Exhausted after a long day of endless meetings and negotiation, Lexa was relieved to arrive on her floor at last. Relieved, that is, until the elevator doors opened on a group of three unfamiliar people. She blinked, eyes quickly darting to assure she'd stopped on the correct floor. Yes, floor 11.
"Please move." She demanded quietly, arching an eyebrow. Lexa smirked internally as the people- a girl and two boys- parted hastily to let her pass. She noted the frown on the girls' face, and thought, I said it nicely. She's lucky she got that much. The three moved into the elevator and Lexa heard the door slide shut behind her as she pulled out her keys. Raven's door was still cracked, and Lexa heard her neighbor speaking to someone.
"Yeah, Abby. She's been staying with me and just took off." A pause. "No, no. Don't come over. I know I wasn't there when it happened, but I'm the one she reached out to. I can relate better than most, and knew them, ya know?" Another pause. "She'll come back, all her shit's here, and even though she's been through two deployments since we were over there together, I think I can help." Another pause, but Lexa was over her threshold and she shut her door, pondering the small bit she'd overheard.
So Raven had a friend staying with her. Lexa, who had her bedroom situated for fire-escape access, had heard vague sounds of someone living in the room next door, but hadn't actually talked to Raven much and had simply assumed that the girl had just changed rooms.
But that wasn't the case. It was someone having a difficult time of some sort, possibly related to military service deployment. Lexa frowned as she changed into her nightclothes and brushed her teeth, allowing thoughts of her childhood on various bases to come to the forefront of her mind. She heard a loud grunt of frustration from next door and assumed Raven was having very little success.
Lexa found herself reflecting on the drama next door (whatever it may be) before opening her journal and beginning to catalogue her thoughts for the day. Turning off her light a few minutes later, she rolled over and was instantly asleep.
L.W.L.W.L.W.
Lexa was running a little behind schedule the next morning. She'd have to cut her gym time down, but it was not the worst thing in the world. She'd received an early morning call from an associate in Tokyo whom had no sense of decency and nothing truly important to talk about. Frowning in annoyance, she tapped her foot as she waited for the elevator. The ding as it arrived caused her neighbors door to open immediately.
"Griffin?" Lexa turned and noted Raven's disheveled appearance. She'd clearly been up all night. Lexa said nothing, clearly she was not this Griffin person. Raven rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Oh, Lexa. Hey. Did you by any chance see a blonde girl leaving the building last night?" Lexa shook her head negatively and Raven surged on, offering up information that was neither necessary or interesting to Lexa. "My friend has been staying here, and she got a bit upset last night. She took off and hasn't come back, I think she went out the fire escape." Lexa backed into the elevator.
"I have not seen your friend." Raven's face fell and Lexa was inwardly amused to note she looked like a kicked puppy.
"Well, I'm not sure she's staying or if she's coming back, but if you see a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that kinda looks all frowny…" Lexa got in a nod before the doors closed on her chatty neighbor.
Waving at Miller as she exited the door, Lexa made her ways to the gym where she endured a high-intensity workout with her training partner, Anya.
"You were late." Anya stated. Lexa shrugged, just finishing her cool-down run.
"Call from Japan."
"Good one?"
"No." Lexa had met Anya a few years back when they had both attended the same cycling class, and she genuinely enjoyed the taller girls' company. Anya didn't seem to mind her stoicism, and didn't insist on shoving her nose into Lexa's business. Lexa would even go so far as to call her a friend. Anya was one of the few people in the city that had her personal cell number, and they occasionally met up outside of their training sessions.
Lexa received a call from her assistant, Indra, as she was heading back to her building. The call was to notify her that her morning meeting had been rescheduled. Lexa was secretly relieved, and informed Indra that she would be coming in late and doing some work from home. She walked past the elevators and started climbing the stairs, thinking it would make up for the shortened workout of the morning. She was rounding the last half flight when she came upon someone leaning against the wall, staring at the door to floor eleven. There was an overlarge grey hoodie obstructing most of their face.
"The door will not open itself." She commented, pausing. The girl turned toward her and Lexa felt the air leave her lungs. Her heart started beating faster and she struggled to clamp down on any outward emotional reaction. The girl had piercing blue eyes that swept Lexa from head to toe and only years in a board room dominated by men who thought she was too young and too female helped Lexa hold her ground. The scrutiny was quick and professional, and Lexa knew that this girl missed very little-she was a reader, someone that had exceptional judgment and a strong amount of empathy.
The girl huffed and turned away.
"I'm waiting for my friend to leave so I can get my things and go." Lexa frowned as she watched this beautiful girl-she assumed it was Raven's friend Griffin-shut down from her initial interest. Normally she admired a person that could detach their emotions, but watching as the girls face settled into a stiff frown and her eyes glazed over was somehow unsettling.
"Raven will not be pleased." The girl whipped her head around immediately, eyes going wide.
"How…?" Lexa unzipped her bag to grab her keys, starting to make her way up the last bit to her floor.
"She asked me this morning to keep an eye out for a girl who was all frowny-" Griffin's lips twitched at this "-with blonde hair and blue eyes. I assume that is you." Lexa heard movement behind her and paused, her hand on the door to the hallway. "I am her neighbor, Lexa. I assume you are Griffin?" She turned around, meeting the girls eyes. She could drown in those eyes...
"Yes, but most people call me Clarke." Oh god, Clarke was biting her lip. She looked conflicted, but then smirked suddenly. "Had Raven mentioned how very attractive you were, I would have pursued an alternate form of therapy last night." Lexa felt her jaw drop and her body start to flush. Usually Lexa was much more in control than this, but a few words from the insanely attractive woman had her feeling adrift and unsure. She swallowed, and then decided to fight fire with fire.
"Should you choose to stay, you are welcome to use the fire escape to access my apartment at any time you are in need." Satisfied, Lexa made her exit and didn't look back.
Once safely ensconced in her apartment, Lexa leaned heavily against the door and released a breath. What just happened?
L.W.L.W.L.W.
After unsuccessfully trying to get some work done in her apartment, Lexa slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out. Veering toward the stairs again-she prefered to take them, really, it wasn't because that's where she'd met Raven's friend- she opened the door to the stairwell and saw that she was correct in assuming that the blonde girl had not moved. At first, wild blue eyes shot up at the sound of the door opening. Lexa noticed that the girl also automatically shifted subtly into a fighting stance before recognizing Lexa and relaxing. Lexa only raised an eyebrow (play it cool, Lexa) and started descending the stairs, leaving the girl behind without a further word.
Arriving at her office twenty minutes later, Lexa proceeded to have a fairly productive day, which included: siccing Indra on an employee that mislabelled an invoice, calling back her associate in Japan at precisely 2 a.m. Tokyo time as a follow up to their morning conversation, finishing up her third quarter financial reports and attending two late afternoon meetings with junior associates that she thoroughly enjoyed by ripping their proposals to shreds. Feeling fairly good about her productivity for the day, she arrived back at her front door (taking the elevator this time) and pushed it open. She glanced at the stairwell door and paused as she saw bright blue eyes through the glass. She assumed Clarke was checking to see if it was Raven's door that opened.
Hesitating only a moment, Lexa gestured with her hands for Clarke to join her in her apartment. Clarke looked briefly confused, but slowly eased the stairwell door open, padding over to the open door. Lexa noted her bare feet as she brushed by on her way inside. Clarke waited until Lexa's door was fully closed before speaking softly.
"Thanks."
Lexa slung her bag on a hook by the door and stepped toward her kitchen, noting the way Clarke surveyed her living space. It was very modern, but minimalist. Lexa wondered if Raven had the same layout as she did.
"You are welcome. Would you like a glass of wine?" Clarke turned fully toward her and Lexa was struck again by her beauty, though now that her hood was down she could see that Clarke's hair was a tangled mess.
"Absolutely." Was Clarke's answer. As Lexa poured the wine, she contemplated what to say.
"Is it customary for you to remove your shoes before exiting the building? Did Miller give you grief about it?" Clarke scrunched her nose up, accepting the glass of red.
"I went for a run and they fell off. I also went out the fire escape, so the doorman didn't say anything to me." She paused, her mind flashing briefly to the beer from the evening before. "I'm not sure why he'd be the one to say something, though." Lexa smiled, taking a sip.
"Miller is a supremely observant person, and takes pride in caring for all the tenants here." Clarke hmmed and turned away.
"I like your apartment. It's way cleaner than Raven's. Turns out she's a complete slob." Lexa was not surprised.
"You served with her?" She asked, bringing Clarke's attention back to her. Clarke frowned that Lexa knew this information.
"Marine Corps, yes. How did you know?" Lexa shrugged.
"I knew Raven had served- I didn't realize she is a Marine, though- and I grew up on Army bases, so I recognized you as Military."
"Oh." The both fell quiet for a bit, before Lexa added,
"Also, I overheard Raven talking about deployments last night." Clarke relaxed and laughed shortly before taking another gulp of wine.
"What did she say?" she asked. Lexa tilted her head, observing the girl. She saw both unease and a large amount of pain in Clarke's eyes.
"That is all I heard, really. But she is worried about you." Clarked huffed. Lexa gestured at Clarke's feet. "Clearly, she had reason to be if you are without shoes."
"Tough feet," Clarke remarked dryly, giving Lexa a halfhearted smile. "And I know. That she's worried."
Lexa swirled the red liquid in her glass, before saying softly after a minute, "New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings." Clarke locked eyes with her and Lexa found herself unable to look away.
"Lao Tzu, right?" Clarke ventured. Lexa nodded slowly, surprised. Clarke's eyes glazed over in thought briefly before sharpening in focus once again. She tipped the wine glass back, both emptying the glass and breaking the charged eye contact that was happening. Clarke placed the glass on Lexa's counter, looking toward the door. "I should go talk to her." She made her way to the door, hand hovering on the doorknob. Turning, she said quietly, "Thanks, Lexa." And then she was gone.
