Chapter
23: Time For Change.
It had been a couple of days and
the doctor had agreed to let Libby go home under the strict understanding
that she was to have complete bed rest.
Clare was busy at work so
Justin had gone by the hospital to pick up Libby and take her back home.
He had taken sometime out of the voice exercise session to spend a couple
of hours with her, having to first make a promise to their coach that he'd
make the time up. The apartment was empty when they got there but Clare
had put flowers around the place to make it look more inviting.
"Oh it feels good to be home!"
Libby said as she and Justin walked in through the front door, "If they
hadn't let me out I'd 'ave gone mad! There's only so long a girl can sit
and stare at the same four walls!"
"So what you want to do?"
Justin asked her as she sat down on the couch.
"I know what I should do and
that's, study!"
Justin looked at her with
a frown.
"But I'd much rather sit here
and get cuddles from you!" she said holding her arms out to him.
Justin's face beamed as he
walked over and took a seat next to her. She wrapped her arms around him
and rested her head on his shoulder.
They sat in silence for a
while just holding each other before Libby stood up and held out her hands
to him, "Come on," she said. "I want to take a walk across the beach with
you. I've been inside for too long and I'm missing the fresh air and the
sun!"
~~~~~*~~~~~
Clare, Sara and Jamie were all
sat in one of the offices discussing the tour.
"I can't believe I'm not going
to see you for 5 or 6 months!" Clare said with a smile.
"We'll be back before you
even know we're gone!" Sara said smiling back.
"I'm really gonna miss working
with you guys!"
"You said that as though you're
not gonna be here when we get back!" Jamie joked.
Clare smiled, "Well I might
not be!"
Jamie's face straightened,
"You're serious aren't you?"
She had secretly made her
decision to leave the club but didn't want anyone to really know about
it until she had gotten herself a new job. She didn't want to tempt fate
by quitting before she had another job to walk into but Jamie and Sara
always had a way of getting her to tell them her secrets.
Clare and Jamie had become
such good friends that she could tell if Clare had something on her mind.
This was one of those times, the look on her face wasn't one that meant
she was having a laugh, it was a look of being absolutely serious.
Clare looked at Sara and then
at Jamie, if she was honest she wanted to tell someone and Libby wasn't
up to it. Jamie and Sara had always been there for her in the past, they
all had but Clare felt more comfortable talking to them just simply because
they related well together.
"I'm quittin'."
"What? Why?" Sara asked.
"It's JC. I can't work around
him. You've seen me this past week, I've been so forgetful and unprofessional,
biting his head off all the time and who knows when she'll turn up here
again. I don't want to be put through that pain again so I think it's best
if I leave."
"You can't leave!" Clare heard
Chris' voice say from the doorway.
Clare closed her eyes, great!
This is just what I need.
"Come on Chris you know I
love this job and I wouldn't leave unless it was serious." She said to
the elder man as he stood before her.
"This is nothing you and JC
can't sort out. You've had fights in the past but you always get through
them!"
"Not this time Chris. He hurt
me more than I ever thought was possible. I can't work for you any more
and that's it. You won't talk me out of it, I've got a job interview Monday
and as soon as I'm accepted I'm handing in my resignation."
"And what if you don't get
the job?"
"I'll look for another and
another until I do."
"You're gonna quit a good
job, one you love, just because of a little argument? That just doesn't
make sense!"
"It's not just a little argument
Chris and you of all people should know that! You were there on the beach,
I told you everything. You know what a big deal this is to me!" Clare spat
back. She knew Chris was trying his hardest to make her stay but she'd
set her mind on this and she wasn't going to change it. She got up from
her seat and turned to Jamie and Sara; "Thanks for letting me talk to you.
I'll see you later 'k!"
Jamie smiled at Clare. They'd
become good enough friends for her to know it was going to be hard for
Clare to leave her job and she knew it had to be serious for her to actually
be going through with it.
Clare walked out of the room
feeling better for telling someone about her decision but she also felt
hurt by Chris' reaction. He was a friend and friends were supposed to be
there for you no matter what.
~~~~~*~~~~~
"Nice one Chris!" Jamie said to
him as Clare disappeared out of the door.
"What?" he asked as he sat
down next to her.
"If you hadn't charged in
like a bull in a china shop maybe we'd have talked her into staying!" she
said looking at Sara as they collected their papers together.
~~~~~ That Night ~~~~~
As Clare, Justin, Chris, Lisa,
Joey and Jamie sat in Libby's room while she sat up in bed recovering they
heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Clare said
as she pulled herself up off the couch. "It's you!" she said less than
impressed as she opened the door and walked back inside the apartment.
"Why are you quitting?" JC
asked following after her and slamming the door behind him.
Clare turned to face him;
"I want to widen my horizons, why? What's it to you?"
"You can't just quit!"
"I can and I have!" she said
before shouting into the bedroom at Chris, "you know Kirkpatrick you've
got a nasty speech impediment. It's called your foot!"
"Come on Clare, you can't
leave - we make a good team!"
"We did, but now it's time
for me to move on!"
"Why can't you just stay?"
"Can't! I've already posted
my resignation besides, I've had enough, working with children gets to
you after a while!"
"Then maybe you should grow
up!"
"JC, don't you realise that
there are enough people that hate you in the world already, without adding
me to your list!"
"I thought you were already
on there?" he asked matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I used to think you
were a colossal pain in the ass but now, I have a much lower opinion of
you!"
"Okay! Okay!" Chris said showing
his face and breaking the couple up, "Come on JC, time to go home!"
"Do you have to leave so soon?
I've just poisoned some tea for you!"
"Why do I have to leave?"
JC asked as Chris dragged him from the apartment.
"Because I live here!" Clare
shouted back.
"That's enough from you!"
Lisa said grabbing Clare by the arm and pulling her into Libby's room.
"Have a nice life! I'd like
to say it's been fun but you don't want me to lie!" Clare shouted again
as JC disappeared from her sight.
~~~~~*~~~~~
"Okay," Chris said as they got
to JC's jeep, "Now listen to me very carefully! Giddy isn't going to change
her mind about this."
"But I've got to at least
try!" JC said wearily leaning back onto his vehicle.
"Listen to me! I haven't finished
yet!" Chris said impatiently. "She still thinks you and Ally are together
'cos no one has been able to tell her different. Yeah?"
JC nodded, "Whenever I bring
the subject up she leaves the room."
"Okay well, she won't hear
you out and we've tried but she won't listen to us either. So, we were
thinking…"
"Who's we?"
"Just wait to hear me out
before you ask questions!" he paused. "We take her and Libby on tour with
us. That way Libby gets a holiday and you get to talk to Clare!"
"She won't go for it!" JC
said shaking his head.
"She doesn't have to!"
JC looked up at Chris with
a frown, "Eh?"
"We're gonna kidnap her! That
way she can't say no and if she does, we won't be listening!"
"But she'll kill us!"
"Look, do you want her talking
to you again?"
"You know I do!"
"Well this is the only way
that's going to happen."
"But what about the job?"
"She won't be there on the
first day so she'll probably get sacked before she even starts! I've had
a word with Lou and he's gonna send me her resignation so she'll still
be working for us anyway."
"And you think this'll work?"
"Three months in the tour
bus with nowhere to escape to? Are you kiddin', she'll be forced to give
it up!"
JC shrugged, "Well, I'll give
anything a go!"
The Last
Chapter: Give It Up.
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