"I'm in love!" Octavia cheered from the entrance of their dorm room, leaning against the newly shut door with a brilliant, albeit ridiculous smile on her face. Clarke let out a long breath as she bookmarked her page in her Organic Chemistry textbook and sat back in bed, eyes raking her roommate in a thorough assessment.
She let out a snort.
"No you're not." Clarke spoke, raising an eyebrow in skepticism as Octavia predictably sputtered in defiance. The blonde lifted a hand to point at the girl's to-go coffee cup, the one Octavia was nearly gripping hard enough for it to explode. "Just because the barista got your order right again, doesn't mean you're in love, O."
Clarke watched Octavia's expression shift into an annoyed pout. "Hey, fuck you, too, Clarke. Those amateurs getting my order right is a goddamn miracle, and I'm allowed to celebrate it." Octavia argued, which Clarke was alright with conceding. The coffee shop closest to their dorm really WAS atrocious enough to celebrate when they did anything remotely decently. "Still, I'm not talking about that. They forgot my caramel this time."
"Okay, then. Pray tell, O, what are you in love with? The cinnamon buns from Gloria down the hall, like three days ago? The cinnamon flavoured popcorn that Raven showed you how to make a week and a half ago? My expert massage skills that I showed you a month ago?" Clarke asked, her list just starting when Octavia marched over to her and pushed at her shoulder. In truth, maybe she deserved that, but Octavia had a tendency to throw the L word around about anything she remotely enjoyed, and Clarke could have listed at least two dozen more instances off the top of her head.
"Would you just...stop hassling me and let me have this!" Octavia blurted out, and okay, Clarke could tell that this was maybe a little more serious than usual, even if Octavia HAD swooned over coffee, fabric softener, and cronuts in the past.
Feeling a little hesitant at teasing her friend with how frustrated and pouty the other girl was, Clarke gave a slow nod. "Sorry, O. Why don't we start over?" She asked, patting the space beside her on the bed.
Octavia took a few deep breaths, calming down from her annoyance, before dramatically flopping onto Clarke's bed, and Clarke's lower body. "I'm in love!"
Clarke let out a low chuckle, shaking her head at her roommate's ridiculousness. "And what's managed to steal the heart of my valiant roommate?" She asked, curious to know what it was this time that had managed to ensnare the affections of her goofball friend.
"Lincoln." The one word reply, complete in breathless awe, only served to confuse the hell out of Clarke.
"Like, the car? I mean, they're nice, and all, but..." Clarke started, only for Octavia to practically somersault her way to sitting on Clarke's chest, evacuating the air out of the blonde's lungs momentarily.
"Not the cars, you idiot! Lincoln! The guy!" Octavia's exasperation was nearing peak levels, and Clarke still found herself drawing blanks.
Clarke stared up at the brunette warily, trying to buy herself as much time as she could, the cogs in her brain working to find some reasonable answer. Sadly, she had nothing. "A...Abraham?"
Octavia's head was thrown back in a feral yell, her hands clutching hard at Clarke's sweater. "Lincoln! Lincoln Pine! Tall, dark, and handsome?! Got tattoos up his...oh, right. Shit." Octavia' heady anger swiftly dissipated as the girl's cheeks reddened, words nor body language providing Clarke with any clue as to what Octavia was talking about. "I forgot you stayed home to rest last Thursday night instead of partying it up with me. My bad, Clarke."
Octavia sheepishly patted Clarke's shoulder and straightened her sweater out, the brunette shifting away to sit alongside Clarke instead of atop her.
It was a nice change, and definitely good that O wasn't angry or frustrated anymore, but Clarke couldn't help but still be a little confused. "I want to say that I'm happy for you first, because I totally am, O."
Octavia shot her a thankful smile and finished settling in alongside her, the brunette's efforts shifting the pillow over far enough for O to more or less hog it. "I'm sensing a 'but' here."
Clarke nodded and let out a sigh, hoping she wouldn't upset her friend. "But seven weeks ago, you told me romantic love was, and I quote 'fucking junk-ass shit', and that the only man in your life you had love for was your brother." Clarke stated, bracing herself a little for any potential impact, feeling altogether relieved with Octavia just shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess I can admit I was wrong. Lincoln was hot enough to get me to consider it, and amazing enough to change my mind." Octavia noted happily, staring off into space with dreamy eyes for a moment before shifting her attention sharply to Clarke. "You should totally meet him, you'd get along great! He's an artist, you know? So you guys are probably on the same weird wavelength or something."
Clarke laughed and rolled her eyes. "You realize that 'artist' is a pretty broad category? But yeah, I'm sure I'll like him just fine, O, so long as he treats you well." Clarke spoke, all too happy to reassure Octavia that the new man in her life wouldn't be treated with outright hostility. In truth, she'd do her best to sneakily vet him, but O was usually a great judge of character, so she wasn't too worried.
"Oh he does." Octavia said with a laugh, shooting Clarke a saucy wink that brought images flashing into her mind. Images she'd rather not think about, given O was her closest friend there in Boston. At the blonde's grossed out shuddering, Octavia gave her shoulder a smack. "Hey, cut that crap out, unless you want me giving you hell when YOU stumble into a relationship."
"Duly noted, O. But you know I'm not looking for anything right now, anyways. My schedule's already packed." Clarke retorted, deciding to just pre-emptively shut down any chance of Octavia trying to hook her up on blind dates.
Fact is, Clarke's schedule truly was full. She had a full courseload of classes, and college hockey on top of that, which included practices, watching tape, working out daily, and the one or two games a week they'd have scheduled. Being from out of state, and not the biggest name recruit, she wasn't exactly on a full ride, either; Boston College wasn't anywhere near affordable even with a number of scholarships and bursaries, and her mother wasn't willing to help her out until she was in med school and fully committed to being a doctor. And so, with classes and hockey taking up the lion's share of her time, she still had to work. With such a full schedule during both days and nights, that left little time for any job with a strict schedule. She made ends meet, but it wasn't exactly traditional. And it left no doubt in her mind that dating was simply out of the question.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyway, I'm thinking we can head out this weekend and meet him at a party Raven's throwing?" Octavia asked, and while Clarke imagined her weekend would have been busy without squeezing in time for a party, she couldn't deny Octavia this, so she offered a nod. "Great! It'll be fun, I swear! Just..."
Clarke watched Octavia closely, as the girl subtly began showing signs of nervousness, something clearly on the girl's mind. "It's just...what, O?"
"It's just that there might be a tiny little complication. Microscopic, you know?" Octavia asked rhetorically, though Clarke was fairly sure the brunette was playing down the magnitude of this mysterious complication.
Clarke decided to take a guess, figuring that O tended to get nervous when asking her for a ride around town. "What, he lives off campus, and out of town or something?"
Octavia let out a nervous laugh and averted her gaze to the ceiling. "He does live off campus, yeah. He's a junior at NU." Octavia let out, growing visibly more nervous as her words took on added hesitance. "And his sister's Anya Pine, captain of Northeastern's hockey team."
Clarke nearly fell out of her bed, rolling away from Octavia in shock, staggering to her feet at her bedside as she stared owlishly at her roommate. "What?!" She yelled out, absolutely mindfucked that Octavia was dating someone related to Anya fucking Pine. The NU senior who had absolutely feasted on BC during her tenure. The woman who had a frightening reputation, one she had lived up to last year after a rumoured, but more or less confirmed to be true bar brawl. BC had lost to NU in the Hockey East championship game, and when some players on the team approached Anya at the bar looking for a fight, it's said that the woman took down four of them on her own.
In short, Anya was a very scary woman. Clarke, being a freshman, had never had the opportunity to play against the captain of NU, but she'd kept tabs on the hockey scene enough to know who to tread carefully around, and Anya Pine was most certainly at the top of that list.
"I'm dating Anya's brother?" Octavia answered with a wince, recoiling slightly as Clarke leaned over her bed and took hold of Octavia's shoulder.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Clarke asked, incredulous that Octavia decided that dating public enemy number one's brother was the best way to break into the dating scene. "Scratch that, never mind. I'm going to that party with you, and I'll keep her from tearing out your throat."
Octavia mouth curled into a bright, teasing smile. "Aww, Princess is gonna save me from the big bad wolf." The girl noted with far more amusement than Clarke thought was reasonable, her quirked eyebrow quickly toning down O's teasing. "Alright, alright. I'm just happy you're coming along, but it wouldn't be too bad having someone watch my back in case I piss Anya off. I've only bumped into her once, and Lincoln ran interference...I don't think she'll put up with that again."
Clarke let out a sigh and settled back down onto her bed, deciding that as stressful as this party thing was, that it was at least two days away. She had time to plan and prepare. She could panic later; for now, Clarke was sure Octavia could use more reassurance.
"I'm sure we'll be just fine. I'm happy for you, O." Clarke noted softly as she turned onto her side to face her friend, who still looked more than a little worried about it all. "If you and Lincoln make each other happy, Anya will come around, I'm sure. Now...why don't you tell me a little about him?"
Octavia hummed happily and scooted over, all too willing to distract herself with all things Lincoln, it seemed. The party invite could end up a disaster, but Clarke knew that she'd endure whatever social gauntlet necessary to keep her friend smiling like she was.
The vast majority of times, Lexa enjoyed having Anya as her roommate. Her older cousin was quiet, punctual, respectful, kept their space tidy, and was generally nice to have around.
Sadly, today was not one of those times. Another growl from Anya's side of the dorm room brought Lexa's attention to her cousin again, the older girl staring off toward their doorway, teeth bared and brow furrowed in anger. Ever since Anya had returned in a stormy mood about five minutes ago, her cousin's fury had bloomed to what Lexa could only predict were near-homicidal levels.
"Are you going to tell me why you're angry, or should I call animal control? Because you're almost foaming at the mouth, Anya." Lexa deadpanned, averting her eyes from her cousin back to the textbook she'd been studying.
"He has his own home, why is he going to some sky crew party?" Anya seethed, fists clenching and falling slack in repetition. "His stupid new girlfriend's going to be surrounded."
Lexa couldn't help but chuckle at Anya's hopes of an inquisition being dashed. "Just because Lincoln played along with your wishes with his last few girlfriends, doesn't mean he's always going to let you corner and threaten her within an inch of her life." She replied, leaving silent the assertion that maybe Anya's aggression and fear-inducing tactics had been the reason for Lincoln's short-lived relationships in the past. Her cousin was very intimidating when she wanted to be.
Anya let out another growl before her face smoothed out into that eerie calm her cousin would get when she'd concocted a nefarious plan. Lexa had a bad feeling about this. "The party will be a mess, but if you come along, then maybe I'll have a chance to get my claws in her."
"Lincoln can handle himself. He's only a year younger than you, Anya." Lexa said, daring to match her cousin's steely, determined gaze.
"He's still my little brother." Anya griped, her frustration losing none of its steam, even if it was clear enough that Lexa's point had been made.
"He can take care of himself enough to figure out who makes him happy. You don't need to corner the girl right now, you can wait a while." Lexa argued, earning an angry huff from her cousin, who lifted her arms in clear annoyance.
"Do you not want to scope out your competition? The girl Lincoln wants to date is on the Eagles. We'll be playing them in a few days." Anya's argument was slightly compelling, but it still made for a less appealing alternative to staying home, where she could finish studying and then play some Endless Legend for the rest of the night.
It wasn't that Lexa hated parties. She honestly liked them well enough, just not when Anya would shoehorn her into running interference so that her older cousin could harass her younger cousin's date. Lincoln was old enough to make his own decisions, he didn't need their help in securing a good date, or a girlfriend.
And Lexa did not need to see her conference rivals in a social setting to better understand what she would be up against.
"It's irrelevant. We play them at home, we hold every advantage. There's no reason to believe we'll leave that game without a win." Lexa stated with confidence; Anya might be her captain on the team, but it didn't mean he cousin's personal politics wouldn't impact her decisions. Like asking Lexa to attend a social gathering for a primary purpose of giving Anya what she wanted, while potentially catching a glimpse of some sky crew players.
"Arrogance is dangerous, Lexa." Anya warned, but Lexa just flopped back onto her bed and sighed, not having wanted to get into it.
"Our roster is largely full of juniors and seniors, the same players who won the conference last year. All down our roster, our centers are fantastic in the faceoff circle, and we're among the fastest and best conditioned in the league. We play a possession-heavy game and come out in the top ten in most advanced possession statistics. We average nearly a goal and a half per game more than the next highest scoring team in our conference, almost two more than Boston College." Lexa explained carefully, giving Anya the respect to be calm and clear with her instead of brushing off her captain and cousin's concerns. "The Eagles, in contrast, lost most of their roster last year from graduation, leaving them with a lot of raw freshmen. They won't win in the faceoff circle, and they won't be seasoned or disciplined enough to disrupt our possessions. They'll make mistakes, get frustrated, and we'll prey on that. They're a strong defensive team, but so long as we control the pace and remain disciplined, they'll give us enough chances to put it away."
Anya let out a scoff, adjusting herself on the other bed so she was sitting facing Lexa. "We beat them last year, but there's no chance that they haven't spent all summer gameplanning for us. They might be green, but they'll be ready. Their top line always matched up well against mine. Even adding you as the league's leading scorer doesn't change that we'll be dealing with three very smart forwards, and two of the most mobile defensive pairings in the league over a third of the time we'll be on the ice."
"Unless they bring something unexpected to the table, I won't worry. I believe in our team, Anya. I know you do too, so will you stop trying to goad me into going to that party with you because of hockey, of all things? I'm not worried about hockey. I'm not worried about Lincoln." Lexa said calmly, only stating the truth as she saw it.
Lincoln was perfectly capable of finding someone who fit with him, and apparently this Octavia girl did. If so, good for him, he deserved to be happy, even if it was while dating someone she would likely thrash on the ice during their games. Lexa was hardly one to brag, but she was intensely confident in her ability to dominate in her favourite sport; she had at every level she'd competed at so far, and her twenty-three points in nine games in college did nothing to make her believe otherwise. It helped having a playmaker as amazing as Anya on her wing as well, so no, she was not worried at all about the Boston College Eagles.
"Ugh, fine. But you will accompany me to a party one time or another before this semester is over, Lexa. And you will have to meet Lincoln's date sooner or later." Anya stated firmly, Lexa nodding in kind given she was quite well aware of her cousins' wishes for her. Lincoln would want her to meet the new girl in his life, and Anya would want to eventually spend an evening or two together.
She wasn't opposed to either, she just wasn't up for being weaponized to make someone else's life uncomfortable just because Anya wanted to assess the character of Lincoln's date.
"I'm quite aware of that, and not opposed. But not this time." Lexa noted with a wry smirk, a little amused at Anya's situation. A mama bear whose cubs are being difficult was an unenviable position to be in, she imagined. Still, as much as she loved her cousin, as much as she loved how Anya had always been there for her, the girl could go a little overboard sometimes. About fifty percent of those cases were kind of wonderful, but the other half often had Anya overwhelmingly protective in defense of them, and it made her cousin difficult to handle.
She didn't envy anyone that would be attending that party.
Clarke felt particularly accomplished as she loitered in Raven's living room, surrounded by members of her hockey team, a few dozen BC students, and one seething mad Anya Pine. To be honest, it was a little difficult to let loose with the older girl hovering around, but being able to hang out with some of her teammates, and just have a few hours of half-decent relaxation, made for a nice enough time.
She and Octavia had made it to Raven's a half hour early to meet up with Raven and Lincoln; the prospective boyfriend had made a good impression. He was nice, polite, well-groomed enough, and straddled the line between doting on Octavia and encouraging her roommate's independence and will. It also didn't hurt that he complimented her artwork, which O had apparently smuggled out sometime or another, to Clarke's surprise. Hey, nothing wrong with some appreciation sometimes.
They'd quickly ushered the new couple off into the downstairs apartment a few minutes before Anya had arrived; Raven's family owned the building, her living in the upstairs half, while the girl's aunt lived downstairs. Given Raven's aunt was away on a cruise, it gave Octavia and Lincoln a nice place to spend some time together, a plan she'd concocted with Raven's help to put Anya on her heels. Clarke had been briefed about Anya's tendency to interrogate the guy's prospective girlfriends, and the blonde had it in mind to flip the tables on the older girl.
And so, she watched and waited; sure, she socialized with friends as the minutes passed, and that was a nice change of pace given her typically busy schedule, but she'd been requested to the party for a singular reason: helping Octavia survive Anya. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable confrontation, and while she was certain Octavia was enjoying herself alone with Lincoln, O was very much a lover of parties, and wouldn't want to miss an entire one.
It was around eleven when Anya finally got around to actively searching for her brother, not needing long at all to figure out he wasn't there. Which led to a few angry attempts at phonecalls, followed by those furious eyes glancing up from the third dial to voicemail, scanning through the crowd to pierce Clarke's watchful gaze.
Finally having the older girl's attention, Clarke turned and made her way out to Raven's balcony; it was a little dingy, and small as hell with the table and two chairs taking up most of the space, but it would fit two people. She set up in one of the chairs and waited, Anya marching out onto the balcony seconds later, molten fury swirling in her eyes.
Truth be told, Clarke was fifty percent determined to shake off the nervous jitters and protect Octavia, and fifty percent scared shitless. Her usual mental coinflip had her siding with her people, the edge in favour of protecting O, but it wasn't a decision without a little trepidation. Anya WAS damn scary.
"Why don't you have a seat?" Clarke offered as calmly and politely as she could muster, given the circumstances, hoping that Anya would be diplomatic.
Those hopes were dashed when the older girl stepped into her space, planted hands on Clarke's armrests as she leaned forward, noses nearly touching. "Why don't you tell me where my brother is before you truly make an enemy of me tonight?"
Clarke took stock of the person invading her space, sharing her breath, staring her down. From afar, across the living room, Anya had this aura about her of authority, drawn from her natural intensity. But up close, while that intensity was incredibly visible across every damn feature on Anya's face, she couldn't deny that the woman was strikingly gorgeous. Which, of course, made her situation a little more awkward; favoring women sometimes put her in messy situations like this. That her breath smelled like lemon drops was just a total bonus.
Clarke nodded and held the angry woman's gaze. "You'll see him soon, I'm sure. And my roommate, Octavia, too." She noted quietly, trying to go for a soft-spoken confidence, sticking hard to her promise to O that she'd be diplomatic and not aggressive to match Anya. "I think we both want the same thing, Anya."
"And what is that?" Anya snarled in return, punctuating each word harshly, looking as if she were a few seconds away from feasting on her.
"Our people's happiness." Clarke shot back right away, her response relaxing Anya's features a smidgen, but it was enough to know she'd gotten through. Clarke had heard the stories of Anya, and had come to the conclusion that the girl was very protective of her teammates, and certainly of her family. Asserting a sort of common ground seemed to be Clarke's best opening move. "I want Octavia to be happy, she's important to me. You want Lincoln to be happy, because he's your brother, and you love him. I don't see why we can't find a good approach to this."
Anya let out a scoff, but stepped out of Clarke's space, seating herself atop the table. It was a clear move to appear taller and more powerful, and manipulate Clarke's responses, but she'd largely expected that. One of Anya's booted feet planting down on the nearest armrest only added to the woman's intimidation tactics.
"Let's get this straight...you NEED me. Lincoln is an eligible bachelor, and he's loyal to his family. I might frustrate him, but if I scare his dates away, he doesn't chase them. If your roommate can't handle a few questions from me, I don't see why she'd deserve a compromise from me. Lincoln deserves the best, not a scared little girl." Anya ranted with pointed hostility, clearly having made up her mind, at least somewhat, about Octavia.
That didn't settle well with Clarke, but Octavia's voice asking for diplomacy rattled around in her head. It was enough to keep her from biting back, at least. Not that Octavia would have been diplomatic; the girl regularly enough shifted into 'fight me' mode, painting her roommate with a reputation for a hot temper. O was scrappy, and had asked Clarke not to be.
"I don't need you, Anya. I want you...your support, I mean." Clarke fumbled out, cursing herself internally for the slip, even if Anya probably would have understood what she'd meant without the clarification. At the very least, it hadn't earned her a punch in the face, Anya just narrowing her eyes thoughtfully at her, a hint of a smirk on her lips. "Anyway, the thing is, Octavia's hardened, she's not going to run, no matter what you do. Especially if you actually try harder than usual to get her to back off, because she'll just see that as a challenge. But family is important to her, so she'll totally understand you coming at her, to an extent. So I don't need you...she's going to be with Lincoln forever, or until they stop making sense, and being happy together."
Clarke took a breath, formulating whatever words could come to mind that might help her keep O's night lighthearted and happy instead of getting capped off by an inquisition. "I DO want you, however, to not give her shit over this. You need to trust Lincoln's judgment... needle O a bit, but don't go all-out on her. They've had a good night so far, and it'd suck if things took a turn. By all means, if O breaks his heart in the future, I'll understand if you try to crush her. But right now, they're happy together, and that's something I'm invested in."
Anya sat atop the table, staring intensely at her for long, agonizing seconds, until Clarke started to wonder whether the older girl was considering ways to mutilate her. By the frustration in her eyes, it seemed like her worries could be accurate, but eventually Anya's voice, calmer now, assuaged those fears.
"You hid them from me." The woman claimed, and Clarke could only shrug, because of course she had.
"You've done the same before, keeping Lincoln away and isolating his date. I just kept them both away so I could get you alone." Clarke said, thinking her reasoning would resonate with the older girl. Anya's subtle, reluctant tilt of her chin answered that.
"To tell me to back off." Anya said sharply, clearly not sold on what Clarke had asked of her, even if the girl's eyes told a different story.
"To ask you to give Octavia a chance. Chances are, they'll date for at least a while, and I'd like things to be comfortable for everyone involved. I don't want hostility." Clarke explained, earning a cocked eyebrow from Anya.
"You realize we're rivals...we play each other in a few days, there will be hostility then." Anya shot back quickly, which was sort of fair, but missed Clarke's point completely.
Clarke let out a sigh, one she'd been holding in for long enough to feel safe that she wouldn't be skewered over it. "Hockey's totally different. We'll meet on the ice, and the better team will win. But off the ice, I want everyone to get along. Or a truce, at least, for Lincoln and Octavia's sake. I think we can give them that."
Anya's piercing gaze was unrelenting, just boring into Clarke as seconds passed, only the muffled sounds of the party and sounds of passing cars keeping them company. Truthfully, Clarke was fairly confident she'd won the older woman over, and that Anya was calculating a way to respond that won't seem as if she was happy to concede, or anything that could be perceived as weak.
Whatever the truth was, eventually Anya let out the smallest of sighs. "If your roommate messes up, the gloves come off." Anya threatened, something Clarke could understand, knowing how protective the woman seemed to be. Not that she'd let O get close enough to Anya for any punishment to get doled out, if it came to that. "But yes. I can manage a truce of sorts."
Clarke couldn't help but smile a little in relief of the result, deciding to offer her hand to shake on the deal they'd struck. It was a little embarrassing, but not entirely unexpected when Anya just scoffed and, without even looking at Clarke's outstretched hand, scooted off the table and moved towards the door.
"You'll show me to my brother now."
Clarke pulled out her phone and sent Octavia a text, letting her roommate know she'd be downstairs with Anya in a minute or so. It was enough of a warning, she figured, and Clarke could only hope that Anya would hold up her end of the bargain and go easy on O. She didn't see the point in messing with a good thing, whether that was the good relationship Octavia and Lincoln seemed to have, or the good night she'd had so far.
Still, she guided the frustrated woman through the apartment and outside to the side entrance, to the basement apartment the new couple had been holed up in. Clarke could only hope that this relationship would work out, and would ease tensions between both friend and family groups. The last thing anyone needed was a powder keg waiting to blow.
Saturdays were usually Lexa's favourite day. Growing up, it was usually the day when she'd get to go to a park, often going on hikes with her parents, and then with her Uncle Gus and Anya after that. And when she was old enough to play hockey, that would often fill her Saturday nights. So all in all, Saturdays were excellent.
And with her in University now, they were just that much nicer, often with games early in the afternoon, giving her time to catch the sunset over at Castle Island, or at worst enjoying the Kelleher rose gardens or the Back Bay fens. Occasionally, she'd head down to the Arnold Arboretum, but usually only during spring and autumn, when it was nicest. Being at NU kept her close to a lot of greenery, and it made Lexa pretty damn happy. Growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, she'd had a lot of nice parks nearby, and so Boston's green spaces were comforting, and gave her plenty of volunteer opportunities when she had the time.
So far, Lexa had gone through her usual morning routine, catching an early morning run along the Emerald Necklace, returning in time for breakfast, following that up with a shower, and then a few dozen pages of The 25th Hour.
As she planted herself into the stands at the Matthews Arena, the last part of her game-day ritual began.
Lexa would show up quite early before each game, using the alone time in the stands to gather her thoughts, and focus on the afternoon ahead. Boston College would be a decently challenging opponent, currently holding an undefeated record similar to her own Huskies, just with the Eagles having one less win. The team's coach, Marcus Kane, applied a stalwart defensive scheme, and the team's captain, Tsing, was among the best two-way forwards in the whole league. Maya Vie, a senior, was probably among the top ten goalies, with great rebound control, remarkable agility, and great recovery. A little weak stick side, had a tendency to stray from her crease, and her reflexes were a step below elite, but no goalie was free of flaws.
However, the team was largely green elsewhere. Their second line was full of sophomores, their top three on defense were non-freshmen, but everyone else was brand new. When nearly half of a team is new, their chemistry would be a work in progress, their execution of their system would be a work in progress, their conditioning would be a work in progress. Near the end of the year, the Eagles would be a more formidable foe, but early in November, not ten games into the season? Lexa didn't have to think too hard on how to exploit the team's weaknesses when home ice advantage would have her line matching up against the green bottom nine as often as possible.
Lexa was just starting to relax, mentally going over some anecdotes Anya had brought up about last season's games when the echoing sound of doors in the distance drew her focus back to the arena itself. She found herself frowning, confused and a little upset that her routine had been interrupted, even if just momentarily. Usually, she had a good forty five minutes to an hour before Indra, her coach, would show up and signal the arrival of the arena staff, and Lexa would in turn migrate to the locker room.
Had it just been some noise, Lexa would have drifted back into her thoughts. However, a bit of gold in her periphery grabbed her focus, the blonde girl now entirely disrupting her ritual by wandering around at ice level, stopping at the corner of the away team's end, directly across from her. That the intruder was well within Lexa's sightlines had her seething internally; that the girl hadn't even noticed her yet, the intruder's focus locked to the ice itself, was even more frustrating. That the girl wore Boston College colours was, in any practical sense, an insult.
She was just moving to stand and draw attention when sharp blue eyes shifted up from the ice surface and met her gaze, which only had Lexa settling deeper into her seat. The last thing she wanted was to give the impression she was remotely intimidated or interested, even if there was a bit of curiosity and a good chunk of heated attraction swimming amongst her overwhelming frustration. She'd never seen the blonde around the arena before; she would have noticed someone as stunning as her in the arena, or even on campus. And it made little sense that the girl would intrude that day, at that time, given the game wasn't set to start until a little under two hours from then.
Lexa wracked her brain over whatever puzzle piece she was missing, doing her best to hold the blonde's gaze without getting too distracted, because the girl was stepping closer now, to the edge of the risers. It made for an exceedingly difficult time, because the closer the blonde got, the easier it was to soak in the sight of the absurdly beautiful girl before her; like an angel fallen from heaven with her golden hair practically glowing, and with those ridiculous eyes staring hard at her own, that challenging glare nearly causing Lexa to flinch from shock as her internal light bulb flicked on.
It's her...
Lexa did her best to control her breathing while remaining visibly calm, each intake of oxygen not nearly enough to handle the fact that she KNEW those eyes. She KNEW that glare. She'd come up against them in a few dozen games over the past few years in her regional circuit. Honestly, she wasn't sure whether to be concerned, or to be intensely aroused.
Both seemed like sensible responses.
She'd known the blonde as number thirty-one, then playing for an immensely uncompetitive team from Northern Virginia. It hadn't been often that anyone in her regional circuit caught her attention, but thirty-one had pressed the issue, demanded Lexa's attention with her intense play. The girl had been a pest, to start with, shadowing her at every opportunity, and often doing double shifts on the penalty kill just to butcher her team's second unit with shorthanded goals. And with each game, the girl just seemed to be better at containing her. The insult to injury was that Lexa could count on two hands how many faceoffs she'd won against thirty-one. Whereas she herself was a self-described offensive dynamo, thirty-one had been a defensive wizard, inexplicably countering her again and again.
Back in high school, it wasn't a big issue, given the rest of the blonde's team had been atrocious, and all Lexa had to do was be careful with her passes, and let her teammates victimize the overmatched competition. In division one women's hockey, that was not a tactic she could realistically employ and rely on.
The thought of matching up against the girl both concerned and thrilled her, Lexa's adrenaline pumping through her veins at the thought of going up against her rival, and the closest to an equal that she'd come up against in competition thus far. Her focus finally breaking, Lexa allowed her eyes to briefly, and hopefully covertly, scan across the blonde's form.
Just taking in the gentle waves of golden hair, eyes enticingly reminiscent of the mid-afternoon sky, kissable lips she believed would host smiles as warm as the first sunrise of Spring, a clearly well-endowed chest she could only imagine was soft and so very...
Lexa, no. Anya's voice cracked through her focus, acting as the pissed off angel-warrior on her shoulder, forcing her gaze back up to the blonde's lovely blue eyes. It was hardly a consolation prize among all that the girl brought to the table, physically. But it was that fierce determination, that competitive fire, that mind for clutch performances, that arousing high-energy motor that had the blonde giving her all out on the ice, that had Lexa wondering...
LEXA. NO.
She bit back a sigh, reeling herself back to a more composed state, carefully watching the blonde push off the guardrails and make her way towards the nearest exit. Lexa kept her eyes locked onto the blonde until the girl left her sight, the sound of doors closing signaling her rival's official exit, the end of the girl's personal audience with her, of sorts.
The voice of Taylor Swift immediately began bouncing around in her head once her official distraction was gone, and it had Lexa smiling a little. Oh, she knew that thirty-one was trouble when she walked in. And shame on her for reacting how she had, but now she had a little time to prepare, to figure things out. After all, the last thing she wanted was to get surprised by that blonde and end up lying on the cold hard ice, watching another scoring attempt of hers get foiled by the girl, or worse.
No, she had to find Indra. She had to figure out a plan that would help keep her calm, keep her focused, and far from troubled by a blast from the past likely being a divisional rival. For sure, thirty-one's appearance was the blonde saying that she was here, that she saw Lexa, and that round two was now underway.
Lexa sunk back in her seat, a smile breaking out as she reveled in the excitement of it all. That afternoon's game was suddenly much more interesting, and having home ice advantage gave Lexa an idea of how to fire a return shot across the blonde's bow and truly test the girl's character.
She checked her watch and smiled. Soon...
A/N: Okay, so this is sort of rough, but it wouldn't get out of my head, and while it's starting off a bit slow (there will be some hockey next chapter), I feel good about where I left it off. I thought getting Lexa's unfiltered perception of Clarke first would be fun, letting me do Clarke's take on Lexa next chapter where I'd have more room to work with.
I'm still getting a feel for Lexa and Clarke's voices (and the others, too, to an extent), so that should improve as I go. It's always a bit interesting translating characters from such a different setting to something more...casual, or domestic. Suddenly, a few of the more intense traits mellow a bit, or manifest differently, and it's fun to navigate that process and find a good fit.
The fic won't be TOO hockey-heavy, but there will be some gameday scenes here and there. And I thought choosing the Boston area would keep the east-coast setting in play, and would let me set up an inner-city rivalry that would be difficult to manage elsewhere (NU Huskies = grounders, BC Eagles = skai kru, or sky crew in the modern AU). All in all, it's largely about the characters relating to each other through friendships, rivalries, relationships, etc.
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think :)