The smile disappeared, leaving only a trace in his dark, secretive eyes. "Yeah, " Shane said. "I'll be okay. Watch your back, Claire. "
"You too. " Claire started for the door, but she heard his footstep behind her and turned and he moved her back to the wall, tipped up her chin and kissed her so thoroughly that she felt her head fill with light and her knees turn to rubber.
When she could breathe again, and he pulled back to give her just an inch or so of space between their lips, she gasped, "Was that a goodbye?"
"That was a come-home-soon, " he said, and pushed off from the wall. "Seriously, Claire. Watch yourself. I worry. "
"I know, " she said, and smiled. Her knees were still weak, and the chorusing light in her head just didn't seem to be fading. "Best kiss so far, by the way. "
His eyebrows rose. "You're keeping score?"
"Hey, you raised the bar. I don't grade on a curve. "
She left him, reluctantly, to grab her backpack and see if Eve was in the mood to eat brains, or give her a ride to school. (Very hot and funny - the whole last scene here)
"
She left him, reluctantly, to grab her backpack and see if Eve was in the mood to eat brains, or give her a ride to school. (Very hot and funny - the whole last scene here)
left him, reluctantly, to grab her backpack and see if Eve was in the mood to eat brains, or give her a ride to school. (Very hot and funny - the whole last scene here)
Morning classes went pretty well, and Claire spent her breaks hanging at the coffee bar at the UniversityCenter, where Eve barista'd her way through the day. Eve was good at it -- calm, efficient, seemingly impervious to the pissy demands and bitchiness of a lot of the students. Claire had figured out that the rude ones were mostly Protected, so it was a class thing; Eve had elected not to sign up with a vampire for protection, and those who had, looked down on her.
Or else they were just bitchy. Which was equally possible. People didn't have to have a vampire connection to be arrogant jerks.
Eve was working today with another girl, somebody Claire didn't know; she had long straight brown hair that shimmered like a curtain when she moved. She wore it loose around her shoulders, which Claire guessed was okay because she wasn't working directly with the drinks or anything, just taking orders and cash. Her name tag said AMY, and she looked cheerful and sweet. She and Eve were talking like friends, which was good; Eve needed that. Claire killed time between classes by skimming through her English Lit -- boring -- and reading a book she'd checked out from the library on advanced string theory -- not boring. She liked the whole idea of vibrating strings being the basis of everything, that there were all kinds of surfaces that vibrated. It made the world more ... Exciting. Always in motion.
Her watch beeped to let her know she was going to be late for class if she didn't hurry, so she packed it up, waved to Amy and Eve, and jogged out of the UC and into the warm afternoon sunshine.
As she was blinking in the glare, she ran into Monicaliterally as Monica was coming up the steps while she was going down. Claire automatically reached out to steady the other girl when she wavered, and then thought, what am I doing? Because Monica had once laughed as Claire tumbled down a flight of stairs and cracked her head halfway open.
"Hey, watch it, bitch!" Monica snapped, and then did a double-take. "Claire? Oh, hi. Cute shirt!"
Claire looked down at herself, mystified. It wasn't. She didn't really own any clothes she'd classify as cute, and even the best of them would never match Monica's standards, which were much higher.