Chapter 5
When Claire and Alex pulled up at Drovers, Claire suddenly started feeling like she was 16 egain and was just coming home from a date with a really cute boy. She looked at Alex and smiled at the possibility of characterizing him as cute.
'What?" Alex asked a little confused, but Claire had no inention of telling him what was going on inside her head.
"Nothing." she replied still smiling and once again started looking at Alex with an unidentified affection.
"OK, you have to stop looking at me like that. You're scaring me Claire." he said, still a little bit confused and not sure what was hiding behind Claire's mysterious glance.
"I'm sorrry, does that bother you?" she decided to tease him for a little while.
"Well, usually when a woman looks at me with that much intensity, it's because she wasnts to get some lovin'"
"God Alex, you are so full of yourself! And here I was thinking than you can be a gentleman for a couple of seconds." she said and looked at him with reproach, but he knew that she was just joking. And she knew he wasn't totally serious about the lovin' thing either.
"OK, then let me make it up to you." he suggested after a while. "I will walk you to your door."
"But I thought that only happened on dates, and if I remember correctly we are not on a date." Claire reminded him, as if trying to make sure he didn't get any ideas.
"Yes I know, but I have to make up for my comments that you did not appreciate." he said in a serious tone, but Claire couldn't stop laughing anyway. "You really are cute, Alex." she said remembering her previous thoughts.
"What?" of course he didn't have a slightest idea of what she was talking about.
"Nevermind." she siad still laughing.
"You're a mysterious woman, Claire McLeod."
"Yeah, mystery is my second name." she winked at him and opened the door. "So, are you walking me or not?"
"Yes, yes, of course I am." he jumped out of the car, but didn't manage to get the door open for Claire anyway. "I was supposed to do that." he looked at Claire meaningfully.
"I am perfectly capable of opening the door for myself." she stated.
"That's not the point Claire and you know it." he looked to be a little hurt, but of course Claire knew that he was just pretending to tease her. She sent him a 'Get over yourself' look and started walking towards the house. He soon followed her and when they reached the door, they stopped for a moment, looking at each other a little bit uncomfortably. That is not the way all of their previous "outings" used to end. There has never been any nervousness, no wondering what to do or what to say. They always seemed to know exactly how to behave in each other's company. But this time it was different, and even though neither of them wanted to admit it, they both had a pretty good idea of why they felt the way they did. And as much as they wanted to deny or fight those feelings, some things are just the way they are and you can't do anything about them.
"So that was a lovely evening, Ms. McLeod." Alex finally spoke as he extended his hand towards her.
"It sure was, Mr. Ryan." she smiled as she took his hand to shake it. As soon as she did, a shiver ran through her entire body. Alex felt it too and looked into Claire's eyes, but she slowly removed her hand from his grip. She was this 16-year old girl again and Alex was this cute boy and for the first time in a long time Claire McLeod had no idea what to do. She just wanted to go inside the house, wake up the next morning and go back to the way things were before. Before this ridiculous bind date, before this whole outing and before Alex stopped being just Alex.
"Goodnight." she whispered quickly as she put her hand on the doorknob.
"Oh and Claire?" Alex called before she managed to open the door.
"Yeah?" she turned around.
"I know it's not a date, but there are things that you don't need dates for." and with that he leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. It happened so quickly that she didn't even have time to think about it or get freaked out or show any kind of "before the kiss" reaction. Instead, she just felt his lips pressing softly against hers and she couldn't deny how wonderful that felt. She always thought that her and Alex kissing would be weird and uncomfortable, but this didn't feel weird at all. On the contrary - it felt right. More right than she could ever imagine.
"Oh my God." she finally pulled away as the fact how right it felt suddenly started scaring her.
"Oh my God what?" Alex looked puzzled. "'Oh my God he bit my lip' or 'Oh my God his breath is terrible' or 'Oh my God I can't believe he calls himself a good kisser?'"
She coudn't help but laugh at his last remark. "Oh my God, what are we doing Alex?" she suddenly asked, terrified of all the conflicting emotions that were running through her head. This was Alex, her mate, her best friend. Someone she said she would date after hell freezes over. And yet kissing him felt so right, so in sync with everything that has been going on in her life.
"Well I thought we were kissing." he answered. "But apparently I didn't do it right, or you wouldn't be looking at me like that."
"It's not you, Alex." she whispered softly, still a little out of breath.
"It's me and what I'm about to do right now."
"You're not gonna kill me, are you?" he pretended to get really scared. "Come on, the kiss wasn't that bad."
"Just shut up Alex" he poked his shoulder playfully and before he could say or do anything, he felt her lips on his again. It was the most wonderful feeling. He wasn't a saint and he has kissed a lot of girls before, but with neither of them has it felt like this. Like the earth started spinning and the stars started shining twice as bright and like the whole world was watching the two of them in awe. Alex couldn't believe they've waited so many years for that. Who knows, maybe if she had said yes to his first invitation all those years ago, he would have got to do it sooner. But who knows if it would have felt equally amazing. Although he wasn't sure if amazing even began to describe the way he was feeling right, the way she was making him feel. And he knew she felt that too, he could see it in her eyes. This was the real deal and they both knew it.
