With Or Without You

With Or Without You

Chapter Two: Even Better Than The Real Thing

After class, Ali scooted out of the room faster than Clare was able to, so she waited against the wall. She was surprised to see Clare coming out of the hall laughing with some cute guy. Upon closer inspection, Ali gasped and swallowed the piece of gum she’d been chewing, nearly choking in her attempt to act cool. “Ali, are you ok?” Clare asked, patting her friend on the back. Ali nodded.

“Hi,” she said. Her voice was very squeaky. She cleared her throat. “Hi,” she repeated, sounding more like herself.

“Ali, this is Aaron. Aaron, my best friend Ali.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said, reaching out to shake her hand. Stunned, Ali stared at his hand until he pulled it back, embarrassed.

“Aaron Peirsol,” she breathed. Her efforts to stay calm were failing rapidly. If she was like this with Aaron Peirsol, whom she didn’t even really like, what would she do if she met Michael?

Aaron looked sheepish. “That’s me,” he said. He turned to Clare. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Clare waved it off. “It probably wouldn’t have made much difference to me anyway,” she assured him.

“Oh God,” Ali said. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m a complete moron. It’s nice to meet you Aaron.” She held out her hand and, grinning, he took it. He watched her face as he shook her hand, finding it difficult to look away.

Clare coughed, causing Ali to snatch her hand back as if she’d been burned. “Sorry,” Clare said sweetly. As they began to talk down the hall, Aaron hung back a bit. Clare fell in step with him. “I should tell you,” she said. “She’s got her heart set on Michael.”

“What?”

“Ali. She’s in love with Michael.”

“Michael?” he asked, confused. “Phelps?” Clare nodded. Aaron let out a fake chuckle, a cop-out if she’d ever seen one. “Why would I care?” he asked dismissively.

“I don’t know,” she replied. But looking straight ahead, a knowing smirk appeared on her face.

“She likes Mike, huh?” Aaron asked. He grinned. “What time do you ladies finish classes?”

“I’m done at five; Ali’s done at six. Today.”

He nodded and looked thoughtful as they stepped out of the building into the sunshine. “It was very pleasant,” Aaron told them with a grin. “Maybe I’ll stop by later.” The girls smiled and went in the opposite direction from Aaron.

Ali gripped her best friend’s arm as soon as he was out of earshot. “That was Aaron Peirsol!” she exclaimed. “I could have sworn he went to Texas.”

“He transferred.” Ali gave Clare a look. “What? We talked a bit before class. I think he likes you anyway.”

“Really?” Ali squeaked.

Clare nodded. “Yup,” she said. “Ok, Ali, I’ve got to get to my first sports management class. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Yeah. Good luck. Say hi to Michael for me!” Ali called. Clare rolled her eyes and began walking. Her eyeballs would be stuck in the back over head at this rate. The thought made her chuckle almost all the way to class. Taking a seat in the back next to a guy who was, by all appearances, sleeping, Clare pulled out her notebook. She jumped, startled when her cell phone started vibrating in her pocket. She opened it, unafraid to interrupt class as it had yet to start. She had a text message. “Just checking. Seen Phelpsy yet? Call me later. Ian,” it said. Clare smiled. It was her cousin from back in Australia. She typed, “Stop. No. Ok. Clare,” before turning off her phone. She found her class to be very interesting and was almost disappointed when it ended. She leaned over to put her notebook back in her bag and when she sat up, heard a sickening crack and felt an immense pain in her head.

“Oh God,” she moaned, putting both hands to her head. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized to the guy whose head she smacked. It was the guy she’d thought was sleeping, and he was holding his nose.

“’Sok,” he said. “I don’t think it’s broken,” he said. Only it sounded more like, “I dod thik id’s broked,” due to the fact that he was holding his nose. He chuckled at how congested he sounded. “I think I’ll be ok,” he added, moving his hand and fixing his speech.

“No blood,” Clare said, relief in her voice. “I’m terribly sorry. Can I buy you lunch or something?”

He stood. “No, I’m afraid I have to be somewhere. Maybe I’ll take a rain check.” He smiled at her, and she barely had time to smile back before he was gone.

When Clare walked back to her dorm that evening, she was exhausted and wanted to collapse and read for her classes. She had five chapters for three classes to read, and she just wanted to get it over with. She pushed open the door to her room and flopped onto her bed. Reaching over to her dresser, she pulled out a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and changed before bed before grabbing her textbooks.

The next thing she knew, there was a knocking on the door. “You wanna get that?” Ali asked. Clare jumped.

“Jesus,” she said, “I didn’t know you were here.” She stood up and stretched. Ali grinned.

“Doing a good job with that reading, I see,” Ali said with a laugh.

Clare gave her a dirty look and opened the door. “Oh, hi,” she said.

“Hey,” Aaron said, he snickered. “Nice shirt.”

Clare looked down at her T-shirt and chuckled. “Not a Clay Aiken fan?”

“Not so much. But I see you are.”

“I’ve a mind to marry the man,” she announced with a nod.

“I see we’re also not delusional at all.”

“Nope,” Clare said.

Aaron laughed. “This is my roommate,” he said, gesturing to the guy behind him in the hall.

“Hi,” Clare said. “Oh, how’s your nose?” she added, surprised to see that it was the same guy she’d injured in her class.

“Not bad,” he said with a grin. “I think it’s flat, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“That’s certainly good news.”

“You two know each other?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah, we...um...ran into each other earlier,” Clare laughed.

“Yeah, and if I’d known you were a Clay Aiken fan, I would have made fun of you.”

Clare grimaced. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He grinned cheekily. “You’re pretty enough to turn him straight.”

She froze, then cocked her head to the side. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered by that or offended on Clay’s behalf.”

“What’s going on – OH MY GOD!” Ali screamed, appearing behind Clare, anxious to find out who was at the door. “Michael Phelps!” she breathed. “You – You’re Michael Phelps! Michael Phelps!” She squealed and grabbed onto Clare’s arm. “Michael Phelps,” she whispered.

“I know I know I KNOW! Shut up!” Clare hissed. “Sorry,” she said to Aaron and Michael. Her cell phone rang. “Jesus Christ.” She picked up the phone, ushering Ali, who’d lost all ability to move, into the room and gesturing for the guys to come in. “Hello?”

“What part of ‘call me later’ did you not understand?”

Clare smiled. “I’m sorry, Ian. I’ve been busy. Plus I sort of...forgot.”

Ian laughed. “I figured. How were classes?”

“Not bad. Boring, but not bad.”

“Met any guys you want to shag yet?”

Clare giggled. “No. But I did meet a couple of friends of yours.” She paused. “And I think they might be drowning in a puddle of Ali’s drool.”

“Ooh, Michael? I wondered what she’d do if she met him.”

“Yeah. It’s too bad we don’t have a drain in here.”

“Funny,” Ali said. Strangely she felt more at ease now that they were in the room and Clare was on the phone with her cousin. “Cousin Ian?” she asked. Clare nodded. “THOOOOORPIIIIIEEEEE!” she yelled.

Ian chortled. “Hi, Ali,” he said.

“Hi, Ali,” Clare relayed. “Look, Ian, I’ll call you later, ok? I swear.”

“Sure you will. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I promise. Bye.” Clare hung up. “Madhouse around here,” she muttered.

“Hey, here’s a question,” Aaron said. “That was your cousin?” Clare nodded. “I didn’t know Thorpe had a cousin.”

“Since he was three. Nice to meet you,” she said.

“I’ve never seen you at any competitions,” Michael said.

“Sure you have. I used to have braced and glasses and frizzy black hair.”

Michael’s mouth fell open. “That was you?”

Clare nodded, a huge grin on her face. “I was cute.”

Aaron and Michael laughed. “So what are you ladies doing?”

“Sleeping,” Clare said. “Ali was studying. I think.” Clare flopped onto her bed and sighed. “I am never doing homework again,” she groaned, covering her face with a pillow. She opened her eyes when the pillow was snatched from her and saw Michael watching her amusedly. “What?”

Michael shook his head. “Nothing.” Clare turned over and saw Ali giving her a dirty look. “Um, guys, I think Ali needs to study.”

“Unlike some people,” Ali muttered, more to herself than anybody else, “I need to study.”

“Sorry,” Aaron said. “We’ll leave. I just wanted to stop by and say hello and introduce you to Michael.”

“Nice to meet you,” Clare said again, not making any effort to move. “Glad I didn’t injure you too badly,” she told Michael. He grinned and then laughed when Ali grunted. She’d been unable to speak much since they came in the room, so she opted for studying, which was more familiar territory. She watched Michael casually until the door was closed behind them.

“Do you know who that was?”

“Yup,” Clare said, having another go at her textbook.

“How are you so calm?”

“Ian Thorpe is my favorite cousin. And I’ve been around swimmers all my life. Plus I’m not a Michael Phelps fan. Though he is rather nice, I’ll admit. Besides, you don’t have a problem with Ian.”

“I’ve known Ian since I was eight. I was not interested in guys then, and by now he’s too much of a brother to me to be interested in him. That’d be like you dating him.”

“Ok, ew. That’s disgusting. It’s totally not the same, as you are not related to him. And I still don’t see why it’s such a big deal that I’m not drooling all over Michael. I bet that’s refreshing to him.”

“You’re hopeless,” Ali said. “And I can’t believe you told them about your crush on Clay.”

Clare shrugged, then grinned. “Did you hear what your Michael said to me about it?” Ali merely glared at Clare and stuck out her tongue. Laughing, Clare pulled out her cell phone and flipped back over to her back.