"Sleep is for the weak, Clarke!"
Clarke could hear banging. And yelling.
Bellamy yelling. And knocking on the door.
"Bell it's like," getting out of bed and looking at the clock display on the microwave Clarke had used shamefully often over the past five weeks, Clarke noted the time, "eight in the morning, what do you want?"
"It's Saturday, Clarke, O has her soccer game," Bellamy said, "you promised you'd be there!"
"Oh, shit. Okay. Give me like. Three minutes, max. I'll just throw on something warm, hang on." Clarke ran off toward her bedroom while Bellamy stepped inside, turning on the TV to pass the time.
"Hey," he called out, "how could you not tell me about your hot neighbour? She's smoking, and totally my type, I'm a little offended Griffin."
Clarke's face was suddenly visible around the corner of the living room, slightly slack-jawed in shock.
"What?"
"Your hot neighbour. If I had a neighbour as hot as yours I'd totally tell you about him because I'm a good friend. Unlike someone" He looked pointedly at Clarke.
"Did you see her?"
"Yeah she was coming back from a run when I came in, why?"
Clarke blushed. She had been hoping to run into this neighbour for a while now, but there was only so much time she could spend hanging around outside her apartment door without arousing suspicion. Bellamy, as much of an ass that it made him, had high standards, so to say her neighbour was hot was high praise in his books. Clarke wasn't sure she knew what to do with that information. She'd been harbouring a small crush on this mysterious person with the lovely voice from next door, but she feared that finding herself attracted to her neighbour might make dealing with that crush entirely unbearable. She absolutely did not want Bellamy to know that, though, so she brushed it off before the conversation could continue.
"I haven't even met her, Bell, if I thought she was as hot as you say I'm sure I would've let you know."
"Good." He grinned. "Okay, let's go, you don't want to keep my sister waiting on game day."
Since learning of her neighbour's apparent attractiveness Clarke couldn't help her mind from wandering when they sang together over the next week. She had learned quite a bit about the woman next door. At least, she learned what kind of music she liked, noting over time the songs she would sing to and those she wouldn't. She also knew the woman next door was extremely cheeky. She must have been living there longer than Clarke had, knowing not only how to manipulate the shower to the perfect temperature but also how to abuse the blast of cold water that would come whenever both showers were on at the same time. Clarke had woken up late one morning, not leaving herself nearly enough time to make it to work on time. She had jumped in the shower, noting that the woman next door had already started hers, but not bothering to choose a song to play as she had done each time previously. She simply didn't have enough time. The woman had clearly noticed the lack of music, and had spent the duration of Clarke's three minute shower displaying her displeasure by humming and sending surprise bursts of cold water perfectly in time with the beat of her tune.
"Stop it!" Clarke had yelled. It was the one time she had actually spoken to the woman next door, receiving nothing but a chuckle in response, but, to Clarke's delight she was left to continue her shower without the threat of cold water on her back.
She decided to wield some payback when she heard the shower running once returning after Octavia's game.
Turning up her speakers slightly louder than she would normally and heading straight for the shower, she belted out the first line in the most obnoxious voice she could muster.
"I know a place, where the grass is really greener.
Warm, wet and wild, there must be somethin' in the water.
Sippin' gin and juice, layin' underneath the palm trees.
The boys, break their necks, try'na creep a little sneak peek.
You can travel the world, but nothin' comes close to the golden coast.
Once you party with us, you'll be falling in love oh woahaoaoao."
"California girls, we're unforgettable, Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top. Sun-kissed skin so hot we'll melt your popsicle, a-ohaohao oh woahaoaoao."
The voice she had put on to sing this song was admittedly hilarious, and it was a bit of a crowd pleaser if she was being honest. She'd whipped it out at numerous karaoke nights with roaring success. So Clarke wasn't surprised to hear giggling coming from the woman next door. She loved the sound of this woman's laugh, and she couldn't get enough of hearing it in this moment. She spent the rest of the chorus and verse straining to hear that laugh over the sound of her own singing, managing to catch glimpses of it during pauses between lines.
What she was wholly surprised to hear, possibly more so than she had been when the woman had first joined in singing 'What is This Feeling' with her all those weeks ago, came after Clarke had paused for the rap verse to finish before she could keep singing the chorus.
Lexa heard the shower start up from next door, surprised to hear the opening licks of Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' float through the wall. The girl next door seemed to almost exclusively listen to songs from various musicals with only a few pop songs in between, so Katy Perry seemed like a stretch beneath her usual music taste. She was overwhelmed when the girl from next door had started to sing, however, the voice she had decided to take on was absolutely horrendous. Hilarious, yes, but horrendous all the same. Lexa couldn't help herself from laughing, she figured this was a round-about way of getting her back for the stunt she pulled with the cold water the other day.
The girl next door usually chose songs they could both sing along to, either classic duets or songs where they could share the verse and chorus. It was clear to Lexa that this wasn't one she was allowed to sing along to, she supposed the girl meant to force Lexa to listen to her horrible singing, rather than sharing the song between the two of them. What Lexa supposed the girl did not know was that 'California Gurls,' while by all accounts an absolutely terrible song, was one that Lexa knew like the back of her hand. A previous girlfriend had been an avid Katy Perry fan (Lexa should've known at the start it was never going to work out between them) and 'California Gurls' was both her morning alarm and her ringtone. Lexa found it impossible to get the song out of her head, mostly just frustrated that she only knew one line, and looping it over and over in her head was more painful than just listening to the whole song to get it out of her system. She broke up with that girlfriend around the same time she learned all the words to the song.
Fortunately for her in this moment, her recollection of the lyrics was crystal clear, and by no means was she going to let the girl next door get away with this torture.
"Toned, tanned, fit and ready, turn it up 'cause it's getting' heavy.
Wild, wild west coast, these are the girls I love the most.
I mean the ones, I mean like she's the one, kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns."
"Oh my GOD" Clarke didn't even try to contain her laughter, this was too good. She had chosen the one song from the one artist that she was sure the woman next door wouldn't know, and yet here she was, throwing down the damn rap like she was born doing it.
"The girl's a freak, she drive a jeep and live on the beach.
I'm okay, I won't play, I love the bay just like I love LA
Venice Beach and Palm Springs, summertime is everything"
The smirk in the woman's voice was palpable, she could hear it in every word she spoke, clearly enjoying how impressed Clarke was at her ability to carry the Snoop Dog lines without any prompting.
"Homeboys bangin' out, all that ass hangin' out
Bikinis, zuchinis, martinis, no weenies
Just a king and a queenie"
"Katy, my lady?"
"Yeah?"
"Looky here, baby"
"Uh-huh"
"I'm all up on ya
'Cause your represtin' California"
"Damn, girl!" Clarke choked out through her laughter, giddiness bubbling up in her chest compounded by the hearty laugh coming through the wall "you are something else."