So, I couldn't sleep last night after watching POI and had nothing but idea's running through my head for where I wanted to take this fic. It's a short chapter unfortunately, but something is better than nothing, right? Thanks so much for all the positive responses to this story! You guys make me feel awesome.
The feeling of Clarke's phone vibrating over and over in her pocket woke her from her nap. When she opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was that both of her hands were wrapped around one of Lexa's. She took a few seconds to enjoy the sensation before looking over at the brunette meekly. Unexpectedly her blue eyes fell onto Lexa's green gaze, who was simply smirking at her. "Hello sleepy head."
Clarke flushed in embarrassment and quickly released her grip on Lexa's hand. "Sorry," she simply said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to distract herself.
Lexa just let out a small chuckle and moved back to her side of the couch. "No worries Clarke. Comes with the whole 'knight in shiny armor' thing," Lexa replied with a wink.
Clarke laughed with relief that Lexa didn't think she was a weirdo and checked her phone. Raven had called her, and then blown her phone up with texts demanding that they get together tonight so Clarke can fill her in on what's been going on. The blonde let out an audible groan and Lexa looked over at her curiously.
"Raven," Clarke sighed. "She's demanding I go out with her tonight. I don't know how to keep blowing her off."
"So go out with her?" Lexa asked, understanding that Clarke was trying to keep everything to herself but also knowing that it was taking a toll on her as well.
"No car?" Clarke reminded her. "Oh, and no money."
"Take mine then. And I can loan you some money. You can't shut your friend out Clarke," Lexa pushed even though she also knew at this point it was really none of her business either. After just two days she really didn't have any right to try to push Clarke one way or another but to be fair they had also bonded quite a lot over this in that quick period of time.
"No! I'm not taking your money. You've done enough," the blonde replied with finality.
"Okay. Then invite her over here?" Clarke paled at that thought, not sure which would be worse. Trying to explain to Raven about her mom, or trying to explain how she ended up living with the teacher she'd been gushing about to her friend for so long now, and the insane and embarrassing amount of teasing that would follow. "I can make myself scarce Clarke. I have grading to do anyways. I'll go to the coffee shop and work while you guys catch up."
Clarke sighed and shook her head. "No Lexa. I'm not kicking you out of your own house. You were right earlier, I need to just tell her the truth. I was trying to protect her but clearly after today my mom isn't changing her mind any time soon. And you've done so much for me already I'm not going to ask you to go out of your way just so I can keep lying. I'll invite her over. Just be warned that she's loud and embarrassing and speaks without thinking so if she says anything weird just ignore it."
Once Lexa agreed to ignore anything weird, Clarke asked for the address realizing that she didn't even know the street name. After texting it to her friend she stood up from the couch to get ready but grabbed her now warm beer and took a swig from the bottle. Lexa crinkled her nose in disgust and laughingly told the blond that she was gross.
"But I'm pretty so it doesn't matter," Clarke replied with a wink. Lexa just looked at her for a moment trying to understand the correlation of the two things. "That was the requirement remember? For my knight. I only had to be pretty."
Lexa let out a laugh and the blonde noticed how her green eyes were sparkling with happiness. "You're an idiot."
"But a pretty one!" Clarke quipped back. "Looks like you're stuck with me Lex."
Lexa wasn't complaining at the prospect, having had more fun in the last two nights than she had had in so long but couldn't keep from teasing the girl further. "I didn't realize we signed a binding contract," she said seriously.
For a second Clarke panicked, thinking that maybe she had overstepped in her teasing. Luckily she saw that Lexa's green eyes were still showing amusement and the brunette had just the slightest smile on her lips. "Yup," was all Clarke said as she walked away to get ready for Raven to come over.
About an hour later the intercom by the door buzzed and Lexa led Clarke over to show her how to remotely unlock the door at the base of the building to let guests in. The blonde took a deep breath to prepare herself for however Raven was going to act about Lexa as well as react about Abby. Lexa noticed the tension in the blonde, and wrapped an arm around her loosely from behind to comfort her. "It'll be fine. I'm here if you need me," Lexa reassured.
Clarke allowed herself to lean into the embrace and let her body rest against Lexa's. The brunette tightened her hold in response as Clarke brought her hand atop of hers. Lexa simply enjoyed her hold on the blonde, feeling more confident in her actions now knowing that if nothing else the blue eyed beauty was at least attracted to her. Clarke too just wanted to enjoy the embrace, too overwhelmed with everything going on in her life to even let her mind bother trying to think of what it might mean. As long as Lexa seemed happy with her there, she wasn't going to let herself worry about being a burden any longer.
Both girls were interrupted from their thoughts when they heard Raven knocking at the door. Clarke turned around in the embrace to face Lexa desperately wanting to just kiss her and ignore the door. "You're gonna be fine. Now go," Lexa chided as she broke away from Clarke to go make herself busy so she wasn't intruding on them.
Raven walked in and gave her friend a hug before looking around. "Fancy place you got here Clarkey. Now what the hell's going on?" Raven asked as she walked past her friend to check the place out. When her eyes landed on Lexa standing in the kitchen her eyes widened in surprise. "Holy shit Griffin you're banging the hot teacher!"
Clarke's eyes widened in horror as the words escaped Raven's lips but Lexa just let out a genuine laugh. "Hi, you can call me Lexa. But this is great. Second time I've been called a hot teacher in one day," she smirked as she walked over and held out her hand to shake Raven's.
The blonde recovered just in time before Raven could open her mouth again and clamped her hand over it. "Sorry," she mouthed to Lexa before dragging her best friend into the room she was staying in and shut the door. "You bonehead I'm not banging her!" Clarke hissed at the dark haired girl.
"Then what's going on?" Raven asked as she threw herself down on Clarke's bed.
Clarke sat down next to her and relayed the whole story to her from the beginning. She was once again crying by the time she finished and Raven pulled her into a hug. "This is insanity. I can't believe Abby would do that to you. Or that you didn't tell me you idiot. You know you could've stayed with me in the dorm."
"I just didn't want you to know about mom. I thought she would change her mind and it wouldn't have to hurt anyone else in the process," Clarke confessed as she tried to get her breathing and tears under control.
"You don't have to protect everyone Clarke. I'm a big girl too. We are going to deal with this together. But not right now. Right now I want to know what the hell is going on with you and the hottie out there!"
Clarke brightened at her friend's contagious optimism and the change of subject. Clarke had dragged Raven past Lexa's class so many times to show off her crush to her best friend and now here they were sitting in her home. "Nothing is going on Rey. She's just been kind to me. I don't know.
I haven't had time to really process or think about it with everything going on."
Raven nodded in understanding but didn't let it phase her. "But now you're here. Let's snag you that woman you've been drooling over!"
"Shh!" Clarke shushed her, not wanting to Lexa overhear. Both girls however broke into a giggle and the mood lightened.
"You're not keeping me in here locked away from her all night are you?" Raven asked as she moved to get off of the bed.
"You gonna behave?" Clarke asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Do I ever?" Raven stuck her tongue out and opened the bedroom door, leaving Clarke with no choice but to follow her out of the room.
When they emerged Lexa was spread out on the couch surrounded by papers. Raven made herself comfortable in the armchair and Lexa gave Clarke a worried look when she saw that her eyes were puffy and red again. The blonde picked up on it and just smiled at her new friend as reassuringly as she could. "I made some food, it's in the kitchen if you two are hungry," was all Lexa said before returning her attention back to her work.
"She's even cooking for you! I wanna move in," Raven joked before getting back up and following her friend into the kitchen. Lexa smiled inwardly, already liking this girl who really does just say what she wants to.
In the kitchen Clarke reached into the fridge and grabbed out a beer for each of them, making a mental note to restock them before Lexa's friend came for her next visit. They each grabbed a plate and put a little bit of the spaghetti that Lexa had made onto it before they sat down to eat at on the stools next to the nook. Raven was grinning the whole time, trying her best to behave but wasn't really able to contain herself when she saw that her best friend was practically swooning over getting to try the teacher's cooking.
"You're so obvious," Raven chuckled quietly. Clarke just shot her a death glare, but it didn't discourage her friend in the slightest. "Thanks for the food Lexa. It's really good."
Lexa thanked her for the compliment and began cleaning up her mess while they ate. When they were finished Clarke asked Raven if she wanted to hang out for a while and watch tv. Of course the dark haired girl said yes, she didn't want to miss out on any opportunity that might arise to tease her friend. Raven made her way back to the armchair while Clarke cleaned up. When the blonde joined them Raven immediately noticed that Clarke sat down in the middle of the couch, not very far from Lexa. She just shook her head to herself and focused on the comedy show that was on the tv.
Whatever was, or wasn't happening, Raven was pleased that her best friend had found some sort of comfort with this woman who took her in. As the night progressed, and her and Clarke drank more, Raven noticed that slowly the two girls were shifting closer and closer to each other. "Oh geez you two. Can someone just make a move before I have to get up and smush you two together?"
Clarke was immediately mortified again, quickly shuffling to try to move away from Lexa in her embarrassment. However, Raven wasn't disappointed when she saw Lexa reach out to grab the blonde's hand. Being reassured that her friend was being well looked after she mouthed a "You're welcome," to her friend and returned her attention to the tv.
Both Clarke and Lexa were lost in their own thoughts, both rendered unable to pay attention to the tv from the physical contact. The blonde couldn't believe that Lexa was actually holding her hand, having laced their fingers together and was currently rubbing her thumb over the back of Clarke's hand and over her knuckles. She couldn't believe that she might actually have a shot with the green eyed goddess she'd wanted for so long, but was also wary of the quick closeness they shared. She didn't want to be just a pity case.
Lexa however was content with the contact, already having told herself that she would protect Clarke from everything that she could. Her only outright concern about their situation was her job. Even if there was only a few weeks left until Clarke was no longer her student, if something were to happen with them and anyone found out she was aware that it could cost her the job she loved so much. "Well nothing good ever comes easy," she thought to herself.
While lost in her thoughts, it was Lexa's turn to drift off to sleep as Clarke snuggled against her side. It was her turn to be exhausted after her nine hour workday and the confrontation with Clarke's mother on top of everything else that had happened that day. Once Raven noticed she gave the blonde a goofy smile full. "You two are totally going to be banging soon."
"Shut up Rey! It's been two days and I'm still her student. Now stop embarrassing me," the blonde shot back.
"She's asleep dork. She can't hear us. But I am gonna head out and let you two love birds enjoy your night," Raven said as she stood up and and smoothed out her clothing. "And don't you dare ever try keeping secrets from me again."
"I won't. Thanks for being the best bestie. Even if you are horrifically embarrassing."
Raven simply saluted her and made her way to the door. Clarke enjoyed being snuggled up to Lexa for a few minutes, listening to her breathing and enjoying the smell of her shampoo. Reluctantly she moved away, gently trying to wake the brunette up. "Come on sleepy head, you should get in bed. And me too."
Lexa pouted for a second, not being fully awake and Clarke giggled at how adorable she was. "Don't wanna," she mumbled.
"Too bad. Go to bed. I am too," Clarke replied as she stood up. She waited a second to make sure Lexa's eyes were actually open and that she would make it into her bedroom before leaning down and placing a quick kiss on her cheek. "Goodnight, my knight." She did a pathetic curtsy and smiled before taking off into her own room.
With a dazed grin on her face, Lexa reached up to touch her cheek where Clarke's lips had been before heading off to her own room for the night. Tomorrow, it would be her turn to seek advice from her closest friend on how to best handle her conflicting situation.