Chapter 4
The week flew by after the trip to Target. Lexa was still dumbfounded on what to do with Clarke’s number. She was sitting in the living room with Aden who was playing with toys when Raven walked in from her doctor’s appointment. Lexa was looking at her phone trying to get the courage to text Clarke.
“Lexa, are you doing a math problem? I’ve only seen you in such concentration when you were multiplying polynomials or there is a girl. And we are in the middle of the summer. So, it has to be a girl!” Raven smiled and pointed at Lexa. “WHAT’S HER NAME!?”
Raven screaming grabbed Aden’s attention. “’xa are you texting Clarke!?”
“Wait Aden knows and I don’t? Also, I just want to confirm Clarke is a girl?” Lexa still didn’t answer Raven.
“Of course Clarke is a girl. She works at Target. She likes to draw animals like me! We’re going to go to the park and draw together!” Lexa bowed her head into her lap. She just got called out by a 5 year old about her crush.
“And Lexa when is this date to the park happening?” Raven wasn’t going to let this go. She skipped over to the couch and playfully jumped onto the cushion next to Lexa. “Spill the beans now, Woods.”
“I’m working on it. She gave me her number but I’m just figuring out what I want to text her,” Lexa looked at Raven. “Also, it’s not a date! I don’t even like her like that.”
“Well just ask her when she would want to go to the park with Aden. Seems simple enough then.”
“Yep. I can totally do that,” Lexa’s attention went back to the blank text screen on her phone. She took a deep breath and began to type.
Lexa (3:30pm): Hey Clarke. This is lexa. Just wondering if you would still be willing to go to the park with Aden and I when you have some free time. He won’t stop talking about it.
Lexa read it over one more time, then pressed send.
“There, I texted her. Good enough for you?” Lexa pointedly said to Raven. Aden jumped up fists to the air and screamed in excitement.
“I’ll take it, but you need to give me all of the details.”
“There aren’t any more details than what Aden just told her. I met her at Target when I bought the drawing stuff for him and we ran into her again the other day.”
Raven side eyes her trying to determine if she believes the story or not. “Okay… Let me know what she says. I’m hopping in the shower and heading to work.” Raven high fived Aden as she walked to the stairs to head to the bathroom upstairs.
Clarke didn’t respond for almost an hour.
Clarke (4:27pm): Hi Lexa I was worried my number got deleted from your phone. 😊 I’m for sure still down to go to the park! I’m free on Sunday. Would that work?
Lexa (4:36pm): Yeah, that will work. 2pm good for you? It’s the park down on Maple Ave by the lake.
Clarke (4:38pm): works for me! I will see you two then. Maybe we can talk about that dinner I mentioned? 😉
Lexa (4:40pm): I think we can make that happen.
Lexa was excited. She was going to go out on Saturday to Murphy’s house and then she had plans with a very pretty blonde on Sunday. Finally, things looked good for her.
“Hey, Aden, Clarke just texted back, we are going to the park on Sunday okay?!”
Aden jumped on the couch next to Lexa. “YEAHHH. I’m gonna go and draw some new pictures to show her when we go!”
“That sounds perfect. I think Clarke would like that,” Aden took off to run downstairs to get his drawing book and markers.
Lexa was frustrated. Saturday had started on a bad foot. Aden was acting like a typical 5 year old and couldn’t sit still for more than 3 minutes at a time. It was aggravating Lexa who was trying to get stuff done so she could go out with Anya to Murphy’s party that night. Raven and Anya were out running errands and Octavia was at work leaving Lexa with Aden for most of the day. He fought Lexa on everything. He didn’t want lunch, he didn’t want a nap, he didn’t want to play, he couldn’t sit through a movie. Lexa had tried everything and she had no other ideas in the tank. Aden was currently sitting on the floor playing with some building blocks, but Lexa knew it wasn’t going to last. She was right.
Aden had a small tower built when he decided to run in several circles around the play area and finished by smashing the tower screaming and continuing to run in the circles.
“ADEN!!” The boy stopped in his tracks when he heard the tone in his sister’s voice. “Aden! I need you to play quietly. What did I say about running in the house?”
“You said I need to play quietly because of ‘tavia, Raven and Anya. ‘xa, they’re not here,” Aden pleaded his case.
“Aden, we need to use our indoor voice even if it just the two of us. Okay? Also, what did I say about running in the house?”
“Don’t run in the house,” Aden bowed his head.
“That’s right, now, can you play quietly so I can get some stuff done? Tonight Raven is going to be staying with you tonight, sound good?”
“YES! I like Raven. She’s good at building things.”
“Yes, well if you keep acting like this, she will put you right to bed and I will text Clarke that you can’t go to the park tomorrow.”
“WHAT?!”
“You heard me Aden, you need to behave or else you won’t go to the park tomorrow with Clarke.”
“Okay, can I watch a movie?” Aden asked.
“Only after you take a nap. So why don’t you go and lay down and we can get you some music to sleep to.”
“NO!” Just as Aden screamed in protest the door opened with Raven and Anya walking in with bags from their trip.
“ADEN!” The tone even took the couple by surprise. “Please lay down! It is time for a nap!”
“NO! You’re not my mother!” Aden burst with tears in his eyes. He took off running downstairs to his bedroom.
Lexa stood still unable to move in pure shock. Raven and Anya witnessed the event and stood just as shocked as Lexa. Raven was first to make a move. Bags dropped out of her hand as she took off behind the boy downstairs. She knew Anya was more equipped to handle Lexa and she could calm the boy down and get him to sleep.
Tears fell from Lexa’s eyes. She had no intention of replacing her mother. She knew she would have to take over some of the motherly duties as she is now the guardian for the little boy. It was Aden’s grief showing, but it didn’t make the comment sting any less.
Anya approached her roommate cautiously. “Lex.”
Lexa turned to look at Anya. “It’s his way of grieving.”
“No doubt, but Lexa that was harsh,” Anya stated.
“He didn’t mean it,” Lexa was justifying his actions to herself. “He’s just acting out.” Lexa hadn’t taken him to the cemetery since the first visit in the first couple weeks after her death. He hadn’t asked to go, but she also hadn’t offered. Also, Aden hadn’t talked about their mom in a couple of weeks. Lexa didn’t think he was done grieving, but more able to cope with it. It looks like he had been shoving his feelings in and now they were bursting out. Aden had never yelled at her like that ever. It was a scary feeling for her, but she thinks it was just as scary for Aden. Anger was never an emotion Aden was open to expressing, this was really the first time.
“Lexa we know that. You will have to talk to him though. I bet Raven is convincing him to fall asleep right now. Lex sit down, take a break.” Lexa sat on the couch. “Before you even start, we are still going out tonight. This is the exact reason why you need a night out.”
Lexa nodded. “I just don’t want to leave him when the last thing we did was fight.”
“We don’t have to go until after he wakes up. You can talk to him then. Raven will stay with him for the night. O will be back too,” Anya added. “He’s taken care of.”
“Okay, so long as we talk before leaving, I’ll still go,” Lexa was still on the fence. She really didn’t want to go if Aden was still mad at her.
“Perfect.”
While Lexa started to calm down Raven was downstairs working to get Aden down for a nap. He eventually gave in to his grumpiness and fell asleep. Raven made her way back upstairs to find Anya on the couch along with Lexa.
“Okay. I got him to fall asleep. I don’t really think he understood what he said,” Raven explained. “Lexa, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It just took me by surprise. I knew it would happen eventually.”
“Are you still gonna go out tonight?” Raven asked.
“Yeah. So long as I get to talk to Aden before I go. I just don’t want to leave for the day on that note. It wouldn’t be good for either of us.”
“That’s a good idea,” Raven nodded. “I’ll put away the bags from our trip. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Rae.”
As she tried to get ready for the night, Lexa was tried to keep her mind off Aden while he slept. Lexa wanted a pick me up. The only thing her head was the cute girl she was going to see the next day. Lexa couldn’t get Clarke out of her head. On her bed, Lexa played with her phone deciding if she should text Clarke. As much as she said she didn’t have feelings for Clarke, it was appearing more and more it was a blatant lie. They haven’t had a conversation outside of Target and the texting to set up the park get together. She couldn’t decide if it was too much, but after the day she was having Lexa wanted to smile and Clarke was the one to make it happen.
Lexa opened her phone scrolling to find her texts with Clarke. As Lexa started to type, nothing could really come out that sounded natural. She closed the app and opened the phone. Hoping Clarke wasn’t working right now, she hit her name and listened for the ringing.
It was three rings and Lexa had given up hope she was going to answer when the phone was picked up and a familiar voice came on the other line.
“Hello. Lexa?”
“Hi, Clarke,” Lexa was nervous as she didn’t actually have plan or a specific reason for calling Clarke. “Sorry, I didn’t know if you were working or not so I wasn’t sure if you would answer. If you are working it’s fine, you can hang up.” Lexa was babbling now. “I understand you are probably busy, its –-“
“Lexa, stop!” Clarke was smiling as she tried to stop Lexa. It was cute that she called and was nervous about it.
Lexa stopped, silence on the line.
“I’m not at work, just at home getting some cleaning done. Is something wrong that you called? We can reschedule tomorrow if there is an issue.”
“Oh, no nothing like that,” Lexa was trying to figure out her next move. “Aden has been terrible today, and I’m frustrated, and tired, and honestly, I’m not sure why I called you. I figured talking with you might, I don’t know, take my mind off of it.”
Lexa was thankful Clarke couldn’t see her blush at the phone call. She was even more thankful she went to her bedroom and wasn’t subject to Anya or Raven in the room as well.
Clarke smiled, “I’m sorry you are having a bad day, but I’m definitely not sorry you called me. You want to talk about it?”
Lexa sighed, “Aden just won’t listen to me today and he said somethings that I don’t think he understood was mean. It hit pretty hard.” Lexa paused. “Sorry for dumping this all on you. We literally just met.”
“Lexa, stop apologizing. I’m glad you called. Can I ask what he said?”
“He said he didn’t have to listen to me because I’m not his mother,” Lexa’s voiced cracked. “I knew it would eventually come up, but it really caught me off guard and I wasn’t ready. I had no idea how to react.”
“I’m so sorry Lexa. What is he doing now?”
“My roommate Raven got him to finally take a nap, so I am just letting him sleep hoping it will help with his grumpy mood.”
“Probably for the best. We can reschedule tomorrow if you want. You have any plans with him tonight?”
“I have plans with my other roommate to go out tonight. I’m planning to talk with him before I leave though and he is going to be with Raven tonight. Maybe it’s for the best we won’t be together. Some space could help,” Lexa was working out the problem as she was going.
“Sounds like a good plan. You’ve been together a lot for the last couple of weeks and you’re both still grieving in your own way. Space would probably help you out.”
There was silence on the line for a couple of beats.
“Hey, Clarke?”
“Yeah, Lexa.”
“If you didn’t already have plans, would you want to go to a party tonight?”
Clarke smiled.
Lexa and Anya were both dressed and almost ready to go just putting finishing touches on their hair and makeup when Aden came upstairs to the living room. He didn’t say anything as he went and sat on the couch. Anya and Lexa locked eyes and Anya nodded taking her queue to head up stairs for a little while.
“How’s your nap, bud?”
Aden yawned, “Good.”
“That’s good. Can we talk a minute?” Lexa turned from the mirror, getting up and sitting with Aden on the couch. Aden nodded. “Okay. Aden, I’m sorry I yelled at you that loudly. I shouldn’t have raised my voice, but Aden do you understand why I was upset?”
Aden nodded his head, “Yeah… I didn’t do what you asked me to do.”
“That’s right, bud. I wasn’t mad at you Aden, I was frustrated you weren’t doing what I asked.”
Aden nodded, “I understand.”
“And Aden what you said really hurt my feelings.”
The boy looked up at his sister with wide eyes. Lexa had figured he really didn’t understand how hurtful his comment was.
“Aden, I’m not trying to replace mom. I miss her just as much as you do. But, now I’m in charge of you, okay? I don’t really know anything about being a mother, so I'm learning. So, I need you to help me out and listen when I ask you to do things okay? That goes for if Raven, Anya, or Octavia ask for something as well. What do you say when you hurt someone’s feelings?”
“I’m sorry ‘xa,” Aden crawled over to Lexa’s lap on the couch. He gave her a big hug.
“I know and I forgive you. You just have to think before you say things because they can hurt someone’s feelings.”
“I will try to.”
“Okay, are you excited to hang out with Raven tonight?” the boy nodded. “Good, you need to behave for her or I am going to cancel our park trip tomorrow. You understand?”
“Yes!”
“Perfect. I love you, Aden.”
“Love you too, ‘xa”
“Alright, go get Raven, tackle her and tell her she’s in charge now,” Aden took off upstairs and soon followed with a scream coming from Raven and Anya’s room.
Lexa sighed and smiled. Everything was going to be alright.