[claire] what better way to bond

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire rolled her eyes at him as he told her it was cute how she tried to pull off Olive Garden as her own cooking. “ I should’ve gotten something that seemed more homestyle .. like Carino’s” she said, still put off that he had known all along and never said anything. She finished up chewing on some sweet potato fries as she heard him say that he wasn’t in love with Bailey. “ Oh,” she said, wiping her fingers off on a napkin as she tried to understand what he was saying. But then he was talking about how he was glad she had loved again, and that everyone was with who they were supposed to be. Claire finished chewing the bite of sandwich that was in her mouth. Okay, he had been right. She couldn’t eat all of it. Claire leaned forward, going through her bag before she took some money out and set enough on the table to cover the tab and the tip for both of them. Claire looked back up at Anthony and offered him the last remaining cherries from her Shirley temple. “ I know that girl before me hurt you, but if you’re seriously still in love with her I can NOT imagine why,” she said before finishing her drink off and stood up, stretching her arms out over her head.

Claire reached down, grabbing his hand before she pulled him as roughly as she could out of his booth and then made her way towards the door. “ Come on mate, I want to go home and watch a movie, best friend” she said, shaking her head at him. Claire backed out of the deli before turning towards the sidewalk. Claire threw her hand up in the air, hailing a cab like she had lived here her whole life instead of being born in Australia. She slid into the back of it, smiling at Anthony as she sang quietly, “ The taxi man turned on the radio and a jay z song was on.. and a jay z song was on. So I put my hands up they’re playing my song. The butterflies fly away, nodding my head like yeah, moving my hips like yeah” she said, wiggling in her seat before she pulled her legs up. “ I miss Talia,” she said with a frown before she placed her cheek against her knee and looked over at him. Claire sighed, leaning towards him as she placed her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony shook his head as put money down on the table. Next time, he was paying. He picked up the glass and swallowed the cherries into his mouth and chewed. He smiled at her, mouth full of cherries, "Sexy huh?" He wasn't even going to say anything. She thought that he was talking about his ex. There was no way in hell that he still loved that girl. She broke him, completely. Ruined him. And he allowed it to happen. He never wanted to see her again. He took her hand and followed her. He smiled, "Alright, but no chick flicks. Can't stand those damn tings. Although I did cry watching The Last Song." he turned her to look at him before the got in the taxi, "Tell anyone that and I;ll have to kill ya." he smiled and then followed her into the back of the taxi.

Anthony danced a little along with Claire's singing. Just as he was getting into it she stopped and he looked at her. She missed her best friend. "I know. I do too." he said as he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm loosely around her. He closed his eyes. Before he knew it, they were outside Claire's house. Anthony got out and paid the driver before Claire could. He smiled sweetly at her and followed her into her house. He took his shoes off. "Mind if I take a quick shower? I have towels and extra clothes, I just need to not feel so gross."

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire sat up as the cab pulled up to her and Shane’s house and yawned tiredly, climbing out of the back of the taxi. It felt strange coming home when Brayden was still at Sutton’s. She smiled as she thought back to what, ten minutes ago .. him saying he had cried during Last Song. She had to. Ethan’s performance was awful and drew tears. When he kicked off his shoes and asked if it was cool if he took a shower, she shrugged her shoulder casually. “ I don’t see why not” she asked before making a slight face at him, “ Yes because god forbid you ever used one of our towels. The water cost alone in washing it might spiral me into debt” she said before walking away. “ You know where the bathroom is,” she said through another yawn before she made her way to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. She waited a few minutes to give him time to get into the shower since it was connected to her and Shane’s room before she went up to it to change into something else on her own. She had showered at the gym, so she didn’t feel entirely gross but she still wanted to change clothes. Claire clicked her tongue quietly as she picked out a pair of cotton cheerleading shorts and one of All Time Low’s tour shirts and changed quickly as she made her way back downstairs.

Claire walked over to the movie collection, picking up her phone to send Shane a quick text to see how tour was going and to let him know what she was up to before she set it down on the coffee table and looked back over the movies. Claire puffed out her cheeks, too many movie choices. Finally she took down Iron Man, because why the hell not. After putting it in she went into the kitchen and made her way to the pantry where she stood in pointe on her bare toes to reach the bottle of tequila and pulled it down. After picking up two glasses she opened the fridge and took out some beer incase he wanted that instead and made her way back to the living room, setting everything out on the coffee table before she pulled her legs up onto the couch.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony rolled his eyes when he heard Claire's response. He headed in through the bedroom and then into the bathroom. He dropped his bag down on the toilet and quickly turned the water towards. After he undressed, he stepped into the shower and closed the shower curtain. Anthony stood there for a few minutes, letting the hot water cascade down his body. He opened his mouth slightly, allowing some water to go in. He tasted the saltiness of his sweat and spit it back out. About 10 minutes later, Anthony shut the water off and wrapped his towel around the lower half of his body and tucked it in to secure it. He dried off his shampoo and body wash and placed them back in his bag. Anthony pulled on his boxers and a pair of red shorts. He tucked his white tank top into the side of his shorts and put the towel around the back of his neck. That bathroom was too hot to even stay in anymore.

Anthony emerged from the bedroom and smiled to Claire, "What are we watching?" He walked over to the couch, placed his bag down next to it and sat down. He took out a pair of sicks and put them on his feet and then took the towel off of his neck and began to dry his hair. He tossed it into his bag and then pulled the shirt off of his shorts and pulled it on over his head. Anthony grabbed a beer off the table, cracked it open and took a sip. He leaned back on the couch and placed one arm across the back of the couch and made himself comfortable."Love this movie." he said as it began.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire looked up as Anthony came downstairs to the living room, shirt not on and just lazily tucked into his shorts for the time being. When he sat down he put it on, followed by a pair of socks, causing Claire to laugh loudly. “ Really, mate? Socks?... Really? With what you’re wearing?” she asked with a genuine smile across her lips as she shook her head and looked back at the television, picking up the remote to press play for the movie. “ Yeah you do have a crush on Robert Downey Jr that rivals something borderline scary,” she said sarcastically before she adjusted herself against the couch to make herself comfortable, resting her feet against the side of his leg. She wiggled her toes for a second before she looked away from the screen and back over at Anthony. “ Does Bailey know that I told you I didn’t want her around to begin with?” she asked out of curiosity as she watched him drinking his beer.

Claire sat up on her elbows slightly, looking over at him with a slightly lifted eyebrow. “I mean.. does she even know where you are? Is she comfortable with us hanging out? We’re just friends..” she said watching him for a few more moments before she laid back against the couch. It was difficult to make herself comfortable on this thing in the first place. Ninety percent of the time she waited for Shane to sit down and then just fell asleep on him. “ I mean I texted Shane that you were over,” she said as she propped her feet up into his lap. Okay. So she was wearing socks. But that was different. Claire didn’t let people see her feet… like ever. She had this thing about them since ballet had fucked them all up and she pretty much thought they were the ugliest thing about her.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony laughed, "That I do. You know he's just so sexy." he said, trying to imitate a 'gay' voice as best as he could. He laughed at himself and just school his head. He looked down at her feet as she wiggled her toes against him and smiled. "Comfy?" he asked as she looked up to him. He almost choked on his beer with her next question. "No, no of course not. She never asked any questions and I felt it best it wasn't brought up." He leaned forward and put the beer on the table and looked back over to Claire."She knew you and I were working out this morning and she didn't seem to have a problem with it." When she said she texted Shane that he was over, he bent down and pulled his phone out of his bag and hit Bailey's name and began to call her. It went to voicemail so he assumed, she was filming a scene or whatever they do on a movie set. "Hey babe. Just calling to let you know that I'm at Claire's house, we're gonna watch a movie. I'll text you later when I get back to my house. Bye." he placed the phone on the table and smiled back to Claire, "There, she knows."

He made himself a little more comfortable and then realized Claire's feet were in his lap. She clearly wanted a foot massage, but she wasn't going to ask. Anthony placed both of his hands on foot and slowly lifted it up a little. He began at the toes, rubbing and kneading, nice and easy. He smiled down at Claire once more and then brought his attention back to the TV.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire smiled as he picked up his phone to call Bailey and tell her where he was. For some reason it just made it feel less shady for everyone to know what was going on. There wasn’t anything to hide. She slumped down on the couch, resting her head against the armrest as Anthony went back to watching the movie. She closed her eyes, turning her head towards the back of the couch and away from the television. The noise didn’t bother her, and the foot massage was sort of putting her to sleep. It was nice to be able to be friends with someone again, and she wondered for a moment if Shane had missed Kat when they weren’t speaking for a while when she and Shane started dating. Now it seemed like every time Shane went on tour, Kat was right there with him. Maybe you really did need specific friends in your life, people that weren’t meant to leave your side ever.

Claire spoke under her breath, mumbling quietly as she tried to form a sentence audibly but her exhaustion had sort of taken over so when she was trying to say that she was exhausted, it just came off sounding like she was a car trying to start. It probably didn’t take long, and part of her knew that when she opened her eyes again he wouldn’t be here when she woke up. But at least they were friends again, able to spend time together and hang out. Maybe she would even do well with seeing Bailey when that inevitably happened. Claire inhaled deeply, always sort of being a loud sleeper that borderlined snoring. It didn’t take long before dreams began to take over her thoughts as she drifted into sleep… nice and easy..

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony looked down at Claire and she seemed to be sleeping. He smiled to himself and stopped massaging her foot. He put his shoes on quietly and got up slowly, not wanting to wake her up. Anthony took his phone off of the table and picked up his gym bag. He took one more look at Claire. She looked so peaceful. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead and then headed out of the living room and out of her house. He hailed a cab an quickly got in, giving the driver his address. Anthony stretched his arms in the backseat and yawned. He was exhausted himself. The driver pulled up in front of Anthony's apartment building. He paid the guy and got out.

"Kyle?" Anthony called as he closed the door behind him. No one. Maybe he was with Sutton babysitting. Kyle was so good with Tanner. Anthony dropped his gym bag on the kitchen floor and headed through the living room and into his room. He kicked his shoes off as he sent a message to Bailey. I'm home babe. Gonna take a nap. I need it. Call me when you wanna Skype. Miss you. :* With that, Anthony rolled over and drifted off to sleep.