Crystal Clear

Disclaimer: This is almost entirely fictional, besides a few characters and situations that I\'m basing loosely on personal experience. Names, places, and dates have been changed, and I\'m not making any money off of this, so please don\'t sue me. Also, please don\'t steal my characters... I love them. I would be oh-so-sad if you took them away.
Notice: I apologize ahead of time for any spelling mistakes you might find... I can\'t find spellcheck! *hides*
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Tori pulled down the long driveway, only to find that there wasn\'t any available parking space. Cursing, she pulled off into the grass. There were so many cars! She really didn\'t feel like dealing will all of these people... the majority of them were probably happy to see her go, anyway. As she headed up the stairs, she saw Norah sitting on the very top one, smoking. \"Norah!! Since when do you smoke?!?\".

Norah shot her a healf-hearted grin and said \"I don\'t see how you\'re not smoking three packs a day around these people. My god.\" She extinguished her cigarette, and headed inside with her friend, but not before seeing the truck pull in and park in the grass near Tori\'s car. \"Hey, Tori, someone else is here\", she said, pulling her back towards the door. As soon as she saw who it was, Tori let out a low \"Fuck\", before turning around and heading deep into the heart of the party. Yeah, he\'d find her eventually, but he wouldn\'t find her sulking in a corner like a baby. He wanted her to be around friends, and damn it, she was going to act like these people were her friends.

~*~*~*~*~

Chuck had no idea what to say to her. He\'d seen her quickly looking out the window, and then saw her leave from view just as quickly. As he climbed the stairs, a young woman stepped outside and perched on the very top one. \"And your name is?\", she asked simply.

He\'d never seen her before... had never met her before, that he could recall. She wasn\'t bad to look at, though. Not bad at all. She had shoulder-length, wavy, dark brown hair, that seemed to go perfectly with her chocolate eyes. She had a nice tan, and a gorgeous smile. She was one of those types of women who didn\'t have to wear any makeup at all, and still looked killer. \"Oh my god\", thought Chuck, \"Tori\'s turned me into a pervert. A complete pervert!\". Not voicing his thoughts aloud, he coughed slightly and said \"My name\'s Pastor Chuck, I...\".

The girl cut him off there, with a squeel. \"YOU are PASTOR CHUCK?!? Omigod, Tori\'s told me SO much about you. She talks about you very highly, you know\". From her outburst, Chuck realized that this must be the infamous Norah, come to take Tori back with her. Despite his previous thoughts about her good looks, he instantly disliked her.

\"Ah, that\'s very nice of her to do. I know I don\'t deserve any praise\", he sayed simply. He silently prayed with every fiber of his being that this girl would move out of his way. He needed to find Tori... he needed to explain why he kissed her. The thought that she was walking around that house in front of him, at that very moment, believing he had used her was beyond heartbreaking for him. \"Umm, if you don\'t mind Miss...\".

\"I\'m Norah, as you well know by now. And I do mind. What do you want with her?\", she cocked her head to the side and started at him frankly.

\"I... wanted to say goodbye\".

\"That had better be all there is to it, do you hear me? She doesn\'t need your baggage. You\'re not even totally divorced yet... you\'ve got two kids. She\'s just starting out in life, and I\'ll be damned if I sit by and watch her throw it all away on a dirty old man\".

Chuck was temporarily dumbfounded by what the girl had said. He\'d been so careful not to let his feelings show... she\'d never met him, and yet, she knew. How? He didn\'t dare ask that question, though. She\'d know she was on to something, then. He pasted an expression of mixed confusion and amusement on his face.

\"You think that I... and... Tori...\", here he broke down in a fit of fake laughter. \"You think we\'re...\", more laughter ensued. \"You realize I\'m old enough to be her daddy, don\'t you? She\'s just barely 18. I wouldn\'t ever... no... not to her\". His words were coming out in little confusing chunks, as he himself actually became confused. It was at that precise moment that he realized he loved Tori. No, not just the idolized Tori... the real Tori. And he didn\'t just love her. He was IN love with her. God, he felt like dying. He knew now that she had to leave... she couldn\'t stay around him. He couldn\'t trust himself not to tell her, and that what would happen? She was young, naive... maybe she\'d fall for him too. Her kiss had proven she was capable of falling for anyone who gave her the slightest bit of attention. Could he live with himself, knowing that he\'d made such a brilliant, promising youth a frumpy housewife? No, never frumpy. But a housewife, still.

\"Tell her I was here... but I have an errand to run. Give her my warm wishes for the move, and give her my apologies from what happened earlier.\"

\"Earlier?\", Norah stood up quickly, anger flashing in her eyes. \"What did you do to her?\".

\"That\'s none of your damn business\", Chuck spat out. \"Just tell her what I said. Or I can just tell her myself...\". He made a fake move towards the door, which she quickly blocked.

\"Fine, I\'ll tell her. Now leave.\"

He nodded, and headed back down the stairs, throwing up a silent prayer as he did so.

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I know that was a short chapter, but I didn\'t want to write a whole lot if no one\'s going to give me a review. *pouts*