ACT ONE, CHAPTER 2

'NUMBER'

THE morning after, Lexi almost forgot there was a boy in her home, sleeping in her brother's room.

She had been cooking breakfast, only in a big hoodie and some basketball shorts she wasn't even sure were hers, and was humming one of Louis Tomlinson's songs that Alexa had started to play when she told her to.

Then Clay walked inside the kitchen, clearing his throat. It made her jump slightly, but then she realized who it was and turned around, smiling at the boy.

"Goodmorning Lexi." He had mumbled, rubbing his eyes and with a slight deeper voice since he had just woken up.

It made her shiver, but she blamed it on the cold.

"Hello, have you slept well?" She asked, taking the pan with her last pancake off of the stove and putting the sweet on her plate.

Clay nodded, eyeing the food and then looking up at her as she started to make him one. "Oh no, don't worry, I can do it myself. You've already cooked for me yesterday." He reassured, moving next to her so he could take her place next to the stove.

"You sure?" Lexi questioned him, raising one eyebrow but he just smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, you go ahead and eat your breakfast." he reassured her, giving her one last smile.

Lexi nodded and walked back to the table, sitting down and unlocking her phone and seeing some missed calls from her family.

She called her mom back, who answered almost immediately. 

"Lexi! Thank God you called me back! I was worried!" Lexi bit her lip at her mother's tone as she heard her worried voce.

"Yeah, sorry mom. I forgot to call you yesterday but don't worry. I'm ok, Loki is ok." She reassured, taking a bite of the pancake while her mother released a sign.

"Thank heaven for that. Has anything happened outside? Any problem with the generators? Or the-" 

"Mom, it's all good. I'll check the outside later, I'm having breakfast now." She explained.

"Well, when you do, call your father. I thought he was about to cry when you didn't answer yesterday!" Lexi laughed at her words. As much as she loved her mother, she was definitely a daddy's girl, while her brother was her mother's favorite.

"Yes don't worry, I'll call him later. I have to go now. Bye mom, love you!" She said, moving her phone away from her ear while her mother said bye and then hung up.

She glanced at Clay who was staring at the pan as he waited for his second pancake to be cooked.

She snorted once she saw him glaring at it, as if it would make it cook quicker and Clay glanced at her, an embarrassed smile on his face.

"You're gonna keep staring at that pancake?" She teased, laughing as his cheeks colored a soft pink and he covered his face with one hand. "It just- isn't it taking too long to cook?" He asked, messing with his hair as he looked down at the pancake.

Lexi laughed, getting up and stopping next to him. She laughed as soon as she noticed the gas was turned off, and raised an eyebrow while she looked up at Clay.

"You sure you can cook these, buddy?" She asked, still teasing him.

He let out a chuckle and shook his head, giving up.

"You know, if you turn off the gas, shockingly, the food will not cook." She said, motioning it with her hand and laughing at Clay's face, who only got even more red from the embarrassment. 

"Very helpful chef Lexi, thank you." He answered, accidentally brushing his hand against hers to turn the gas on.

Lexi didn't seem to notice it and only shook her head, patting his arm and walking away, while Clay couldn't help but stare at the spot she once was.

"Hey, I'm gonna check outside while you eat your breakfast, then I can drive you back to your house and all." She said, pulling her hair in a low ponytail before putting on some crocs to walk outside.

Clay only nodded at her, smiling at her figure one last time before she walked outside, closing the door behind her.

He flipped his pancake, and looked down when he felt something touch his leg. Loki was there, sniffing once again his leg. His tail wiggled a bit, but when the dog looked up it seemed to lose interest in Clay and just walked towards his dog-bed.

Clay turned off the gas once the pancake was cooked and started to eat, waiting for Lexi to come back just to make conversation with someone. 

He just then remembered about his own family and friends, so he decided to call his mom.

"Clay! Honey, are you ok?!"  His mom didn't even say hi before she asked how he was.

"I'm fine mom. I'm at...at a friend's house. Don't worry. How's Patches?" He asked, his leg bunching up and down nervously.

His mom breathed out in relief and Clay could hear the smile on her face as she replied. "She's good. Mia had to put one of your hoodies on Patches' bed so she would be a little more calm. It worked for a while but with the thunderstorm she got scared. But she's fine now, don't worry!" His mother reassured him.

Clay sighed in relief and nodded even if she couldn't see him. "Ok, I should be able to go to my house later today. Can you drop her off? 'Cause I don't have my car right now." He asked, standing up and taking both his and Lexi's plates and placed them in the sink.

"What happened to your car?"

"The keys broke so I had to leave it at the gas station, my friend was...casually at the same gas station with her car and she offered me a place to crash for the night." He explained.

"Oh! She seems like a sweetheart, tell her I say hi ok? I have to go now, I think your father needs help, the wind yesterday threw all around the neighbourhood our plastic chairs."

"Ok then, bye mom, love you."

"Bye honey! I love you too and don't forget to tell your friend I said hi!"

He hung up and just typed and sent a quick text to Sapnap to tell him he was ok before putting his phone in the pockets of the shorts and slowly walking towards the door. Before he could do it, Lexi opened it from the outside and the two ended up staring at each other, both blushed in embarrassment and laughed.

"I'll go change and then I can drop you at your house. We can go in like… thirty minutes?" Lexi questioned, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at him. Clay nodded, still not trusting his voice and after she gave him one last smile, she walked away, Loki was quick to follow her back to her room.

He quickly went to his room, changing into his now warm and dry clothes ( thanks to Lexi who had left them over a heater all night so that they could dry faster ), washed his face and brushed his teeth.

Lexi knocked at his door this time, and he quickly got out and took the clothes that Lexi let him borrow for the night with him.

"You ready?" Lexi asked, while Loki kept walking around her, the leash he had attached to the collar around his neck kept hitting the walls of the hallway. Clay nodded and made small talk while they got out of the house and inside her car. Loki immediately jumped in the backseat, putting his head between their seats.

Just as she put on her seatbelt, Lexi noticed the bag of clothes that was placed on his lap and gave him a questioning look. "Are those the clothes that I gave you?" She asked.

Clay nodded while he finished typing his address on her phone so she could use the GPS to get there while driving. "Yeah, I'll wash them and I'll take them back to you." He said, smiling a little as she smiled, confused.

"So we'll have another excuse to meet again, if that's ok with you?" 

Lexi blushed, looking away from him for a moment while Clay grinned widely, still staring at her. She looked back at him, nodding her head. "Yeah, I guess we can meet up again." She mumbled, smiling at him.

As if sensing what was happening, Loki barked, scaring both of them and making them break eye contact.

"You jealous dog." Lexi mumbled, using one hand to pet his head a bit before she removed it and started to drive.

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LEXI refused to accept it, there was no way she had a crush over the pretty boy she had known for only one day.

But the moment they got in front of his house he had smiled at her, a growing pull in her stomach made her freeze, and it took her almost ten seconds before she snapped out of it.

He had quickly asked her for her number, nervously playing with one of his rings and looking down, missing the way she had blushed and a wide smile appeared on her face as she took his phone and typed her number.

"You can text me whenever you want." She had said when she gave it back, and Clay had smiled at her. It made her stomach fill with nervousness as his dimples were visibles, his freckled nose scrunching up slightly. 

She swore she still felt the warmth of his breath on her skin as he leaned down, kissing her cheek quickly before opening the car's door and, with a last smile and a soft 'thank you' he walked towards his house.

And when she got back home and sat down on her couch, quickly calling her father to let him know she was ok, her mind still couldn't shake off the feeling of his lips against her cheeks, the way he had smiled at her before he walked in his house, or the small wave he gave Loki as a goodbye.

Ok so maybe she liked him, but just a bit.

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this was so short but anyways, hi.

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