Chapter 10
Clarke had gone home after the conversation, too tired to think about anything, so she went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a new day.
Lexa, on the other hand, had returned to the hotel upset. She had gotten her hopes up, albeit a small one, that she could salvage things with Clarke. But the blonde was right, she had deceived her. She hadn't believed her, hadn't trusted her words. She understood why this one wanted no more contact. She could slap herself for it, tomorrow she would leave and probably never see the beauty with blue eyes deeper than any ocean again, even if she wished for nothing more.
Early the next morning Indra came to pick her up, her flight would leave in a few hours, back to an everyday life that was everything but normal, not what you imagined an everyday life to be. They shot every day, the first few weeks had been difficult, she could barely concentrate, but after that she decided to focus only on the film, she would block out everything else. She could no longer afford any distractions, yet her thoughts kept returning to a certain blonde woman.
The next morning, Clarke's alarm clock rang. Suddenly yesterday was back, she wanted to block it out, she wanted everything to be back to normal. But she couldn't and Lexa did what she did, there was no way back. She was still so angry at her, at everything she had accused her of. How could she betray her? Give the lie to their friendship? They had managed to build a bond, but apparently only she had felt that way and the kiss had meant nothing. She couldn't explain the brunette's reaction any other way.
She decided to forget those almost 2 weeks and go on with her life.
And she did, she kept going to parties with Octavia and after a while Raven joined them, they had managed to settle their differences. The Latina had understood that Clarke had indeed known nothing about a girlfriend and had given Finn a piece of her mind, typical Reyes. After that, he hadn't shown his face again. Which was the best thing for everyone involved.
Almost 1 year later
Clarke approached her two friends laughing and waving a small note in her hand. Despite the flickering strobe light and the darkness around them, the two could see what it was.
"Oh man, how do you do that? What's her name?" wanted Octavia to know.
There was a cell phone number written on the small piece of paper.
"Good question, I think Niylah. Because of the music, I barely understood her." She looked again. "Yep, at least it says so right here."
The music was booming in their ears and they were almost yelling at each other.
Raven high-fived them. "Gee Clarki old house, you don't leave anything burning. Who is it?"
The addressed pointed toward the bar.
"The blonde bartender."
"Not bad, when will you see each other again?" inquired Reyes.
Octavia answered in Clarke's place.
"Right now, behind the bar they're making out and then in the bathrooms there's more going on, what do you think?" Raven punched O` in the side and rolled his eyes.
"Now can someone answer that doesn`t just make stupid comments?"
The other two laughed, but then Clarke relented.
"I don't know. I'll definitely write her today or tomorrow and see."
Lexa studied the shooting schedule as she paced the room, slightly agitated; in a few days she would return and thus be close to Clarke. For that long she had tried not to think about her or her blue eyes, and by now she wasn't doing too badly. She didn't want to be reminded of what she had broken, but she would have to comply.
"Are you sure you want to do the stunt yourself?" The coordinator in charge asked her.
Lexa nodded. "I've done every stunt myself so far, and I don't plan to stop."
She was in a former gorilla enclosure that had been specially made to look as old and creepy as possible. It resembled an apocalypse and, at least in the movies, a giant, irradiated and thus mutated gorilla would chase her and she would have to flee. In front of her was a railing, from which she would have to jump down to safety. She had a black uniform on and swords on her back to defend herself. She had taken extra lessons for this so that the fight scenes would look as real as possible.
"Action!"
Before she jumped, she tried again to gauge the distance between the railing and the wall in front of her, but she failed and landed with her left shoulder in the wall. A cry of pain escaped her and immediately a paramedic was on the scene to examine her.
"I think she merely dislocated her shoulder, but it could also be a sprain. To be safe, we need to take her to a hospital. The closest one is Arcadia Memorial Hospital. "
Everyone present nodded, but the brunette immediately felt different, she didn't want to go there, but she also knew that she would have to explain if she asked to be taken to another hospital and she couldn't do that. Her feelings were split, on the one hand she hoped that she would meet the blonde beauty and on the other hand she was afraid of exactly that. How would she react?
Clarke was just starting her shift, outside the door of the hospital there were many people taking pictures, confused she stepped inside and asked the nurse on duty about the circumstances.
"Maya? What's going on? What are all these photographers doing here?"
The latter waved her off.
"Oh, some celebrity got hurt and is waiting for treatment right now. All the other doctors are busy right now though, several emergencies came in an hour ago and they're more important." Maya merely shrugged her shoulders. "Could you leave for a minute? Otherwise we'll end up being sued for pain and suffering." The nurse laughed and Clarke had to grin as well. The latter nodded and made her way to the appropriate cubicle to perform the examination.
With the clipboard in front of her eyes, the blonde had entered and had not yet looked at the patient lying on a bed in front of her. "So, suspect a dislocated shoulder or a sprain, then I'll take a look right away."
When she finally looked up from the board, she saw into two green eyes that silently eyed her.
"Lexa..." came out of Clarke's mouth in surprise.
"Hey. Clarke." Reluctantly, the latter replied.
After that, silence prevailed again while the doctor took a close look at everything and performed various exercises. Routinely, safely and quite professionally distanced the situation was handled. Except for the few instructions she gave the brunette, which she immediately followed, silence reigned.
"The shoulder is merely dislocated, but we'll have to put it back in and it's going to hurt."
Mutely, the addressed nodded.
"1...2...3" with a jerk she was put back in place.
Groaning in pain Lexa held her shoulder, this had hurt more than she had thought.
"I'll prescribe you a mild painkiller, just for a few days, if the shoulder still hurts or swells by then, you'll come back here. At least 1 week of rest, however you manage that, stay away from it for a moment."
The blonde turned to leave, but that's when the brunette took the floor again.
"It happened during a stunt, we're shooting here for a few days and I misjudged the distance to the floor and the wall. The wall won." She only whispered her words, but Clarke, who had already had the handle in her hand, paused and turned her head back slightly.
"Better take care of yourself next time, then," she whispered, and even more quietly she added. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
After that she disappeared, leaving Lexa surprised. Lexa didn't know how to interpret her words, she could clearly feel that everything was not fine between them, she wanted to fix it, but she didn't know how. The distance between them was almost too much for her to bear. She didn't know if she would have preferred Clarke to yell at her, but this state now was unbearable.
Therefore, she picked up her painkiller, with the prescription Clarke had given her earlier, at the hospital pharmacy and then called the production. This was not enthusiastic, but instruction was instruction, then they would now shoot the scenes that go without her.
"So, how was our starlet?" wanted Maya to know.
"I've known her for a while, so same as always." Clarke just shrugged.
"Why didn't you ever mention that?"
"Why would I?" again she shrugged.
"She's famous, isn't that reason enough?"
"No, we were friends, but that was a while ago."
"Tell me," Maya prompted her, "why were and not are?"
"I mean no offense, but that's between her and me."
After that, the blonde went and examined the next patients.
When she stepped out of the hospital door in the evening, every one of her muscles ached, she stretched, but that helped only a little. She was unlocking her car when it began to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled out her cell phone and an unknown number appeared on the display. Suspicious, she answered the phone and immediately recognized the voice on the other end.
"Clarke? Could you come over? I'd love to talk to you, but I'm under siege here and almost can't get away."
The woman being addressed remained silent, thinking.
"Please." You could hear the pleading, the desire to clear up something that had been an issue for so long.
Finally, the blonde agreed. Relieved, Lexa exhaled.
"Good, you're already on the list, there shouldn't be any problems."
Arriving at the hotel, she went straight to the elevators, passing Roan Prince, who was on duty again, and nodded to him.
At the top floor, she got off and knocked on the door. A dark-skinned woman opened it and blocked her way. With a look that would frighten even the biggest and strongest men, she was observed.
"Indra. Let her through." Lexa's voice brooked no argument.
The latter stepped to the side and let Clarke enter.
"Now leave us alone."
"But Lexa..." The dark-skinned one got no further, she was interrupted directly.
"Go."
Reluctantly, she walked out the door, but not before giving Clarke a disapproving look that clearly said if anything happened to Lexa, something unspeakable would happen to the blonde.
As soon as the two were alone, the expression in the eyes that had just exuded power changed, becoming soft and hopeful.
"Is something wrong with your shoulder?" worried Clarke, quite the doctor she was.
The hopeful expression disappeared and something else, indefinable, took its place.
"No, she's almost fine, I wanted to talk to you about something else."
The two sat down next to each other on the bed.
"I know I made a big mistake then and I'm still sorry."
Filled with sorrow, she looked at Clarke, who remained silent.
"There are many reasons why I reacted the way I did then, and actually I owe you an explanation, but I can't. I can't do it, as much as I want to. Still, I want nothing more than to make it up to you, to finally be friends again. I've missed you."
She avoided the blonde's gaze, instead looking down at the floor, she looked vulnerable, much more vulnerable than Clarke had ever seen her, it was a stark contrast to how she had been to Indra before. She would have loved to take Lexa in her arms, but something held her back.
"Thank you for staying." The latter now addressed the word to her
"I stayed because it was the right thing to do." The blonde now looked the brunette firmly in the eyes before continuing.
"If you accuse me again..." Lexa interrupted her immediately. "Never. I swear to you that I will always believe you and never doubt you again." The brunette looked at her with a firm and convinced expression on her face. "Can we be friends again?"