AN: Good afternoon, Clexakru! I've decided to finally give you guys a break from the angst, so this is a very lighthearted chapter, and it is an extra long one as well. I hope you enjoy it! :)
Lexa tapped her pencil against her desk as the teacher droned on and on about something or other in the front of the classroom. She looked at the clock, but she felt as if the clock had broken, or maybe she was just in some alternate universe where time had stopped moving entirely, leaving her in this boring class forever. This class had already been going on for long enough, and even though there were only ten minutes left, Lexa was already pretty restless. She felt as if tiny ants were crawling under her skin, and she just needed to get up and do something, anything really, to shake them out.
Lexa couldn't wait until the bell rang because that meant that it was time for lunch with Clarke, her girlfriend. Lexa didn't think that she would ever get tired of that. Although she had been furious at first, she was now really glad that Clarke had come up to talk to her in the attic. If the blonde hadn't knocked some sense into her, Lexa would still be making herself absolutely miserable by avoiding Clarke. She had hated every minute spent away from the girl who had so quickly become a part of her, but her fear of moving on from Costia, the only girl that she had ever loved, had been greater. Lexa knew that Clarke had probably been disappointed in her for all of her time spent pushing the blonde away, and she knew that she needed to make an effort to talk things out with her roommate the next time that something upset her. She knew that it would be hard, considering her history of pushing everyone away whenever she was hurting, but she knew that she needed to make an effort for Clarke.
After a few more minutes of pretending to pay attention and jotting down a few notes that were actually just absentminded doodles, the bell rang, and Lexa sprang out of her seat, walking out into the crowded hallway. She growled in frustration as she tried to push through a swarm of people, hating the suffocated feeling that this hallway always provided her with.
Once she finally had her lunch in hand, Lexa made her way out of the school, and she walked across the grass to her and Clarke's normal spot under the bleachers. While Lexa had been going to dinner every night with the house as of late, she and the blonde still ate under the bleachers, deciding not to break what had become a tradition. Besides, Lexa couldn't say that she minded having a nice break from the school day with the blonde all to herself.
When Lexa got under the bleachers, she found Clarke already there waiting for her. She sat down beside the blonde, and she was a little bit surprised when the other girl immediately scooted closer to place a quick kiss on her lips. When Clarke pulled back, Lexa could tell that her roommate was gauging her reaction, and so Lexa allowed herself to smile, knowing that she was probably blushing and noting that she didn't particularly mind. She also found that she didn't mind how Clarke was sitting so close to her that their knees were touching. Lexa was amazed that she was sitting here with someone who wasn't Costia and feeling these things that she never thought she would feel again. While she had been wary of this before, she was now beginning to understand that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to have feelings for someone else.
"How was your algebra 2 class?" Clarke asked.
"Boring as ever," Lexa responded, shuddering at just the thought of the class. Then again, she realized that she hadn't really heard a word that the teacher had said. "Well, actually I didn't pay attention, so we could have had the most riveting lecture today, and I would be none the wiser."
"Maybe you should start paying attention then." Clarke nudged her shoulder playfully.
Lexa scoffed at even the suggestion of the thing, knowing that she would never be able to pay attention in a math class, but she thought that maybe the blonde actually wanted her to try. She decided to give a neutral answer, so as not to disappoint her girlfriend. "Maybe. How was lit?"
Clarke shrugged. "Not too bad. We had a really easy quiz, and then we discussed the book that we just started reading."
"Sounds fun," Lexa said sarcastically. "I can't wait to get to that class."
"I know it's a little old for your taste, but I actually happen to like the book so far, so you can stop right there with your sarcasm," Clarke mock-threatened, and Lexa let out a chuckle. "But I guess I can't take it too personally. You hate every class."
Lexa suddenly felt a bit self-conscious, realizing that her sarcastic comment might have just disappointed the blonde anyway. She knew that Clarke really liked most of her classes, and Lexa didn't mean to let her girlfriend down by not really caring much about any of her own. "Is that a bad thing?"
"Nah. Don't worry about it," Clarke said, waving her hand as if to say it didn't matter. "Octavia's exactly the same way. She cares much more about kickball than she does about school."
Lexa contemplated this for a moment, and she realized that she thought kickball was better than classes as well. She wondered who on earth wouldn't, but then again preferring something to being in class and caring about it more than class were two different things, and she knew that Clarke would never place winning a sporting event over getting good grades. Lexa couldn't say that she would either, even though her grades last year weren't exactly the greatest.
While she ate the rest of her lunch, Lexa listened to Clarke talk about something that had happened in her pre-calculus class earlier that day, and Lexa found the blonde's melodious voice to be peaceful. She didn't mind simply listening to her roommate talk, even if it was just about something that had happened to her earlier. If anyone else had tried to talk to Lexa about such a thing, she would immediately look for the quickest way out of the conversation, but with Clarke, it was different. With Clarke, she actually wanted to know.
Once they had both finished eating, Clarke leaned her head against Lexa's chest, and the brunette didn't tense up or even want to move away. She simply looped her arm around the other girl's waist, placing a gentle kiss to her head as they sat there in silence. Lexa found that she loved this feeling of Clarke resting against her, and she wondered why she had ever tried to avoid this.
As they sat together, Lexa noticed some men walking by, carrying some kind of equipment over to the huge field that was used for soccer and lacrosse, and she brightened when she remembered what it was for. She had completely forgotten that the annual fundraiser was today, and she was surprised that it hadn't been the topic of yesterday night's dinner conversation. She thought that perhaps it had been the topic of yesterday's lunch conversation instead, which she and Clarke would have missed due to sitting under the bleachers. Or maybe the others had simply forgotten, like Lexa had.
Clarke pointed out at the men and looked up at Lexa with curious blue eyes. "What's going on?"
"The fundraiser is today," Lexa replied. "I totally forgot all about it."
"The fundraiser?" Clarke echoed in confusion, and Lexa had to remind herself that Clarke hadn't been going to school at Polis for years like the other members of Arkadia had. Lexa realized that she had gotten so used to the blonde at this point that it almost seemed like she had been going there forever. It was a slightly scary thought, but Lexa did not find it to be a particularly unpleasant one.
"Yeah. The school holds one every year in order to raise money for different charities. This year, I think it's going to a children's hospital. They basically turn the field into a mini-carnival, and you pay twenty-five dollars to play little games and stuff," Lexa explained.
"Twenty-five dollars?" Clarke asked, sounding a bit shocked. "That's kind of expensive, Lexa."
"Like I said, it's for charity, and the school likes to raise a lot of money, although I will agree with you that it's kind of expensive just to go play games and stuff. You would think that most people wouldn't want to pay that much, right?" Lexa asked, and Clarke nodded her head. "Ah, but there's a catch. The fundraiser is held during the second half of school, so it's either go to the fundraiser or go to your last three classes, and when given that option, who wouldn't choose the fundraiser?"
"Smart." Clarke slowly nodded her head in agreement. "That's really smart."
"I agree, and it's not like the fundraiser's boring. I mean, you get to hang out with all your friends, and there's actually a lot to do there," Lexa said.
"Like what?" Clarke asked.
Lexa merely smiled at her. "You'll find out when you get there."
After lunch, Clarke and Lexa met up with their housemates, who were heading towards the field, to find that the fundraiser was all that anyone was talking about. Lexa smiled at how excited her friends were, and to be honest, she was kind of excited too. She hadn't been to the fundraiser since freshman year because she had skipped school altogether on this day last year. While they waited in line to get the purple wristbands that would grant them admittance into the event, Raven was already challenging people to compete with her.
"I bet I can beat you all at corn hole," Raven boasted.
"Corn hole, Raven? That's where we're starting?" Octavia threw her head back and groaned at Raven's affirmation, and Lexa got the impression that they either always started with corn hole, or Octavia simply did not like the game.
"I think corn hole's fun," Emori protested, "and it's definitely a lot harder than it looks. I'd love to take you up on your challenge, Raven, but I'll warn you, I'm going to win."
Raven just narrowed her eyes at the other girl. "We'll see about that."
True to her word, Raven led them all, minus Jasper and Monty who went to hang out with their girlfriends, over to the corn hole section the minute they got their wristbands. Raven and Emori set up to play first, and Lexa stood off to the side with the rest of Arkadia House to watch. She noticed Bellamy and Octavia taking bets out of the corner of her eye, and she couldn't say that she was particularly surprised. She found that she was getting to know the two of them better than she ever had before this year, and she knew that it was all because of Clarke. When Emori and Raven began to play, Lexa's focus shifted to them, and she had to admit that they were both pretty great. Both girls threw their first two bean bags right into the hole, and Lexa watched on with slight awe.
For the last shot, the pressure was on, and Raven threw first, her bag arcing through the air but coming to rest too far to the left, landing on the side of the board rather than in the hole. Emori stepped up next, gritting her teeth in concentration as she threw her own bag. Lexa thought it felt rather as if time slowed down as everyone's eyes tracked Emori's bag on its arc through the air. Time began to flow at normal speed again when the bag landed right in the hole, declaring Emori the winner. Lexa cheered along with everyone else, but Octavia was, by far, the loudest.
"Ha! Looks like you owe me twenty bucks, Bell," she shouted.
"Damn," Bellamy grumbled, grabbing a twenty-dollar bill from his pocket and handing it to his sister.
"You two bet on this? And you bet against me?!" Raven looked at Octavia with a betrayed expression.
Octavia just shrugged. "I saw Emori play last year. I don't think I've ever seen her miss, so I figured that my odds were better if I picked her."
Raven wandered over to her boyfriend and leaned against him. "At least someone was on my side."
"Always," he said, leaning down to kiss her.
Lexa squirmed at the sight, not because it made her uncomfortable or anything of that sort, but because it made her jealous. She suddenly found herself wishing that she could kiss Clarke like that, out in the open, and she realized that the only reason that she couldn't was because of herself. She was the one who insisted on keeping their relationship a secret, and she found her thoughts warring with each other now. She didn't want people to expect her to be just as she had been before losing Costia now that she had Clarke, and she didn't really want to have to talk to anyone about how she was moving on from Costia either. She also wanted to make sure that this thing with Clarke was actually going to work for more than four days before she told everyone in the house about it. She didn't want every single person to know if it was just going to crumble in the first week. However, she knew that it would be hard to keep this a secret until she was ready to tell everyone about it. She was pulled back to the present by the feel of Clarke tugging at her arm, and she noticed that Raven and Bellamy were now playing against each other before turning her attention to the girl beside her.
"What do you say? Play with me?" Clarke asked.
Lexa smiled and nodded, moving over to stand next to Raven and Bellamy. Lexa tried her best to focus, and she thought she kept her concentration pretty well. Two out of three of her bags went into the hole, and she considered that to be pretty good, surprised that she had done as well as Raven had. When she looked over to see how her roommate had done, she saw that all three of the bags had come nowhere near the hole.
Lexa tried her best to keep from laughing, but she knew that a small chuckle still escaped from her lips. "I think it's safe to assume that I won."
Clarke shoved her playfully. "Shut up. I've never played before."
Lexa's mouth dropped open in shock. "Not even as a child?"
"I've never been to a carnival before," Clarke admitted with a shrug.
"Clarke!" Lexa exclaimed in disbelief. "Even I've been to carnivals."
"Not me," Clarke stated simply.
Lexa was about to protest more, but she was pulled to attention by Anya telling her that they were moving on to something different. Lexa and Clarke followed the group, and it didn't take them long to figure out where they were going because Octavia and Raven would not shut up about the three-legged race.
Bellamy, however, did not share in their enthusiasm. "Come on, O, please no. I am terrible at the three-legged race."
"Oh, stop whining, Bellamy. You're just afraid you'll lose because Raven and I make the perfect team," Octavia said smugly.
"I probably will," Bellamy admitted.
Lincoln nudged his shoulder. "Don't say that, Bellamy. Let's show our girlfriends that we can kick their asses."
"Not if we kick yours first," Octavia shot back.
Lexa's attention was finally drawn away from the bickering siblings when she noticed Anya come up beside her. "Lex, I'm going to team up with Emori. Are you going to be okay with Clarke?"
Lexa took note of the worry on Anya's face with slight confusion until she remembered that the older blonde had talked to Clarke last week when Lexa had been avoiding her, and the brunette realized that Anya was just making sure that her friend wouldn't be uncomfortable being paired with her roommate. Lexa had to say that she was happy that Anya was looking out for her, and she nodded. "Of course. That's fine."
Anya nodded back. "It's good to hear that you worked out whatever it is that was bothering you."
Lexa smiled at her friend, but before she could respond, Emori came up and pulled Anya away to get ready for the race. Lexa smiled and shook her head at her friends, really happy to have them back in her life, before turning back to Clarke, who was watching the people who were racing at the moment with a nervous look on her face. Lexa still could not believe that the other girl had never played these kinds of games before, but she put a hand on the blonde's arm to try to calm her down nonetheless. Clarke jumped when Lexa touched her, clearly having been completely lost in her thoughts, and the brunette looked at her quizzically. "You okay?"
Clarke swallowed thickly, not exactly responding to her girlfriend's question. "This looks hard."
"Oh, it is hard," Lexa affirmed, "but don't worry about it if we lose. It's almost impossible to beat Octavia and Raven anyway."
Clarke gave a half-hearted smile. "I suppose it could be fun."
Lexa could tell that her roommate really didn't want to participate in this event for some reason, probably because she was afraid she was going to embarrass herself in front of everyone, and the brunette was just about to announce to her housemates that the two of them would be sitting this event out when the people who had previously been racing returned and began to hand the ropes off to the members of Arkadia House. Lexa accepted the rope from one of the members of one of the other houses, and she turned to Clarke with a questioning look. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Clarke nodded, but she didn't look so sure. Lexa knew that there was no way that Clarke was going to back down now because she didn't want her friends to think she was a chicken, so Lexa tried her best to reassure her girlfriend. "Clarke, even if you are so terrible that we can barely make it past the starting line, I will still think that you're absolutely adorable. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. I could never be embarrassed by you."
Clarke looked up at her with a smile and a nice pink blush and nodded. Lexa took this as her cue to tie their legs together, tying her left leg securely to Clarke's right, in order to leave both of their dominant legs free. When Lexa stood up, she barely had time to shoot Clarke a small smile before Octavia yelled, "On your mark, get set, go!"
Lexa and Clarke took off running, and Lexa tried her best to match her pace with Clarke's in order to accommodate for the blonde's lack of experience. Lexa had to admit that they were doing better than she had thought they would. Even though they were moving kind of slowly, they were barely behind Bellamy and Lincoln. That was, until about halfway through the race when Clarke lost her footing and stumbled, crashing to the ground and bringing Lexa down with her, the brunette landing half on top of her.
Lexa rolled off of her girlfriend immediately. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, LW." Clarke smiled up at the other girl. "You don't have to apologize to me. I mean, I was the one who fell, so it's not like you could really help falling with me. I'm just wondering though, how we are supposed to get up?"
Lexa pointed at the other end of the field where the other three teams had finished the race, and the victorious Octavia and Raven were already leading the way back to the starting line. "We can just untie ourselves. The race is over."
"No, you can't," Raven spoke up before Lexa could even move a muscle. "Bellamy challenged us to a rematch, even though he'll never beat us, so we're going again. We'll help you up."
Raven grabbed onto Lexa's arm, and Bellamy grabbed Clarke's, the both of them helping the two girls back to their feet, and Clarke turned to look at her friends with a petulant look. "Why do we have to go again? I'm horrible at this."
"Because this loser here," Raven said, gesturing to her boyfriend, "thinks he can beat us, and we need to put him in his place."
"We'll do better this time." Lexa tried to cheer her girlfriend up a little.
Clarke simply huffed, and the two of them awkwardly made their way back to the starting line to race again. Once everyone was gathered around the starting line, Octavia gave them their signal again, and they were off. Clarke and Lexa were still in last place, but they managed to stay on their feet this time, and they actually got to cross the finish line. Lexa wasn't really at all surprised that she had lost, but she was extremely surprised that Emori and Anya had won this time. The two girls cheered obnoxiously loudly and hugged each other in celebration.
"No fair. I want a rematch," Raven whined.
"Come on, Rae. Other people are waiting for this, and we've already raced twice." Clarke pointed back to where a line had formed to wait for the three-legged race. Lexa noticed that the students who had been waiting there the longest looked kind of annoyed. "Let's go do something else."
"Fine," Raven huffed, rolling her eyes.
"At least we got to win once." Octavia reassured her roommate. "Unlike some people," she added with a pointed teasing smirk in her brother's direction.
"Hey, I heard that," Bellamy said.
As the others started to untie their legs, Clarke kicked out her leg that was tied to her roommate's, and Lexa, not expecting to have her leg yanked out from under her, fell on her ass in the grass. Clarke fell along with her, falling partially onto Lexa's lap. She kept her head where it was lying against Lexa's chest, and the brunette couldn't say that the feeling was an unwelcome one. She really wanted to wrap her arms around the blonde and kiss her head, but she couldn't with the others so close. Instead, she looked down at Clarke with a knowing look. "You did that on purpose."
"Maybe," Clarke said in a sultry voice, removing her head from where it rested against Lexa, "but they don't have to know that."
Lexa cleared her throat and tried to keep herself from blushing at the tone of Clarke's voice. "I guess I should untie us then," she mumbled, trying to put all of her focus into removing the rope from where it wound around their legs like a snake.
"Where should we go next?" Anya asked after they had all handed their ropes off to the people who were next in line.
"How about we go horseback riding?" Lincoln suggested. "That's always one of the funnest things here."
Lexa nodded in agreement along with everyone else. Well, everyone other than Clarke, who was looking at the rest of them in confusion. "They have horseback riding?"
"Every year. It's over there." Lexa pointed to the other end of the field, where the horses were being kept, wondering how Clarke hadn't seen them before. She realized that this must have been a little overwhelming for the blonde, especially since she had never previously been exposed to this stuff, and Lexa mentally smacked herself for not telling her girlfriend about it earlier. "I'm guessing you've never ridden a horse before either?"
"That would be correct." Clarke nodded in confirmation. "It should be exciting to learn though."
When they reached the horses, the others all chose one and hopped on, getting right to riding around the little area that had been fenced off for riding horses, but Lexa hung back with Clarke as the blonde looked up at her own horse, clearly unsure as to how to get on.
Lexa gestured to the stirrup. "Put your foot in there to boost yourself up."
Clarke nodded, obeying Lexa's instructions, and the brunette grabbed her sides to give her an extra push. Clarke clutched onto the saddle, clearly not knowing where to go from there. Lexa remembered when she herself had first learned to ride freshman year. Anya and Emori had already known how to ride, but Lexa and Costia had not been afraid to learn. Plus, they had the help of one of the trainers, but right now, both of the trainers that had come to the event were occupied with some of the freshmen, so Clarke was on her own. The blonde tried to pull herself the rest of the way up, but she lost her balance and fell backwards into Lexa, who quickly caught her around the waist and lowered her back to the ground.
"Clarke, be careful," Lexa said.
"You know what? Maybe I shouldn't try this," Clarke said in a discouraged tone. "I'm honestly a little afraid anyway, so I'll just watch."
Lexa shook her head. "You don't have to just wait on everyone else, Clarke. How about you ride with me?"
"But what about…?" Clarke trailed off, looking over to where the others were already riding.
"Trust me. If they were here with you instead, they'd be offering the same thing," Lexa said, and she knew that was true.
Clarke tried her best not to smile. "I don't know how to take that."
"Take it as my insistence that you ride with me."
Clarke playfully rolled her eyes. "Well, if you insist."
Lexa expertly mounted the horse, sending a smirk down in the blonde's direction, and she was met with another roll of blue eyes. Then, Clarke placed her foot in the stirrup again to boost herself up, and this time, Lexa was there to pull her the rest of the way. Soon, Clarke was sitting in front of Lexa, and the brunette tried not to blush at the feel of her roommate's back against her front. She grabbed the reins and got the horse to start moving at a steady trot, careful not to go too fast, for Clarke's sake. However, even at the slow pace they were going, Lexa could feel the blonde tensing up. She brought her right hand, still holding the rein, to rest on Clarke's waist, hoping to comfort her girlfriend a little. She smiled when she felt Clarke instantly relax, and she rested her cheek against soft blond hair as she guided the horse in small circles, trying to keep a good distance between their horse and the horses that their friends were riding on. This only worked for all of about ten minutes though because soon enough, Raven was guiding her own horse over to meet them, the others following behind, and Lexa wondered what it was that the other girl was up to, knowing that it probably wouldn't be good.
"Hey, guys, we're going to race," Raven announced. "Are you in?"
Lexa immediately looked down to the blonde, unsure of whether her roommate would be comfortable with going at any other speed than the one that they had currently been going, and she was surprised when the blonde gave her a slight nod that, as far as Lexa could tell, was genuine.
"Yeah, we're in," Lexa confirmed. "Where are we racing to?"
"From here to the fence?" Octavia pointed to the fence that was on the far side of the horse-riding area.
Lexa nodded. "Sounds fair."
"What's unfair is you competing in this race, Lexa," Anya complained, elaborating further when Lexa shot her a confused look. "You can't ride with a teammate."
"I'm not," Lexa protested. "Clarke's not helping me in any way. She's just sitting here. She doesn't even know how to ride."
"Yeah, I'm just along for the ride." Clarke raised her hands up in surrender.
Anya looked like she wanted to argue more, but Lincoln spoke up before she could. "You guys are fine."
At Octavia's signal, Lexa brought her horse to a run, and Clarke clutched tightly to her thigh, letting the brunette know that she was frightened again, but Lexa was currently in the lead, so she didn't ease up on the reins. She knew that it was a short race and that they weren't actually in any danger, despite what Clarke might think, and so the blonde would have to hang in there for a little bit longer. When Lexa was almost to the fence, she watched in horror as Lincoln pulled ahead of her and got there first.
Lexa turned to him in shock. "Damn it, Lincoln. I thought I had it."
"That's just what I wanted you to think." Lincoln gave her a teasing smirk. "Don't get too cocky until you've actually won. You never know when someone might be waiting just behind you to pull ahead and take the lead."
Lincoln shot her a wink, and Lexa huffed, about to argue more when she felt Clarke rub soothing circles on her thigh, and she suddenly lost her train of thought. The brunette subtly squeezed Clarke's hip, and it was as if they had entered their own little world until Octavia looked down at her watch and brought Lexa back to the present. "Oh, man. There's only thirty minutes left. You know what that means."
Lexa nodded her head along with the others and followed as they began to make their way back to the other side of the horse area, where the trainers would take the horses from them and either pass them on to other students who were waiting or tie them to the makeshift wooden posts that were sticking out of the ground. As Lexa's horse easily trotted with the others, she contemplated on whether or not she was going to participate in the last event this year that everyone seemed so excited about. She had competed with Costia in her freshman year, and she didn't think that it was an experience that she would ever want to repeat.
"What does that mean?" Clarke finally spoke aloud, once they were all off of their horses.
"Every year, at the end of the fundraiser, there's a pie-eating contest." Raven was quick to explain. "Almost everyone participates, and this year, it's gonna be epic because I'm gonna win."
Anya scoffed. "In your dreams, Reyes. There's no way that you can beat me."
Clarke's face brightened at the idea of this new activity. "Eating pie? Finally, something I can do."
"I think I'll just watch on this one," Lexa said.
"What?!" Emori gasped, followed by several others.
Lexa should have known that they would react this way, and she was just about to explain how she did not want a huge stomach ache after this when Lincoln sided with her. "I think I'm with Lexa on this one. I competed in this event for two years now, and I think I'm finally done putting myself through that torture."
"Party poopers," Bellamy muttered.
"I think I'm going to do it," Clarke said, excitement shining in her eyes. "I've never been in a pie-eating contest before. I thought that was something they just did on TV."
"Good for you, Clarke." Raven patted her friend on the back. "You won't regret it."
"You probably will," Lexa said. She knew she sure as hell had regretted it in her first year, but clearly, the other members of the house hadn't shared in her regret, or they simply didn't care. They were a competitive bunch, after all.
"Not if you win," Raven argued.
"I'm not passing up free pie,' Clarke whispered to Lexa, "but don't worry. I'm not looking to win, so I'll just eat one or two and then bow out."
Lexa shot Clarke a skeptical look, but the blonde had already been pulled into conversation with Raven again. When they reached the many tables that had been set up for the contest, Lexa and Lincoln hung off to the side as the rest of their housemates, Jasper and Monty included, started to eat. Despite Clarke's previous claim to only eat her fill, Lexa watched as her girlfriend ate pie after pie after pie, clearly wanting to keep up with Raven, who was sitting next to her. Lexa just shook her head at the girl and decided to cheer for her, as Lincoln was cheering for Octavia beside her.
Octavia was the first one from Arkadia to bow out, and Lexa watched on as their other housemates began to follow. Next out was Anya, and then Bellamy, and then Monty, and then Raven, despite her previous claim to be winning this year. Clarke finally allowed herself to stop eating after Raven, having successfully beaten the brunette, and she cheered when she found out that she had made it into the top ten. Lexa cheered for the blonde as well, but she thought that her girlfriend must have eaten close to ten pies, and she felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it.
When the contest was only down to three more people, Lexa was surprised to see that two of them were from her own house: Jasper and Emori. When the contest finally ended, Emori was the last one standing, having eaten exactly ten pies in total. Lexa and Lincoln cheered loudly for their housemate who had won the trophy for the contest this year.
"That's really amazing!" Lexa exclaimed. "That's a lot of pies."
"Way too many," Lincoln agreed, "but it's great that someone from Arkadia won again this year."
Lexa nodded in agreement. Jasper had won the previous year, and it seemed that Arkadia was the reigning champion again now that Emori had won. Lexa chatted with Lincoln for a little while longer until she noticed a very sick-looking Clarke making her way over to them.
"I now see why you didn't want to participate," Clarke said.
"I thought you were only going to eat one or two." Lexa shot her roommate a teasing smirk.
"I was, but then I had to beat Raven. God, I feel so sick." Clarke clutched at her stomach.
Lexa reached out a hand to run comfortingly up and down Clarke's arm. "You want to go back to the house, roomie?"
Clarke nodded, and Lexa turned back to Lincoln. "Well, I'm heading back to the house."
"We'll probably all be joining you soon." Lincoln pulled Octavia, who had just wandered over, into his arms as she slumped against him.
Lexa smiled in amusement at the sight of her housemates. "Something tells me it's going to be a quiet night."
"Something tells me we're going to be the only two at dinner tonight." Lincoln's eyes twinkled.
Lexa laughed out loud at his statement, knowing that it was definitely true. "I'll see you later, Lincoln."
Shortly after arriving at the house, Clarke collapsed into her bed and promptly fell asleep, and so Lexa made her way over to her side of the room to do her homework. When it was time for dinner, she quickly checked on the blonde, who was still passed out, before quietly slipping out the door and going downstairs to a nice peaceful dinner for just her and Lincoln. She really enjoyed her time spent with the older boy, joking about the state of their housemates and remembering the first time that the two of them competed. He carefully skirted around the topic of his sister, knowing that it was still a touchy subject for Lexa, but the brunette brought her former girlfriend up anyway, knowing that there was no way to talk about that particular memory without the other girl in it. Lincoln seemed pleasantly surprised at this new development, and Lexa felt happy after having spent the evening with him.
When she got back to her room, she found that Clarke was finally awake, and she made her way to sit down on the edge of the blonde's bed. Lexa noticed how pale her girlfriend was looking, and she ran her hand gently over the slight swell of the other girl's stomach, knowing that the blonde was probably going to be sick soon if she had eaten enough pie to cause her stomach to be slightly extended.
"Hey, sleepyhead." Lexa smiled softly down at her roommate.
"I ate way too much pie," Clarke groaned.
"Oh, I know, but it's okay, roomie. You'll be fine," Lexa murmured soothingly, gently rubbing the blonde's stomach.
Clarke swatted her hand away. "Don't do that. You're making it worse."
Lexa moved her hand to stroke Clarke's hair instead. "Sorry."
"Much better." Clarke sighed at the feeling, clearly enjoying it, and so Lexa kept it up.
"I warned you, Clarke," she said. "I know exactly what it's like to get caught up in the competition. It happened to me and Costia freshman year. We were competing with Anya and Emori, and we ate more than we should have, though not as much as you, and we ended up, well, just like this." Lexa paused, smiling to herself as she got lost in the memory. "It's funny because even though I felt like shit, I still forced myself to sit by Costia's bedside and take care of her."
"You're doing it," Clarke commented with a small smile. "That's good."
Lexa's brows furrowed in confusion. "You lost me there, Clarke. Doing what?"
"Talking about Costia," the blonde replied. "You said you never do, but you talked about her up in the attic a bit and again just now, and this time, you were even smiling. That means you're getting better."
Lexa realized that the blonde was right. She had just been talking about Costia, and while doing so was normally extremely painful, Lexa had been smiling when she had just been doing it seconds ago. She hadn't been able to remember Costia in a happy light in a long time, all of her memories tinged by sadness ever since the other girl had died, but she had been happy when recalling their time at the fundraiser with Lincoln and with Clarke. She had finally been able to look back on a great memory of her and Costia with happiness, and she knew that she would never be able to thank Clarke enough for helping her to get to this point. She wanted to shower the blonde with kisses, but she didn't think that her roommate would appreciate that right now.
"I couldn't have done it without you," Lexa said truthfully.
"I wish I could be more congratulating right now," Clarke said, and Lexa could tell that she really meant it.
"You're fine. It's great just having you here," Lexa admitted, and Clarke smiled up at her.
The smile was short-lived though as Clarke's eyes widened. Suddenly, she was shooting off the bed and running down the hallway faster than Lexa had seen her move since the contest, maybe even faster than Lexa had seen her move ever, and the brunette followed after her at a brusque pace, knowing exactly where she was heading. Lexa crouched down beside her on the cold tile floor, holding back her roommate's blond curls as the other girl emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Lexa rubbed soothing circles on the blonde's back as she threw up, and when Clarke was finally finished puking, the brunette grabbed a tissue and gently wiped her girlfriend's mouth with it before flushing down the contents of the toilet. Clarke collapsed tiredly against her, closing her eyes, and Lexa simply held her for a moment.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Clarke mumbled.
"It's fine," Lexa said, brushing off the unnecessary apology. The brunette knew that she should have found the sight of her roommate puking to be gross, but Lexa couldn't say that she was particularly put off by it. This was Clarke after all, and Lexa was starting to feel like she would go to the ends of the earth for this girl and that there was nothing that Clarke could ever say or do that would make Lexa cease to love her. Lexa quickly backtracked in her thoughts, wondering if it were actually possible for her to love Clarke already, but she quickly brushed the thought aside, knowing that this would be no time to discuss such things with the blonde, who was already falling asleep against her.
"Let's get you back to bed." Lexa gently lifted Clarke off of the ground and carried her the short distance back to their room, lying the blonde out on her bed. The other girl had yet to open her eyes, and Lexa thought that her roommate must have fallen asleep. She leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Clarke's forehead, and hazy blue eyes fluttered open at the contact as Lexa stood up again.
"I hate you," Clarke said quietly.
Lexa's heart plummeted.
Clarke hated her? She knew all of this was too good to be true, that Clarke would never want someone like her, but the blonde had seemed so serious. Lexa wondered if the other girl had ever even liked her at all, or if maybe this had all been some grand scheme to get back at her for being so rude, and if that was what this was, Lexa had to admit that it had been a good plan. She knew that her mind was making up improbable scenarios, but all she could think about was the fact that Clarke hated her, and so she couldn't help but wonder if any of what had gone on between them had even been real at all. Lexa was seriously hurt at the thought, and she turned away, feeling the unmistakable burn at the back of her eyes that meant tears were on their way. However, before she could even take a step in the direction of her bed, she felt a hand wrap lightly around her wrist, and she looked back down at her roommate.
"Don't leave me," Clarke whispered with a smirk.
Instantly, Lexa was reminded of when she had said the exact same thing when she had been sick and had still been having conflicting feelings about the blonde. She would have been touched at the fact that Clarke had remembered, if she hadn't been so scared just now that the blonde had been serious.
"Don't do that." Lexa lightly smacked Clarke's arm. "You seriously scared me. I thought that you really hated me this whole time and that this thing between us was just one big revenge plot."
Clarke shook her head. "No. I lo-like you, Lexa. I swear."
The blond girl flushed red at her slip-up, and Lexa decided to pretend that she hadn't noticed it. She thought that Clarke had been about to say that she loved Lexa, but the brunette didn't want to ask about it and then be wrong because that would be all kinds of awkward. Besides, Lexa honestly wasn't sure that she was completely ready to say it back yet, so she was kind of relieved that Clarke had changed her mind. The fact that the blonde hadn't gone through with it most likely mean that she wasn't ready either, so Lexa simply let it slide.
"I know, roomie. I like you too," Lexa assured her girlfriend. "Now, get some rest."
"Please cuddle with me?" Clarke looked up at Lexa with her big pleading blue eyes, and the brunette knew that she didn't have a chance of refusing the blonde.
She knew that anyone could walk in and see them, but she also knew that everyone in the house was as sick as Clarke was, so she doubted that there would be much movement for the rest of the day. Lexa climbed into the bed beside Clarke and curled into her girlfriend's side, careful not to put any weight on Clarke's aching stomach. The blonde wrapped her arm around Lexa, and within seconds, she was asleep. Lexa had never really cuddled with anyone like this since Costia, and she was only now realizing how much she had missed this. She wasn't tired yet, but she was content to just lie against her girlfriend's chest, simply listening to the sound of the blonde's steady heartbeat.
