Hi again everyone, here's the next chapter in this story. This one is quite a bit longer, but there was a lot of things I wanted to make sure got added. Either way, I really hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you thought! Your feedback and comments mean alot to me as a writer and every bit of them is very motivating! :)

Chapter 3: In Broad Daylight

By the time Lexa got herself home, she was dead tired, but couldn't shake the smile from her face when thinking of the events that transpired that evening. Most of all, she couldn't get a certain beautiful blonde with ocean blue eyes off her mind. They had just met, but Lexa felt an unusual connection to the woman. It almost like they knew one another in another lifetime or something. Hell, perhaps they did.

Lexa didn't bother getting changed into nighttime attire, knowing she had to have her lazy ass up and at work in less than six-and-some-change hours. Instead, she lazily kicked off her shoes and made way towards her bed. She ended up dozing off the second her head hit the pillow, right atop the covers.

After Lexa left, Clarke struggled to take her best friend's shoes off and attempt to roll her lazy ass into a more comfortable position. Raven would definitely pay dearly in the morning for choosing to drink so much, but she didn't deserve back and neck cramps from being sprawled out on the couch awkwardly as she slept.

Once finished covering her snoring friend up, Clarke headed towards her own room, a goofy grin on her face as she thought about the comfort of her bed. She stumbled tiredly towards her bed, working off her shoes and out of her clothes. Her eyes were watery, another unpleasant reminder of just how badly she needed sleep, as she lazily slipped into the first pair of shorts and t-shirt her hands came into contact with. Barely spotting the books scattered on her bed, Clarke stacked them up on top of one another and set them down on the floor before snugging herself underneath the covers. Her bed never felt better.

Beeeeeep, beeeeep.

Ugh, just a couple more minutes, Lexa thought to herself as she pulled her pillow over her head to try and ignore the chipper sound from her phone's alarm. She wasn't close enough to the device to hit the snooze button, so it beeped on. Lexa let out a cantankerous sound as she strenuously rolled out of bed to go find her phone. It was on the dresser where she left it last night.

Stifling a yawn, the brunette headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower and brush her teeth. Afterward, she continued her normal routine of readying herself by finding the Trikru Records tee shirt and nameplate pin every employee was required to wear, followed by picking out a faded black pair of skinny jeans to put on. She finished up by brushing her hair and made a braid down the center, leaving the rest to hang loosely.

"Next, coffee," Lexa told herself, her voice still sounding sleepy. The thought of coffee made her instantly remember the plans she made with the blonde she met last night, Clarke. Brewing a K-cup of coffee, the brunette smiled, both from the coffee's aroma and her lingering thoughts of the blonde. Like always, she added some cream to her coffee to take the extra bitterness out and help cool it a little bit, before happily taking a sip.

She left for work, her body on autopilot while she nursed down her coffee. It was going to be a good day.

"CLARKE, RAVEN, I'M HOME," Octavia boomed as she shut the front door. She doubted either of her best friends would be awake, so she made it her duty to get them up and out the door.

"Ugh… Fuck off," Raven grouchily said from the couch, her hands on her temples. Her head was pounding.

"Only in your dreams, Rae," Octavia sneered back before dropping down next to her friend for a quick hug.

Raven shoved Octavia in the side, her brain still feeling like mashed potatoes. "Christ, you got laid last night, didn't you?" She opened an eye to glance at Octavia, who still sat beside her, and groaned as the light from the nearby window seared into eyes.

"You've totally got your I-just-got-laid smile on," Raven guessed, the corner of her mouth hung up in a grin. She peaked once more at Octavia, shielding her eyes from the sunlight, and seen her friend look away with a blush on her face, confirming that she did indeed get lucky last night. Raven couldn't help but grin even more and push her shoulder into her friends, "don't leave me hanging, here. You gotta tell me everything after I've found an aspirin."

Clarke awoke fifteen minutes later from the laughing in the living room. Protesting the idea of getting up, the blonde threw her pillow towards the door, secretly hoping it would shut it. Sadly, she missed the door by a long shot.

Octavia and Raven exchanged sly grins when they heard Clarke's pillow hit the stack of books on the floor. Raven felt thankful that the aspirin she took was already starting to curb the raging headache she had, but she couldn't help but still feel like her face had melted off in the middle of the night.

Together, Raven and Octavia stormed into Clarke's room and plopped nosily down on the blonde's bed. "Clarke, sleepy head, get up!" They shouted down at her in unison, and then burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, why do I live with you people?" Clarke muttered into her mattress as her two best friends continued to guffaw beside her.

"Because you love us, silly. Here, let me show you another reason why," Octavia said before launching down again on the bed to tickle Clarke. Raven joined in shortly thereafter. They kept her pinned to the bed, tickling her relentlessly until the blonde squealed an apology to them.

"We always win," Raven quipped with defiance to Octavia. Both of them laughed for a couple minutes at Clarke's dispense while the blonde spent that time trying to catch her breath. "Seriously, princess, you should get up. I know you don't have a shift at Nyko's today, but you're going to want to get your studying done now because Octavia and I are taking you out again tonight." Raven leaned forward and hugged Clarke, who began to protest to the idea of going out. Looking at Clarke square in the eye she added, "and we're not taking for an answer!"

Stupidly, Clarke tried to object once more, causing a second round of tickling to occur. Eventually the blonde resigned herself to the fact that they had won after being tickled into submission twice. Rolling her eyes, she kicked her best friends out of her room in favor of getting a shower and dressed.

After a much needed, soothing shower, Clarke went back to her room and looked in her closet for what to wear. It took her much longer than normal, feeling more indecisive than usual, to decide upon a black, fitted t-shirt that hugged the curves of her body in all the right ways and a light khaki-colored skirt that complimented her wavy blonde hair.

Clarke habitually checked her cell phone to see if she had gotten any messages. None. However, she did spot the text message she got from Lexa last night after she left, ensuring both of them had each other's numbers. Anticipation swelled in the blonde's throat at the idea of seeing the brunette whose dazzling green eyes left her befuddled and weak-kneed.

She internally debated whether or not she should message Lexa, uncertain if it was too early. Then she remembered the reason the brunette left–because she had the opening shift at the store she worked at. A quick glance at the time, 8:18am, Clarke decided to be bold and just go for it.

[8:18am] Clarke: Good morning, Lexa :)

Lexa always appreciated the quietness that came with the early shifts at the music shop, since no one in their right mind would shop for music at 8am. The silence was shattered by a ding of her phone altering her she had a text message. She expected it to be from Anya, since majority of her text messages were from Anya, but was joyously surprised to see Clarke's name in lieu of Anya's.

She wrote out and deleted several messages, nervous and unsure how exactly she should ask when the blonde wanted that coffee. If she still wanted that coffee. Instead, she settled on just letting the conversation go where it would.

[8:21am] Lexa: Good morning, Clarke. How did you sleep?

[8:24am] Clarke: Really good, guess dragging Raven's drunk inside exhausted me. How about you?

[8:28am] Lexa: Your friend was surprisingly heavy! I also slept well, thank you for asking. Are you still up for that coffee today, by the way?

Lexa bit back a wave of nerves as she stared at her phone, awaiting Clarke's answer. She shot prayers up that the blonde wouldn't back out on their proposed coffee because she really wanted to see the woman's gorgeous blue eyes again.

Clarke's heart jackhammered in her chest at Lexa's last message. She couldn't contain the shit-eating grin that lit up her eyes as she danced around the kitchen. Realizing what she doing, that she was so joyful over just having a cup of coffee with someone, she cleared her throat and settled back down in the stool before typing a reply.

[8:31am] Clarke: Definitely. When are you free?

Lexa grinned gleefully at her phone, completely oblivious to Indra, her boss, having walked into the store. "If only you were this pleasant to the customers," she criticized, a hint of playfulness in her voice. Startled by the sound, Lexa gasped and stiffened when she realized that it was her boss who spoke to her, not a customer.

Holding back a wince, Lexa straightened herself in her seat and stared at her boss, Indra Trikru, as if she were about to salute her. "I'm sorry, ma'am," she is all she managed to say, a mortified expression on her face.

Indra chuckled, a sound that could be closest described to as knifelike. "No one is here in the morning. You're fine." At that, Lexa released a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Indra Trikru was cunning and a hard-ass majority of the time, completely and utterly ruthless in ensuring she got the very best productivity possible out of her employees, but she did have her moments. She cared for every one of her employees, even if she'd never admit it aloud, and was happy to interact with them on a weekly basis.

Anya had applied and been accepted to work at Indra's store, Trikru Records, the day she was legally eligible to work. Two years later, when Lexa was old enough to be hired, Anya convinced Indra to also hire Lexa. Both have worked loyally at Trikru Records ever since. The pay wasn't the greatest, but considering it was a tightly knit family of a company, it was worth it.

"Go unpack the boxes in the back. We got a new shipment last night," Indra ordered, taking Lexa's place at the front desk. She knew the brunette would be preoccupied by desire to look at her device, and therefore better served stocking shelves.

Lexa nodded and scurried off to the backroom where the boxes were. They were wrapped in plastic to keep them safe against the rainy weather spring often yields. The brunette paused, pulled out her phone, and quickly typed a reply back to Clarke, feeling bad for having to wait so long to do so.

[8:43am] Lexa: My shift ends at 2. Would that work for you?

Clarke practically jumped when she heard her phone alert her to having a new message. While waiting for Lexa's reply, the blonde had immersed herself in her homework. She knew she needed to get some of it done if she was going to have coffee with Lexa and be dragged out to a party later on by her best friends.

[8:45am] Clarke: Works for me. How about the coffee shop down the street?

[8:48am] Lexa: Sounds great, I've never been more excited for a cup of coffee. I'll see you then, Clarke.

By 1:15pm, Clarke couldn't concentrate, no matter how hard she tried. Her mind kept drifting back to the brunette she was going to meet in less than an hour, and her heart would skip a beat just thinking about her forest green eyes. With a sigh, she admitted defeat and went back to her room to grab her purse and head out.

It was a beautiful spring day out, too beautiful to waste driving in the car, especially since it was only a twenty minute walk, tops, to the coffee shop. Along the way, she decided she would show up at Lexa's workplace ten or fifteen minutes before the brunette got off her shift to check the place out. She had never been in Trikru Records, and wanted to see Lexa as soon as possible without seeming creepy.

"Hello and welcome to Trikru Records," Indra greeted the blonde woman walking in the door. One of Indra's many rules was to always be courteous and greet potential customers as soon as they walk in the door, even though most of the folks who bought stuff from the music shop were regulars. Indra didn't recognize the blonde.

"Hi, thanks," Clarke responded with a soft smile at the tough-as-nails looking woman who stood behind the counter. The wide, friendly smile on the woman's face was a strange contrast to her overall rigid appearance.

"Is there anything I can help you find?" Indra asked when she noticed the blonde looking at the scenery like it was her first time being in the store. The wondrous look people gave the store on their first venture in was priceless. It was much larger on the inside than it appeared. Moderately high ceilings giving it an even larger appearance, and row after row of CD's and vinyl records.

"No, nothing in particular. I was actually recommended to check the store out," Clarke answered, her eyes still taking in every aspect of the store. It was gorgeous. Nyko's Books, the bookstore she worked at, was also larger than one would assume on the first glance inside, but Trikru Records had a more vibrant feel to it, music playing low in the background.

"Oh? Was it by an employee?"

"Yes, Lexa. She said she and Anya work here," Clarke responded, the ghost of a smile on her face saying Lexa's name.

"Are you the reason Alexandra has been smiling this morning?" Indra deadpanned, forcing back the urge to chuckle when the blonde blushed crimson red and drifted away towards the shelves of music.

Clarke was in awe, taking in every album title and band name on every CD and vinyl that her eyes passed over. She was on the opposite side of where Lexa was, and it was only twelve minutes until their coffee date. Lexa couldn't stop the exhilarating feels she had, lighthearted and carefree, a dopey smile sloppily painted on her face.

Lexa went to the back to bring out another box filled with CD's, moving towards the opposite side of where she was before to shelf them. She was completely in the zone, focused entirely on the task at hand to try and get done as much as she could before the alarm on her phone went off letting her know she was done working for the day.

The blonde spotted Lexa approaching, completely in her own world as she stocked the shelves. A smile crept on the blondes face as she stared in awe at the calm, content features in Lexa's face. She looked completely at peace.

Twisting slightly to the right to put a CD on its proper shelf, the brunette caught sight of Clarke in her peripheral vision. "Clarke," she smirked as she fully peered to the right, watching the blonde recognize she was spotted and turn bright red. "I thought we were meeting at the café?"

The blonde felt flustered having been caught in the act of gawking at Lexa. She tried to reply, her mouth forming around the words, but her voice box refused to work. This intensified her discombobulation and made her blush redden tenfold.

She took a moment, steeled herself, and tried again. "I decided to walk because of how beautiful it is out today, so I ended up getting here a bit early. I remembered you mentioning I should actually check this place out… And, well, I thought perhaps maybe we could walk to the café together," she surprised herself by her newfound confidence, every word coming out coherent instead of jumbled like her previous attempt.

A wave of amazement befell Lexa at Clarke's complete and utter straightforwardness. A genuine smile invaded her face, lighting up to her eyes as she replied, "I'd like that, Clarke." The blonde found herself gulping at the usage of her name, liking how she clucked her tongue a bit at the k sound.

"I'll look around until you're done then?" The blonde questioned. Lexa gave a firm nod in response before getting back to stocking the shelves with only eight minutes left on her shift. It took all her willpower not to beg Indra to let her off early.

While waiting for Lexa to finish her shift and then gather her things up, Clarke continued looking around the store in awe. The owner's pride could easily be seen by how everything was neat, clean, and well organized. Before the brunette finished up, Clarke rounded up a couple of albums and took them to the front desk where the tenacious woman who greeted her still stood.

"Will that be all today?" The woman asked as she rung up the four albums Clarke was purchasing. Clarke nodded and handed the stern looking woman her credit card.

"Have a splendid day," the woman said, her voice far too friendly for her serious looking demeanor, just as Lexa walked out from the back. Indra nodded in the brunette's direction, as if to acknowledge she was seen, "I'll see you tomorrow, Alexandra. Have a fun date."

Lexa's cheeks pinked up at Indra's candid statement, while Clarke, who stood facing her, had her mouth practically gaping open in surprise. "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, boss," she joked, waving good-bye to her boss. It was a risky thing to say to Indra because of how stringent she could be, but Lexa was off the clock, which made it fair game. Lexa didn't realize that Indra had lightened up on her months after she started working at Trikru Records, seeing that the brunette was a hard worker and liked her job. However, Indra's reputation for being bullheaded made Lexa cautious to ever testing the limits of how laxed her boss was.

"Wow, so you told your boss you were going on a date, huh? Guess I'm really special then," Clarke joked, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

"Haha, actually she just drew conclusions based on how I was acting this morning," Lexa said before she even thought about it. Once the words left her mouth, she stiffened, her eyes widening. "I mean, you know, that I was looking at my phone a lot," she quickly amended, as they continued to walk down the sidewalk side by side.

"I've been excited, too," Clarke admitted earnestly, hoping it would make Lexa feel a little bit better. Her stomach knotted at the thought of the brunette looking forward to a cup of coffee with her as she was.

"Mmm, can smell the coffee now," Lexa hummed happily, a vigorousness in her steps. "How do you like your coffee, Clarke?" The brunette asked, nudging her shoulder into the blondes.

"Lots of cream and sugar," she confessed and watched Lexa feign being hurt. "What? Let me guess, you like yours black?"

"With a touch of cream, yup," Lexa nodded, and Clarke made a yuck face. "Oh, come on, coffee loaded up with sugar and cream isn't even coffee, it's fake and sugary." The brunette couldn't help but laugh as Clarke glared over at her, but said nothing, knowing she had lost the battle.

"I like my coffee how I like my coffee," Clarke said with confidence as they approached the door to Grounders Café. Before she could reach out for the door handle, Lexa had already gracefully sidestepped around her to hold open the door for her. Clarke's eyebrow went up and she hesitantly went in first, a smirk lingering in the corners of her mouth.

"How about you go find us a table, I can order since you just want a cup with sugar and cream in it," Lexa suggested between laughs, ducking around Clarke tried to swat at her.

The blonde found an empty window spot and sat, awaiting Lexa to bring the coffee. She found herself admiring the beautiful view outside, people vigorously walking from place to place, talking with their friends and family, some even taking their dogs with them on a walk. If only I had my sketchpad, Clarke thought to herself.

"Coffee diluted with lots of cream and extra, extra sugar," Lexa quipped as she approached with two cups of coffee and a brown paper bag. "I also grabbed a muffin, figured you might be the kind of gal who likes chocolate? If not, let me know what you want, I'll gladly go get that instead."

"I love chocolate," she said simply, taking the coffee Lexa was handing her and the brown paper bag that had two chocolate muffins in it. She unwrapped the muffin and took a bite, savoring the taste between sips of coffee. Lexa ate her own muffin and sipped her blacker, with a little bit of cream, coffee, but mostly relished in how authentic the blonde's facial expressions were as she drank her nasty coffee and the muffin.

"What's your favorite color?" The brunette found herself asking between a bite of chocolate muffin. She didn't take her eyes off Clarke, looking at her in fascination.

"Green," she said, noticing how that was also the color of Lexa's eyes. Eyes that she could so easily lose herself in. "You?"

"Hmm… Tie between light blue and orange, I think."

"You think?"

"Yes, Clarke, I think. Don't overthink this," Lexa jested, getting a snort from Clarke who got the joke.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, staring at their nearly devoured muffins or at each other. Clarke swore there was a faint electric hum between them when their eyes met, like an attraction so strong it could turn off a transformer. Every single time green met blue, they shared a smile and looked away almost in unison.

"Tell me something about yourself, Clarke," Lexa said after she finished eating her muffin, desiring to get to know the blonde more.

"Hummm, I don't know, what do you want to know?" She asked back, a quizzical look in her eyes.

"You will not make this easy, will you?" Lexa retorted with a playful smile. "Okay, fine. How about this, what made you choose pre-med?"

"My mom's a doctor, so I spent a lot of time when I was younger hanging around with her at the hospital she worked at. Guess being a doctor just felt like I'd be following in her footsteps," Clarke explained with a slight shrug. After everything that happened with her father and Finn, she just wanted to try and make her mom proud.

Lexa noted how dismissive Clarke was to the answer. It was like it was the natural career choice her mom would want, but not so much what she herself wanted. "Okay, moms a doctor. What about dad?" The brunette asked. Clarke flinched at the question like she had been hit. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, bad question?" She felt like she'd been punched in the gut when she seen the angst in Clarke's face.

"No… No, it's alright. He–he was an accountant," Clarke struggled, determined to not let her voice crack. Something about Lexa made the blonde feel in her bones that she could be trusted, and after waking up in a nightmare from a short siesta in Lexa's car, she almost felt like she owed the brunette some answers. "He died eight years ago." Clarke kept her attention on her muffin wrapper, fiddling with it.

Lexa reached across the table, taking Clarke's hand in hers and squeezed, "I'm so sorry, Clarke. Losing a parent, it isn't easy." The brunette's voice cracked a little by the end as she spoke from experience, her own eyes glossy with tears.

Clarke looked up at Lexa as she spoke, seeing anguish flicker across the brunettes face before settling in a stoic expression. It was the same kind of despair she had seen in her own face in the mirror many times before. Lexa had lost someone she loved, too. She didn't want to push her after her own confession, so she instead put her other hand on top of Lexa's, essentially holding the brunette's hand in both of hers, and gave her a soft, sad, knowing smile.

Lexa cleared her throat and fortified herself before trying to lighten the mood a bit, "have you ever considered joining the dark side, and, you know, having coffee without all that sugar and cream?"

"Are you offering to take me out for coffee again?" Clarke asked in a joking manner.

Lexa breathed over the lump forming in her stomach, looking Clarke square in the eyes. "How about dinner instead?"

Stay tuned for the next chapter, I'll have that out in another day or so. Meanwhile, please let me know what you thought :)