Chapter 2
“Great, you’re here,” Clarke stands up. “Come with me,” she told Lexa. “He’s relieving me for a break, and you could use one too.”
Lexa nods and leaves the room with Clarke. They walk in an awkward silence up to the teacher’s lounge, where Clarke’s purse was. There’s a fast food restaurant that Clarke is a little embarrassed to mention that she frequents there way too much. She would just bring lunch, but she doesn’t because she doesn’t have the time in the mornings, so she resorts to greasy food. Both women order their food and sit down in a booth.
“So, Lexa,” Clarke says after swallowing a piece of her burger. “What do you do for a living?”
“I um, I used to be a secretary at a law firm. But I moved out here just recently to be closer to my parents, so at the moment I don’t do anything. Just trying to take care of my daughter the best I can,” Lexa smiled sweetly when she talked about Anya.
“You should work at the day care,” Clarke blurts out. “Uh, I saw how good you were to my kids, I think you’d do great here,” she bit her lip.
“Oh,” Lexa blinks. “You guys hiring? I think that might be a good idea.”
“Yeah, just ask about it at the front desk when you get the chance.”
They continue eating in silence, which Clarke was starting to feel awkward, but then Lexa spoke again.
“Do you have any children of your own, Clarke?” The way Lexa said her name sent shivers down Clarke’s back.
“Uh, no. Not yet, at least.”
“Do you have a boyfriend or husband?”
Clarke felt blood drain from her face. “No. No, neither. Why do you ask?”
“Because you said yet, so I thought you were trying,” the brunette chuckles.
Clarke sighs and laughs, “No, but I love kids, and I’d love to have my own some day.”
They continued on with small conversations throughout their lunch and returned back to room 5 when they were done. Marcus got up and said goodbye to the girls before leaving the classroom. The kids where still asleep, except for Raven, who was sitting on her cot with an “I Spy” book.
“She doesn’t really do naps,” Clarke explains. “Our naps are two hours long, she sleeps for 45 minutes max.”
When it was time for the kids to wake up, it was snack time. Lexa prepared the cups of apple juice and a plate with animal crackers. Clarke was putting the cots and blankets away.
“I can’t even being explaining how much you’re helping me today,” Clarke tells Lexa. “Thank you for staying.”
“It’s honestly no trouble at all!” Lexa smiles. “I actually really enjoy this. Now I really want to work here.”
Clarke smiles to herself as she takes a cot from Bellamy, who was dragging them to her. “Thank you, strong man!” she encourages him.
“You’re welcome, miss Clarke!” he jumps back to get another cot.
Bellamy helps out a lot, and is very caring to his sister and the other kids. Clarke doesn’t want him to move up next week. She never wants any of her kids to move up, but she knows that they have to grow, and staying in the 3-4 year old room doesn’t help.
“Zoe M is still sleeping, miss Clarke!” Bellamy shouts when that was the last cot.
“What’s new,” Clarke remarks.
Monroe was like Raven’s polar opposite. Raven barely sleeps; Monroe sleeps too much. Monroe barely talks; Raven talks too much. It was funny to Clarke how such young human beings can be so peculiar and quirky. Bellamy was the oldest of the group; he helps everyone, and always makes sure Octavia was all right. Octavia was the youngest of the group, so she’s still learning how to talk and play with such active kids. Murphy was the dirty kid who always ate things from the ground, and always has a runny nose. Harper was the pretty girl, and she always comes in with the cutest dresses and bows, and she knows how to be careful not to get her dress dirty. Raven was probably the smartest 4-year-old Clarke has ever met, and she talks constantly all day. Clarke is surprised if she hears Monroe talk more than four sentences at a time. Jasper and Monty are inseparable and they do everything together. Finn is a very loud kid and he can’t sit still for more than five minutes. And Wells is very calm and he likes to do things that don’t involve much movement. Clarke wonders how this Anya girl is going to be; but up until now she seems very sweet.
When the kids where almost done eating, the Blake’s mom comes in the room.
“Mommy!” Bellamy notices his mother but turns back to his sister who was sipping her juice. “O, mommy is here.”
“Mommy?” she squeaked and Clarke’s heart melted. Her voice was so cute and small.
“Are you done drinking?” Bellamy asks Octavia and she nods. “Here, let me throw it out for you.”
Carefully, Bellamy stood up and took both cups of apple juices to Lexa, who took them and poured them out in the sink. The Blake’s mom picked Octavia up in the mean time.
“Quackehs,” Octavia points at the animal crackers.
Clarke hurried to get two plastic bags so that they can take their crackers home.
“How were my little babies today,” Mrs. Blake asks.
“Super great like always. Octavia played all over the jungle gym today. And Bellamy’s doing well on his potty training, he didn’t have an accident today. He’s definitely ready for Room 6.” Room 6 was the 5-6 year olds, where Bellamy was going to start transferring next week. “I’m going to miss him so much.”
“I’m very sure he will miss you too. All he talks about is ‘miss Clarke this’ and ‘miss Clarke that’ it’s adorable.”
“Aww! I bet!”
“Okay, O and Bell say goodbye!”
Octavia waves and mumbles a bye, and Bellamy gives Clarke a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They left the room and now Clarke was down to eight kids.
“Bellamy’s going to Room 6?” Lexa asks once the Blake’s left the room.
“Yeah, Bell turned five a couple of days ago, so he gets to transfer to the kindergarten room,” Clarke pouts. “That’s why I’d be able to get Anya with no trouble at all,” she adds with a smile.
The rest of the day went by smoothly. There were no diaper changes mishaps, and they played around in the room. Clarke even found time for “circle time,” where everyone sits around in a circle as she reads a book. Lexa sat behind the kids and was looking at the blonde read her book about dogs. The way Lexa was looking at Clarke made her feel giddy and nervous.
One by one, the kids kept getting picked up. Around 5:00, Clarke was down to three kids, including Anya.
“I totally don’t mean to keep sounding like I’m kicking you out, because I’m not, but you can feel free to leave. The center closes in half an hour and you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want,” Clarke says as they were picking up the toys. Wells, Raven and Anya were all sitting at the tables coloring.
“I want to stay here,” Lexa quickly said. “Plus look at her,” she motions towards Anya who was showing her drawing to the other two kids. “I love to see her this happy.”
Clarke smiles and continues on cleaning. On the outside, Clarke was calm, but on the inside her head was screaming at her because what did Lexa mean by “I want to stay here?” This was so unprofessional of Clarke, but Lexa was so cute she didn’t have any choice but to fall for the woman. And part of Clarke feels like Lexa is intentionally staying to be around Clarke. But she just totally wants to spend time with her daughter. Right?
“Clarke?” Lexa pulls the blonde from her thoughts.
“What?”
Lexa laughs, rather nervously. “I’m sorry, I was just asking if you had any plans for the weekend,” Clarke apparently wasn’t paying attention to the brunette when she asked the first time.
“Nothing really, why? Do you want to do something?” Clarke blurts out and bites her tongue in realization that Lexa might not have been implying to do something with her, but just trying to make a conversation.
Lexa blushes, “Ah.”
“Sorry,” Clarke was blushing pretty hard as well. “That came out of nowhere,” she tries to nervously laugh this awkward conversation off.
Fucking great, Clarke, she thought to herself. Now you have officially scared her off. You’re so fucking st-
“Actually, yeah,” Lexa says slowly. Clarke was suddenly hyperaware of how fast her heart was beating. “We could go for some coffee or dinner?” Lexa asked tentatively.
“Yes,” Clarke answered embarrassingly quickly.
Both women chuckled trying to hide their nerves. Clarke was going to say something to try to ease the awkwardness, but a man came in the door.
“Ah, Thelonious,” Clarke exhales. “Wells is over there,” points at the table by the corner, where all the kids were sitting.
The man asks Clarke how his day was as he grabbed Wells. Clarke told him that he basically met two new friends, and took it relatively well. Wells has stranger anxiety and it’s really hard for him to meet new people. Thelonious was glad to hear that and then he left the room after saying bye.
Clarke took a deep breath. Only Raven and Anya left. And her and Lexa. Clarke forgot how to breathe for a brief second. She looks over at Lexa who was sweeping the kitchen area. Lexa moved her head up and met Clarke’s gaze. Clarke had the sudden urge to look away, but couldn’t. Lexa’s eyes were so green and so beautiful.
“H-” Clarke meant to speak but was interrupted yet again by another man coming in the room.
“Papá!” Raven squeals.
“Hola, mi amor,” Raven’s dad kisses her all over and she giggles.
They left without saying much to Clarke, except a goodbye. Raven’s dad didn’t know much English, so he doesn’t talk much when he picks her up or drops her off.
“She knows Spanish?” Lexa asks bewildered.
“Yeah, I know, it’s insane how smart that kid is,” Clarke shakes her head. “Honestly, almost all bilingual students are very smart. You would think they would get confused more often, but no,” she laughs.
Clarke finishes up disinfecting the toys as Lexa empties out the dustpan. The blonde looks at the clock on the wall and sees that it was 5:20. Ten minutes to spare. She wanted to tell Lexa yet again that she was free to leave whenever she please, but Clarke feels like she’s heard that enough already. Now Clarke busied herself with straightening out the bookshelf, because she didn’t know what to say to Lexa.
“You guys close at 5:30, right?” Lexa asks.
“Yup.”
“Okay, well Anya are going to get going pretty soon here… Um, could I get your number?”
Clarke had to admit that this woman was so brave. Clarke felt like if she was a puddle of pure nervousness, unable to do or say anything. And here Lexa was, asking for her number. “Yes, of course,” Clarke pulled her phone from the cupboard and tried to control that shake in her hands she handed Lexa her phone. “Here, type in your number,” Clarke let go of the phone before Lexa had a grip on it, and it fell on the floor with a loud clack.
“Oh my god! I’m sorry!” Both Lexa and Clarke rushed down to get her phone, and their hands accidentally brushed.
Blushing, Clarke said, “It wasn’t your fault.” She picks up her phone and looks at the screen. “Good. It didn’t crack.” Clarke hands the other her phone.
Lexa types her number and texts herself. “I’ll make you dinner,” She simply said as she handed the phone back. “You like Italian?”
Clarke nods, “I love Italian.”
“Perfect,” Lexa winks and turns around to face Anya. “Clean up, honey, we’re leaving.”
“Kaaaaaaaay,” Anya answers.
“I’ll call you,” Lexa says before heading out the door with Anya.
Two days passed since that day and it was Friday afternoon. Clarke was sitting on her couch watching TV and she was starting to get anxious. Lexa hasn’t called or texted her, so she wasn’t sure if the date was going to happen. Clarke was too afraid to text the woman, so she just sat looking at her phone. The blonde was nodding off when her phone started ringing. It was Lexa and Clarke had to let the phone ring a couple more second so she can compose herself.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Lexa,” her voice sounded so sweet through the phone.
“I know. Caller ID,” Clarke chuckles.
“Yeah, hah.” Clarke was trying so hard not to act as awkward as she felt. “Do you have a pen and paper close? For my address.”
“Ah! Yes,” Clarke finds a pen and she used an envelope for the paper.
Lexa says her address and Clarke wrote it down. “So,” Lexa starts after a beat of silence. “How was your day?”
“It was fine,” Clarke slumps back down to the couch. “The usual, Murphy eats something he’s not supposed to eat, Finn fell and scrapped his knee, and Harper cried because Raven spilled grape juice on her skirt.” Lexa laughs and Clarke tries really hard not to make a comment about it, but she can’t stop herself. “Your laugh is so adorable.”
Lexa chuckles a little more, “Thanks,” Clarke felt like she was in high school again, or something. “But you’ve got to admit it’s not nearly as cute as Raven’s squeaky laughter.”
“Oh my god, don’t even get me started on her laughter! She literally gets away with so much because I can’t bring myself to get mad at her. At any of them honestly,” Clarke adds. “Cute people are my weakness,” she states.
“You just said my laugh was cute, so what do I get to get away with?”
“No, no, no, I said your laugh was adorable, I never said cute. A clear difference,” Clarke laughs.
Lexa scoffed, “so you don’t think I’m cute?”
Clarke was silent for a bit long, because she was looking for something witty to say without completely embarrassing herself.
“Hey, I’m kidding,” Lexa spoke up.
“I do think you’re cute,” Clarke quickly confesses. “God, are you cute. You were so nice to my kids and honestly I could barely keep my eyes off of you,” Clarke had no idea where this courage was coming from, but now she had sort of an adrenaline rush.
“Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one. I was afraid I was creeping you out.”
“Mommy!” Anya’s distant little voice came from the phone.
“Yeah, baby?” Lexa answers her daughter.
“I gotta go potty!” Clarke smiles as she remembers that Anya was potty trained.
“Okay, then go! I’ll help you when you’re done. Look, I can see the bathroom from here.”
“Okaaaaaaay,” Clarke thought it was terribly cute how Anya seemed to always stretch her words like that.
“Sorry about that,” Lexa is talking to Clarke now.
“No don’t worry.”
“Anyway, I probably have to hang up pretty soon here… See you tomorrow at six?”
“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow at six.”
“It’s a date then.”
“It’s always been a date,” Clarke scoffs.
“I’m dooooooooone,” Anya announces loudly.
“Coming!” Lexa shouts to Anya “Okay, good night, Clarke.”
“Good night, Lexa,” and Clarke ends the call.
If Clarke was sleepy just a few minutes ago, now she feels like she could run a marathon.