Who: Arthur Lloyd and Clair Montgomery-Andrews. With Griffith Lloyd. Where: Arthur's room When: Backdated to yesterday evening. What: Clair and Arthur talk. Some more.
Griffith had long suspected that things with Arthur and Clair were going to end badly. For one thing there was a lot of glaring. As his gaze darted from his brother to Clair and back again, Grffith started to realize other things as well and the top most of on that pile was,
"Can you guys take this somewhere else? I'm trying to read." They ignored him. Griffith sighed and went back to the pages of Crime and Punishment. He hoped that Clair would not start throwing things. He hadn't crawled under the bed to hide from her in a while and would like to keep that record going.
She was not going to start throwing anything! Clair had stomped to Arthur's room, fully expecting him to apologize for the stunt that he had pulled over the journals. But he had answered the door with his own glare and hadn't said anything except for a very gruff, 'Come in.' Somehow they had gotten into some sort of staring competition. Neither of them had blinked or looked away in the last few minutes or so. But that wasn't the only similarity. They both had the same expressions. The same determined set to their jaw. The same proud look in their eye.
Clair was the one to break first. "Oh all right!" She snapped, throwing up her hands in frustration. "I'm sorry for ignoring you!" And then she seemed to realize that this was not the way in which to apologize and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry for being a bitch and ignoring you." Stubbornly Clair kept her gaze on Arthur. His expression had not softened, like she had hoped.
"But you can't hold me totally blameless. You're the one with the really bad timing." Ok..so this apology was going to be a defensive one. He could take it or leave it!
Arthur was going to take it. Somewhat. "Well excuse me for panicking at the fact that I could loose you to some loser." He retorted. "But after you told me that you..." He trailed off, finally realizing that Griffith was in the room with them. Quick as a striking snake, Arthur grabbed Clair's hand and tugged her into the bathroom, closing the door with a slam and ignoring how she was commenting on how he loved to man handle her.
"You move too slowly." Arthur shot back, rolling his eyes before getting back to the subject at hand. If she wanted to be huffy...that was fine with him. He could be just as curt with her too. At least they were talking. "But after you told me that you gave him a handjob...I knew I had to do something before it was too late. I had to give you a choice and not let you go out there thinking that the only one you had a shot with was some emo loser."
"Don't call him a loser." Was Clair's quick retort. Oooo! She was getting so frustrated all over again. Arthur was acting like his usual egoistical self. As if she was a child and couldn't make her own choices on boyfriends. What made him think he was the number once choice anyway! She took a step closer, intent on tell him all of this and maybe jab a finger of three in his direction when her feet touched something slippery. Clair looked down and winced, discovering that it was a wet towel. Quickly she removed her foot.
"You're such a pig." She said, naturally getting distracted. "There's such a thing as hooks to hang your towel on. You have to let it dry before you use it again. That way it won't get all moldy. Pig." She spoke slowly, as if giving a basic lesson to a child. Yes, Clair was going off tangent but he was Arthur and it was instinct to berate him about his poor habits.
In response Arthur made a funny face at her and make loud oinking noises. This was closely followed by Clair saying that she'd donate him to a farm. And then Arthur was asking if she was going to be Old MacDonald and instead of wearing overalls she can wear her pajamas and big fluffy robe. And it went back and fourth until she had him pressed against the bathroom wall and was trying to tickle the hell out of him.
They were frustrated at each other but they were still Arthur and Clair. This was how they rolled.
He held her hands away from him and asked. "Are you leaving me for Pierrot?" This earned him a quizzical look which was followed by a quick roll of blue eyes as she understood what he meant. Clair pulled her hand away.
"You are not Harlequin, no matter what you'd like to think." Clair replied, crossing her arms across her chest once again and taking a step back. "And what do you mean leaving you? I'm not going to leave you."
It was something when she said that she wasn't going to leave him. Period. Arthur wanted to ask more question but he knew the look that was on Clair's face and decided that it would be wise to keep his mouth shut and let her continue.
"I've decided that I need some boy free time." Pause. "I am breaking up with River...but I'm not hooking up with you either." She looked sternly at him. "I would like it if we just continued to remain friends."
That was not the news that he wanted to hear. But it was news and Arthur could accept it, his own emotions aside. It would have been a lie to say that he wasn't disappointed but...He nodded and took a step closer, reaching out and taking her hand in his. It was not a flirtatious gesture. It was a gesture. "Of course I'll still be your friend silly. Do you even have to ask?" He said then, tilting his head and looking Clair in the eyes.
"I was your friend first before this silly love thing got in the way and I'll be your friend still." The look on his face was bemused. A part of him thought that Clair should know this already. "Always." He couldn't imagine not being her friend. Arthur's fingers tightened on her's gently giving her hand a squeeze. And so she had made her decision, it was all he needed to know. Reaching out, Arthur opened the bathroom door again. Nothing in the room had changed, Griffith was still on the bed reading, the only changes that had happened had only been between them. And if Arthur had his way, the transformations would not end here.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He told Clair with a smile. One that only grew wider when she returned it and said that he could bet on that.