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Chapter 7
The next morning Clara woke up and knew that she had made a decision. If these people had truly accepted her as a part of their family, even though they had only known each other for a few days, she would do the exact same thing. Clara would try her best to fit in, even if it went against everything she had been taught as a child, even if it seemed strange or foreign to her – she owed it to these people, who had immediately accepted her into their home, to at least try. And that was the reason why she had come to America in the first place, right? To find her own way, to distance herself from her parents' views and Clara would never achieve that if she didn't experiment. She already knew what she didn't want and that was the kind of life her parents could provide her with. Now it was about time she tried to figure out what exactly it was that she wanted.
That was how she found herself getting up at 7 am and walking down to the lake, dressed in nothing but a towel. The Doctor was already in the water and he seemed surprised to see her.
"Clara," he blurted out, "Did the rail break off again or why are you down here so early?"
Clara took a deep breath as he raised his eyebrows at her. It was now or never, but she couldn't help feeling a little nervous about what she was going to do.
"You were right," Clara said eventually, "Swimming in the nude is completely natural and shouldn't be a big deal. Yet all my life my teachers and my parents have taught me that it's bad and no one but my husband should ever see me naked. But it's just skin, right?"
"Right?" the Doctor replied hesitantly, as if he suddenly wasn't so sure himself, or wasn't sure why she was asking at all.
"Good," she concluded, sounding a little out of breath because of her nervousness, "And I did come to America to leave that all behind, and that includes their old fashioned views. So. . ."
Before she could change her mind about it Clara dropped her towel in the sand and the Doctor's mouth opened as if he was about to say something but never did. She was standing completely naked in front of him and it made her feel vulnerable, but also oddly. . . free. Ignoring the Doctor's confused glance that never left her, she stepped into the lake.
"Uhh," Clara uttered once the water engulfed her completely, "You didn't mention that it was cold."
Despite that, it was an amazing feeling on her bare skin, almost like being in a bathtub, just better, and now that her body was covered again the Doctor's eyes had left her and he chuckled next to her.
"I would have warned you but you kinda took me by surprise," he admitted, now swimming up to her. Clara threw him a smile as they both headed away from the beach.
OOO
The Doctor handed out another bottle of beer to everyone at the table before he sank down on the sofa with a sigh. They had been playing card games for two hours until Melody had started to yawn. When Amy came back downstairs from putting her daughter so sleep she clapped her hands excitedly.
"Alright," she announced, "Let's bring out the adult games now."
Martha finished her first bottle of beer and placed it sideways on the coffee table. "Who's going to start?"
"Well, Clara of course," Amy pointed towards their new flatmate.
When the Doctor glanced in her direction he noticed that she looked a little shocked. "I, uhm, I'm afraid I don't know the rules," Clara admitted sheepishly.
"Oh, that's simple," Amy explained, "You spin the bottle and whoever it points to has to pick either truth or dare. If they choose truth, you ask them a question. If they choose dare you can tell them to do a funny thing that we can all laugh about."
Clara giggled nervously. "Okay, that sounds easy enough."
She leaned forward and spun the bottle. After taking a couple of turns on the wooden table it finally stopped, pointing at Rory.
He looked warily around the table. "If this is going to be another kiss-the-person-to-your-right, I'd like to be reseated."
The Doctor laughed, remembering that evening all too well where Amy had made Rory kiss him and everyone had howled with laughter.
"What? Am I not a good kisser?" the Doctor asked jokingly, "I'm trying very hard not to be insulted right now."
"You know what I mean," Rory growled, "I choose truth. Seems less dangerous with these people."
Clara, who had looked very confused while they had shared their memories, seemed to regain her posture. "Alright, uhm," she paused, "How was your first kiss?"
Amy broke out into laughter before everyone else while Rory still looked very uncomfortable.
"Not funny," Rory reminded her strictly.
"He bit my lip," Amy answered for him, still laughing.
"I was surprised, okay? It wasn't intentional," he said defensively before he bent forward and spun the bottle again. It pointed to Amy.
"Oh, that screams revenge," she sniggered, "I choose dare."
"I dare you," Rory hesitated, "To kiss me."
The Doctor, along with the rest of the group, uttered an awww when they kissed until Amy suddenly cursed and jerked back because Rory had bitten her lip again out of revenge. Still laughing Amy turned the bottle.
"Clara!" Amy exclaimed, "Truth or dare?"
"I'll go with truth," she decided.
"Have you ever kissed a girl?"
Clara hesitated for a long moment before she mumbled something only the Doctor, who was sitting right next to her, could understand.
"Was that a yes?" Martha asked, looking intrigued.
"Yes. I kissed my friend Nina, back at school," she admitted. After the chuckling had subsided she spun the bottle again that ended up pointing to Martha.
"Truth! Always truth!"
"Name a secret place where you'd like to do it," Clara prompted her.
The Doctor could see Martha blush and look down at her feet. "I don't know about secret, but a swing seems. . . interesting."
"Maybe interesting," Amy said, "But not really practical."
"Amy!" Rory scolded her with his looks.
"What? Let others benefit from our experience. Having sex on a swing is only nice as long as you actually stay on the swing. I had bruises for weeks," she said and everyone laughed.
When Martha spun the bottle the end pointed at Amy again.
"Truth," she said.
"Mhhhhhh," Martha seemed to consider it, "What's the most exotic place you've ever done it in?"
"Do handjobs count?" Amy asked back and when Martha shrugged, everyone interpreted it as a yes, "Okay, then I'm going to go with prison cell."
"What?" Clara blurted out.
"Well," Amy hesitated while Rory buried his face in his hands, "I was bored after they had arrested us during that protest. They had us wait in there for three hours."
Everyone laughed and when Amy turned the bottle and it pointed towards the Doctor he knew that this wouldn't go down well. He could already see the evil twinkling in her eyes that didn't bode well for him. If he chose truth, she would make him admit that he liked Clara. If he chose dare who knows what might happen.
"Dare," he decided after a moment of consideration.
Amy gave him the falsest smile. "I dare you to kiss Clara. On the mouth."
He should have known and yet there was a tiny part of him that was pleased. He would really like to kiss Clara but when he turned around to look at her, the Doctor noticed that she seemed slightly scared.
"You don't have to," he told her immediately, "If you don't want."
"Nonsense!" Amy shouted, "It's just a kiss. It's not like I've asked you to make babies in front of us. Come on."
Clara took a deep breath and granted him a light smile. "Alright," she agreed breathlessly, "It's just a kiss."
The Doctor cleared his throat and raised his hand to Clara's cheek. Her skin was so soft that he was almost tempted to caress her and only now he noticed how nervous he actually was. Before either of them could change their mind the Doctor bent forward, closed his eyes and brushed their lips together. The moment they touched he knew that he wanted more. He wanted to open his mouth, to taste her, pull her closer but Clara suddenly jerked back and put some distance between the two of them.
Once the Doctor had put his scrambled mind back in place, he cleared his throat again, brushing aside every thought of Clara. This kiss was as close as he would ever get to her. With a sigh he bent forward and spun the bottle.
