Full Original Summary: Clarke's twenty-one, about to get her associates degree in art, and she and her friends just pitched their cash together to pay for an old, nearly abandoned warehouse to be their ultimate hangout zone. She's comfortable with herself, pretty sure she's more than a little gay, though not entirely, and ready for this next stage of her life. Lexa, on the other hand, is seventeen, starting her last year of high school and feeling not so comfortable with herself. She's not sure if she likes boys, she's not sure who she wants to be... Sure, she's smart and her future is pretty set, but where's the fun in that? When Lexa nearly hooks up with an older guy during what everyone seems to be calling her "rebellious phase", she finds herself swept up in the life she'd rather be living, with a girl she'd very much like to be with. (Don't worry fam, Lexa is gay AF)
A/N: Hello beautiful humans! This Pristine, a story that I wrote like a crazy person in the span on a month and posted on Ao3. Since it's finished and its sequel is now going up on Ao3, I'm gonna post this story on here, 2 chapters a day. Assuming I don't miss any days, the full thing will be up in 14 days total! :D
So yes, it is entirely finished, and I won't be putting up A/Ns for every chapter :P However, reviews and whatnot are always appreciated 3 and please remember that you can follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana and if you tweet me that you read this, I'll follow you back!
Here's chapter one, chapter two will be up immediately after, and then two more will be up tomorrow! :D xx
Clarke stomped up to the warehouse, really not in the mood to deal with what she thought she was about to have to deal with. She couldn't find any of her friends, and they were supposed to help her set up her space in the warehouse, but after half an hour of trying to figure out where the fuck they were, it turns out that they were already there. And that meant that they either started without her, in which case they'd definitely messed something up by now, or they were doing some other shit that was not acceptable. It was her damn turn to get her space set up – they all had theirs.
"Are you guys here?" Clarke demanded, shouting through the building as she pushed open the large sliding door. The front room, which they had yet to decorate, was empty, but she heard voices from the room to the right. Octavia's space. She took a right and entered into the room to see her friends sprawled across the floor, each with beers in their hands.
"Aye, Clarke!" Octavia exclaimed, grinning. "We were waiting for you!"
"And you're all drunk as fuck, of course," Clarke growled, rolling her eyes. "You do realize I've waited the longest to get my space set up, because I was helping all you imbeciles with yours?"
"Yours is the easiest to set up," Jasper insisted, snorting as he broke into laughter for some reason, but then he quickly went calm again and continued, "I mean, it's just a bunch of easels and stuff."
"Tell me that again when you've carried all those damn easels," Clarke snapped, kicking at his leg lightly and then huffing. "Get up you guys, you have to help me. Where the fuck is Finn?"
"He brought a girl," Bellamy answered, and he, Raven and Monty began laughing like it was the funniest thing.
Octavia groaned. "Yeah, he brought a girl. I thought we had a no dates policy here?"
"I thought so too," Raven agreed, "but Finn thinks that because he's slept with us girls by now, that it's somehow okay for him to bring more in there for him to ruin."
"He's in his shop right now if you wanna go kick his ass," Bellamy said, hopping up and offering Clarke a wide smile. "C'mon guys, let's go get Clarke's shit."
"Thank you," Clarke muttered, stepping around Jasper and Monty on the floor in order to continue on through the warehouse. It was disorganized and actually kind of confusing to get through, but she'd stepped through it enough times to know which room was what and how to get to one place the quickest. Finn's shop room was in the back, filled with tools and wood and other things you'd expect to see in a workshop. His was the first room set up, and he'd added a sofa into the small space about a week after it got set up, and since then, he'd brought at least five girls back to the warehouse to have sex on that disgusting sofa.
Clarke just wanted her space in the place to be hers, and she didn't really appreciate that Finn couldn't even care to try to help her. She reached his shop easily and banged forcefully on the wooden sliding door he'd set up in the entrance. At least he'd had the sensibility to do that much. "Finn, get the fuck out here and help me get my shit out of my car and into my room!"
"I'm a little busy, Clarke!" Finn called, and she heard the stifled moan of a girl at the same time.
"I don't give a fuck, Finn!" she yelled angrily. "This is a no date zone."
"Not a date!"
"Sex counts!"
"Not sex... yet!"
Clarke rolled her eyes, grabbing the handle of the door and sliding it open without a care, unsurprised as a pretty little brunette thing hopped up from the couch, tripping and nearly falling – her shirt almost off of her body. Finn was now sitting up straight on the couch, glaring daggers at Clarke. "Get your ass out to my car," she said in the overly sweet tone that she knew could piss him off so easily.
"Couldn't wait five fucking minutes, Clarke?" Finn demanded, standing up and pushing past her angrily.
Not hesitating, she shouted over her shoulder at him, "We were supposed to start ten minutes ago, you asshole!" She looked back into Finn's shop and saw that the girl was not longer sprawled across the floor, but rather standing up straight and staring at her.
"I'm really sorry," she squeaked suddenly, her voice sounding all too innocent for a guy like Finn to have been touching her. It actually made Clarke cringe.
"Yeah, it's fine. You should go."
"Um... I don't really remember how to get out of here..."
Clarke sighed, gesturing with her head for the girl to follow her, and she did instantly. "Do you have your car here?"
"Uh, no, but I can have someone come and pick me up," the girl muttered quickly, fumbling over her words a little. She immediately grabbed her phone from her back pocket and began texting away at it. "I uh... didn't know that I wasn't supposed to be over here."
"It's fine, seriously. Finn's the asshole here. You haven't slept with him, have you?"
The girl blinked. "No."
"Good, don't," Clarke advised, rolling her eyes. She passed by her space and glanced at it, noticing that it was still empty. "If those damn idiots broke my fucking easel..."
The girl was smart enough not to question the seething blonde as they exited the warehouse. Luckily, Clarke realized, her buffoons of friends hadn't broken anything. Rather, they were apparently just arguing over who would carry what.
"You idiots could be done by now if you just started carrying shit!" Clarke yelled at them across the dirt paved area. It was a big area, surrounded by trees and some other abandoned building type things. Their cars were lined neatly on one side of the dirt clearing, where her friends were right now, and the entrance to the warehouse was on the other side, where Clarke was now. She looked to the brunette girl and raised an eyebrow. "Does your friend know where to go to get here?"
"Yeah, I told her," the girl answered quietly, looking maybe ashamed or just bashful in general. "She'll... be a few minutes, though. Or like... fifteen tops. But it's fine, I'll just sit out here. I don't want to intrude at all."
"Mkay," Clarke agreed, stepping away from the girl and realizing that green eyes were settled on her back as she turned around. She didn't take the time to question why the girl kept staring at her. Clarke wasn't particularly social when it came to people other than her friends. She preferred to stick to herself and her art, which was what she'd been wanting to do for the weeks that she'd been waiting to set up her space in the warehouse.
She made her way over to her friends, seeing that Bellamy and Jasper had already started inside with two of her easels. There was only one more, and she grabbed it, refusing Finn's help when he offered. He could grab some of her other shit, she was done dealing with him. Clarke still felt the girl's eyes on her as she lugged the easel into the warehouse, and she was finally free of the burning gaze once she was inside. She let out a relieved sigh, but she wasn't sure why she was relieved in the first place.
She weaved through the rooms until she reached hers. It was the biggest in the warehouse. No one had argued with her when she claimed it, considering that she'd contributed the most money and effort to the place. She had taped on the floor already where everything was meant to go, and she was pleased to see that Bellamy and Jasper had so far placed her easels correctly.
"Is there anything else that's big?" Bellamy asked, as Clarke placed her third easel exactly on the designated tape.
"No, but tomorrow or Monday I'm heading to Ikea and I'll be back with a huge shelf in shambles. I don't know who's busy, I can probably deal with it myself," Clarke replied, shrugging. Bellamy was always the most helpful, and that made Clarke always shy away from accepting his help. It was probably the weirdest thing about her – she longed for people to care about her and offer to help her, but she hated to accept it. She'd given up trying to figure herself out though.
"Alright well, if I'm around, holler and I'll give you a hand," he said. "Not sure when I'll be in here Monday, though. I have some classes."
"I have some Monday as well," Clarke answered, nodding and sighing. "I'm glad it's almost over."
"You really not going past your Associates Degree?" Bellamy asked. They were both standing in the middle of her space now, and Jasper had left the room to go grab more stuff. Clarke realized that she probably should be too, she started walking and talking, her friend moving to join her immediately.
"No, I don't think so," Clarke answered. "I'm kind of done with college, you know? School in general. Now that I have this place... I want to just spent my time doing art."
"What about money?"
"I've got The Bean."
"That you do," Bellamy agreed, and they emerged from the warehouse and headed back toward the car, passing Finn, Raven, Octavia and Monty carrying Clarke's boxes of art supplies into the building. Clarke's gaze caught on the girl who was now leaning against Finn's truck, clearly waiting for her ride. Her eyes were now focused on her phone, probably trying to seem preoccupied while the rest of them were actually busy doing things.
Clarke couldn't help but briefly wonder what her story was – how had she ended up nearly hooking up with Finn on a Saturday? She looked like a girl who should have more of an interesting life than that, even if it was just hanging out with friends. Clarke couldn't pinpoint her age either. She figured that she was probably twenty or so, but whatever her age was, she was definitely under twenty-one. If she was older than everyone in their group, Clarke was sure that she would've been able to notice. Plus, it didn't seem like she'd been intoxicated at all. As Clarke realized that, though, she wondered why on earth a sober girl would decide to hook up with Finn.
Shaking the thoughts off, Clarke gestured to the things that Bellamy could grab, and then as he headed into the warehouse, she grabbed the last of them. As she stepped away from her car, her arms full, she used her hip to close the back of her car. It was times like these that she was glad that she had decided to buy a RAM ProMaster City instead of a smaller car. A cargo van was definitely something that she needed. Not to mention that she loved the dark, metallic blue of it. Honestly, she just loved her car.
Glancing over at the girl standing alone by Finn's car, Clarke decided to lock her own car... just in case. Fumbling to reach her keys in her pockets, one of the tupperwares she was holding slid off the stack and fell onto the ground with a crash, hitting Clarke's foot slightly and causing her to squeal rather uncharacteristically. "Fuck," she grumbled, kneeling down and setting the stack of tupperwares down while she grabbed for her keys. As she looked up and made to lock her car, she realized that the brunette was headed over to her. She tried not to roll her eyes.
"Do you need help?"
"No," Clarke answered, shoving her keys back into her pocket and then leaning down to pick up the stack. She did so swiftly and easily, purposefully looking away from the girl as she stood back up with the items in hand.
As she started back into the warehouse, she heard feet following her. "This place is cool. Is it yours?"
"It's all of ours," Clarke answered, rolling her eyes now without hesitating, because the brunette couldn't see her face.
"But you act like the boss."
"Yeah, well, someone has to," Clarke muttered. "Is your friend going to be here soon?" She stopped in front of the entrance and looked to the brunette. A flash of embarrassment passed over the girl's face as she realized that Clarke didn't want her to come back inside the warehouse.
"Uh, yeah. She'll be here pretty quickly now I think," the girl muttered. "Anyway, uh. Thanks for not like... killing me or something. I'm sorry about causing any drama."
"It's fine. This isn't Finn's first time bringing girls here anyway," Clarke answered, unaware of the reason she was even giving this girl any time of day. "I should probably get to my room and make sure those assholes didn't mess it up."
"Yeah, I'm just gonna... wait for my friend. Um... have a good day." The girl turned around, grabbing her phone out of her back pocket, and then hurried back off to wait by Finn's car. Clarke didn't stare after her, instead immediately turning and heading back inside. She really did need to make sure that her friends hadn't messed anything up.
"What took you so long? We don't know where to put this shit," Raven huffed out, glaring at Clarke.
"I was dealing with Finn's pretty little brunette," Clarke muttered, rolling her eyes.
"She's hot as fuck, don't tell me she's not," Finn argued angrily, crossing his arms. "C'mon, you can't admit that you find her attractive, too, Clarke?"
"Whether or not I do," Clarke growled, "we agreed that this was a no significant other zone. No making out, no sex, none of that. We agreed, all of us. Plus, you treat girls like toys, Finn, and if I could, I'd ban you from being able to have sex with every girl ever."
"She has a point," Octavia agreed.
"As for the stuff," Clarke continued, glancing around the room, "I still have to get my whole shelf up, so the tupperwares can go over here..." She set her own tupperwares down against once wall where there was tape on the floor labeled shelf, "and all of the cardboard boxes can go against that wall."
"Hey," Monty said suddenly, furrowing his eyebrows, "weren't you going to bring in that paint stained table you have at your apartment? And those comfy chairs?"
"Fuck, yeah I was," Clarke remembered, groaning. "That explains why there's a big empty space here. I forgot the tape."
"I'll help you get it," Finn offered, hopping up and looking like a kicked puppy – clearly, he wanted Clarke to forgive him. As always, of course.
She let out a puff of air. "Okay, fine, let's go. Thanks guys, you are dismissed." She gave her friends a playful smile for the first time all afternoon, and they returned it eagerly and reminded her that beer would be available when she got back.
Clarke and Finn walked through the warehouse, and Finn scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Um, so I've been meaning to ask... because I know you like girls because there was that one girl a few months back with the... yeah, but... are you like bi, or like, full on lesbian? Because doesn't that make a difference with like – "
Clarke scoffed, interrupting him with a swift, "Shut up, Finn."
"Yeah, okay, I'll do that."
They exited the warehouse, and both she and Finn instantly noticed that the brunette was gone. Clarke frowned a little, surprised that she wasn't still waiting for her friend, and she briefly wondered if something else could've happened to her. She glanced around and quickly decided that she must've just made her friend hurry, which Clarke wouldn't have judged her for anyway.
Finn let out a quiet sigh, and Clarke felt herself soften. Despite Finn being a complete asshole most of the time, she loved him like she loved all of her friends. "By the way, Finn," she said, drawing his attention as they stopped by her car, "I don't know what I am. I really don't know that I care to know what I am. I just wanna do my art, you know?"
"You don't want to have sex at all?" Finn asked, raising his eyebrows.
Clarke huffed and shook her head. "No, of course I want to have sex. I just don't know that I care to figure out whether I'd rather have sex with guys or girls or whether I'd rather be in a relationship with guys or girls. Frankly, all people do stupid shit when they're in relationships anyway, as I've learned, and I'm not sure that I even want one anymore. Not that I owe that explanation to you at all, but... since you wanted to know."
Finn nodded. "Thanks, princess."
"Yeah, whatever," she muttered, turning around and unlocking her car, sliding into the driver's seat happily. Finn followed her movements on the passenger side, and she backed out of where she was parked, ready to make the trip back to her apartment to get her table and chairs for her art space.