Raven Reyes strolled through her humble abode with a brilliant smile on her face, feeling almost in reach of cloud nine. Not only had classes finished up for the semester, but they were having their first decent snowfall of the year, and with her aunt downstairs out of town at some festival in New Hampshire, her year-end party was in full swing.
But more than that, she'd made Anya Pine laugh just about two and a half minutes ago, with a fantastic lead in to a punny as hell one-liner that brought a blush to the woman's cheeks. Things were honestly looking up, and now that she'd gotten the intimidating woman to warm a little towards her, asking Anya out wasn't such a distant possibility anymore.
Especially since some music she'd mentioned in passing had piqued Anya's interest, leading to her mid-party interlude, searching her bedroom for her discarded iPod. More often than not, Anya listened when she spoke, but rarely took enough interest to take initiative. It was a good sign, it had to be.
Raven was bubbling over with excitement as she entered her room, though allowed herself enough room to feel relieved when she noticed Clarke passed out in her bed. The blonde had gone missing an hour or so earlier, and it wasn't all that surprising to learn that sleep had captured her friend. The girl had just finished the last two of her final assignments earlier that day, had supposedly been awake for over forty hours straight, and frankly looked like a zombie when she arrived to the party. A shot of vodka, and a bottle of cider, and Clarke had pretty much vanished.
She made her way over to the bed and draped her quilt over Clarke, knowing her home wasn't very well insulated, and knowing that come hell or high water, Clarke had her back and would have been happy for her and the recent development with Anya.
It only took a minute or so to track down her dented old iPod, but there it was, halfway hidden in her dresser, on top of her socks, clearly having slid off the top of the furniture. Raven clutched her trusty music player and turned it on, checking to see if it needed charging. As it was booting up, though, a vibrating noise filled the room, drawing Raven's attention away.
Raven knew her own phone was back in the living room, so she made her way over to the bed and lifted the quilt, knowing Clarke had a tendency to keep hers in her back pocket, but that device was still and silent as another vibration sounded off. Raven's eyes scanned the room, quickly spotting Clarke's bag, and while she wasn't really one for snooping, her mind filled with ideas as to what was vibrating, and whether or not she could gain some funny blackmail material on her friend.
Sadly, as she peered into her teammate's bag, she realized that there was not, in fact, a vibrator in there. Curiously, it was another phone, a cheap looking thing vibrating for a third time at the bottom of the girl's bag. Raven lifted it up and tapped the power button, and while the lock screen was generic and didn't give much of anything away, it did tell her that 'JungleCrotch' had texted her, probably all three times.
While Raven was a little curious as to who the hell could have earned that little nickname from the blonde, she wasn't willing to snoop any harder. It just wasn't really her style. She'd ask Clarke some other time when they were both well rested and enjoying winter break, but for now, she'd leave the blonde safe and sound in her room while she got back to the party.
Raven grabbed a pair of fresh drinks on the way back, handing a bottle off to Anya as she plopped down beside the woman. Anya's averted gaze and grimacing face had Raven's head on a swivel, only needing a second or two to spot Lincoln and Octavia making out across the room.
"Yeah, I imagine watching your brother making out with his girlfriend is pretty disturbing." Raven noted with a laugh. Anya let out a shudder before shifting her focus to the girl genius, expression brightening in a way that had the mechanic's heart aflutter. If the slight smile on Anya's face wasn't a confidence booster, she wasn't sure what was, even if the older girl was pretty drunk.
"So, you said you had music..." Anya started, voice slurring slightly as those curious dark brown eyes gazed at her intently.
Raven nodded and pulled out the iPod, remembering how Anya had been going on about some bands she liked, and how they were often getting less radio play with classic rock stations shifting up the timeline and playing more music from the nineties. Raven had brought up the fact that people still used those songs in remixes and mashups, and Anya's curiosity had immediately been piqued, thank god.
"So basically, what this guy does is he takes older music people feel nostalgic about, or simply just enjoy because it's great shit, and he mashes it up with modern rap music." Raven attempted to explain, earning a skeptical look from Anya, but the woman still grabbed the earbuds and slipped them in her ears. Raven scrolled through her playlists and stopped on her favourite song of his. "This one closes out one of his older albums, and it's my favourite. It's got some Journey mixed into it, too."
The mention of Journey brightened the woman's eyes ever so slightly, and Raven could only just barely stifle her excitement over some personality leaking out from behind the woman's usual stoic mask. Raven hit play and sat back to watch the woman beside her; she knew the track well enough to recall it through her memory, smiling at the sped up intro to ELO's 'Don't Bring Me Down' leading the track off.
Anya simply nodded along for the first little while before letting out an amused scoff. "Thunderstruck?" Anya asked no one in particular, brow furrowing in confusion as she let out another laugh. "And...is that George Harrison?"
Raven just nodded, getting a clearer picture of the eras Anya was more in tune with. But it was the slow gasp and the hand lifting to cover Anya's mouth that had Raven biting her lip nervously; she knew as well as anyone that mashups could make some people smile, knowing their favourite songs were being turned into something new, or it could be seen as heresy.
Anya was stock still and wide-eyed for long, agonizing seconds, the mashed-up drop of 'Pop, Lock & Drop It' and 'Faithfully' playing in her head. Raven's heart beat for the first time in forever when Anya let out a staggered laugh, eyebrows arching up in disbelief and warm brown eyes gazing back at her for some sort of answer to a question the woman couldn't ask due to falling into breathless laughter.
"Oh my god...he mixed a song about asses with a fucking power ballad." Anya let out between laughs, sinking deeper into the sofa, shaking her head in disbelief as she pulled out the headphones. "And he timed Steve Perry with...fuck..."
Raven watched on with a grin as Anya descended back into laughter, feeling a little accomplished for her efforts that night. Her goals had been to make Anya smile, maybe laugh once or twice, and learn more about the woman she was so fond of, and she felt like she'd accomplished all three in the short few hours of the party.
"What's so funny that even my boring sister's laughing?" Raven heard from her left before two bodies plopped down on the sofa beside her, Lincoln shooting her and Anya a curious look.
"Raven had me listen to a preposterous song." Anya said with a chuckle, sending a playful glare back Lincoln's way. "Nothing you'd be interested in, of course."
"Of course not, I'm not a nerd like you are." Lincoln fired back with a laugh before nudging Raven with his elbow. "She's literally the biggest buzz kill in existence. She brought a tome of Emily Dickinson poems to a carnival once."
Raven couldn't help but giggle a little at the mental picture, Anya holding the book open with one hand and clutching a stick of cotton candy with the other as a younger Lincoln and Lexa waited in line for rides.
"Oh, you don't want to go there with me, Lincoln. I think you'll rephrase that to be historically accurate, unless you want me to dig through my long, detailed memory." Anya spoke, the low rolling rumble of her voice all at once terrifying and arousing. Sometimes Raven worried over how sexy she found Anya when the woman was being all scary and intimidating.
"I don't think I will. Raven should know how big of a romantic you really are, Anya." He returned, and Raven almost shifted her gaze to catch his expression, but Anya was far too mesmerizing when she was coiling up and looking like she was ready to attack. The woman's eyes lit up in challenge and a dangerous smirk curled at her lips.
"My appreciation for poetry is nothing compared to Lincoln's many obsessions over the years. I vividly recall his pro wrestling period that lasted through most of high school." Anya practically purred, and had the woman taken a few moments to silently fish for her phone, Raven might not have heard Lincoln's hesitant protests beside her. "But don't worry, Octavia, you don't have to trust my memory to appreciate Lincoln's favourite pastimes. I have some examples here on video." Anya continued, hand planting on Raven's thigh for balance as the woman leaned across her so O could see what was playing on the phone.
There, in Anya's hand, was a video of a younger Lincoln Pine, wearing some pretty damn absurd tights, an incredibly colourful and dramatic bandana, some blacked out goggles, and a really unfortunate fake beard. Had she not been obsessed with Left For Dead a few years back, and toyed with a number of mods, she wouldn't have recognized his ridiculous attempts at impersonating 'Macho Man' Randy Savage's monologues and one-liners. But god damn, was it glorious as hell, and Raven let herself break out into laughter at it all, her awe at Anya's ruthlessness outweighing her embarrassment for poor Lincoln.
"Oh...my...god...LINCOLN WHAT THE HELL!" Octavia shouted before descending into a cackling fit, shaking her boyfriend in surprise as Anya laughed along.
"For three and a half years, I let him record every show on TV, I took him to the local live shows, I weathered his impersonation routines until...well, until they were as good as they'd end up being. He was so very committed to the craft." Anya added with a shit-eating grin as the recording of teenage-Lincoln rambled about snapping into Slim-Jims, and having been to 'the top of the mountain'.
"Okay that's enough! Just...come on...give it...!" Lincoln grunted out as he tried to grab the phone, reaching across Raven in the process. Or, well, he would have, had Anya not grabbed her and used her as a shield of sorts to keep Lincoln away.
"You make another lunge and I'll play your impersonations of The Rock!" Anya yelled out as Lincoln once more tried lunging over Raven to get to his sister. Apparently her threat caused enough hesitation to still him for a moment, which was enough hesitation for Anya to lay claim to victory. "You know you don't want that spread around. As rough as this one is, it's nowhere close to that one...so behave, Lincoln." Anya threatened with that intimidating as hell smirk of hers, and maybe she didn't feel so silly when Lincoln did in fact sink back into his seat with an annoyed huff, Octavia giggling at him and kissing his cheek for his valiant efforts.
And maybe Raven was smiling, too; she knew a kiss wasn't on the agenda for the night, but the fact that Lincoln's threat was over and Anya still had a hand lightly resting on her back, well, it was a good sign. Even if Anya had alternated between casting her amused or confused glances throughout the night, some actual contact and laughter was a step in the right direction. It had to be.
"...and then this vulgar rap song about asses got mixed with Steve Perry, you know...the guy from Journey...and it was hysterical!" Anya rambled drunkenly, halfway using Lexa as a human crutch as they made their way back to their dorm from Raven's party.
When her older cousin had called her to accompany her home, Lexa had just been finishing up a study session at a nearby diner, so she'd agreed. Anya hadn't sounded as drunk as she clearly was on the phone, but to her credit, it had been a brief phone call, and Anya rarely slurred when intoxicated.
"You really should have been there, little one. You'd have liked the music...and...oh, and Clarke was there, too!" Anya noted with a light punch at Lexa's shoulder. "She was asleep the whole time, though."
Lexa didn't doubt that she would have enjoyed some heretical mashups of Anya's favourite classic rock songs with modern rap, that was a given. Clarke, however, was a more complicated matter. Though, hearing the blonde had been out for the whole party was a slight bit concerning.
"What happened to her? Was she alright?" She asked, drawing a wide, toothy grin from Anya.
"She was fiiiiiine. Apparently she'd completed her last two papers that afternoon, so she was wiped. Zonked out a half hour after she got there. But Lexa, she put in the effort. She tried." Anya said with more gusto than usually granted to discussions about sleeping people, adding emphasis the understanding that the blonde had made an attempt to party, even if perhaps the girl wasn't up for it. "Maybe if you would have tried, and came to the party, things could have been different."
"I was studying, Anya. I told you." Lexa argued in return, though the current state of her cousin, and her admittedly weak excuse weren't enough to remotely convince Anya that Lexa couldn't have shown up for a little bit of it.
"Please, you're acing your natural history class. You literally have a perfect grade in it, and over fifty people in your class have bought your study guide from you." Anya shot back with narrowed eyes and a suspicious frown. "You were avoiding Clarke."
Lexa sighed at the simple deduction and guided them across the street as they reached the edge of campus. "I told you after the last party, I'm not willing to push my boundaries. I want to focus on hockey, and school, and you don't need to deal with me eventually messing up my love life again."
Anya nodded and was silent for a few long seconds, long enough to give hope that the topic was closed. Sadly, drunk Anya refused to let it go. "Raven tries. She puts in the effort, Lexa. Clarke, I understand, she...she put herself out there, for you. But Raven...can you believe I flirted with her? And NOTHING. I don't understand."
Lexa considered Anya's words and nodded as she tried to figure out what was going on. Because to her, Lexa had been fairly blatant in the few instances she'd caught them together. At Octavia's party, Raven had sat right beside Anya, thigh to thigh, not seemingly to have looked away from her cousin once during their brief discussion. She'd then watched Raven practically skip over to Clarke and gush about the encounter. And since that party, Raven had shown up at their gym on numerous occasions, always taking a few minutes to chat Anya up with a smile and a joke or two. It was Anya who had always seemed a bit difficult to read on the matter, rarely changing her facial expression when around the younger woman.
"So...Raven puts in effort to talk to you? And to try and make you laugh?" Lexa asked, earning a fierce nod from a very drunk and frustrated Anya. "And...what, she's never asked you out?"
Anya's lengthy, harsh sigh has Lexa rolling her eyes, because her cousin only ever did that when she'd made a mistake and was uncomfortable facing it. "I...may have made myself seem...unattainable...a while ago." Anya let out carefully, the streetlamp ahead of them providing enough light for Lexa to see her cousin's cheeks tinged pink. "But she kept talking to me. Kept joking with me. Kept...flirting...and nothing!"
Lexa nodded as a sense of clarity came over her, memory recalling Clarke's words to Anya about her friend, the night of the party. 'She thinks you're interesting Anya, but she's not going to pressure you' is what Clarke had said...that Anya had time to make a decision before Raven moved on...
"Anya, do you like Raven?" Lexa asked, figuring out whether she should come to the aid of her cousin's love life or not. It had been a long time since Anya had seriously dated anyone, to her knowledge; junior year of high school, to be exact. There had been a weekend long fling a year and a half ago, but the guy had bailed afterward, and Anya had been furious. It made sense that her cousin would be gun-shy, not wanting to be used again.
Anya waved her hands out in front of herself, as if weighing pros and cons. "She's annoying. And she keeps disrupting my workouts. And her one-liners can be tacky and a little insulting." Anya started, mouth twisting into perplexed pout. "But she's also intelligent, confident, she can make me laugh, she compliments parts of me no one else does...she sees me differently, and she's...she's legitimately interested in learning more about me."
Lexa just watched her cousin as the woman worked at arriving at a conclusion of her own. It did seem there were more positives than negatives, at the very least.
"But...it would be such a hassle to date someone, Lexa. Even with my final semester being so light. We'd both be so busy. I'd be so busy with school, and hockey, and you, and Lincoln, and..." Anya continued, but Lexa felt a deep need to reel her cousin in.
"Anya, Lincoln is well taken care of, as difficult as that may be fr me to say, or for you to hear or accept. Octavia is good to him. And while I appreciate it, you shouldn't factor me into your decisions, Anya. If you weren't worried about taking care of me like the mother bear you are, same with Lincoln, would you date Raven?" She asked, hoping her interruption wouldn't put Anya on the defensive. Thankfully, Anya's eyes just grew wider, her cousin clutching her hand tightly.
"I will always care for you, little one." Anya asserted firmly, before letting out a brief sigh. "But...perhaps I would try. It's just been so long...and we might have too many differences...and perhaps she only likes the idea of me, instead...instead of the real me."
And there it was. Lexa loved the hell out of Anya, respected the hell out of her as well, but the woman was not someone who was a tremendous risk taker. She was calculating, she ensured there were reasons behind each decision, and Anya had said enough for Lexa to know that her cousin probably wouldn't make the first move. At least, not right now, and that was a problem, given how frustrated and annoyed Anya was, even if part of that frustration and annoyance was with herself.
"Well, you both seemed to have a good time together tonight, right?" Lexa asked, drawing a reluctant nod from her frowning cousin. "Then maybe she'll make her move somewhere more appropriate, when you're both sober."
Her words seemed to do the trick enough to lighten Anya's mood, which was good, since they were approaching their dorm, and Anya going to be upset generally mean Anya spending the next morning being upset.
Lexa kept to her impromptu mission, leading Anya upstairs to wash up before getting her cousin to bed. Anya rarely ever put up a fuss, and wasn't any different that night, leaving Lexa plenty of time to execute her plan.
It was only ten minutes before she was back outside, phone in hand, dialing Raven's number from Anya's phone.
It only rang once before a nervous voice came across the line. "Anya? H...hey, what's up? Make it home alright?"
Lexa allowed for Raven's imaginary pints tracker to boost a little bit at the expressed concern, even if it wasn't necessary, and a little bit offensive for the woman to think she couldn't take care of her older cousin on the short walk home. The added hope and happiness absolutely saturating Raven's voice might have won a few more points as well.
"Actually, this is Lexa. I need you to listen carefully, Raven." She started, wanting to set the tone for her prospective plans.
Thankfully, Raven caught on quickly. "Gotcha. I'm all ears, Lexa."
"You're going to meet me at that park close to your house in fifteen minutes. I'll be sitting on one of the benches. Don't be late." Lexa stated as she made her way back towards Raven's, mostly trying to emulate Anya's steely tone; after all, she wanted to do her cousin justice by screening her potential future date. A bit of hostility was the name of the game.
There was a bit of silence over the line, but only for a moment or two. "Yeah...yeah, I'll make it work. See you then."
Lexa made it to the park in ten minutes flat, early enough to catch a flustered looking Raven marching down the sidewalk towards her. It was only a little past two, so there was a chance that Raven had closed up shop early just to make the meeting, what with the oddly high amount of cars and cabs driving down the street that time of night.
Raven slowed to stop at the edge of the bench, resting a gloved hand on it and cocking her hip in a bit of feigned confidence. "Did someone call for a mechanic?"
Lexa straightened her posture and folded her hands in her lap, shooting Raven with about an intense of an inquisitive stare as she could. "You want to date Anya."
Raven's mouth gaped open for a few long seconds before the woman's jaw clamped shut, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What is this, some kind of shakedown? A test to prove I'm worthy? Did Anya put you up to this?"
Lexa gave a small shrug, because it was pretty obvious what this was, no point in beating around the bush. "Anya's not certain you're sure about wanting to be with her, and that's frustrating and annoying her." Lexa began, earning a flash of a frown from the other girl before her expression returned to the slightly wary and combative default setting. "Which is why I'm here. To clear this up. You want to date Anya, yes?"
Raven crossed her arms and lifted her chin, eyes refusing to leave Lexa's gaze. "Yeah, I like her. I'd like that."
"Tell me, why do you like my cousin? Explain it to me, because I'm not sure how two parties and a few moments at the gym could lead to an accurate idea of who Anya is." It was a fair enough question, Lexa figured, as she sat back against the bench in wait for Raven's response.
Surprisingly enough, Raven just let out a long sigh and plopped down beside her. "I thought she was hot as hell freshman year. Didn't see her around a lot, but enough. I'll admit her whole badass aura kind of lured me in. I'm a sucker for strong people who don't take shit." Raven started, staring hard at the sidewalk in front of her. "Except, I was walking my friend's dog last spring, and I caught her sitting around Jamaica Pond with this thick book, and she just looked so into it. That piqued my interest. And then a friend of mine, her sister's on the Huskies, and apparently Anya taught her how to do some ballroom dancing stuff for a wedding. Suddenly, she wasn't this cardboard cut-out intimidating badass. She was more complex, and I'm a mech engineer...I like complexity."
Lexa could appreciate Raven's honesty; it was nice to understand how Raven came to appreciate her cousin. Still, as Lexa recalled Anya's words from earlier in the night, it didn't paint a complete enough picture for her. "And since the start of this year...what's changed for you? How do you see her differently?"
"Hell, is this really necessary? I'm really into her, and..." Raven started, but Lexa wanted the meeting over and done with as soon as possible, and decided to push the pace a bit.
"It IS necessary, and if you convince me you actually might deserve a shot with her, I'll help you set up a date with her." Lexa bargained, allowing herself an amused smirk as she watched Raven's eyes bug out.
"You serious?" Raven blurted out, syllables and eyebrows twisting in confusion. Lexa just cocked an eyebrow at the mechanic. "Okay, okay. So, I was excited about when Lincoln and O got together, because Anya was hounding Octavia, and eventually ended up at a party of mine trying to give her the third degree. I didn't see much of her that night, but I did see how protective she was. Shows she really gives a shit, wants the best for her people. I respect that a lot."
Lexa nodded along at that, happy to hear that Anya's overbearing side wasn't a turn-off, though she wondered how Raven might handle it on a more routine basis. As someone who had lived with or around Anya for close to half of her life, it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows.
"After that, O's party came up, and I got up the courage to talk to her, with Clarke's help. And Anya bristled a bit at my pickup lines, but strangely enough, I think she kind of liked them, in a weird way. She brought up poetry, too, and the fact that she could just recite this century old bit of work that perfectly represented what we'd been talking about? Showed she had brains, and was creative, and...well, damn, that's really attractive. And while she seemed a bit off-kilter with the compliments, she seemed alright with them." Raven continued, and while Lexa wasn't quite sure what Raven was getting at regarding pick-up lines, she couldn't help but be intrigued at the girl mentioning complimenting Anya, something her cousin has spoken about earlier that night.
"What exactly did you compliment her on?" She asked, figuring it was a good enough last question to determine Raven's eligibility.
"Well, her eyes, for one. They're this really beautiful brown that, when you get close enough, is a hell of a lot deeper and more varied than it appeared to be. The way they crinkle a little when she's smiling or laughing? It's unfair, because I never want to look away, and they make me want to smile or laugh too. And her smile? Fuck. I'm not a sap, but it's like I just ran up ten flights of stairs each time she's smiled at me. Like, I'm literally breathless, I can't manage it, because she just stole it all, and I don't have the heart to take it back when she's so happy. So I just end up sitting there like an idiot, because she dismantles me, and as weird as it is, I wouldn't want it any other way." Raven explained with a sheepish grin, shoulders shrugging a tiny bit, and while the girl was far from a poet, Lexa heard all the right things in those words.
While no one was exactly a sure thing, Raven did seem to hold a deep attraction to Anya, physically and mentally, and that was enough. Even if Raven was trying a tiny bit too hard, though with her cousin's difficulty, perhaps it was warranted. Knowing Anya was frustrated that Raven hadn't made another move, or at least that Anya herself hadn't, Lexa would push the issue and see what came of it somewhere down the line.
Lexa shifted on the bench to better face Raven, earning the older girl's attention quickly. "You should ask Anya out on a walk. Not a date...a walk. For all intents and purposes, it'll be the same thing, so long as you be yourself and flirt with her, but asking her for a walk will almost always be more convincing, and it'll be in her comfort zone. Tell her where you're thinking of walking to, and make sure the way there will go through some parks or by some waterways, and she'll find a reason to accept. She loves walks...early morning walks are reserved for friends and family. Late afternoon and evening walks are what you should plan for. Also, she loves poetry, but do not quote Pablo Neruda on the first date. The third date, though? Definitely." Lexa offered with a smile, enjoying how Raven was hanging on each and every word she spoke; she hadn't provided much information, but it was enough to give Raven a fair chance at making her cousin happy.
And really, that was what mattered.
"In case I have to say it, I can't promise I won't murder you in cold blood if you hurt her or break her heart. You attack her, you attack me. Fair warning." Lexa spoke lowly, hoping her somewhat intimidating tone would translate from hockey practices to this discussion.
Thankfully, Raven just nodded, face looking a little paler. "I get it. I respect it. And...thank you. You didn't have to do this, but you did."
"Just remember what I said. I won't tell you any of it again." Lexa stated firmly, though it only drew a smile on Raven's face.
"My memory's pretty great. Anyway, thanks again. I can't go out with her until my finals are over, but I'll ask her tomorrow in advance." Raven added, and that was the last bit of information Lexa had to hear.
She stood up and stretched her cold, stiff limbs, eager to return to her dorm and have a good night's sleep. "Good night, Raven."
"Night, Lexa." She heard called out behind her as she strode towards her dorm once more. It had been a bit of a strange night, but she hoped that her efforts would work out for the best.
Anya deserved to be happier, and Raven seemed worth a shot at making that happen.
Anya couldn't complain about how lax her exam schedule had been, having completed her one and only final very early on, leaving her free for the rest of December, outside of the Dartmouth game at the end of the month, but even that was a home game and didn't require traveling.
It left her with far more spare time than she'd been used to in previous years, and she'd spent much of her newfound free time catching up on the pile of 'recreational reading' books she'd had to put on hold for the past year or so due to her usually busy schedule. She had been more than a little excited to finally get around to completing the Maddaddam trilogy, and most days found her curled up on her bed in her dorm for a good chunk of time.
Which, of course, provided plenty of opportunity to keep an eye on Lexa's studying habits, but it also came with another surprise in the form of one Clarke Griffin. True to Anya's previous offer, Clarke had come around two days after Raven's 'end of classes' party with coffees in hand; the blonde also had finished all of her exams early, and had a little more time to kill as well, it seemed.
But it was the third straight day that Clarke had shown up, and while Anya was hardly one to complain about that, having begun to warm to the girl, it was more than a little confusing. Anya knew why she herself hadn't left the dorms yet, her reason being that she would stick around at least until Lexa was done, on the nineteenth. Clarke, on the other hand, had no family at school to look after, and probably could have found her way back to Virginia easily enough. Or could have spent much of the break with her friends on the sky crew, instead.
So as she sat there in bed, book in hand, eyes on the blonde sitting up against her bedside, currently doodling on a sketchbook, Anya couldn't help but feel a bit of confrontation come to the forefront of her mind. Again, she truly didn't mind Clarke being there with them, and her little one seemed mostly capable of ignoring Clarke so long as Lexa could face away from the blonde, but she needed answers.
"Clarke, what are your plans for later today?" She asked, figuring it was a safe enough opener, and not too hostile while being the right amount of inquisitive.
The blonde peered over her shoulder, brow furrowing in a moment of thought. "Well, I've got work around six, so there's that. But other than that, nothing. Why?"
"I was just wondering why you would spend large parts of today and the past two days over here." Anya answered with an expectant look, hoping the blonde could sate her curiosity, because she truly was puzzled over it.
However, Clarke's immediate hesitation had her thinking that perhaps she'd been a little too blunt. "Oh, uh...hey, it's not really a big deal, I just thought I'd stop by." Clarke eventually shot back, the sketchbook now closed in the blonde's lap as the girl's posture shrunk slightly. Clarke seemed nervous.
Lexa, on the other hand, was watching on curiously, eyes darting between her and the blonde as if to question what was going on. She'd been up front with Lexa on her aim to remain sociable with Clarke, so her cousin might have been right to feel confused, even if just momentarily, as Lexa seemed to catch on after a few seconds.
"It was thoughtful of you, but surely there are easier people to spend time with. I know for certain Raven is on lockdown, so there isn't much reason to come over to this part of town." Anya asserted, hoping to lay the groundwork for figuring the blonde out. Clarke was full of secrets, and while she usually didn't care to learn other people's dirt, she did feel it was for the best in case Clarke and Lexa did end up trying to figure something out.
Clarke just nodded slowly, eyes shifting to her backpack and then back to Anya. "Octavia's been at Lincoln's or making out with him at mine since exam period started, and a lot of others on my floor have left, so the dorms are kind of a ghost town right now. Raven's shut herself off from everyone until her exams are over. I knew you at least were finished yours, and Lexa has noise canceling headphones." The blonde finished with a shrug, entirely disappointing Anya with the lack of details. The blonde surely had more people in her life than just those two.
"Surely there's someone left from your team." Anya asserted, perhaps letting a little disbelief through in the process, her words prompting the blonde to stand.
"Hey, you don't need to tell me three times, twice is enough. I'll get out of your hair." The blonde remarked with a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring, but Anya still just felt confused.
It wasn't like she'd told Clarke to leave, either, so she set her book down, took the blonde by the forearm and led her out into the hall and to the washroom. When she let go and spun around to face the reluctant blonde, she couldn't help but wonder what was going through that head of hers.
"Why don't you spend time with your teammates?" She asked pointedly, crossing her arms and blocking the doorway in case the blonde wasn't up for explaining. Anya wanted answers, and if she and Clarke were to get closer, she would have them.
"I do, usually. But with exams, and a bunch of them done, there's not a lot of people to hang out with, and most just want to study alone. Sometimes they'll be up for doing something at night, but I'm usually busy with work then." Clarke answered tiredly, leaning up against a sink. "The fact that the seniors don't really want anything to do with the freshmen just cuts down my options. Especially since Tsing went down and word is I'm in the running for getting an A for the rest of the season."
Anya nodded at that, knowing that when she'd first joined the Huskies, there was some segregation among the freshmen and the older players. That the seniors on the Eagles banded together and kept separate from the enormous freshman class BC had brought in wasn't exactly surprising to hear about. Still, it was good to hear Clarke was being considered for some form of captaincy; the blonde was third in team scoring, and led the team in game winning goals. There was merit in that selection, especially given Clarke's work ethic.
"So spending time with your rivals is what, a fallback plan?" Anya needled, knowing it was a bit of a harsh question, but she needed an answer. She would not condone her hospitality being used as a backup plan in case the girl had nothing to do.
"I don't see you two that way. You're just two women I met at various parties, Lincoln's family." Clarke spoke after wincing at her words, clearly a little affected by the accusation.
"And us being his family makes what difference, exactly?" She shot back immediately, not wanting to give the blonde time to think, understanding how quick-witted the blonde was, and how accustomed to lying she seemed to be if given time and opportunity.
Clarke simply shrugged and stepped forward instead of answering, Anya reaching out to hold Clarke at arm's length eventually drawing words from the blonde. "Hey, it doesn't matter. I get the message, I won't bug you anymore." The blonde noted with far more flippancy than expected.
Anya shook her head, jaw clenching in frustration. None of this was going how she wanted. "Stop being passive-aggressive and just say what you mean, Clarke."
Clarke let out a sigh and turned around, walking back towards the sink; Anya followed along the wall silently, wanting to get a clearer read on the blonde, and needing to see her face to do so. "I guess I just thought we could be friends." Clarke answered, and while the words were calmly, perhaps neutrally spoken, the blonde's face was anything but. Head slightly ducked, face a little flushed, eyes glimmering slightly, teeth gnawing on a painfully chapped lower lip, and tiny lines around the girl's eyes broadcasting a clearly pained expression, it all pointed to a clear conclusion.
It had honestly been remarkably obvious; Clarke was lonely, and had been trying to become their friend. As much of an unknown Clarke happened to be, there were clearly some parts of her that were straight-forward.
"We can." Anya said quietly, but firmly, not wanting to send a message that she was handing her friendship out as a pity present. Clarke's blue eyes found her, the blonde watching her carefully with clear skepticism mixed with hope. "I'm not against you being here, Clarke. You're welcome to stay, I was just confused over why you were around so often. If you want to be friends, I think we can get there, eventually."
Clarke just stared at her for a few long moments before offering a sluggish nod. "Oh, that's...good. Yeah." Clarke stammered out in relief, running a hand through her blonde waves. "I just didn't want to impose."
"You weren't." Anya remarked, gesturing for Clarke to follow her back. They made their way back into the dorm room, Lexa appearing not at all surprised that Clarke had returned, which was a good sign. No matter her cousin's denial over the blonde, it was good to know Lexa still trusted her methods. "Lexa's busy studying still, at least for the next two hours, so you'll have to be quiet like before should you stick around. You're certainly welcome to."
Clarke just nodded at that and returned to her backpack, so Anya settled back in on her bed, picking up her book once again. It was a slight surprise when Clarke joined her, settling in at the end of the bed, Anya's calves and feet in the blonde's lap, Clarke's hands resting gently atop them.
Anya cocked an eyebrow, but the blonde just wasn't paying attention, head falling back to rest against the wall, eyes softly drooping shut; not at all surprising given how tired the blonde usually seemed to be. It wasn't uncomfortable, so Anya just returned focus to the novel and made her way through the chapter.
It was about two chapters later when she felt the hands on her calves start to move, gently pressing, kneading, massaging her muscles. It was a nice feeling, to be frank, nearly drawing an instinctive smile if not for her curiosity.
"Clarke, you don't need to earn your stay here." She let out quietly, startling the blonde at the end of the bed if the full-body jolt was any indication.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"It's fine, just know I don't take bribes, and they're not warranted." Anya interrupted, just wanting Clarke to understand what she was getting at, and that she hadn't been uncomfortable or taken offense.
Clarke's cheeks went slightly pink as the girl let out a small laugh. "It's not a bribe, I just tend to do that if I'm relaxed." Clarke explained, and Anya couldn't help but glance over at Lexa, who was red-faced and entirely tense, focus clearly not on her studies at the moment despite green eyes burning a hole into the pages of the notebook. "I'm just used to having O or Raven's legs and feet in my lap, and I...well, you know."
"Again, Clarke, it's fine. Do what you will." Anya noted softly, smiling at the thought that Clarke had warmed up to her as well. It had been some time since she'd made a new friend that hadn't come from her hockey team, and it was interesting to see the level of trust Clarke had in her so early on. "What's your schedule tomorrow?"
Clarke let out a faint hum, brow slightly furrowing for a number of seconds, before the blonde's expression leveled out. "My morning's entirely free."
Anya nodded as she turned the page. "Good. Send me the address to the coffee shop, and meet me there tomorrow at eight. Breakfast on me."
She watched the blonde's lips curl into a smile, Clarke's body relaxing once more; it was only minutes later that those hands were back to massaging. It made for a nice, quiet, and relaxing afternoon.
A/N: So I know this chapter was low on Clexa moments, but I kind of needed to set things in motion to foster more of those in future chapters. Two out of the three sections in the next chapter will pretty much be full on Clexa content, so if you're hungry for that, please be patient, it's on its way :)
Anywho, thanks so much for taking the time to read, I hope all of your weeks are going well!
