Flavor of the Week

Shoving her hands into her back pockets, Claire bounded down the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen, where half the house was sitting. Real Claire would have stayed up in her room for as long as she could, but Dream Girl Claire was sociable and she wouldn’t waste a second worrying about how to make the boys like her. For Dream Girl Claire, it would just happen.

“Claire,” Liam said, his eyes falling on her the moment she walked in. His lips turned up in a smile and it helped to somewhat calm her increasing nerves. “It’s about time you joined us.”

Claire took a deep breath, just like Payton had told her to do, in her best attempt at becoming the Claire that Lucas had created. She couldn’t disappoint him or the other girls.

With a smile on her face, Claire moved over to the counter, taking her place right next to Payton. Leona, the other girl on their team, was on the opposite side of the marble surface, directly next to Liam.

“We were just talking about some strategies for the elimination challenge tomorrow.” Liam’s smile was focused on her as he spoke.

Biting her lip, Claire moved her gaze to her hands, before remembering that she was supposed to be confident. She looked back up at Liam, her smile matching his.

“Did you come up with anything good?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I can catch you up you’d like.”

“I would.”

He smiled at her. “We should probably head out to the lawn, so none of the other boys hear.”

His head twisted to the side, motioning to Harry and Louis next to him. They rolled their eyes, as laughs escaped their lips.

“Don’t worry, mate,” Louis said, eyes locked on Liam. “We’re not going to ruin your perfect plan of losing every challenge in an effort to win sympathy points with the producers.”

Liam glared at him, with half his face in a smile.

“However,” Harry said, leaning against the countertop. “We will see to it that you don’t steal all the pretty girls from us.”

Harry’s eyes fell on Claire as he spoke, shooting her a soft wink. She wasn’t sure if Dream Claire would wink back or not, but she was too busy attempting to cover the blush from her cheeks to respond. If she had half the charm of Harry, she wouldn’t have any trouble making them fall for her. She needed to take a couple clues from him.

“Let’s go, yeah?”

Liam smiled at her, willing her attention to go back to him. She responded with a nod and smile, just like Lucas had told her. Not too overeager, but excited enough.

His hand wrapped around hers the moment they stepped from the counter, and it caused a warmth to flood through her body. She was certain she was the one that was supposed to be making him feel all tingly, not the other way around.

Once they’d stepped out the door, and out into the sun, Claire looked over to Liam, whose hand was still wrapped tightly around hers. Claire couldn’t be sure if this was the way things were supposed to go, but she took at as a good sign. Maybe she wasn’t going to fail Lucas after all.

“So, what did you guys come up with?” The question fell from her lips before she even had a chance to think about it. It seemed as though dream Claire was taking over her body faster than she thought she would.

“Nothing really.” He shook his head, chuckling as he did so. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

Her eyes darted to the ground, as a brush crept up her cheeks. Did dream girls get nervous? She hoped so, because a bundle of nerves was all that she was and she had no clue how to get ahold of them.

Liam tugged gently on her hand, guiding her over to the underground pool. The stone slabs surrounding it formed a large patio, which was covered with umbrellas and lounge chairs, one of the perks of being on a show produced by one of the wealthiest television stations in the world. Everything about the mansion screamed money.

Sitting in the chair opposite Liam, Claire turned to him, a smile on her face. “What did you want to talk about?”

“About you,” Liam said, smiling at her. “You were asleep by the time my date finished, so I haven’t really seen much of you. I just wanted to get to know you better, I guess? So tell me about yourself.”

Claire’s teeth nipped at her bottom lip, as her eyes fell to the ground. This was where the month of acting practice the team had given her would come in handy.

Her thoughts flooded with images of the cards they’d given her. There had been words on them – she knew that – but now those words looked like a foreign language. She couldn’t remember anything of what she’d been told to say, and as the seconds ticked on, she could feel herself blowing it.

Taking a deep breath, she put her Dream Claire smile on her face, and looked over at him. Her eyes hit his, in the way only someone with confidence could, and she thought she had faked it well.

“There’s really nothing special about me,” she said, the words falling from her lips more naturally than she had hoped. She wasn’t sure if Lucas would scold her for it later, but it was the only answer she could come up with. “I’m just like the other girls in the house.”

Chuckling, Liam shook his head. Half his face turned up in a smile, as his dark eyes moved to her blue ones.

“That’s odd.”

Claire’s eyes widened at his words. Her heart began to race immediately, forcing sweat to pool on the palms of her hands. She had done it. She’d messed up already. He had already caught onto the act she was failing at playing.

She could practically hear Lucas and the other girls shouting at her. She was dead; she just knew it. In one last attempt to fix the mess she thought she had created, she titled her head to the side, nibbling at her lip.

“What’s odd?”

He smiled again, chuckling softly. His eyes were locked on hers, as she waited for him to reveal that he had caught onto her secret.

“Well, you seem pretty special to me.”

Her eyes darted to the ground again, as a brush crept up to her cheeks. Was that was she was supposed to do? Would the girl of Liam’s dreams blush when he spoke? She couldn’t be sure, but it was what felt natural.

“Don’t do that,” Liam said, laughing as he spoke.

She looked quickly back at him, her face even redder than before. “Do what?”

“You keep doing this thing where you look away every time I compliment you.”

“I do not,” Claire said, letting out a small laugh. Was she doing this right? Was this flirting?

“You do.” He nodded his head, as his smile grew wider. “It’s like you don’t understand why I want to talk to you so badly.”

Because she didn’t. Before Lucas had gotten rid of her glasses and tossed away her nerd clothes, boys had never spoken to her. She went from being a nobody to being the one Lucas planned on them all loving in a matter of weeks, and she hadn’t quite gotten used to it. She wasn’t sure she ever would.

“I’m sorry,” she said, giggling softly.

He shook his head. “Don’t’ be. It’s cute.”

Heat flew to her cheeks again, as they became red in color. Noticing this, Liam smiled at her, before running his hand over hers. The moment he touched her, she felt the heat fly from her cheeks to her hand. It seemed like no matter what he did, he had an effect on her.

“We should probably get back to the others,” he said, gripping her hand. “Harry will get mad if I steal you for too long.”

Claire was certain there was a perfect response for his words that Dream Claire would give, and luckily her mouth thought faster than her mind, and the words fell from her lips just as naturally as his had.

“Let him get mad,” she said, smiling at him. “I want to stay out here with you.”

She didn’t think it was possible, but Liam’s smile grew even wider at that. He had a perfect smile, and she wanted to make him do it as much as she possibly could.

When Liam’s hand wrapped around hers, while his thumb rubbed over her skin, she wasn’t sure who was blushing: Dream Claire or the real Claire.