Chapter 1
All Clarke wanted to do that Saturday evening was crawl in her bed and drift in a dreamless sleep for at least a week. Unfortunately, as she entered her apartment, the very one she shared with her best friend, she realized her wish wasn’t going to become reality.
She found Octavia half naked in their living room, she was almost sure she didn’t really want to know why the younger girl was without her clothes on, but something superior took possession of her as she muttered the dreaded question:
“O, why are you half naked?”
“Oh, good, you’re home!” she replied, completely ignoring the question. “Lincoln will be here in half an hour, change into something cute: we’re going out!”
“What? How, where, why?” the blonde asked confused, but the brunette was already pushing her towards her bedroom to find a nice outfit. “Octavia, I’m really tired, I don’t feel like going out.” She moaned whilst her best friend rummaged through her closet.
“I don’t care, you’re coming, you ditched last time!” she said without even looking at her.
The blonde decided she didn’t really have the energy to try and convince the other girl, she figured she could just go with it and leave early (whatever activity the couple had planned) to go home.
“Oh, Clarke, maybe you should take a shower.” The younger girl suggested once she took in her appearance, Clarke just glared at her and headed towards the bathroom, maybe a hot shower would make everything better, at least that was what she hoped.
She heard a knock on the door just as she finished her make-up, half an hour to get ready must have been some kind of record, she was sure of it.
“Where are we going anyway?” she asked upon entering Lincoln car.
“Bellamy is throwing a party at his apartment and he invited us.” The man replied shortly.
“I thought your brother’s Birthday was in August.” Clarke said confused to Octavia.
“It is. It’s not a birthday party, it’s just a party!” she replied, too preoccupied with finding a good song to explain the matter further for her best friend.
Clarke huffed and leaned back on the seat, Bellamy parties were pretty famous to be very crowded and never-ending, two things that she usually enjoyed, but in the last few months she had just been so tired constantly that loud music and going to sleep in the early hours of the day didn’t sound as appealing as before, she still hoped she could make a short appearance and then fled the scene.
They arrived at the apartment and there was already music booming from the speakers. The light were turned off, instead there were red and blue spotlights scattered around the flat. Octavia and Lincoln abandoned her on the door step, making a beeline for the kitchen, probably to get some alcohol, she sighed and entered, squinting her eyes to look for the host, which seemed to be nowhere to be found.
“Clarke!” she got her name mostly because she happened to read the lips of the one who had just materialized in front of her, rather than because she could hear something. “I’m glad you came!” the girl screamed in her ear as she leaned in for a greeting hug. The petite brunette, whose name was Raven, was her other best friend.
“I didn’t have much of a choice!” she shouted back, it was always good to see Raven, although they saw each other eight hours per day, since they were coworkers in a petit café not far from the blonde’s apartment, but the older girl was one of those girls who were just bursting with energy and ideas, she was by far the strongest person she knew.
“Let’s go get you some booze!” she said taking her wrist to drag her in the kitchen, which was lightened and less crowded, but the music was still deafening. Raven took a red cup and mixed some liquors, but the blonde was quicker and she got a beer for herself, instead, not really in the mood to get drunk.
“Uh, I almost forgot!” the brunette screamed after she took a sip from her drink. “You’ll never guess who I saw in this very apartment!” she said, getting closer to her so that she didn’t have to shout that loudly. Clarke simply stared blankly at her, waiting for the solution. “Your tattooed friend!” she revealed with a smirk plastered on her face.
“Who?” she asked puzzled, not recalling a friend of hers that fitted the description.
“Yeah, you know…the girl that comes everyday to the café and she always waits a little longer just so that you can serve her.” Raven prompted.
“No way, really?” she asked sparking up at that revelation.
“Oh, wow! So you’re not excited to see me, but this chick, whose name you don’t even know, has your complete interest? Yeah, that seems fair!” she said feigning hurt.
“I do know her name!” the blonde replied offended, which earned her a glare from the shorter woman.
“Do you think she’s stalking you?” Raven asked after a minute.
“Nah, that’s ridiculous!” she said quickly, but then she stopped to think about it for a second, it did seem quite strange, coincidences couldn’t go that far, right? And she had to admit that it was plain to see that the older girl had taken some kind of liking in her as a bartender at the café, the thought made Clarke smile, for some weird reason.
She was taking a sip from her beer, when the woman in question entered the kitchen, the blond sputtered the liquid out as she coughed loudly, her best friend looked at her worried, providing tissues to fix the situation, she was about to ask her what had happened when she noticed the brunette that was looking towards them and she burst out laughing as Clarke kept on coughing.
“Everything ok?” the tattooed girl screamed leaning in closer to the blonde, whom simply nodded with her head, not trusting herself to speak just yet. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but see what happened…” she tried to justify herself sheepishly.
“Don’t worry, I apparently lost all the human’s basic skills, like drinking.” She replied raising the bottle as proof. She tried to regain a normal appearance and then she straightened up. “Hi Lexa.” She said at last, assuming the most smooth position she could muster. If the other woman thought that was lame, she didn’t metion it, she just smiled sweetly at her.
“Hi Clarke.” She replied in the same tone.
“I didn’t know you were friends with Bellamy.” The blonde added, trying to make conversation, even if the booming music made it hard. Raven was watching the interaction amused, partly because she had rarely seen her best friend as flustered as she was in that moment and partly because it seemed that they weren’t even aware she was still there, after another minute she shrugged it off and headed back to the living room to find someone to dance with.
“I’m not, my friend Anya was invited and she dragged me to it.” She explained. “If I had known you were here I wouldn’t have complained that much.” She added giggling softly.
“That’s funny, because the same thing happened to me. I wasn’t really feeling like parting tonight.”
Lexa felt the lull on the conversation approaching, she desperately tried to wrack her brain to find something else to say to the blonde, but she couldn’t come up with anything.
“Do you think they would notice if we leave now?” she asked in a moment of bravery. Did I just ask Clarke, The Clarke, out? She thought.
Clarke looked at her for a second longer than needed, trying to understand what the other was thinking. Did she just asked me out? Be straight, damn it!
“I think that even if they noticed they wouldn’t care.” She replied leaving the almost empty bottle on the counter and taking her purse, she then offered her hand to the other woman as a n open invitation to follow her.
As soon as Clarke was out of the building she felt immediately better, she could still feel her ears pulsate from the bass coming from the speakers.
“Where are we going?” Lexa asked chuckling, whilst following her.
“I don’t know, wherever you want to, but please choose some place quiet.” She pouted.
“What about that café, over there?” she asked, pointing to a little shop that was still illuminated. “That is, if you are not too fed up with those kind of places.” She added smirking.
“No, I actually love the smell of coffee and pastries.” She replied heading towards the door.
The shop was deserted, there were only two employees who looked very bored and straightened up upon seeing them enter.
“Why did we seat in the further booth from the counter?” Lexa asked amused.
“So that we can talk freely.”
“Which we couldn’t do in any other booth, because…?” she pressed genuinely curious.
“Because those two employees are very bored, trust me, I had my fair share of night shift at the café, when it’s two a.m. you’re more than happy to have someone to talk to…or listen to.” She said casting her gaze on the menu.
“Clarke! That’s such an invasion of privacy!” the older one said trying to sound as if she was scolding, but she couldn’t contain her giggle.
“I know! But I was really bored and their story was really good!” she moaned.
Lexa simply laughed at her.
“Do you want to hear it?”
“Hear what?”
“The story of the two kids I eavesdropped on.”
“No!” she replied, but she didn’t sound very convincing. “Ok, fine, but only after we ordered, because I’m starving and this looks delicious!”