17...I don't want you to cry anymore...

RYAN.

What do you do to stop a girl from crying?

Nothing came to my head at first. Her tears affected me than I would like to admit. Everything about Claire is easily comprehensive and at the same time a puzzle.

Seeing her cry moved my heart and for the first time in years,I felt a strange warmness within me.

I stared at her inquisitively. Why the hell is she crying? Was I being too harsh on her or something? Or was it Brenda and her mean friends? I swear if the girls are the cause of her tears.... I stopped my thoughts from going darker to focus on Claire.

When I'd noticed her shakiness minutes ago, I thought it was because of the cold from her soaked clothes,then suddenly, the childish side of her was shown right in front of me.

Her tears kept flowing freely down to her smooth cheeks. After thinking of everything I could do to make her stop crying but couldn't find a single solution,I relaxed and didn't stop staring at her.

I never knew a girl could remain beautiful even when she's crying, Claire is still pretty in her crying state. You've gotta see my little sister in a weeping state,she looks like a coloured fish in trouble.

I don't know what to do with a crying Claire as I'm not the kinda guy that goes around stroking girls like they're some kind of pets.

Stroking girls like pets. Would that work in this situation? Would that make Claire stop crying? The urge to do it suddenly came over me.

Strange.

I stared at her as she tried to clean off her tears but more kept coming and that was when I did it. I engulfed her in a hug.

It felt weird comforting a girl other than Cassie this way.

When I hugged her at first, I felt her stiffen in my arms, and her sniffing stopped. I rubbed her back down to her waist and stopped my hands there as it felt like it belonged there.

My other hand stroked her hair tenderly and that was when she was able to hug me back. She began to shed more tears on my shirt, holding me tightly.

"Hey,hey..." I whispered "Shhh....it's okay"

I felt her bobbing her head on my chest.

"Those girls aren't worth your tears,okay?" I mumbled gently in her ear,still petting her. "And...."

I paused my sentence. I wanted to tell her 'I'm sorry', but then the question is why exactly should I apologize to her?

"And please stop crying,okay?" I quickly covered my initial sentence up with that "I don't want you to cry anymore"

It's enough that she's on my chest, getting stroked and treated like a baby by me, and that's one unbelievable thing that's happened today. Apologizing to her is a higher level entirely. A whole new fremd level. I don't wanna get there.

Claire stopped crying and looked up at me. My hands were still around her waist and my other hand was busy with her hair.

We were both quiet and not bothering to hide our expression. She looked deep into my eyes while I shamelessly admired hers speechlessly. I don't think I'd ever get tired of doing that.

I moved my hand from her hair to her face, rubbing my hands over her cheeks. Her plump pink lips parted slightly,my thumb went down to her chin to graze them. She sucked in a sharp breath and shut her eyes briefly.

"Hey, I've been...." Roy paused when he saw Claire and I clearly even in the darkness.

Claire opened her eyes wide and quickly disengaged from the hug.

"Oh shit, sorry man" Roy cursed and apologized amusingly "I interrupted something, didn't I?" He was already turning to leave.

"Oh,no,no. You didn't interrupt anything" Claire said fastly.

"Yeah,yeah. Nothing was happening" I added composedly.

Roy turned his face back to us with a smile and hummed, a hum that reminded me of my dad. "Still...I think you two should be left alone"

"No...we're good" Claire said, then Charles also appeared from nowhere.

He looked between Claire and eye with a suspicious expression "I've been searching for you guys everywhere" He said still looking between us.

Claire smiled at him brightly like she wasn't just staining my shirt with her tears "Charles,I didn't know I'd find you in this party"

"I was about to say the same about you" His words were directed at Claire,but his eyes were now on me.

What the heck?

Without wasting time, he demanding to talk to me alone.

I delayed him for a while as I had to give Claire one of my shirt which will pass as a mid thighs gown for her. I asked Roy to accompany her to one of Wally's empty bedrooms,I don't want any more dramas happening tonight.

"Just stay there when your done, I'll come get you myself, okay?" I said to Claire as she walked away with Roy.

I exhaled and was finally alone with Mr protector,Charles. We had an eye to eye contest.

For almost a whole minute,we stood directly in front of each other, staring.

"Why did you chose her Ryan?" Charles questioned.

I shrugged "She's good for me"

"She's...." He chuckled dryly and stood akimbo "She's good for you?"

I nodded positively.

He lowered his head a little "You know you're bad for her right?"

I knew this is where the conversation would lead to. I parted my lips to talk but he rendered me speechless by beating me to it.

"You're my friend,but Claire is like a sister to me. I know her well enough to know she's been crying because of what the girls did to her which is all your fault"

My fault? He's been thinking everything that happened to Claire was my fault.

He perked his body up and took a step closer to me. "Claire isn't like Brenda or her friends. She's not a slut...."

"Of course she's not" I supported with a frown.

"Good you know that,I don't want a good girl like her with a cold hearted play boy like you. In no time, you'll break her fragile heart and I swear I'm gonna kill you"

I sighed and rubbed my fingers over my jaw indifferently "So,you're basically saying I should break up with her"

He nodded affirmatively. "Before it's too late"

What the fuck?

My insides was already burning with fury,but I had to clench my fist to control myself.

"And when did you even get into a relationship with her?" He waved his hand around my face frantically "You haven't known her for long for fucks sake"

"That's not your damn business! and hey! You were not like that with Dave when he was hitting on her" I stated, interested to hear his reasons for trusting Dave with Claire.

"Dave is a good guy, Ryan"

I scoffed "A good..." I trailed off and scoffed again.

Dave doesn't date a girl at a time,he dates lots of them at the same time, and he doesn't last in a relationship with a girl. There's no difference between Dave and I. Why would Charles view him as a good guy with all those things mentioned earlier.

"Yeah a good guy" He repeated "Dave makes his intentions with a girl known before dating and you know why he doesn't wanna date Claire anymore?"

Of course I know,but I kept mute because I realized Charles is right.

Charles began to answer his own question "He doesn't wanna hurt Claire either intentionally,or not, he just doesn't wanna cause any emotional pain. He was scared of doing that, but I know you're not, you don't care about anyone's feelings" Charles didn't hide the mistrust in his eyes "It's even a surprise you comforted Claire a while ago"

It's a surprise to me also.

"I can't leave her Charles"

Not when I haven't introduced her to my parents and gotten what I want from them.

Charles' eyes went darker out of anger.

I quickly assured him "But don't worry no one's gonna break anyone's heart here...."

Geez, Claire is not a baby,he should stop treating her like one.

"We aren't doing anything serious okay? Just going on dates and having fun,we wanna see how it goes" I explained, perfectly concealing the main truth.

He was still glaring angrily at me.

"You don't have to get worried unnecessarily, I care about her okay?" I half lied. It felt foreign saying something like that out loud to someone.

The only reason I care about her is because she's gonna be very useful for me in the nearest future.

Charles laughed mockingly "You. care. about. her?" He said each word slowly.

Right. That's hard to believe.

"If I don't care about her,I wouldn't waste my time treating her like a baby so she would stop crying like one" I elaborated.

"Ah. I see" He commented softly "You know with your reputation,you're still gonna hurt her unintentionally"

"I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen,now I've kept her waiting for too long,I need to go" I took a step sideways, but he grabbed my arm roughly.

"I don't wanna see Claire crying anymore,or I'm gonna kill you myself" He threatened,released my hand and left.

What the fuck just happened?

Charles is someone I will never wanna mess around with, not because I'm actually scared of him,but because I respect him as a good friend and as a good brother to Claire.

I've beaten up a lot of guys and done crazy to guys for hurting Cassie and also for Linda when Roy haven't started dating her. Charles won't hesitate to murder me if he finds out I hurt Claire.

I thought of what to do,and an idea came to my head.