Chapter Two
The next time Clarke saw Lexa sitting by herself during lunch, she joined her, bypassing her usual table where all the other girls from the squad sat. They stared at her in confusion as she walked to the front lawn and plopped down next to the new girl, who startled slightly, nearly dropping her sandwich.
"Hey Lexa," Clarke greeted, reaching into her own brown paper bag and pulling out a container with orange slices. Lexa continued to stare at her as she ate. Finally, Clarke looked at her with wide, confused eyes. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing," Lexa said, looking down at her lap. "It's just…don't you want to eat with your friends?"
"You're my friend," Clarke said, simply. "Aren't you?"
Lexa's face turned beet red at that, her green eyes widening almost comically. "Am I?" she asked. "I mean…are we?"
"Of course," Clarke answered for her. "Orange slice?"
Lexa shook her head, smiling shyly, then reached into her own bag and pulled out a package of cookies, offering them to Clarke. The blonde's eyes widened and she reached for them, then thought better of it. "I shouldn't."
"Do you have practice today?" Lexa asked.
"Of course," Clarke replied. "Next week is homecoming."
"Then take a cookie. You'll work it off later."
"I like that logic," Clarke laughed as she took the package from her hand, an involuntary shiver running through her when their fingers brushed. She tried her best to ignore it as she released one of the palm-sized chocolate chip cookies from its plastic wrapping and brought it to her mouth, moaning as she took a bite. "Oh god," she said. "I haven't had a cookie in forever."
"Seriously?" Lexa asked. "They're like a staple of my diet."
"Really?" Clarke asked. "You don't look like you eat that many sugary foods." Under the camisole that Lexa wore beneath her flannel shirt, Clarke could just make out some impressive abs. Defined.
"Well, I do a lot of training," Lexa informed her with a grin. "Carbs are good for energy and sugar is okay so long as I don't over indulge. The most I really allow myself is a couple of cookies at lunch and maybe, like, a bowl of ice cream after dinner."
"Sorry I'm eating like half of your sugar for the day," Clarke chuckled, handing back the package with the remaining cookie in it.
"It's no big deal," Lexa laughed in return. "I could just double up on the rocky road tonight."
Clarke gasped, her eyes going wide. "Rocky road? Ooh, you have to let me in on that. I love rocky road!"
"You just ate one of my cookies," Lexa teased, prompting Clarke to pout at her in return. Lexa rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said, "but you owe me."
"Anything," Clarke replied, nodding solemnly.
"Wow, you really like rocky road, don't you?"
"I would kill a man for good rocky road." Clarke's face was dead serious and, for a moment, Lexa looked terrified. Then a slow, evil smile spread Clarke's lips and she laughed, receiving a light shove.
"Clarke!" Lexa groaned.
"You didn't actually think I was serious, did you?" Clarke chuckled, shaking her head.
"You are a very good actor," Lexa replied, looking back towards the direction of the road in front of them, where a car sped a little too fast in a school zone. Clarke saw her flinch and her laughter died as she followed her gaze to the line of trees across the road.
"What are you always looking at out here?" she asked, quietly, after a long moment.
Lexa took a deep breath and diverted her gaze to her lap. "TonDC," she said, softly. "It's…it's in that direction." She nodded towards the tree. "Straight ahead 107 miles north." She took a deep breath. "My parents are buried in Trikru Cemetery."
At that, Clarke felt her heart twinge and she reached down to wrap her hand around Lexa's in the grass, squeezing it. "I'm sorry," she whispered and Lexa gave her a sad smile.
"It's been six months now," she said. "It doesn't hurt as bad. I just wish…"
"Wish you could visit them?" Clarke asked and Lexa nodded. "I feel the same way." At Lexa's raised brow, Clarke explained, "My dad is buried there, too. Some kind of family thing. My mom and I go every year on the anniversary."
"How—I mean…never mind, you don't have to—"
"It's okay. I…I was nine and it was some kind of accident at work. Construction. He was an architect, but he was at the site to check out how his building was coming along." Clarke looked down at the grass. "We were supposed to go to a ball game that day. I waited on the front steps of our house for hours, just waiting for him to come home." She bit her lip, trying to quell the tears. "He never did."
Without warning, Lexa let go of Clarke's hand and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug that shocked the blonde. But, after a long moment, Clarke found herself sinking in to Lexa's embrace.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Lexa whispered into her hair. Clarke took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry for yours," she replied and she felt Lexa's arms tighten around her for an instant.
When they pulled back, the girls shared a long look, their eyes searching one another—for what, neither of them quite knew. Lexa was the first to break contact, reaching down for her bag and pulling out yet another sandwich. She caught the look Clarke was giving her in her peripheral and blushed.
"What?" she said. "I have practice today too, you know."
Clarke snorted and shook her head as she went back to her orange slices and pulled out her own sandwich—peanut butter and jelly on rye. They ate in companionable silence.
Practice was cut short by a random storm that hadn't been forecast, either by the news or the scant cloud cover above. A rain shower, Clarke's mind supplied as she and the other girls, and the entire football team, ran into the nearby gym, all soaked to the bone by the time they ran the five hundred feet from the field.
"At least we're not wearing our uniforms today," Clarke sighed as she rung out her hair in the locker room. Most of the girls murmured in agreement as they dried themselves off with a few of the towels that the school provided. "You guys wanna run a few more cheers before we call it a day?"
"Why not?" Harper replied, tying her hair into a bun. "Maybe the rain will stop soon and we can go back out."
"I don't think it's a good idea to jump around in the mud," a voice said and they all turned to the doorway, where Lexa stood, her arms bare and wrapped around her jersey and pads. Most of the girls stared at her, as if she were an intruder in a private space. Clarke and Indra, on the other hand, smiled in greeting.
"True," Clarke said, nodding. She turned to Harper. "We can cut practice short today and go an extra hour tomorrow." Harper nodded and a few of the girls groaned, but she ignored them.
"Alright," she said, looking around the room. "We'll go over a few lifts and cheers and then you're all free to go. But tomorrow, you're all staying until six."
More groans, but nobody fought as Harper led them back out to the gym. Clarke stayed behind and walked up to Lexa. "We're still on for rocky road tonight, right?" she asked.
Lexa nodded. "If you still want it," she replied and Clarke could swear she saw a faint flush on the footballer's cheeks.
"Of course I do," she assured Lexa. "I'm looking forward to it, actually."
"Really?" Clarke's eyes widened at the surprise in Lexa's tone and, for the first time, she noticed how Lexa often refused to meet her eye, and bit her lip a little nervously. And the way her shoulders hunched slightly.
She was not used to people being nice to her, to people wanting to hang out with her. Clarke wondered why that was. From what she knew of Lexa, she was a good person; a little shy, very quiet, but funny and sweet and generous (if her willingness to share her cookies and ice cream was anything to go by, anyway). She couldn't see a single reason why anybody wouldn't like her.
"Yeah," Clarke said, softly. "Of course, I also want to pick your brain on your workout regimen, because those arms…wow." Clarke felt her own face flush as she stared down at Lexa's biceps, which were rather impressive. Obviously, training had done her well.
Now, Lexa grinned and Clarke could swear she was flexing said biceps. "Thanks," she said. "I work out." Clarke snorted and rolled her eyes, then shoved her shoulder lightly.
"I'll see you later, dork," she said, smiling affectionately. Lexa smiled back, watching as she left.
Once Clarke was out of sight, Lexa groaned and pressed her forehead against her locker. "Stupid," she murmured to herself.
After their practice in a very cramped gym (Coach Titus had decided to run drills with his team, as well, rather than lose out on any amount of practice before homecoming) Clarke had gotten dressed and sat down on the bleachers to wait for Lexa, who had finally convinced the guys that it was alright to tackle her.
She was at the bottom of a dog pile with Lincoln, Murphy, and Bellamy when Titus blew his whistle and they all scrambled to their feet, along with the rest of the team. The coach walked down the line, studying each of them. "Next week," he said, "is homecoming—as you should all know by now—which means several things. The first, and most important, is our first game of the season against Azgeda. As you all know, Azgeda High is our biggest rival this year. Last year, they beat us out of the championship—"
"They cheated!" Bellamy spat.
"That's never been proven," Coach replied. "But I don't doubt it. This year, I've heard rumors of a 'secret weapon'."
Bellamy scoffed. "Probably what they're calling the balls they deflated."
"Haven't they always had deflated balls?" Murphy snorted as he high-fived Bellamy. Lexa rolled her eyes and shot a look at Clarke, who shrugged.
"This is serious, men," Titus interrupted their chortling. "And, er, Woods." A few snickers.
"I don't mind being called a man, Coach," Lexa said, shrugging one shoulder. "I'm probably the only one on the team, actually." Lincoln grinned next to her and nudged her with his elbow. The rest of the guys didn't mind it as funny; most of them grumbled or sent her glares.
"Anyway," Titus went on, "I expect you all to work on your own fitness regiments outside of practice, especially in the coming days. And make sure you eat plenty of carbs and keep up that energy. Also, urine tests will be administered sometime this week. I will not tell you when, of course, but know that if you fail with so much as a positive for cannabis, you will be suspended from the team and you may even cost us our victory over Azgeda. So don't."
"Yes, Coach," they murmured in unison.
"Good. Now hit the showers and go the hell home."
A few of the boys chortled as they made their way back to the locker rooms. Lincoln gave Lexa fist bump before following after them, but Lexa turned to Clarke, smiling as she took off her helmet.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked.
"Rocky road?" Clarke reminded her. "Did you hit your head or something?"
"Is there ever a time where I'm not?" Lexa retorted, grinning. "I thought you'd come by later, anyway. After dinner or something."
"Well, one: I don't have your address," Clarke replied. "And two: I figured I could give you a ride home or we could grab something to eat first."
"A…a ride?" Lexa asked, her face going pale. "I don't think that's a very good idea, Clarke."
Clarke's shoulders slumped. "Is it because of…" she trailed off but Lexa knew what she meant.
She nodded. "Mostly," she said. "I mean, I wasn't there, but they make me pretty nervous." She took a deep breath. "I'm gonna be a wreck when we start going to away games."
"Not if you practice," Clarke pointed out. "Come on, you can even wear your helmet if it makes you feel better. And I'll hold your hand."
"No offense, but I'd rather you had both hands on the wheel."
Clarke grinned. "So you'll do it?" she said.
Lexa breathed a deep sigh of frustration. "Yeah," she said. "I guess I will."
"It'll be fine," Clarke assured her, standing up with her bag hanging off one shoulder. "I'll go real slow for your first time." She wiggled her eyebrows, teasingly, gasping when Lexa leaned in closer.
"Promise?" the taller girl husked, her hot breath washing over Clarke's left cheek. Clarke's body froze for a second, eyes wide. Then Lexa leaned away and snorted. "You're a surprisingly easy target, Clarke Griffin," she said as she sauntered away, grinning at Clarke over her shoulder.
Clarke, in turn, frowned at her, but couldn't fight the ridiculous flutter in her chest.
I'm glad y'all are liking this!
