Note: Here it is friends, a bit late - sorry. We have finally made it to the party, and Lexa gets to know Clarke a bit better. They have some fun until, well, you'll see. :)
Thanks again to Sally for her comments and help with this chapter - it is better after she goes through it. She made it a few hundred words shorter this time. Still one of the longer chapters, though.
Chapter 8 - The Party
The ride to the party was comfortable, the three singing along loudly, to the radio. They arrived at Jasper and Monty's 15 minutes later, all dashing to the house to escape the cold. Raven was already there, setting up the beer pong area, and Jasper was arranging mixers in bright red cups on the island in the kitchen.
"Where's Monty?" Clarke asked Raven.
"He's in the basement collecting the latest batch of home brew," Raven absently responded as she bounced another ping pong ball into an empty cup at the other end of the table.
"Homebrew." Clarke made a face.
"Ohhhhh, the beer pong is going to be good tonight Griffin, I can feel it in my bones," Raven declared. "I'm going to be unstoppable at this table, and the people will bow before my greatness!" she exclaimed with a huge grin on her face as she looked at her friends.
Clarke just rolled her eyes and laughed before she wandered off to see if the boys needed any help.
By the time Clarke made it back, helping Monty balance a giant keg of home brew up the stairs, the main floor of the house had become packed with friends from school and hockey. She helped Monty set up and tap the keg, grabbed a drink for herself and started wending her way through the bodies in the room to find her friends. She heard a commotion near the beer pong table and headed that way.
Sure enough, Raven was holding court, soundly beating poor Jasper, who had already had to down 6 of his 10 cups, to Raven's two. Raven smirked at Clarke with an 'I told you so' expression before taking another turn, skillfully hitting one of the four remaining cups in front of Jasper. Jasper groaned, drained his cup and then took aim at Raven's remaining cups. He missed, groaning again, then rolled his eyes when Raven's next turn landed squarely in another of his cups only moments later.
It only took another couple of turns before Jasper was out, and Raven looked around for her next opponent.
Clarke had stepped away, not ready to get sucked into the game, but she heard Raven bellow out to Monroe to be her partner, and they took on Bellamy and Monty. Clarke moved around the room socializing and tried not to be obvious that she kept looking at her watch, waiting for Lincoln and Lexa to arrive. She joined Octavia's, who was not being subtle about checking the time.
"Where are they, Clarke? Why aren't they here yet?" Her voice carried a tinge of whine in it.
Clarke chuckled and wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulders. "O, you are adorable when you are in like."
Octavia aimed an elbow at Clarke's ribs which caused the blonde to release her and jump away quickly, giggling at her friends scowl. She had managed to not to spill any of her drink but in twisting away from the spirited brunette, she ended up with her back to the door. Despite that, she looked at Octavia and froze, the smile dropping, her eyes wide.
"They're here," she whispered to her friend, a panicked look crossing her features.
Octavia didn't notice the look on Clarke's face, occupied with standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck to try to see the door at the other side of the room. "What? Where?" she asked. She caught sight of Lincoln making his way through the room and frowned.
"How did you know they were here, Clarke?"
When Clarke didn't answer, she finally looked at her and noticed the other girl's pale complexion.
"Oh my God, Clarke," Octavia said with some amusement. "You have to remember to breathe, for God's sake. I've never seen you like this," she said with a bit more concern. "Are you going to be okay?"
Clarke nodded mutely before closing her eyes and taking a deep, calming breath. She reopened her eyes to look into the concerned blue ones of her friend and nodded again.
"Let's say hello," Clarke finally responded.
As they threaded through the crowd toward the door where they had spotted the new arrivals, Octavia glanced at Clarke before nudging her in the side with her hip.
"You never answered me."
"I'm sorry, what?" Clarke asked as she looked at her friend in confusion.
"I wondered how you knew they were here. Your back was to the door, and you told me they were here without even seeing them," Octavia said, looking at her.
"I don't know, O," Clarke replied. "I just felt it," she finished with a one-shouldered shrug.
Octavia stared at her friend for a moment before she said, "That's freaky."
"What's freaky?" a deep voice said from beside them.
"Lincoln!" Octavia squealed and jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.
Lincoln laughed as he caught her, giving her a hug before setting her down.
"So? What's freaky?" he asked again.
Octavia glanced at Clarke and then at Lexa behind Lincoln, "I'll tell you later," she whispered. "Let's get a drink; then we'll challenge Raven to a game of beer pong." She grabbed Lincoln's hand and pulled him in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Lexa standing uncomfortably in the foyer, shifting back and forth on her feet.
Clarke looked at Lexa, taking in her appearance. She sported tight-fitting black jeans and a white T-shirt under her winter jacket, and her hair was pulled back from her face, up in a loose bun. Clarke thought Lexa might be the most beautiful person she had ever seen. The scrutiny had lasted only seconds before Clarke stepped forward, her heart beating so hard in her chest she was sure the other girl could hear it.
"Hi, Lexa," she managed to get out in a surprisingly even voice. "I'm glad you could make it. Can I take your coat?"
"Yes, thanks," Lexa replied quickly, slipping out of it and handing it to the blonde in front of her.
Clarke reached for the coat and accidentally brushed her fingers against Lexa's when she grasped it. The shock that radiated up her arm at the contact made her flinch and she almost dropped the garment, recovering and turning quickly to hide the flush of her cheeks.
Lexa watched the girl turn away from her, rubbing her hand where Clarke had touched her, wondering at the feeling that had shot through her at the contact. She admired the way Clarke's blonde mane flowed over her shoulders and glimmered where the light hit it, and she couldn't not admire the way her pants hugged her curves when she turned around.
Clarke hung up the coat in the front closet and turned back to Lexa, who was watching silently.
"Would you like a drink?" Clarke asked her.
Lexa was not a big drinker, she never had been, but for some reason when Clarke asked her if she wanted one, she couldn't stop her head from nodding and answering in the affirmative.
"That would be great. Thanks."
Clarke turned toward the main room and indicated with her head, "It's this way. I'll introduce you to Jasper and Monty on the way. A word of advice, though, don't accept anything from them in the way of a drink, they tend to over pour and the resulting drink is really strong. Stay away from the home brew too, it's awful!" Clarke added with a smile.
Lexa nodded in understanding and offered a small smile of her own in return as she followed Clarke through the house.
As they passed the pong table, an enormous cheer erupted from the onlookers. Raven stood at one end with both hands raised in the air, "Who's next!" she yelled. "Bring it on! I am unstoppable!"
Clarke rolled her eyes at her friend and as they walked by, Raven noticed Lexa for the first time.
"Hi ya Lexa!" she yelled. "Good to see you. Want to have a go?" she said as she pointed at the table before her.
Lexa looked at the table in confusion before looking to Clarke and then back at Raven. "I have no idea what you're doing, so I think I'll pass," she said.
Clarke reached over and snagged her arm, pulling her away from the table. "I'll explain it to you and then we can come back and watch, then if you want to give it a try, I'll be your partner...if you want," she added quickly.
Lexa looked at her forearm where Clarke's hand was wrapped around it, painfully aware of the warmth radiating up her arm, before looking back at her with a shy smile and muttering, "Okay."
Clarke caught the look Lexa shot at her hand, and barely registered the soft 'okay', before she released her and continued into the kitchen.
Clarke busied herself making a Jamison and ginger with lime for herself, asking Lexa, "What'll you have?"
"Oh, um...I'm not sure," she said hesitantly. "I don't drink much, what do you recommend?"
"Hmm, let's see. Do you like beer?" Clarke asked, "Or you can try this." She indicated her own drink.
Lexa eyed the golden beverage in the cup in Clarke's hand before saying, "Sure. I'll try that."
Clarke handed over the drink and watched as Lexa took a small sip, trying to gauge her reaction. Lexa lowered the cup and handed it back to Clarke. "That's pretty good," she said, "I'll have one of those. Could you make mine a little less strong though, please?"
Clarke took her drink back, taking a sip as she did so, before quickly mixing up a half strong version of the Irish whiskey highball for Lexa. Once they both had their drinks in hand, they wandered back out to the living room to observe Raven continue to decimate all challengers in beer pong.
Lexa leaned closer to Clarke so that she could be heard over the commotion of the game. "So what is this game called, and what's the point?" she asked.
"It's called 'beer pong'," Clarke replied. "The point is to bounce the ping-pong ball into each of your opponents' cups before they get them in yours. Every time the ball lands in one of your cups, you have to drink it and then take the cup away. You start with 10 cups, in a pyramid formation." She indicated the basic shape from what was left of the teams' cups.
"When you get down to 4 cups, you rearrange them into a diamond shape, and when you get down to 2, you put them in a straight, horizontal line in front of you. When you land the ball in the other team's last cup, you win, but they have one last shot at redemption. They get one more turn and they get to keep throwing until they miss. If they manage to get all of your cups without missing, you both fill up three more cups and have a sudden death overtime to determine the final winner," Clarke finished.
Lexa nodded while Clarke spoke, watching the game take place and recognizing what was going on based on Clarke's description.
"Raven seems to be very good at it," Lexa observed.
Clarke chuckled, "Yes, she is... but not as good as me," she added slyly looking sideways at the brunette next to her.
Lexa looked at Clarke, eyebrows raised in question and challenge. "Oh yeah? I think I'd like to see that."
Clarke stared at Lexa, swallowing thickly before nodding and giving her a cocky smile. "Ask and ye shall receive," she retorted.
It didn't take much longer for Raven to finish off her current competition, and when she boldly called out for her next victim, Clarke stepped up to the end of the table. A hush fell over the group and Raven turned to see Clarke filling up the 10 cups at her end of the table.
"Whoop!" Raven yelled, smiling widely. "Yes! I'm on a roll Griffin! You're going down this time!"
"We'll see Reyes. Bring it on," Clarke replied with a chuckle.
The girls finished setting up their cups and went through the motions of rock, paper, scissors to see who went first. Raven won and with another yelp of excitement, she picked up the ping pong ball, bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation.
Raven made her first throw, landing in one of Clarke's cups easily. Clarke tossed back the contents of the cup quickly and set it on the floor before making her own toss.
Both girls traded shots back and forth until both were down to 4 cups and had rearranged their remaining cups into the diamond formation. Raven lined up her shot and landed squarely in Clarke's front cup, jumping in the air with a loud "YAAASSSS!"
Clarke smiled, drank and lined up for her own shot. Lexa watched in admiration as Clarke focused and furrowed her brows in concentration, and then caught her breath as she watched Clarke stick the tip of her tongue out of the side of her mouth before making her shot. Lexa was still staring at the blonde and totally missed the ball sail perfectly into the farthest of Raven's cups. Clarke didn't celebrate the toss other than to arch her eyebrow at Raven in challenge. She turned to Lexa, caught her eye and dropped her a quick wink before turning back to Raven. Lexa thought her heart was going to beat right out of her chest when Clarke winked at her, and she had to forcibly tear her gaze away from the blonde and refocus on the game unfolding before her.
Raven's next shot looked as though it was going to bounce into Clarke's right side cup, but it hit the rim and skittered away. Raven cursed and Clarke smirked before confidently sailing her shot directly into the front cup at the other end of the table. Raven cursed again, draining her cup and taking her time with her next shot. She overthought it, though, missing completely. Clarke smiled widely at Lexa after retrieving the ball, and Lexa was struck dumb by the beauty in front of her, overwhelmed by the feelings colliding throughout her body. She licked her lips before grinning back at the blonde bombshell in front of her.
Clarke raised the ball and pretended to examine it closely before suddenly letting it go, with no apparent preparation, and the onlookers all cheered in appreciation as the ball dropped into one of the two cups remaining in front of Raven. Raven scowled again before she said haughtily, "Now you're just showing off, Clarke."
Clarke laughed lightly before indicating the three remaining cups in front of her with a dramatic wave of her hand. Raven narrowed her eyes at her before lining up her next shot and pumping her fist when she managed to hit an edge and fall into one of Clarke's cups.
Clarke downed her shot and rearranged her final two cups before picking up the ball for what could be her last shot. She looked at Lexa with a crooked smile and gave her another wink before she said, "Wish me luck."
Lexa smiled back and just shook her head in amusement.
Raven piped up from the far end of the table, "You don't need luck Griffin, just make the damn throw."
Clarke made the toss and watched as the ball landed squarely in Raven's cup, before taking a dramatic bow to the cheering group around her. Raven down the cup and then yelled "Redemption!"
"By all means, Rae, take your best shot," Clarke fired back.
Raven got the first ball in but then missed and grumbled her congratulations to the blonde. A couple people offered to challenge Clarke, so she looked at Lexa and asked "Do you want to try? We could play doubles."
Lexa thought about it briefly before nodding. Raven offered immediately to play with someone else and was surprised to see Lincoln step up beside her. He smiled at Lexa and Clarke and then fist bumped Raven before starting to help set up the cups.
The game was close. Lexa showed an incredible aptitude for the game, making some tight shots prior to the re-cluster at 4 cups that left Raven with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Clarke was also impressed, shooting covert glances at the brunette over the course of the game.
It came down to one cup left for each team, with Lincoln throwing for his side and Lexa throwing for hers. Lincoln went first and hit the cup squarely, causing Raven to jump up and down in glee, as she slapped him on the back in excitement.
"No pressure Woods," Lincoln stated, calling Lexa by her last name.
Lexa just looked at him and then at Clarke, who smiled and whispered, "Don't worry about it. If you miss, we still have the redemption shot."
Lexa took a deep breath and made the shot. It sailed across the table, bouncing once in front of the cup before bouncing up and off the back rim and in. Cheers erupted and Clarke turned and high-fived her partner.
"Now we go to sudden death," she said.
They set up their three cups and it was Raven's turn first. She made her shot and smirked as Clarke downed the drink. Clarke took her shot and made it as well. Then Lincoln and Lexa each made theirs.
It was down to one cup each again and it was Raven's turn. Clarke could tell she was nervous, so she grinned cockily at her, trying to throw Raven off her game. Raven glared at her and then set up and sank the shot so casually, she made it look easy.
Clarke clapped slowly before taking her own shot and making it look just as easy as it too fell cleanly into the other team's cup. Raven groaned and began setting up for round two of overtime, but Clarke stopped her.
"Let's call it a draw, Rae. Other people want to play, and it's not fair to hog the table. If that's okay with you?" she turned and asked Lexa.
"Of course," the Lexa replied. "That was fun, thank you for an excellent game Raven, Lincoln," she said nodding her head at both of them in turn.
"No problem," Raven responded. "But we totally would have had you...maybe we can have a rematch later?"
Clarke nodded and smiled at her friend before she bent to retrieve their drinks from where she had placed them prior to the game and led Lexa to the couch in the living room. They both sat down on either end of the short couch, and Clarke turned her body so that she could face Lexa, and the movement made their knees touch. Clarke handed Lexa her drink and asked, "How are you doing?"
Lexa looked at her in confusion for a moment before Clarke clarified, "Feeling, I mean. That was quite a few shots in a short amount of time, and you did say you don't drink often, so I was just wondering if you are feeling okay."
"Oh, yes, I'm fine, thanks," Lexa said. "We split the shots, so technically I should be asking you that question, since you played a whole other game prior to ours."
Clarke laughed, "I've been known to play that game for hours on end and still kick everyone's ass. I'm fine."
Lexa thought that she could listen to Clarke laugh forever. It was fresh and light, like a babbling brook over sun-drenched rocks. She looked at the blonde and felt comfortable, more comfortable than she could ever remember feeling. Clarke's laughter was like food for her soul, she could feel herself come alive in the young woman's presence. She hadn't felt alive in a very long time.
The feeling both terrified and excited her.
"Lexa?" Clarke questioned after a moment of silence where the two girls just sat and stared at each other.
At the sound of her name, Lexa straightened and mentally shook herself. Her eyes flicked down to the half-finished drink in her hand before saying "Sorry, I was thinking."
"Hmm," Clarke hummed in response. "Anything you want to share?" she asked with a hint of teasing in her voice.
Lexa smiled slightly, keeping her eyes lowered. "Not really," she said as she shook her head. "However," she continued looking back up at the girl in front of her, "I was wondering what you do when you aren't playing hockey."
Clarke laughed again, and it sent tingles down Lexa's back which pooled at the base of her spine.
"Well, I'm a third-year bioengineering student at George Washington University. I live at home with my parents because it's cheaper, and it's like I live alone more often than not due to my parents' work schedules. Let's see, what else," she said with a smile. " I hate running, but I do it anyway to stay in shape for hockey, and I love being at the gym, and how good I feel after, but I hate going."
She looked expectantly at Lexa for a moment before tilting her head and asking, "What?" when the brunette looked at her with pursed lips and a small frown on her face.
"Bio-engineering?" she asked. "Isn't Raven also an engineering student?"
"Yeah, but she's studying to be a mechanical engineer. We both started in the engineering program but chose different specialties in our second year. It took me a bit to get caught up and I had to take some summer classes after my first year, but it's paying off now."
"I don't understand," Lexa said. "Why would you have to catch up?"
"Oh, sorry. I wasn't always an engineering student," Clarke offered a bit sheepishly. "I actually got into GW on scholarship for the pre-med program."
Lexa's eyes widened. She knew the pre-med program was very difficult to get into, and her respect for the woman in front of her grew even more. Beautiful and intelligent...oh Woods you are in so much trouble.
Lexa swallowed her surprise and asked, "pre-med, wow. Why the switch?"
So Clarke filled her in on the journey of her first year. She had been pre-med but decided to switch halfway through to the engineering program. It had been a tough decision because she really did like to help people, but she felt she could help more people by engineering medical advancements than she ever could directly as a doctor.
Her parents were totally supportive of her decision; she was essentially following in both of their footsteps, after all. She had to give up her scholarship to the pre-med program, but her parents were more than happy to pick up the extra for the remainder of the year as long as she was happy. So she moved over to the engineering program so that she could enter the three-year biomechanical engineering program in her second year.
She talked about her course load and scholarships and some of the work she was doing to prepare for post-graduate studies. She told all of this to Lexa in such an off-hand manner that Lexa knew Clarke had no idea how incredible she was.
"So, that's how I ended up in bioengineering," Clarke stated with a shrug.
"So you think you can help more people this way, is that the only reason?" Lexa wasn't sure why she asked, she just felt as though there was more to what Clarke was saying.
Clarke looked at the other girl carefully, as if judging how much of herself to share with a practical stranger, who for some reason, didn't feel like a stranger at all.
Clarke seemed to make a decision and she nodded once before saying quietly, "My mom is a surgeon, and I've seen what it does to her when she loses someone. She blames herself, she goes over it, again and again, trying to figure out what she could have done differently. I don't know how she does it. I asked her once and she said that every time she fails to save someone, it makes her a better doctor. I can see how strong she is, how determined she is to be better every time she picks up a scalpel."
Clarke looked away from Lexa then and shook her head. "She's so strong, she has to be strong to keep doing what she does. I don't know if I'm that strong. I don't know if I could deal with losing patients," she said sincerely.
"So, sometimes in my darker days when I'm questioning my choices, I feel like I took the easier road, that I copped out somehow. Then I get back into the research and I learn, and remember how these designs are helping people not only recover, but lead healthier happier lives. I feel good about my choice, and I really do love the design aspect of it. I have always loved to let my imagination run wild in the creative sense, so this program seemed tailor-made for me. I get to flex my creative muscles and still help people." Clarke finished softly.
Clarke wasn't sure what made her share so much with the other girl. She had just told Lexa more about her choices, and the reasons behind them than she had even shared with Raven or Octavia.
She wasn't sure what she expected in response, but Lexa reaching over and squeezing her thigh as she looked into her eyes certainly wasn't it. She held her breath as Lexa whispered huskily, "I think you're strong, Clarke."
Lexa didn't mean for it to come out as low as it did, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was mesmerized by the azure of Clarke's eyes. Eyes that seemed to reach out and pull her into their unending depths, eyes that seemed to see straight through her walls into her very soul. It left Lexa shaken by the strength of the feeling.
Clarke closed her eyes and shivered at the way the Lexa said her name, rolling the r softly and popping the k at the end with a soft click. She decided that she could listen to the other girl say her name over and over and never get tired of it. She could feel the heat emanating from where Lexa's hand still rested on her thigh through the material of her jeans.
When she opened her eyes mere seconds later, she was surprised at how close she was to the other girl, both women leaning in towards each other slightly, and she couldn't stop her eyes from flicking down to Lexa's lips before coming back up to meet her eyes again. Her eyes. Clarke felt as though she could get lost forever in the forest green of her eyes and be perfectly happy. She felt an inexplicable draw to the other girl and the only thing she could think about was how Lexa's lips would feel pressed against her own. What her skin would feel like under the touch of her fingertips as she brushed them along elegant cheekbones and slid them along a perfectly sculpted jaw.
All of these thoughts and more were racing around Clarke's head and she could feel herself leaning in and closing the distance between them, oh so slowly. She was close enough to feel the warmth of Lexa's breath on her face, her heart beating so hard she felt sure everyone at the party could hear it. Her own respiration rate had at least doubled in the last few moments, but still Clarke inched closer, keeping her eyes locked on Lexa's.
Just as she was about to close the final distance, she was jarred away from Lexa by an agitated Octavia who was rushing towards them babbling incoherently, completely unaware of what she had just interrupted. She practically fell over them in her haste to find them, and it took a minute for Clarke to finally understand what Octavia was going on about, but when it finally registered her face drained of colour.
"Finn's here. Finn's here, Finn's here," Octavia kept repeating.
"He's drunk and he's mad and he's looking for you, Clarke," she said, eyes wide and glossy.