A/N: Hi friends. I know a bunch of you were asking if I was going to keep writing and if I had anything planned after Love Me Like You Mean It. Surprise! To be honest though I've had this planned since I started writing LMLYMI. I was torn between the two ideas. I had a vision for the characters but I didn't know what path to take them down and I didn't see a way of really merging the two ideas. So since I can, I decided to write this anyways. There may be a few things similar to LMLYMI but i hope you like this for what it is too.

Chapter 1

Lexa took a deep breath and stretched out her neck muscles. She had been on campus for all of a month and already she was dying from law school. She liked to think of herself as a good student but it didn't come as easily for her as it did for others. She had chosen Duke Law because of her best friend, even though she knew the woman wasn't going to be at the school any longer, opting to go right to the police academy instead of getting her masters in criminal justice. Regardless it was the right choice and fit for her and after her girlfriend, now ex-girlfriend had decided to jet off to L.A. for law school it was a nice change of scenery.

To say she took the break-up wouldn't exactly be accurate. She felt betrayed and hurt and at this point in time she was more so numb than anything else. She had had a sneaking suspicion before the summer had begun that her ex-girlfriend was hiding something from it. She had been distant and emotionally checked out, so in many ways Lexa had sort of processed the break-up before it had even actually happened.

It was weird to be in a new town with no real friends yet but thankfully her best friend had come through once again. She had always talked about this restaurant and how it was good for studying during the day and great for letting loose once the sun went down. So for the past week Lexa had found herself sitting in the same booth at Jake's Boathouse. Thus far she had come to the conclusion that it was a good place during the day to focus and study, she'd had to get to testing if it the latter was also true.

"Hi, can I get you a coffee or something?" Lexa had barely looked up from her textbook, if you could call what she did looking up at all when she heard the woman's voice ask her softly.

"No thank you." She half smiled before submerging herself back into her book. She wasn't sure where the woman went but Lexa thanked God for not having to deal with that right now. The last thing she needed was something hitting on her when she was trying to focus.

Her curly hair was up in a messy bun, her reading glasses were on, her ear buds were in, she was ready to study, not flirt.

Two weeks later, as she was studying away in the same booth as always she heard those now familiar words yet again. "You seem like you're working hard, can I get you a drink or a bite to eat?"

Finally Lexa looked up from her textbook, something she hadn't done the three prior times the same woman asked her the same question. She was about to being entirely ruder than she should have been and then she saw sparkling blue eyes looking at her with a smile brighter than the sun on a summer day.

She smiled after taking a moment to regain her breath. "I'm good, thanks though." The woman nodded, the same smile still on her face. She apparently took rejection well.

"Good song though, enjoy your studying." She said in reference to the Jackson 5 song playing on the brunettes phone and with that the blonde woman walked away leaving Lexa with a weird feeling in her stomach. A feeling she knew could be trouble.

XOXO

Two months later, Anya finally came to visit her. "When you told me to meet you here, I thought you were joking. I'm surprised you aren't at the library studying but this is a nice change. I miss crazy party Lexa."

Lexa raised an eyebrow at her best friend. "I just don't want to let anyone down."

"Lex, you aren't going to let anyone down. You know as well as I do your parents will love you regardless. I mean they've put up with you for this long."

Rolling her eyes Lexa couldn't help but laugh. Her best friend always seemed to know the best smart-ass thing to say at the right moment. "I swear this girl never gives up." Lexa said as she looked over at the blonde coming her way. "Every time I come in here, she always asks if I want a drink or something and no matter how many times I say no, she keeps trying. She's persistent, I'll give her that and amazingly beautiful but I'm not trying to do that right now."

"Oh have you set your player ways aside for the time being?" Anya bit her lip in an attempt to not burst out into laughter.

"I thought I saw your ugly face from across the room." The woman grinned at Anya.

"I miss you to jack ass." Anya stood up and gave the woman a hug much to Lexa's confusion.

"What brings you back to these parts?" The blonde asked, not once looking in Lexa's direction.

"Visiting my best friend, funny story she thinks you keep hitting on her." Lexa's eyes went wide as they yelled at her best friend to shut up.

The woman bit her lip with a soft chuckle. "That explains a lot then."

Anya nodded as she continued to laugh. "Lexa, this is Clarke, Clarke this is Lexa."

"The Lexa?" Clarke asked, receiving a nod as an answer. "Well it's nice to finally meet you Lexa, I've heard a lot about you. Coffee, black?" She asked in Anya's direction.

"You know me so well Griffin."

"And a no thanks for you right?" Clarke joked.

"She'll have a coffee, two milk…"

"…Three sugar." Clarke finished before walking off.

Lexa waited until she was positive Clarke was out of earshot. "What in the real fuck was that?"

Anya kept laughing as she leaned back into the seat of the booth. "Clarke Griffin," she pointed in Clarke's direction, "she owns the place, it was handed down from her father. She's in medical school, she's going to be a fancy doctor someday."

"Are you telling me that she's only been asking if I wanted something because it's her job?"

"Afraid so kid, looks like you don't have it anymore but what I don't understand is if you thought she was hitting on you and you look at her like that why you haven't asked her out yet."

Lexa shook her head while taking a deep breath. "I have to focus, and I'm still not ready to be with someone, she doesn't strike me as the rebound type of girl. That and I don't know her, along with you just embarrassed the hell out of me in front of her."

Anya shrugged. "Clarke doesn't take things to heart, but it could be a good story to tell the grandkids someday. You know, how you thought their grandmother was hitting on you when she was just doing her job."

"Sorry about the wait ladies, Jasper is to busy hitting on Maya to pay attention to the orders so I made them myself. However, if they suck, it was all Jasper." Lexa couldn't help but stare at the way Clarke smiled.

"Thanks Griff."

"Thank you Clarke." Lexa smiled in a way that she hadn't in a long time, and all because a pretty girl brought her a coffee.

"Hopefully it'll get you to order more often." Clarke laughed as she ran a hand through her hair. "If you need anything else, you know where to find me. It was nice seeing you A-dawg."

Anya laughed. "You too, if you're home later I'll stop by and say hi to Raven and Octavia."

"Give us a call, I'm sure one of us will be home."

XOXO

"Wait that was Clarke, the Clarke? The one you were always talking about?" Lexa finally clued in as they walked across campus.

Anya burst into a fit of laughter. "Yes, that was the Clarke."

"I am such an idiot." Lexa shook her head at herself. "I can't believe that I thought she was hitting on me for weeks. How was I so blind?"

"You're always that blind my friend but it's alright, that's why I'm here but you go home and get ready, because we're going out tonight."

"Where are you going?"

"To see Raven and Octavia, if I don't take a picture with them for Gus, he may cry actual tears. I'll meet you at Jake's for nine?"

Lexa nodded. "Sounds good."

XOXO

"Ah, there she is. Raven, Octavia this is Lexa."

"Best childhood friend Lexa?" Raven asked.

Smiling Lexa extended her hand to both women. "That's me."

"Welcome to DU, Anya you should have told us she was here, we would have corrupted her sooner! Any friend of Anya's is a friend of ours."

"You all housed together for a year right?"

All the girls nodded. "Sort of, Anya lived with Clarke, and we lived next door." Raven clarified.

"What's she's failing to mention is that they were constantly at our place, eating my food."

"Half of it was Clarke's." Octavia grinned proudly.

"And I hooked ya'll up with a whole lot of cool tech. You could literally control your shower with your phone and the all the lights in the place."

Lexa nodded her head and started pointing her finger. "She told me about that, that was you?"

"In the flesh. I'm kind of a genius. How come you never came to visit before?"

"You'll have to buy me a drink before I answer that one." Lexa said as she looked around the bar. Of course now, when she actually wanted a drink Clarke was nowhere to be found.

Raven and Octavia both gave Anya approving looks. "My kind of gal right here, first round is on me." Octavia nodded her head once more before moving the direction of the bar.

"I love that she says like she's pays for drinks." Anya laughed as they watched Octavia disappear through the crowd. "Even if her best friend didn't own the place, she's sleeping with the bartender!"

"He's hot, I give her credit." Lexa approved as she saw Octavia walking through the crowd with a tray of shots after she leaned across the bar and kissed the bartender. "Wait, where's Clarke?" Lexa questioned.

"Yeah, where the fuck is blondie?" Anya screamed over the music.

Octavia took one of the shots and set the empty glass down on the table with a bang. "She said she was going home to get cleaned up and changed."

"I swear if she fell asleep, so help her God." Anya huffed, knowing that her ex-roommate falling asleep when she was supposed to be getting ready wasn't out of the question. Without wasting another minute she picked up one of the shots and took it back.

"Better?" Lexa questioned as she too lifted a glass to her mouth after cheersing with Raven.

"Not yet, but we're getting there." Anya answered honestly as her head started to bounce with the beat of the music. "I swear if she's at home sleeping or studying, I'll have her head."

Raven laughed and watched as an arm wrapped around Anya's shoulders. "Somebody told me, you had a boyfriend that looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year." Clarke sang over the music and into Anya's ear.

Letting go of her friend Clarke backed up slightly. "Sorry I'm late."

"That's alright Clarkey, we were just getting to know Lexa and drinking."

XOXO

Four shots each later, all five women started singing loudly, thankful that music that was being played drowned them out. "Shot through the heart and you're to blame, darling you give love a bad name. You give love a bad name." Both Clarke and Lexa started playing air guitars while Raven pretended to play the drums leaving Octavia playing what they all figured was the bass. They all looked at Anya, who just kept singing.

Clarke would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed how beautiful Lexa was right away but as drunk as she was standing in her bar she had no words for the beauty of the woman that was dancing next to her. The moment their hands brushed they looked at each other and Clarke was positive that Lexa had felt what she had but they both played it off like it was nothing. Yep, Lexa was going to be trouble for her but she was focused and she told herself that she wouldn't let herself lose that focus. Especially for someone she knew wasn't available.

XOXO

Lexa woke up the next morning in her own bed, though she had no idea of how she had gotten there. She remembered the night everyone saying goodnight and the way Clarke smiled at her when she left but past that she's was lost. Rubbing her temples she slowly rolled out of bed, nearly tripping on her boots as she made her way to the door. Pulling it open she heard a groan coming from the couch. Looking over the back of it she saw Anya, blanket half around herself, with a pillow over her head instead of out of it. Shaking her head Lexa made her way into the kitchen to grab some advil and water.

The room was still a little fuzzy to here, even after she downed the first glass. Somehow she managed to make her way back into her bed. It took about five minutes before she rolled over to attempt to try her phone. She spent ten minutes looking for it after that but came up empty. She even went so far as to wake Anya up in hopes that maybe the woman fell asleep on it.

"You probably left it at Jake's." Her friend groaned as she laid back down, pulling the pillow back over top of her head.

Huffing Lexa tried to remember if she had somehow left it at the bar but the details were all kind of fuzzy. Taking a deep breath she decided that a shower would help and that she would deal with the rest once she didn't smell like a brewery. Or maybe it was Anya that smelled that way; at any rate she needed a shower.

XOXO

Without really thinking Lexa pulled the door to Jake's boathouse open and only realized once she walked in that things were slightly different than normal. Usually, during the day music was softly playing in the background but this morning it was louder than normal. There was also no one else in the room, which she found a little odd. It was then that she saw a flash of blonde hair come around a corner, mop in her hand. She wanted to call out and say something but she was captivated by the way Clarke danced around with the mop while using it as a microphone.

"I don't need no money, fortune or fame. I got all the riches baby, one man can claim."

"You know I thought you liking my music choice was another way for you to hit on me. Guess I was wrong." She finally called out, snapping the blonde out of her daze.

"Shit, sorry we're closed." Clarke yelled over the music as she scrunched her eyebrows and shook her head at herself. "I thought I locked the door." Rolling her eyes at herself, Clarke moved towards the large jukebox in the corner of the room and turned it down.

"Sorry I didn't realize until it was to late. I was actually just wondering if anyone found a phone last night?"

Clarke smiled and nodded her head in a way that told Lexa to come in. "Is this it?" Clarke asked picking a phone up from behind the bar.

"Fraid not."

"Hmm, how about this one?" Clarke smiled but Lexa still shook her head no. "Okay, idea, how about you use mine to call yours and see if it rings."

Lexa thought for a second. "Worth a shot."

"Have at it." Clarke reached into her pocket and handed Lexa her phone.

"No lock, you're a brave soul."

Clarke laughed. "I'm to boring for anyone to want to break into my phone. I'm literally here, or studying."

"Anya was saying, I'm sorry again that I didn't realize you were Anya's med school roommate."

"Like I said last night, no need to apologize. Maybe one of these days I really will hit on you." She winked as Lexa finished dialing her number.

"Was that you hitting on me?"

Before Clarke could answer they heard a phone ringing across the bar. Stopping they look at each other and made their way towards the sound. Once they reached one of the booths Clarke reached between the backrest and seat. "Is this it?"

Lexa's eyes lit up as she hit the end call button on the phone that was in her hand. "It is!"

"It must have fallen out of your pocket when that girl was sitting on your lap."

Shaking her head for a second she looked up at Clarke wide eyed as they exchanged phones. "What girl in my lap?"

"You don't remember?" Lexa shook her head as she followed Clarke back towards the bar. She watched as Clarke moved around and poured a glass of orange juice. "I think you need this. This really drunk girl came up to you and just sat down on your lap. You had no idea what to do, it was hilarious."

"Thanks for helping a girl out and I'm not referring to the orange juice though I will be drinking that."

Clarke shrugged. "I tried but Anya stopped me."

"Thank you Anya." She joked. "Makes me glad she's lying on my couch suffering. I'll let you get back to your cleaning?"

"Listen, my cleaning methods are stellar."

"How are you not dying after last night is what I want to know?"

Smiling Clarke turned the jukebox back up. "It's a family secret but you're welcome to stay and sing along if you know the words. I know how grumpy Anya is after a night out, and she'll probably just bother you for pancakes. Consider it me repaying you for not saving you last night."

Everything in Lexa told her that she should probably head home and yet she found herself grabbing the mop from where it sat against the wall. "I suppose I need to repay you for the orange juice, and finding my phone."

"I'll take it and I'll even let you pick the next song."

Laughing Lexa walked over to the jukebox and looked over her shoulder at Clarke who was now sitting on top of the bar bopping her head to the music. "You went to school to learn girl, things you never never knew before." She danced around the room with the mop, similar to how she had found Clarke.

As the beat changed, Lexa pulled the mop up in front of herself. "Sit down girl, I think I love ya. No get up girl show me what you can do." She sang in Clarke's direction causing the blonde to get up off the bar and grab another mop. They danced around the room, barely paying attention to the mopping they were supposed to be doing.

They broke into a fit of laughter once the song ended. "I got something for you." Clarke winked as she walked over to the machine and changed the song. She turned around singing once the music started. "Sugar pie honey bunch you know that I love you. I can't help myself, I love you and nobody else"

"You actually have a really good voice." Lexa said over the music as they went back to mopping the sticky alcohol covered floor.

"Thanks, you have some nice moves."

Lexa 'dusted' the dirt off her shoulders. "I was the dance commander once upon a time." Clarke raised an eyebrow. "Story for another time, we just met after all."

"You're kind of charming when you aren't assuming I'm hitting on you."

"You asked me if I wanted a drink."

Clarke looked around the place. "Had you taken the time to look up at me, you would have realized I work here. Especially after the third time, past that I was being an ass."

"Now I know why she calls you snarky Clarkey." Rolling her eyes the blonde flipped her off before they started laughing again.

"I think this is the start to a beautiful friendship but while we're on the subject can I get you anything?"

"I really want a plum right now but I'm guessing you don't have any of those lying around here?"

Clarke looked at her strangely before letting out a laugh. "No, I can't say I keep plums around here, but I can make pancakes."

"I could go for pancakes, and did I hear you call this," she pointed between them, "a friendship."

"It better be if I'm making you pancakes, I'm not easy enough to just give 'em up." She threw over her shoulder as she walked behind the same door Lexa had seen her come through earlier. Yep, this was definitely going to be a beautiful friendship. Was all she could think as she went to sit down in her typical booth. "Aren't you going to help?" Clarke asked, sticking her just her head out from behind the door. "Come on back."

All Lexa could do was nod as she got up and followed Clarke. Not a single thought of Costia in her mind, and the aching in her chest temporarily gone.

TBC

A/N: As always feel free to come and hang out with me on tumblr... faithangel3 I like to think I've gotten better at in the past little bit.