Ch. 8: The Reality of Nightmares
The sun began to shine in through the silk curtains in the candlelit bedroom. Birds started singing their morning songs, and a cool breeze escaped through the cracks in the windowsills.
Everything felt perfect.
Clarke slowly opened her eyes and breathed in the fresh morning air. The first thought that came to her mind was Lexa. Lexa… my God… Lexa. Where did she begin?! She thought about their amazing night together, even though it didn't start the way she had hoped, it definitely ended better than she had pictured it in her dreams. She loved Lexa. And Lexa loved her. And she needed nothing else.
She was ready to turn over her shoulder to see that beautiful face she had thought about countless times. The one she had drawn in her journal. The one she had she just proclaimed her love for…
Okay, Clarke. Ready? Anddd… tur- NO! WAIT! I hope I don't have morning breath… Oh god, what if my hair is a mess… I probably have bags under my eyes. Ugh. Screw it. Just turn.
"Good morni-."
Clarke turned to the spot where Lexa laid.
The problem, however, was that she was not there.
"Lexa?"
Clarke looked around the room, wondering what might have happened to her.
Where did that girl go? Oh no… what if she couldn't handle being together? What if I scared her? What if she is being kidnapped or something like that. Wait. Come on, Clarke. Don't be ridiculous. Lexa's too much of a badass for anything like that to happen to her… still… where is she?
In the middle of Clarke mentally torturing herself, Lexa pushed open her chamber door with her hip whilst holding a clump of arrows and laid them down on the circular table in the middle of the room.
"Oh, there you are." Clarke said, cheerfully, and let out a long sigh.
"Ah. I see you are up. Finally. How are you feeling?" Lexa's voice sounded very cold and stern. She did not look at Clarke at all. She appeared to be fixated on sharpening the tips of the arrowheads she had just brought in.
"Never better, to be honest. How are you?"
"Tired."
"Haha, I bet you are after last night." Clarke giggled to herself and waited for a witty response back.
"Yes. As I'm sure you can imagine, hunting is a very tedious and exhausting job."
"Hunting? Oh… I see your little game, okay… we are talking in code, huh?" She whispered and continued to giggle.
Lexa paused and looked up at Clarke questionably.
"Clarke, I am not sure what you are trying to explain to me."
She put down her sharpening tool and moved over to a faucet where she started preparing a bowl of soup.
"If you don't think hunting is hard work then maybe you should join the hunting party tonight after your ankle heals up." She gave the blonde a long glare and went back to her work.
"Foot? What? What are you talking about? Lexa, is everything alright? If this is about last night, I guess I'm sorry for moving to quickly, or…"
"You should be sorry. You were foolish for running too fast."
"Oh my gosh. Lexa, I thought we talked about this." Clarke hid her face in her hands. She did not want to have this fight again. Not after how well everything went.
"Like I said, I'm not sure what you are talking about. We had no such conversation. You passed out before we could even talk. Remember?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
Looking people in the eye was obviously not Lexa's forte.
"Passed out. What?"
Lexa looked up from her bowl.
"Hmph. You really don't remember do you? Well, the healer did say that you could have some memory issues. What do you remember?"
A wave of fear hit Clarke. She felt paralyzed. Had she really dreamt everything up?
"Uh… I… I can't believe this is happening. Did I get in an accident of some sort?"
"I'll take that as a 'no.' You and I were running away from the beast-."
"Pauna. Yeah, I know." Clarke bit her finger nails in anticipation."
"Good. You remember that much, at least. Anyway, you tried to escape by jumping off a cliff and sprained your ankle badly." Lexa's voice was dry, and dull. She obviously felt no sympathy.
"Oh my god. You're kidding."
"A Commander doesn't have time to 'kid.'"
"So, then explain how I got into your bed?!"
"I had my guards carry you. There wasn't enough room in the infirmary and we couldn't let you stay in a normal tent since the conditions aren't fit for medical situations. Therefore, I told them to bring you here since you are an ambassador and one of my most trusted members. You don't seem to be the brightest, though." She whispered under her breath and poured some spices into the bowl.
"Well, then… where did you sleep?"
"A Commander has many rooms, Clarke."
The blonde felt tears swelling in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she way hearing. No way.
"It was all a dream…?" She said softly with heartbreak in her voice. She stared at the sheets in her lap and felt cold inside.
She had been set back to square one. She never told Lexa she loved her. They never kissed. They never slept together. They never shared their feelings, and worst of all…. Lexa never really loved her…
"Wow, you did fall hard." Lexa said, after looking at her blank expression.
"You have no idea.…" Clarke sat there. Frozen. Tears dripping down her face as she looked off into the distance.
Lexa sighed, rolled her eyes and moved over with the soup to where Clarke was sitting.
"Here. Drink. I'm going to need you strong and ready if you are going to hunt tonight."
Clarke sucked up her tears and turned her head away from the brunette.
"I don't want any soup."
"Trust me. It will make you feel better."
"I said 'no.'"
Lexa let out a deep sigh.
"Fine."
The girls sat there for at least thirty seconds as the room filled with awkward silence.
"You don't have to eat it right now."
"I'll just leave it here…"
Lexa slowly started leaning over Clarke.
"On the side…."
She placed the soup down next to her.
"For you to have… later." She whispered in her ear as she straddled her.
Clarke looked back at Lexa with confusion, who was basically on top of her this point.
Lexa placed a deep kiss and smiled into it as she brushed her hand on the side of Clarke's face.
Clarke relaxed and let out a little moan, but then processed everything that was happening one second later.
"Oh my gosh, you ass!" Clarke pushed the other girl off of her and stood up out of bed.
Lexa was dying of laughter. "I can't believe you actually fell for that." She gave Clarke one of her infamous, rare smiles and kissed her again.
"I can't believe you did that! Who the hell does that! You don't just make love to someone the night before and then the next morning just up and leave to go and plot a made up story!"
"And for some reason, you can't stop loving me." She laughed to herself. "Admit it… it was pretty genius."
"Ugh." She smiled. "Don't ever do that again." She grabbed Lexa by her belt and quickly pulled her into her embrace as she kissed her again and again.
Lexa didn't want to pull away, but she needed to say one more thing.
"Clarke, wait… I didn't just pull this elaborate prank on you only for laughs, which I'll admit is great. But… I did it so I could give myself time to think about how to ask you this question."
She looked down at her feet with embarrassment. Clarke pulled her chin back up.
"Hey, it's okay. You know you can ask or tell me anything."
Lexa gave Clarke a deep stare that gave her goosebumps.
"I feel like I should ask you this properly. I've been reading books about-."
"You read?"
"Yes, I read. Now let me finish. I've been reading books about how your people court one another and-."
"Commander?! Are you asking me out on a date?" Clarke gave her a coy look.
"I… well… sort of. I want to ask you to officially… be my girlfriend."
Clarke tried so hard to hide her excitement.
"Hmmm. I don't know. You did just try and make me think I dreamt our whole relationship."
Lexa looked back down at the floor.
Clarke could see her thoughts pacing back in forth in her head and smiled.
"What do you think?"
Clarke kissed Lexa once more, but this time, neither one pulled away until they ran out of breath.
Then Lexa pulled Clarke into a hug and whispered into her ear.
"Never leave me…"
"I can't."
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Thank you so much for reading this story! I hope you enjoyed it! PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS/CRITIQUES! I'M HOPELESS! On a side note, I do not plan on continuing this particular story in any way (unless I wake up with an epiphany of some sort and I need to add on which will probably never happen). I do however, plan on writing more stories in the future. Again, thank you so much, and have a fantastic day!
Translations:
Skaikru….Sky Crew
Shot op… Shut up
Osir laik odon talking. Bants me….We are done talking. Leave me.
Skai gona…..Sky girl
Heda! Laik yu hirt?…Heda! Are you hurt?
No, Briku. Bak op. Ai laik fine.….No, Briku. Go back. I am fine.
