Chapter 2
"There's so much testosterone in the air tonight" Tess said as her and the others was watching Nick and Alex making each other sweat on the tennis court. "You know how boys are" Claire said and took another sip of her beer before getting up from the chair. "Are you guys done soon, so we others can get in as well?" she asked. "Yeah yeah, in a minute" Alex said without taking his eyes of ball, he was too busy proving he was a better player than Nick. Claire placed herself in the chair again and let out a loud sigh - There was no tennis playing tonight. "I'm gonna go prepare the salad" Meg said "If they even have time and room to eat after this" she continued and got up from the chair. Tess smiled and shook her head.
"This is getting kinda boring, I'll go help mum" Jodi said and quickly followed Meg into the house. "Oi Jodi, wait up - I need to grab a round of beers" Becky said and got on her feet, gathering the empty bottles on the table before making her way to the kitchen. For a moment Tess and Claire sat in silence, watching the boys play and curse at each other, competing like they had done their entire life.
"Claire …" Tess suddenly said and broke the silence. A mmh sound from Claire was all she got, it was her way of saying she wasn't much for talking right now but something had been troubling her since the morning and she needed to know whether or not there was anything in it. "You and Alex" Tess continued, making Claire turn her head looking like a questionmark. "There's no me and Alex" Claire said, feeling her heart sink a bit. There wasn't any her and Alex but did she want there to be? Her mind started to wander off and she was back to the moment earlier, the moment she had promised herself to forget about. "Aren't there?" Tess asked, doubting that Claire was telling the truth. "Tess, what are you on about?" Claire asked, knowing Tess was referring to the same moment Claire was trying to forget ever happened.
"It just seemed like there was something going on between you and Alex after the stallion disappeared and I don't want to get in the way of that" Tess said. She had always felt like there was this unspoken thing going on between Alex and Claire, ever since she had gotten there she had felt it but none of them acted on it, so she had started to question herself, whether it was her imagination or not, especially when Alex seemed to be taking an interest in her. Claire turned to look at Alex and then at Tess. Truth be told, she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted something to be going on or not but taken that Alex had been acting like himself all night, she didn't wanted to give it more thought.
"Look, me and Alex are mates and that's it" Claire said as convincing as she could, feeling her heart sink again. It ached her more than she thought it would, she wasn't even sure how she felt but the spoken words hit her in a way she hadn't seen coming. She was on the verge to cry, which didn't make the situation better and she knew she had to get out of there before Tess was back at asking because that was without a doubt something that would happen.
"I'm gonna see what's taking Becky so long and I'll think we'll start on the food soon" Claire said and got up in a hurry, hoping Tess wouldn't suspect anything.
"So, what's the big deal?" Alex asked and placed himself beside Claire on the porch. Claire turned to face him, startled by his presence. "What do you mean?" She asked with a smile, reaching for the beer he was holding out to her.
"You've been quiet all night" he said and watched her take a sip of the beer. Being this close to her made his mind wander off to what happened earlier. He felt something move inside of him, she did as well he knew she did and it was a feeling he hadn't been able to shake off. "Just a long day" Claire stated with a smile and looked his way. He seemed worried, troubled even and she could feel the tension she had experienced both in the chopper and when he helped her up from the ground.
"You know, earlier .." Alex said and stopped. He wasn't sure how to go around it and say what was on his mind. "When you called me a bloody idiot?" Claire said, trying to joke as she felt out of place being captured in this tension or whatever it was between them. Alex laughed and pushed to her knee with his. "You were a bloody idiot!" he stated and shook on his head before sipping on his beer again. "Yeah, it was a close one" Claire said and turned her focus to the night sky. She could have been seriously injured, she knew that.
"No but really, it was a very stupid thing to do Claire" Alex said and suddenly his voice was deep and serious, not a trace of joking to find. "I've been thinking all day, about what happened" he continued but stopped, feeling how much it hurt to only think of what could have happened to her. "You could have gotten badly hurt out there, Claire"
"I'm fine" Claire said with a low voice as she turned to look at him once again. "I could have lost you Claire …" He stopped, feeling a vale of sadness cover his heart. It was dark thoughts and thoughts he could do without. "Alex I'm okay, you didn't lose me" She said and felt how his worried and hurt look embraced her heart, making it dance knowing he cared. "But I could have and .." Alex stopped and looked down at his feet. He had a plan in his head, he knew what to say and do but so far he had skipped half of it, it was much harder sitting in front of Claire and tell her about his feelings than he had thought. It didn't come as total surprise taking he wasn't much of a talker, let alone a feeling talker. "I just don't want to lose you" he said and looked back up, tears slowly gathering in his eyes, leaving Claire speechless. She had never seen Alex this way before and his watery eyes started to affect her as well. Everything that had happened this morning started to find it's way back to her and she realised, perhaps for the first time today that she could have gotten badly injured, worst case scenario, she could have died and the fact that Alex Ryan was sitting in front of her, telling her he didn't wanted to lose her was the breaking point for her - It was then she realised, that the flame she had been trying to kill had existed throughout all of the years of knowing him.
A tear started to fall from her eye, leaving a trail of water on her cheek. She quickly turned her head away from Alex, not wanting him to see her cry. "No, don't" he said with a pleading voice and placed his hand on her cheek, gently making her turn her head. "Look at me. Don't turn away" he said with a deep low voice and tears gathering more and more in her eyes. He kept his hand on her cheek, studying every detail in her face, details he hadn't notice before now. She was beautiful, really beautiful - He hadn't seen her like this before, not until now. His thumb dried away a tear at the corner of her mouth before he moved it to her lower lip, feeling the softness on his skin, almost as a blanket of feathers. He leant in, closing the distance between them, only inches was between them now and he could feel her breath on his face. Her breathing was getting heavier and she felt her heart starting to beat faster than ever before, his touch made everything inside of her scream and every cell in her body danced. "Can I … Kiss you?" he asked, still piercing his eyes into hers. She nodded, unable to speak.
Their kiss was like two pieces that fit together perfectly, it was a strong force yet controlled and gentle. Alex fumbled with his hand to find the beer Claire was holding on to, he placed is between their feet without looking as he found it and moved closer to Claire, closing the last bit of distance between their bodies. In the heat of the moment he accidentally knocked the beer over with his foot as he pulled himself closer. The beer was running in a heavy stream down the bit of grass in front of the porch. They pulled away from each other, out of breath from the kisses they had shared. Alex was still holding his hand on her cheek, feeling electrified from the moment they just shared. He couldn't take his eyes of her, all he wanted was being as close to her as possible.
Claire tried grasping her head around what had happened as she allowed herself to escape to the beautiful ocean blue eyes that was looking at her, and not just looking, really looking - looking at her in a way no one had ever looked at her before. It made her feel shy and out of place and she felt her cheeks turn red. She then started to laugh, not knowing how to tackle this obscure situation she and Alex was in the middle off. He started to wonder what she was laughing at but her contagious laugh forced a smile on his lips. "What?" he asked, still captured by the beauty he saw in front of him. "This" Claire said and took her eyes off him. The last 5 minutes felt surreal and she wasn't sure if they really had happened or if she had dreamt it all. "Am I this bad of a kisser huh?" Alex asked with a teasing tone of voice, making Claire turn her head still laughing. She stopped as she caught his eyes again. No. Alex wasn't a bad kisser, it was the best kiss she had ever had, she had never felt this way before. She gently shook her head with a crooked smile "No" was the only thing she said and then she tilted her head slightly to the side, trying to capture every inch of him from every possible angle. "Did I hear that right?" Alex said and acted like he was blown away. "Claire McLeod thinks I, Alex Ryan is good at something - Well, what about that" he continued making Claire laugh even harder. The laughing stopped and an feeling of awkwardness started to find them, they just shared their first kiss and none of them new where to go from there. Claire smiled at him nervously trying to figure out what to say but she was lost for words. She was in a position she had no knowledge about, at least not with Alex Ryan. Alex as well was left speechless for once and for the first time in his life he didn't know how to act in front of a woman, he didn't know how to act in front of Claire - It was like everything had changed between them. All he wanted was to pull her close again, put his lips on hers and hold her tight but to much annoyment Nick's heavy steps interrupted them from behind.
"You ready to leave?" He asked as he was standing a few steps away from them unaware what had happened between the two of them minutes ago. Alex looked at Claire, hoping to get some kind of signal from her - he couldn't just leave like this, they had to talk but Claire just smiled and got on her feet quicker than he liked. "I suppose…" Alex said and gazed at Claire one final time, hoping to catch her eyes but no luck. She turned around with the comment "Goodnight boys" before entering the house.
"What?" Alex asked as Nick kept looking at him. Nick smiled, feeling something was going on but Alex wasn't in the mood to explain things, he couldn't even explain things to himself. "You coming or what?" Alex asked with his back to Nick as he started to leave the porch. "Yeah yeah" Nick said and shook his head, wondering why Alex was in a hurry all of the sudden.
