Chapter Text
Clarke quickly put the last finishing touches of makeup on her face before she received Harper's text that she was here.
She grabbed her ID and credit card from her wallet and stuffed them into the safety of her bra before she grabbed her favorite perfume, gave herself a few good spritz, and then quickly headed out for the front door.
“Ooh, don't you look cute!” Raven smiled up at her from the couch where she was nestled against her girlfriend —and technically Clarke's other roommate— Anya.
Clarke chuckled and playfully struck a pose. “Why, thank you,” she smiled as she grabbed her keys from the hook and dropped them inside of her purse before zipping it up. “I'll see you guys later.”
“Have fun, kiddo! Be home by twelve!” Raven teased, and Clarke rolled her eyes with a laugh.
“You guys have fun, and I may be drunk when I come home so, I apologize in advance if you hear me crashing through the apartment, but I'll try to be quiet.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Anya smirked, but Raven shook her head.
“Oh, honey, you don't have to be drunk to do that. You're a natural klutz as it is,” she poked at her, causing Clarke to give her the finger with a sarcastic laugh, and she waved as she finally headed out.
She immediately spotted the black SUV Uber ride that Harper said she and Monroe would be in, and opened the back door to climb in.
“Hey!” they both greeted her from the back, scooting over to give her room as no one clearly wanted to sit in the front seat with a total stranger if it couldn't be helped.
“Hey, guys,” she smiled back as the Uber driver began to move once she was buckled in.
“Are they sure they didn't want to come?” Harper looked back towards the apartments as they got further away.
Clarke nodded her head, “Yeah. Plus, I wanted to give them some alone time for once since I've barely been going over to Brent's anymore,” she said, and the other two nodded in understanding.
“Gotcha. He's still being a dick?” Monroe asked quietly, and Clarke shook her head with a roll of her eyes.
“He's always been a dick.”
“Then, why do you still sleep with him?” Harper raised a brow at her, and Clarke shrugged.
“A girl gets lonely sometimes.”
They made it to the bar and quickly got started with shots before ordering mixed drinks to help slowly build up the buzz through the night.
The place was already bustling; the music was booming with fast beats, people dancing in the center, while others stood around drinking and chattering loudly.
They danced to a few songs, ordered another round of shots with more mixed drinks, and took a few buzzed selfies and short videos to reminisce about this night in the future.
However, it wasn't long before a guy with badly frosted tips, wearing a loud 'Hawaiian style' button up shirt and khaki shorts, with tan lines on his cherry red face that indicated he wore his sunglasses out in the sun way too much was standing a tad bit too close to Clarke, talking loudly and excitedly in her face, and clearly drunk.
She wished she had joined Harper and Monroe on their trip to the bathroom had she known this was going to happen, but at least she had hope that they would be back soon.
So, she smiled and nodded, feigning interest in his stories of the sites he saw on his travels as she leaned back to try to create some distance between them, until she caught the eyes of someone across the bar staring at her, and did a double-take.
It was a long haired brunette from what she could see in the dim lighting.
And she was pretty.
Very pretty.
“—You know what I mean?” Adam DeVine doppleganger's voice suddenly cut in, and Clarke quickly nodded at him, though she had absolutely no idea what he had just said, or what he was talking about.
She couldn't help but look back over at the girl like a moth to a flame as he started on again.
If she wasn't mistaken, it felt like she was giving Clarke 'the eyes'; the way her brow quirked, and the flash of a smirk that disappeared behind her glass as she took a drink.
—Or perhaps Clarke was just hoping for an excuse to get away and reading too much into the girl's actions.
However, Clarke's eyes suddenly darted up towards the animated tourist with surprise when he began to mimic the seagull that had taken his ice cream when he was at the beach, and when she looked back towards the girl again, the brunette raised her brows at Clarke; smiling in a way as if she were trying not to laugh out loud at what she was seeing.
Clarke couldn't help but laugh at this silent shared moment between her and this pretty stranger, to which unfortunately, made Porcupine Head assume that she was laughing at his story, and he leaned against the bar, blocking Clarke's view of the brunette.
“I know, right? Ah, it was wild,” he shook his head as he laughed heartily at himself, and then his face lit up as if he just had the greatest idea. “—Hey, I know! We should get together some time! I'm assuming you're from around here, right? Maybe you could show me all of the hot spots before I leave next week,” he suggested with a wide cocky smile.
There it was.
“Uh, probably not...” Clarke chuckled with a shake of her head, taking a large sip of her mixed drink to keep her buzz going, and though Bleach Blonde Boy was still smiling, he cocked his head to the side.
“Aw, come on,” he held his hands out, “You seem like someone who likes to have fun. We could have a lot of fun together,” he nodded with a raise of his brows.
“I don't think so,” she shook her head again, laughing at him now.
Ever since he met her at the bar eleven minutes ago, he had been talking nonstop without even asking anything about her.
He didn't even know her name.
She knew it was only a matter of time before he tried to flirt with her.
“Why not?” he pressed on encouragingly.
Before Clarke could turn him down for a third time however, suddenly there was someone pressing into her side, gently grabbing her arm.
“Because she's with me,” the brunette smirked at him, and before he could say anything else, she pulled Clarke away towards the dance floor; leaving him to stand there and stare after them with a bewildered look.
Clarke couldn't help but giggle as she let the brunette lead her away into the middle of the moving crowd, and started to dance with her.
She was even prettier up close with soft arched brows above relaxed green eyes, full, puffy lips, and a jawline sharper than a blade surrounded by those wavy chestnut locks.
She seemed familiar, but Clarke was sure she wouldn't have forgotten a face this beautiful had she seen it before.
“Thank you,” Clarke said gratefully as she started to move to the music.
The girl then moved her closer to her with a smirk, “No problem.”
Clarke smiled widely as she began to dance against her, letting the music and the alcohol flow through her.
It wasn't long before they were practically all over each other on the dance floor, lost in the sea of buzzed dancers.
Clarke wasn't sure if it was just her or not, but it felt like she and the brunette just moved perfectly in sync with each other, as if they had danced before this, even though she was sure she had never met her before.
At one point, the girl moved behind her, and Clarke's body tingled as she gently placed her hand against the lower part of her tummy, pressing the front of herself into the back of Clarke, and swayed her hips in time with hers.
Clarke eventually turned around to face her again, the urge to kiss the girl building up inside of her, but she resisted against it and instead rolled and swayed her hips, running a hand through her hair in what she hoped was a teasing sexy gesture as she stared at her.
However, the alluring stranger reached out and grabbed Clarke's hips, pulling her tight against her so that Clarke was practically straddling her thigh; only the thin fabric of her sundress and underwear, and the girl's jeans caught between them, their faces merely inches from the other as they swayed, and the brunette flashed that sexy smirk that Clarke was quickly beginning to become fond over.
Everything about her was becoming enticing to Clarke.
She couldn't help it as her mind went to indecent places that only intensified the buzzing in her body as they practically grinded on each other, but it seemed like she wasn't the only one with these provocative thoughts swirling in her head.
“What are you doing after this?” the brunette's lips brushed against her ear, sending a wave of goosebumps down her side.
She was just about to answer when out of the blue, Harper was suddenly right next to her, gently holding her arm, and speaking at the other side of her face over the music.
“Hey, I'm sorry, but I need your help!” she said, causing Clarke to stop dancing and step back, looking to her with concern.
“Why? What's wrong?” she asked loudly.
“Monroe is outside puking her guts out. I need to take her home, and I can't carry her up to her apartment alone! I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need your help!” she said, frowning because she knew she was interrupting something.
Damn.
However, Clarke wasn't one to abandon a friend in need.
“Okay,” she nodded.
She looked to the brunette with an apologetic smile, knowing she had heard what Harper had said.
“Sorry,” she said sincerely, but the girl shook her head with a soft smile.
“It's alright. I understand,” she said reassuringly.
She felt bad for having to abruptly leave the girl, and in all honesty, a bit upset over the perfect timing of Monroe's inability to hold her alcohol as she felt like this was going to lead her to an even more eventful night than she had planned. She threw the brunette another remorseful smile as Harper lightly tugged on her arm to get them to start moving.
“Thanks again for saving me!” Clarke quickly added, and the girl smiled wider as she watched Harper begin to lead her off of the dance floor.
She didn't even know her name, or if she would ever see her again, and a strong urge overcame Clarke.
She couldn't let this opportunity go to complete waste.
“—Wait, hold on!” she stopped, causing Harper to stop as well with slight confusion, and she quickly whipped around, pulling out her phone as she swiftly re-approached the brunette again through the crowd before she disappeared.
“Add me,” she breathed, feeling her nerves rise at her sudden influx of courage.
She flashed her Snapchat code at her, and the brunette pulled out her own phone, scanning it before Clarke looked up and smiled one last time at her, and she finally turned and followed Harper.
“I am really sorry I had to interrupt,” Harper said sincerely as they walked outside of the bar where Clarke immediately spotted Monroe sitting down on the sidewalk against the wall with her head hung low. “If I could carry her myself, I would have.”
“It's alright,” Clarke nodded reassuringly, “You guys helped me during Octavia's twenty-second birthday bash when Raven was too busy dancing on top of the counter top to Salt-N-Pepa's 'Push It!' to realize I was lying outside in the bushes,” she chuckled from the fuzzy vague memory.
“Oh god, I had the worst hangover after that night,” Harper laughed with a shake of her head as she bent down and looped an arm around one of Monroe's. “Come on, Pukey.”
“Wherewegoin'?” Monroe slurred as Clarke wrapped her arm around the other.
“We're taking a fun little ride,” Clarke said sweetly.
“Aww, we're leavin'?” Monroe pouted, becoming rather dead weight to resist the two. “No! I don' wanna leave yet!”
“No, no, we're going to another party!” Harper lied happily, and Monroe smiled widely.
“Oh, okay! Yay!” she rocked her head in what Clarke assumed was a nod, and together they hoisted her up.
Once they got Monroe back to her apartment, changed, and in bed, where thankfully Harper said she would stay the night with her, and Clarke finally got herself home after what felt like hours, she did her best to sneak into her own apartment in the dark without waking up the other two, and crawled into bed.
I'll wash my face in the morning, she thought tiredly as she lied there, but curiosity tugged at her, and she reached over and pulled her phone up, going to Snapchat.
LW206 added you as a friend!
She couldn't help but smile. Even though they didn't speak much and only danced, it was fun, and it felt natural somehow, like they had danced before.
Honestly, Clarke felt a bit of a connection between them, like they didn't need words to speak to each other, but she would never admit that out loud for fear of sounding like a weirdo creep or an overbearingly clingy person.
And speaking of such things, she decided to hold off on messaging the girl, seeing that it was two o'clock in the morning already, and she put her phone back on her nightstand, turning over to finally go to sleep.
* * *
Even though Clarke got in late, she still woke up early all because her bladder was screaming at her in agony.
Ugh, come on, she whined, knowing that if she went back to sleep, she would probably piss in her bed, but she knew that once she got up, she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again.
She lied there for a moment more, debating if she should risk it, when a painful wave swept over her bladder.
Fine! I'll get up, she internally sighed at it, throwing her comforter off and getting up to head to the bathroom.
Once she was done, she quietly padded her way into the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee; trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she waited for the machine to fulfill its duty.
After pouring a healthy splash of vanilla creamer, she took her steaming light-beige elixir and sat down at the small dining room table to doom scroll on her phone until her eyes would no longer feel puffy and her body loosened up a bit.
She skimmed through mundane social media posts, neglected the unread message from a previously drunk and clearly aroused Brent (she would reply later...maybe), until her brain rose at a higher functioning level to check out a few interesting articles online, send out a couple of the funny TikTok's she came across, and hearted a few Instagram reels, when she heard a noise and looked up to see Anya coming out wearing a grumpy tired face and classic bedhead.
However, Clarke remained silent as the tall slender girl assembled her own cup of coffee, knowing better than to speak first before Anya was ready —unless she wanted a tall glass of sass to go with her morning mug— and continued scrolling on her phone as Anya sat down with a breathy groan and took a sip.
“Sup,” she finally croaked a few minutes later; still sporting a grumpy face.
“Morning,” Clarke replied back softly with a smile.
“You're up early,” she noted, and if Clarke hadn't known her mannerisms by now, she would have thought that Anya seemed annoyed, but she learned that was just how Anya was in the mornings.
She was not an 'early bird'.
“Bladder woke me up,” Clarke returned with a slight roll of her eyes.
“Ah,” Anya nodded as she took another sip of her coffee, and silence fell over them as it commonly did while they each stared at their phones.
It wasn't that they didn't like each other, or weren't friends —they were now— but in all honesty, if Anya hadn't become Raven's girlfriend, Clarke was sure they wouldn't have even been friends at all.
They actually had all gone to high school together, even in the same graduating class, but growing up, Anya was known as “Two Strike Anya”.
Why?
Because she would knock people down in two strikes.
She was rather...pretty aggressive and known as a bit of a 'troublemaker' in school; always getting into fights, talking back to teachers, skipping classes... It kind of made Clarke wonder how she was even able to graduate with them (she might have even been held back a year once before according to rumor), but that was several years ago, and Clarke wasn't about to ask now, or ever.
Sure, she'd had a few interactions with Anya during their school years; either in class, or at a party they both attended, but most of them were pretty uneventful, or nothing to write home about, as Clarke had basically steered clear of Anya back then.
However, a few years after high school, when Anya and Raven just so happened to wind up working in the same place together, they became closer and closer until it was announced that they were dating.
Flash forward a year, and Anya was moving in with them.
Don't get her wrong, Clarke was very happy for her and Raven; she didn't mind it at all as the two turned out to be very well matched, and even though she has become accustomed to having Anya around and could consider them friends now, the girl still intimidated her from time to time with her dry sarcastic humor, sharp tongue, and vigorous intensity.
Even so, because Clarke and Raven were best friends basically meant that Anya had pulled her into her inner circle, actually giving Clarke a slight sense of peace and belonging among them, and she proved so once during a night out at a bar.
Clarke was getting hit on by some guy who had had one too many, trying to dance and hang on her through rum-soaked determination, and when Anya had noticed her looking uncomfortable and trying to turn him down with fail, she shoved him against the wall and threatened to stick the fruit skewer that had come with Clarke's mixed drink somewhere 'that would require surgery to remove', and saved Clarke from trouble.
So, yeah...even though Anya was a force to be reckoned with, Clarke would consider them friends at the very least.
She would take that over being on her bad side, or her enemy, any day.
It wasn't long after Clarke had gotten her second cup of coffee that Anya had stood up and made another one as well.
“Alright, I better go get my ass ready for work,” she announced out loud with a bit of a sigh, looking more awake, and Clarke looked up and smiled softly in acknowledgment.
However, she stopped before she hit the hallway and turned.
“—Oh, by the way. I talked to Raven about it, but since this is your place too, I was wondering if you'd be okay with my little sister coming to stay with us for a bit?” she asked, taking a sip from her coffee as Clarke looked up again with curious eyes.
“Oh?” she responded as her mind immediately began to wonder where she would sleep.
Obviously the couch as they only had two bedrooms.
“Yeah, her and her roommate have been having some problems. They're just not getting along, and she's been trying to find a place of her own, but...yeah. They had a big fight last night, apparently,” Anya said with slight awkwardness as she wasn't one to readily spill out any private matters.
At least she trusted her enough.
“Just for a little bit so I can make sure she can get her shit straight, you know,” Anya shrugged a shoulder.
Although its been years, Clarke knows she has seen her sister from afar a few times back during their high school days, either always trailing behind Anya at lunch, or at football games, but she's never officially met her because—well...her and Anya weren't friends back then.
However, she remembered learning that Anya was very protective of said girl.
No one messed with 'Anya's little sister'.
Not unless they had a death wish.
Of course, Clarke felt like she couldn't say no, not only because Anya still intimidated her, but also because she's known what it's like to not get along with someone you lived with and wanting to escape — which was how her and Raven ended up renting a two bedroom apartment nearly right after high school, and have been living together ever since.
“Yeah, of course,” Clarke nodded quickly, not wanting to give the impression that she was opposed to it through silence. “I don't mind at all.”
“Cool. Thanks,” Anya nodded her head in return with gratitude. “She'll probably be here tonight then,” she said, and finally disappeared down the hallway.
As Clarke remained at the table, her mind automatically began to wonder towards Anya's sister.
She hadn't seen her since...probably graduation, which was only a glimpse of her from vague memory because of all of the commotion that was going on at the time, and even though Anya has lived with them for a few months now, she hadn't brought her around yet.
She couldn't really remember her face though now that she thought about it, because the one thing she did remember of her was that she always had her hood up, her head down, and her hair covering her face.
What was her name again? Clarke then wondered, as Anya always referred to her as 'my little sister' whenever she talked about her, and debated on digging out an old yearbook from her closet just for curiosity's sake, but she nixed the idea of doing that much physical work so early in the day.
Oh well, she thought as she went back to her morning doom scrolling.
She would meet her soon enough.
* * *
Even though Clarke didn't have to work today, she decided to do a quick grocery run (she wanted to make sure they had enough coffee, creamer, drinks, toilet paper, some snacks, and so on for their new indefinite roommate), as well as stop by her mom's house while she was at work to borrow an extra comforter and pillows just in case.
“You didn't have to do all of that,” Raven smiled gratefully when Clarke had returned and found her sitting on the couch, eating gummy worms, and watching TV; indicating she had the day off as well.
“Oh, I don't mind,” Clarke smiled with a shrug as she began to put everything away in the kitchen.
She couldn't help herself.
Once she was finished, she joined Raven in the living room, sitting on the adjacent couch.
“She's going to be here tonight, right?”
“That's the plan,” Raven said as she ripped off half of the gummy worm in her hand with her teeth and chewed. “Anya wants to go get her after work.”
“She doesn't have a car?” Clarke questioned curiously.
“She does, but she didn't tell her roommate she's going to be staying with us for a while—they wanted to get the approval from both of us, first—and then Anya wants to be there just in case shit goes down,” Raven slightly shrugged as she popped the other half of the gummy worm in her mouth.
“I see...” Clarke nodded again. “Honestly, I don't really remember her, but I also wasn't friends with Anya back then,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, she actually looks totally different now. She's pretty cool, though. A little cocky and sarcastic like Anya, but more quiet than her — that's for sure,” Raven smiled with raised brows, causing Clarke to chuckle as she's bore witness to Anya's quite loud and enthusiastic side. “I've hung out with her a couple of times when Anya would bring her out with us to the bar. I think you'll like her.”
“Cool,” Clarke nodded.
They continued to hang out for a bit, just chatting and watching TV until Clarke decided she should probably work on some of her college work.
Thankfully, it wasn't anything too tedious or grueling as any kind of drawing, painting, sketching, or otherwise she was required to do was actually relaxing and fun for her, and she would often get lost in her projects.
However, she hadn't realized just how much time she had actually spent working in her room, when numerous sounds and voices from beyond the walls pulled at her attention.
'Anya's sister must be here,' Clarke thought, and decided she should go out and introduce herself so as to not come off as rude, and set her tablet to the side.
After a good stretch and a quick check in the mirror to make sure she didn't look equivalent to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings since she had been hunched over working for a few hours now, she finally began to make her way down the hallway where she could hear the other three talking.
“—Oh hey, you're still alive,” Raven suddenly teased when she saw Clarke emerging, who chuckled with a roll of her eyes.
She couldn't see the other two around the corner of the wall yet, but she knew they were standing in the living room as Raven turned her head back in that direction and continued talking.
“This is Clarke, my best friend and roommate. I don't know if you remember her, but she also went to Polis High,” she said as Clarke finally met the end of the hallway.
As soon as she rounded the corner and her eyes swept over and landed on Anya's sister however, she instantly froze, and her stomach sank.
Oh...
She couldn't believe it.
It was the brunette from the bar.
The very pretty brunette.
The one that she was dancing all up on.
“Clarke, this is Lexa. My little sister,” Anya introduced her.
Oh no.
The corner of Lexa's mouth turned up into that smirk that had plagued Clarke's mind a few times since last night, and a chill ran down her spine.
No...no, no, no.
“I remember her,” Lexa said with a light tone as she stared at her.
All Clarke could do was stare back.
Oh shit.