Claude X Lia

Chapter 42

He had to be pulling her legs.

“What do you mean I smell nothing?”

That wasn’t possible. Lia lifted her stained and rumpled shirt to her nose, sniffing it briefly. The unmistakable stench of dried sweat hit her nose rudely. After running around all day, the smell of her perfume bag had long been overridden by the smell of her sweat. She had been dripping buckets of it earlier, anyway, and if you couldn’t smell it from a mile away, something was wrong with your nose.

“I’d wager something’s wrong with your nose. It’s best you see a doctor if you can’t smell the sweat,” Lia said almost adamantly.

Claude didn’t care much for the serious look she had on her face. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed. Quietly and much to Lia’s playful annoyance.

After a moment, Claude put Lia’s head on his shoulder and cackled some more. She entertained the thought of whacking his pretty face with the folded napkin on the small stool by their feet.

Since they were sitting together, Lia comfortably turned, trying to smell him. Even before she got her nose too close to the base of his neck, the soft and sweet smell of lavender wafted up to her nose.

The laughter stopped.

Lia’s bang fell free from its place across her forehead, lightly tickling Claude’s neck. Although he was leaning on the sofa, eyes fixed on the ceiling, his stillness was evidence enough that he was paying attention to what she was doing.

Being in the dark like this… Lia decided to blame the darkness on her unusual sort of courage.

Lia didn’t pay that tiny detail any attention though. She buried her nose even deeper. As deeper as she could without actually touching him. The light lavender from his neck tickled her nose, a world of difference from her sweaty smell. Almost tempted to stay buried in the crook of his neck soaking in his warmth and manly smell entwined with lavender tones, Lia pulled back.

“You see? My nose is working perfectly fine. Yours, on the other hand, I doubt that very much,” she wasn’t sure if she should be this close to Claude, feeling his warm breath on her cheek.

Claude stayed quiet as Lia straightened her shirt.

A frown graced her face as she noticed the bright red tinge on Claude’s ears. Save for the darkness shrouding everything, Lia could have sworn the tips of Claude’s ears were red. It had to be the light streaming in through the curtains, casting that shade on them.

“Let’s just say it is,” Claude’s voice pierced the silence. It was more serious this time, more than it had been when he’d been laughing just a moment ago. Lia briefly wondered if she had somehow angered him. Claude didn’t say anything else. Instead, he closed his eyes, resting his head on the sofa.

Seemingly eager to fill the stretching silence, Claude said “It seems like things have gotten quite outside.”

Claude still said nothing else, keeping his eyes closed. Lia watched his lean, taut muscles strain beneath his thin shirt as he clasped his fingers behind his head. She swallowed, audibly, she could have sworn.

Awkwardly, Lia picked herself off the sofa and walked to the curtains, lifting them to confirm his statement. True to his guess, the numerous people who had been standing around not so long ago were all gone. The only sounds cutting through the silence were the sounds of the horses ungracefully chewing their food.

Lia didn’t know what to do now.

“Well, then. I’d best be off now. Thanks for..uh…hiding me,” her voice was unsure and she didn’t like that at all. Claude did not seem to notice or he didn’t bother to point it out even if he did.