Chapter 2
Lexa woke up early that Saturday due to the excessive groaning coming from the room next to her. She dressed herself in leggings and a comfortable sweater with her hair in loose in soft waves. She later exited the kitchen holding a water bottle in one hand and toast in the other while walking into Anya's room. She placed the bottle on the table next to Anya's bed. All the while, her ears were still being subjected to some sort of loud noise. ‘Last night AND this morning? My poor eardrums are going to bleed.’
“Stop your moaning Anya, I come bearing toast,” Lexa said with a bright smile. You really shouldn't have drunk all that alcohol. I told you before going out that you should have eaten something beforehand. I know you had class and then work right after, but you still needed some food. And now you’ve put Moldova to shame and quite frankly your liver,” she admonished.
“Ugh, please stop your yapping. I know I made some poor choices that I'm going to make again and again. But it's all a part of th--”
“The college experience. So I've heard. You really didn't do much to convince me to go to parties with the performance you did barfing in the toilet.”
“Whatever. Please just tell me you put some cookie butter on that toast? I'll love you forever.”
“Yes, I did. Heaven forbid I put peanut butter instead,” Lexa chuckled, “I know how you get when you have hangovers, of which you rarely get since you're built like a tank.”
“Yea, well as you've mentioned a few times, I drank a shit ton last night… and a bit this morning too,” Anya recounted as she munched into her toast. “This is great by the way. Thanks.”
“There's water on the table. Hydrate yourself. I'm going out to the cafe to meet up with Costia, the girl from last night. I'll see you later,” Lexa said as she got up from the bed.
“Hold up. You're already meeting her? You move quick Kid, nice. Just. Be careful okay? This could possibly be your first relationship and I don't want you getting hurt.”
“I won't. I'll be fine Anya. Plus, it's not even a date. We're planning to set our lab partners together.”
“You're meeting to set up your lab partners together? Lab partners. Gosh you're such a nerd Lexa. She's into you.”
“ I guess I'll find out soon enough. See you for dinner?”
“Absolutely. You think I would ever miss it? Not a chance. Now scram. This toast and I need some getting to know each other time.”
“Oh, but you're eating its face off!,” Lexa gasped teasingly.
“You're ruining my enjoyment. Hush now and run along. Don't want to keep your date waiting now do you?”
With a sigh, Lexa left Anya's room to collect her things before heading to the cafe.
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Lexa entered the cafe Grounders, a place where all the students went to, and that definitely included Lexa. She immediately spotted Costia lounging on the plush sofa engrossed with the contents on her phone. She had a necklace that glistened when the light hit perfectly, a necklace that Lexa hadn't noticed before at the party. Her curly hair covered half her face and she was dressed in a long striped maxi dress and heeled toe pumps. Lexa couldn't believe the sight before her. She took a deep breath before making her presence known to Costia.
“Lexa, hey! I took the liberty of ordering us both coffee. Glad we could meet so soon. I like seeing your cute face. Anyways, we have Pike on Monday so I was thinking that we should talk them up to each other and then when they're ready, I'll throw a party that they both have to come to. Or maybe we'll have them accidentally bump into each other. Worked well for us right?”
“Wow. Seems like you've got everything mapped out. You did some deep thinking last night didn't you?,” Lexa joked.
“I'm really good at planning and I wanted to spend more time with you without having to focus solely Lincoln and Octavia. I wanted to focus on you.”
Lexa tried to stall a bit and took a sip out of her cup of coffee. Costia mirrored her and waited until Lexa was ready to speak. “What do you want to know?,” Lexa asked.
“Hmm, let's start with what you're majoring in. I myself am leaning towards business and communication. You're a freshman right? I'm a sophomore. Maybe I can show you the ropes sometime.”
Lexa tried her best to step up her game, replying even though she made sure to know all the nooks and crannies of Polis University on her first week. “I'd like that. I'll make sure to hold on tight,” Lexa said with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. “I'm trying to major in law by the way. Environmental law in fact. And yes, I am a freshman.”
Costia bellowed out a huge laugh. “All good things Lexa. That's impressive. You know, they have this park with a huge lake nearby the school. There's some work to be done, but I think that you'd like it. It's really beautiful. I'll take you there on our second date.”
“Our second date?” Lexa repeated in a higher octave. ‘When was our first one?,’ Lexa thought. ‘Is this our first date? Ohh, Anya was totally right. Damn. Well, she can't ever know. Her ego is already enormous. I'm only protecting her head from getting any bigger.”
“Yea, our second date Lexa,” Costia said as she placed her hand on Lexa’s thigh.
“I'm already looking forward to it,” Lexa said softly, quickly glancing at Costia’s full lips.
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“How'd the date go,” Anya asked Lexa after taking both their meals to the couch. Lexa closed and locked the door before placing her belongings on the edge of the couch whilst going for the second plate Anya had. She turned on the tv to a documentary on the changing climates and put the volume on low, so the sisters could converse.
“It wasn't a date Anya. We just met up to set our classmates together,” Lexa said with a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.
“Mhmm, and I'm the Queen of England. Lexa, how'd it go?”
“Let me think about it. Mmn, nope. Not going to tell you.”
“Okay fine. You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to. But I can tell something’s going on from that blush you have on your face.”
Lexa did consider Anya her closest friend and if she were to vent her feelings to anyone, it would've been Anya. “Well.. it was a date,” Lexa conceded, “...and we kind of kissed on the walk here. That's all you're getting,” she said pointing her spoon at Anya.
“That's all I need.” Anya resumed eating her food while Lexa grabbed the remote to turn the volume up. She wanted to distract herself from her embarrassment of admitting pretty much everything to Anya (even though she previously decided not to). The girls sat in a comfortable silence while the only thing heard were birds squawking in the background.
--
Monday came around and Lexa found herself sitting next to Lincoln. She kept glancing over to Costia who was making gestures with her head and widening her eyes, motioning Lexa to talk to Lincoln about Octavia. Lexa faced Lincoln, the tall muscular man who was really a big softie at heart, and she tried to start a conversation.
“So...Octavia huh? What's that about? Are you going to ask her out anytime soon because you both seem to really like each other. I don't see why you guys aren't together already.”
“Wow, I think that's the most I've heard from you these past two weeks. Why the sudden interest? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we're really talking. A good signal for the rest of the semester,” Lincoln said with a easy grin while the professor was going through a quick overview of the planetary bounds and sustainability.
Lexa winced. ‘I should have eased into it.. maybe started with the weather..Is that too cliche? No going back now,’ she thought.
“ I just thought that we should get to know each other. You know, since I'm kinda stuck with you all semester and since all I've heard about was Octavia and how pretty she was, I thought I should start there,” Lexa playfully said.
Lincoln chuckled. “Okay, well to answer your previous question, I don't know. I've seen her around campus with another guy; he kinda has bushy hair? And they're always smiling and joking together. I don't know if I stand a chance.”
“What's that harm in finding out then? You already think that you have no chance. If you talk to her and she says no, then you can move on. But, what if it turns out that she's actually into you too? Wouldn't that be great? And I think from her glances over here, she might be into you too,” Lexa motioned to Octavia with her head.
Lincoln looks over to Octavia to see her quickly turn away with a blush. Lexa looks to see Costia give her a subtle thumbs up that Lincoln missed because he turned back to face Lexa.
“Okay, maybe she might like me too. How should I do this? After class? She runs to her two friends right away.”
“How about that party that Costia is throwing? I heard that she's going. You can try talking to her there,” the brunette suggested.
“Really? That's a great idea! Lexa, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Lexa bursted out laughing and she had to settle down when Pike gave her a stern look. “Party starts at ten o'clock on Saturday at Costia’s,” she whispered to Lincoln who just gave her a kind smile in return.