"But Thanksgiving is literally a week away. How could you have waited this late to tell me?"
Lexa pauses a moment to listen to her mother on the other end of the phone.
"I am not whining!" she says a little too loudly and winces the second it comes out of her mouth.
She closes her eyes and takes a breath before saying, "I'm sorry. You're right. I didn't mean to react childishly." Lexa hears the door open and shut as her roommate Octavia enters their apartment. She lowers her voice a little, wishing she could finish the conversation in private. "This just comes as a surprise because I thought I'd be able to come home for the holiday, but I do understand the circumstances. I hope that you and Keith enjoy your trip to Rome."
She pauses again to listen.
"Yes, of course I'll use the free time wisely. I've been meaning to update my résumé so this is actually perfect."
She risks a glance in Octavia's direction as her mother tells her to make sure she spends time practicing for soccer as well. (Lexa rolls her eyes – as if that's even a question.) Just as Lexa feared, Octavia is staring right at her, not even trying to hide her eavesdropping.
"Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. Okay. Good bye."
Lexa ends the phone call with a swallow and walks to the fridge. She opens it and stares for a moment before realizing she doesn't actually want anything. When she closes the door Octavia is standing right behind it and Lexa jumps back in surprise.
"Jesus Christ, Octavia. I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that."
Octavia grins before she casually asks, "So…what was that call about?"
"Oh, my mother and step-father are going to Rome next week. Isn't that nice?" Lexa says, stepping around Octavia to go to the living room.
"Um, nice, yeah," Octavia replies, and she waits long enough before continuing that Lexa thinks she might actually drop it.
They sit down next to each other on the couch and Lexa is already reaching for the TV remote when Octavia says the dreaded words.
"What about Thanksgiving?"
Lexa freezes only slightly before she grabs the remote and says as casually as she can, "I'm going to stay here for Thanksgiving and catch up on some work and take the opportunity to practice that trick shot I've been working on." She turns on the TV and keeps her eyes fixed on the screen.
"Yeah, no, you're not doing that."
Lexa's sighs and nods her head. "Yes, I am."
"No, you're coming home with me. You get to experience your first ever Blake Family Thanksgiving." Octavia is sitting up and facing Lexa. Her smile is big, her eyes wide and excited.
"That's very sweet of you to offer, but I'm actually really looking forward to spending this holiday alone. This will give me a chance to –"
"To what? Update your résumé?" Octavia asks with a raised eyebrow. "Nope, no way am I letting you stay here by yourself when my mom will make enough food at our house to feed half an army on Thanksgiving."
Lexa opens her mouth to say no again, but Octavia places a finger over it and shakes her head.
"Don't you dare argue with me, Woods. You're spending Thanksgiving at my house. Is that clear?"
Lexa knows she could keep arguing but she also already knows how this is going to end, so instead she just nods in agreement. Octavia grins in triumph and settles back down into the couch, grabbing the remote from Lexa's hand.
Lexa rolls her eyes and vaguely wonders what she's gotten herself into.
. . .
"Are you sure you don't want to book a flight home? It's not too late and of course I'll pay for it," Clarke's mom says for probably the tenth time.
Clarke rolls her eyes as she packs her bag and speaks loud enough for the speaker phone to catch her voice.
"Mom, no, it's okay. Really. Bellamy's mom doesn't mind me crashing their dinner. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a last minute flight the day before Thanksgiving when there's a perfectly good turkey here for me to stuff my face with."
Her mom sighs, again, probably for the tenth time. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, it's just that this will be the first time you're not home for Thanksgiving and it just feels so wrong and –"
"Yeah but I'll be home for Christmas and that'll be here before we know it. Don't worry, mom. I'll see you soon." A honking from outside pulls Clarke away from the conversation. "Okay, I have to go, mom. Bellamy's outside to pick me up."
"All right, I love you! Have fun! Make sure to thank Bellamy's mother and be a good guest."
"Yes, mom, I know. I love you too. Talk to you later!"
Clarke hangs up the phone and stuffs it into her back pocket before zipping up and grabbing her overnight bag. Bellamy's mom, Aurora, lives in Philadelphia, so about two hours from Clarke's school in New York City, and while Clarke insisted she could drive back after the meal, Aurora insisted right back that she stay for the whole holiday.
If she's honest with herself then she knows that it didn't take much to convince her. She didn't want to spend her whole break sitting alone on her couch looking at people's Instagram and Facebook posts of their delicious foods and family togetherness. She could have gone home to California for Thanksgiving like she did in years past, but she just…really didn't want to. This was just the first year she worked up the courage to tell her mom she wanted to stay in New York for the holiday. California is suffocating her. Her mother is suffocating her, and she hates it. She hates the feeling. She hates the guilt. Clarke shakes her head to stop her thoughts from going down that road again.
She heads out the door, locking it behind her, before turning towards Bellamy and smiling at him as he makes his way around the car.
"You ready, princess?" he asks with his own grin.
"Yeah, I am," Clarke says before making her way to the trunk of the car.
"I've got that," Bellamy says, reaching for her bag.
"Well, aren't you just the knight in shining armor?" Clarke teases as she hands her bag over to him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it," he jokes back.
Clarke walks over to the passenger seat and slides in while she waits for Bellamy. He's got the radio set to some classic rock station, but Clarke is already pulling out her phone to plug in her own playlist.
She does love a good roadtrip.
Bellamy's back in the driver's seat and they're pulling out into the street, so Clarke hits the play button on her phone.
Nice to meet you. Where you been? I could show you incredible things.
"Oh no," Bellamy says with a look of mock horror on his face.
"Oh yes," Clarke says with a big smile before jumping in and singing along as loud as she can.
It takes approximately one minute and 50 seconds for Bellamy to join in. He knows every word.
. . .
Octavia pulls into the driveway and parks the car. She's already taking the keys out of the ignition and opening her door while Lexa is still staring up at the house. There was nothing about the house's appearance that held her eye, but it was what waited her within that left her sitting there. It was the whole concept of the "Blake Family Thanksgiving" that left her almost…daunted.
Just knowing Octavia and the way she described her family, Lexa knew that this was going to be a holiday unlike any she'd had before. Previous Thanksgivings entailed white table cloths and stiff dinner conversations. In recent years they were networking opportunities with her step-father's business colleagues. A "Blake Family Thanksgiving" sounded more intimidating in this moment.
"You okay?" Octavia asks, shaking Lexa from her reflections.
"Yeah. Yes, of course," Lexa says as she opens her door. She turns and looks at Octavia over the roof of the vehicle. "Let's do this."
Octavia smiles and heads to the trunk of the car to get their bags. Lexa follows to grab her own.
"Looks like Bells is already here," Octavia says, gesturing to another car in the driveway. "Mom says that he brought a friend with him too – some guy named Clark. So I guess you won't be alone in your…non-Blake-ness," she laughs, amused at her own best description of the guests.
"Oh," Lexa replies. "Yes, I suppose that will be nice." She means it too. Part of her worries was just feeling out of place at someone else's family dinner, but at least now she won't have to bear the full weight of that awkwardness.
She follows Octavia up to the porch. Octavia opens the front door and heads into the house, but Lexa gives herself a moment to take one more deep breath before following her roommate in.
The place is messy. Well, okay, it's probably not messy, but it's not clean. No, clean isn't the right word either. It's not bare, Lexa thinks to herself. It's lived in. It's a home. Lexa thinks in this moment that she spent her whole life believing she lived in a home when really she just lived in the shell of one. She looks around and sees Octavia's soccer ball in a corner of the living room. She sees a backpack on the ground next to the couch that she thinks probably belongs to Octavia's brother Bellamy. There are papers scattered on the coffee table that look boring enough to be taxes or bills or something. There are actual traces of people living in this house. It's a home.
"Mom! Bellamy!" Octavia yells. "We're here!"
"In the game room! Clarke is beating Bellamy's ass!" Lexa hears a woman yell back and has to stop herself from gasping a little at hearing their mother say – no, yell – the word ass. Not because of the word itself, but she doesn't think she's ever heard her own mother curse in her whole life, and it's strange to hear it even from someone else's.
"This should be good," Octavia grins. She drops her bags and walks towards the living room. Lexa follows suit, and they cross into another room through an open doorway. It looks to be something like a second living room with a TV and couch and several other cushy looking seats and bean bag chairs. The three seats on the couch are filled by whom Lexa can only assume to be Bellamy, Octavia's mom, and – wait, Clark? Clark is a girl? Clarke is…a girl.
But even more. She's…pretty. Clarke is a really, really pretty girl. Her hair is practically sunshine and her eyes are the ocean and she has a freckle above her lip that Lexa can't stop looking at. Lexa can't stop looking at her. At Clarke.
"Yo, Clarke is a girl," Octavia says with an impressed smile, voicing Lexa's earlier thoughts before they strayed. "Kick his ass."
Octavia moves to sit on a bean bag in front of the TV and Lexa follows, still glancing at Clarke every few seconds. She has just sat down in one of the chairs when Octavia's mom looks over at her.
"So, you must be Lexa."
"Yes, hi," Lexa immediately stands from her chair to lean over and shake her hand in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, um…" She realizes now she doesn't know her name.
"Aurora."
"Oh! That's a nice name. Aurora like – "
"Yeah, like the Disney princess," Aurora interrupts with a tight smile. She clearly gets this a lot.
"Actually, I was thinking Aurora as in Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis. But yes, the Disney princess. Of course. I've seen….movies."
Someone lets out a little yelp of laughter at this and Lexa looks over to see Clarke still staring at the TV playing the game but biting her lip (Biting. Her. Lip.) trying not to laugh again. She's not doing very well.
Lexa is still looking at Clarke when Aurora speaks again, and Lexa turns her attentions back to her.
"I was actually named for the lights. My mother and father were living in the area where the Aurora Borealis could be seen when they had me. Anyway, it's just…refreshing to hear someone first think of the lights when they hear my name."
Lexa smiles a little awkwardly and sits back down in the chair. When she glances back over at Clarke again her heart skips a beat.
The blonde is staring right at her. Her blue eyes blink in surprise when Lexa first catches them staring but Clarke doesn't look away. Lexa stares right back.
They hold each other's gaze for about six seconds before the spell is broken by Bellamy.
"Yo, Griffin! Where's your head? I want to win but I'd feel a little better if you actually played the game."
Lexa watches as Clarke visibly shakes her head and blinks as she turns back to the screen.
"Don't get your tighty-whiteys in a knot, Blake. I could beat you at this game with my eyes closed and my hands tied around my back."
"Yeah, we'll see about that."
Lexa swallows and leans back in her seat, her heart still beating a little harder from her first (and very brief, she tells herself) encounter with Clarke. What was that?
. . .
Clarke is still playing the game and still beating Bellamy but inside she's kicking herself. How could she be so stupid?
When Bellamy's sister and her roommate walked into the room, Clarke kept her focus. It wasn't until the girl clarified she was referring to the northern and southern lights that Clarke was first distracted. She'd raised her eyebrows and nodded at this, impressed. (She herself had first thought of Sleeping Beauty.) She couldn't help the horrible laugh that escaped her throat when the girl had clearly never even heard of the princess but tried to be amicable anyway.
After this she had to sneak a glance. What she didn't expect was not being able to look away.
The girl was focused on Aurora so Clarke let herself take her in as much as she could before she would turn back to her game. Her hair was incredible – curly and wild, parted far to the side but tucked mostly in front of one shoulder. Her skin was tanned and she was very fit. (Didn't Bellamy say Octavia played soccer? If she had to guess, Clarke would say this girl does too.)
It was at this moment that the girl turned and looked toward Clarke, catching her staring. Clarke was caught off guard by it and knew she should look away but this was the first time she was seeing her eyes, and they're green, so green, and she's drowning in them and the girl isn't looking away either and now they're just locked here and she doesn't want to break it and –
Bellamy does it for her. Of course he does.
When she turned back to her game she silently thanked Bellamy for pulling her back. It was a weird moment, but it only lasted a few seconds. She can brush this off. She can come back from this.
Clarke ignores her racing heart and sweaty palms and finishes out the game, satisfied with herself for beating Bellamy despite the distractions. Not that there was ever much of a doubt. Mario Kart is her jam.
Bellamy clears his throat as he exits from their game.
"Nicely done, princess," he says dutifully.
Clarke smirks at him, "Thanks."
Octavia takes this moment to hold her hand out to Clarke. "Well, I'm Octavia and it is very nice to meet you. Anyone who can kick my brother's ass like that is a friend of mine."
Clarke shakes her hand and laughs, "It's nice to meet you too."
"This is my roommate, Lexa," Octavia says, gesturing to the other girl in the chair next to them.
Clarke turns and smiles at the girl – Lexa. Lexa. She lets the name roll around in her head a couple times. It's a nice name.
"Pleasure to meet you, Lexa. I'm Clarke."
"Nice to meet you too, Clarke," Lexa says carefully.
Clarke almost lets herself fall under the spell of Lexa's green eyes again but she quickly turns away before she can.
"So what are we doing now?" Octavia asks the room.
"We can play another game," Bellamy suggests. "We don't really have anything planned for tonight. The Thanksgiving adventures start tomorrow."
"Well, you kids have fun," Aurora says as she stands. "But I've got to get back to work. It was nice to meet you, Lexa."
She smiles at the four of them one more time before leaving the room, adding over her shoulder, "And dinner's at 8!"
"Got it, mom!" Octavia yells back. "So," she begins, addressing the others still in the room. "What now? Are you up for playing a little Mario Kart, Lexa?"
Lexa grimaces at her question.
"I don't know if I'm up to facing Clarke…"
Clarke smiles to herself while Octavia laughs and replies, "Good point. We've got other games though." She walks over to the cabinet with the games and begins browsing.
"Aha!" she exclaims. "I've got it."
She turns around holding one Guitar Hero 5.
Clarke laughs at this, not really sure what she was expecting.
"I could be down for that," she says before turning to Lexa. "What do you think?" she asks a little shyly. (She's still trying to recover from her initial reaction at seeing Lexa the first time, but it's getting easier and easier to look at the brunette without losing all of her chill.)
"I could definitely be down for that as well," Lexa smiles at her. (Well, theoretically it is anyway.)
"Perfect," Bellamy chimes in. "Then the two of you are up first."
"Wait, what?" Clarke turns to him, surprised. "What about you guys?"
"We've only got two guitars," he says as he hands her one he'd picked up from the game closet. "And you two are our guests."
"Plus I really, really want to see Lexa play Guitar Hero," Octavia grins from her seat on the couch.
Bellamy hands Lexa her guitar, and she takes it from him looking somewhat nervous.
Clarke feels bad and decides she'll go easy on her. Not because she likes her or anything (she doesn't even know her), but because she's a nice person, she decides.
. . .
Lexa is beating Clarke.
She's not sure how, but she is and it feels good. She's competitive by nature and always intended to put everything she had into winning this, but after seeing Clarke play Bellamy in the last game, she thought it'd be a harder fight.
But no, she's beating Clarke by a good amount.
Lexa glances over at Clarke, who is looking a bit intense as she flicks at the guitar. Clarke probably wasn't prepared for Lexa to be so good either. She thinks it might be her lifetime of piano lessons or possibly her excellent hand-eye coordination from playing soccer. In any case, she's a natural and holds no shame in filing this little game away along with the rest of the many things she's good at.
Like the good friend and roommate they are, Bellamy is rooting for Clarke while Octavia cheers Lexa on.
"You're crushing her, Woods. This is amazing. I should have known, I guess. You're amazing at everything."
Lexa ignores Octavia's praises and focuses on the game. She is good, but just like in soccer, she has a goal and she's very good at ignoring distractions.
Well, most distractions.
The blonde standing next to her sticks out her tongue every now and then when she's at a particularly difficult part of the song. That is…a little distracting.
"Come on, Griffin," Bellamy calls. "Step it up! You can do this!"
"Don't. Talk to me," Clarke says gruffly.
Bellamy just laughs, "Yes, princess."
Lexa's pretty sure she hears Clarke growl, and she's pretty sure it's the cutest thing she's ever heard.
She wonders in the back of her mind what she'd have to do to make her growl again.
Another round finishes and Lexa has beaten Clarke once again. She's starting to feel almost guilty for it, but she pushes the feeling away. She can't feel bad for being good at something. That's life. You win or you lose. And Lexa likes to win.
"Another," Clarke says shortly.
She gets the feeling, however, that Clarke likes to win too, and she smiles to herself.
"You got it," Lexa grins as Clarke selects another song for them to play. She thinks, maybe, she could play for the rest of the night. Guitar Hero is fun.
. . .
It's 8:07 and Octavia and Bellamy have already left the room to go help their mom with dinner. Clarke knows she should abandon the game, but she's so close she can taste it. She's gotten closer and closer every game. She can beat Lexa. She just needs one more chance.
She never expected the other girl to be so damn good. She seemed clueless even when she was trying to hold the guitar in the beginning. She was awkward and held it at all the wrong places and Clarke had to help. Clarke had to help her hold the guitar, and now she's beaten her at every game they've played.
How is that even possible?
They're neck and neck now, and if Clarke could just knock her off her game a little, she might stand a chance…but they're nearing the end of the song and Lexa's still just barely winning. It's the most difficult section and Clarke's fingers are moving faster than she thinks they ever have before. She licks her lips in concentration.
Lexa falters one of her hits, throwing her off, and it takes her a couple seconds to get back on track.
That'll do it. Clarke smiles in excitement. She's not sure what just happened but she's ahead now and the song is almost over. She just has to keep it up and…
"Yes!" she yells as she pumps her fist into the air. She's done it. She beat Lexa.
Clarke smiles at the other girl, satisfied with her one win. Lexa smiles right back and then they're looking at each other, looking into each other's eyes, and there are sounds of guitars grinding in the background and Clarke is once again lost in a sea of green.
"Did I just hear the sounds of a Griffin victory?" Bellamy asks from the doorway, pulling them both out of their moment once again. Clarke looks away from Lexa reluctantly.
"Hell yeah, you did," she tells him with her champion smile.
"Well, took you long enough."
"Shut up, Bellamy."
"Hey, talk to me like that again and you might not get dinner. Which is ready, by the way, if you two can find a way to detach yourselves from the wonderful world of classic rock."
"I think we can manage that," Lexa replies, returning the guitar to the game closet.
Clarke does the same and they follow Bellamy into the kitchen. There are two large pizzas waiting for them on the counter.
"Nice," she says with a grin.
"I also approve," Lexa nods, reaching for a plate.
Everyone starts taking a seat at the table once they've gotten pizza, and Clarke stalls long enough to time it so she ends up in a seat next to Lexa. She just wants to take the opportunity to get to know the other guest in the house. In close proximity.
"So Lexa," Clarke begins, head turned to the girl to her left. "You go to school with Octavia then? What's your major?"
Lexa finishes chewing and swallows the bite in her mouth before she speaks. "Yes, I'm at Georgetown University with Octavia. I'm majoring in English and plan to go to law school after I earn my undergraduate degree."
"Wow, that's so awesome. Georgetown is such a great school. And law school," Clarke shakes her head in awe. "Wow."
"What are you majoring in? And I'm sorry, I'm not even sure what school you and Bellamy attend."
"Oh, I'm at Columbia. But Bellamy already graduated. I'm majoring in biology. Planning on med school at the moment, but we'll see."
"You're kidding."
"No," Clarke shakes her head with a grin.
"Now, that's awesome," Lexa grins back.
"Well, Bellamy, I'm going to Georgetown and I'm majoring in public relations and I have no idea what I want to do with my life," Octavia says in a mock enthusiastic voice.
"No. Way," Bellamy teases back. "That is so cool. I cannot believe. Oh my gosh. Wow. Wow."
"Shut up," Clarke shoves Bellamy with her shoulder but is still smiling. "We're awesome and you guys know it."
Octavia laughs. "You guys are pretty awesome. Pre-law and pre-med. We really know how to pick our friends, huh Bells?"
"Yeah, that wasn't an accident. The Blakes know how to climb their ways to the top."
Clarke's face falls. "I knew it," she says with a sudden seriousness.
Lexa laughs at her deadpan, and Clarke is pleased to have caused it. She has a nice laugh.
She wonders in the back of her mind what it would take to hear it again.
. . .
"So it's Blakes versus non-Blakes then," Octavia says as she tears apart a piece of paper with an assortment of words written on it for their game.
They've decided to play Pictionary and Bellamy has just suggested that he and Octavia be a team, while Clarke and Lexa work together. Lexa doesn't mind. After being Clarke's Guitar Hero nemesis for the better part of the evening, she looks forward to being her partner.
In Pictionary. She looks forward to being her partner in Pictionary. Lexa mentally flicks herself in the head.
Octavia has finished tearing apart all of the slips of papers with words on them for teams to guess and has collected them all into a cup. She shakes it a bit before asking the group, "Everyone knows how to play, right? One person from the team draws the word, the other person tries to guess it before time runs out. I guess we'll set the timer for, what, one minute?"
"One minute should be good," Bellamy replies.
"Great! Then you guys are up first." Octavia holds the cup out to Lexa so she can draw a word.
She reaches in and pulls one out, unfolding it. She takes a few seconds to look at the word and think it over.
"Okay," she nods and stands to walk to the easel set up in front of the TV.
Octavia smiles and takes her seat on the couch.
Lexa takes the marker and draws two parallel vertical lines. Between the two lines she starts drawing long dotted stripes.
Clarke starts trying to guess. "Um, lines? Dotted lines. Uh…"
Lexa shakes her head and starts drawing again. This time the lines start further apart at the bottom and come towards each other at the top. She adds the dotted lines in the middle and then draws a sun meant to be peaking over the horizon of the –
"Road!" Clarke yells excitedly.
Lexa nods and smiles, holding up a finger indicating that that's the first word.
"All right, first word 'road.' Got it," Clarke says.
Lexa holds up two fingers for her second word before she draws an oval on the paper. ("30 seconds!" Lexa hears Octavia caution as she draws.) In the oval she draws two dots next to each other and underneath it a curved line facing upwards – a smile.
"Face. Road face," Clarke answers. Lexa shakes her head and traces the outline of the oval again, then draws an arrow on the outside pointing to it.
"Head!"
Lexa nods and smiles, gesturing for Clarke to keep going, say the whole thing.
"Wait, oh my God. Road head?"
"That's it!" Lexa yells in excitement.
Clarke laughs. And laughs. And laughs.
Clarke is laughing so hard she falls onto her side on the couch. Then rolls off of the couch. Clarke is on the floor laughing now.
Lexa watches all of this with mouth open and eyes wide.
"What is so funny?"
"You," Clarke is still laughing and has to pause between words. "You were just so serious and straight-faced the whole time and the word was'road head.'" She goes into another fit of laughter.
Lexa starts to laugh too, and while she does see the humor in the situation, she's more delighted at seeing Clarke in this state. She finally looks over at Octavia and Bellamy, and while they're laughing as well, they are still sitting up in their seats.
"I was just doing the word assigned to me," Lexa says. "While I wasn't aware this would be dirty Pictionary," she takes this opportunity to briefly glare at Octavia. "I didn't want to betray anything about the word by reacting to it."
Clarke finally sits up on the floor and wipes at her eyes where tears had fallen from her laughing so hard.
"Well, that was amazing. Thank you." She's smiling up at Lexa now like Lexa really is the most amazing person she's ever met based on one round of dirty Pictionary, and Lexa feels a chill run up her spine and turns away.
"So, it's your turn now, yes?" she asks Octavia and Bellamy.
"Hell yeah!" Octavia hands the cup to Lexa. "I'll draw first."
It takes Bellamy roughly 26 seconds to guess "phone sex." Lexa is impressed because after Octavia drew an old fashioned looking cell phone (a vertical rectangle with a box inside at the top representing a screen and a bunch of dots beneath meant to be buttons), she only drew a circle and a line, and Bellamy was able to guess it. She figures it must be a sibling thing and hopes she'll be able to read Clarke's drawing that well.
Clarke reaches her hand into the cup and pulls out a slip of paper. She smirks when she reads the word.
She gets on her knees in front of the easel and begins drawing. Lexa can't see what it is yet but figures Clarke will move when she's done.
It only takes about 15 seconds.
When she's out of the way, there's no question what it is.
"Um, scissors?" Lexa says with a question. Not very dirty, but they are very well-drawn scissors.
Clarke smiles and gives her a thumbs up.
"This is so unfair," Bellamy complains. "We should have shortened her time."
"Suck it, Blake," Clarke retorts.
"No talking!" Octavia tells her. "That's not the answer."
"Okay well, the timer's still going," Lexa says with a grin, amused at how this is playing out.
"Oh, right!" Clarke turns back around and goes back to drawing.
"25 seconds," Octavia reports.
Clarke takes another 15 or so seconds to finish her drawing and quickly moves out of the way.
When Lexa sees it her face goes white.
"I…" she stammers. "Uh, is that…I mean, um."
Clarke's eyes are wide and pleading.
"Uh, scissoring!" Lexa sputters out with a squeal just before the timer goes off.
"Yes!" Clarke says with a bright smile. "You got it!"
Lexa doesn't know what to say but she's thinking about Clarke and scissoring, and she can't help but shift uncomfortably in her seat.
They play a few more rounds each, and Lexa keeps herself focused on maintaining her cool as much as she can. That can be difficult while dealing with words like "booty call," "banana hammock," and "lap dance," but she likes to think she was successful. Clarke seems to be enjoying herself almost as much as Octavia, but Bellamy spends most of the game rolling his eyes, though he does chuckle along a lot of the time.
Lexa thinks the most important takeaway from this game is learning of Clarke's talents as an artist. She's incredible, actually. The scissors were good, obviously, but it isn't until she draws "sex on the beach" in the next round that Lexa discovers how amazing she really is. In just over 30 seconds Clarke managed to draw the ocean and the beach – including a surfer and palm trees – and an attractive looking couple having, of course, sex on the beach. And it was good. Really good.
In the end Octavia and Bellamy win by a couple points and while Lexa is disappointed, she supposes it's hard to compete with a lifetime of knowing each other. Though she would say that she and Clarke put up a good fight for two people who just met that day.
. . .
"So um, what are the sleeping arrangements then?" Clarke asks Bellamy as they're packing up the materials from their Pictionary game.
"Right," Bellamy laughs. "I guess that'd be good to know. We have a couple guest bedrooms so that won't be a problem. You can each have your own bed and everything, and Octavia and I will be in our old rooms."
"Okay, great," Clarke says, handing him the marker from the game.
"I guess we'll go ahead and break for the night. We've got to get up early in the morning to pick up some stuff from the grocery store."
"You haven't gone shopping yet?" Lexa asks in surprise.
"No, no," Bellamy laughs. "We just have to pick up a turkey and a ham that are on hold for us. And maybe some vegetables or something. That's just me and O though. You and Clarke can sleep in if you'd like."
Lexa looks at Clarke, and Clarke just shrugs in response. She's pretty indifferent when it comes to early mornings and grocery stores.
"I'm up for going out in the morning," Lexa says. "It'll be nice to get out and see the neighborhood."
Clarke thinks this sounds like a good idea as well and speaks up. "Yeah, it would actually. That sounds fun."
Lexa looks at her and smiles a little. Clarke looks down and smiles, her hair falling in front of her face.
They grab their bags and head upstairs together. There are four rooms upstairs since Aurora's bedroom, the master, is downstairs. Bellamy heads into the first door on the left and gestures for Clarke to take the room across the hall from his. Octavia's room is the second on the right so Lexa takes the room across from hers and next to Bellamy's.
"Um, yeah," Octavia says. "So the bathroom is down this way," she gestures to the door at the end of the hall behind her. "And we all have to share so…this'll be fun." She smirks and starts to head into her room.
"Oh, well, do you guys need anything?" she asks at the last minute.
Clarke and Lexa both shake their heads.
"Okay, well…good night!" she says a little awkwardly.
Everyone else says their good nights, and they head into their own rooms.
Clarke opens her door and is met with reds and golds, from the comforter and pillows on the bed to the dark red paint on the walls. Her bed is a queen-size, and there's a dresser across from it, as well as a bedside table. She finds the outlet nearest the bed and plugs her phone into it to charge.
Picking up her overnight bag, she dumps her things on the bed and sorts through it. She already showered earlier that day so she's just going to change into her pajamas before she goes to the bathroom for the rest of her nightly routine.
She's wearing boxer shorts and a slightly too large white t-shirt and carrying a bag of toiletries while she walks down the hall to the bathroom. She knocks on the door and hears a voice call back.
"Just a minute!"
She recognizes it as Lexa's voice and finds herself excited knowing she's on the other side of the door.
She takes a couple of steps back down the hallway before the door opens. She turns around and sees Lexa with her hair stacked on top of her head in a messy bun, and she's wearing sweatpants and a fitting tank top that reveals slender shoulders and a long neck and…other good features. Clarke thinks Casual Lexa might be both the cutest and sexiest thing she's ever seen. She pauses for too long to take her in and only realizes she was staring when her eyes meet Lexa's again.
"Oh, sorry," Clarke shakes her head and walks towards the bathroom. "I was just thinking…I, um, I think I have those sweatpants. Had those sweatpants," she corrects herself. "I don't have them. Anymore."
Lexa smiles at her with amused eyes, and Clarke inwardly face palms herself for being such an idiot.
Lexa walks around her and turns around before saying, "Good night, Clarke."
"Good night, Lexa."
Lexa turns back around and goes into her room. Clarke thinks she might melt into the bathroom floor right then and there.