Love Hate Relationship

Chapter 51

Lexa walked out of the house and over towards her bike, zipping up her jacket.

"Yeah! Go fast Lex, make sure you gun it!" Aden was stoked for the Clexa ride.

"I doubt I'll be gunning it, buddy. She'll be scared to death. Okay, blondie, you ready for another ride?" She handed Clarke the spare helmet.

Clarke took the helmet from her. "Just for clarification, I am not scared to death, this is easy. It's just around the block. Watch me, I've so got this." Clarke was overcome by a sense of false bravado. "I operate on people for god's sake, you think this scares me? I've held an actual beating heart, in my hand." Clarke had no idea who she was trying to convince.

"Put your helmet on Clarke, let's go," Aden insisted, impatient for the show.

"Wait a sec." Clarke handed the helmet to Aden, and jogged back into the house. She went to the kitchen, poured herself another full glass of wine and chugged it. For liquid courage. She then took a quick gulp of water to rinse her mouth. When she was done, she headed back outside and was met by four sets of questioning eyes.

"What? I just needed some water." Clarke looked at the helmet as she took it back from Aden. It had a full face shield, should be adequate protection, she thought. She opened the visor and jammed it on her head. It was much heavier than anticipated. "Is this too big? It feels too big. Is it supposed to be this heavy?"

"Fix her clasp, Lexa," Jasper said.

Lexa looked over at Maya as she reached out to Clarke, "Are you recording this?"

"Yes, I'm gonna post it later. You guys look so cute in your outfits."

Lexa made sure Clarke's helmet was secure, her fingers softly brushing her chin. She caught Clarke staring at her, seeing a look of determination in those blue eyes. "You okay?" Lexa asked as she stepped away from Clarke and reached out for her own helmet.

"I'm more than okay. Let's get this party started, Louann!" Clarke whacked Lexa on the butt. Like a football player after a touchdown. Right on the ass.

Lexa stopped what she was doing, turned around, and looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Well, aren't we a little fired up. How much wine did we have?"

"I'm fine. Let's go, let's go, I'm ready to do this." Clarke knew she was rambling, maybe three glasses of wine wasn't a brilliant idea after all. "A dare's a dare, and I've been dared, so let's go..."

Lexa cocked her eyebrow, and slowly closed the visor while Clarke was talking, essentially silencing her.

The rest of Clarke's sentences were garbled and incoherent, muted by the helmet.

Jasper leaned into Maya's ear, "Who's Louann?"

Maya replied, "I think she means Lexa."

"And...Linda?" he asked quietly.

"Same thing."

"Why doesn't she just say Lexa?"

His wife just shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it's a nickname," she whispered. She was not totally up on the Louann or the Linda thing, she needed to get up to speed. That would be a question for Raven.

Lexa slung her leg over the bike and lifted the kickstand. "All aboard," she said to Clarke.

Clarke did her motorcycle dance, much to the amusement of the Jordans.

"Do you need help?" Maya asked.

"I think you just throw your leg over it," Jasper suggested.

"Give her a minute," Lexa said with a hint of sarcasm, as she adjusted her own helmet, and put the key in the ignition.