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9

Clara eventually fell asleep on the settee while everyone was in a conversation, her head resting on Alex's leg, curled up into a ball. He placed his jumper over her since he didn't have a jacket with him.

It was well past two in the morning, everyone decided they were going to go home and Jamie was about to kick the last dozen of people out of his house.

Alex lightly tapped Clarabella on her shoulder and leant down to whisper in her ear, "Hey c'mon, I'll drop you home love."
"Mhm." She hummed but was still asleep, and wasn't going to move any time soon.

Alex scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his car, she didn't stir once. It was something about his presence that comforted her, like no one else could.

Once he sat her into the passenger seat of his car, she woke up slowly. She rubbed her eye like a child and her tired eyes looked up at Alex while he was tying her seatbelt.
"Hey, go back to sleep. I'll drop you home." Alex whispered.
"What time is it?" Clara asked, still sleepy.
"Around half two in the morning." He smiled at her tiredness.
"My house is like an hour drive, that's too long." She groaned.

"My house is like ten minutes from here, do you want to stay there instead love?" He asked.

"If it's okay." She said and she pulled her legs up to her chest with her eyes closed, clinging onto Alex's jumper that she was now wearing.
Alex smiled down at her, "Of course it's okay."

Once they arrived at Alex's house, Clara was more awake.
"It might be a bit of a mess." Alex said while unlocking the door.
"I doubt it, you clean freak." She joked.

They walked into Alex's house and he threw his keys onto the table by his door.
"You can pick out something comfortable to wear from my wardrobe. Also you can take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch." Alex said while walking up the stairs, Clara trailing behind him.

"Don't be stupid Al, I'm not gonna come to your house and make you sleep on the couch." Clara laughed.
"Yeah, like you're gonna want to sleep on the settee Clara." Alex joked.
Clara stopped in her tracks, about to protest but instead she scrunched her nose and said, "Yeah you're right, I hate sleeping on the couch. But I don't want you to either, that's not fair."

"Well, what do you want to do?" Alex asked, hoping for the answer he was looking for.
"I'm sure we can handle sleeping in the same bed, Alex." Clara said smiling.
"Aight then." Alex replied, continuing to walk up the stairs.

Clara picked out a t-shirt and shorts to wear from Alex's wardrobe and got changed in Alex's en-suite.
"Al?" She called from the en-suite.

"Yeah, love?" Alex answered.

"Do you have an extra toothbrush by any chance?" She asked.

"Yeah I should have one or two new ones in the cabinet." He called back.

"Thank you!"

As she walked out of the bathroom, Alex looked up from the book he was reading. He noticed a hidden sadness look on Clara's face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing. Why?" She replied with masked confidence, sitting next to him on the bed.

"You're upset, I can see it through you. I can sleep on the couch if you feel uncomfortable." He worried.

"It's not that Alex." She giggled, "It was just Ryan tonight, I barely got to talk to him before he went off with a load of slags."

"Well he is a slag himself. I don't know how though." He laughed, but then he looked up at her smiling face and said more seriously, "You deserve much better than him Clara."