Chapter 9
Annoyed, Lexa answered the phone, but watched Clarke leave the room. She would much rather have discussed the matter with her, would have followed her, but perhaps it was better to give her time.
"Yes?"
"Lexa. The shooting break is over, you have to come back to the set." She heard the stern voice of Titus.
The two weeks were almost over, the brunette knew that, but she didn't want to leave.
"When do you leave?"
"You have five more days, after that you are expected here."
Her sense of duty to her team and the studio were too great to just cancel and it wouldn't work at all. They had already been in the middle of it when a breakdown had crippled the production. That was the only way their vacation had been possible at all.
Titus noticed their displeasure and immediately became suspicious.
"What's wrong?"
She didn't want to tell him what was bothering her, she knew what he would tell her and she didn't want to hear that.
"I'm just tired and I could have used more vacation rather than less."
"You knew your days off could be over at any time."
She sighed.
"Yeah, still, sometimes I need a break too." She sighed the last sentence more than she said it. Titu's suspicion grew more and more.
"Since when do you need more time off? Usually it's hard to slow you down."
"Yes. It still takes its toll over time, though." The brunette had grown just a touch louder, but that was enough. If her manager were standing in front of her, he would have nodded, bowed slightly and left. He was still old school and she liked that.
"I understand. Still, you have an obligation to everyone involved in this film."
"I know, I'll be there in five days."
After that, the phone call was over. There was nothing more to say and she didn't want to talk anymore. She wanted to clear things up with Clarke, only she didn't know how. Did the blonde even want that? After all, she hadn't rejected her completely, but she had kept her at a distance. Lexa understood that she still needed time to process the thing with Finn, but was it really only because of that? Before she drove herself completely crazy, she pulled out her cell phone to text her.
At first it was a simple >>Hey Clarke.<< but she stopped right after that. What was she going to write to the blonde beauty anyway, and more importantly, how? Lexa paced up and down the room.
She almost couldn't remember the last time she had been this nervous. The brunette tried to encourage herself and talked herself down, after all it was just a WhatsApp.
>>Hey Clarke. I don't know if you have tomorrow off, but it's supposed to be nice weather and I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go to the beach with me? <<
Before she could think about it further, she hit send. She read the message again and shook her head at herself. How stiff could a message be, please?
Her cell phone lay silent on her bed and at that moment she hated it for that.
While waiting for an answer, she paced around the room. A pling broke through her thoughts, she almost ran to the bed to get her phone. Excited, she checked it. The disappointment was boundless. Her manager had sent her an interview request. She rolled her eyes. She cared little right now about which show she would have to answer questions on or for which magazine. Only blue, enchanting eyes aroused her interest and so she ignored the message.
Lexa went to the bathroom for a moment, when she came back she went hopelessly to her cell phone and unlocked it. Her heart skipped a beat.
>>Hey, sure. When?<<
Her mouth went dry, though she didn't have to say a word.
>>Tomorrow at noon?<<
>>Perfect.<<
With her heart still pounding, she changed and tried to sleep. Maybe everything would be all right after all.
The next morning passed much too slowly and at some point Lexa couldn't take it anymore.
She went to her closet and thought long and hard about which bikini to wear. After all, she wanted to please Clarke, but she didn't want to overdo it either. She sighed and decided on her favorite bikini. She put on cream and decided to wear airy clothes, she didn't want to walk around the hotel in a bikini or walk around the city like that, even if the way to the beach wasn't far.
She sat on the bed for another 10min, but couldn't take it anymore after that and left. In the end, she would be at the beach way too early, even if it wouldn't make the time go by any faster.
Already from a distance she saw Clarke, punctually she drove up with her car. Hastily, the brunette set off to join her, although she had no idea how to meet her.
Smiling, the blonde got out, who was at least as excited. Both tried to hide their nervousness from the other and both failed to do so.
Both were shy, but finally they hugged each other for a long time, looked for a place and lay down next to each other, enjoying the sun. The weather was gorgeous, not a cloud was in the sky, only now and then you could hear a bird chirping and in between you could hear people laughing. The breeze that blew now and then something helped against the heat a little, cut in comparison to something cool not particularly.
"Would you like a cocktail, too?" Clarke wanted to know from Lexa after a while. The latter nodded, maybe the alcohol would ease the tension. The blonde stood up and walked towards the stores that lined the promenade. Lexa watched her go and couldn't stop herself from staring at her butt. What a sight, Clarke in a bikini, she would probably be able to dream about that for nights.
Finally the blonde brought the drink she wanted, the brunette, who was lying on her towel before, straightened up and accepted it.
"I think for me to get drunk, I need a few more," Lexa brought out with a laugh after taking a few sips.
"Do you want to get drunk?"
"I don't think I'm going to be any good today without a good buzz."
Clarke laughed at the joke.
"Oh come on, you're not that bad now."
The brunette slapped her arm lightly, which made the blonde laugh and made her take Lexa's hand in hers and squeeze gently.
They smiled at each other.
"I really need to get in the water, are you coming?"
"No, I'll read some more and catch up with you later," Clarke denied the question.
Suddenly it was teeming with people. Everywhere you could hear the snapping of cameras and flashes that followed. Clarke did not understand what was going on. Then an angry figure rushed toward them, which a short time later turned out to be Lexa.
"You called the paparazzi, right? What was that about?"
"What am I supposed to have done?" The blonde was massively confused.
"When I was in the water earlier, you were on your cell phone. I saw it clearly." Bright green eyes fixed on her, an unspeakable coldness in them.
"That was Octavia. She has a date tonight and wanted my opinion."
Clarke was starting to get angry.
Lexa's eyes narrowed to slits and her features hardened.
"I don't believe you."
Clarke snorted.
"Then don't, really you should know me and what would I get out of it? I don't go for limelight and even if I did. I wouldn't betray you, you just don't do that."
She wanted to believe the blonde's words, wanted them to be true, because she didn't trust her to do something like that, but she had already fallen for someone once, it wouldn't happen again. It was not allowed to happen to her again. Not even more than it already was.
"I thought we were friends, but I'm not going to put up with this."
With those words and deeply disappointed, Clarke packed up her things and left. She did not dignify Lexa with another glance.
A few days later, it was already very late, well past midnight, when Clarke came out of the hospital. She was exhausted and just wanted to go home when she saw a person leaning against her car and had a déjà vu.
"What are you doing here?" Clarke looked at her challengingly.
Lexa startled, then began jerking around.
"I came to apologize for my behavior."
"Uh-huh, good to know." Coldly the blonde looked at her out of her blue eyes and tried not to get lost in the green eyes, Lexa had behaved badly and not for the first time, she had gotten the better of her with that.
"Clarke..." It came very hesitantly, she didn't know what to say. "Please, don't be angry with me anymore..." it finally came out of the brunette's mouth very carefully.
"Lexa, you can't do it like this. Your behavior is inexcusable. You can't just jump around with me as it suits you at the moment. I'm not a toy, and I'm not a trash can. You hurt me very badly."
The addressed heard the pain in that voice and flinched, fear and so many other feelings that could not be put into words reflected in her eyes.
"Can we discuss this somewhere else?" The question was almost a whisper, a breath that left her lips and timidly asked, but the blonde remained steadfast.
"No. I'm not going anywhere with you. If you want to talk, then talk, otherwise I'm leaving now." She walked to the car and was about to unlock the door when Lexa grabbed her by the wrist.
"Wait." She ran a hand through her brown hair.
Clarke fixed Lexa with her gaze.
"I'm waiting." The voice that usually radiated warmth was cold, distant and far away.
Lexa struggled to find the right words and returned the gaze as best she could, but eventually she had to lower it.
"I'm sorry. Clarke."
"That's all you have to say?"
Lexa exhaled audibly.
"No. I was wrong to accuse you. Indra, my bodyguard, told me the caller who alerted the paparazzi wasn't you. The cell phone number didn't match. So I wanted to apologize before I leave tomorrow. I have wronged you and for that I am truly sorry."
As softly as the words had been spoken, they now sounded loud.
"Just say. Nicely, you've confirmed what I already knew anyway." Almost a little defiantly, Clarke looked at her.
Lexa swallowed deeper and deeper and the sadness in her look was clearly visible.
"Clarke, what else am I supposed to do? I can't do more than apologize, can I? And believe me, I'm really, really sorry. It was...a mistake I shouldn't have made. Please forgive me." For what seemed like an eternity, Lexa hadn't apologized to anyone, not properly, not like that. Not because she'd wronged anyone, and it was hard for her to admit she'd been wrong. For the first time in so long.
The blonde looked at her and softened a bit for the brunette.
"I accept your apology."
But before Lexa could exhale in relief, Clarke continued speaking.
"That doesn't change what happened, though. I can't be friends with someone who doesn't trust me, who I don't trust. My friends or I can't just be your scapegoat when you need one right now. I don't want someone like that in my life."
The brunette's eyes gleamed suspiciously, but she nodded and left.