Chapter Eleven

Clarke never thought she could feel as good as she did right now, doing absolutely nothing, with her feet propped up on a coffee table, a remote control in one hand and a brown curl in the other as she played with Lexa's hair. Lexa had her head rested on a pillow in Clarke's lap as some movie played on the TV that neither of them was paying attention to, anyway. It was the typical "white-boy-meets-white-girl" heteronormative nonsense that she typically rolled her eyes at, but there was nothing better on so they'd just settled on it while Clarke spent most of her time looking down into Lexa's beautiful green eyes and smiling like a fool. Lexa smiled back, sleepily, turning her head so that she could kiss whatever skin of Clarke's her lips could reach.

Clarke smiled and leaned down, pressing a kiss to Lexa's nose in return. "You're really cute," she said. "You know that?"

"I've been told," Lexa replied, sighing as she relaxed further into Clarke's embrace.

"By whom?" Clarke asked, feeling a spear of jealousy in her gut.

Lexa smirked, reaching up to tug at the back of Clarke's neck, pulling her down. Before their lips met, she murmured a soft, "You, mostly."

When they pulled away, Clarke was smiling happily, but she still had a questioning look on her face. "Who else?" she asked. This time it was thoughtful, rather than tinged with jealousy.

"My parents, Anya, a few guys on the team, and one very persistent thirteen-year-old boy."

"Which guys on the team?" Clarke asked, frowning and Lexa rolled her eyes.

"Calm down, Clarke," she huffed. "They all know I'm gay. Their use of the word wasn't exactly endearing; not like yours."

Clarke nodded. "I'm still gonna need names," she said.

"Why?"

"So I know who to make eye contact with after I make out with you on the field."

"You're very possessive of somebody who's not even technically your girlfriend."

"I just want them to know that, girlfriends or not, you're spoken for," Clarke said. "And very, very gay."

"I wouldn't say I'm very gay…"

"Lexa, the first time we talked, it was because you got knocked down on the field after getting distracted by the cheerleading squad—the all-female cheerleading squad."

"I wasn't distracted by all of you," Lexa huffed. "Just the one that was calling my name. You're probably just as gay as I am."

"Not even close, babe," Clarke snorted.

"Babe?"

"Oh." Clarke flushed. "Do you not like terms of endearment?"

"No, I like them," Lexa said. "I just…wasn't expecting that, I guess…honey?"

Clarke snorted and pressed another kiss to Lexa's lips. "You're adorable," she said and Lexa beamed up at her, reaching up again, only to be stopped by the sound of a door opening and closing just up the short flight of stairs.

"Clarke? I'm home!"

Lexa's eyes widened and, in a move that thoroughly surprised the blonde, rolled off of the couch and quickly situated herself on an adjacent chair, sitting stiffly as they heard footsteps getting closer.

Abby Griffin appeared moments later, smiling tiredly at Clarke. "Hey, sweetheart," she greeted, half-yawning. "Did you eat yet? I was thinking of ordering—oh! Hello." Abby turned her attention to Lexa, who gave her a tight, nervous smile in return. "You must be a friend of Clarke's."

Lexa nodded and shot to her feet, holding out her hand—though she and Mrs. Griffin were about ten feet apart—and introduced herself. "Alexandria Woods," she said, formally. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Griffin."

Abby, thinking it odd, still offered Lexa a warm smile as she stepped closer to shake her hand. "You can call me Abby," she said, then turned to Clarke. "So how do you two know each other?"

"Lexa's on the football team," Clarke said, standing up and situating herself next to her…whatever they were.

"Oh, that's right!" Abby said. "You're the first female football player in Arcadia. Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Ma'am," Lexa said, with a curt nod.

"Just Abby is fine," she laughed. "Are you girls hungry? I was just about to order some take out."

"I could eat," Clarke said, looking to Lexa with a questioning gaze.

Lexa swallowed thickly. "Food would be nice," she said. "If you don't mind my intrusion."

Abby furrowed her brows. "What intrusion?" she asked. "I'm the one that was supposed to be working tonight. If anybody's intruding, it's me." She gave Lexa an easy smile and the girl attempted to relax a little bit more, but found it difficult to do so in the presence of Clarke's mother (especially since she had her tongue down the blonde's throat less than an hour ago). "Chinese work for you?" she asked, looking between the girls, but especially at Lexa, who nodded. "Anything specific in mind or should I just order the usual?"

Lexa looked to Clarke for explanation.

"Pretty much everything on the menu," Clarke told her. "Mostly the vegetarian stuff, so it's still 'healthy' and I can heat it up while she's at work."

"Oh," Lexa said. "Well, that sounds fine, I guess."

"You don't want anything in particular?" Abby asked.

Lexa shrugged. "I've never really had takeout," Lexa admitted. "My dad was a gourmet chef, so we never really needed to order in."

Abby nodded and Clarke feared, for a moment, that she would mention Lexa's use of the word 'was', but she didn't. She just gave Lexa a friendly smile and said, "Okay," then turned and made her way back upstairs to order the food.

As soon as she was gone, Lexa's entire body relaxed and she turned to see Clarke snickering into her palm. She frowned. "What are you laughing at?"

"You," Clarke laughed, reaching out to pull Lexa into her body. "You're so adorable when you get all flustered like that."

"I'd hardly call that flustered," Lexa huffed and Clarke just laughed harder, pressing her face into Lexa's neck, pressing a soft kiss there.

"Adorable," she breathed and Lexa couldn't fight her smile anymore as she wrapped her arms around Clarke in return and nuzzled her ear, making Clarke emit a happy noise that sent Lexa's heart aflutter. "Oh, hey, Mom," Clarke said, pulling back slightly.

In less than a second, Lexa ripped her body away from the blonde's, getting impressively far in the time it took for Clarke to snort out another peal of laughter as Lexa blinked at empty space where she obviously expected Abby to be. She turned to glare at Clarke as she continued to laugh, uproariously.

"Gotcha!"

"So, Lexa, how are you doing in school?"

Lexa's spine was so ramrod straight that Clarke was half-convinced that she had an actual steel rod shoved up her ass and the image in her head made her snicker as she took a sip of water. She felt Lexa's swift kick to the shin and jumped a little, hiding it well with a tiny cough and a bite of lo mein.

"Fine," Lexa said. "I'm a straight-A student, actually."

"And your grades haven't suffered from participating in sports?"

"Not at all," Lexa replied, smiling proudly. "I have a free period during school, so I'm able to do most—if not all—of my homework there. Otherwise, I'm pretty efficient at multi-tasking."

Abby nodded, taking a sip of her wine. "No time for a boyfriend or anything?"

Lexa's eyes widened and she turned to Clarke, her voice nearly as white as s sheet.

"Breathe," Clarke mouthed, before turning to her mother. "Um, actually, Mom. I kind of wanted to talk to you about that. Lexa…Lexa and I are, um, dating."

Abby's eyebrows rose up at that. "Oh," she said, looking between the two girls. Lexa looked stricken. "Oh. Well. That's news." She took another sip of wine and cleared her throat. "So, are you two going to the dance together, then?"

Clarke looked to Lexa, whose eyes were wide with surprise at the casual reaction. She smirked and shook her head, turning back to her mother. "Yes," she said. "I asked her last night, at the carnival."

Abby smiled. "That sounds nice." She turned to Lexa. "Are you the one that gave her that cute little stuffed raccoon?" Lexa nodded. "That was very nice of you," she said. "Are you renting a limo with Raven and Octavia, again?"

"A limo?" Lexa asked, looking to Clarke.

"Right," she said. "I forgot about that. We haven't really talked much about it, but I think Raven's uncle has us covered on that. Like every year."

"Is Raven dating anybody now?"

"Indra," Clarke told her with a grin as Abby's eyes widened.

"The tall girl on your squad?" she asked with a smirk. "I did not see that one coming."

"Well, Miss Matchmaker here got them together," Lexa said, nodding to Clarke. She was finally starting to relax.

"I did not!" Clarke laughed, flushing. "They just started hanging out because we did. So it's just as much your fault as my own."

"And what about Octavia?" Abby asked, breaking through their bickering. "Is she finally going to go with Lincoln this year?"

"Maybe," Clarke said. "They're still hiding from Bellamy, but it's been, like, a year already. And I'm pretty sure her parents don't even care at this point. They're never around."

"I wish he would just leave them alone and let them be happy," Abby sighed. "It's not like they're hurting anybody. And Lincoln is a nice boy."

"Yeah, but you know how protective Bellamy can be," Clarke said, rolling her eyes. "O should just sock him in the jaw, I swear."

"I'd pay to see that," Abby joked. "So long as it doesn't happen at the school, because lord knows I don't want to hear him bitch about his sister's love life."

The girls laughed at that and Clarke shook her head, taking another sip of water and a bite of her food. "You and me both," she said.

Abby chuckled and finished the last bite of food on her plate, then downed the remainder of her wine. "Okay," she said. "I'm gonna go to bed now. You two good to put the food away and clean up a bit?" Clarke nodded. "Great. It was nice meeting you, Lexa," she said, before standing and making her way upstairs.

"You too, Mrs—Abby," Lexa replied, giving a small wave to her retreating back. When Abby was gone, she sunk back in her chair and sighed. She heard Clarke snort and turned her head to glare at her. "It's not funny."

"It's kinda funny," Clarke rebutted, scraping the last bite of food on her plate into her mouth. "It's kinda hilarious, actually," she said, mouth full. "Especially since, from the looks of it, my mom adores you…more or less." She stood and grabbed both her empty plate and Abby's, bringing them to the sink.

"What do you mean by more or less?" Lexa asked, following with her own plate and silverware.

Clarke shrugged. "She liked Finn, too," she said, softly.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and after what happened with him…I might be quicker to trust new people in my life than my mother is." Clarke sighed as she started the tap and poured a dollop of soap onto a sponge. "She's just very protective of me."

"But you still think she likes me?" Lexa asked.

Clarke nodded, with a wry grin. "Oh yes," she said. "She definitely does. Doesn't mean she trusts you any more than if she didn't, though."

"Should I be concerned?" Lexa asked, stepping up next to her.

Clarke glanced at her sideways and gave her a small smile and a shake of her head. "Nah, I think you're good," she said. "Just…don't do what he did." She looked down at her hands as she scrubbed the sauce off the plate.

Suddenly, her hand was covered by Lexa's and she looked up to see the girl looking, very seriously, down at her. "I'll never hurt you, Clarke," she said, her voice soft and solemn. Clarke smiled and reached up to press a kiss to her lips. When she pulled back, they were both smiling and blushing.

"Then we have nothing to worry about," she said. "Come on; I'll wash, you dry."

Lexa took a deep breath and nodded, nudging Clarke a little bit with her hip. Clarke bumped back and flicked some soap at her. Lexa rebutted and soon they were giggling and splashing each other and then kissing. They spent a long time kissing.

And Clarke couldn't remember a time when she was this happy.

Neither could Lexa.