Alright guys, it's the chapter a lot of you having been waiting so patiently for: Clarke's talk with her parents! I hope I did it justice, and that it is worth the very long wait you've all had, and I hope you love all of the other things that I have thrown in as well. :) Also, there is a very small time skip from the last chapter to this one, so please don't let that throw you off! Also, from here on out, I think there are going to be quite a few time jumps, so be ready for that as well!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Clarke's heart was beating so fast, she was pretty sure it was going to come out of her chest, and she wasn't even home yet. Rather than going right home once school got out, she was standing next to her car in the parking lot. If she was being honest with herself, she was procrastinating, putting off the ride home, because she no longer felt confident. She knew she had to go, had to do this, but her palms were sweating and she couldn't stop fidgeting due to her nerves. She tried taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, but that only made her more light-headed, to the point where she had to lean against her car to keep herself from falling over. Octavia and Lexa, who were standing with her, were watching her, worried expressions on both of their faces.
Two weeks had come and gone, much faster than Clarke had believed possible. That Saturday afternoon, after she and Lexa had made sandwiches for everyone, people had started to trickle out of her house, until finally it had been just she and Lexa left. That night and the first few hours of the next morning had been some of the best hours of Clarke's life, and she most certainly wouldn't be forgetting any of that for a long time, but then Lexa had had to leave before the blonde's mother got home. From the moment Abby had walked back into the house, things had turned a little tense. Her mother knew that there was something important that she needed to talk about, and had tried to bring it up a few times, but Clarke had always quickly changed the subject. Now however, she was wondering if maybe she should have tried talking to her parents separately. Would it have been easier that way? Honestly, she had no idea, except that she did not want to do this.
"Clarke, would you relax already, you're starting to make me nervous," Octavia exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned on the car beside the blonde, "And I never get nervous!"
"Ughhh," Clarke groaned, turning around and throwing her arms against the roof of her car before resting her head on her arms, "I can't do this. I feel like I'm going to puke."
"Clarke, Octavia's right, you must try to relax," Lexa told her, reaching out to lightly place her hand on the other girl's shoulder in comfort. "Getting yourself all worked up is not going to help things."
"I don't think I can relax, Lexa," the blonde informed her without picking her head up from her arms, "I feel like I'm either going to puke, or have a heart attack, and I have no idea which it's gonna be."
"Well you did kind of get more pale as the day went on, so my money's on puking," Octavia murmured, and Lexa glared at her.
"Not helping," she growled to the other brunette who just shrugged. Lexa turned back to Clarke, tugging slightly on the blonde's arm to get her to turn around. She did, but she still looked panicked, and Lexa just felt guilty for making her feel this way. "You know Clarke, you don't have to do this," she said softly to the blonde girl, and Clarke actually looked up at her quizzically. "I mean, I won't make you. If you aren't ready to come out to your parents yet, then that's fine. We don't have to change things."
Before she had even finished, Clarke was shaking her head.
"No Lexa, I want to do this," she replied quickly, and then paused, rethought her words, and continued, "I mean, I don't want to do this; I'm terrified, and wish I could just skip the next couple of hours, but I need to do this. I want to by out and proud; I want my parents to know about you, and how I feel about you. I just really wish I didn't have to tell them. I wish they just... knew."
"Maybe they do, on some level," Octavia replied, and when Clarke gave her a exasperated look, she held up her hands, saying, "Hey, all I'm saying is that your parents are both really smart people, and they might already have a tiny inkling that you're not one hundred percent straight."
"Doubt it," Clarke muttered, and Octavia rolled her eyes at the blonde.
"Okay, fine, then if you don't want to have to tell them, just moan real loudly the next time Lexa sneaks into your bedroom at night," Octavia countered, leaning against the car with one arm on the roof and putting the other to her hip, "They walk in on that, and I don't think you'll have to explain anything to 'em. They'll be able to figure it all out for themselves."
This time both of the other girls glared at her, and together they chorused, "Really, not helping."
Hearing them speak in unison made Octavia's eyes widen, and a big smirk broke out on her face.
"Hey, you two are getting really good at that," she told them, "You really are in love."
Clarke blushed slightly, and Lexa looked away from them both, purposefully not meeting their eyes, and it was all Octavia could do not to laugh at the two awkward girls in front of her.
"Alright O, thanks for all your help, you can go home now," Clarke insisted, reaching forward and pushing her lightly towards where her car was parked.
Octavia just shook her head, the grin still on her face.
"Yeah yeah, you want alone time with your girlfriend, I gotchya," she teased, but then she became serious once again and told Clarke softly, "But seriously Clarke, call me, okay? If you need anything. You know I'm here for you."
Clarke's annoyance with her foolish friend softened, and she gave the girl a small smile.
"I will, O," she replied, "Thanks."
Octavia nodded, giving her a mock salute, and then headed over to her car and headed home, leaving the two girls alone in the parking lot. Clarke let out a big sigh before saying, "I guess I'd better go get this over with."
Lexa stepped up behind Clarke, and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist, pulling her close. Clarke turned into the taller girl's arms and threw her arms around her shoulders, leaning her cheek against Lexa's collarbone.
"It really will be okay, Clarke," Lexa insisted softly as she held the blonde close to her.
"Oh yeah?" Clarke asked, "Can you promise that?"
Lexa pulled back just slightly, and used her fingers to tilt Clarke's chin up so that she could look into Lexa's eyes. The emotions she saw in them caused her heart to beat for a whole other reason.
"I can promise that I will be here for you, no matter what," the brunette promised her, "Whether your parents accept you for who you are or not. I will be here for you."
"I know that," Clarke admitted, a small smile on her lips, "I think that's the only reason I'm going to have enough courage to go through with this. You make it worth it, no matter what happens."
Lexa smiled back at her, and then leaned down the couple of inches so that she could slowly kiss Clarke, trying to help relieve some of her anxiety, and also to show her just how much she cared. It wasn't a really long kiss, but it was what Clarke had needed. When they pulled back, the blonde sighed slightly and then nodded.
"Right," she said, "Okay. I can do this."
"Yes," Lexa agreed, the encouraging smile back on her lips, "You can."
With one more nod, Clarke stepped back, out of Lexa's arms and moved over to her car, opening the door and getting in. Lexa watched her get herself situated, and then walked over to the driver-side when Clarke rolled down her window.
"Alright, I'm going," she told Lexa, "Give me a kiss for good luck."
Lexa laughed softly, shaking her head.
"I already did," she reminded Clarke, "Just a minute ago, remember?"
Clarke pouted, letting her lower lip stick out and causing Lexa to laugh once again.
"I need another one," the blonde insisted, "I need a lot of luck for this."
Lexa shook her head once again, and then leaned down, sticking her face through the window and also slinking one arm in so that she could cup the back of Clarke's neck, and pull her into a long, slow kiss.
Finally she pulled her face back and let go of Clarke's neck. Raising her eyebrows at the blonde, she asked, "Better?"
"Oh yeah," Clarke answered, nodding her head emphatically, "That makes it much better. I feel incredibly lucky right now."
"Good," Lexa replied, and then carefully removed herself from the car completely, saying, "Now I need to get out of your window. I feel like a prostitute, standing like that."
A very large grin grew on Clarke's face, and her eyebrows waggled as she said, "Hey, I would be up for that role-play."
Lexa rose her eyebrows, giving Clarke her best deadpan.
"And what exactly makes you think I would be willing to play a prostitute for you?" Lexa asked her, "What could I possibly get out of that?"
"Tell you what, you role play as a prostitute, and then I'll role play as your maid," Clarke replied.
Lexa narrowed her eyes at her, before telling her, "You thought of that a little too quickly." The blonde just grinned at her and waggled her eyebrows again, and Lexa shook her head, smiling at Clarke's silliness. "We'll talk about it," Lexa finally relented, and Clarke grinned, "But only after you speak with your parents."
"Now there's some motivation that'll get me going," Clarke replied, laughing, but nevertheless she started her car. Before taking it out of park, however, she turned back to Lexa and gave her a genuine smile. "But really, thank you," she told the brunette, "Knowing that you'll be there for me no matter what happens really does make this a little easier."
Lexa smiled back at her, and simply said, "Of course I will. Good luck Clarke. Let me know what happens as well."
"I will, no worries," Clarke agreed, and then she shifted into drive, and headed out, her eyes flashing to Lexa in her rear-view mirror as she pulled out of the parking lot.
While her conversation with Lexa had managed to dull her nerves at the time, as her car got closer and closer to her house, they came roaring back at her, full power. She knew that both of her parents would be there when she got home; her father had been scheduled to be back a little before noon, and her mother had taken the afternoon off of work to be there shortly after he got home. Clarke knew the plan was for the three of them to go out to a nice restaurant for dinner not long after she got home from school, but at the moment she had no appetite. Once again, she felt like she was going to get sick.
Finally she turned into her driveway and parked her car, and sure enough, both of her parents' cars were there too. She considered just sitting there for awhile to build up her nerve, but she knew that her parents had heard her pull in, and she also knew that the longer she sat there, the worse she would get. So she finally took a deep breath, grabbed her backpack from the passenger's seat, and got out of the car, whispering a quiet, "Here goes nothing."
She almost chickened out once again when she got to the front door, but she just kept moving forward, opening the door with a shaky hand. Once inside the entry way, she dropped her backpack on the floor, kicked her shoes off, and carefully hung her jacket up on one of the hooks, trying to steady herself. She then took another deep breath and continued in, and there were her parents, sitting together on the couch. They had turned around when they heard the door open, and her father was beaming at her as he stood up.
"Dad," she whispered, and then moved over to him quickly, throwing her arms around him.
"Clarke!" he exclaimed, and threw his arms around her also and picked her up in a tight hug, swinging her around just a bit, "I've missed you, kiddo!"
"I've missed you too, Dad," she replied, smiling up at him. It was true, she really had missed him. Every time he left, she never knew how much she missed him until he was back, and then she realized how large of a hole had been left behind while he was gone. He had to leave so often for work that she always assumed she would be used to his absence, but every time it turned out otherwise. "It's good to have you back, Dad."
"It's good to be back, kiddo," her father agreed, squeezing her one more time before he put her down.
"Was it a good job?" she asked him, both wanting to distract them and genuinely curious: she always liked hearing about her father's jobs.
He shrugged, and replied, "It was alright. Nothing particularly special, just a long routine job. How did you do on that history test of yours?"
She really had had a history test that Tuesday after her weekend with Lexa, but it had been easy, nothing she had needed more than an hour or two to study for. She shrugged, mimicking his motion, and told him, "Fine; I got an A."
"That's my girl," her father beamed, winking at her, and she grinned, but then he sat back down next to her mother once again and asked her, "Alright now, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?"
Just like that, the nerves were back. She started sweating and her hands started shaking slightly, and her mouth went completely dry. She nodded, licking her lips to try to get them wet again, and then swallowed.
"Right, okay," she finally said, and then took a deep breath. She could see her mother frowning, obviously worried, and even her father didn't have on his usual goofy grin, but she didn't know how to do this without causing either of them any worry. She let her breath out, and then began.
"I don't... I don't really know how to say this," she informed them, "So, I guess just... bare with me. What I wanted to tell you... what I want to tell you, is that... I've met someone. Someone who... who means a lot to me. This person... I care a lot about this person, and um, well, that's because we've been... seeing each other, I guess, for a while now, so this isn't, like, some sort of just, spur of the moment thing, we've been building up to this for a while, and I didn't tell you guys about this until now because, well because for a while I didn't really know what it was, and I didn't really know how I felt about them, and then it was just because I did know how I felt about them, and that scared me, and it scared me to think about what you guys would say, and what people at school would say, and now I'm... well I'm still scared, honestly, but I'm less scared now, because this person is by my side, and I know how she feels too now, and I know that what I was doing wasn't fair, and if I kept stringing her along like that I was going to lose her, and I don't want to lose her, I really don't want to lose her, because I... I really, really like her, and now I guess I've said 'she' and 'her' enough that you both have probably figured out that I'm talking about a girl and her name is Lexa and I thinkImightloveher."
The entire room was silent for a moment, other than Clarke's heavy breathing. She was staring at the carpet beneath her feet, unable to look at her parents, afraid of what she might see on their faces. Her parents had never spoken poorly about any gay people, but at the same time, they'd never had a daughter who had just professed to loving a girl before either, so she honestly had no clue what was going to happen. Her fists were clenched, her nails biting into the palms of her hands, and her bottom lip was stuck between her teeth, held in place with enough force that she might have been afraid it would start bleeding, if she didn't have other things on her mind. The silence felt like it was dragging on forever, and she could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes when her mother finally broke the silence.
"So when do we get to meet her?" she simply asked, and Clarke was a little afraid she was hearing things. She peaked up her head cautiously, finally making eye contact with her parents.
"What?" she asked, a bit dumbfounded.
"When do we get to meet her?" her mother repeated, and Clarke knew that she hadn't been hearing things. "If you care about this girl so much, we want to meet her."
"You do?" the blonde asked, still a little unsure of what was going on.
"Of course we do," her father replied, the smile returning to his face, "We want to meet this girl who's won our little girl over. Plus, it's my job as your father to determine if she's actually good enough for you. Hopefully she's better than that boy you dated last spring. Nathan, right? I didn't like him."
"Jake," her mother said in a warning tone, and he just looked at her.
"What?" he asked, "It's true, I didn't. I mean, he was nice enough, but you two just didn't... click." When her mother continued to give him a look, he just rolled his eyes and then turned to Clarke, and continued, "Look, all I'm saying is that I hope you and this Lexa have more in common than he did, and that things work out better for you with her than it did with him. But I still call Dad Rights of getting to meet her and determine if she's actually good enough for you."
"Lexa's much better for me than Nathan was, Dad," Clarke replied, still a little unsure of exactly what was going on.
"Why don't you invite her over for dinner tomorrow, Clarke," her mother suggested, "That way we'll get to meet her finally."
"I'm... just...," Clarke tried to speak, but she was still flabbergasted, "So, wait. You two are alright with this? With me and... her?"
They both just smiled at her, and then her father replied, "I mean, I would rather you not date anyone, that you stay my little girl forever. But I have a feeling you wouldn't agree to that."
Clarke rolled her eyes at her father, even as her mother reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand, pulling the teenager closer to them.
"Clarke, honey, we love you," she told her daughter, "Boy or girl, we don't care who you date, as long as you like them and they treat you well. Does Lexa treat you well?"
"Incredibly well," Clarke replied immediately.
Abby nodded, and then added, "And you've already said that you care about her."
Clarke thought about Lexa and smiled slightly, before saying, "So, so much."
"Alright," her father said, gently putting his hand on her shoulder, "Then that's all that matters. We just want you to be happy, kiddo, and if Lexa makes you happy, then we're happy for you."
Again, the tears started to build up in her eyes, but this time for an entirely different reason.
"Thank you guys," she told them softly, "I love you. Thank you. So much."
They smiled at her, her mother holding her hand and her father squeezing her shoulder, and her father simply said, "Any time, kiddo," and her mother added, "We love you too."
Lexa:(12:14) Ok, not so sure about this anymore...
Clarke: (12:27) Y?
Lexa: (12:33) Just... Kind of nervous, I guess.
Clarke: (12:42) U have nothing to b nervous about. Promise.
Lexa: (12:44) Remember how you were before going home yesterday? Yeah, that's me now.
Clarke: (12:51) Aww, I'm sorry. :( Want me to b the prostitute, and you can b the maid?
Lexa: (1:00) …
Lexa:(1:01) Not funny...
Lexa: (1:02) And maybe...
Clarke: (1:03) ;)
Lexa:(2:38) Okay, so I know we've never really talked just us, but Clarke's parents invited me over for dinner, and I'm really beginning to get nervous, and I figured you know them, so maybe you could help me somehow?
Octavia:(2:43) Bahaha! This is hilarious! 1st one of u freaks out, then the other!
Lexa:(2:49) That is not helpful...
Octavia:(2:58) Dnt b nervous. But dnt piss off her dad. Behind the smile is a man judging everything u say. And do. Same w/ her mom. So dnt fuck up.
Lexa:(3:04) THAT'S NOT HELPING!
Lexa:(3:06) I'M NERVOUS I'M NERVOUS I'M NERVOUS! Octavia said they are going to judge me! I'M GOING TO FUCK UP!
Clarke:(3:10) Oh god... I'm gonna kick her ass... You aren't gonna fuck up, you'll do fine! Promise!
Lexa:(3:12) … :(
Clarke:(3:13) No :(, only :)!
Lexa:(3:16) I'll try...
Lexa:(3:16) … :)
Clarke: (3:17) Yay! :D
The Bestie:(3:11) I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!
O:(3:22) Heh heh! ;)
The Bestie:(3:25) NOT. FUNNY!
Lexa:(3:30) I'm freaking out... Clarke's parents invited me over for dinner tonight...
Anya:(3:35) What time?
Lexa:(3:38) I'm supposed to be there at 7.
Anya:(3:42) Come over here, I'll help you get ready and listen to your freak out.
Lexa:(3:45) THANK YOU! You're the best.
Anya:(3:40) Obviously.
Lexa:(3:46) I'll be right over.
Lexa paced, and Anya sat on her bed and watched her. It was kind of a feat, how much pacing Lexa was able to do, because Anya's room was not very big, and she had a lot of stuff in it. There was not much space on the floor, books, clothes and various other things covering it, but Lexa had found every bit of available space to pace on. She hadn't sat down for a even a moment, beginning to pace the moment she had arrived. Since she had been there for an hour, Anya was beginning to get a bit dizzy, watching her go from one end of her room to the other.
"Lexa," she finally said, trying to get the other girl's attention, but the brunette just kept pacing, "Lexa!"
"What?!" Lexa finally exclaimed, looking at Anya for the first time in at least five minutes, continuing to pace.
"Would you sit down?" the other girl asked her, "You're making me dizzy, and you're going to wear out my floor."
Lexa sighed heavily, but listened, moving over to the bed and flopping down on it on her stomach, next to her best friend. She buried her face in Anya's blankets and muttered something, but Anya just shook her head.
"Uh, sorry Lex, but I didn't get any of that," Anya had to tell her, "Repeat, but pick your face up this time."
Lexa sighed, exasperated, but did, picking her head up and repeating, "I said, I am going to screw this up. Her parents are going to hate me."
Anya raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"You are joking, right?" she asked, and Lexa shook her head, letting her face fall back into the bed covers. "Lexa, come on, you are going to be fine," she continued, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder, "They are going to love you."
Lexa simply turned her head towards Anya, still letting it lie on the bed, and asked her friend, "What makes you so sure?"
Anya shrugged before telling her, "I know you. There's nothing about you they could hate. Just try to stay relaxed, and you'll do just fine."
Lexa let out a sarcastic laugh, replying, "Yeah, easier said than done."
Anya just rolled her eyes, and then replied, "Look, just calm down, okay? It'll be fine. Why don't you borrow something to wear? I'll help you pick something out that you feel good in and look great in, and then we can watch a movie or something until you have to leave, to try to help you relax. Getting yourself all worked up certainly isn't helpful."
The other girl sighed, and then sat up, shaking her head.
"You're right," she said, "You're right, I know. I have to calm down; it'll all be fine."
"Much better," Anya told her, smiling slightly, and then gestured towards her closet, "Pick a few outfits out, and I'll tell you which one you should go with."
Lexa smiled back at her, and Anya could read the thanks on her face. She just nodded, and Lexa let out a deep breath before moving over to the closet and taking a look at everything in there.
Anya watched Lexa rummage around in her closet, thinking. She had been very happy two weeks ago when Lexa had finally told her what had been bugging her lately, but she had been caught by surprise. She had assumed that it had been another person who had been distracting her friend so much, and so the fact that she was in a relationship hadn't been what had surprised her, but rather who the other half of that relationship was. Anya had always viewed Clarke Griffin as... well, a spoiled little rich girl who got anything she wanted. She would have been one of the last people she would have ever thought Lexa would be interested in, and yet here she was, nervously going through Anya's closet for an outfit to impress the spoiled rich girl's parents with.
Anya kept her views to herself, since this was the first relationship Lexa had been in since Costia, and she was happy to see her best friend starting to get over that, but still, she really didn't think Clarke was good enough for Lexa. She doubted Lexa would listen to her thoughts on that, however, and honestly, she had never really interacted with Clarke on a personal level before, so maybe she was wrong. For now, Lexa was happy, and as her best friend, Anya was happy for her. And if things went bad, she'd be there to pick the other girl up again, just like she had with Costia. She really hoped things wouldn't go that poorly, though, because she wasn't sure if Lexa's heart would be able to take it. Costia had crushed her, and if Clarke did the same thing to her, Anya couldn't be sure the other girl would ever be able to get over it.
"What do you think?" Lexa asked, holding up a few different pieces of clothing, and Anya snapped back to the moment, realizing she had gotten lost in her thoughts. She stood up so that Lexa could lay everything out on the bed, and then she studied what Lexa had pulled out, trying to decide what would look best on her friend.
"How about this," she replied, grabbing the dark green long-sleeved shirt and black partially see-through sweater that the other girl had pulled out, "The green will show nicely under the black and will go well with your eyes, and they both will go well with the dark gray skinny jeans you're already wearing. Try them on, and let's see."
Lexa shot her one of her rare smiles, and then grabbed the hem of the shirt she was already wearing, pulling it over her head and then grabbing the green one to replace it. As Anya watched her, she noticed the look on Lexa's face, and decided that she was going to have to have a talk with Clarke Griffin, before this thing went too much further. Lexa was falling, and falling hard, and Anya had to make sure she wasn't falling into another heartbreak. As Lexa's best friend, it was her job to make sure no one hurt her friend, and she was going to make damn sure that Clarke Griffin didn't break her best friend's heart.
"I still can't believe how well it went," Lexa repeated for at least the fifth time already, and it was only the third period, which meant the day wasn't even half over yet.
Anya rolled her eyes, already getting sick of hearing about how the dinner had gone, and it was only Monday. In her defense, Lexa had already told her about the dinner via text the day before, and had added on to it this morning while they waited for the bell to ring for homeroom, so she already knew everything, which meant Lexa had just been repeating herself for the past hour while they had been sitting in class.
"Yes yes, I know, dinner went wonderfully, Clarke's parents were great, you are very happy," Anya replied quietly, annoyance fairly evident in her voice even as she tried to solve a particularly difficult science problem on the paper in front of her.
"So happy," Lexa agreed, either not hearing the annoyance in her friend's tone, or just ignoring it, "And now my dad wants Clarke to come over for dinner sometime in the next day or two, so he'll get to know her, too."
"That's great," Anya told her, nothing in her tone really proving she thought that way, but knowing she needed to say something.
"Thanks again for helping me out with that, by the way," the brunette told her, giving her a smile, "I was a wreck, I know, but you really helped me, Anya."
Anya felt a twinge of guilt for the attitude she had been giving her friend. It wasn't a bad thing that Lexa was so happy, Anya just really wasn't used to her being so... gushy. It was unnerving, but Anya figured it would die down a bit once the excitement from the dinner had worn off. Lexa had every right to be happy, and Anya was happy for her. So she gave the brunette a small smile before telling her, "You're welcome. And yes, you were a wreck. A big wreck. The dinner would have been a disaster if not for me, so be very grateful. I accept all forms of payment, but I prefer cash."
Lexa rolled her eyes at her, but her smile remained, and Anya simply smiled back. They finally got back to work, and were able to solve three more of the problems before them before the bell rang. Quickly they packed up their stuff and headed out of the classroom, waving as they parted ways, Lexa to go to her Advanced English class, and Anya to her Economics class. It wasn't until Anya walked in the room and saw the blonde already sitting in her seat that she remembered Clarke was in her class. She rolled her eyes in slight annoyance, but then paused, thinking that this might be her best opportunity to have a talk with the blonde girl.
Luckily for her, it was mostly a work period, so after Mr. Kane, who taught both math and economics, reminded them all of what they needed to do, everyone got out their books, and mostly worked by themselves. Anya barely looked at her book, instead looking over at where Clarke sat, her head in her book. Finally deciding to just do it, Anya scribbled a quick note, balled it up, and then got up and walked calmly over to Mr. Kane's desk.
"Mr. Kane, may I have a hall pass?" she asked, "I need to use the restroom."
"Certainly, Anya," Mr. Kane replied, and quickly jotted out a hall pass for her.
"Thank you," she told him, and then turned around and headed for the door. Luckily Clarke's seat was on the end of a table near the door, so as she walked by, Anya dropped her note on Clarke's book, and then left the room.
She went to the nearest bathroom, and waited. She had been waiting for a few minutes, when the door finally opened again, and the blonde stepped into the room. She showed Anya the note, which had simply said, Come meet me in the bathroom. I wish to talk to you. She raised her eyebrows at the taller girl, then asked, "What was it you wanted to talk about? And we better keep this short; Kane'll notice if we're missing for too long."
"Not what, but who," Anya replied, her face set. She hoped Lexa didn't get mad at her for this, but it was something she needed to do. "I want to talk to you about Lexa."
Clarke's facial expression didn't change, as she said, "I figured. What specifically about her did you want to discuss?"
"Lexa is my best friend," Anya informed her, "And I won't let her get hurt. If this is just a game for you, if you do not truly care for her, then you need to stop what you are doing. She's been toyed with before and it crushed her; I will not stand by and watch that happen again. So if you hurt her, if you are just having a little fun and don't actually care for her the way you say you do, you will live to regret it. If that is the case, I advise you to end it now, before Lexa falls for you any harder. If you do not, and you hurt her, I will make sure you hurt just as much. Do you understand?"
She held Clarke's eyes with her own, and the look she gave Clarke promised she meant every word she said. Finally Clarke nodded, and replied, "Yeah, I understand."
"Good," Anya told her, and was about to exit the bathroom, when Clarke continued.
"Now it's my turn," the blonde informed her, and Anya raised her eyebrows, her jaw clenched, but she nodded. "I know Lexa's your best friend, and I know that you care about her. But I care about her too," Clarke told her, and her face softened slightly, "I know what happened with Costia; Lexa told me, and I now hate this girl that I have never even met, just because of what she did to her. I care about Lexa; I care about her a lot. This isn't a game to me, I'm not doing this because I'm bored, or want to experiment, or even just for a little fun. Lexa makes me happy. She makes me... she makes me feel free, and wonderful, and like I could do anything, be anything, as long as she was beside me." She paused for a moment, letting that sink in, and then added, "Lexa likes me too, I know, but you're her best friend. She's told me a lot about you, and I know she looks up to you. You don't have to like me, and I hope you do kick my ass if I ever hurt her because she's amazing and should never be hurt, but unless that happens, could you try not to hate me? It'll kill her if she feels like she had to choose between us, and I don't want that to happen. There's no reason that we can't get along, at least none that I can think of. So please, don't automatically hate me just because I might hurt her. For now, let's just agree to be friendly, for Lexa. Who knows, we might even become friends ourselves." Anya gave her a look, and Clarke just shrugged, "Hey, weirder things have happened, I bet," she told her, and Anya couldn't stop a corner of her mouth from turning up.
She thought about all the blonde had said, and then nodded.
"Alright," she finally agreed, "I will not hate you until after you have hurt Lexa."
"Not 'until,'" Clarke argued, "'Unless I do.' I have absolutely no intention of hurting her."
Anya nodded once again, saying, "Fine, I will not hate you unless you hurt her. As long as that does not happen, you and I will be friendly towards one another. For Lexa."
Clarke smiled, also nodding, and she held out her hand, which Anya stared at, and then eventually took, letting out a big sigh.
"For Lexa," the blonde agreed, and they shook on it.
Yeah? No? Did you like it? Did it live up to expectations at all? Thoughts on Anya, and her view on the relationship? Thoughts on Clarke's parents' reaction? Thoughts on what a wonderful little brat Octavia is? I would love to read any thoughts at all, so please oh please, review! Thanks everyone, you are all so amazing!