Chapter 18
For the rest of the evening Clarke stayed rather quiet because thoughts are just twirling around in her mind. All she wants is to be alone at the moment to have time to think. As they are finished with dinner and say their goodbyes to Mr. Cooper and his wife, he says with a smile
“Well, Ms. Griffin I hope to hear from you soon.” Clarke just fakes a smiles and nods before her and Lexa make their way outside.
“What was that about?” Lexa asks confused “Are you having an affair with him or something?”
“No.” Clarke answers.
Lexa just shrugs her shoulders and they head home. Thousand of thoughts are twirling around in Clarke's head at the moment and she cannot think about anything else. Once they are home Clarke gets ready for bed immediately and both women go to bed even though it is still pretty early but Clarke just claims that she is very tired. But she is lying awake for a few more hours that night and just listens to Lexa’s deep and slow breaths as she tries to arrange her thoughts. The relationship to Lexa is endlessly precious to her. Nobody has ever cared about her as much as Lexa does and she couldn’t stand the thought of losing her but if she is really honest to herself, then this is not the life she wants. To sit at home waiting for Lexa to come home, not finding a good job and relying on somebody else for everything. All the things she wanted to do in her life before she met Lexa cannot be irrelevant now just because she is in a relationship with someone. But then it wasn’t just someone, it is Lexa…So beautiful, so confident, so vulnerable. Before Clarke is drifting into sleep she makes the decision to tell Lexa about it and see what she thinks of it before she worries about anything else. Clarke wakes up as Lexa comes out of the bathroom only a towel wrapped around her athletic body.
“Well… hello handsome.” Clarke mumbles as she tries to open her eyes.
Lexa just laughs and puts on some comfy clothes since it’s Sunday and she doesn’t have to work for a change. Clarke gets up and stumbles into the kitchen to make some coffee. Lexa follows her and sits down at the counter to look something up on her laptop.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” Clarke asks out of curiosity.
“Well, maybe I will read a little later, give you an orgasm, cook dinner for us.” Lexa answers casually with a charming smile on her lips.
Clarke giggles and shakes her head “I wouldn’t have anything against that. Sounds good.” She sits down at the kitchen counter with Lexa and asks herself if she should really tell Lexa now what happened yesterday when she was in the bathroom.
“Everything okay?” Lexa asks as she notices Clarke’s look.
“Umm… well…” Clarke starts a little nervous “something did happen yesterday while you were going to the restroom.” Clarke admits.
“Oh please don’t tell me that he asked you for a threesome or something, that dude is so creepy.” Lexa laughs.
“No, nothing like that happened. He actually offered me a job at the Institute of Technology in his pharmaceutical engineering department.” Clarke finally says.
Lexa's mouth drops open “Are you serious?! Oh my god babe that is amazing! Of course you immediately accepted right?!”
“Well, about that… that Institute is in California, in L.A. to be exact.” Clarke explains. That surprises Lexa and she doesn’t say anything for a few moments. “What are you thinking? I mean, this could be a chance for me to finally do what I’ve been working for these past 5 years but on the other hand, I really do not want to be away from you. You have your company here, your life here and everything. I would never ask you to throw that all away just because I want to work somewhere.” Clarke rants but Lexa kisses her to shut her up.
“If this is your dream Clarke, then I will do whatever I can to help you with that. We will make it through this, go to L.A. and pursue your dream, all I want you to be is happy.” Lexa answers with a soft voice.
“But Lexa you make me happy! More than anything ever has.” Clarke insists what makes Lexa smile a lot.
“I will visit you as often as I can, every weekend if I have to. Call him right now and tell him that you are taking the job. Before that none of us is moving away from this kitchen.” Lexa says and folds her arms in front of her chest. Clarke has to smile so bright and kisses her at least 20 times and says
“God you are so perfect. I love you so much Heda.”
“I love you too, princess.” Lexa replies.
The next few weeks are spend with planning everything for Clarke going to L.A. for a while. Mr. Cooper already took care of an apartment for her, so at least they don’t have to worry about that. Lexa supports her with a little money until the first month is over and she starts earning her own money. It all happened so fast, Clarke cannot believe it as they are on their way to the airport. She is excited for everything but cannot ignore that ache in her chest at the same time. It is going to suck to be so far away from Lexa but she said they could see each other at least twice a month over the weekend so she thinks it won’t be as bad. Some people go three or six months without seeing their partner and they are still together, right? And she doesn’t think that this will be for a very long time. She just wants to gain some experience and show everybody that she can do that job better than anybody else. Saying goodbye to Lexa was one of the hardest things that Clarke ever did, even though Lexa didn’t cry when they hug and kiss for the last time. Tears are just streaming down Clarke's face and before they have to leave each other Clarke hugs Lexa so tight and just whispers
"May we meet again."
After she went through all the security checks and is sitting in the plane she still hasn’t stopped crying. But she tries to calm herself by not thinking about it so much. She watches a movie on her iPad and before she even knows it, she has already arrived at the airport in L.A. She gets off the plane, gets her huge suitcase, calls a cab and drives to the address where her new apartment will be.
As she opens the door she cannot believe what she is seeing. It was a very bright and comfy looking 2-room-apartment.
“This is better than any flat I had in Chicago!” Clarke says out loud. Her smile is a little frozen though because she remembers again that Lexa is not here with her to see this. Trying not to get too upset about it she pulls out her phone and Facetime’s her immediately.
“Hey there beautiful lady!” Lexa says.
“Oh my god you won’t believe how awesome my apartment is Lexa. It is so amazing and I have so much space.” Clarke already rants.
She shows Lexa her new flat through the camera of her phone and Lexa whistles impressed “Wow, seems like I gotta step up my game when it comes to stylish apartments.” Lexa jokes.
They talk for about 30 more minutes and then Lexa says that she has to go to bed. Clarke totally forgot the 2 hours of time difference between them now, so for Lexa it is already 10pm. Clarke tells her that she loves her before she hangs up. Well what should she do now? She grabs her jacket and decides to explore her neighbourhood a little bit. She isn’t living downtown L.A. of course because that should just be too loud and crowded. It takes her about 30 minutes to drive to the Institute of Technology with the car that she leased for this job. Clarke wanders around for about an hour before she returns to her flat with some groceries that she bought in a corner shop about 10 minutes from here. Before she goes to bed to start her new job in the morning she writes Lexa a cute good morning message to wake up to.
Her alarm goes off at about 7am in the morning and to her surprise, Clarke feels quite rested and jumps out of bed. She gets ready and puts on some of her good clothes to make a good first impression. For the way to the Institute she has to use the GPS on her phone though, but fortunately she has no troubles finding it. It is a pretty huge area with lots of green parks and fountains. Clarke parks her car on the employee’s parking lot what makes her feel pretty awesome if she’s honest. She opens the email Mr. Cooper sent her last night with the instructions where she has to go and starts walking towards a huge glass building. As she opens the heavy door of the building and walks up to the information desk, she has to force herself not to just scream out of excitement.
“Hello, my name is Clarke Griffin and I am the new pharmaceutical engineer. Mr. Cooper said I should tell him when I am here so he could instruct me what to do.” Clarke says to the pretty lady behind the desk.
She smiles at her and says “Of course. Please sit down for a second I will call him.”
So the blonde does as she was told and sits down on a black leather chair. She still has to look around to take everything in. She is really here. She cannot believe it, it all happened so fast and now she is here starting her new job any minute. Clarke is so curious to see what the future will bring, she hopes she is going to be happy here.