Chapter Text
Claire stares at the screen, wondering what to say. The dark grey pixels do nothing to coax a creative opening line from her brain.
Fuck it,
she thinks,
We’ve already met, I don’t
need
a witty opener.
And so, she typed out quite possibly the blandest message and hit send before she could overthink it.
Immediate regret. Shit, shit, now she's gonna think i'm not interested or i'm boring, damn it-
A small vibration accompanies a new message from Thea, pulling Claire from her impending spiral.
“Hey, what’s up? How are you feeling?”
Claire doesn’t notice the smile forcing itself across her lips as she reads over the little white text.
“I’m feeling ok for now. Dunno how long my sanity will last though, haha. How about you?”
She hits send, hoping she sounds neither too awkward nor too casual.
“Haha! Honestly, same here. Is there anything you would like to talk about while we’re still ‘sane’, as you put it?”
The brunette releases a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, a proper smile now the most prominent of her features.
“Umm… not really in particular. Unless you have any recommendations for places to visit while I’m here?”
Claire falls back, laying flat on the bed with her phone held above her. She sees the little white dots and the ‘[name] is typing’ appear and disappear quite a few times. A minute passes. And then two.
Just as her anxiety begins to creep back, a message pops up.
“Oh! Sure! Well, hm… we have a quaint little marketplace, there is a zoo not terribly far from here… quite a few museums as well. And a handful of parks. Oh! There's also a plaza you could visit, there are quite a few shops and restaurants there. If you want to go further out, you could maybe visit the… I think the term in English is ‘table mountain’? Honestly, I never really thought about all the things to do here… I guess it all seems so familiar to me, but for you it is all so new.”
She reads through the message, and finds herself open to all of the options. Although…
“Wow, those all sound lovely! I’ll plan on checking at least a few of them out. Would you perhaps want to show me a few of your favorite places yourself? No worries if not!!”
Hopefully, just hopefully, Thea would be open to showing her around…
“I’d love to show you a few! How about a cafe to start, since we never got to properly enjoy one together? If you’re free and feeling alright, we could meet tomorrow in the afternoon?”
“That would be great! Just text me which cafe and around what time, and I’ll see you there Thea! Thank you!”
“Witaj! See you tomorrow!”
Claire drops her phone beside her, and a surprisingly lovesick-teenager-esque sigh leaves her lips. She laughs at herself for a moment, still dazed and excited from her earlier activity and now plans with Thea.
She feels a spark in her core, suddenly remembering all she has to do.
She rolls off the bed, blushing when slick from earlier beads and drips down her thighs.
Suppressants, then shower .
She pulls the bottle of suppressants from the bag, rattling the necessary dose into her hand and taking them. Claire goes into the bathroom and gets the water started. She takes a moment to glance at herself in the mirror.
I don’t know what she sees in me.
A discontent sigh escapes her lungs as she climbs into the shower, eager to at least try to replace her own self loathing with the comfort of warm water hitting her skin.
By the time the water has begun to run cool, the brunette can feel the growing need within her. Luckily, the suppressants are fast acting, and the next wave of her heat is relegated to a dull, throbbing want, which is quite a bit better than the sharp need that she had been experiencing before.
She gets out of the shower, dries off, and doesn’t even bother getting dressed before immediately flopping back down on her bed. Despite the soft sunlight still visible through the sheer curtains, sleep finds her quite easily.