Wow. Apologies to anyone who saw that funky looking mess of a chapter before I had a chance to upload again. Kudos to kiara66 for giving me the heads up.
When Lexa woke to the sound of an enthusiastic rendition of 'Do you Want to Build a Snowman,' she learned something about the girl next door. Her taste in music was clearly as unapologetically bad as her own. She shuffled out to the kitchen and put on some coffee, the sound of her coffee maker blocking any further songs from Frozen assaulting her ears so early in the morning. She didn't hate it, and if she was being honest she'd listened to the soundtrack religiously after it had first come out, but there were only so many times she could listen to the same four songs without driving herself mad.
Lexa knew how she liked to structure her mornings. She'd worked out not long after starting at the department that if she didn't give herself enough time in the mornings for a coffee and a long shower, she would spend the entire day grumpy and uncomfortable. As strange as she felt about the decision to sing along with the girl in the shower two days ago, she wasn't going to let it keep her from starting the day in a good mood.
Hearing the sound of the shower starting up from her neighbouring apartment, Clarke didn't even stop to think before jumping in the shower herself. Turning up the volume a few notches on her iPod speakers to make sure she would be able to hear it over the water and rushing into the bathroom, she turned on the shower and sang out the final lines of 'For the First Time in Forever' before pausing for the track to change. This was too good an opportunity to throw away.
"'Cause for the first time in forever, for the first time in forever, nothing's in my way!"
Lexa sighed. She was still holding out hope that by the time they inevitably met, the girl next door would have forgotten what had happened the other morning, and they could live in perfect ignorance of one another like she had with all the other tenants of that apartment. However as soon as she heard the shower next door and felt the accompanying cold splash of water, an unavoidable side effect of their interconnected plumbing, she knew the girl next door had not forgotten.
"All my life has been a series of doors in my face, and then suddenly I bump into you,"
In fact, it seemed as though this was somehow a request for it to happen again. Perhaps she was not as weirded out about the situation as Lexa thought she may be. Either way, Lexa wasn't going to let her down.
"I was thinking the same thing! 'Cause like, I've been searching my whole life to find my own place, and maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue,"
Lexa heard a giggle from the girl next door, though she wasn't sure whether it was in character or in response to Lexa's attempt to sing much lower than she normally would, her voice a gravelly accompaniment to Hans'.
"But with you"
"But with you I've found my place"
"I see your face"
"And it's nothing like I've ever known before"
Clarke heard the voice next door clearly struggling with the low notes of the song, but she had to admit it was almost… endearing? She couldn't place why, but the thought that this complete stranger was willing to indulge her rather childish whim was thrilling, and, despite herself, she giggled. She felt like she was eight years old, cradling a little exciting secret in her hands. Clarke knew the whole situation was weird, but she couldn't deny the joy that bubbled up inside her when she heard the woman singing back to her through the wall.
"Love is an open door! Love is an open door!"
"Love is an open door with you"
"With you,"
"With you,"
"With you!"
"Love is an open door."
But also, this was hilarious. And pretty unbelievable. Clarke made a mental note to tell Monty about this, he would eat it up.
"I mean it's crazy,"
"What?"
"We finish each other's–"
"Sandwiches"
"That's what I was gonna say!"
"I've never met someone who thinks so much like me- Jinx! Jinx again!
Our mental synchronisation, can have but one explanation."
"You"
"And I"
"Were"
"Just"
"Meant"
"To be!"
Lexa could feel her time slipping slowly and surely away from her as she stood in her shower, long beyond clean, purely to continue singing with the girl next door. She was going to have to get dressed very quickly if she planned to make it out the door on time to get to work, but she certainly didn't have any regrets.
"Say goodbye"
"Say goodbye"
"To the pain of the past, we don't have to feel it anymore!
"Love is an open door! Love is an open door! Life can be so much more,"
"With you,"
"With you,"
"With you,"
"With you!"
"Love is an open door!"
While probably one of the more ridiculous things she'd ever done, she found herself enjoying the time spent with her mysterious neighbour. Turning off the taps, she stepped out of the shower and rushed to do her hair before throwing on her uniform and running out of the apartment block, wishing the whole time that she could have stayed just a little longer.
"Yo, Granola," Lexa called out from the break room, "can I ask you something?"
"Seriously, stop calling me that," Lincoln answered, though clearly unfazed, "what's up?"
"You ever made eye contact with a stranger on a train or something when you know you're both thinking the same thing? Like if someone was doing something embarrassing and you share a look with someone else watching."
"I think I know where you're coming from, actually, I went down to that 7-Eleven on my block a couple weeks back and some dude was having a go at the checkout lady because they weren't selling cinnamon chewing gum. Anyway, the guy walked out and we both just started laughing and then I bought my toilet paper and left."
"Yeah! It's a nice feeling right? I had a strange moment with the chick who lives next door this morning and I've been feeling weird all day."
"Huh. Is she hot?" Lincoln smirked, Lexa wasn't surprised he'd find some way to turn it around.
Lexa settled for smacking him on the back of the head and walking away as his answer for that. Plus, she actually had no idea.