Chapter 16

It was already evening and Tess had been really patient with Claire not disclosing any particular details of the previous night, but there was only so much that a girl can take. It helped that she and Claire didn't really see much of each other during the day, but now that she was in the kitchen and Claire just came in to get dinner, Tess knew that she couldn't take it any longer. She needed to know what happened.

When Claire sat down and started drinking her coffee, Tess began looking at her intensely. At first Claire didn't pay that much attention to it, but after a while she got a little bit annoyed.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"What do you mean what?" Tess couldn't believe Claire didn't know why she was looking at her like that. "Are you gonna make me beg for information?"

"Information about what?"

"You and Alex." Tess looked at her sister meaningfully.

"Oh, that." Claire said under her breath and took a sip of her coffee.

"Oh that?" Tess was almost indignant. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Mhm." Claire replied and had to try really hard not to burst into laughter, because she was very aware of the fact that she was driving her sister crazy.

"Claire!!!" Tess was getting more and more impatient. "Please don't do this to me. Remember that I was the one who let him in last night, so whatever happened or did not happen, happened or did not happen because of me." She said proudly.

"Do you even listen to yourself sometimes?"

"As a matter of fact I do." She said a little offended. "But we are not here to discuss my speaking capabilities."

"You're right. We're here to get dinner." She said as she took a slice of break and stood up to take butter from the fridge.

"Claire!!!" This time Tess was really loud and Claire was sure her sister was heard at both Killarney and Wilgul.

"You are so pathetic." She said laughing.

"I can't help it." Tess admitted. "And now please just tell me what happened yesterday. Before the… you know… 'Cause I'm sure THAT happened as well." She cocked her eyebrows and grinned.

"You are such a nosy body." Claire couldn't believe her sister. "When will you ever learn?"

"Never, my dear sister. Never." She said and Claire realized that she couldn't torture Tess any longer. It was fun while it lasted, but the truth was that she really did want to share something about last night with her sister. She never was the kind of girl who liked girl talks and all that stuff, but with Tess being there Claire was becoming more and more like her and sometimes needed to blab to her sister about her boy troubles. Or sometimes lack thereof, like in this case.

"Let's just say that Alex and I cleared everything up and realized that what happened that night when he was drunk happened for a reason." Claire said with a huge smile on her face.

"So Alex feels the same way about you?" Tess asked in a hopeful voice.

"So he says." Claire grinned.

"Aww, this is so wonderful." Tess jumped out of her seat. "See? I told you everything was going to be alright. You should really listen to me more often, big sis."

"I'll remember that the next time someone sleeps with me and forgets all about it." She said, letting Tess know that she didn't really have any intention of listening to her little sister again.

"Yeah, 'cause that happens so very often." Tess laughed and after a while she added. "Let's just hope there was only this one time."

"Thank you." Claire grinned. "I don't think I'd be able to deal with something like that again." She sighed and they heard a car pulling up.

"This must be Alex." Claire said with another huge smile on her face. "I gotta go." She added quickly and rose up from her chair.

"But Claire, I need more details." Tess insisted.

"Make them up on your own." Claire advised. "You're good at that."

"Very funny." Tess sighed, but Claire didn't catch that as she was already outside walking towards Alex's car. He got out and hurried to give her a hug.

"Hey." He greeted her with a smile as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey back." She answered smiling, the glow of happiness in her eyes.

"So is there anything in particular that you want to do tonight?" he asked as they were walking towards the car.

"Yeah. Can I drive?"

"Sure." He said as he threw her the keys.

"Wow, I never thought you'd let anyone drive this thing." She teased. "I feel special."

"Well, you are special." He looked at her with affection.

"Gee, I think I'm going to blush." She laughed.

"You're cute when you're blushing." He noticed with a grin.

"OK, that is enough for now, Mister." She ordered. "Now off we go." She said as she started the car.

"Yes sir." He agreed as he sat comfortably in his seat. When Claire started driving, he was looking at her amazed and happy that he could finally look at her that way without feeling weirded out and uncomfortable. It still did feel a little bit weird, but is also felt right and both of the them knew it.

For a couple of minutes they were driving in silence, just enjoying each other's company and the fact that they finally knew they were in love with each other.

"So where are we going?" Alex finally asked.

"I don't know." She replied smiling.

"What do you mean you don't know? You said you knew what you wanted to do tonight?" he said a little bit confused.

"And I do." She grinned. "I wanna go somewhere, but I have no idea where. Just somewhere."

"You are becoming more and more weird. You spend way too much time with Tess." She summed her up and she couldn't help but laugh.

"I just want to go somewhere with you. It doesn't matter where, just somewhere where we can be far away from everything. I have this really strange urge to be away from everything today. I don't know why, I just do."

"Well, be my guest." He agreed. "Gotta love a woman who knows what she wants." He grinned.

"Well you'd better love only one woman who knows what she wants." She sent him a meaningful look.

"Yeah, she's great. I can't wait for you to meet her." He joked and she knew this was something she was gonna have to get used to. She didn't mind his jokes, as long as they were just jokes. And somehow she knew they were.

"OK, we're here." She suddenly said and pulled over.

"Here meaning where?" he really couldn't keep up with her.

"I don't know, but this exactly where I want to be tonight." She said as she got out of the car. He soon did the same.

They were at the side of someone's paddock overlooking a small creek in the background. It looked a little bit like the one in Drovers, but was a little smaller. There were also more trees surrounding it. It really wasn't anything that out of the ordinary, but somehow it seemed magical to Claire. It was most likely because she was in love, but she felt like she could stay there the whole night.

She took a couple of steps forward and sat at the border of the paddock and the road. There was a small meadow there and even though she knew that technically they could be trespassing, she didn't seem to care.

For a moment Alex was looking at her funny, but then he realized that this was exactly what he wanted as well. To be there with her, without worrying about anything for a while. He sat next to her and put his arm around her.

"So this is what you had in mind when you said you knew exactly what you wanted to do?" he asked running his fingers through her hair.

"Precisely that." She smiled and kissed him gently on the lips. "Doesn't it feel wonderful to be here?" she asked as she looked at him glowing.

"Yes." He admitted. "Yes it does." He sighed as he kissed the top of her head. She nestled into his arms and she felt like she was at the top of the world. She had no idea where she was, but even though it was really beautiful, she couldn't help feeling that the only thing that mattered was that she was in Alex's arms.

THE END

A/N: That's all folks! Thanks so much for reading the story and sorry it took me so long to finish it!