Wedding Bells
“Well… I mean… Lexa Woods, Anya Forest, and Lincoln Oaks, of course, we were meant to become friends.” Lincoln explained with a smile, they were all at the Griffin’s house for a BBQ and were sitting around the table at the yard when Abby had asked how they became friends.
“They had a band,” Gustus commented smirking at Clarke. “They were called Trikru.” He said and spelled it. “like tree crew.”
“What did you play?” Clarke asked turning to look at Lexa.
“Drums.” She replied with a shrug. “Lincoln was guitar and Anya was bass but neither of us could sing so it was over fairly quickly,” Lexa added, and Anya snorted.
“No… Lexa can at least carry a tune, she just refused to sing, and Lincoln sounds like a dying cat and I’d rather undergo torture…” Anya explained shaking her head.
“Is there a chance Trikru could…” Clarke said and in front of her, Octavia nodded enthusiastically.
“Never.” Anya cut her off before she could even finish asking the question.
“There was a Myspace video or two but neither Lexa or me remember our emails or the names of our accounts and Anya refuses to give us hers… or ours.” Lincoln replied, and Anya smirked at them but Clarke and Octavia exchanged looks with Raven, if there was someone who could find it, it was her.
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“Hey, Griff… what’s got you looking like you’re trying to do your algebra homework?” Raven asked as she entered their apartment, Clarke was on the living room frustration written all over her face, her hair a mess from all the times she had run her hands through it.
“Flowers…” Clarke murmured in reply still staring at her laptop and Raven stopped, the fridge door still opened as she turned to look at Clarke with a raised eyebrow.
“What about flowers?” She asked.
“Lexa loves them… Like… really loves them… And I want to give some to her, it’s our… monthiversary or whatever but who the fuck knew there were so many meanings? And like one website says something and the other says something else and I just don’t want to send the wrong message you know?”
“Is there a flower that says, ‘let’s fuck each other brains out?” Raven asked with a smirk.
“Yeah… Actually, there is… Sort of.”
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Lexa’s eyes were focused on Clarke, they were at Bellamy’s birthday party at his house, well, the house he shared with some of his friends, no homo, he had said and then after a couple of minutes of contemplation he had added: Maybe a little homo, it was basically a frat house and accordingly so, besides Lincoln and Clarke’s group of friends, the place seemed to be filled with dudebros, and sorority girls.
She was nursing her drink as she watched her girlfriend dance surrounded by her friends but currently dancing with some guy Lexa had met in passing, named Atom.
“It’s hard, huh?” Someone commented from next to her and she had to blink a couple of times to try to free herself from the spell watching Clarke sway around some upbeat top 40 song put her in.
“What?” she asked frowning as she recognized Finn, she had met him earlier, he had pretty much “ran” into them the moment they arrived, he had greeted Clarke with a “Hey Princess” that had her girlfriend sighing and rolling her eyes as subtly as possible.
Objectively speaking, you know… barring the fact she was a huge lesbian, she could see why young Clarke had been attracted to him, it was all boyish charm and boy next door kind of vibe, the all American type. She could not see however why he would cheat on Clarke…
She had been amused by the way his face had fallen upon Clarke using their linked hands to sort of point at her and introduce her “my girlfriend” she had said making Lexa grin in reply.
“What is?” she asked once she realized he was waiting for a reply.
“Watching her like that…” Finn replied nodding at Clarke as Atom twirled her around and Lexa smiled, an almost reflexive reaction to the way Clarke threw her head back and laughed as she tripped a little almost catching him off guard and making them both stumble over.
“Like what?” she asked with a frown, she was being purposely obtuse. “having fun?” she asked, and it made him pause, hesitate before shrugging.
“It was always like that,” he explained… justified, Lexa guessed, and she smiled as Clarke looked at her from across the room, pointed at her as she mouthed the lyrics of some corny song and Lexa playfully rolled her eyes.
“It’s not…” she said once Clarke’s attention was back on her friends, they were now in a circle doing outdated dance steps, Finn frowned at her and left without adding anything further.
“Hey, babe.” Clarke greeted, Lexa had stepped outside, and it hadn’t taken more than a couple of seconds for Clarke to follow “You alright? Was Finn being a dick?” she asked wrapping her arms around Lexa, her forehead resting on the back Lexa’s neck, right on her broken infinity tattoo.
“No, I don’t think so, I guess he just wanted to bond… or like… plant a seed.” She shrugged, she couldn’t really blame him for making puppy eyes at Clarke every time.
“What?” Clarke asked as she moved aside so she could look her in the eye.
“He seemed to be wondering if watching you dance with other people makes me jealous.” Lexa shrugged, and Clarke leaned back, so she could study her expression.
“Does it?” she asked cautiously and Lexa inclined her head to the side as she considered the question.
“Honestly? Not really, I know you’d never cheat on me… As I hope you know I would never cheat on you, I don’t have ownership over you Clarke, not do I wish to, I want us to be together because we want to… because we choose to… though there is a part of me… probably some primitive side that gets a little bothered but it’s moreover the fact that I wish to be sharing those moments with you… and then I remember I can’t dance.” Lexa smiled. “It’s more of a… I wish to be sharing that with her too, rather than an I wish she never shared that with anyone but me, so no it doesn’t really bother me, not in a way that would make me break onto the dance floor, bang my chest and bare my teeth cavewoman style, pull you over my shoulder while chanting mine before taking you into my cave to claim you.”
Clarke chuckled and smiled before kissing her cheek, she took Lexa’s hands and wrapped them around her waist before wrapping her arms around Lexa’s neck.
“You know… I used to think jealousy was sexy.” She said, and Lexa raised her eyebrows at the confession. “I mean back when I was young and stupid and… ‘poisoned by media’s description of acceptable relationship behavior.” She said, and Lexa rolled her eyes.
“I do not sound like that,” Lexa complained.
“Mhmm… But I think…now, that healthy and mature approaches are actually way sexier.” She added ignoring Lexa’s complain and playfully nibbled on her earlobe, Lexa’s arm tightened around her waist in reply.
“Do you?” Lexa asked with an amused smile.
“Yes… if Law fails you could totally be an awesome psychologist.” Clarke teased as she began swaying in Lexa’s arms and Lexa chuckled as she followed Clarke’s lead
“Well… I did take a couple of courses, I want to go into environmental law but… I haven’t committed yet, figured they would be good if I decided to go into Criminal…” Lexa shrugged.
“Well… Don’t read some Freudian shit onto it… but… as sexy as healthy and mature is… I still want to be taken into your cave to be claimed.” Clarke whispered, and Lexa chuckled, she leaned down to press a kiss on Clarke’s neck before sucking on the spot, letting her teeth graze the skin as she did and then soothing it with her tongue.
“Mine.” She growled against Clarke’s neck and chuckled at the shudder it earned her. “… I can’t believe we are slow dancing to Anaconda.” She murmured and Clarke laughed, that head thrown back laugh that made Lexa’s heart skip a beat.
“Could you imagine my dad’s face if we picked that as our wedding song?” She asked, and Lexa’s eyes widened because the if was the song… not their potential wedding and she smiled softly at her. “He probably has the song already picked…” Clarke sighed, oblivious to Lexa’s insides melting at her words. “Probably something by Ed Sheeran.” She added rolling her eyes and Lexa could do nothing more than to pull her closer and kiss her.
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The annoying constant ringing of Lexa’s alarm woke up Clarke with a groan, she knew it was way too early for her to be awake, Lexa was a morning person, the kind that needed just a couple of seconds of her alarm ringing before springing up from bed all ready for her day.
Clarke though, she needed at least five alarms, four on her phone, next to her nightstand so she could snooze it, the last one on a clock by her desk where she needed to get up to turn it off, the first one was to wake her from deep slumber, the next one around 15 minutes later to warn her that she needed to get up soon, another one ten minutes later, a last warning of sorts and finally the last one on her phone five minutes before the one that forced her to get up. Clarke needed those five minutes in which she groaned and complained and contemplated the unfairness of an existence that forced her to wake up early to be a productive and accepted member of society.
Lexa's alarm had been blaring for a good 10 seconds now and Lexa hadn’t even stirred so Clarke turned around and gave her a couple of gentle shakes.
“I swear to god Lexa if you don’t turn that thing off I’m never letting you spend the night on a school day.” Clarke murmured her warning, she loved Lexa, they hadn’t exactly said it to each other with words yet, but she did, sleep was sacred though.
Lexa groaned and stirred, it was a sight to behold, it started with the curling of her toes, the tightening of her calves and up her tights, her torso muscles, arms and neck and even her face muscles as she frowned, and it made her sort of vibrate, like a shiver before she eased up her muscles again and finally opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times, not that it’d help her sight get any sharper, Lexa had awful eyesight.
Clarke couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips, all traces of sleep gone, Lexa’s hair was tousled from sleep and of course the amazing sex they had last night, she wasn’t wearing a shirt, but she had underwear on because sleeping naked was impractical or something, what if there was an emergency? Lile a fire or an earthquake?
Getting her to sleep shirtless had been a small victory and only happened when they spent the night.
It had taken two months into their relationship and a powerpoint presentation with various studies citing the benefits of sleeping naked… That night as she laid next to a shirtless Lexa she couldn’t help but think nerdiness was contagious, but it was worth it, she had tried talking about it, but Lexa wouldn’t budge on it, getting up to get dressed before laying down again and Clarke loved the feeling of Lexa’s naked skin pressed against her own.
As she looked at Lexa now, smiling sleepily at her she felt her heart swell with affection and she moved to straddle the sleepy brunette, Lexa’s hand moved to the top of her thighs almost out of reflex and Lexa blinked up at her.
“Good morning?” Lexa said, and Clarke smirked as she reached over to turn off the offending noise.
“Did someone fuck you so good last night you slept through the first minute of your alarm?” she asked in a teasing tone, smirk still playing on her lips and Lexa squeezed her thighs in reply, Clarke let her fingers dance down Lexa’s chest, rocking a little as Lexa’s abs contracted in reaction.
“Clarke…. We can’t, I got class…”
“Objection… the semester is almost over… finals are done…”
Lexa raised an eyebrow at that and smirked playfully.
“Overruled… a fortiori, the semester is almost over, and finals are done which means everything that we failed at on the final exams will be revisited in class.”
“Objection… I want an appeal, assuming arguendo that you nailed all your tests.” Clarke replied, and Lexa looked at her like she had grown another head.
“What? I listen when you talk.” Clarke replied with a little shrug and squealed as Lexa sat up and moved one hand to her back, the other to the back of her head and flipped them so Clarke was laying on her back.
“Sustained…. Fuck, I love you, hearing you speak lawyer is the sexiest thing.” She growled and leaned down to crush her lips against Clarke’s.
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Clarke was at the edge of a nervous breakdown, she didn’t know when she had become that person, but she had a white sheet hung against the wall, Raven’s phone projector set up, presentation ready… there were also candles because Lexa loved them and dinner was in the oven, pizza cause she couldn’t cook and wine just to make it classier.
“Hey, bab…” Lexa stopped dead in her tracks at the door and raised an eyebrow at the setup. “Another presentation, really? Clarke, I’m not sleeping fully naked, what if there’s an emergency and we gotta rush out? What if you hog the covers as always and there’s a bug or something?” Lexa shuddered, and Clarke chuckled and rolled her eyes, Lexa had a calming effect on her even when she didn’t mean to.
“That’s not it, Lex… Please take a seat.” She said, and Lexa placed her messenger bag and shoes next to the door and walked over the living room and dutifully took the seat on the couch.
Clarke clicked the remote and the first slide was projected.3
Why we should move in together
By Clarke Griffin
Clarke had never seen Lexa’s eyes go so wide and the nerves returned full force, so she powered through and rushed towards the next slide, speaking as fast as humanly possible.
“Listen, I know it may be rushed? But my lease is coming up and Anya mentioned yours were too and I don’t know, I don’t really have a time frame for this, we’ve been dating for six months, six amazing months.” The next slide was a collage of pictures of them.
“Besides most of my clothes are at your place and most of yours are here, exhibit A.” the next slide was a picture of Lexa’s closet and drawers. “Exhibit B.” the following slide was Clarke’s closet. “and exhibit C.” the next slide was a screenshot of Raven’s Instagram outside Clarke’s classroom, Clarke was wearing Lexa’s vote no on Daleks shirt, some dude was talking excitedly to her using his hands and Clarke’s brow was furrowed in confusion.
“Nerds in my class now think I’m one of them…” she rolled her eyes and changed to the next slide that a pro list that featured things like; seeing each other more often, waking up next to each other, regaining the love and respect of their respective roommates, shared chores, cuddles, more sex was listed three times.
Clarke read them and then changed slides, the con list only had two items and it read: I’m messy but I’m sorry, I’ll try :( and u-haul jokes.
“And finally, the biggest pro of all…” She changed to the next slide and it was a naked picture of her in front of the mirror. “You’ll get to wake up to that every day and did I mention more sex? And… like please say something because I’m sort of freaking out here and I get if you don’t want to and are not ready but…” Lexa stood up and cut off Clarke’s rambling by pressing her lips against hers.
“Yes…” Lexa whispered against Clarke’s lips and honestly that was all Clarke needed, they could discuss logistics later, she took Lexa’s hand and pulled her towards her room.
“Griffin! why the fuck is there a picture of you naked in the living room? I’m so sorry guys, please go into the kitchen while I fix this…” Raven called from the living room a couple of hours later.
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Lexa and Clarke had been dating for almost two years now, living together for a year and a half, graduation was just around the corner and Lexa felt like the universe was telling her something because everywhere she looked there was something wedding related…
It was Friday, and Jake whistled a random tune as he made his way to the coffee shop to meet Lexa, he hadn’t been taking his usual route though, hadn’t been for the past three months, he was taking Lexa’s usual route from campus, he stopped at every newspaper stand and paid the workers there to let him re-arrange the magazines, so every wedding-related cover was at the front, he stopped every now and then to hang posters off walls or lighting posts wherever he could, the posters were of women in wedding dresses or tuxes or suits, publicity for random wedding planners, caterers and venues he found on the internet…
He was early, it was the third week he had let his class out early, but a couple of minutes never hurt anyone…
“Hey… Can I speak to your manager?” Jake asked after he was handed his coffee and he slid a 5 dollar bill to the barista who replied with a knowing look and went towards the room behind her.
“Again?” The manager asked rolling his eyes. “I've been playing wedding-related playlists for over an hour every Friday for the last three weeks.”
“Hey! I’m trying to help the universe send out signals here… You’ll be invited to the wedding I promise… You’ll understand then, Roan.” He replied with a grin
Fate needed a little push sometimes….
In his defense, he wasn’t getting any younger.
Jake had been surprised by Lexa’s call and her request to meet, he had a class so he only had a few minutes, still, he smiled as Lexa walked inside his office and he offered her a seat.
“Hey Jake, thanks for meeting me on such short notice.” She said as she approached and hugged him hello, the usual smile spread over his lips as she used his first name, Lexa was such a formal, polite young lady, after that first time she had sort of playfully and shyly called him dad as he and Abby caught them making out, she had gone back to her usual ‘Professor Grifin’ and it had taken him pointing out that he had caught her (again) with her tongue down his daughter’s throat and his daughter’s hands inside her shirt for her to agree to call him Jake.
“No problem, dear, Is everything alright?”
“Yes! Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like there was something wrong is just as you know Clarke’s birthday is approaching and I… well… I have no idea what to get to her.” She sighed dejectedly and Jake chuckled. “Neither Anya nor Raven or Octavia were of any help.” Lexa murmured more to herself than anything else.
‘Your tongue inside her-’ Anya had sneered before Lexa cut her off. ‘A sex swing… You, wearing only a bow… oh, how about…’ Raven hadn’t been that helpful either and Lexa had listened to all sorts of possible sex toys and activities for the longest five minutes of her life before deciding to hell with her manners and just turned around and left.
Octavia had just shrugged…
“Well… I mean there’s jewelry…” Jake said, after all, he had vowed to himself not to directly push the subject to either of them, let them go at their own pace. “necklaces, bracelets… rings…” well he had vowed to try at least he had been subtle… sort of, Lexa gave him a look and Jake shrugged. “Honestly, she’ll love anything you give her.”
“I know… It’s not that I think Clarke would dump me if I don’t give her the perfect gift but… I still want it to be special.”
“Well... then maybe make her something,” Jake replied, and Lexa sighed deeply, apparently Jake hadn’t helped at all but still, she nodded her head, thanked him and stood up to leave.
Lexa had done all the cliché things, spent Clarke’s birthday pampering her, breakfast in bed, a massage that led to sex, a bath, that lead to sex, took Clarke to the opening of some art gallery and then dinner, she had given her a necklace, some pretty shiny thing she found in a jewelry and Clarke had, of course, loved it and thanked her and then more sex once they had gotten back home.
“I have one last… present… sort of…. It’s pretty lame and… I… you know I got no artistic skills but… here it is…” she pulled a sketchbook and handed it to Clarke who sat up on the bed and opened before bursting out laughing.
“Oh my God babe… what is this?”
Lexa shrugged. “It’s… a scrapbook of our moments together… but with awful drawings… by me.”
Clarke flipped through the pages, there was one that was a stickmen version of the dinner they had together where Jake had introduced them, there was one of Clarke’s presentation on sleeping naked, judging by the stickmen with blonde hair standing next to a square that featured another stick figure with two circles near the chest area that she figured were boobs and clothes on the floor.
There was a page that had future written with Lexa’s pretty calligraphy, the next page was divided in two and in one there was a stick figure with brunette hair and a graduation cap, on the other side a blonde stick figure with a graduation cap on her as well, the next one was a house with what seemed to be a car parked in front, the brunette stick figure had a briefcase and was holding the hand of the blonde stick figure who had a painting brush in her hand and was wearing a beret, the next one made her gasp a little, Lexa’s stick figure was kneeling down and had a big shiny ring and Clarke’s stick figure was smiling and there were hearts surrounding them, the next page the stick figures were getting married and on the last page the stick figure version of themselves were again outside the house, the car was no longer a sedan type car but an attempt of drawing a mini-van and there was a smaller stick figure between them and a yellow dog… or a cat… Clarke wasn’t sure
“Lex…” she whispered. “It’s perfect…”
The next morning, she got the last drawing framed and hung it in their bedroom.
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“You know what this is about?” Lincoln asked Octavia as they sat at some random restaurant on the other side of town, his fiancée just shrugged and focused back on the menu.
“Hey, sorry I’m late, I know you guys are busy with the wedding planning and whatnot,” Jake said with a smile, they had graduated three months before and they felt they had waited long enough to be acceptable, Octavia was currently in some entry-level job with a shitty pay and Lincoln wasn’t fairing much better, they had enough to survive but neither wanted a big wedding, they were happy to just go to court and sign the papers but the Griffins had gifted them with a small venue and Lincoln’s parents were paying for the catering, just a small affair of closest friends and family.
“I won’t take too much of your time, I know you got wedding cakes to try, and I got a class… so lunch is on me if you want, he said slapping some bills on the table and then looking at them both. “So…How’s your aim?”
Clarke stared at her hands, she was horrible at catching stuff, truly horrible yet someway, somehow, she was staring at the bouquet, in her hands, immediately her eyes found Lexa’s and they both blushed.
Lexa hadn’t even lined up for it, she was at the edge of the dance floor next to Clarke, Clarke had given her the bouquet, because of Lexa’s appreciation for flowers and nothing more, they were just watching, yet Lincoln had thrown the garter and it had hit her right in the face, she stared at it and then at Lincoln and back again before looking at Clarke as the crowd cheered.
“It’s fate bitches!” Raven shouted from someplace at the back.
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Jake studied Lexa as she fidgeted in her seat, it was obvious the girl was a nervous wreck and he had a good idea as to why. He knew it was coming when Lexa tried to subtly take a deep steeling breath before finally looking up to make eye contact with him.
“Jake…” She began.
“Yes.” Jake interrupted and Lexa blinked in confusion.
“I haven’t…”
“Yes, you have my blessing to ask Clarke’s hand in marriage.” He clarified, and Lexa’s dumbfounded expression didn’t change.
“I… How?” She asked still frowning.
“Well… You invited me to have dinner at a fancy restaurant, asked me not to tell Clarke, you’ve been failing at small talk and spacing out since we got here, you keep fidgeting on your seat and keep on taking steeling breathes like you’re gonna ask me for a loan or something.” It finally dawned on Lexa, not only that he knew what she was going to ask but he had given his blessing and she grinned happily. “Now let me see the ring.”
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Lexa had asked Jake for his blessing because she knew she wanted to ask Clarke to marry her but she had no idea on the how she had rented a cabin by the beach a couple of towns over for the weekend and everything had gone wrong, it was raining and Lexa had sort of prepared a picnic by the beach and she had somehow convinced Clarke to go with her but after less than five minutes into the walk Clarke had sighed and whined “Lex, I love you, a lot but I hope you know I’m loving you less with each step.” ’She had been joking, of course, she had, Lexa knew it but… still, she wasn’t going to risk it, so she turned them back and went back into the cabin.
They had gone out, art, dinner and a stroll around the park and Lexa had hung back a little bit and dropped to one knee when she heard a loud “Fuck,shit, damn assholes not picking up after their dogs.” So, she pretended to tie up her shoelaces and went to help Clarke.
So at the end she realized she’d be waiting forever, or at least felt that way if she kept waiting for the right moment, so instead, as Clarke was deep asleep, Lexa went to her laptop and opened powerpoint.
She messed around with a lot of things, from making a presentation similar to Clarke’s proposal to move in together to making it about something else and just adding the word at the end of the presentation.
At the end she decided to just go for it and wrote the question in a simple white slide, went around setting up the projector, dimming the lights and lighting candles before she went to wake up Clarke.
Clarke was a little disoriented from sleep, her hair sticking all around as Lexa guided her down the stairs, she walked into the living room and looked around before gasping at the words projected against the wall and turned around to look at Lexa on one knee holding up a ring.
“Yes.” She said without hesitation, voice still husky with sleep as she dropped down to her knees in front of Lexa and pulled her into a kiss.
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Raven walked inside the coffee shop and waved at Jake before nodding towards the barista, she ordered her coffee and a muffin and then joined Jake at the table.
“Hey papa G.” She greeted with a smile. “Figured you’d be busy this couple of months planning Clexa’s wedding.” She teased with a smirk and Jake good-naturedly rolled his eyes at the joke.
“Oh, that’s exactly why I’m here… You see, now with Lincoln and Octavia married, though I had nothing to do with that, and Clarke and Lexa engaged, I can take up… other projects.” He said and then pulled a manila folder out his bag and sliding it across the table towards Raven who took it with a raised eyebrow and then stared slack-jawed at Jake.
“You’re joking, right?” She asked. “You helped get one couple together, you’re no Tinder or whatever.” Jake rolled his eyes undeterred.
“Please, I’m just an instrument for the universe, I just listen and let it do its work through me.” He shrugged with a playful smile.
“Really? And the universe is telling you my potential significant other is in this folder?” She asked rolling her eyes, but Jake nodded and so Raven went through the profiles, pictures included, in the folder. There was a guy called Wick, Jake’s TA according to his profile, the manager of the café they were at, some guy named Roan and the barista named Niylah, a student of Jake’s named Echo and… Raven stopped at the last profile and looked at Jake with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”
Jake shrugged, smile still in place. “The universe speaks, and I just listen, Raven.”