Chapter 6
They drove through the darkness, the night had turned colder and soon there would be nothing left of the warmth of the day. The windows of the car were rolled down and the wind blew through their hair. The drive lasted only a few minutes before they arrived at the beach, got out of the car and sat down not far from the water. They both kept silent and just enjoyed being near each other. They had known each other for less than two weeks and yet it felt like an eternity.
Clarke noticed that Lexa had her arms wrapped around her body and was shivering slightly.
"Are you cold?" The latter denied and Clarke laughed before putting an arm around her shoulders afterwards. The brunette looked at her questioningly. "What? I don't have a jacket and if I give you my sweater, I'll sit here in my bra and catch my death for sure." At first Lexa sat stiffly until Clarke gave her a wry sideways glance and pulled her closer. "I won't hurt you," the latter said softly. As strange as it seemed to her to address these words to the woman who had felt like she had just played a proud and invincible warrior, they felt right and Lexa visibly relaxed. Almost as softly and quietly, perhaps out of fear of ruining the moment they just shared, Lexa addressed Clarke, but without looking at her. "Is there any particular reason you wrote to me today? I mean, it was already pretty late..." Surprised by the question, two blue eyes looked at her. "I don't know." She remained silent for a moment before words reached the brunette's ear again, soft as breeze. "I just wanted to see you." Clarke now wrapped both arms around Lexa and pulled her close.
Actually, Lexa should know better, she should break free from the embrace and go home. This was all way too close, she should distance herself, never call Clarke again and forget the last few days. But she neither broke free from the embrace nor left, and forgetting the last days would be impossible. Instead, the brunette snuggled a little closer to the blonde and together they watched the stars until they eventually fell asleep, despite the cold that now gripped them.
The next morning they awoke with stiff bones and in the same posture in which they had fallen asleep only a few hours before. Somewhat embarrassed, they looked at each other and tried to get out of the embrace, which proved to be not so easy when one no longer felt anything. Eventually they gave it up and lay down in the sand. "Everything hurts me," Clarke laughed. "Me too," the brunette joined in the laughter.
"I'm sorry you had such a bad night because of me."
Lexa smiled slightly and gave her a nondescript look. "Oh, it wasn't that bad. Shall we have breakfast?"
Clarke's stomach growled in response.
Lexa laughed. "All right, let's go."
They headed back to the hotel. "Do you want to eat in my room or would you rather eat in the restaurant?"
Clarke pondered. "Am I even presentable?" Before Lexa could slip out a, you always are, she maneuvered the blonde into a bathroom that was near the lobby.
"I guess that's a no then" she laughed.
The two women fixed themselves up as best they could and sat down in the restaurant. They were among the first and that relaxed them, at least a little bit. The place looked a lot classier than they felt. "Tell me, Lexa, shouldn't we be sitting here in evening dress instead of hoodies and disheveled hair with even sand in it?"
The latter waved it off. "There's almost no one here yet anyway, and if anyone grumbles, I'll complain." She chuckled softly. "Trust me, they definitely don't want that."
The waiter came over, looked at the two of them strangely, but said nothing when his eyes fell on Lexa. They ordered a sumptuous breakfast, ate it all, and ended up with bellies so full they would have loved to undo the button on their pants.
When the waiter came to clear the table and settle the bill, Clarke reached for her wallet, but Lexa waved it off. "Could you put it in my room?"
The latter merely nodded and then disappeared.
Clarke was visibly uncomfortable with the situation. "Um, you didn't have to do that. That was pretty expensive, I would have paid already."
With a huge smile, the brunette merely replied; "I know, and that's why you were invited." The blonde only looked more confused. "I know you would have paid, but I was happy to invite you. Besides, I owed you after our first, disastrous meeting." Clarke was about to wave it off, but Lexa spoke right on "I was out of line and I wanted to pay you back with a nice breakfast. Next time it'll be on you. Okay?" Clarke was able to accept that, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
"It was really nice, but I should get home and take a shower."
"You can shower here, too," came far too quickly from Lexa before she realized what she had just suggested or could take back the words. She became visibly embarrassed.
"It's sweet of you, but I don't have any clothes here" Clarke replied innocently, really naive, she hadn't noticed any of this.
"True," Lexa admitted with relief.