Chapter 4
An hour went by and Lexa gave up on trying to find the blonde. As soon as she went to grab herself a drink she heard a loud shout by the couch and turned to find a blonde with a white blouse climb on top of the couch to start dancing, one hand in the air while the other held a bottle of whiskey. Lexa figured she should have given up on trying to find the blonde a long time ago since the saying was apparently true. You find what you’re looking for once you stop trying to find it and she definitely found it if the girl with Octavia’s exact description was anything to go by; unless, she was wrong and she found a lookalike.
Lexa marched over to the blonde and when she was close enough to shout over the music, she yelled, Are you Clarke?”
The blonde stopped dancing for a moment to peer down at Lexa and look her up and down. She tilted her head and said with an easy smile, “Who’s asking?”
“Uhh, Lexa.”
“Well Lexa, you can ask me anything you want. Whenever you want,” Clarke slightly slurred. She got down to softly tuck the strand of hair that fell over Lexa’s eyes. “Ahh, that’s better. You have the most alluring green eyes,” Clarke whispered.
“Th-Thank you. You are Clarke right? Your friend Octavia has been looking for you.”
“Oh no. Not tonight. I don’t want to be with anyone tonight. Not Octavia, not Raven, not anyone. Unless.. It’s for a little fun. Tonight. Tonight I just want to have fun and not think about anything other than what the next song might be. You think it’s going to be Drake? He always has at least one song playing at all times and I haven’t heard from him yet..,” Clarke said then took a healthy swig from her bottle.
Lexa tried to grab the bottle from Clarke to prevent her from getting more intoxicated than she already was. “Let me just take that from you.. OWW! Stop fighting me Clarke! Give me the damn bottle!”
The girls struggled over the whiskey until Clarke let go of the bottle causing Lexa to hit her own face as well as have get some liquor on her shirt. ‘Jeez, why does this always happen to me?,’ Lexa thought and looked down to see what damages were done to her clothes. ‘Too late to save it now..’
Lexa looked up to find Clarke laughing. At her. ‘Damn, this girl has the audacity to laugh when she made this mess?’ The brunette gently got a hold over Clarke’s arm and tried to find her phone. A phone that was nowhere to be seen. “Clarke? Clarke, where is your phone?”
“I-- I don’t know.. I’m getting a little tired..Sleepyyy,” Clarke mumbled as she started leaning on Lexa.
“Hey! No, you don’t get to fall asleep on me Clarke. At least tell me Octavia’s number or something. She forgot to tell me. Come on Clarke, stay awake with me,” Lexa lightly shook the blonde until she heard her mumble something. “What was that? A bit louder please. The music is a little deafening.. Hey, you hear that? Drake is playing. He wants you to call him on his cell phone. Too bad you lost your phone though right? I bet he’s really disappointed over that.”
Clarke opened one eye when she heard Drake mentioned. “Nooo.. I’ll--I’lll calll youu Drakee. Hold on. Lemme get my phone..,” Clarke slurred as she bent down to lift the cushion of the couch and grabbed her phone.
Lexa was a little irked. This girl has been nothing but trouble. Lexa took the phone from Clarke only to find out it was dead. ‘I do not have good luck’ the brunette concluded. She tried to get something out from Clarke but all she heard was the blonde sighing that Drake is great and she loves him too. “Clarke, I’m only giving you one option now. Tell me Octavia’s phone number.”
Clarke only buried herself further into Lexa. Then she muttered that same thing that Lexa heard her say before. “Say that one more time. And louder.”
“I live in the Northern Dorms .. numberr 319..”
“Great, I know where that is. I’m taking you there. Don’t be difficult.”
The blonde continued to slump against Lexa but she actually helped a bit by shuffling her legs alongside Lexa. Lexa practically carried Clarke over to where Costia was.
“Hey Cost, I taking Clarke here home. Octavia has been looking for her and I think I’m just gonna let her rest and call Octavia when I get there.”
“Okay, do you need any help? She looks like a handful.”
“No, I’ve got her. And you have a party and guests to attend to. I’ll see you later?”
“Yea, later. Bye Baby,” Costia said with a swift kiss to Lexa’s cheek.
Lexa then took off with Clarke in tow, who was being dragged a bit out of the dorm rooms and into the cold of the night.
---
“The Northern Dorms.. room 319. Why are they called the Northern Dorms anyway? That was so uncreative. We have the Western Dorms, The Eastern Dorms, and-- well you get the picture. Keys? Clarke, do you have a key? And you better not mess around with me on this one…,” Lexa stopped talking when she saw Clarke reach inside her blouse to fish the key from her bra. Lexa averted her eyes with a blush. She took the key from Clarke and inserted it into the lock. She was about to turn the key when the door suddenly opened and Lexa found a very distraught brunette in front of her.
“Oh thank goodness. Clarke. I was worried about you and was in the process of building something akin to a bat signal. See? I’m half done.” The brunette pointed toward the table with a device that looked finished along with tools thrown askew, on the table as well as the floor. She then faced Lexa. “Thanks for getting her here. It probably wasn’t the easiest task to do. Clarkie here is the worst when she’s drunk. No offense Clarke. You can’t deny it,” she said, even though the only thing that could be heard from Clarke was her lightly snoring. “I would've been there searching alongside Octavia but she wouldn't let me because of this dumb brace I have. It's been bothering me and that's why I didn't show up at the party, you know? Octavia said that it would've been better for me to stay at home base in case that one there stumbled her way back home,” she gestured towards Clarke, “I’ll take it over from here. She weighs a ton when she’s deadweight.”
“It’s fine. I got her all the way over here, might as well finish the job and tuck her in bed. Or throw her onto the bed. Jury’s still out.”
“A ha! Yea, I knew she wouldn't come easy. That’s my Clarke. I’m Raven by the way. Mechanics extraordinaire. And Clarke’s best friend. Don’t let Octavia convince you otherwise,” Raven said as she followed Lexa into the hall with a slight limp. “Her room is the second one to the right. Yup, that one. Right through there.”
Lexa walked through the open door past the few articles of clothing on the floor and gently placed Clarke on the unmade bed. She took Clarke’s shoes off one by one and moved onto her socks. Once she finished, she placed the blankets and comforter over Clarke, making sure the girl was warm enough since the autumnal season was chillier than normal. She left a sleeping Clarke mumbling her name softly to turn to Raven who just finished texting Octavia that Clarke was fine and was leaning against the blonde’s doorframe. “Okay, my work here is done. Time to head back.”
“Right, okay. I was going to suggest you stay for a bit but it’s really late anyhow. I just want to say again how grateful I am that you brought Clarke back. She’s.. had a rough time lately. So thanks for bringing her back in one piece..,” Raven left it open ended so Lexa could fill in the blanks.
“Lexa.”
“Right. Thanks Lexa,” Raven nodded as she led Lexa through the dorm.
It was only now that Lexa didn’t have Clarke in her arms did she notice her surroundings. She looked around the small living room to see it filled with color. There was paint splashed everywhere on the canvases that hung on the walls. Lexa thought they were breathtaking. She was captivated by each and every stroke noting the pain and happiness she saw before her. She looked to the next wall and thought the scenery paintings were so realistic that she almost went over to the wall to touch it.
Raven noticed Lexa looking at the paintings (who wouldn’t have? She was practically drooling) and she told Lexa, “ Those painting are great aren’t they? Clarke keeps the ones she doesn’t think will make the cut. Even though I think that they are all amazing, she doesn’t seem to agree.”
“Ones that don’t make the cut? These didn’t make the cut? But they’re - they’re--”
“Right? No words to describe them.”
Lexa thought differently. She had so many things to say about the paintings. Only thing was that she didn’t know where to start. “I don’t think that there should be any cuts considering these are the outcomes.”
“Totally agree Lexa. She thinks that her art teacher might not like them and instead of throwing them away, Octavia and I convinced her to put them here. She didn’t want them on display for everyone to see but I used the Raven Reyes persuasion and annoyed her until i got her to concede to my will,” Raven said with a proud smile.
“I'm glad that you've convinced her to keep them. Paintings like this.. they belong in museums for people to fully appreciate and witness the beauty before them, not in the trash. Anyway, I should get going. It's been quite a night,” Lexa said as she headed for the door. She was just about to exit when she promptly turned back, her head peeking out while one hand was on the doorframe. “Quick question. What were you going to project for Clarke’s bat signal?”
“Well for starters, Clarke’s name and face, so I checked around her room for any quick sketches but I didn't want to go through her drawing book so that would be an invasion of privacy ya know? I remembered she drew me before for class and was throwing that around in my head to put it up, but then I realized people might call me Clarke.. so then I drew Clarke. It's just a stick figure with a heavy set of boobs and an arrow pointing to Clarke's hair with blonde written on it. It's still in the early stages, but I think it has a likeness to Clarke.”
Lexa smiled at Raven’s easy quip, “If it wasn't me, then I bet someone definitely would have recognized her after seeing your signal. Take care Raven.” Lexa double tapped on the frame and turned back around to head home.
Raven slightly shouted, “Mhmm, I like you Lexa. Don't be afraid to stop by whenever you want. Have a good night,” Raven waved as Lexa left the dorm numbered 319.