3. Google Maps
"How are there so many vegan cafes? Isn't this meant to be a speciality?" Clarke asked the empty lounge of their apartment, scrolling down the list on her laptop. Outside, sunset was almost complete with the final orange rays stretching across the sky. Her top still stuck to her back from sweat thanks to a particularly tough session at judo. It had been difficult not to picture Finn's face on the punchbag.
Bellamy wandered in with a tub of noodles and dropped down next to her, putting his feet up on the coffee table.
"Search for her name as well?"
vegan cafe los angeles lexa
She clicked the first result and shook her head. "This is in San Francisco, not LA. This is hopeless!"
Bellamy leaned over, typing with one hand and chewing loudly as the same time.
vegan cafe la salt paprika tarragon
"You're useless," Clarke muttered, elbowing him and pulling her laptop back.
He grinned at her with a mouth full of noodles, then offered her the tub. She shook her head.
"You stink, y'know. Have you showered since judo?"
"No."
"You walked right through the door and started googling, didn't you?"
"Yep. I need those notes."
She pulled a notebook closer and started jotting down the addresses of the top ten.
"Please tell me you're not going to walk into every cafe in LA tomorrow and ask if Lexa works there."
"No. I'm going to phone up every vegan cafe in LA tonight and ask if Lexa works there."
"You know that's going to take hours. We're flying at 9am tomorrow."
Clarke ignored him, but it was difficult not to see his point. She racked her brains for any extra clues in her brief conversation with Lexa about the cafe.
"Oh!"
A lightbulb flashing before her eyes, she typed quickly into google maps.
ice cream shop los angeles
The number of icons on screen more than tripled. She printed the page, then went back to her vegan cafe map and printed that as well.
"Uh… you're going to phone every cafe and ice cream shop in LA?"
Clarke shook her head, hurrying across the room to the printer and grabbing both pieces of paper. She lay one on top of the other and began to mark the cafes onto the ice cream shop map with a blue highlighter.
"She said," Clarke mumbled, chewing her lip as she concentrated, "it was next to an ice cream shop. So I should be able to work out… look!" She held up the map. Of the twenty or thirty odd markers previously present, she had cut it down to eleven.
Bellamy nodded, offering a thumbs up. "Great. Let's get on it." He snatched Clarke's phone off the coffee table.
"Wait - what do you mean? You're not-"
He had already punched in the first number and held the phone out on speaker, winking once in Clarke's direction. Ringing filled the apartment.
"Hello Green Roots Cafe?"
"Good evening, Green Roots Cafe," Bellamy replied cheerfully. "Does Lexa work there?"
"Who?"
"Lexa? Lexie? Alexandra?" he asked, holding the phone away from Clarke when she tried to snatch it from his hand.
"No, sorry."
"Okay thanks, bye!"
"Why are you doing this?" Clarke growled, crossing her arms over her chest.
He gave her a genuine smile this time, his eyes warm. "Because if I don't make it fun and distract you with teasing, you'll be stressing over it all night. Relax, Clarke. You'll get your notes back. And you'll come top of the class as usual."
He pulled her laptop closer and dialled the next number. Clarke sighed, rolling backwards to lie flat on the floor. She pulled a textbook closer to her from under the table and began to flick through half-heartedly, only partially listening to Bellamy enquiring after Lexa or Lexie or Alexandra or any of the other names he came up with. Each time he ended the call with a cheerful farewell, her heart plummeted.
It was true that she was anxious about the notes - she would be pissed at herself if she never got them back and had to start from scratch. She would be even more pissed if she got a substandard grade and risked her scholarship. But buried beneath that was an extra scrap of anxiety at the thought of seeing Lexa again - or not seeing her again, if this was a dead end. She was the polar opposite of fun-loving Finn, yet somehow in those last few minutes she had felt a connection - as if Lexa had opened up just a little bit.
What if she met her again and it turned out she'd made it all up in her head? What if Lexa scowled at her for taking the wrong bag?
What if she felt that connection again? What then?
Nothing, she told herself firmly.
"Lexa's there?"
An irritated voice snapped back on the other end of the line.
"That's what I said. She's busy. What do you want?"
Clarke scrambled to her feet and Bellamy grinned at her victoriously.
"Ah! My friend - there was a mix-up, hitchhiking-"
Clarke grabbed the phone from him and turned off speaker, pressing it to her ear.
"Hi, can I speak to Lexa?"
"Who's this now? I just said she's busy!"
"I only need two minutes-"
"Phone again tomorrow."
The line went dead. Clarke lowered the phone and stared at it, trying not to be too offended. What kind of people did Lexa employ?
"They need to work on their customer service," Bellamy muttered, leaning back in their grubby sofa and pressing a button on the TV remote to turn it on.
"Which cafe was that?"
"Huh?"
"What was the name of the cafe?"
"Uh - something trees. Eleven, twelve?"
"12 Trees."
She added the number to her phone then examined her printouts to check the address. Just north of Santa Monica - perfect. If she got the same response on the phone tomorrow morning, she would just walk there. Lexa couldn't ignore her if she was in the same building.
"All happy now?" Bellamy asked. "Found your vegan princess?"
"My what ?"
He winked. "So how hot are we talking here?"
Clarke grimaced. Octavia had told him.
"I'm just going to exchange bags. I'll probably never see her again after that."
Except with the cafe being so close… she could see her. If she wanted to. If Lexa didn't bark her head off tomorrow.
"Whatever you say, Clarke. Do me a favour?"
"What?"
"Go take a shower. You stink worse than Octavia on that camping trip."
She rose from the sofa, smacked him over the head and shut the bathroom door behind her harder than she needed to. As she stripped down and steam from the shower filled the room, she glanced behind her into the mirror at the scars on her back and shoulder. Lexa's scars had looked like this - twisted red lines like veins, her skin tight and stretched between the marks. It had to be caused by a burn like her own - but how?
She shook her head rapidly and turned away from the mirror to step into the shower. What a great conversation starter. Hey Lexa, were you in a car crash or a burning building?
The steam surrounded her and she shoved her head under the hot water, trying to release her thoughts. It was only the disappointment of Finn being a douche making her think like this. Tomorrow she would have her real bag back - then it would be study time for the exam. No more wondering about the mysterious girl who had offered her one ride and somehow got stuck on her mind.
