Note: Early again - don't get used to it! :) Thanks again to Sally for another wonderful beta read.

So here we go. It's party time.

Chapter 7 - Friday

Clarke woke in her room to darkness and realized she had slept the afternoon away. She got up and headed downstairs to find her both her mom and dad sitting in the living room talking quietly.

They stopped when she came into the room and looked up at her when she entered, with both concern and affection in their eyes.

Clarke sighed and flopped down between them and leaned into her dad and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Dad. Glad, you're home."

"Glad to be home," Jake responded. "I missed my girls," he said with a smile.

Abby reached out and gave Clarke's arm a squeeze, "You didn't call, so I assume everything went okay?"

Clarke glanced quickly at her dad, and he didn't seem surprised with the direction the conversation was headed, so she assumed her mother had already filled him in.

Clarke sighed again and leaned her head back on the couch, eyes closed and pressed her fingers into her temples before she stated quietly, "As good as it could have, I guess. I really hurt him, and in the end, he didn't take it very well."

"What happened, Clarke?" Jake asked.

Clarke retold the events again for her parents, managing to get through most of it devoid of emotion, but when she got to the end, her voice started to shake, and tears leaked out of the corners of her bright blue eyes.

Abby immediately grabbed her in a tight embrace, and her dad rubbed circles on her back while he whispered to her that she was all right.

When Clarke managed to get her breathing under control again, she looked to her father and was shocked to see the barely restrained anger in his eyes.

"Dad?" Clarke said tentatively.

"I'm going to kill him. The next time I see him..." Jake said tightly.

"Dad! No!" Clarke exclaimed, then more softly, "Please, let's just leave it and move on. It was just a kiss," Clarke pleaded. "Please," she desperately added when it looked as though he was going to argue with her.

Jake frowned and shared a glance with Abby before he nodded to his daughter and gathered her up in his arms. "But," he quietly said in her ear, "If he tries anything like that again..."

Clarke let out a short bark of humorless laughter, "I know...you'll kill him." She pulled away from her dad and wiped a hand down her face.

"So," Abby said airily, trying to lighten the mood, "what are you going to do now?"

Clarke looked at her parents, "I would like just to hang out with you two tonight if that's okay."

"That is certainly all right, honey," Abby responded with a smile.

Lexa hadn't heard from Clarke since the random, unexpected text the day after the game. The message that made her heart beat harder in her chest as soon as she realized it who had sent it. She wouldn't admit it if anyone had asked her, but she had continually checked her phone looking to see if Clarke had texted her again, and tried not to be disappointed when she didn't see anything else from the beautiful blonde.

That had been two days ago, and today was Friday, the day of the party. A day that she had both been dreading and looking forward to since being invited. Now, Lexa found herself wondering if Clarke was going to contact her at all. Maybe she had forgotten that she had invited her, or had changed her mind. There was a part of her that felt the only reason that Clarke had invited her in the first place was that Octavia had asked Lincoln. A tiny voice in her head insisted that Clarke regretted asking her, but she tried not to dwell on that.

Lexa went through the motions of the morning, even going out for a run which did nothing to quell the anxious feeling growing in her gut. Lincoln had come home from his volunteer shift at the fire hall and was making lunch when Lexa came in the door, sweaty and out of breath.

"Hey," Lincoln acknowledged as she came into the room.

"Hi, Linc," Lexa responded as she scooted past him, grabbing water from the fridge.

"I'm making some soup and sandwiches. Want some?" he asked.

"Grilled cheese?" Lexa piped up with a hopeful expression.

Lincoln laughed at the look on his cousin's face. "Of course. Whatever you want."

"Excellent. I just need to shower. I'll just be a minute," Lexa said over her shoulder as she jogged up to her room to grab clean clothes before heading to the shower.

One of the things Lexa liked about living with her cousin was that they could spend time together without feeling obligated to keep up a continual conversation. They ate a companionable lunch in silence, so when Lincoln's phone buzzed it startled both of them. Lincoln opened his messages to see a text from Octavia, confirming his attendance at the party that evening. He sent a quick message back, letting her know that he would be there, before turning to his cousin.

"That was Octavia," he said. "She just wanted to know if I was still coming to the party."

"Oh," was all Lexa said, lowering her head and staring into her lunch plate.

"Still haven't heard from Clarke, I'm guessing," Lincoln said.

"No, nothing."

"She'll get in touch Lex, don't worry," Lincoln assured her.

"What if she doesn't? What if she thinks inviting me was a mistake? What if she's changed her mind? What if..." Lexa fired off before being interrupted by Lincoln.

"Lex, she'll be in touch," Lincoln murmured. "Octavia mentioned to me yesterday that Clarke told her and Raven that she invited you. She hasn't forgotten."

No sooner had he spoken those words than Lexa's phone buzzed with an incoming text message. She grabbed for it so quickly that Lincoln let out an amused chuckle.

"Is it from Clarke?" he asked, already knowing the answer based on his cousin's face.

"Yes," Lexa breathed out as she read the text.

Clarke: Hi Lexa. Sorry for taking so long to get in touch with you, but I haven't forgotten about you ;). I hope you still want to come to the party. It's at our friend Monty's and Jasper's. Let me know if you still want to come and I'll send you the info.

Lexa held her breath as she replied to Clarke's text.

Lexa: Hi Clarke. No problem, and yes. You don't have to send me the address, though. I'll just catch a ride with Lincoln.

Clarke: Oh, right. I didn't think about that. Well, ok then. We're all planning to head over there around 7, so I guess I'll see you later tonight.

Lexa: See you then

Lexa put her phone down and looked up at Lincoln, who was regarding her with a knowing smile on his face.

"What?" Lexa asked.

"Nothing," he responded, his smile growing.

"Then why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked him drawing her brows down in a frown.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you this excited about something," Lincoln started. "Or someone. It's nice to see Lex. I'm happy that you're finally putting yourself out there, willing to take a chance again after...everything" he finished softly.

Lexa sat in silence for a moment, noticing that the clench in her belly that usually accompanied such talk didn't seem so pronounced this time before she shook her head.

"I'm just going to a party Lincoln, that's all," Lexa stated quietly, trying to dismiss the feeling that Lincoln's comment stirred in her.

"Whatever you say," Lincoln said with a shrug, knowing not to push the topic, "I'm going to take a nap. I'll see you later."

"Okay, I think I'll do some reading. I have some catching up to do after transferring from UW. It's going to be tough to adjust after such a long time away," Lexa said.

"And Lincoln," she quietly added as she looked up at him. "Thank you."

Lincoln didn't ask what she was thanking him for, he just nodded slightly and gave her shoulder a squeeze before heading out of the kitchen.

When Clarke woke up Friday morning, she felt lighter than she had in days. She decided to stay in bed a bit longer before getting up and going for a run.

When Clarke woke again several hours later, she was surprised that she had fallen back to sleep, let alone that slept for as long as she had. It was almost 10 am. She chalked it up to the emotional exhaustion she had been dealing with over the past couple of days and hopped out of bed. She located her running clothes, quickly dressed and headed out.

She ran a quick 5k before returning home to an empty house; both her parents were at work for the day. She showered and headed downstairs to find something to eat and do some pre-reading for school.

When she wrapped up, she was surprised to see that it was already close to 1:00 and realized that she hadn't yet gotten in contact with Lexa. She picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found Lexa's number. She briefly contemplated calling her instead of texting but settled on the latter after a moment's hesitation.

She had butterflies in her stomach as she awaited Lexa's reply, but she didn't have to wait long as a message came back right away. She finished her conversation with Lexa, annoyed that she had waited so long to contact her and felt guilty because it was evident that Lincoln had all the details already, and Clarke had waited until the afternoon of the party. She hoped Lexa didn't think she had forgotten her or had changed her mind. She would make sure she apologized again when she saw her at the party.

I'm going to see Lexa tonight. Clarke smiled a slow smile as nervous excitement built in her chest. She hoped she would be able to control her body's unexpected responses to the girl, and didn't start hyperventilating the moment she saw her. Lexa was a mystery to her, but that could be explained since she had only met her once. The bigger mystery was how Clarke responded to the girl on a visceral level, right from the beginning. Clarke had felt attraction to people before, both women and men - but this was different. It felt bigger, deeper. Clarke shook her head and wandered back upstairs to her room.

She dug out some of the presents she had bought earlier in the week and some wrapping paper and sat down on the floor and began wrapping gifts. While she cut, folded and taped, she dialed Octavia's number and put her on speakerphone.

"Hey, Clarke. How are you doing?" Octavia asked as soon as she picked up.

"Pretty good. Thanks, O. Yesterday was exhausting, but I'm feeling better today."

"That's good. You still up for the party tonight?"

"Absolutely."

"Have you called Lexa yet?" Octavia asked slyly.

"Yes, O, I texted her about a half hour ago," Clarke said with a smile while rolling her eyes. Her smile fell as she continued, "I feel awful that I waited so long, though. You've obviously been talking to Lincoln about it, and I didn't think about how it might look that I hadn't been in contact with her until today."

"Don't worry about it, Clarke. You had a lot to deal with the last couple of days," Octavia stated softly.

"Yeah, I know, I still feel bad, though."

"Well, you'll be seeing her tonight, and you can explain. Are you going to explain? Tell her about Finn, I mean?"

Clarke sighed, "I don't know O. I just met her, and telling her that I broke up with my boyfriend because I felt attracted to her seems like a heavy topic. But I feel like I could tell her everything. That's weird, isn't it?"

"Maybe it's unusual," Octavia replied thoughtfully. "But I can tell you that I sort of feel like I could tell Lincoln anything. Maybe it's a family thing with them," she laughed.

Clarke laughed too, then asked, "You and Bellamy are still picking me up, right? I told Lexa we'd be there by about 7, but I'd like to get there a bit earlier. I don't want her to have to stand around Jasper and Monty's and not know anyone."

"For sure. We can be at your place by 6:30," Octavia assured her. Then she added mischievously, "What are you going to wear?"

"Oh my GOD, O. I haven't even thought about that. What am I going to wear?" Clarke was starting to sound panicked.

Octavia giggled, "Settle down Clarke. Just wear what you'd always wear to one of the boys' parties. Just be yourself. You'll be fine."

"Right...right. You're right. Just treat this like any other party right?" Clarke responded breathlessly.

Octavia giggled again, "God, Clarke, you do have it bad. You need to relax. I have to go, but I'll see you in a few hours, okay?"

"Right. Ok, thanks, O. See you in a bit." Clarke closed the connection and finished wrapping her presents, trying to keep her mind off seeing Lexa again in a few hours and failing miserably.

6:30 couldn't come fast enough for Clarke Griffin, but at the same time, it came way too soon. She had changed her clothes three times in the last hour, even though she tried to keep Octavia's advice in mind. She finally settled on a pair of blue skinny jeans that hugged her curves and finished the look with a low-cut, tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt.

She had decided to leave her hair down but pulled it away from her face with two locks of hair that she twisted back from her temples and secured at the back of her head. She had also elected to go with minimal makeup, opting for the more natural look that she preferred on a day-to-day basis. She threw on her blue leather jacket and slipped on a pair of comfortable sneakers.

She sat down to wait for Octavia and Bellamy but stood up to pace as 6:30 came and went.

At 6:35, her phone buzzed with an incoming text.

O: We're here

"Finally," Clarke huffed to herself.

She quickly grabbed her scarf from the closet and wrapped it around her neck as she ran toward the front door. She quickly locked up the house and sprinted to Bellamy's waiting truck. She hopped into the back seat, chafing her arms as she shivered.

"God, it's cold tonight!" Clarke exclaimed.

"You're wearing a leather jacket, Clarke," Octavia pointed out. "You could have worn something warmer."

"Yeah, then I would've had to worry about where to put it, and then remember not to leave it there," Clarke said. "Hi Bell," she added.

"Hi, Princess," Bellamy replied. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. And stop calling me Princess. You know I hate that," Clarke scowled.

Bellamy just laughed as he backed out of the Griffin driveway and gunned the engine.