My Obsession With Chloe Claire

Luke's P.O.V

The semester was officially over, and I was relieved, but at the same time disappointed. I never got to talk to Chloe that day, which I felt like was going to haunt me the rest of my life. I tried texting her, but there was no response. Even though I wanted to go back to her dorm just in case she was there, I didn't and continued packing the rest of my things and headed home before I was officially kicked out of my dorm.

My parents were ecstatic that I was home, along with Ruth and Rachel. My family helped me unpack what I needed, and afterwards we went to my favorite restaurant, Longhorn, to celebrate my first semester at the University of Alabama.

The next couple of days I kept texting Chloe asking if she was okay and wondered if she still wanted to talk to me, but I got no response. I knew this wasn't like her, just like it wasn't like me to not respond to her. I ended up doing the only thing I knew to do: call Marshall.

I paced back and forth in my room as I had one hand shoved into my pocket with the other holding my phone to my ear.

Soon enough, Marshall picked up and said, "Hello?"

"Hey Marshall, this is Luke," I said and stared out of my bedroom window. "I was wondering if you spoke with Chloe at all for the past couple of days?"

"Yeah. I went to her house the other day to comfort her…Did you hear about that son of a bitch?"

"Who?" I asked and immediately I knew who she was talking about. "Hailee?"

"Yeah! I mean what the hell was wrong with her to do such a horrible thing to Claire! I had my own reasons for disliking Hailee because she kept begging for us to hang out all of the time, but I never would've thought Hailee would sink that low and be the ultimate bitch she turned out to be. After I found out I dropped that bitch faster than I burn calories," Marshall said angrily.

I was seething just thinking about what Hailee said to me, but to think that Hailee actually said something to Chloe? Despicable. "Hailee actually said something to Chloe?" I asked, refraining from raising my voice.

"Yeah she basically called her ugly and fat, which are both totally untrue," Marshall said. "I told Chloe that Hailee was just a jealous bitch that didn't deserve her, but as you probably already know Chloe is still pretty distraught about the whole thing. She lost the one person who was supposed to be by her side until the end y'know? That must suck."

I agreed. "I still need to talk to her by the way."

"About your feelings? Yeah, I know you do. Now go over to her house and confess your a.s.s to her."

"Go to her house? I don't even know her address."

"Lucky for you, I do, now I'll send it to you. Now go, Luke. Go tell her how you feel," she said, the urgency clear in her voice.

"I will," I said and hung up. I looked down to see the Chloe's address and searched it up on Google Maps. It was kind of crazy to think that the girl I liked only lived ten minutes away.

I rushed downstairs, grabbed my keys, and went out of the house. I hopped into my black, GMC truck, started up the engine, and pulled out of the driveway before my parents even knew I was gone.

Chloe's house turned out to be a small, two-story white house with black shutters and a hedged in yard. It looked like the perfect place to grow up, with a big, beautiful oak tree in the front yard.

I pulled into the driveway to see that her car was in fact here. I got out of my truck and carefully walked up to her porch and knocked on the door, holding my breath.

The door opened to reveal someone who I assumed was her mom, even though I had never met her before. She stood to be average height with dark hair, ivory skin, and almond shaped brown eyes. She was pretty, her features somewhat reminding me of Chloe.

"What can I do for you young man?" she asked, her expression puzzled.

I gave her the best smile I could. "Hello, Mrs. Claire, my name is Luke Armstrong and I came here to see Chloe."

"Oh Luke Armstrong," she smiled, wrinkles forming at the corners of her eyes. "You're the famous wide receiver who went to school with my Chloe."

"I wouldn't say famous," I said, getting a little embarrassed.

"Oh hush," she laughed, waving it off like it was nothing. "Come on in, Luke," she said, opening the door wider.

"Thank you," I said and walked into the house.

Mrs. Claire shut the door behind me and walked over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled, "Chloe! There's someone to see you!" She turned to me and said, "You can find her upstairs, first door on the left."

"Thank you," I smiled and slowly headed upstairs. It felt weird to be in Chloe's house, and I hoped that when she found out it was me she didn't think I was a stalker. I was about to knock on Chloe's bedroom door until the door swung open wide.

"Mom I don't want to–" she began, and she immediately stopped and stared at me in horror.

I had never seen Chloe without makeup before, and it didn't surprise me to see that she was just as beautiful with makeup as she was without. The only difference was that she looked paler than usual.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.

I wanted to ask her why she hadn't answered my texts, but I decided against it. It wasn't the right moment. I should've known she was going to freak out. "I'm here to talk to you," I said coolly. "We never got to talk that night when we were supposed to. I came to your dorm and Hailee was there and she told me you left to go to the band room."

She narrowed her eyes. "No I wasn't. I was walking back to my dorm to come meet you and then…"

I should've known that Hailee would lie to me. Even after what she had said she still managed to lie to my face. What a bitch. I sighed. "Hailee lied to me."

Chloe's face changed to something somber. "Hasn't she lied to us all?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" I asked, thinking that her house wouldn't be the right place to talk to her.

"Sure," she smiled slightly. "Can you give me a moment to get dressed?"

I forgot that she was in her cupcake pajamas, which was super cute. I would've brought her with me without a second thought to what she was wearing. "Of course," I smiled, shoving my hands in my pockets.

A brown tabby cat that looked to be at least eighteen pounds sauntered out of Chloe's room and it looked up at me with its big green-yellow eyes. That had to be Miss Kitty. "Why hello there, Miss Kitty," I said, reaching down to let her sniff my hand. "I'm so glad I finally got to meet you," I cooed.

The fat cat sniffed me and then started rubbing her face all against my hand. She was insanely cute.

"Now you be nice to Luke while I get dressed, Miss Kitty," Chloe smiled and shut her door.

I ended up being completely mesmerized by Chloe's cat. She was adorable, pudgy, and extremely soft. I wanted to take her home with me except that I knew Big Al wouldn't handle it well.

Chloe came out of her room five minutes later with an oversized Batman shirt on with leggings underneath. She even looked like she put on a little bit of makeup.

"Did you put makeup on?" I squinted my eyes, c.o.c.king my head at her.

"Yeah because I don't want to be going out scaring everyone around me," she smiled a little, her face turning a light shade of pink.

"You look fine without makeup," I said as Miss Kitty rubbed up against my legs. "You don't need it."

"Well thanks except clearly I do," she mustered out a laugh. "Now where are we going?"

"I thought about JJ's Coffeehouse. Have you been there before?" I asked, reaching down to scratch behind the cat's ears.

"I went there with Marshall during Thanksgiving Break. I really liked it there," she answered, scooping up Miss Kitty in her arms. I didn't know how she managed to do that without breaking her back.

"Good because that's where we're going," I smiled. "Are you ready to leave?"

She nodded and planted a light kiss on Miss Kitty's soft head. "I'm ready," she nodded, and we headed downstairs and out of the door.

It barely took any time before we reached JJ's Coffeehouse, and there were barely any vehicles in the parking lot, which was perfect. We went inside and stood in line, waiting for Miss Linda, a woman who went to my family's church, to take our order.

"Well isn't that the infamous Luke Armstrong," Miss Linda grinned from ear to ear as soon as she turned around and looked at me. Miss Linda was an older woman with dyed black hair, a pleasantly round face, and kind eyes.

I smiled sheepishly. Miss Linda could be a little much sometimes, but she was an amazing person. "Hey Miss Linda," I said as she walked around the counter.

"Let me give you a hug," she laughed as she gave me a tight squeeze. "Boy I don't know where you keep getting your muscles from but–"

She was just as embarrassing as my own mom. "Miss Linda," I cleared my throat, glancing over in Chloe's direction, "I would like you to meet, Chloe Claire."

Miss Linda let go of me and smiled at Chloe. "It's a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to meet you, Chloe. Any friend of Luke's is a friend of mine. Do you guys know what to order yet or do you need some time?"

"We know what we want," I answered. "We would like two iced raspberry mochas please."

"Alrighty and don't even worry about the bill. I've got it covered for you both," she smiled.

"Miss Linda you don't have to–" I started.

"Oh hush Luke. It's the least I can do for getting us to the National Championsh.i.p.s, which you better win by the way," she laughed.

I smiled. Miss Linda was the best. As she made our drinks, Chloe elbowed me slightly.

"I can't believe you just assumed that I wanted an iced raspberry mocha," she smiled.

"I guess you're just stuck with it now," I shrugged, grinning.

She stuck her tongue at me playfully and I laughed.

Miss Linda gave us our drinks and we thanked her again.

"I assume you would want to sit in the corner of the room?" I c.o.c.ked my eyebrow at her.

"How did you know?" she asked with an adorable smile.

"I know you better than you think," I said and walked over to the table situated in the corner of the room.

We sat down and took our first drink of our mochas.

"This is really good–as always," Chloe smiled as she set her drink down.

I nodded in agreement. It was really good. I think Chloe just converted me to a raspberry mocha drinker.

"About what I was going to talk to you about earlier before all of the Hailee mess happened…" Chloe said as she looked down at her iced coffee. "It probably sounds ridiculous to say now, but I was just going to tell you that I'm no longer dating Kason," she laughed uneasily. "And I apologize on his behalf on the way he treated you. It wasn't right."

Now was my chance. I could finally admit to her that I liked her. "He only did it because he knew that I liked you," I said nervously, sipping through my straw. I could feel my face flush as our eyes met.

"W-what?" she stammered.

My first instinct was to laugh it off, but I needed to be serious. My feelings for Chloe were serious. "I like you, Chloe. I always have."

Chloe's eyes widened as her face turned as red as a tomato. "Y-you do?"

I nodded. "It's hard to admit, but I've liked you since the fifth grade."

She was silent.

My heart started pounding furiously in my c.h.e.s.t, threatening to burst out as I waited with anticipation to Chloe's response. The suspense was killing me.

"I like you, too," she said quietly, her face deepening to a scarlet.

"Y-you do?" I asked with wide eyes. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She liked me. CHLOE CLAIRE LIKED ME!

"Funny enough it all started in fifth grade for me, too," she smiled, bouncing her leg up and down nervously. "Except when I asked Hailee if you liked me she told me that you called me Miss Piggy and said that you could never like someone as fat and ugly as me."

I could tell just from her saying that it was degrading to her, and it was. That was horrible. "That was why you stopped talking to me all those years ago? Because of a horrible, pathetic lie?"

She nodded, and I could tell she was about to cry. It brought back too much pain for her, and I could sympathize.

"Hailee's been an evil, conniving bitch the entire time and we didn't even know it," I smiled, my heart skipping a beat. Chloe Claire liked me.

Chloe sighed and swirled her straw in her iced raspberry mocha. "I just can't believe my best friend…that she…would do something like this to me–to us."

I knew it would take Chloe a long time to get over what happened between her and Hailee, and I didn't want her to think about that any more–at least not at the moment. "You wouldn't believe how heartbroken I was that night of the Halloween frat party to find Kason's arm around you. I was going to tell you that I liked you that night."

Chloe smiled uneasily. "I was actually going to tell you that I liked you that night too, but when I saw Jess kiss you I panicked. Kason approached me afterwards and I only said yes because I thought you were with her."

"But I wasn't," I laughed a little. "Jess was a little crazy at the time. She thought if she kissed me in front of Kason then it would somehow get him to like her more."

"Oh, so that was what it was all about?" she smiled slightly. "She liked Kason this entire time? At first I thought it was the other way around."

I shrugged. "Apparently not."

"Well now everything makes sense, including why Kason came to monitor us that night we worked the concession stands."

"I guess he thought that I was going to 'meddle with your brain,'" I smiled, remembering what he had said.

"You already meddled with my brain many years before that, trust me," she smiled.

It was weird how everything fell into place. My mind was at peace and my heart soared. There was only one thing missing.

"I'm only going to ask you this once, Chloe, so I want you to listen carefully," I said and cleared my throat, trying to ease my nerves. "I only say this because I think it's about damn time and I don't care what anyone else thinks. Chloe, will you be my girlfriend?"

Chloe pauses, but soon a rapturous smile formed on her downturned lips. "Of course," she said, and I knew this was only the beginning to something more.

My Obsession with Chloe Claire.