Fractured Promises by Lauren Ruiz (ap literature book list txt) 📕

could still fall in love, but it would feel weird for him to love a different girl. He couldn’t picture himself holding another girl, telling her that he loved her, and that he would fight for her till the end.
Clark got up and walked into the bathroom. Once in, he stared at himself in the mirror. His handsome face was marked with sad lines, and his eyes were blood shot from lack of sleep and silently crying for Zoe in the middle of the night.
He took a shower, shaved, dressed and packed. Gathering everything he needed for his trip, he stepped out of his door, causing light squeaks underneath his feet with each step he took.
Clark paused. He wanted to say goodbye to Arianna, but he didn’t want to disturb her. He slowly crept into Peyton’s room, and hovered over them. They had to share Peyton’s bed because her room wasn’t big enough for another, and the Queens didn’t want her to be uncomfortable while sleeping on the couch downstairs.
Arianna’s chest rose and fell with each silent breath, and sighed in her sleep. Clark couldn’t help but smile at his beautiful best friend. Not saying goodbye to her could be the worst thing, especially since her mother had already done it to her.
He still remembered Lafayette. And looking at Arianna now, it was like seeing Lafayette all over again.
He couldn’t stand being away from Arianna for a long period of time, but he had been doing that since Zoe had broken up with him.
Clark leaned down and kissed the two girls on their foreheads, and walked out. He took one last look at them, and smiled.
When Peyton wasn’t awake, she looked so peaceful. But whenever she was awake, she had this sad and angry look in her eyes.
He could never figure it out, and probably never would unless she told him herself. She was a hard girl to read.
As for Arianna, she was like an open book. Anyone can tell when she was upset, or overly excited, because it always showed on her face and in her voice. Arianna was the kind of girl that could easily be taken advantage of.
Unlike Peyton, she wasn’t exactly afraid of letting people get close to her. After everything she had been through with her parents, it had been a surprise to Clark. Or maybe, like him, she was faking it.
While Clark drove away from his home, he thought more and more about Zoe.
He thought of the elegant curve of her neck, her short honey gold hair, and her green eyes that were always so filled with life. Her features were defined, but what had caught his attention about her was her personality.
She was always laughing and smiling, and joking around with him. She would always buy him a shirt on an occasional Saturday, which were usually plaid designed, and make him wear it on their next date.
In ways, Zoe had always been jealous of his relationship with Arianna, and he still didn’t understand why. She brought Arianna up frequently, causing Clark to be defensive.
“I don’t know what it is Clark, but every time you talk about her, your eyes light up. You always smile when you’re with her. You’re barely ever like that with me.” She had accused him after she had bumped into Clark and Arianna shopping at the nearest mall, The South Mall.
The three of them hung out afterwards, but Zoe noticed that day how fond of each other Clark and Arianna were with each other. If she didn’t know them at all, and saw them together like that, she would have pegged them for a couple who were head over feet in love.
“She’s my best friend Zoe. You know that.” Clark said, annoyed. Was it a crime for him to hang out with his best friend? He loved Arianna and would never stop. She was his closest friend, and was also the only friend he would take a bullet for if it meant keeping her safe.
“Of course I do. I never said she wasn’t. I’m just saying that you’re not the same way with me. You show her more attention, don’t you understand that? I know you two grew up together, but I want with you what you have with her. I want the trust, and the laughter and the tickling. I want you to show me that kind of love.” she said seriously. She had never been the kind of girl to be jealous, but she was in love with Clark. And that made it tough on her.
She looked at him with his dark hair, and his jaw registered. Something deep crept beneath his eyes, and she was surprised. He was angry with her. He had never been angry with her before. He was too nice of a guy.
The only time she would see him angry is when he would see a kid being picked on, or when an animal was being mistreated.
Clark got into a lot of arguments with the guys at school, but she knew that the others were just jealous of him.
Any moron could see that, and a blind person could sense it. That’s how obvious it was. But like always, Clark was oblivious to it all. To him, everything around him was fine. He never got paranoid about anything, and he had trusted Zoe with everything.
“You and Arianna are very different from each other. There are things I can talk to her about, that I can’t talk to you about. And yes, we do play around more than we do. But you have to understand, I have been close with her since we were crawling around in diapers. We shared bassinets for chrissakes. I will always be closer to her than anyone else. I’m not even that close with my little sister. We will get there someday Zoe. If you give me the chance, we could have more.”
Zoe stopped talking about her after that. But Clark knew that she always thought about it whenever Arianna came around.
Clark was on his way to business, something that would clear his mind from life back home. The more he went to Michigan, the more he liked being there. Michigan had changed his life outrageously, and to him, it was good.
While driving, he saw a pretty girl walking alone. She was up ahead, and when she saw his headlights, she held her thumb out.
Hitchhiking was very dangerous, especially if you were a small girl like the one who wanted a ride from Clark. Clark came to a stop when he reached her, and rolled his window down.
“Do you need a ride?” he asked nicely, trying not to frighten her. She looked at him and smiled. She was glad that he was the one to be picking her up. She had no idea how she got there, but all she knew was that she was no where near home. She didn’t even think she was in her own city.
The girl answered by getting into the car. She had a guitar with her that had no case to protect it. She sat small in the passenger seat, gazing at him with those lost blue eyes, the same color as his. She had a tanned flawless face, long dark auburn hair with a hat sitting on top of her head, and a smile that froze him in place.
She was beautiful.
And yet, he felt guilty being there with her. Looking at her that way made him think of Zoe. He sighed on the inside as his heart clenched. Now was not the time to be thinking of his ex.
“Thank you so much for picking me up,” she said as she kept looking at him, then she continued, “what state is this?”
Clark was stunned by her question. Did she really not know where she was?
“Ohio.” He said simply, as though it were obvious. The girl smiled sadly and said, “I’m far from home.”
Clark’s eyebrow shot up in curiosity and worry. He didn’t know her, but he hoped that she hadn’t been kidnapped and dumped away.
“Where are you from?”
“Tennessee. I don’t even know how I got here.”
“Try to think back, and I’m Clark Queen by the way.” He said with a smile, and the girl’s heart raced when she saw it.
“I’m Caden Dream. And I tried to while I was walking, but it’s all so blurry. I simply can’t remember a thing.”
The looks on Caden’s face made Clark want to reach out and touch her shoulder as a sign comfort, but he knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. They didn’t even know each other.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could help.” Then he asked, “Do you want me to drop you off at home in Tennessee?”
What a sweetheart, Caden thought in her mind.
“No,” she said with a shy smile, “that’s too much to ask. It’s too far.”
“I’m not coming back to Ohio for awhile, so I might as well make the best of it. Besides it will only be a six or seven hour drive. No harm in that.”
The shadow that crossed Clark’s face made Caden feel inquisitive of him. There was definitely a story there.
“What happened?” she asked. Caden was well known back home for being straight forward, and was quite admired for it.
"What do you mean?" he asked nervously.
"You have this sad glint in your eye. And whenever you look at me, you look as though you think you're being unfaithful to someone."
Clark coughed, trying to ease the awkward sensation he felt.
"Let's just say that my last relationship didn't end very well."
"Why did you two end it?" Caden didn't want to be nosy, but she wanted to help him as much as she could. They were going to be around each other for another a few more hours.
A darker shadow over Clark's handsome face this time, making Caden a bit frightened of him. Was he truly hurt that bad?
"She cheated on me with a guy from her job. And now they're together."
Whoa, heavy stuff; Caden thought to herself.
"Why did she do it?" Everyone had a reason for everything, even if their reasons were never all that reasonable.
"She wasn't happy with me. She said that we never spent enough time together. We were both always working, and never got to see each other. So I guess that when she was with that guy, she felt happy. Even though it hurt me, I can kind of understand. I just wish she had broke up with me before she began seeing that guy."
"I'm really sorry. No one deserves to ever be cheated on. That's one of the worst things a person can do to another, besides killing of course." Clark and Caden laughed at that.
Clark hadn't laughed like that for awhile, not even when he was around his family. The only person that could brighten his day like that was Arianna.
"How did you react when she told you?"
"I lost it. First, I cried and cried until I felt as though my eyes could never shed another tear again."
"And?" Caden asked, more curious now than before.
"And what?"
"You're holding back on me Clark."