Claudia broke off her kiss with Chris, who looked stricken at the day dream.

"I can't do this." Claudia said with certainty. Chris looked disappointed and Claudia pushed her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry." Claudia muttered awkwardly.

"Yeah, I figured." Chris replied hurt. Claudia watched him as he slung his bag over his shoulder and picked up his guitar case. "You're not ready." Chris said as he turned away and walked to the bus. Claudia closed her eyes and Chris got on, the door closed behind him. He takes his seat and looked out of the window, Claudia was looking at him too. Thunder rumbles and it starts to pout. He looked at Claudia one last time before the bus turned and cuts of their view. Claudia watched him go depressed. 

___

Nathan was emptying food into a bin and placed dirty dishes onto the worktop when there's a knock at the door. He looked at it.

"Claudia?" He asked himself as she opened the door, however, it was not Claudia looking back at him. 

"Whoa!" The mysterious girl exclaimed and Nathan squinted at her. "Claudia didn't mess around." She smiled as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're Nathan, right?" The girl asked.

"Yeah, yeah, do I... do I know you?" Nathan asked as he tried to remember her. 

"Well you should; I am Claudia's best friend and Haley's older sister." The girl replied.

"Oh. uh." Nathan stuttered awkwardly, he still had no idea.

"Taylor(!" Taylor exclaimed as she shook her head amusedly. "Claudia never mentioned me to you?" Taylor asked and Nathan sighed while shrugging. 

"Can I come in?" Taylor asked as she walked in uninvited. The thunder continued to rumble. Taylor bent over to take her shoes off and Nathan sees the tattoo of a scorpion on her lower back. He frowned some more, he was still trying to remember her.

"You wanna grab that?" Taylor asked bent over, Nathan was stunned.

"Wha-excuse me?!" Nathan asked stumped and Taylor looked at him over her shoulder.

"My suitcase." Taylor stated as she pointed her suitcase.

"Oh." Nathan said as he turned to pick it up. He lifted it up and brought it into the apartment. "So, uh, Claudia never said you were coming." Nathan said awkwardly.

"Ah, she didn't know." Taylor smiled as she stood up. "So, where is my best friend?" She smirked smiling.

"Out." Nathan replied as he closed the door.

"Well that's vague." Taylor replied smirking to herself. "Guess we'll have to get acquainted till she gets home." She continued and Nathan felt very uncomfortable. 

"Yeah, sure, uh... just make yourself at home." Nathan replied. 

"Careful what you wish for, new best friend." Taylor grinned before she walked away. Nathan sighed, still trying to figure her out. 

___

A soaking wet Claudia entered the apartment. She quietly shut the door behind her, not wanting to wake Nathan. However, he was sitting near the window, waiting for her. 

"Where the hell have you been?" A very angry Nathan asked. Claudia spun around in the process of taking her jacket off and placed her hand to her heart.

"I just... I needed to clear my head, Nathan." Claudia lied as she started to walk away.  

"Best Friend!" Taylor exclaimed and Claudia was stunned. She spun around to see Taylor in a nightgown with a towel wrapped around her head. "Look at you!" She exclaimed as she hugged Claudia who was confused.

"Tay, what're you doing here?" Claudia asked frowning.

"I'm on break. And I wanted to see my house before the new people moved in, and I haven't seen you in forever! So I went to your old house and your mom told me that you got married so here I am." Taylor explained and Claudia was not pleased, she was glaring at Taylor. "Also your brother keeps on getting good looking." Taylor smirked and Claudia faked gagged.

"Really Tay?" Claudia groaned in her english accent.

"Nathan said I could stay for a couple of days." Taylor stated and Claudia looked at Nathan with wide eyes. 

"Actually, I-" Nathan tried to justify but Taylor interrupted him.

"You won't even know that I'm here." Taylor smiled and Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Claudia laughed humourlessly, "OK, um can you give us a second, please?" She asked as she took Nathan's hand and they walked into the bedroom and closed the door. "You said she could stay? Do you think... maybe that was worth a conversation?" Claudia whispered annoyed.

"I told her she could make herself comfortable because you weren't here!" Nathan exclaimed as he pointed at her, Claudia looked around guilty. "You were with Chris again, weren't you?" Nathan asked annoyed and Claudia closed her eyes. 

"Yes, but I-" Claudia sighed, trying to justify her reason.

"Great! Great!" Nathan shouted cutting her off. Claudia looked at him sternly.

"Will you just listen to me, please?" Claudia asked seriously, Nathan looked at her. "It's over, OK? He... left town... he wanted me to go with him." Claudia stated not wanting to lies to her husband.

"What?!" Nathan asked pissed.

"I said no because I-my life is here!" Claudia exclaimed and Nathan stared at her. "He didn't mean anything to me, OK?" Claudia said unconvincingly as she walked up to her husband. "Besides, we're gonna have to stick together if we're gonna... survive 'Hurricane Taylor'." Claudia finished with a serious face and Nathan nodded his head in agreement. 

___

Claudia was sitting on the kitchen counter speaking on the phone to Haley, after they finished catching up Claudia brought up Taylor.

"Haley, your sister is crashing at my place." Claudia said through the phone.

"Quinn?" Haley asked puzzled.

"TAYLOR!" Claudia explained.

"Oh no." Haley muttered- she knew it was going to end in WW3. 

"She wanted to see the house one more time and now she still thinks I like her so you know she is crashing!" Claudia explained as she jumped off the counter and walked over to the cupboard.

"Remind me again why you don't like her?" Haley asked and Claudia rejogged she memory as she got her secret stash of oreo's out from the back of the cupboard. She started to eat them. 

"She knew I liked Nathan in freshman year and none of them are mentioning it to me. Taylor must of forgot that I knew. They are both lying to me Hales." Claudia cried as she ate her oreo. 

"You have to kick her out, or get her to phone my parents." Haley replied seriously. 

"I am going to try Hales." Claudia stated munching on the oreo.

"Be careful around Taylor." Haley warned sternly.

"I will. Oh that's them, I will call you later!" Claudia exclaimed as she saw her husband and her ex-best friend laughing.

"Wait! Hows Lucas?" Haley asked and Claudia didn't want to lie to Haley.

"He is missing his best friend." Claudia replied sympathetically. "We all are Haley." Claudia finished wiping the tears cascading down her face.

"Okay, call you later." Haley said before she entered the phone call, Claudia quickly turned around and wiped her tears away. However, it was noticeable that she had been crying.

"Oh, nice, you guys finally decided to come home." Claudia said as they walked into the apartment as she placed the phone down on the counter.

"I left you a note. We went for a jog." Nathan replied monotone as he closed the door. Taylor could see that Claudia was distraught and she knew why- Haley. 

"To where – Atlanta?" Claudia exclaimed walking over to the couch to her get her jumper.

"Ooo Oreos. Claudia, who died?" Taylor asked jokingly, Nathan looked at Claudia and saw the tear stains down her face, he felt bad for her.

"I have a couple of ideas." Claudia grunted looking at her.

"I'm... gonna... go take a shower." Taylor said uncomfortably as she excused herself and walked into the bathroom. 

"We are supposed to be working on our marriage." Claudia said quietly to Nathan.

"At least you knew where I was." Nathan retorted and Claudia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"This has to stop, Nathan." Claudia stated and Nathan sighed. "I don't wanna lose you and it's obvious that we still have issues; only now it just feels like you're avoiding me." Claudia explained.

"I'm not avoiding you!" Nathan exclaimed.

"Then why are you spending so much time with Taylor?" Claudia asked walking over the piano.

"Wha-are you threatened by her?" Nathan asked surprised, he didn't know half of it.

"I don't trust her." Claudia replied as she opened her piano book. Nathan looked down and sighed. Claudia began to play her new song on the piano. It was one she wrote without Chris. 

https://youtu.be/GN3eWZ8UsFs

Nathan looked at her upset and he listened to her play the piano, Claudia herself had to stop the tears rolling down her face. Taylor walked in half way through the song.

"I didn't know you had some pipes, Claude." Taylor exclaimed and Claudia continued to sing, ignoring Taylor. Claudia finally finished and turned to face Taylor.

"Yeah well." She muttered before she walked into the bedroom, clearly upset. Nathan looked at the closed bedroom door.

___

"What are you doing?" Taylor asked waking up, she saw that Claudia was packing up her things.

"I'm helping you pack." Claudia said throwing things into her suitcase.

"Am I packing?" Taylor asked as she sat up.

"That's where I'm sending you; packing." Claudia said as she picked up some more of Taylor's things. 

"Wait a minute, Claudia." Taylor said as she took the cover off her legs.

"You know what; complain window is close, OK? It's time for you to go back to school." Claudia shouted annoyed.

"I'm... done with school." Taylor muttered, the truth was that she had been kicked out of school for cheating on a test and then cheating sleeping with a professor, who was paying for all of her bills.

"Well, I'm sorry. I need to be here, working on saving my marriage and you're getting in the way!" Claudia exclaimed putting a hand through her hair.

"I need a few days to figure things out." Taylor replied.

"A few days is gonna turn into a few weeks. I know you, Taylor. By then, it might be too late for Nathan and me." Claudia explained.

"We have to let her stay, Claudia." Nathan interjected as he leant against the wall, watching them. Both girls look over at him. "She's your best friend." Nathan replied and Claudia scoffed.   looked heavenward and shook her head. "Just until you figure out what you're gonna do, alright?" Nathan said sternly to Taylor.

"Sure. Thanks, Nathan." Taylor smiled gratefully at Nathan. Nathan was looking at Claudia who was very close to glaring. 

___

Nathan was sitting at the counter, on the laptop. Claudia was making the food. Taylor is in the bathroom and the door is open. She wipes steam off of a part of the mirror and watched Nathan through it. He looked up and she smirked. He started for a moment.

"Hey, uh, do you need some help?" Nathan asked Claudia, she looked back at him and nodded. 

"Yeah, sure." She said and Nathan nodded. He looked back at Taylor once more before heading over to his wife. She handed him a spoon and they kissed.