"Excuse me miss? Are you alright?" he asked.
Claire looked up to see Brian looking down at her with a worried look in his eyes.
"Claire?" Brian said with a little shock, "Come on, we are ending this now."
He grabbed her hand helping her up, and brought her to the RV. He sat her down and handed her a glass of water and a handful of tissues.
"Why are you letting one little fight with Nick upset you this much?" he asked.
Claire shook her head no, "It's not Nick."
Brian looked a little confused, "Then what has you so upset?"
Claire shook her head no again, "I can't tell you. Please just get Angie."
"Claire, I'm worried about you." he said taking her hand.
"I'll be fine Brian, thank you. I just need Angie here with me." she said sniffling.
A minute later, Angie ran into the RV and wrapped her arms around Claire as Claire sobbed on Angie's shoulder.
"What happened?" Angie asked in a steady voice, knowing that she had to be strong for both of them.
"It's Scott. He's back .. he called me again, and left a message. He was saying how everyone will lie to me but him and how I will be going back to him. He also said he was stopping by. So I called Mrs. Montica and she said that Scott had dropped by and he told her to tell me that he'd be waiting for me." Claire cried.
Angie breathed deeply through her nose, ran her hand through her hair and paced the RV as she tried to think of what to do.
"We will call the police then. Get a restraining order or something." Angie said.
Claire scoffed, "You actually think that will stop him? He seems like he is determined to get me back to him..."
Angie ran her hands over her face and looked desperate, "Claire, I don't know how to handle this anymore. You need help on getting this guy out of your life, because I am sure not helping much. We need to tell Nick."
Claire stood up quickly, "Please Angie, please don't tell him. Please don't ... he will think I am such a weak person letting someone have that much power over me."
"No. Scott would think you are a weak person, because he is abusive. Nick will want to help you. Claire I can't handle seeing you so scared anymore. I'm sorry, but I'm telling Nick." Angie said.
"Angie, no!" Claire yelled, "Not Nick, I don't want him to know."
Angie sighed, "What about Aj, he knows some of it and maybe he can help?"
Claire was quiet a minute, "Let's tell Aj..."
Angie smiled weakly at Claire before going off to get Aj. A minute later, he came inside and sat down near Claire as she told him about the phone calls and threats.
After she told him everything, he took a deep breath, "Don't worry, we will figure this out ... why don't we call the police and tell them to keep an eye out for him hanging around your apartment?"
Claire nodded, "Okay."
She dialed the police station for her town and waited as the phone rang.
"Officer Willings." the man said.
"Hi, my name is Claire Bennet. A few years ago I was in a relationship with a man named Scott Friar. He was really possessive and abusive, so I broke up with him. Recently he called me but I brushed it off. Then he called again with an even more threatening message. He stopped by my apartment when I wasn't home and told my neighbor to tell me that he would be waiting for me." she said in a rush.
"I'm sorry to hear that ma'am. We can send an officer to your house to watch the place, or we could put a restraining order on him." the officer said.
"Can I do both?" Claire asked.
A half hour later, after everything was set up with the police and Claire was just hanging up, Nick came on the RV with Brian. Claire knew that Brian mentioned about Claire being hysterical earlier, because Nick made sure he looked in at her before returning to the driver's seat.
Claire played a game of cards with Aj, Brian and Angie for a while. Soon, everyone went to bed as Nick still drove on. Claire walked up front and sat down in the passengers seat. Neither said anything to one another for a few minutes.
"Are you doing okay?" Nick asked in a calm voice.
"Not really. But things will be better soon I hope." she said a bit uneasily.
"If you tell me what the problem is, maybe I can help." Nick offered.
Claire wet her lips, "It's not a big deal."
Claire saw his jaw clench and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. She reached across and touched his arm softly.
"Nick-"
"Just go to sleep or something, I don't know. I just don't want you here with me now." he said with a cold voice.
The tape playing in the RV switched on to "If I Don't Have You" and Claire put her face in her hands. She ran her hands through her hair and sighed.
"Nick, please don't do this..." she pleaded.
"Don't do this? Do what Claire? If you want to talk about things we should and shouldn't do, then let's discuss you. Maybe you should start trusting me and stop acting like I am a stranger." he said.
Claire slammed her fist against the dashboard, "God damn it Nick! Do you think I actually want to do this? Do you think I want to be this secretive?"
She got up and went to the back of the RV. Aj and Angie were in the bunks and Brian was asleep on the couch, leaving the table bed. Claire climbed into bed and listened to Nick sing along to "If I Don't Have You" with sadness in his voice.
