Chapter 21

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"Tell me," I said to Clarice. "When did you start to notice I exist?"

"Hmmm, is that a tone of sarcasm I hear?" she said.

I pursed my lips.

"Well, this was the girl who went out of her way to date everybody I knew except me!"

"Azra, I can't believe you're still mad about it even now we're in bed?" she said with a disapproving look. "Can we talk about it in the morning? We have other important things to do."

She went to kiss my lips and collarbones again. We hadn't even turned on the light yet, and we were both in Clarice's apartment. I had to take a moment to soak it up. Actually, I had to take a lot of moments to soak it up. After we left the fashion show, Clarice had brought me to her place, and I thought I was probably in a coma and was making all this in my head.

We started to remove our clothes. I had to open my mouth and say something just to drown out the pounding in my ears.

"Are you sure you picked me? Are you sure?" I  asked. Clarice frowned back at me.

"Do I need to say that you can send shivers through my skin, just by brushing your elbow against mine on accident?" she said.

"I'm trying to figure out why," I said.

"Because you're you, Azra," she said.

"Give me some pictures. I don't really get it."

"Okay, well, I love that you follow your passion," she said. "You're hardworking and dangerously cute. I saw what you did for Celie and the deli and how much you care about your friends. It just made me fall for you even more."

"Even more?" I said with an arched brow. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you go out with Karmen and Elise instead?"

Her blonde hair fell as she removed the pins. I brushed it from her face and ran my fingers through those silky strands.

"Azra, I did try to tell you all the time!" she said and kissed my neck again and again. "I went out with the other two, because they asked me out, and you didn't. The first time I saw you, you didn't even look at me longer than two seconds. I thought you weren't interested in me."

"What?" I blinked.

I had to admit that was true. I never once mustered the courage to ask her out. For someone obsessed with being loved, I did literally nothing to make me lovable. Every time we met, I either tried to shoo her away or laughed at her.

"So what went wrong with them? Aren't Karmen and Elise good enough?" I said. Clarice sighed and pinched my cheeks then she kissed each of them.

"I never knew you're such a girl!" she said. "Well, I think they can be great friends to have, but I felt like I was a competition for them to win each other. You're the only one who looks at me like I'm the real prize."

There was a silence as her honest words touched my heart. Then she smiled and I smiled back with our eyes entwined.

"Alright, case closed. No further questions," I said.

Clarice let out a girly giggle as I grabbed the blanket, shielding us from the spying moon outside the window.

~*~

The next morning, I woke up with a start. I looked at the time and gasped.

"Oh my god! We're late!" I said. I got out of bed and tried to find all my clothes. "Clarice! We're late. Get up!"

I came to shake her shoulder. She turned around, her naked body was wrapped in the sheet, and I nearly wished I could reschedule the opening day. I meant, yes, we did the thing last night, but Clarice waking up in such an ungodly early morning, looking like that must be witchcraft.

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