The Timekeeper

Chapter Ten

I woke to my phone buzzing near my ear, and somehow I still managed to answer it in my half-asleep state.

"Hello?" I said groggily, unsure of who had called despite having caller ID.

"Candice? Gosh, you were still asleep? Come on girl, it's past midday!" Claire's voice rang through the phone. 

"I had a late night last night," I yawned, rubbing my eyes to try and wake myself up a bit more.

"With your boy toy? Oh, this is exciting! We're going on a shopping trip, and I want all the goss!" She said excitedly, before continuing.

"I'll be around in fifteen. Be ready!" She squealed, before hanging up the phone.

I sighed, before putting my phone on my bedside table. I wasn't in the mood to do anything today, not after last night anyway. After Jase left, I walked back to Ryan's car and waited for him. We didn't talk the whole ride home, which I was thankful for. I didn't want really want him to know this time, but he could probably tell what had happened anyway. 

As I thought, my mother was furious when I got eventually home. It wasn't easy trying to make up an excuse for why I was so late. I didn't want to tell her it was because my soul mate had been arrested, and that I had bribed the officers to let him go, possibly just causing everyone much more trouble. I still hadn't told her much about Jase; I just didn't know what to tell her. I thought it would all be best left unsaid.

I slipped out of bed, before walking down the hallway and into the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, I hurried back to my room and pulled on some denim shorts and a simple loose-fitting black t-shirt. I threw my hair up into a ponytail, and had just finished putting on a bit of make-up when there was a knock at the door. Taking one last look in the mirror, I sighed, knowing that this was as good as it was going to get, before walking downstairs to answer the door.

"Hey Candy! Oh come on, that's all you're wearing? I gave you plenty of time to get ready!" She laughed.

She always judged my sense of style, though I wouldn't call it a style really. I never wore skirts or dresses, well apart from my school uniform, but that was different. Claire always liked to call me 'Plain Jane', because I never wore anything bright or pretty, whereas she was the complete opposite. She was wearing a bright floral sundress that looked gorgeous on her, not that much didn't look good on her anyway. She had the body that all teenage girls dreamed of, and although she was quite pale naturally, you never saw it. I think she would possibly die without fake tan.

"I'd like to see you get ready in under fifteen minutes, Claire," I teased, before walking out the door.

It felt like I hadn't seen Claire in forever, and we seemed to have a lot to catch each other up on. She told me all about her romantic week away at the beach with Alex, her soul mate. Unfortunately for me, she didn't try and refrain from telling me every little detail either. She had just started telling me about what they did at the beach in the middle of the night, when we pulled up at the shopping centre. I had never been so eager to get out of a car before in my life, until that moment.

"Okay, we're on a mission to get you something cute to wear. Or maybe something sexy, you know, for your man." She wiggled her eyebrows at me, which only made me laugh. 

I hadn't realised how much she really didn't know about Jase. She only knew about when we first met; I hadn't spoken to her about much else that had happened between us. She must have thought that we had made up, and everything was fine. Why shouldn't she think that's what happened? It would've been so much easier if it had. 

We walked through the huge glass sliding doors then, and I could practically feel the excitement coming from Claire. She was constantly buying new clothes, new handbags, and new make-up. I don't think I had ever seen her wear the same outfit twice, or even just the same shirt. Her family was quite wealthy, and I suppose the fact that she was an only child meant she got whatever she wanted. I did get jealous of her sometimes, not because she was an only child, I loved my brothers more than anything, but because she was so wealthy.