Clexa AU °Safe Haven° [#Wattys2016]

Chapter 5: The difference

Lexa's POV

Loud noise of stomping at the squeaky wooden stairs catches my attention. It was quiet until now; the sound intensifies as someone is coming closer to the door. Boom. 

"Are you alright?" Abby almost screams, catching her breath. My right hand pops up to my boobs and the left immediately hides my other intimate part. What is she doing here? I'm standing still, one leg stepping to the shower, looking at her in confusion.

"I guess?" My eyes widen, "why shouldn't I be?"
Her eyes can't let go of my naked skinny body, looking for any signs of harm. Her mouth's open and her hands are clutched between the jambs. Abby's not moving; she looks like a sculpture. "Oh.." She mumbles, finally understanding that I'm just trying to take a shower, "sorry. It's just Clarke being annoying. Have to go. Have a nice shower."

What?
Oh, she probably thought I tried to kill myself by bleeding out to their sink or something. No worries, I just wanna shower again. No one knows I'm here for the fifth time today though. I haven't showered in so long and now every time I let a stream of hot water falling down my chest and my hair and everything, it's like my feelings are gone. But not gone like normally gone, more like equilibrium. Like a massage to my brain.

I step in with my other leg. It slips a little but my hands are quick enough to stop me from falling by catching the shower head and wall next to me. When I'm steady again, I clench the glass door handle and swipe it to the right. The place is really spacious, three people could fit in here and shower together. Yeah, shower Lexa, shower.
Water starts falling on my head, little too cold in the beginning. Then my head turns off and I'm enjoying the pure feeling of this calmness.

. . .

I'm wide awake when someone bursts in again. I don't see much of a person but the shape of their body and the way their hair shine is recognizable to me now; Clarke's steps are getting louder, her mouth stays closed though. I turn myself to the wall so she can't see my fragile body, even though there's a thick patterned glass separating us.

"What do you want?" I call out, annoyed that she just comes and rips me out of my short moment of composure.
"You've been here for like half an hour already," she says and I assume that she's somehow irritated, "you know, this isn't your house neither your shower to waist money on. Time to go out, dreamer."
It's almost hearable how she rolls her eyes when saying the last word. Rude.
"Can you at least give me some privacy to dress up?" I say, my eyes glued to the wall that's a few inches away from my nose.

The door slugs only few seconds later, giving me the opportunity to step out of the only place where I feel secure.

. . .

"You are being foolish," I hear from downstairs when leaving the bathroom. "Leave the girl alone, Clarke. She can shower whenever she wants." Abby's voice is echoing through the whole house, probably wanting to be heard.

"It's not just about that," Clarke's voice breaks; desperately trying to show her mother how serious this seems to her. "You brought home another human. Girl old as me! How do you think I feel?"
"You always have a problem with everything," Abby stays calm. "You could try being selfless for once and look at others. Ask them how they feel. Not everything is about you."
"More like nothing's about me. You're trying to enrage me and I don't know why, what did I do to anger you?"
"Nothing!"
"So tell me, mom," Clarke inhales deeply. "Why are you so concerned about everyone but me?"