Chapter 11
Clarke wonders what one does in a situation like this, if she’s already tipped the scale too far into the creep zone to come back from it. The seconds tick away for them slowly under the white light of the Emergency Room. Somehow, the most interesting stories of her life were drawn up in this sterile place most people try their best to stay away from.
“I just…” She wants to show Lexa with her hands when her voice doesn’t work. But they’re slightly clammy and not so expressive as she’d like.“You were my first girlfriend, did you know?” The words leave her brain as a question but fall off her lips sounding like a confession.
“This is the first that I’m hearing about this.”
“You—” She points at the chair like it would come to life and speak to Lexa. “You gave me a band-aid when I came in for a bee sting.” Clarke looks down at the hand in question, wondering if she’s gone mad.
“Did it help?” Lexa tilts her head curiously, giving nothing away. She’s either deadly serious or playing cute. Both situation make Clarke want to wrangle a bull with her bare hands.
“Yes,” she answers firmly. All those years of study and treating patients have somehow culminated to this idea that a band-aid can cure anything if a cute girl offers it to you. The feeling of shame eludes her when she spots that slight upturn of Lexa’s lips.
“Do you only like me for that memory?”
“What?”
“That memory of us as kids. The one that I don’t have. Is that all?”
It’s true that Lexa doesn’t own a share of that particular memory Clarke’s been hanging onto. But they’ve been on many misadventures inside a cab together, and that should count for something.
“I guess I’ve been too caught up in this idea of romance that I—-”
“Is this not romance?”
She feels a gentle touch on her finger, ghosting the spot where the bee stung her. Lexa clears her throat and withdraws her hand the second Clarke looks down. It’s definitely not unromantic the way she makes Clarke feel.
“I did bring you flowers,” she answers smartly.
“And I paid for your cab ride.” That, Lexa did do.
If there is ever an opportune moment to lean in for a kiss, Clarke knows that it is now. The front desk is presently unoccupied by peering eyes and Lexa is smiling at her sweetly.
“If I kiss you right now, promise me that you’ll remember it on your entire plane ride.” Feeling bold, she leans in. Her heart thuds painfully in her chest, but the pull of attraction between them is even stronger. She closes her eyes and thinks about a pretty girl in a bakery with the soft sound of string instruments in the background.
An objecting finger shoots up between their lips and draws her out of her reverie.
“When I come back. I would hate to kiss you and leave.”
So Lexa turns around and doesn’t kiss her and leaves.