From Aden – Hi Lexa. I just got my phone back from my parents.

Lexa read the text with furrowed eyebrows. She was honestly confused as to why they hadn't given Aden his phone back sooner, but she supposed that figuring out Anthony's soon to be ex-wife was a task that she did not need to bother with.

Currently, it was Thursday night, and though Lexa was home and ready to spend the night with Clarke, her girlfriend was in a rush to finish a painting. She'd promised about an hour ago to be done before nine, and it was currently eight-thirty, so Lexa was patiently waiting on their bed. Waiting naked, specifically, laying on the bed backwards with her feet up against the headboard.

She'd been texting Luna, but stopped when Anya apparently showed up at Luna's apartment. Before she'd even had time to consider what to do while waiting for Clarke to get to the bedroom, she got the text from Aden.

To Aden – Good to hear. You doing okay?

From Aden – They told me on Sunday about their divorce. They didn't tell me until today that it's done with this weekend, and they gave me back my phone and told me that you had something to tell me too about this weekend?

Lexa quirked an eyebrow a little. Did his parents not want to tell him, or did they just think that hearing it from Lexa would make Aden happier? She wasn't quite sure, but she didn't linger on the question.

Luckily, Anthony had sent Lexa the details about Aden getting to New York the following day.

To Aden – Oh, yeah! Tomorrow afternoon after you get out of school, your dad is going to drive you up to NYC, and you get to hang out with me and Clarke all weekend!

The response didn't come in for a few minutes, and Lexa began to get slightly concerned, until she finally got one.

From Aden – REALLY? My mom agreed to that? That's so awesome! I'm so excited! Can we get pizza?

To Aden – Of course :) Clarke and I are so excited.

From Aden – Awesome!

From Aden – Ugh, my mom just found out that I didn't do my math homework yet, so I have to go do that. But I will see you tomorrow!

To Aden – Of course buddy. Good luck on your homework!

There wasn't a response, so Lexa let her phone drop next to her and stared up at the ceiling. She felt like she was in a strange limbo, and she wasn't quite sure why. After settling into New York, in this new apartment with a new job and a new university, she felt strangely stagnant. She should be doing something, shouldn't she? It was a slightly depressing feeling, until she remembered that she was indeed still in school, and it wasn't like her life wasn't still changing. The past nine months, however, had been so full of change, that now she felt as though she was slacking off at something.

It was about ten minutes later that the door finally opened, and Lexa dropped her legs from the headboard and turned over onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. Clarke was looking at her with slightly widened eyes, as if surprised that she was wearing minimal clothing. "You just been laying there?"

"I was talking to Luna, and then Aden," she replied with a shrug, "but yeah mostly, waiting for you."

"Aw, babe. I'm sorry," Clarke apologized, her hands going to the hem of her shirt and tugging it off. "I was ready to come to bed and hang out with you, and then I remembered that I don't have time to work on my painting very much this weekend and I needed it done by Saturday night, so I figured I'd just finish it now so I don't have to take lots of time this weekend."

"That's okay, I wasn't complaining," Lexa teased, "just waiting."

Clarke smiled softly, wiggling out of her shorts. Lexa was unable to not stare at the teasing movement of her hips as she did. "Stare much?"

"I can't help that I like to look at you," Lexa insisted without missing a beat, her eyes unashamedly glued to Clarke's chest as the blonde unclasped her bra and let it fall away.

"Mm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore. You've been staring at me since the first time we ever met," Clarke teased, pulling off her underwear in finale and then releasing her loose bun in one movement of her hand. Her hair had grown out a bit over the year, since she hadn't gotten it cut since the previous December or so. It fell over her shoulders and over the tops of her breasts in pretty waves. "Sometimes it is kind of creepy, though."

"I can't help it," Lexa repeated. "You're too beautiful not to." Clarke was at the edge of the bed now, and Lexa had raised herself up onto her knees, her arms wrapping around her girlfriend's waist. "And definitely way too sexy." She ducked her head and pressed hot, open mouth kisses across the tops of Clarke's boobs.

"Mm, and here I thought we were going to cuddle and watch Netflix or something," Clarke murmured, and Lexa shook her head, pulling away from her girlfriend's chest to move backwards on the bed. She latched her hands onto Clarke's wrists, gently pulling her onto the bed as well.

"We might be able to have sex while our friends are staying here, even though the polite thing would probably be to not... but while Aden is here, we can't. We need something to hold us over," Lexa insisted.

"You mean you need something to hold you over?"

"Don't even pretend, Clarke."

"Don't even?"

Lexa narrowed her eyebrows. "Are you mocking me?"

"Of course not," Clarke replied with a knowing smirk, but her hands were now placed firmly on Lexa's shoulders. She pushed the brunette gently down onto the pillows, straddling her purposefully. Blue eyes sparkled in appreciation as she looked over the younger girl below her. "I don't tell you often enough how perfect you are."

"Do I tell you often enough how sappy you are?"

"Hey," Clarke whined, though Lexa's hands were settling gently on her thighs and squeezing a bit to indicate her teasing. "I'll have you know that I'm not even ashamed of how sappy I've become. I love you, and I'd do anything for you, and there's nothing wrong with me being expressive of that."

Lexa found herself blushing. Clarke surprised her a second later, though, grabbing her hands and pinning them on either side of her head, leaning down a bit.

"That being said, there's more than one way to express it." She ducked down to join their lips in a hot, fast kiss. Lexa moaned in an instant, and let her girlfriend take control of her mouth and her body for the night. After all, that's what she'd been waiting nearly an hour for, and she wasn't going to let some teasing stop it.

"Okay, on one hand, I'm pretty nervous. I've only met the kid once," Clarke ranted, looking desperately to Bellamy, who was attempting to make some sort of pasta or something on the highly unused stove that was in his apartment. Clarke knew that he, Monty and Jasper never cooked, but Clarke had come over frantically after leaving work early due to a rush of panic she'd gotten about the fact that a twelve year old was about to spend the weekend in her apartment.

"Lexa hasn't met him many more times than you have," Bellamy assured her. His attention was mostly on the stove in front of him, and Clarke didn't miss the look of confusion as he glanced between the emptied pasta box and the boiling water and noodles.

Clarke tried not to snicker. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, ah, I've got it," he insisted with a shake of his head.

"Anyway, sure, Lexa's only met him twice. But she's talked to him so many times on the phone and via text. She's going to be fine, not to mention that she's his sister and he thinks she's like the coolest ever. I'm going to be just... there all weekend."

Bellamy rolled his eyes, leaving the pot unattended for a moment in order to look Clarke in the eye. "You're being ridiculous, Clarke."

"I know."

"So why are you letting yourself get bothered by this then?" Bellamy turned back to the pasta, poking at it with a wooden spoon and seeming to decide that it must be done. He turned the stove off and began to let the water cool a bit before bringing it over to the sink to dump in a colander.

Clarke shrugged. "Maybe I'm projecting."

"From what?"

Biting down on her lower lip, she debated whether or not to say anything about her recent realization and decision to her best friend. Her thought process had originally included not telling anyone about her plans, but it might be helpful to at least mention it to someone. Bellamy was her best option to do so, anyway. He definitely wouldn't let it spill, and he could tell her if she was ever being crazy or anything.

"I think..." Clarke's voice cut off abruptly, and she forced away her nerves by swallowing thickly. "I think I'm going to propose to Lexa."

Bellamy's jaw dropped, and he turned himself completely to face Clarke now. "Wait, what? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Where the hell did that come from? One minute you're afraid of any further commitment, and now you're suddenly thrusting yourself into it head first? You know that you don't have to prove your want to marry her one day by doing it sooner, right?"

Clarke frowned. "Of course I know that. What's the problem?"

"It just seems like... maybe you made this decision to prove something to yourself or to Lexa... are you sure that you're ready?"

"I am ready, Bell. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever be anymore ready than I am right now, but proposing to Lexa doesn't mean that we have to get married like... immediately after. I think we'll both want to wait until she graduates, which isn't a full two years away, but we can talk about that after she says yes."

"When are you going to do it?"

"I think October. Near her birthday. That way I can plan something big and fancy without her questioning it," Clarke replied. Yeah, she'd thought about it briefly since making the decision, and yes, she's already run through all of these things that Bellamy was concerned about. The fact was, now that Clarke had made the decision, she didn't want to back out. She found herself playing scenarios out in her head, and surprisingly, all of them were positive. Backing out now seemed like a step backwards. The only thing that could stop her now was if she found out that Lexa would say no.

And she already knew that that would not happen.

At least, she was confident that Lexa hadn't lied to her about her feelings on the matter.

Bellamy finally smiled. "You know what, Clarke, I'm proud of you. And happy for you. As long as you aren't still scared about it being too early or anything."

"Like I said, we don't have to do it right away. By the time that we officially get married, she'll be nearly twenty-three, and I'll be twenty-six. I think that's a perfectly appropriate time," Clarke admitted. "Plus... I've sort of been thinking about it a lot. And I talked to her mom earlier this week by complete coincidence, and she gave me some nice motherly advice, as well as telling me that she thinks that Lexa and I should move at whatever pace is good for us. Basically, she gave me low key permission even though she said I don't need her permission."

"Like I said, I'm happy for you." He finally grabbed a towel and picked up the hot pot from the stove, moving it over to the sink and dumping it over the colander. Coughing awkwardly, he let a frown write itself onto his face. "Um, not happy about this outcome, though. How come literally none of us are good at cooking? We could've ended up with one person who was good at it, and have them teach everyone else, but no."

Clarke stepped over to the sink, looking into the colander and seeing that the noodles were barely cooked at all. "Oh come on, Bell, it's common sense to at least wait for them to not be hard."

"I'm sorry, okay? I don't ever do shit like this. And it's not like you'd do any better."

"Actually, Lexa and I definitely made mac and cheese way more successfully than this."

"But did it come out of a box?"

Clarke frowned. "Yes."

"So don't even talk."

Lexa frowned when she let herself into the apartment, only to notice that it was empty. The doors to both of the two rooms were open, the lights inside flicked off. She didn't hear a shower running or anything. Aden was due to arrive in about half an hour, and Lexa had no idea where her girlfriend was. She was pretty sure that they agreed to come straight home, and she should've gotten off about forty minutes earlier.

Setting her small bag – the one she brought with her to work on Fridays since she didn't have class – on the table, she grabbed her phone from her pocket.

To Clarke – Where are you? :(

From Clarke – Didn't see the time until twenty minutes ago. On my way now. Was at Bell's. Will explain. X

Lexa waited patiently, checking that the apartment was sufficiently tidied up and everything was ready for Aden's arrival. Since he would be sleeping on the couch, she had sheets and blankets folded on one of the cushions. Lexa also made sure to order two pizzas, since she knew that Aden and her girlfriend were bound to devour as much as they could.

Clarke let herself in about ten minutes later, her apology written over her face before she said it. "I'm so sorry, I left work early because I had a momentary panic moment, and I went to Bellamy's and he tried to make me something to eat... Needless to say, he failed miserably, but then we were talking about shit and I looked down and saw the time and didn't realize," Clarke rambled, but Lexa had grabbed her hand and tugged her own bag off of her body, setting it on the table next to hers.

"What were you panicking about?"

"Honestly? I'm kind of nervous about Aden staying here. I know it's stupid, but I feel like you and him are going to get along great because you're siblings and you've been talking, but I'll just be like... here."

Lexa smiled softly, sliding her arms around Clarke's waist and holding her closer. "Babe. Aden thinks you're like the coolest person ever, and he met you once. Okay?"

"He definitely thinks you're the coolest person ever."

"Yes, but you're probably a close second," Lexa teased.

"You're awful."

"No."

"No," Clarke agreed, leaning forward to press her lips against Lexa's in a soft kiss. It was gentle and sweet and nice, but Lexa still couldn't help but be reminded by it that she and Clarke wouldn't be able to have any sex until Sunday night.

If one thing was for sure, ever since becoming consistently sexually active when she turned eighteen, she had become much more needy when it came to sex. She couldn't help that she was a sexual being, after all, and she definitely couldn't help that she wanted Clarke all the damn time. Her girlfriend was unbelievably sexy – no one could honestly deny it.

Maybe that's why they ended up having a highly inappropriate quickie against a wall in the next twenty minutes before the buzzer went off, leaving them just enough time to straighten out their hair and clothing, as well as thoroughly wash their hands, before going to let Anthony and Aden up.

It was sure to be a fun weekend.