AN: Thank you to all of the followers of this story. Shout out to Seven752 for guessing correctly about the inspiration for this story. Stay tuned for your character!


Clarke walked directly towards Lexa who was already behind the bar finishing up the re-stocking of essentials needed for the night.

"Hey." The blonde smiled as she stood beside her with her bag in hand. "Got somewhere I can put this?" She showcased her belongings to the brunette.

Lexa stood from where she organized the glasses and nodded. "Let me show you the lockers, and introduce you to the group."

The girls walked towards the back of the stage and up the steps to the second floor of the building. Clarke looked around the maze of vanity mirrors that littered the space, the bulbs lit and gleaming in her eyes. "Nice." She acknowledged.

"And expensive." The brunette deadpanned. "The lockers are through here." She walked them past the room and into the back where voices could be heard. "Hey guys." Lexa announced as they stepped through the entry way. "This is Clarke, she's our new server."

Everyone halted their discussions and looked towards the girls. Clarke was not one to get stage fight, but their dissecting gazes made her just a bit tense.

"Hey." She managed to choke out while evading direct eye contact and most nodded in return.

"Clarke, this is everyone." Lexa shrugged and looked at the blonde knowing there were too many to introduce one at a time. "You can pick any locker that's empty. Word of advice, bring a lock, some of these girls have sticky fingers." She grinned before she looked provokingly at the dancers. Clarke chortled when the girl dodged a flying high heel. "Good luck." She finished off before walking out of the room, leaving Clarke on her own.

The blonde stood awkwardly silent for a moment as the group of eyes began to drift back towards their original cliques to continue talking. She sighed to herself before she turned to choose a locker she could store her things in. After she found one she stuffed her bag in it and closed it carefully to attract the least amount of attention possible.

"Here girl, I have an extra lock you can borrow." One of the dancers whom she recognized from the previous day approached her with a lock in hand. The blonde smiled and gratefully accepted the item.

"Thanks." She nodded.

"No worries." The girl smiled and leaned casually on the locker next to Clarke's. "I'm Raven."

"Nice to meet you." The blonde replied while shaking out her waist apron.

"So where you from?" Raven asked.

Clarke could tell the girl's accent was not one from California so she replied hoping to trade information. "Virginia. You?"

"Georgia." She smiled proudly.

The blonde studied the girl before she nodded. "Is anyone here from California?" Clarke joked.

Raven let out a small laugh before she straightened up and readied to walk out with the girl. "Actually we're all pretty mixed in here. We have some from all over California, others from the East Coast, and then there's me." She grinned.

"Nice. Well I look forward to meeting everyone." The blonde turned to respond as she observed the dancer taking a seat in front of her mirror. "Thanks for the lock, Raven." They both smiled.

There was an extra bounce to Clarke's step as she walked back towards the bar where Lexa cleaned a wall of mirrors. The exchange with Raven had helped to alleviate some of her anxiety from being 'the new kid at school'.

"There you are." Lexa commented without looking towards the girl. "I was beginning to think they had you cornered."

Clarke smiled before she handed the girl more paper to clean the mirrors with. "Are they really that bad?" She almost laughed, but a small part of her really did worry about the answer.

The brunette shook her head and laughed. "No." She descended the step stool to stand in front of the blonde. "They're all pretty cool. We usually hang out every Friday night after closing. You should join us so you can get to know everyone." Lexa suggested.

She quickly thought about it, but Clarke did not hesitate to nod. With moving to Los Angeles she had taken the biggest leap yet. Getting to know all of her work peers seemed a breeze. "I'll be there." The blonde nodded before they shared one last look and separated to begin their night.

Soon after the door was opened people walked in and waited for the show to commence. Many of them ordered drinks immediately upon arriving and Clarke made handy work of their orders. She felt a great sense of accomplishment whenever they smiled gratefully up at her. The tips for her efficient work were not bad either, and she made a note to split them with Lexa since she was the mastermind behind the tasty mixtures.

Every now and then, when the hustle and bustle slowed enough to take a breath, Clarke would stand with her hip leaning on the bar counter and her eyes glued to the dancers on stage. Every smile and mannerism seemed to convey their enjoyment of the craft, and the blonde wanted to make sure to appreciate as much of their art as she could.

Lexa found herself watching Clarke in between customers as she cheered on the girls. Her wide eyes and smile captivated her. It was almost contagious as she found herself on the verge of breaking a smile in response.

"You like dancing?" Lexa yelled over the music and catcalls as she finished another drink close to where the blonde stood.

She shrugged and turned to look at the bartender. "Can't say either way, but I respect that they are doing something they enjoy."

The brunette squinted curiously at her, amazed by her statement. "There's something more to that and I want to know, but right now it looks like people are starting to get thirsty again." She signaled with her head towards the tables.

"Be right back." She replied with a nod of agreement.

Clarke and Lexa worked nonstop the remainder of the night as the crowd grew for a second night. When closing time came everyone went home exhausted, and the girls did not get the chance to touch base again.


The blonde walked the city with anticipation as she searched for an apartment. She smiled to herself, proud of her accomplishment as she thought about the money she had saved up.

It was not an easy task; however, as she quickly realized that cost of living in downtown was much higher than she estimated. Her options became limited as she began to see the pattern: smaller or farther from the center of it all.

She huffed in frustration as she walked out of the building that caught her eye. The landlord smiled apologetically as she stated that the vacancies for the place consisted of three-bed room apartments that went for much more than she could afford.

The vibrating from her phone became a welcomed distraction from it all. Her smile widened as she opened the text message.

Alexandria: We're going out tonight. We've skipped the last two weeks! I think it's time this happened.

Clarke: Are we doing it right after work or do I need an address?

Alexandria: Immediately after. I'm sure we can all carpool.

Clarke: Sounds good. I'll see you at work, boss.

Alexandria: {-X

Clarke smiled as she saw the text. In recent days she came to learn that Lexa hated when people called her boss, and the blonde immediately made note of it.


The night at Tassels came to an end with the group rushing out after the lights went off.

They stood outside in the parking lot when Clarke took the opportunity during the silence to ask about the sign. She pointed and shrugged.

Lexa laughed. "You've been dying to ask right?" The blonde nodded.

"It's an ancient superstition." Echo deadpanned without looking at Clarke, her eyes instead fixed on Bellamy, one of the band members.

Clarke sensed some tension and suddenly cleared her throat. She looked around the group to continue. "What's the superstition?"

"If the sign goes off, the business goes broke." Raven responded and nodded once she saw the blonde's confused look. "It goes back to before Indra owned it. The previous owners used the last penny they had to buy the sign, and their business flourished in a changing society here in L.A. But one night, a new server who was closing with the owner turned the lights off- including the sign, and all hell broke loose. The business began to fail as less and less customers came in and more and more bills went unpaid. A couple of months later the bank owned the place." Everyone listened on as Raven continued. "The real explanation is that there was a war going on so fewer men were around to enjoy the show, but when Indra's family bought the place and heard the story," She paused. "Well let's just say they pretty much took that light switch out."

Small laughs went around the group before they made arrangements to carpool to their hang out spot.

When Clarke stepped into the pool hall alongside Lexa she felt welcomed, but she definitely felt slightly out of place. The group of coworkers-turned friends all laughed and teased as they ordered drinks and made their way to any available pool tables.

It seemed everyone had quirks and habits that worked for each other, and she felt she had much to learn in order to feel as much a part of the homogenized group as they were.

She walked up to the bartender and ordered a pitcher of beer and extra mugs before she made her way to where Lexa stood. Placing the stuff on the cocktail table between them she smiled and pointed to the drink to encourage the brunette to start them off.

A few minutes later, after two of the guys from the band yelled simultaneously in victory, Clarke and Lexa were challenged to a round.

"Losers buy the next round." The younger man stated the terms with a playful grin.

Lexa didn't respond with words. Instead she made her way to the wall that housed several pool sticks to choose hers. She motioned for Clarke to follow her. "You good?" She whispered to keep their opponents in the dark.

Clarke nodded. "I'm not a pro, but I can hold my own." She chose her own pool stick on a whim, not caring that Lexa did the correct thing by rolling it on the green felt to see which one bounced the least.

"Clarke this is Monty and that's Bellamy." She looked at the blonde and then walked towards the end of the table where Monty stood. "Alright start the lag." Lexa leered formidably at the shorter boy and they commenced the game with Lexa winning the lag for first break.

The brunette exchanged puns and teasing insults with the guys the entire match. Clarke laughed in between sips of her beer and her own turn at pocketing several stripes.

When he sensed an impending defeat, Bellamy eyed the blonde fastidiously as she set up to hit, but Clarke paid no attention as she focused on what could be the final shot.

Lexa squinted arrogantly at the girl when they locked eyes briefly, and nodded to signal it was time for the game to end.

Clarke calculated her sweet spot on the cue ball before it spun effortlessly, narrowly avoiding a solid on its way to pocketing the Eight Ball. It stopped just in time to avoid a scratch and Lexa jumped victoriously before making her way to the blonde to high five her emphatically.

"Nice shot, Clarke!" Clarke smiled haughtily knowing the game was theirs from the beginning.

The girls grinned as they turned to the guys, their solemn looks of defeat served as sufficient reward, but Clarke decided to tease. "We'll have another pitcher of Stella Artois, please." They chuckled on their way to the cocktail table.

Music began to play in the lounge as they drank around the table with Monty and Bellamy. Clarke enjoyed the company as they talked about what they did and where they lived. There was the occasional playful banter between Lexa and the guys, which the blonde concluded was similar to that of the older brothers and their sister.

Eventually the discussion shifted from the three people to her, and though she was hesitant to get too serious with them so soon, she did open up to share her story.

Clarke left out any reason beyond needing a change of environment as she told them why she moved from Virginia to Los Angeles.

"No shit. So you're an artist?" Bellamy asked impressed by her admission.

She nodded. "I like to paint, draw, sculpt, anything where I can make my visions come to life." She shrugged and drank her beer.

Monty smiled. "That's cool and quite a coincidence because Lexa here is an artist of sorts." He slapped playfully at the brunette's shoulder.

Her blue eyes searched the green ones beside her. "Really? How so?" The blonde asked.

Lexa shook her head and glared at Monty for opening his mouth and divulging such information. "I'm kind of a writer."

Clarke looked at the girl in esteem. She could never write anything worthy of readers, even if her life depended on it. It was something she often envied classmates for. "That's great, Lexa. You have anything I can read some time?" She smiled hopefully.

The brunette shook her head softly. "Nothing…yet. I'm not done. I can never finish."

"Nothing worth creating is ever that simple to create." The blonde nodded understanding what Lexa felt.

"Yeah." Lexa shrugged and lifted her mug to her lips. "But anyway, how about you, want to share a painting or something?" She looked back at the blonde.

"Maybe soon." She taunted the group with her response before she caught the girl from the parking lot approaching their huddle.

Her eyes bore into Clarke's before they shifted to Bellamy. "Hey Bell, want to give me a ride home?"

Bellamy swallowed his drink and cleared his throat. Echo's hands rubbed circles on his back. "Um, I've been drinking. Let me arrange a rideshare." He fumbled with his pant pocket to pull out his phone.

"No." Echo stopped his hands from moving as she clung to his side. "I can get my own rideshare, but I was hoping you would join me."

Lexa raised her eyebrows suggestively at the pair and gulped her beer to conceal a grin. Clarke watched the exchange uncomfortably close from where Echo stood between her and Bellamy.

"Yup. Let's go." Bellamy nodded then and waved to the group before he turned on his heel to walk out with the girl. She spared a smile at Monty and Lexa, but skipped Clarke in the process.

"Well that was awkward." Clarke looked at the two people left and her half-empty beer mug.

Lexa laughed. "They are something else. Those two can't stand each other, but they can't stay away."

Monty nodded in agreement. "What's with Echo shooting daggers at Clarke, though?" He knitted his brows and looked at both girls.

"You noticed that too?" Clarke chuckled and slapped her palm on the table top, unaware of her strength and her fading sobriety.

The brunette laughed too. "We both did. Echo's just being Echo. She's a handful, but we all learned to deal with her flaws. You have nothing to worry about." She smiled at Clarke and patted her on the shoulder.

A few more rounds of pool were played before most of them called it quits and parted ways, leaving Lexa, Raven, and Clarke to ride together.

They sang out loud to the music that blasted from the stereo before they approached Raven's apartment. She carefully exited the car and laughed with a hiccup as she successfully avoided tripping on the curb. "See you guys tomorrow." The girl waved clumsily at them before she entered the double doors to the high-rise.

Lexa sighed as she shifted the car into gear and turned to Clarke. "Where to, Virginia?"

Clarke shook her head and rolled her eyes at the girl before she leaned back in the seat. Her eyes drifted towards the brunette and it took her a minute to collect her thoughts before she could continue.

"I'm close to Union Station." Clarke responded as she pulled up the map on her phone feeling silly at her lack of city knowledge. "Sorry." She toyed with zooming in and out of the area.

"No worries." Lexa shrugged before she turned up the music once more so they could sing along to it on their ride.

When they arrived to the hotel Clarke was staying at Lexa whistled and shifted into park. "You must be paying an arm and a leg to stay here, Clarke." She studied the girl's face and her suspicions were affirmed when the blonde nodded. "Haven't found a place, yet?"

"Not yet." Clarke shook her head. "But I have a walk-through scheduled at a place on Lucas and 3rd." She smiled hopefully. "Maybe that will be the one."

Lexa nodded. "Good luck."

Clarke yawned and the brunette stifled a low laugh. "Go rest, Clarke. I'll see you tomorrow at work." She suggested and shook her head when the blonde nodded with droopy eyes.

"It was fun. Good night." She waved before disappearing into the hotel lobby.

TBC…

I love it when Lexa calls Clarke "Virginia". Ain't it cute? I think so. Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Let me know how you feel. P.S. sorry for any mistakes in grammar, punctuation, etc.