Typical Spring day in Washington, DC. Clarke woke up at 6am, as usual, to go on her morning run. She's been living in DC since college, so now she knows all the nice trails to start the day in the best mood. Her morning run is one of her favorite moments, especially during this season, when the trees seem to be shining as the sunlight streams between each leaf.
5 miles in an hour, not great but not bad. Clarke enters her flat, starts the coffee machine and hops into the shower. As she lets the warm water run over her body, her mind already starts focuses on work, and all her to-dos for the day. That's basically what her life is, exercise and work, at least during the week.
At 32, she's proud of where she is. College and Law School weren't easy, nor were the first years of work. Any lawyer would know, the dedication and sacrifice it requires would be heavy to carry for anyone. But anyway, she feels like she's made it. Her firm is one of the biggest in the Country, internationally renowned. Clarke specialized in mergers and acquisitions; those lawyers who hardly ever go to court but can ace any negotiation.
She's a senior associate, which is good, right before becoming a Director, two steps away from Partner.
Ask any of her friends, they would say she works her ass off. Everyday. In fact, that sometimes is a problem. Raven and Octavia have been her best friends since Day 1 of College, they also live in DC but their work schedule is less demanding and therefore they have more time to enjoy the city.
As Clarke gets out of the shower she realizes that in fact she hasn't reply to Raven. She dresses in her favorite dark pant suit and puts on a matching light blue shirt, her heels, and grabs her phone.
"Drinks tonight?"
As she reads the text, she sighs, and switches to her outlook app to take a look at her calendar. Her last meeting is at 5pm, debriefing with the boss should be about half an hour, then she has to review the junior's report on a new project. She might make it.
"Hey Raven, 8pm?"
The reply comes almost instantly, and Clarke really does wonder if Raven has implanted her phone in her arm or something.
"8pm?! Well you're buying dinner then!"
Clarke smiles, she's fallen right into the trap.
"haha Alright! You chose the place!"
Clarke hits send, and immediately regrets.
"As if there's a million places to go in this city"
Knew it; Raven is not a fan of DC. She came back a few months ago after working in New York for a few years, and neither Clarke nor Octavia have heard the end of it since then.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out Rae 3"
With that, Clarke looks at the time, almost 8am, time to go.
Clarke arrives at the office at 8:30, like every morning. Her flat is three blocks away, she usually goes walking except in winter when she takes a bus for literally one stop because that's how cold this city gets.
As the elevator doors open, she checks her phone and sees a text from Raven.
"8pm ALOHO".
Clarke doesn't have time to reply, not even to open the text. As soon as the elevator doors open, her boss is there to greet her.
"Clarke! I was waiting for you!"
Startled, the blue-eyed girl almost drops her coffee.
"Carl, hey! What's wrong?"
Usually, when Carl is that eager to talk to her it's because shit hit the fan.
"Oh no no, nothing's wrong! How are you today? How was the run? Ready for the meeting this afternoon?"
Well that's odd, Clarke thinks. Everyone knows she runs every morning, that's not the odd part. The odd part is this crazy enthusiasm that Carl is showing, for a pretty regular Wednesday.
"Carl, are you okay?"
"Sure! What, I can't ask one of my best lawyers how she's doing?"
"Well, I'm great, beautiful spring day today."
"Right, see you at 5pm then!" Carl says already leaving towards his office.
"Sure." Clarke says and can't help but look at Carl until he's in his office.
What the fuck? What's wrong with him.
As she arrives in her office, puts her coffee down and sees a note on her desk.
"Need to talk, ASAP. B."
Bellamy. Can this day get any weirder?
Clarke grabs her coffee again, she has a coffee in her hand everyday from 7h30 to 11h30, and heads to Bellamy's office.
"Hey Bell, would you mind explaining to me why Carl looks like he has taken three happy pills?"
Bellamy, as he hears Clarke, stands up and circles her to go close the door.
As he flattens his tie "Clarke, have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Okay, you know BP's sale? You know they were putting together the team right?"
BP is one of their biggest clients, and they were restructuring and therefore selling part of their stock capital. Huge corporate transaction. She was supposed to be leading the team handling the negotiation with potential buyers.
"Yes. Bell, I know that. What happened, they're not selling?
"No, no. They're selling."
Clarke, now visibly irritated "Bell, seriously, what?!"
"There're bringing someone in." There. He said it. Bellamy was not super comfortable breaking the news to Clarke, she's not known to be one of the chilliest people around, specially not with things that might affect her career.
Clarke was standing there. Coffee in hand and eyebrows squeezed together, trying to understand what Bellamy was saying.
"Bringing someone in. To do what?" Clarke was clearly not making sense of what was happening, especially not understanding why Bellamy was looking like someone died while saying this whereas Carl seemed like someone just got him a labradoodle puppy.
And then it dawned on her.
"No." They could not be doing this to her. BP had been her client forever, this was hers.
"Bell, care to explain with more detail? What do you know? Why haven't they told me?"
"Okay, they're bringing this lawyer in, from Baker McKenzie London apparently. The idea is for you guys to run the team together."
"WHAT?" Now that was even worse. Clarke thought maybe the whole project was going to be handed over to another lawyer, but this was worse. This was like putting someone to do it "with" her, as if she wasn't perfectly capable of doing it on her own. AND on top of that, a lawyer from Baker Fucking Mackenzie, all time nemesis of her firm.
Bellamy, who now was pale and visibly sweating. "Clarke, I'm sorry, I think it's just business, apparently this lawyer is really top-notch and they lured him out of Baker with this project".
"Well, I don't give a shit. I'm talking to Carl about this, there's no way I'm co-leading this team."
As Clarke was opening Bellamy's door, he grabbed her hand "Clarke it's done. There presenting him today, during the 5pm meeting".
"Today?! How the hell was I not consulted about this?" Clarke was fuming, this was literally the worse that could be happening to her.
"Well let's look at the bright side, maybe we can all learn from this guy and it can benefit the firm". Bellamy said in his usual kiss ass attitude.
"Oh shut up Bellamy, I don't want to learn anything from an outside dude who comes in out of nowhere to steal my project!"
Bellamy scoffed.
"Well, get used to it. It's happening. Might as well make the best of it."
Clarke was about to reply, she was so done with this. The lawyer had worked her ass off for this opportunity, this was her moment to prove she was more than capable to be handling a whole team for a big project, but right as she was opening her mouth, her phone rang.
"Saved by the bell, Bell." She said snarling, before answering her phone.
She didn't even have time to have lunch. How is it that the days that seem chilled always end up horribly hectic?
Phone call after phone call, meetings after meetings and in the middle the complete review of a memoranda. And now, she was entering the conference room for the 5pm meeting.
All of a sudden she realized that Raven's text was still unanswered. She grabbed her phone, and went to answer.
"Rae, sorry, crazy day. ALOHO 8pm works, see you there".
ALOHO, is a bar in a trendy DC neighborhood, pretty cool area and place to be honestly.. She always enjoyed going there, even more so in college, as the nights would get pretty crazy and sweaty inside the small place. Of course, the fact that this was a lesbian bar helped a lot when it came to enjoying the craziness….and the sweatiness.
Her mind quickly came back to where she was currently seating. Conference room, 5pm meeting.
Clarke didn't have time to talk to Carl about the whole ordeal. She did talk a bit more with Bellamy and other colleagues. Apparently, everyone had overheard a different bit of a conversation between Carl and this new recruit. So, it really was a done deal. She was fuming; but curious to see who this mysterious golden lawyer was and what was going to be his role in the BP project, and in the firm in general.
Clarke was replying to a few quick emails when Carl entered the room.
"Everyone, thanks so much for being here."
Clarke lifted her gaze and suddenly her breath caught in her throat.
Not because of Carl, no. But because standing right next to Carl was this gorgeous woman, probably her own age, dressed in high heels, wavy black high waist pants and a tight white long-sleeved shirt tucked inside the pants. She looked professional yet so unbelievably gorgeous, and sexy. The woman had long dark wavy hair, she had it with braids, which was original and suited her perfectly. She didn't really seem to be wearing any makeup at all, except on her eyes. She had heavy dark makeup around her eyes, which contrasted with the emerald color of her eyes. Her gaze was strong as she looked across the room.
Clarke shifted in her sit and she could feel like a few of her colleagues did the same, suddenly and without any logical explanation, giving their full attention to what was happening in front of them.
"Everyone, as a few of you may already know, I am proud to announce that we have recruited Miss Lexa Woods to become our newest Senior Associate." Carl said with a very honest enthusiast, which Clarke thought, if she hadn't been so furious about it, was cute.
No one said a word. Clarke could feel Bellamy's a few of her other colleagues looking at her. She was the only senior associate in the firm. Which meant that she had no competition to go up and become Partner in the short term. This changed everything. And the fact that this woman was breathtaking was not helping.
Carl cleared his throat and continued.
"We recruited Lexa from Baker Mackenzie's office in London. She was their top negotiator in their biggest transactions, and we believe she is going to be an amazing addition to our team."
Lexa was just standing there, with an intense gaze. She listened to Carl present her, talk about her career, a few of the highlights of her past years in London. Mentioning that she started her career in Chicago before relocating to Europe.
Then Carl continued.
"Clarke, in as much as you and Lexa now are our senior associates, I also wanted to announce that you are going to handle the BP operation jointly. I believe it's a great opportunity for you to show Lexa how we do things around here and for Lexa to show us some of her negotiating talents with our biggest client".
Clarke bit her tongue, so hard she thought maybe she would draw blood. Fucking Carl had made it sound like she was a junior who would show Lexa around and she would be the one negotiating. This was a disaster. She felt robbed, betrayed and very, very angry.
As Clarke faked a smile and nodded at Carl, Lexa's gaze fell on hers. Lexa still had not said one word. She was intimidating. Clarke could see a storm in the brunette's eyes, as if she was conflicted about something, and then she talked, directly to her.
"Nice to meet you, all. I'm excited to be joining your team. Clarke, I can't wait for you to show me how you do things, here."
Clarke could have sworn she saw a bit of a mocking smile. Lexa had used Carl's exact words, she must have known exactly how it made her feel, and she put salt on the wound anyway. On top of it, Lexa was holding Clarke's gaze. Both women having a silent staring competition.
Oh game on, motherfucking Lexa Woods. Clarke could swear the girl was provoking her, in front of her boss and her whole team. This was infuriating.
Clarke was seconds away from opening her mouth and saying exactly what was on her mind.
As if sensing the tension, Carl broke the silence.
"Well! I believe everyone has work to do. Please make sure to help Lexa feel right at home. Her office is right next to mine".
You gotta be kidding me. Clarke thought.
As she stormed out of the conference room, Clarke texted Raven.
"Rae, drinks now?"
Instant reply, again. This time, Clarke was relieved Raven was addicted to technology.
"Uh oh. Sure, you alright?"
Clarke simply replied "You're buying".
Clarke grabbed her things from her office and left. It must have been the first time in 7 years she left the office before 7pm. Then again, it was the first time in 7 years someone basically came in and stole her job.
As she was standing in the elevator, waiting for the doors to close, Clarke caught Lexa's gaze again as Carl's secretary was talking to her.
Once again, they both held gaze until the elevator doors closed.
As Clarke released a breath she didn't know she was holding, she realized she felt sick, furious and something else she hadn't felt in a long time.