Tutors and Workout Buddies
Clarke’s POV
After that, things are a little different. Me and Lexa aren’t constantly at each other’s throats. Lunches with the whole group are much calmer and tensions have eased up a bit. Lexa and I still bicker like crazy and sass one another left and right...but for the most part, it’s in good fun.
I’m walking in the halls after Calculus and Laurel catches up with me.
“Hey Clarke!” She calls out to me from the doorway of our math classroom and I smile, waiting for her to catch up with me.
“Hey Laurel. Did you understand the lesson about trigonometric substitution today?” I don’t know why I asked her that. I could have asked her anything, but I asked her about math. God, she probably thinks I’m so boring now.
“Oh no. Not at all.” She laughs loud and hard, so hard she snorts a little. I bite my lip and look away.
“Well..you know, I could always help you. I’m really good at math.” I try really hard not to be awkward while asking her. We are friends, nothing else. Friends offer to tutor each other..right?
“You sure? I don’t want to waste your time.” She is so sweet.
“You could never waste my time.” The words fly out before I could even stop them. Laurel stops her walk a little and looks at me unsurely. I stop too and refuse to look her in the eye at first. I realize she isn’t going to start walking again until I look at her though. I met her gaze and her eyes are narrow but she has a smile on her face.
“Okay then. How about after school? We can go to my house. I have my car so I’ll drive.”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you outside at 3.”
“Great. And thanks so much!” She squeezes my shoulder and says goodbye before walking off to her next class. I smile at her as she walks away before I go off to literature. I’m just helping a friend with Calculus. That’s it. That’s all this is.
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Lexa’s POV
This shit day is finally over. I can’t wait to just go home and relax, maybe work out a bit or call up that girl from my Chemistry class who has been texting me for the past two weeks. Lunch was the best part of my day..but it definitely wasn’t because of Clarke Griffin.
Clarke has confused me since the first day I met her. It wasn’t a traditional meeting by any means. I usually don’t make friends with girls, except Octavia of course. Other than that, I have guy friends. So I’m not sure what Clarke is to me. For some reason, I don’t like the idea of her being just a one night stand. But the word friend doesn’t sit too well with me either. And we’ve moved past hating each other ever since that sleepover last week. So who is Clarke Griffin to me?
“Hey Lexa.” Lincoln calls out to me and I high five him.
“Whatsup?” I ask as we make our way outside to the parking lot. My motorcycle is in the shop so I’ve been getting rides from Laurel. She’s probably already outside waiting for me. Laurel has never been late for anything a day in her life. My sister is such a good person. She’s nothing like me..and I guess that’s a good thing too.
“Octavia’s birthday is next week. Are your parents gonna be home?” He asks with a knowing smile on his face. My house has become the go to place to throw parties. My parents are rich and my Dad needs to travel the world to visit all his companies. My mom tags along with him. Me and Laurel have been on our own for awhile now.
“They never are.” I say truthfully. “What time do you want the party to start?”
“You know me so well.” Lincoln laughs. “How about 10?”
“10 it is. Invite the usuals.” I say nonchalantly as he reaches his car.
“You’re the best Lex! Hey you need a ride?”
“Na. Laurel is waiting for me.” We say goodbye and I walk up to Laurel’s car, except my sister isn’t alone. Clarke Griffin is with her. My heart starts beating really faster and I’m not used to the sensation. I silently curse myself.
“Well if it isn’t my favorite blonde.” I call out, putting on that smirk I know she hates so much. I see her roll her eyes and I laugh. Messing with her is just too good. She gets annoyed so easily that I just can’t help myself.
“Lexa.” She says coolly as her greeting to me. I can tell she’s just pretending to be annoyed because I see a glimpse of a smile on her face.
“You should really use that mouth of yours for more than frowning. Come to think of it, I can think of a few things that would be way more fun.” I smirk and she huffs. I start laughing and Laurel throws me a warning glare. I put my hands up in defeat and get in the backseat of the car.
“So why is the great Clarke Griffin honoring us with her presence?” I sassily ask, desperate to know the answer. I try to cover up my blatant desperation with sass and snappy comments. It’s my defense mechanism and I’ve been doing it for so long that I can’t tell the difference anymore.
“She’s tutoring me in Calculus.” Laurel says sweetly, her eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. I’m not really sure what that look means but I think she’s trying to tell me to be quiet and not say anything rude.
“Thank you by the way.” She softly says to Clarke, a small smile painted on her face. I look over to Clarke and she smiles back at her, saying that it’s not a problem. My chest aches suddenly and I don’t know why.
We get home and Laurel brings Clarke in the living room to study. I decide to go upstairs because I don’t know calculus and Laurel is acting weird. She keeps smiling and speaking all soft and sweet. I mean Laurel is always nice, but I have never seen her like this. The whole thing bugs me a lot more than it should.
I’m sitting around reading my book for literature class when my phone buzzes.
Mercedes from Chem: Hey Lexa. How’s my favorite basketball player? Need a good workout buddy? I can think of a few ways to work up a sweat ;)
I smirk at the text. This girl is a feisty one I can tell. I think I need a little action right now. I have a killer headache and it has nothing to do with the fact that Clarke Griffin is in my house right now.
I text her back with my address and she says she’ll be here in an hour. I go back to reading and way for this girl to arrive. I need to de-stress. I haven’t hooked up with anyone since that Carmen girl weeks ago. It just so happens that’s when I met Clarke, but I swear it has nothing to do with her. I’ve just been off my game lately. That’s it.
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Clarke’s POV
“I think that’s enough studying for now. Do you want a snack?” Laurel asks me as she closes the textbook in front of us.
“Yeah sure. A snack sounds good after all that hard manual labour.” I joke and she giggles. Her giggle is childlike and innocent. It’s adorable. Just then her phone rings and she looks at me apologetically.
“I’m sorry I have to take this it’s my mom and she almost never calls. Do you mind?”
“Of course not. I can wait here.” Laurel runs up to her room and just as she goes up the stairs, Lexa comes down. She’s dress in basketball shorts and a sports bra. God, what kind of DNA do these sisters have? I curse Lexa’s good genes as she approaches me. I wait for her to be sassy with me but it never comes.
“Hey Clarke.” She says normally and I have to school my features from showing off my confusion.
“Hi Lexa.” I say hesitantly but friendly all the more. This isn’t our usual set up. She’s usually sasses me and then I sass her back. But now she’s being genuinely nice and it’s way too confusing. What is this girl doing to me?
“How’s uhh studying?” She asks unsurely, rubbing the back of her neck. She’s adorable when she’s not all put together. I think I could actually like Lexa when she’s not playing up the asshole facade.
“It’s going good. Your sister just had to run up and answer a phone call from your mom.” I point up and Lexa nods. I can tell the word ‘mom’ spooked her a bit but I leave it be.
“So you want a snack or something?” She asks awkwardly and I chuckle at her.
“Umm I’m okay-” My polite refusal is cut off by my stomach grumbling. She laughs at me and heads toward the kitchen.
“Come on Griffin. We are getting a snack.” She declares and I follow. I am a tad hungry, but I didn’t want to impose.
“Salty or sweet?” She asks, rummaging through the fridge.
“Mmm I’m good with whatever you’re having.” I say, realizing just how hungry I was.
“How about both?” She pulls out pretzels and strawberry ice cream. My face scrunches up.
“This is your idea of a snack?” I ask her incredulously, joking with her.
“It’s so good.” She smiles and scoops up a big dollop of ice cream with a pretzel and feeds it to me.
“Here try it. I promise you’ll like it.” She says is quietly, almost whispering it. My eyes widen a bit but I bite down on the sweet salty goodness and close my eyes. I can feel my heart beating in my ears.
I open my eyes and she’s still looking at me. It’s not her usual smirk though. If I didn’t know any better, I would say she’s turned on. It doesn’t bother me one bit. If anything, I’m a little turned on too.
“You have a little bit of ice cream.” She signals toward the corner of my mouth and I try to wipe it off. She shakes her head and laughs. I feel embarrassed and laugh.
“Well help me! I don’t want to look all gross.” I laugh and she giggles.
She moves in closer and suddenly the air is charged a little differently. I regret asking for help because now I can’t even think. Her thumb swipes the strawberry ice cream off my lips and she sucks her thumb clean. I can tell she didn’t mean it in a sexual way, but she has me feeling very aroused.
“You could never look gross.” She says gently. I can feel the butterflies in my stomach. I look at her lips and then back to her eyes. She’s looking at my lips too. This girl infuriates me so much but I really want to kiss her. I want to..wait what? No. I don’t want to kiss her because kissing her will lead to sex and then she will never talk to me again. But she’s being so sweet and I can tell it’s genuine. I’ve decided that Lexa Woods is the most confusing girl I’ve ever me.
For a second, I think she’s gonna kiss me. And for that split second, I might have actually let her but then the doorbell rings. Her eyes widen a bit and moves a safe distance from me.
“I’ll get it.” Laurel calls from the stairs. A second later she comes in with a girl I’ve seen around the halls a few times.
“Lexa. Ready for our workout?” The girl coos at the younger Woods and my stomach turns. Her words were heavy with innuendo.
I mean I can see the appeal. She is skinny and her hair is raven black. Her skin is tan and her eyes are beautiful. Overall, she is very pretty.
“You know it.” Lexa smirks at her, but I can see it fall a little when she looks back at me. There’s something indistinguishable in her eyes and I’m not sure what it is. I’m not even sure what just happened before little miss ‘workout buddy’ sauntered in.
“It was nice seeing you Clarke.” Lexa says, her eyes not meeting mine. Her smirk gone. I can hear that girl laughing as the two of them clamber up the stairs.
“I see Lexa gave you her signature snack.” Laurel says, while she takes out a popsicle from the freezer for herself. “Do you want to stick to that or would you rather a popsicle?” She asks politely, taking a seat next to mine.
“I think I’ll stick with this. It’s better than I expected.” If only I realized then what a metaphor that would be for my life with the Woods’.