“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Lena…”
The girl in question clenched her jaw, eyes narrowing as she intently stared down at the homework in front of her. “Jack, the more you butcher my name with your whining, the less inclined I become to even entertain your request.”
With an astoundingly dramatic sigh, Jack flopped himself onto Lena’s bed, long limbs flailing over the mattress. His black, messily gelled hair flopped as he continued to loll his head around.
Finally, Lena slammed her poor yellow highlighter against the desk and swiveled around to pin her friend with an arched eyebrow.
“Lena, my best friend, sweet darling, would-be-wife-if-I-didn’t-like-dick, absolute love-”
“Oh, shut up.” She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the corners of her lips from curling up.
“Please, just come with us. It’s at Andrea’s place and her parents are gone the entire weekend, so it’s definitely going to be fun!”
“Fun has two different connotations for us,” she said with a light grimace. “You know I don’t like big parties, Jack. Why can’t we just, I don’t know— meet up with Sam and take a bottle of scotch up to LutherCorp Observatory? That sounds nice.”
Jack sat up and shot her an unimpressed look. “We do that, like, every weekend. It’s getting old.”
“It’s soothing!”
“It’s fucking depressing.”
At that, Lena scowled but couldn’t think of a retort.
Taking advantage of her lack of response, Jack eagerly scooted himself to the edge of the bed, tanned hands splayed across the pristinely white sheets.
“Come on, Lee, it’s the end of our junior year. You’re practically in college already! We promised ourselves we were going to let loose.” He paused, stroking the faint stubble on his chin with a playful expression. “Plus, isn’t this what American high schoolers do? I want the full experience!”
“Jack, you moved here ten years ago.”
“Details,” Jack scoffed with a dismissive wave. He widened his honey-brown eyes and gave Lena his best pitiful look. “Please? Sam wants to go hang out with her new girlfriend. And maybe… maybe Kara Danvers will be there.”
Lena squinted dangerously. “That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not,” her friend agreed with a rich laugh. “Oh, come on, Lee. Please?”
A few agonizing seconds went by as the steady tick, tick of the clock passed through the silence. Then, Lena groaned. “Alright, fine. Fine.”
Jack preened happily and leapt from the bed, phone already in hand to presumably tell Sam the good news.
“But-” Lena said quickly, lips set in a firm line, “- but you guys better not ditch me on Saturday.”
“We won’t, I promise.” Jack nodded solemnly. “We’ll be a pair of angels.”
_____
A pair of absolute liars is what they were.
Lena darkly sipped on some sort of cheap beer and watched as Jack not-so-subtly made out with a guy in the corner of the living room. Near the kitchens, Lena could see Sam chatting animatedly with an intimidating-looking redhead.
So that was Sam’s mystery girl.
Lena recognized her as Alex Danvers— they had AP Biology and AP Literature together, but that was the extent of their interaction. However… Lena perked up slightly. If the elder Danvers was here, then perhaps so was the younger. Abruptly, Lena sneered inwardly at her own hopelessness.
God, she was lonely.
She was happy for her friends, truly, but she also couldn’t ignore the tightness persisting in her chest. Raising the red solo cup to her mouth, Lena finished her drink.
“Funny seeing you here, Luthor.”
Lena froze, then, slowly closed her eyes.
Dear Mother of Christ.
“Veronica,” she greeted coldly, turning around to face the intruder. “Pleasure, as always.”
“Can’t say the same,” Veronica said with a lazy smirk.
With a shake of her head, Lena immediately turned and stalked towards the kitchen. She needed something stronger if she was going to have to interact with this girl. “What do you want?” she asked the shadow trailing behind her, pouring a shot of Grey Goose into a cup.
“You seemed a little lonely,” Veronica simpered. “Thought I’d check off my daily act of charity.”
Lena threw back the shot without so much as an eye twitch.
The harsh liquid burned her tongue and mouth, but the feeling soon dissolved into something warm, heady, and soothing.
“You know, Luthor, you’re still a bitch, but I have to admit— you got hot,” Veronica said, dragging her eyes down Lena’s tight, black crewneck and ripped skinny jeans.
Lena took another shot before summoning the willpower to look over. “If that was supposed to be a compliment, I’m not impressed.”
“Goddamn, loosen up,” came the mildly slurred reply. Veronica’s cheeks were flushed pink from alcohol and her eyes narrowed into gleaming slits. Her lithe body twisted gracefully as she prowled further into Lena’s space. “I think a lot of people wonder what’s underneath that… frigid Luthor façade.”
To their right, Lena could see a few people watching the budding commotion.
“Absolutely, not,” Lena spat, stepped backwards. “Your drunk, Veronica, and- and honestly? Maybe me too. So, let’s not do this right now, please.” With a dramatic spin on her heels— maybe not the best idea, because it left her body momentarily reeling— Lena headed for the spiral staircase leading to the second floor. Maybe she’d finally find some peace and quiet.
Unfortunately, Veronica didn’t seem to understand that the conversation was over and slunk after Lena.
“Is it true, then? You have the hots for that preppy little Danvers girl? The one who acts like a- a… annoyingly cheerful doggie?”
“Fuck off.”
“Wow… Lillian know you talk like that? Careful, she might wanna smack that language right out of you.”
If Lena was sober, she probably would’ve conjured up some witty, cutting retort that would shake Veronica off her back. If she was sober, she probably would’ve ignored the girl and firmly extract herself from the situation.
But Lena was not sober.
Thus, she found herself whipping around and winding up for a shove that landed, hard, against Veronica’s shoulders.
“You bitch!” the other girl screeched, claw-like nails digging into Lena’s forearm.
The two of them grappled in the hallway for a few frenzied seconds until Lena abruptly grunted with the force of her back slamming against a door. She could blearily see Veronica’s hand darting out, but instead of striking her, it violently twisted open the doorknob near her hip.
And then, she was falling backwards.
Lena flailed for a split second. Her butt hit the white and grey tiles of a bathroom, and she prayed her phone screen hadn’t cracked.
Veronica loomed above her, chest heaving with exertion and a triumphant sneer contorting her face. “You know, maybe it’ll be good for you to chill out. Have fun, Luthor.”
Before Lena could comprehend what was happening, the sound of a door slamming and a lock clicking into place reverberated around the bathroom. Lena blinked. She blinked again. Then, she jumped to her feet.
“Veronica, what the hell are you doing?” Lena screamed, banging on the white door with the side of her fist. “You bitch! Open the door right now!”
Barring the low din of a dozen conversations and the muted bass of the music, there was only silence.
“Veronica!”
Lena paused for a moment to listen, then kicked the door angrily.
“Fuck,” she hissed, instinctively reaching down towards her newly pained foot. “Fuck this.”
Lena sighed loudly into the empty room and leaned heavily against the marble sink. She pressed a tingling palm against her head, which was throbbing with both pleasurable weightlessness and the likeness of a jackhammer.
Now, she understood that Veronica had never liked her since the fifth grade when, in retaliation for bullying Sam, Lena published the girl’s diary to the entire school. (And while Lena personally believed the action to be justified, she recognized that Veronica probably didn’t.)
But locking Lena in a bathroom? That was rather uncalled for.
The girl held her breath and picked her phone off the ground, turning it over to find a black screen with thankfully no damage. She pushed the side power button. Nothing. She held it down. Again, nothing.
Of course, it was dead. Perfect.
“Alright, alright, alright,” Lena said to herself. She rubbed her hands across her ripped jeans and stood up. “Just a door, Lena. You can do this.”
With a purse of her lips, she studied the obstacle in front of her.
The round metal handle bore no lock button— why in Christ’s name would Andrea have a bathroom that locked from the outside? — but there was a tiny hole in the center. Lena surmised it was a simple privacy door with a knob lock.
“Okay, not too bad.”
All she had to do was find a thin piece of metal or wire to slide into the hole, catch it against a recess, then push. That would be enough to trigger it to unlock.
Lena bent over and began rummaging through the sink drawers. She frowned, then opened the bottom cupboard. Then, she closed the wooden doors with a huff.
“Who doesn’t- what girl with long hair doesn’t have any bobby pins in her bathroom?”
She let out a groan of frustration and pulled at the ends of her undoubtedly disheveled hair.
“It’s fine. That’s fine. I’ll just…” Her gaze slowly drifted up along the edge of the door. “Yeah, that should work. Now I need…”
Lena glanced at the painting above the toilet. Clambering onto the ceramic seat, she lifted the artwork off of the wall as gently as she could. She grinned. It had been hanging from a nail that wasn’t too far into the drywall. After a couple of tugs and wiggles, the nail dropped into her palm.
Next, she’d have to find something to use as a hammer. Lena scanned the bathroom, then plucked a wooden hairbrush from the sink. The back was flat, and it seemed solid enough to use.
Lena could see that the three hinges on the door were standard butt hinges without a bottom cap on the pins. If she used the nail to knock the hinge pin up and out of the knuckles, the door would come free.
“I’m sorry, Andrea,” she murmured, “but this is what happens when your bathroom is not normal.”
Reaching up on her tippy toes, she placed the tip of the nail against the bottom of the highest pin and hit the nail head with the hairbrush. A few hits later, the pin was out enough for her to pull it the rest of the way.
She grinned victoriously.
Lena rapidly repeated the process with the middle hinge, eager to get out, punch Veronica right in the nose, find her friends, and leave.
On the third round, Lena’s alcohol-clumsy fingers caused the nail to skid against the metal leaf and out of her pinched grip. It flipped through the air to roll across the tiles and disappear under the sink vanity.
“Are you kidding me?” Lena just about screamed. She forced herself to close her eyes and breathe deeply.
It was fine. She’d taken the pins from two out of the three hinges and could see the door beginning to teeter off its track. A full-bodied shove would send the door crashing down.
Lena gritted her teeth and warily backed up to the opposite wall.
“Don’t think— just run. Maybe you won’t even feel anything,” she said, trying to hype herself up. “Alright. Here we go. Three, two, one-”
“Hey, is someone in here? Lena, is that you? Why’s the door locked?”
Lena’s eyes widened. When she heard the knocks, she’d already launched herself off the wall and was airborne.
She managed to let out an undignified scream in what she hoped was enough warning before her right shoulder slammed into the door. She could vaguely hear the girl outside release a shocked yell as the wooden door, and the rest of Lena, fell into the hallway with a loud crash.
When Lena opened her eyes again, she was lying on her side on the carpeted floor. She blinked a few times slowly sitting up. There’d been someone outside. Where was she? Lena turned to find a girl sprawled out on her back a couple feet away.
“Holy- oh my God- I-” the girl wheezed, a pair of blue eyes staring dazedly at the ceiling. Blonde hair fanned out like a halo around her head, and a pair of black-framed glasses had been knocked to the ground.
Kara Danvers. Lena had just assaulted Kara Danvers with a bathroom door.
“Are- are you okay?” Lena asked with a gasp.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I think. I’m fine,” Kara panted. “Holy…” She took another half-minute to catch her breath, then abruptly sprung up, glasses in-hand. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked, stepping over the door.
“I…” Lena stared at her. “I should be asking you that. I did ask you that. I’m the one that hit you with a door!”
Kara let out a full, bright laugh. “No harm here!”
“But… I slammed into you. With a door.”
Kara shrugged shyly. “Really, Lena, I’m alright. I have a pretty high pain tolerance. When we were kids, Alex used to say I was an alien made of steel.” She chuckled. “Here, let me help you.”
Lena swallowed and gazed up at the hand and its owner that were suddenly in front of her. There, in a red varsity jacket decorated with multiple golden pins and a pair of frayed jean shorts that displayed bare, muscular legs disappearing into high-top converse, was Kara. Kara Danvers. Whom she hit with a door.
Her brain still hadn’t processed that part, apparently.
Lena nodded slightly and reached up to accept the offer.
Kara pulled her up like she weighed nothing, gently placing her other hand on Lena’s waist to steady her. “I’m Kara, by the way. Kara Danvers. And you’re Lena Luthor!”
Lena, again, stared at her.
A rosy blush stained Kara’s cheeks as she rushed to explain. “Oh, shoot, that sounded really weird. I promise I’m not a stalker or anything. I swear. It’s just that I know you from school, and all. Like I’ve seen you around and you have classes with Alex. And we actually had English together freshman year, but you probably don’t remember that.”
“Mr. Carr.”
Kara stopped her rambling and cocked her head. “Huh?”
“Ninth grade English,” Lena said. “We were both in Mr. Carr’s class.”
“Yeah!” Kara nodded enthusiastically.
Lena’s fingers awkwardly played with the sleeves of her shirt for a moment. Then, she cleared her throat. “Your… you can, uh, let me go, now.”
Kara’s blush, which had just begun to fade, flared up again. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized, yanking her hands from where they were gripping Lena’s hand and waist.
Lena nearly frowned, but she couldn’t quite place why.
“So,” Kara drawled, rubbing the back of her neck, “how’d you end up breaking down Andrea’s bathroom door?”
Lena smiled nervously. “Veronica locked me in, actually. We sort of got into an argument, and then… yeah,” she finished lamely. She dared a glance up to see Kara with an entirely outraged expression across her face. “It’s not a big deal, though!” she quickly added. “I found my way out eventually. It wasn’t that hard, really.”
Kara didn’t seem convinced, but her face softened.
“How’d you know I was up here, anyways?” Lena asked. “I mean, I assume you were looking for me because I thought I heard you call my name.”
“Oh, right! Your friends— Sam and Jack, I think? — yeah, they’re looking for you. Apparently, Jack hadn’t seen you in a while and got worried. I was with Sam and Alex when he asked Sam for help. We split up, and I guessed the upstairs bathroom.”
“Lucky guess,” Lena said with a smirk.
“Yeah.” Kara smiled and gazed at her. Then, as if catching herself off-guard, she shook her head and blinked. “Well, um, we should probably get back.”
“Right.” She hesitated, looking down at the door. “I’ll have to talk to Andrea, later. Should we… What should I do with that?”
“Well, let’s at least move it out of the way. I got it!” Kara bent down and grabbed the edge, hoisting the entire thing up in one smooth motion and propping it against the wall.
Lena couldn’t stop herself from watching the varsity jacket stretch across the girl’s muscular back.
“Um, I guess that’ll do for now?” Kara grinned and shrugged, then beckoned for Lena to follow her back down he steps.
The moment Lena placed a foot onto the ground floor, she was pounced on by a five-foot, nine-inch mass of long limbs and wavy, brown hair.
“Lena!” Sam cried, hugging her close. “We couldn’t find you— we were so worried!”
Then, she was encased by Jack’s broad chest, tightly wound arms, and neat cologne.
Lena chuckled lightly and patted Jack’s back before wiggling away. “Sorry to worry you. But I’m alive and well.”
“What happened, though?” Sam questioned.
“Er… Veronica and I might’ve got into a bit of a fight. And then she might’ve locked me in the bathroom.”
“That snake-ass-bitch! I’m gonna-”
“Sam,” Lena cut in with a gentle shake of her head. “Thanks, but she’s not worth it.”
“If you’re sure… But how are you feeling?”
Lena paused, then let out a sigh. “Honestly? I think I’m ready to head home.”
Jack shared a glance with Sam. “I think Sam’s staying over at Alex’s tonight, but I can drive you home. Lance invited me over, but there’s always another time for that. You’re more important.”
“I don’t want to ruin your night,” Lena protested.
“Of course, you’re not, Lee! I’ll-”
“I can drive her home.”
All three friends turned around to see Kara standing with a blush.
“Please, Kara, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Lena said.
“No, I’d be happy to!” Kara insisted. “Where do you live?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes from here, but-”
“Perfect,” Kara said. Her gaze met Lena’s, and any further protests died on Lena’s lips.
Instead, Lena could only say, “Thank you.”
“Take care of her, little Danvers,” Sam said sternly. “I don’t care if you’re my girlfriend’s younger sister, I will be out for blood if something happens.”
“Same here,” Jack added with a solemn air.
Lena made a noise of embarrassment, but Kara just nodded along seriously.
“I promise to do my best.”
Jack and Sam both leaned in for a final hug.
“Get some sleep. But we will be talking about this tomorrow,” Sam said.
Lena smiled, and then she and Kara walked out the front door and into the warm night.
_____
“I cannot believe you actually listen to this,” Lena exclaimed.
“Hey! *NSYNC is one of the greatest bands of all time,” Kara said. Then, to punctuate her argument, she cranked up the volume of the car speakers.
The two girls laughed, and Lena felt herself completely relax into her seat. Maybe it was just the leftover buzz, but maybe it was Kara who just made her feel so… comfortable.
“I’ll admit,” Kara said, reaching back up to lower the volume, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while, now. You always seemed so nice and you’re so smart.”
Lena blushed and tried to shrug it off. “Well, I actually always thought you were pretty cool, but I was too intimidated.”
“Intimidated? By me?” Kara laughed. “I’m pretty sure I’m, like, the least scary person in the school.”
“Yeah, but- but you’re Varsity Captain of both the soccer and track team, plus you do all that stuff with the newspaper,” Lena argued.
“Like you have any place to talk,” Kara scoffed. “Lena, you’re the most intelligent kid I know. I heard you’re also some sort of national chess champion and you intern at Lord Technologies— Sam mentioned that, once.” She looked over at Lena and smiled. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Lena bit her lip. “Thanks.”
“Anyways,” Kara said, “I’m, uh, I’m glad I got to finally meet you. Even though it was due to a really weird and unfortunate situation.”
“Me too.” Lena stared out at the road and watched as flashes of yellow line disappeared underneath them.
They turned the corner, and Lena could recognize the row of trees lining their way. They were almost at her house.
Mild panic welled within her. She wasn’t sure she was ready to leave.
“Kara?”
“Mmm?”
“Would you… Do you…” Lena swallowed thickly and turned to see Kara giving her an encouraging look. She inhaled deeply.
“Would you be interested in going on a date? With me?”
There was silence, and then Kara let out a relieved chuckle. “Oh, thank God.”
Lena wasn’t exactly sure what was happening.
“I mean, yes, I’d love to!” Kara said eagerly. “It’s just that I’ve been trying to work up the courage to ask you out this entire ride and didn’t know if I could do it. So, thank you.”
From the passenger seat, Lena could feel herself positively glowing.
“Why don’t you put your number in my phone?” Kara suggested, carefully unlocking her phone with her thumbprint without ever taking her eyes off the road.
Lena did so, then put it back into the console cup holder.
Kara gradually slowed them to a stop as they pulled into the roundabout in front of the Luthor Mansion. If the girl was surprised or impressed by the grand estate, she didn’t communicate so, and Lena was grateful for that.
“Thank you, again, for the ride. Seriously.”
“No problem whatsoever. Thank you for putting up with me and ‘Tearin Up My Heart,’” Kara said with a grin. “We’ll talk later?”
“Can’t wait.”
With one last look, Lena slid out of the car and walked towards the entrance before turning around. As she watched the lights of Kara’s car disappear down the winding driveway, she couldn’t quell the flutter of her heart or the smile on her face.
_____
Lena woke to the harsh ringing of her phone charging on the nightstand beside her bed. She lifted a heavy head off a pillow from where she was lying face down.
What time was it? And Jesus, her shoulder was sore.
The phone stopped ringing, allowing lovely, sweet, calming silence to wash over Lena. She smiled into the pillow, remembering being stuck in Andrea’s bathroom, breaking down the door and accidentally hitting Kara, Kara driving her home, and Kara agreeing to go on a date with her.
Kara agreed to go on a date with her!
Unfortunately, the peace only lasted another fifteen seconds, and then her phone was blaring once more.
Lena groaned and extended an arm to blindly feel around for the device. When her fingers finally clasped around it, she hit “Accept” and pressed the cold screen against the side of her face. If it was Jack or Sam, she silently vowed to murder them for waking her up so early.
“Lena Luthor here, how can I help you?” she asked groggily, eyes already falling closed.
“LENA, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY BATHROOM?”