Raven Reyes woke up slowly but didn't open her eyes right away. She didn't have to.

Unlike other mornings when she'd woken up in someone else's bed, this time she knew exactly where she was, and it was exactly where she'd wanted to be for so, so long.

Raven took a deep breath, trying to inhale the moment, which was pretty stupid but there you go. Instead, she ended up inhaling a noseful of Abby Griffin's hair. She burst out coughing, and Abby looked up blearily from where she was sprawled on her stomach, one arm flung over Raven's torso and her hair obviously not contained to her own pillow.

"Were you smelling my hair?" she mumbled, and Raven knew in that moment she'd never get tired of hearing Abby's sleepy voice.

"Not on purpose," Raven said, choosing not to elaborate.

Abby flipped her hair out of the way and snuggled closer to her, which took Raven a minute to process – she wasn't sure how Abby would feel about last night, and the closeness was a nice surprise. Abby's head was on her shoulder, and her arm curled around Raven's waist so her hand could rest comfortably on Raven's opposite hip. "I'm glad we finally made it to the bed," she said, still in that extra-raspy mumble.

Raven could feel her body temperature rising again just from the light contact and that voice. She kissed Abby on the head. "Me too," she said.

Abby's hand was rubbing light circles on Raven's hip through the oversized t-shirt she was wearing. "You look good in this," she said absently. Then, with mischief creeping into her voice: "I'm glad we found something that was up to your standards."

"Pajamas are what separates us from the animals!" Raven said. She had insisted on putting something on before they drifted to sleep last night – it was just a thing she had, she liked to sleep in something comfy. She thought the t-shirt had probably been Jake's, and realized that it didn't bother her as much as she would have expected.

They lay there quietly for a minute. Then Raven smiled, and Abby must have felt it against her head because she said "What is it?"

Raven said, "I feel like the school nerd waking up the day after prom with the prom queen."

Abby snorted. "More like the prom queen's mom."

That made Raven laugh out loud. Then she got quiet again. "Abby…hey."

Abby rolled over, leaning up on her elbows so she could look Raven in the eyes.

Raven swallowed and continued: "Just so you know, the age thing bothers me exactly none. It sounds crazy, I know, but it just doesn't." Abby nodded a little, still looking at her, intensely focused now. Raven summoned all her courage and said, "And…I was hoping…I mean, I don't want this to be a one-time thing. You know?"

Abby blushed at that, probably remembering last night, which made Raven grin a little evilly. "I guess it already wasn't a one-time thing, huh?"

"Hey!" said Abby. "In my defense, it had been a really long time for me, and I'd been crushing on this hot bartender forever, and–"

Raven cut her off with a quick kiss. "So…not just a one-to-three time thing then?" Abby shook her head, a little shyly. "Raven…"

"I know," said Raven. "There are a million reasons for us to tread lightly here. We'll just ease into it, keep it between us for now, yeah?" They exchanged another smile.

Raven fumbled for her phone and checked the time. She groaned and started to sit up. "I guess I should get going."

Abby turned the phone so she could see the time.

And the next thing Raven knew, she was being pushed back down on the bed and Abby was pressing hot, wet kisses to her neck as she breathed, "Clarke's never up this early on the weekends."

Raven groaned again and let herself be pulled under.

Later, they wandered through the house putting together Raven's outfit from last night, giggling at how far-flung everything was. When Raven was decent, they paused by the front door.

"I'm going to get out of here now, so you can yell at your kid for sleeping over at her girlfriend's." Raven smirked as Abby rolled her eyes at the obvious jab. "And–" she leaned closer, a breath away, "now that I'm not avoiding you anymore, I can start taking Clarke & Octavia to school again if you want."

"Yes, definitely," said Abby, her breath hitching at their proximity. "Gives me two more chances a day to see you."

Raven smiled, then brushed their lips together one last time. She pulled herself away reluctantly. "Later, Griffin," she said, and she headed to her car, watching Abby in the doorway the whole time she was backing down the driveway.

Raven headed home, showered and changed, then flopped on her bed. She couldn't stop replaying last night (and this morning) in her head like some lovesick teenager.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Clarke:

Amaaaaaaaazing night last night! How are you?

Well, this is definitely going to be awkward, Raven thought. She typed back:

Not bad.

Her phone buzzed again.

Super communicative as always ;)

Want to get coffee? I'm exhausted.

Raven hesitated for a second, then wrote:

Sure.

They decided on a time, and then Raven flopped back on her bed, wondering how the hell she was going to pull this off.

It was a little surreal, pulling into the same driveway she'd backed down only a couple of hours before. But then Clarke came bouncing out the door with a wave, and Abby was nowhere in sight, and maybe this would be okay.

"Hey!" said Clarke as she flopped into the passenger seat, grinning.

"I thought you were exhausted," Raven said.

"I am, but I'm so excited to see you and tell you all about my night!" Her enthusiasm was pretty adorable, Raven had to admit. She smiled back. "Okay, okay, hold your horses until we get to the coffee shop. You're making me exhausted and I'm gonna need a caffeine boost to keep up with you."

Clarke winked at her and settled down a little bit, putting her feet on the dashboard. Then she noticed a business card in the cupholder. "What's this?" she said, picking it up. "Sinclair's Garage," she read aloud. "Please tell me your car doesn't need fixing. My mom just told me you're going to start driving me and Octavia to school again."

"Yes, if my car needed fixing I can see how that would be such a burden to you," Raven said. "But no – actually, your mom gave me that card when I told her she needed to replace her serpentine belt a couple weeks back." She shrugged. "Said I should talk to him about getting a job or something."

Clarke turned to Raven excitedly, putting her feet on the floor. "Rae, that's a great idea!" She grabbed Raven's arm. "We should go right after coffee!"

"Why does every one of your sentences end in an exclamation point today?" grumbled Raven. She threw a sidelong glance at Clarke, who was still looking at her expectantly.

Raven thought about it. She would never admit this, definitely not to Abby and barely even to herself, but Abby's 'hot bartender' comment had struck a little bit of a nerve with her. She certainly didn't mind being hot, and there was nothing wrong with being a bartender, but some part of her wanted Abby to see her as…more. "Ugh, fine," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "I guess we can do that."

Clarke grinned and let go of Raven's arm.

They drove to a local coffee shop. "God, do you remember how much we used to hang out here?" Clarke said as they walked in. "I haven't been here in forever."

Raven nodded and pretended to study the drink menu. There were lots of things about that time she'd rather forget – but then she guessed Clarke had her share of dark memories, too.

They ordered their drinks in to-go cups – a red-eye for Raven, a chai latte for Clarke ("I thought you said you wanted caffeine!" Raven said, and Clarke shrugged) and sat at an out-of-the-way table.

"Okay," Raven said. "You look like a baby bunny about to explode rainbows. SPEAK."

"Ohmygod it was amazing!" Clarke blurted out. Then, more quietly, "She's amazing." Raven watched as a blush spread up Clarke's neck to her cheeks. "Wow," she said. "I didn't realize it was that serious with you guys."

"Well," Clarke said, "it wasn't that serious until last night." She smiled, looking up at Raven shyly. "I thought it would be weird, you know? Like, I had no idea what I was doing…or how it would be, with a girl."

Raven froze. This conversation was hitting too close to home, which she probably should have realized sooner. She nodded mutely as Clarke continued.

Clarke's voice was very quiet now – Raven had to strain to hear her over the quiet conversations in the coffee shop. "But Emily was so wonderful. And she obviously knew what she was doing." Clarke grinned, getting over her slight awkwardness. "And her hair is so smooth, and she smells so good, and her body is so soft against mine…"

She trailed off, seeing the look on Raven's face, not realizing that her words were making Raven relive last night with Abby. "Oh no, am I oversharing?" she said. Clarke looked a little sad then, trying to understand. "I mean, we always talk like this…wait, is this because she's a girl? Does that make you uncomfortable?"

Raven put a hand over Clarke's and shook her head, realizing that they were headed for a big misunderstanding. "No, not at all," she said. "I'm sorry – I'm totally happy for you, really. And there's no such thing as oversharing between Eskimo sisters." She winked, and Clarke chuckled at the inappropriate comment.

Raven squeezed her hand and released it, taking a big gulp of her drink.

"What about you? Get any last night?" Clarke said, and Raven choked and spluttered and did everything in her power to avoid an actual spit take. "I was totally kidding," Clarke said gleefully, "but you DID! Who was it? Was it someone from the bar?" She gasped. "Was it someone I know?"

Raven recovered from her coughing fit and put her face in her hands with a groan. "It's nothing, Clarke. Just let it go."

She peeked through her fingers. Clarke was looking at her thoughtfully, probably trying to figure out how far to push her. Then Clarke grinned. "Okay, my emotionally stunted friend," she said. "I'll back off…for now."

Then she stood up, holding the rest of her drink. "Let's go."

"Go where?" said Raven, still feeling off-kilter.

"To Sinclair's Garage," Clarke said. "I know what you're thinking." She affected a grumbly tone, doing a not-horrible impression of Raven. "Just what I need – another job."

Raven rolled her eyes at the impression, but stood reluctantly. Clarke took her by the elbow. "Suck it up, buttercup," she said. "Let's go get you hired!" On the way out, Raven muttered something about 'pushy Griffin women,' and she saw Clarke smile.

In the car, Raven was still a little quieter than usual, thinking about how many weird moments there had been in just one short conversation. She wasn't good at this stuff. Well, she was pretty good at being emotionally distant, but not at outright hiding things from her friends.

"My mom likes you a lot," said Clarke suddenly, causing Raven to jolt upright at the wheel.

"Wh- why do you say that?" Raven said, mentally smacking herself on the forehead for acting so squirrely.

Clarke held up the business card. "I don't think she's trying to be pushy with this mechanic thing. I just…" She looked out the window. "She went through a really rough time when my dad died, and then when you were going through everything with your dad…and your mom…I know she was really worried about you, but she was always so impressed with how you handled everything."

Raven stared straight ahead, eyes locked on the road.

Clarke went on, "It's really cheesy, but I think she just saw how much you were capable of, and how you got dealt this really shitty hand, and she didn't really talk about it to me, but I think she always wanted you to reach your potential." She looked at Raven. "You know?"

Raven just nodded.

They got to the garage, and Clarke looked around while Raven asked at the front desk for Sinclair. The receptionist dialed the phone, and a minute later a man with salt-and-pepper hair came out.

His kindly face lit up when Raven mentioned that she was a friend of Abby's (she stumbled on the word 'friend'), and he had a few minutes to talk so they went back and did the interview right then.

She didn't get a job offer on the spot like at the Hollis Bar & Grill, but they had a nice conversation and she promised to send him her high school transcript and a resume over email. He complimented the upkeep on her car, they shook hands and Raven and Clarke left.

When they pulled into the driveway, Abby's car was there. "You want to come hang out?" said Clarke. "No, I should be getting ready for my shift at the bar," Raven said. Clarke gave her a quick hug and said, "It was really good to see you. Feels like we haven't hung out one on one in forever."

"Thanks for making me go to Sinclair's," Raven said. Clarke nodded and climbed out.

Right before Clarke slammed the door, she yelled, "And someday I'm going to make you talk about this new guy you're seeing!"

This time, Raven actually chuckled as she drove away.

As she was unlocking her apartment, her phone buzzed. Raven assumed it was Clarke (Abby didn't really seem like the texting type), but it said Unknown Caller and the message read:

You've got it backwards: Most girls are naughty BEFORE they go to the principal's office.

I'll be in touch soon.

-A

Raven looked around in a panic. Who was A? She ran down the list of obvious suspects: there's no way Abby would send a message like that. Maybe Aria? How could anyone else possibly know about her and Abby?

She didn't see anyone, but it left her spooked. She felt like the other shoe was about to drop, and she was sure she wouldn't like it when it did.

Next chapter: One of the Liars! Probably Emily or Spencer.