The Timeline

39.

July 7th, 2016:

Claire had found out that the best way to deal with a problem was to ignore it.

It had been exactly 25 days since her incident on the train platform, back in Dunkerque with Harry, when he had almost been on the verge of.... she didn't know what. 25 days since he had been begging her to take the decision for the both of them. 25 days since he hadn't been able to look her in the eye while seeing her off on the train back to Paris.

25 whole days since she had reached the conclusion that the best way to overcome that problem between the two of them - quite a big one, an almost kiss! - was to act like it had never happened.

Talking about it would've been too embarrassing. What would have the two of them say to each other? "Sorry for almost kissing you!", "Oh, no problem, sorry for not having stopped you properly!"

No. A conversation like that could've never occurred.

It was best to ignore it, go on with their lives as if the thing had never happened and wait for things to go back to normal on their own. It would've happened at one point. It had happened in the past, twice: once, when Harry had kissed Claire outside his house after his 20th birthday party; the second time, after the biggest incident of their life, inside of a New York bathroom, during Claire's 19th birthday present-trip. Although, could that one incident lose its crown to the one on the train platform?

Back in New York, both Claire and Harry had been tipsy on their way to being drunk, their states altered due to the fight they had recently had. Those jumbled and mixed feelings had seeped into their actions, guiding them to do something they would've never done while sober. What had happened on the train platform in Dunkerque had happened while both Claire and Harry were stone cold sober, fully awake and in perfect control of their emotions and actions.

So, yeah, it was a bit more serious as an issue itself.

There was also another factor to take into consideration when examining the whole thing: Harry's being in full possession of his memory.

Contrary to what had happened after his 20th birthday party and in New York, Harry remembered everything, because he had been sober. If, for the previous two incidents, Claire had been the sole repository of the memories and the feelings that had passed between the two of them, now she wasn't, because every second of those fateful minutes was branded in both her and Harry's mind.

Before, she had been able to come to terms with the entire thing on her own, give herself a plausible explanation and move on, swearing to herself that she would've never talked about the whole thing, ever again. Which was good for her. She wanted to keep her friendship with Harry a normal one, no mishaps and embarrassing things that would've never happened had the both of them been in complete possession of their judgment.

Now she couldn't do it.

And the thing made her go insane with nerves, because the control wasn't just in her lane anymore. Sharing control with Harry sent her on edge, because she knew that their decisions wouldn't have been the same, unless they talked about it.

And talking about it was the last thing Claire wanted to do, because there were so many things that could go wrong while having that conversation. Miscommunication was so easy, taking things the wrong way was almost a given and a certain disaster loomed over them if they even dared toeing the entire thing.

So, ignoring it it was. Everything was easier if you ignored stuff. Pretended it never happened. Go on with your life. Convince yourself you had just dreamed about it. If you believed in it hard enough, it ended up being the truth.