Notes: My biggest thanks to both my wife and my beta Sally, who took some time out of a busy schedule trying to get ready for SDCC (jealous) to take a look at this chapter. Once again, the notes they gave me made it better (and longer). This one is not as big as part 1, but still close to 6000 words. Enjoy!
Clarke strolled back into the living room a few steps behind Lexa and tried to ignore the pointed looks thrown at her by her friends. Raven not so subtly checked her watch and then looked back at Clarke with raised eyebrows. Clarke just glared back at her and shook her head minutely.
Clarke and Lexa made their way back to the couch and got comfortable. If they were sitting closer to each other than they were previously, no one commented on it.
They had missed the start of the third period, but someone had collected more snacks, and there were more drinks on the table as well. Clarke decided to forgo the beer and drink water instead, not wanting to risk doing or saying anything inappropriate to the woman sitting next to her. So she excused herself and grabbed the unopened beer from the table and headed to the kitchen to exchange it for a glass of water.
As Clarke closed the fridge door after returning the beer, she started slightly to see Raven standing at the end of the island staring at her, arms crossed and brow quirked.
Clarke shot her a glance before moving to the cupboard to collect a glass. "Yes?" Clarke queried.
"You and the Commander were gone for quite a while," Raven stated with a smirk. "What took you so long?"
"I ran into her, literally, in the hallway on the way to the bathroom. Then she noticed my art on the wall, so we were talking about that for a bit," Clarke shared.
"That's it?" Raven asked.
"For the most part," Clarke responded, hoping her friend would leave it there. No such luck, though.
"For the most part?" Raven repeated, raising both brows and taking a step closer to Clarke.
Clarke sighed, resigned to the fact that her friend wouldn't let up until she spilled it all. "I don't know Rae. It was weird. We were talking about how my parents put up everything I draw and our eyes met, and I got lost."
"What do you mean you got lost?" Raven asked.
"I don't know!" Clarke said, frustrated, throwing her hands in the air. "It was like time stood still and I was looking into her soul. Like I knew her better than I've ever known anyone. Like I've known her all my life. Like I've known her forever, through many different lives, but it was always Lexa..." Clarke trailed off with a look of surprise on her face as she realized what she had just said.
Raven was also standing in front of Clarke with her mouth agape. She snapped her mouth shut and coughed slightly before confronting Clarke. "Are you talking about reincarnation? Past lives and all that shit? Because that's whacked, Clarke."
Clarke just looked at Raven and shook her head. "Hell if I know, Rae. I've never been the type to fall into that sort of thing, not something I've ever really thought about being a possibility. However, I can't deny what I just felt. How I still feel." Clarke shrugged, looking at her friend, willing her to understand.
"Perhaps your head is still messed up from all those pain meds," Raven said with a smirk.
Clarke just glared at her and shook her head, "I haven't been on the meds for over a week."
"Okay," Raven breathed out. "What was Lexa doing while you were 'lost'?"
Clarke shifted and looked down, "I'm not sure what was going through her mind, or what she felt when we were looking at each other. But then my legs started to shake; my whole body was trembling, and I was sure I was about to faint."
Clarke looked up at Raven, a look of awe on her face. "Before I could even register what was happening, Lexa had stepped in and wrapped me up in the best hug I've ever had."
She sighed. "It was like I was home, Rae. I felt safe, more comfortable than I have ever been. I could tell she was trembling too, and we just hung on to each other like our lives depended on it." Clarke looked at Raven, vulnerable and open.
Raven swallowed and shook her head. "Holy shit, Clarke. That's intense."
Clarke just nodded. "What do I do? I've never felt like this about anyone. It's more than just thinking about her all the time. I feel complete just sitting next to her. I miss her, just being in here away from her. I've only known she's existed for less than three weeks! It is a dichotomy of massive proportions," Clarke exclaimed. "I know next to nothing about her, yet I feel as though I've known her forever! I don't have any idea where to go from here. How do I approach this? What do I do?"
Raven sighed, "Wow. Maybe you need to have a conversation with Lexa, Clarke. You need to see if she's on the same page as you."
"But what if she's not? What if my perception of this is all me - that I'm the only one feeling like this? What if I scare her away? I don't want to end, potentially, something that hasn't had a chance to start." Clarke lamented. "If there is one thing I know for sure right now, it's that I need this woman in my life in whatever capacity she's willing to be in it. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize this budding friendship by expressing the feelings I'm experiencing." Clarke paused before continuing, "and then there's what Anya said to me."
Raven perked up at the mention of the older woman. "What? What did Anya say?"
"She told me that she could tell that I liked Lexa and that I needed to be patient with her. Then she essentially gave me the 'best friend' talk - and Lexa and I aren't even together. It was very confusing," Clarke said with a frown.
"Well, maybe she knows something you don't, about how Lexa is feeling," Raven offered.
Clarke was about to respond when they heard Octavia yell from the other room. "Yo, Griffin! Reyes! What the hell are you two doing in there? Get your asses out here!"
Clarke and Raven grimaced at each other, and Raven looked at her watch before whispering, "Shit, we've been in here for over 10 minutes."
Clarke finished filling up her water glass and then grabbed a second one for Lexa and the two girls made their way back to the living room.
Once again, the moment Clarke entered the room, Lexa's eyes found hers and Clarke sent her a soft smile. As she approached the couch, Clarke held out a glass of water and offered it to Lexa who accepted with a short nod of thanks.
"It's still pretty early," Clarke said in way of explanation, "and I thought a water break might be nice since we still have a lot of evening left."
"That is very prudent, Clarke. Thank you," Lexa replied.
Clarke nodded and settled back into the couch. "What'd I miss?" she asked, jutting her chin out towards the TV.
"Not much," Lexa responded. "It's not a very exciting game. Sweden has taken to clogging the middle and playing tighter defense, at the expense of offense, to protect their lead and the US can't seem to get anything going. They've only had a couple of chances so far this period, but unless something miraculous happens, I think Sweden might take this one."
After watching for several minutes in silence, Clarke nudged Lexa and nodded at the screen, "I think you might be right."
Lexa hummed a soft "hmmm" that sent an inexplicable tremor through Clarke's chest as if the sound reverberated in the depths of Clarke's chest as well as Lexa's. For about the hundredth time since Clarke had met Lexa, she wondered what the hell was going on, and why she reacted like she did when in the presence of the beautiful brunette. Clarke had been attracted to beautiful women before; she had even dated a few who were, without a doubt, gorgeous. One, she even dated for a few months, but none of them affected her the way Lexa did.
As Clarke tried to calm her rambling mind, the hockey game came to a close, with Sweden maintaining their one goal lead. Raven got up and turned off the TV with a disgusted grunt, mumbling something about heads up asses and picking it up a notch for the next game. Octavia started cleaning up empties and carried them to the kitchen before Clarke was even aware that the match was over. Clarke shook her head slightly, furrowed her brow and blinked a few times trying to shake free the morass of thoughts from her mind, or at least into some sort of order. She felt a soft touch on her arm and looked over at Lexa, blinking a few more times, and registered the concern on the brunette's face.
"Are you okay, Clarke?" she asked, removing her hand once she had gotten Clarke's attention.
"Oh! Oh, yes. Sorry. I was thinking," Clarke said, blushing slightly and looking down at the floor.
Lexa smiled crookedly, thinking that a blushing Clarke was one of the cutest things she had ever seen. "You seem to do that a lot," Lexa said.
Clarke looked up and right into Lexa's piercing green gaze. Her breath caught, and she blushed even harder. "Uh, yeah," Clarke coughed and tore her gaze away from Lexa's. She looked off towards the kitchen, where she could see her friends and Anya tidying up the snacks. Clarke turned to look back at Lexa but found it hard to hold her gaze as she continued, "I'm not usually such a space cadet. I'm usually much more present than this; I assure you. I'm sorry if I'm a horrible host," Clarke finished in a rush.
Lexa quickly shook her head. "You're not a horrible host, Clarke." Lexa smiled and added, "Plus, that game was dismally dull, it's no wonder you decided to think about something else. I'm just glad you're okay."
"Yeah, okay, thanks. I am. Okay, I mean," Clarke rambled. She coughed again and then stood up abruptly. She tossed her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen where she could hear the beginnings of an argument. "We had better get in there and help solve the 'what to order for dinner' discussion I hear starting."
Lexa looked at Clarke carefully for a beat before nodding and standing up and following the already departed Clarke to the kitchen.
Dinner was decided relatively quickly once Clarke and Lexa entered the kitchen and added their vote for pizza and wings to Octavia and Anya's, leaving Raven to scowl and complain that they never tried anything new. Clarke laughed and promised they would try the new Tandoori Palace next time.
Clarke pulled out some board games and set them on the coffee table as the five women gathered around and started looking through the offerings trying to decide which to play first.
"Oh my God!" Lexa exclaimed. "Is that what I think it is? Oceanopoly!"
Clarke laughed. "You've seen this game before? I thought my parents were the only ones dorky enough to get this for me."
"I've played it before, yes," Lexa replied, opening the box and looking inside. "It's been years, but I remember how awesome I thought it was - an excellent adaptation of Monopoly."
Raven grabbed the rest of the games off the table and set them on the floor out of the way. "Well, it looks like Lexa has made our choice," she said with a chuckle.
Lexa grinned and placed the game on the table, sorting through the pieces, holding up a small metallic squid, "this one's me," she happily announced as she passed the bag of playing pieces to Clarke.
Clarke smiled as she chose the sea star piece, at the genuine joy radiating from Lexa. Octavia took the seahorse, Raven the shark fin and Anya, the crab. They set up the board, handed out the sea dollars to get started and launched into a surprisingly aggressive game. Anya accused Raven of cheating on more than one occasion merely because she was the banker, which Raven vehemently denied with indignant outrage.
Over an hour and a half later, with a short break to pay for the pizza when it arrived, Lexa managed to win the game having the monopoly of ocean property and watching in glee as Anya landed on her Blue Whale property, surrounded by big fish. Anya threw the last of her sand dollars at Lexa in disgust, "It is unfair how cut-throat and good at this game you are" she shot at her friend.
Lexa smirked as she collected the money. "Being a business major has its perks," she said saucily.
Clarke, Raven, and Octavia had gone bankrupt several turns before, so Anya was that last holdout to Lexa's imminent takeover. The girls congratulated Lexa on her dominating win once Anya fell, and cleaned off the table. It was still early, so they played rock, paper, scissors for the right to pick the next game. Raven won and promptly chose Creationary, causing Octavia to groan.
Lexa raised her brows, looking at the box with interest, "What's that one?"
Clarke grinned, "Oh Raven, you are not going easy on our guests tonight, are you?"
Raven smirked back. "After the thrashing, Lexa just gave us in Oceanopoly; I thought it was fair to return the favor."
"We have an odd number, though," Octavia observed. "We need partners."
"Well," Raven said thoughtfully, "Clarke and I could go together against the three of you."
"Ha! No way! Nice try Reyes," Octavia shot back.
"Will someone please tell me what this game is," Anya finally asked.
"It's like Pictionary, but instead of drawing, you build things out of Lego," Octavia offered. "We stopped playing Pictionary because no one could beat Clarke, but this is just as bad because they're both engineers, and their brains are like, psychically linked or something with this game. Do not let them play together," she finished forcibly.
"That's fine," Raven said nonchalantly. "I can play with anyone; we'll still kick ass."
Clarke snorted and rolled her eyes. "We'll see, Reyes, we'll see."
"Well that's all well and good," Octavia said. "What about the third person?"
"We could have a floater?" Clarke suggested.
"A what?" Octavia asked, confused.
"A floater. One person who can guess or build for both teams, but has to pick a team for the duration of the turn," Clarke clarified. "Or that person could just alternate between teams every turn. The bonus would be that regardless of which team won, that person could claim to be on the winning team," she added as an incentive.
It worked because Octavia perked up and said, "That seems like my kind of offer. I'm in. Unless anyone one else wants it," she asked looking at Lexa and Anya.
Both girls shook their heads, and Clarke smiled. "Looks like you are an automatic winner already, O."
"I've been telling you I'm a winner for years, Clarke," Octavia sassed. "This just proves it - again."
The girls all laughed, and Clarke looked at Lexa. "Be my partner?"
Lexa nodded and shifted closer to Clarke's side of the table.
"I guess that leaves you with me, General," Raven said to Anya. "Get ready to be amazed at my Lego creation ability."
Anya rolled her eyes at the brunette's use of 'General', but was secretly pleased by the moniker. "If I must," she grouched, trying to hide a smirk as she too shuffled over so that she was at Raven's side of the table.
"Who are you going to start with, O?" Clarke asked.
"I'll start with whoever builds first," Octavia announced.
They decided to let the next birthday start first, and it turned out that Anya's was up next, so she and Raven, with Octavia's help, started the game. Raven declared that to demonstrate how the game worked; she would build first. Clarke shuffled the cards and handed the top one to Raven. Raven rolled the dice and got the miscellaneous category and let everyone know that it wouldn't be nature, buildings or vehicles, but could be anything else. Clarke gave her a few seconds to read the card and think and then turned over the timer. Raven immediately grabbed some bricks from the pile and started snapping pieces together. Twenty seconds later, she picked up the creation and brandished it in her teammate's faces, with a look of expectation.
"A pole?"
"An ax?"
"Stick?"
"Knife?"
Raven's look of expectation, slowly began to morph into one of frustration, and she quickly added a piece to her creation and showed it to her team again, glancing worriedly at the timer as the sand started to wind down.
"A pick ax!" Octavia yelled.
Raven shook her head and thrust it at them again.
"A shovel!" Anya hollered, just as time ran out.
Raven fist pumped in the air, and high-fived Anya. "Yaaasssss! Finally."
"Well, that was a close one, Rae," Clarke remarked. "You squeaked that one in under the wire. Okay, it's our turn. Ready, Lex?" Clarke asked as she turned to regard her partner.
Lexa was nervous, she didn't want to let Clarke down, and given the tension, she could feel from the other team after just the first round, she had a feeling she was in for an intense and competitive game. So she nodded and took a deep breath.
"Do you want to guess or build?" Clarke asked.
Lexa thought about it for a moment, "I'll guess first if that's okay?"
"Totally fine," Clarke responded with a smile and handed her the die to roll. Lexa tossed it on the board, and it landed on animals.
Octavia handed her a card, and she took a look and grimaced slightly and shot Lexa a look as she rolled her eyes slightly. It was a more time-consuming build, and would leave Lexa less time to guess, but if she did a good job, then Lexa should be able to get it fairly quickly.
Clarke nodded at Raven, who turned over the timer and Clarke immediately starting throwing pieces together, quickly and efficiently. Lexa was peering through Clarke's deftly moving fingers, trying to see what was taking shape, in hopes of getting some idea of what she was constructing. She thought she saw what could be four legs and immediately her mind started thinking about all things it could be. It took only seconds more for her to form and opinion based on what was taking shape, so she decided to take a shot.
"Is it a horse?" Lexa threw out.
Clarke stopped building and looked at Lexa in surprise, then turned and smirked at Raven holding up the half-finished horse.
"Well, shit balls!" Raven exclaimed as Clarke high-fived Lexa, congratulating her on her intuitive guess.
"We're off to a fantastic start, Lex," Clarke said as she smiled again at the brunette, eyes twinkling.
Lexa grinned back and then looked smugly at Anya. "Your turn," she said sweetly.
Anya just scowled at her before taking a card from the top of the pile, while Raven rolled the die. It landed on vehicles and Anya groaned and shook her head, before nodding at Clarke to start the timer, and began snapping pieces together.
"A car," Raven yelled.
Anya stopped and looked at Raven expectantly, eyebrows raised.
"Is it not a car?" Raven asked confused.
Anya made a more gesture with her hand and started building another piece onto her vehicle.
"Electric car?"
Anya shook her head and pointed to the small piece she had extended off the back of the 'car'.
"Race car!" Raven yelled.
"Yes!" Anya shouted, and again the two women high-fived.
"I'm not so sure about all the eye talk and hand gestures that went on in that turn," Octavia said, "but I guess we'll give it to you."
"They're going to need all the help they can get," Clarke said confidently.
"Who's building for us?" Clarke asked.
Octavia offered to build next, and Clarke rolled buildings. Raven handed Octavia a card, she took a quick look and then nodded for the timer to start. She quickly started putting together what looked like a small house. Clarke and Lexa threw out a few guesses, but Octavia just shook her head and kept building. As time was about to run out, she added a small dish like object outside the small opening to the house, and it finally clicked for Clarke, and she yelled out "doghouse!" just as the last grain of sand fell from the timer.
"Phew. That was close," Octavia breathed out. "Two - two. Your turn Raven. Want me to build again?"
"No, I got this," Raven responded. "We have to bump up a difficulty level now right?"
"Yep, roll away Anya," Clarke smirked.
Anya landed miscellaneous again, Raven grabbed a card and grinned. "Easy," she said confidently. "You guess with us right, O?"
"No, I'm sticking with Clarke and Lexa this turn. I'll come back to you next turn," Octavia said.
"Whatever. Here we go, General," Raven said.
Raven had to build a frying pan, and Anya just couldn't get it, shouting out guesses such as: "ping-pong paddle, tennis racquet" and even "golf-club."
Clarke chuckled, "no one would have been able to guess it was a frying pan, Anya, don't worry about it."
"Oh, shut it, Griffin, and take your turn," Raven retorted.
Octavia rolled buildings, and Lexa picked up the card and a smirk crossed her face. She locked eyes with Clarke briefly, giving her a brief nod. Clarke grinned back, and Lexa nodded to Raven to flip the timer.
She immediately picked up a small flat piece and started putting an edge around it. She then placed two slanting open pieces, one at each end. As soon as she set the first one, and a large smile graced Clarke's face and she waggled her eyebrows at Octavia, who laughed as the realization hit her. As soon as Lexa placed the second slanted piece, both Clarke and Octavia yelled out in unison, "Hockey rink!"
"Shit!" Raven and Anya hollered at the same time. "That was too easy. Are you sure it was in the medium difficulty pile?" she asked as she reached out to check the card. She sighed as she placed the card back down, looking dejectedly at Anya, "it's legit."
We're up three to two," Clarke sniggered.
Anya took her turn, building a panda, which Octavia immediately guessed after Raven yelled "Bear!"
Clarke created an airplane next, which was only half-finished before Lexa guessed correctly.
They went into the third and final round with the score four to three. Clarke explained that the next round included the most complicated builds and they also included the mystery square on the die which meant that the builder could create anything they wanted.
The third round started with Octavia building for Raven and Anya. She got nature and had to build a log, which the other two managed to put together in the nick of time. Lexa constructed the Statue of Liberty and once again, Clarke managed to guess with lots of time left, Raven just shook her head.
The last round saw Anya building for Raven in a must-win situation, or Clarke's team would automatically win, given they were already a point ahead and had the last turn. She got binoculars, which Raven managed to guess right away and it came down to Lexa building once again, for the win.
Clarke rolled the mystery square, so Lexa took a moment to think about what to build, it came to her in a flash, and she nodded at Raven to begin. She built quickly and confidently, and Clarke and Octavia sat quietly and waited a bit until Lexa was ready to show them. When she finally revealed her creation, Clarke glanced up at her with a shy smile and Octavia glanced between them both with a smirk on her face before hollering out, "Guitar!"
"Damn!" Raven exclaimed, "That was an excellent guitar, Lexa. Even Anya could have gotten that one," she said with a smirk.
Anya frowned and swatted the younger woman on the shoulder, "Hey! See if I'm ever your partner again!"
"Oh, you'll be my partner for lots of things, General," Raven softly said out of the side of her mouth, so that only Anya could hear her.
Anya's mouth dropped open, and her eyes went a little wide before she recovered, but she could do nothing about the blush that was creeping up her neck, so she just coughed and turned to help clean up the game.
By the time they had cleaned up, put away the games, and replenished their drinks and snacks, it was almost 10 pm.
"We have time for a movie before we ring in the New Year if everyone is okay with that" Clarke suggested.
"Why don't we just watch Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark do the countdown?" Octavia asked.
"Because it's boring, O," Raven retorted. "Dick Clark looks like a wax mannequin and the sound is always awful. The bands aren't even that great this year."
"She's right, O," Clarke agreed. "Every time I watch the New Year's Eve special, I'm always disappointed."
"I have to agree," Anya said apologetically, looking at Octavia.
"Ugh," Octavia groaned. "Lex? Help a sister out?"
"I'm sorry, Octavia," Lexa said with a smile. "Even if I do want to watch the special, we would still be outnumbered."
"Yeah, but if you wanted to watch it, Clarke would let you," Octavia huffed under her breath.
Clarke was the only one close enough to the small brunette to hear her muttered comment, and she reached out and smacked her friend on the shoulder. "Octavia!" she said in a harsh whisper.
"What? You know it's true," she whispered back before raising her voice and addressing the group. "Fine, spoilsports. I get to pick the movie."
After a round of agreements, Octavia decided on the earthquake disaster movie, San Andreas, as no one had yet seen it. They pulled it up on Netflix, made some popcorn and settled in to waste away the last few hours until midnight.
Raven lost no time, settling in next to Anya on the couch, Octavia reclaimed her seat in the arm chair and Clarke grabbed a couple of cushions and sat on the floor, leaning against the back of the sofa. She looked up at Lexa and patted the space next to her as she grabbed another cushion and placed in on the floor beside her. Lexa gave her a small smile and joined her, making herself as comfortable as possible, thinking that she would happily sit in the most uncomfortable of places as long as she could sit next to Clarke.
The movie started, and it didn't take long before Clarke was bunched up in anxiety, with a hand across her mouth and her other hand reflexively reaching for Lexa's arm on occasion. Lexa thought that she had never enjoyed a movie quite so much. She kept sneaking glances at the blonde woman next to her, enjoying Clarke's reactions to the action in the film more than the film itself.
The movie reached its destructive climax, and the tension started to ease in Clarke's body, and she finally relaxed against the side of the couch, her hand resting on the floor between hers and Lexa's bodies. Lexa let her hand fall to the ground beside her as well, and was pleased when she felt Clarke shift slightly so that their pinky fingers were just barely touching. Lexa was tempted to move even further, to feel even more of Clarke's hand against her own, but resisted, her heart pounding in her chest. She glanced over to see Clarke staring at her, eyes wide and so, so blue. Clarke smiled at Lexa, and the brunette's breath hitched in her throat, and she felt as though her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. She gave Clarke a shaky smile back, wondering again at her body's reaction to the beautiful blonde. Clarke stretched her pinky over Lexa's and squeezed slightly and then looked back to the TV, leaving her pinky atop of Lexa's.
Lincoln showed up at 11:45, with about 5 minutes remaining in the show. Octavia got up to let him in, then led him back to her chair where she climbed into his lap as Raven released the show from pause after they got settled. Lincoln noted how close Lexa and Clarke were sitting together, and smiled to himself, hoping that his cousin was allowing herself to be happy.
The show ended, and they quickly changed the channel to the Times Square countdown clock. Clarke ran to the kitchen and with Lexa's help, grabbed the bottle of champagne from the fridge and six champagne flutes from the counter where she had placed them earlier. They walked back into the living room with about two minutes to spare, and Clarke started unwrapping the bottle and prepped the cork for release at the proper moment, as Lexa handed out a glass to everyone. The six friends, both old and new, gathered around the TV in anticipation of the final countdown. When it hit 10 seconds, they all started counting down out loud, jumping up and down when they hit one, and yelling 'Happy New Year' when it finally hit zero. Clarke popped the cork on the champagne and poured some bubbly into everyone's glass, and they all raised them in a toast.
Clarke wondered briefly what her father was doing in Orlando right now, whether he was in bed, or buried in his lab. She hoped he was out celebrating with someone, and not alone. She knew her mother wasn't alone and was probably up to her elbows in drunk fools vying for this year's Darwin award. She smiled at the thought and refocused on her friends.
"To old friends," Clarke said saluting Octavia and Raven, "and new ones," she continued in Lincoln, Anya, and finally Lexa's direction. Her eyes never left the brunette's as she said, "I'm glad you could all be here with me tonight."
The rest of the group raised their glasses and repeated in unison, "To friends!" at which point they all took a sip of their champagne and then started to hug each other. Raven stepped into Clarke and Anya into Lexa for hugs and kisses on cheeks, while Octavia jumped into Lincoln and wrapped her legs around his waist as they locked lips. Octavia jumped down and moved over to Clarke as Lexa hugged Lincoln, and Raven and Anya stood looking at each other.
"Fuck it," Raven said, stepping in and grabbing Anya by the back of the neck and pulling her in for a kiss. Anya hesitated for a moment, surprised, before reaching her arms around Raven's waist and kissing her back.
They separated a minute later to see their four friends regarding them with varying degrees of amusement and shock. Raven shrugged and moved over to a stunned Lexa and wrapped her up in a hug, while Lincoln and Clarke, and Octavia and Anya greeted each other more sedately. Finally, Raven and Octavia laughed and wrapped each other up, and Lincoln and Anya did the same, leaving Clarke standing in front of a fidgeting Lexa.
"Happy New Year, Lex," Clarke softly said, staring into the brunette's green eyes.
Lexa took a deep breath and breathed out, "Happy New Year, Clarke."
Clarke shifted slightly, wishing she could be as bold as Raven, but knowing on another, deeper, level that it wasn't yet time for that. So she opened her arms and tilted her head to the side, inviting Lexa in for a hug. Lexa hesitated only briefly before stepping inside Clarke's arms, feeling them close around her a moment later. Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's shoulders and marveled at how well their bodies fit together; Clarke seemed to melt into Lexa's embrace, and Lexa could feel herself doing the same. They held each other close for a few heartbeats, and then Clarke squeezed a bit tighter and began to draw away. She leaned out slightly and placed a chaste kiss on Lexa's right cheekbone, lingering just slightly longer than she should have. Lexa's breath caught, she could feel her respiration increase and the blood pound in her head as she felt Clarke lean into her again and whisper softly into her ear, "Thank you for coming tonight."
Lexa squeezed Clarke slightly and nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak just yet. Her cheek was still tingling where Clarke's soft lips had left their mark, and she desperately wanted to return the favor, so she turned her head and placed a quick kiss on Clarke's cheek before whispering back, "Thank you for inviting me. I had a very good time."
They released each other and stepped back, watching each other carefully. Clarke finally broke eye contact when she heard Raven ask for more 'champers,' giving Lexa a small smile before moving over a couple of steps to the group of friends around the champagne bottle, Lexa following close behind.
They each had another small glass, making small talk for a few minutes and then decided to call it a night. They made plans to meet at the coffee shop the next day, Lincoln confirming that he could join them as well. He offered to drop Octavia off at home, so they thanked Clarke and left first. Anya and Lexa said their good-byes next. Anya, making her way over to Raven for another quick hug and a kiss good-bye, while Lexa and Clarke stood content just to stare at each other, both feeling as though they were saying more in that look than either could comprehend.
Clarke finally moved forward and gave Lexa a quick squeeze and stepped back again before the other woman even had a chance to react.
"Thank you again, for agreeing to come tonight," Clarke started, seeing Anya and Raven making their way towards them. She turned to address the imposing blonde, "Thank you for having agreed to come as well, Anya. It was great meeting you."
"It was my pleasure, Clarke," Anya replied, looking at Raven with a smile.
"I, for one, am looking forward to our coffee extravaganza tomorrow," Raven quipped. "I get to hang with you all again and prove a point. Doesn't get much better than that," she finished in satisfaction.
Clarke rolled her eyes, gave Raven a hug and thanked her for coming. She then quickly hugged Anya and turned back to Lexa as the other two girls headed out the door.
"I'm looking forward to tomorrow as well," Clarke murmured, looking up into eyes that shone back at her.
"Me too," Lexa whispered back. "Good night, Clarke," she added as she turned to head out.
"Drive safe, Lexa," Clarke replied as she left.
Clarke watched her friends load up into their respective cars and drive away before she closed the door and made her way upstairs to prepare for bed. She felt like a teenager, one that didn't want to wash her face and wipe away any trace of the kiss she could still feel on her face. She reached up and stroked down her the side of her face, reliving the moment she felt Lexa's head turn and the feel of her soft lips against her cheek. She smiled to herself and decided that for just tonight, she wouldn't wash her face. So, she brushed her teeth and then crawled into bed and immediately fell into happy dreams that consisted of green eyes and soft lips.