Excerpt: Scared to be me

“Clarice Ellie Stein,” she said as she waited for them to print out her paper and hand her the last paycheck she was owed. She usually hated giving out her full name. Most of the time people just called her “Claire” she didn't know why but they just did. Once she was handed her paper and paycheck she walked outside of the darkened building.
“Finally. Now I don't have to worry about coming back to this stupid place again. I need to find a new job though,” she sighed. It had been three days since she had been fired from her job. She was already being pressured to get a new job. She just didn't know how the heck she was going to come up with one in short order. She went off to her car and decided to just drive off to Beth's house.
The 57 freeway was packed as usual. She knew it was going to take her a while to get herself from Santa Ana to Upland. She turned on the stereo and hoped her iPod would be nice to her on the way. She didn't feel like listening to anything that reminded her of her past or of him.
She had pined for Robert for years. Since the first time she met him at the club. There was an attraction to him the moment he walked up and opened his mouth. He had rejected her a million times and she just didn't want to think about being alone. Unfortunately it wasn't easy for her to not think about him. He was the object of her affection and she didn't know how to change that. She sang along to the Boy George song that her iPod was playing and kept driving.
Her phone rang as Boy George sang, “Do you really want to hurt me,” and she was glad he was being stopped. There was a sigh of relief in her voice as she answered through her Bluetooth, “Hello?”