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Lexa couldn't sleep. She had to keep a window open through the night, partially due to the warm spring weather, but if she was absolutely honest (and she would never admit this to anyone), it was a way to trick Lincoln to share the bed with her. Lexa hated the cold and had it been up to her, she would have never put herself in a position where she'd have to sleep under two blankets. Lincoln, on the other hand, physically couldn't stand hot weather and stuffy rooms. On the nights when Lexa didn't want to have a full auditory access to the street, he never came to her and preferred the solitude the couch provided.
Having Lincoln next to her relaxed Lexa, however the noise irritated the hell out of her even through the earplugs. She glanced at the clock - it was almost 3am, she'd been tossing and turning for almost two hours. She didn't want to move from under the covers, but something had to be done about her sleep. She moved her arm searching her bedside table for her iPod, hoping she hadn't forgotten to charge it. The motion disturbed Lincoln, who yawned and jumped off the bed, settling on the floor. Lexa squinted at the screen, the charge was 56%, praise the lord. She put the earphones in, found an ASMR playlist, and lay back. As a sooth male voice started whispering in her ears, she allowed herself to dream about a random girl kissing her neck and her arms touching Lexa's sides. The male voice started to give her tingles. She couldn't hear the street, she was one second away from falling asleep.
Lexa woke up startled and sweaty. She could still hear the male voice in one of her earphones, the other one had dropped out of her ear in her sleep. She cursed under her breath, mad at herself for falling asleep with someone's voice in her head. She felt fazed by her dream and tried to remember what had happened there. Something perilous, weapons, a chase, she tried to put things together, but the harder she tried, the less she could remember. Then she noticed Lincoln, who was standing by the bed with his head slightly tilted and a puzzled look on his snout.
It was 9 am. Lexa felt as if the pup could have given her another half an hour to sleep, but she got up anyway. Without saying anything she walked to the bathroom and cursed under her breath when she saw that she had forgotten to clean off her make-up again. Lincoln cautiously followed her into the bathroom, though he knew that Lexa didn't do mornings and wouldn't be exactly over the moon to see him hurrying her up, however he also needed to make sure she didn't fall asleep on the toilet, because he wanted to have his own bathroom break outside.
Before Lexa could function, she needed to take a double shot of espresso. One gulp made her realize she was up and standing in her kitchen, another gulp made her truly awake. She looked at Lincoln and smiled, "Morning, puppy boy! Jus' gimme five, k?" She quickly brushed her teeth, changed into black skinny jeans, a dark grey sweater, black sneakers and a black coat, and put a leash on Lincoln. She double-checked that she had her phone and poop bags with her, grabbed some treats for the dog and they were out of the door.
As they skipped downstairs, Lexa tried to figure out where to go. All Lincoln's friends walked before 8, so there was no way anyone would be at the dog park by the Modern Art Museum's conservation facilities. They could walk around the block, but that was boring. Lexa was not sure she wanted to give Lincoln the power to decide where to go, but then she had never been a follower of the dominance theory so she saw no harm in letting her teenage pup be the leader this morning. He dragged her to a small park surrounded by apartment buildings, which Lexa didn't really like going to in the mornings because Lincoln got overly excited, and she needed to make a lot of effort almost first thing in the morning.
The chipper dog was pulling her down the park path and Lexa kept asking him nicely to stop, until she lost her temper and pulled him back with a lot of force and controlled anger. She commanded him to stay before they continued on their walk. However, all the training went over Lincoln ears, and he set off to run after a misplaced plastic bag. Before Lexa could furiously yell at him to stop, she saw a blonde, who seemed visibly uncertain about how to proceed her walk given Lincoln's inadequate behavior.
"Sorry, he's friendly, don't worry!" yelled Lexa to the stranger.
"I can see that," she answered with a half smile, looking at Lincoln who had seized the bag and was now tearing it apart with a happy grin.
Lexa was not sure whether she should continue this social interaction. The blonde didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave them, yet she was definitely overdressed for a leisure walk in the park. Lexa had a hard time figuring out what job would have you wear a scarlet tie with tiny giraffes on.
The stranger observed Lincoln for a moment and then asked, "What breed is he?"
It always amazed Lexa to hear that question because he was a very distinctive dog.
"A Bull Terrier."
But then again, maybe the lady was not a dog person. Then why did she stop in the middle of a Friday morning to talk to her?
"I have to go to work," said the blonde.
"Of course," Lexa answered bluntly.
The woman looked her straight in the eyes, which made Lexa feel weird, as if she was supposed to know her from somewhere. She smiled uncomfortably back at her, and then the blonde was gone.
Ever since Lexa got a ten-week-old Lincoln last January, she had to engage in small talk with random strangers all the time. At first, people found him adorable, but now that he was a full-grown bull terrier, Lexa noticed that people were scared of him and she became very protective of her little man.
The stranger didn't comment either way, so Lexa was left slightly puzzled about the encounter. As they walked back home from the park, she kept thinking about that look the blonde had given her.
"Was she hitting on me, whatcha think?" Lexa asked Lincoln.
She was absolutely oblivious to that kind of things.
After giving Lincoln his breakfast, Lexa reluctantly sat at her desk and opened her MacBook. She had a legal translation due Monday, and even though Lexa enjoyed working from home, she missed being a lawyer. She gazed at Lincoln, who was curled up in a ball on a couch, let out an envy sigh and got to work.
Around 4pm Lexa got a heavy buzz in her head and had to stop translating. One of the things her former law career had taught her was working for hours on end. Lincoln looked at her with hope and a smile, which got to her all the time. She was thinking of grabbing a bite, but instead packed a granola bar and an apple for herself, a ball, a water bottle, and turkey treats for the pup, and they were off to the dog park.
They took a long route because Lexa wanted Lincoln to have a proper walk before he could play with his friends. Besides, most of them didn't come to the park before 5. When they arrived, it was too early for anyone to be there, so Lexa tried to teach Lincoln to play fetch. The puppy, however, was more interested in investigating the smells left by other dogs.
"Not much of a player, is he, huh?"
Lexa heard a woman chuckle at yet another failed attempt to get Lincoln to keep his attention on the ball. Her annoyance disappeared once she turned around to see the blonde from this morning standing a few feet away.
"Hi!" was all Lexa could muster.
"Hi!" echoed the blonde.
Lexa tried to think of a clever comeback. Do you always stalk people with dogs? Are you interested in me or my dog? Attack him and you attack me. But while all the thoughts were racing each other in her head, she was standing completely unfazed, staring at the blonde, not blinking, her mouth closed, her jaw clenched. She felt as if this was getting uncomfortable, yet she couldn't do anything to break the silence.
"I work here," the blonde pointed at the conservation facility. "I was on my way home but recognized the dog."
Lexa wondered if the blonde might have sensed a hostile vibe and felt she needed to justify her actions. Lexa wanted to give her a friendly smile, but she realized her face was still frozen. She wanted to say something, to introduce herself at the very least, but her mouth remained closed, and the jaw was tightly clenched. She was afraid the blonde would take this as a "go-away" hint. To her surprise, the woman just squinted her eyes with a slight turn of the head and extended her right hand.
"I'm Clarke."
"Lexa," she shook Clarke's hand.
Now what? Lexa wondered in her head.
Luckily for her, Lincoln's friend German Shepherd Otto came in and started wrestling with Lincoln.
"They always greet each other like that."
"Oh, I was worried they're fighting."
"No, it just seems that way, in fact, they are the best of buds. No one can match their level of energy."
At that moment Otto let out a growl, and Clarke looked concerned.
"They are fine, don't worry."
The dogs started chasing each other. Lexa instinctively reached out for Clarke's arm and motioned her to step out of their way. Embarrassed when she realized that she was holding on to a stranger, she said, "They don't look where they run and can easily crash into your knees."
Clarke smiled as if she didn't mind Lexa's touch. She held her intense gaze, which gave Lexa a blush. She felt her heart stopped beating for a second, until she realized that Otto's Mom was approaching them with an older woman. They exchanged their hellos.
"Have you seen a small mutt? This woman has lost her dog," Otto's Mom said.
Lexa glanced at Clarke, whose face was so full of empathy and concern.
"No, we haven't, sorry," said Lexa before the women walked away looking for the dog.
"We need to help them," said Clarke.
"No, we don't. That woman has been coming here ever since I got Lincoln more than a year ago. At this point I'm not sure there is a dog. I'm suspecting dementia."
"How horrible!" exclaimed Clarke.
"Color me cynical but there is not much we can do even if she did in fact lose her dog more than a year ago."
"No, I mean how horrible it is not to remember that you don't have a dog. Imagine suddenly realizing you've lost your pooch that probably died of an old age twenty years ago!"
"You think that's horrible?" Lexa gave her a pensive look.
For some reason she wanted to share something personal with this complete stranger, but she felt that the desire came from a dark place, mixed with irritation at Clarke's outburst of empathy. She decided to go on nonetheless.
"Back home, when I was a child, I had a friend, Costia." The memory was painful, so Lexa swallowed and clenched her jaw for a moment.
"We were best friends. She used to come over all the time and play with my dogs. My family kept working huskies." The memory of her babies and the sweet smell of home made her smile a genuine smile, which took Clarke by surprise.
"Huskies?" Clarke echoed.
"Yes. They shed a lot, though, and Costia's stepmother was allergic to dogs. We called her the Ice Queen. She forbade Costia to come over, claiming that she brought my dogs' hair on her clothes. Costia loved the pups. She wanted to have her own, but, of course, she couldn't. One day she started this game where she pretended her mitten was a dog. It got a bit out of hand, and other children made fun of her. I tried to protect her from the bullying, but one day the Ice Queen decided that Costia had completely lost her mind, and they moved away."
Lexa hadn't thought about Costia in so long that it felt as if she was retelling a movie plot. She looked at Clarke with a challenge, but really she just felt emotional and didn't want to talk anymore.
"I'm sorry about your friend," offered Clarke.
"Thanks."
"Have you ever heard from her again?"
"Nope." Lexa really punched that "p".
Luckily, Lincoln ran to her rescue, his tongue all white and hanging from his mouth. Lexa reached for his water bottle and saw an apple in her bag. Suddenly, she realized how hungry she was, and her stomach gave out an embarrassingly loud rumble. She offered Clarke an apple, which she politely refused, put away Lincoln's bottle and started gnawing at the apple, so hungry she didn't bother with the manners anymore.
Besides saying hello to the owners of more dogs that came to play, Lexa kept silent. After some time, Clarke took in air as if she was about to say something, and Lexa felt sad that Clarke might leave, yet relieved because she didn't understand why Clarke stayed in the first place. She wanted to ask directly, but Clarke beat her to it.
"I'm gonna go. You two have a good evening."
"Thanks." Lexa's heart sank a little bit, like when the party's over, and you're tired, and you know you need to go home, but you still don't want to. She looked straight into the blonde's blue eyes. "You too."
"I'll see you around."
And in a bold move that took even Lexa herself by surprise, she replied, "I hope so." Clarke stopped in her tracks, but Lexa, realizing that she had just given away too much, avoided looking at her and instead mumbled, "Bye!" and shifted her gaze to Lincoln chasing Otto.