, sure."

"What's your name again?" Michael asked, pulling up a chair for me to sit on. "Sorry, I'm terrible with names."

"Clare."

"Ah, that's right," Michael said, heading towards a cabinet and looking through several papers. "So, how long have you been working here?"

"Almost a year," I said, feeling more and more uncomfortable with this conversation.

Finally, the door opened and Lenny walked through.

"Clare? I'm taking that you being here means that you're coming?"

"Yeah, are we heading out now?"

"Just give me a minute," Lenny said, grabbing his laptop and jacket. "It's not too far from here so do you mind if I make a short stop along the way to buy some lunch?"

"I have no problem with that," I smiled as we both headed towards the door.

I turned around and gave Michael a short wave that he responded with a grin.

"See you around, Clare."

By the time I heard that, I was out of the door and he was out of my mind.

"Holy shit, he's here! He's really here?" Adam yelped, unfazed by reality. "I can't perform, I'm so nervous."

"Relax, Adam, you'll do fine," I reassured him. "You and your band will do fine."

I looked around and saw the rest of his band mates tuning their instruments.

"Clare, this is Imogen, Zack, Brendan and Sasha " Adam said, introducing me to everyone. "Imogen and I are only the originals left. We lost touch with the others since high school."

I noticed that Imogen was the same girl I saw Eli with on the night of the play. So she was the costume designer with the rich girlfriend in New York.

"Hi, Clare," they all said in unison.

Imogen walked towards me and crossed her arms, a playful smirk on her lips.

"So you're the friendly journalist."

"That would be me," I said bashfully. "And you're the costume designer and part-time architect."

"Eli spoke about me?" She asked, beginning to jump up and down. "I love it when people talk about me - good things, of course!"

"Yeah, he said that you're really talented."

"Oh gosh, he's so sweet!" Imogen smiled, leaning towards me with open arms.

I hugged her back and found it refreshing to find someone so friendly. I was usually considered a reserved person. Because of that, I felt slightly awkward around her beaming personality.

"Thanks for this opportunity!" Imogen said, letting go of me. "I'm not too into this whole band thing but I know that it means a lot to Adam and the other band mates so thanks!"

"Oh, it's really no problem. I wish you guys luck," I said sincerely, looking around. "I should leave you guys to practice...is Eli here?"

"He's not coming," Adam said, briefly turning around.

Imogen seemed uncomfortable and walked away. Adam was quiet and focused on tuning his guitar. Aside from my disappointment of not seeing him, I found it weird that Eli wouldn't come to see and support his two best friends.

"Is he busy with play rehearsals?"

Adam gave me a weird look but his expression soon changed to a quick smile, "Yeah, that's it! He's working on his play!"

I could tell he was hiding something but I didn't want to bother Adam or Imogen anymore, so that it wouldn't be obvious that I deeply cared about Eli's absence. Although, that was the truth.

I walked away to sit with the audience and waited to hear Adam's band play.

But, throughout the entire time, I kept glancing back at the door - having some hope that Eli would arrive.

He never did.

After WhisperHug's successful performance, Lenny wrote the review but told me that he forgot to take pictures. Lenny was about to send Johnny, the Interpreter's Entertainment section photographer, to get a picture of Adam and Imogen since they were the leading members. Yet, Johnny was busy with so many stories. Plus, the review was going to be posted on Lenny's personal music blog - not the Interpreter - since we hadn't cleared the story with his editor. But it didn't matter because thousands daily visited Lenny's blog.

Lenny was slumped with stories and I offered to go see Adam and Imogen to take their picture. Of course, I had the thought of possibly seeing Eli on my mind.

I hated thinking about him all the time. But, since last Friday, when we went to go see a movie, we had only texted.

Most of our texts were initiated by him so I took it as a gesture of him liking our friendship. Yet, for the past three days, I haven't heard a thing from Eli. I texted him yesterday but I didn't get a reply. I tried to convince myself that he was busy or that his phone was being weird again, like last time. Still, there was that lingering fear that believed he saw the messages and ignored them because he didn't feel like talking to me because he got bored or annoyed of me.

I arrived to the theater and I noticed that the parking lot was empty except for two cars.

I knocked at the gate and a security guard showed up.

"Sorry, miss, no one is allowed here today."

"Is Adam Torres here? Imogen Moreno?"

"Mr. Torres is here, who are you?"

"Clare Edwards, reporter for the Interpreter," I said, showing my badge. "I have to take a picture of him for an article."

"No one said anything of a photographer stopping by today, and if you're lying to me, I'm the one who gets in trouble," he said tiredly.

"I'm not lying," I said brusquely, pulling out a copy of Lenny's article. "Look, it's the article that's going to be published. If you don't believe me, you can ask Mr. Torres to come out here to verify."

The guard sighed, gave up and finally let me through.

I walked through the theater and didn't find anyone. I eventually bumped into someone and heard glass shatter.

"Shit."

It was Adam.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, it's fine - just some tea," Adam sighed, reaching for a broom and towel. "What are you doing here? There are no rehearsals today so it's pretty lonely here. I'm just here to, uh, gather some things I left."

"I need to take a picture of you and Imogen for Lenny's article."

"Oh, okay," Adam said, softly smiling and looking up. "So were we good?"

"I should clean that up," I offered.

"No, it's fine, I got it," he dismissed, letting out a soft chuckle. "So, I repeat, were we good?"

"You guys were awesome. Lenny wrote an amazing article on you guys, you're gonna get so much exposure."

"Awesome," Adam said, less excited than I had imagined. "Imogen's not here and I think it's best if we include pictures of the entire band. I'll get a lot of shit from them if they're not included."

"Well, I can take head shots of you all?"

"That sounds great," Adam said, throwing the glass away. "Imogen doesn't live too far from here and the other band mates conveniently live in this apartment half an hour away. They're always home so I can give you their address."

"Sounds perfect."

"Okay, I'm just gonna go find some paper to write their address. I left my phone in my car so I'll go get it, okay?"

I nodded and Adam left. Soon after, I heard someone call Adam's name. It sounded like Eli. I headed towards a room that looked like an office.

In there, I saw Eli curled up on a couch, with his eyes closed. The curtains were close and the lights were dimmed.

"You can leave, Adam. I just want to stay here."

"Adam is outside," I said.

Eli turned around and opened his eyes. They seemed so lifeless. He looked so tired and pale. I tried not to stare too long.

"Clare?"

"Hi," I awkwardly said, uncontrollably smiling. "I'm here because I need to take pictures for this article. I just came to this room because I heard you call Adam's name."

Eli turned his back to me and stayed quiet.

"So, why didn't you come to Imogen and Adam's gig yesterday? They were great," I said softly, feeling awkward.

"I didn't fucking feel like it," Eli said in a harsh tone that was alien to me.

"Oh, I see."

Eli turned around and glared at me, letting out a sad sigh, "Can you go? I want to be left alone."

I stood still, my eyes wide open and my stomach churning. I didn't understand his attitude. I wondered what changed between us or if I unknowingly did something.

"Eli, is there something wrong?"

"No," he groaned.

"Are you alright," I asked, walking closer to him.

"I said leave!"

He looked so angry and sad. I stared into his eyes for a while, trying to let what happened sink him. Eli turned around again and let out a loud sigh. I rushed out of the room and tried to hold my tears in, trying to prevent both embarrassment and pain corrode me.

I walked outside and saw Adam. I tried to think about anything to keep me from crying. I thought about work, about the weather, about anything but Eli and sadness.

"Hey, Clare," Adam said, carefully surveying my expression. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You seem shaky," he said hesitantly.

"It was so cold inside there," I laughed - how I managed to smile, I don't know. "So can I take your picture now?"

"Yeah, okay," Adam said, quickly fixing his hair. "How do I look?"

"Great," I said, barely keeping a straight voice.

After we were done with the picture, Adam gave me the addresses. I went to every house and took four pictures in three hours - everyone was so happy in each photograph. And, each time, someone asked if I was alright.

I wasn't. I wish I was but Eli already managed to have power over my emotions. I didn't want to but when I got home, I briefly cried. Only for some minutes until I realized that he wasn't worth it. Until I realized that I didn't have a reason to. We were barely friends. I didn't matter much to him. He wasn't supposed to mean much to me in such short time. I guess it's in that moment that I realized how much I liked him. I didn't want to get out of bed or open my eyes.

I went to sleep and although Eli hurt my feelings with his harshness, I still hoped he was alright.