Chapter 2

Clarke slunk into the locker room behind Raven and Octavia, coming to a very sudden halt as she witnessed Lexa stood there in her black sports bra, her jaw becoming slack at the sight. "Clarke?" Octavia followed the girls eye line until she noticed Lexa too. "Clarke! Stop staring she's totally gonna see. Get it together." She waved her hand in front of the blondes eyes until she snapped back to reality.

"I, I uh didn't realize her tattoos were on her front as well." Clarke added nonchalantly as she moved to hide behind Raven.

"Hey, what are you doing Griffin? This is my spot!" Raven moved Clarke's gear back to her other side.

"I can't get changed in front of her guys. It's mortifying enough in front of a bunch of random strangers let alone her." Clarke gently beat her head against the locker door; taking comfort in how cold it was against her now very warm temple.

Octavia brought Clarke in for a hug. "It'll be fine. You have a killer body anyway so if anything you should take off all your clothes and simply parade around, that'd catch her attention." Octavia giggled as her friend groaned in her arms. "Come on, get dressed."

Clarke threw her hands up in defeat, moving to take her clothes off before pulling out her kit. This was one of the days she was beyond thankful she had accidentally worn matching underwear. Octavia moaned sarcastically at the sight, falling against her locker and raising the back of her hand to her face as she did. "Take me now Clarke, take me!"

Clarke quickly rolled up her shirt and hit her friend with it. "You can whip me any day you're dressed like that." Raven added before shooting her a cheeky wink.

"Oh shut up!" Clarke muttered bitterly whilst pulling her kit on. Clarke lifted her hair from underneath her shirt and looked up; quickly locking eyes with Lexa who was staring at her; her lip between her teeth. The both stood for a moment, lost in each others gaze before Lexa turned pink and turned away; noting that she had been caught.

Clarke's eyes remained on her back; wishing for her to turn around so she could stare at her for just that bit longer. "Hey, earth to Clarke!" Octavia waited for a minute before Clarke finally turned round to look at her. "Keep it in your pants, you need to have your mind on the game!"

Clarke hit Octavia, scared by how loud the girls voice was registering. "What position am I playing dork?"

Octavia giggled. "You'll be the left winger, Raven; the right." Clarke smiled at this; she had been dragged into Octavia's friendly matches early on in high school and knew that when she was wing she rarely ever touched the ball and could pretty much just stand around all game, letting the rest of the team do the work. "None of that standing around business though, you're meant to be on defense. I know offense is probably too much to ask but please try and at least work the defense behind the line."

Clarke's smile faded. It was as if Octavia knew exactly what she was thinking and wished to crush the only happy moment she had involving thoughts of this game. "Shit." she uttered beneath her breath following the trail of girls out towards the field.

"You'll be fine Clarke, it's just a fun game. Half of Lexa's team are just her friends who haven't played since high school anyway." Octavia patted her friend on the back.

Clarke simply groaned. Octavia's idea of 'fun' was far from what she envisioned. "So..." She pondered; if she was going to be a part of this she may as well enjoy the sights that came with it. "what is Lexa's favorite position?"

Raven and Octavia doubled over in laughter, Clarke's face quickly becoming hot as she understood what she had said. "I, I, I uh mean... what position is she playing?"

Octavia took a very slight break from her snorting to reply to the poor girl. "She's a fly-half." Clarke stared at her, brow furrowed in confusion. "She's number 10... she's quick thinking, fast and kicks like a machine." Octavia added, hoping to quickly clarify this without a 3 hour discussion on the matter.

"Is she good at catching?" Raven asked, a sly look on her face.

"Yeah... I guess..." Octavia answered cautiously; she had seen that look on her friends face many times before and it had never ended well.

Raven grinned and nudged Clarke's shoulder with her own. "So Lexa's good with her hands?"

Before Clarke could punch the girl she ran ahead of them, an evil chuckle echoing through the hall as they made their way to the field. "Asshole!" Clarke shouted, embarrassment washing over her as everyone turned around in question of who she was referring to; including Lexa, who pursed her lips suppressing a smile.

Clarke took her position on the field and began to fiddle with her shirt, wondering why one of the two subs on Lexa's team couldn't simply have taken her spot.

The game seemed to go on for hours, with Clarke managing to keep her distance from the ball for the most part. She'd been bored for the past hour and instead of watching the game now kept her gaze on Lexa, watching her muscular legs running across the grass. Lexa and her friends were different to the people she saw around campus. Their hair was long with plaits running through, and they wore black eyeliner with long wings that were always impeccable. But the thing that Clarke found herself mesmerized by most was their tattoos; Lexa's in particular. She had seen the brunette's top letters and tribal design that covered her back when they were in the cafe, then was stunned to see another tribal like design that trailed below her left breast under her sports bra, down along her waist then inward along her hip line whilst she was changing. Clarke's lips felt dry as her mind pondered where they might lead.

"Get out the way!" The words were loud and harsh, but Clarke's intense daze meant that she took no notice of them until the other girl slammed into her body, Clarke crashing beneath her weight.

"Oh shit, I am so sorry!" A girl with mousy brown hair leading into an almost blonde like mane lay above her, propping herself up on her elbows before jumping up. "I was under the impression you would have moved," She knelt back down seeing the cut on Clarke's forehead and motioned the girls over for help. "I'm Anya."

Clarke got up; her head suddenly pounding. "Clarke." She smiled, she was in pain but she did not wish for the girl to feel bad as it was really her fault for spacing out in the first place.

"Oh my God are you okay, I'm so sorry its totally my fault for making you play and I will make it up to you and-" Octavia hugged Clarke tightly, her head feeling dizzy as the embrace restricted her airflow.

"Octavia I'm fine." Clarke pushed her away slightly; though she enjoyed her friends hugs sometimes she felt as though she didn't realize her own strength.

"Woah what happened to you?" Lexa raised her palm to Clarke's face in worry, but quickly withdrew it remembering they didn't really know each other and this may have seemed a tad odd. Lexa moved her eyes from Clarke's and onto the ground, stepping back from the pair.

"I took her down big time..." Anya looked apologetically to Clarke, watching as the blood from her cut dripped down the side of her cheek.

"It was totally my fault I was-" Clarke stopped herself before the words came out; it may have seemed creepy to Lexa if she told her she was staring- and it's not like she would even like her back- for all Clarke knew this was how those straight girl crushes she read about on Tumblr were formed. "I was uh... thinking."

Octavia and Raven's eyes lit up at the hesitation on her lips, knowing fully well what she was busy thinking about. "I'd better take her to clean it up." Anya placed an arm around the blonde and started to lead her back to the locker room.

"Um, I'll take her?" Lexa's voice was slightly higher than usual and rang in a questioning tone. Why had she said this? Her mouth seemed to speak words often before she had time to filter them, and this was one of the times that she had really regretted it. All eyes fell on her and she felt her cheeks flush with heat. "I mean, Anya is one of our best players and I'm feeling slightly tired anyway."

A knowing smile appeared on Anya's face and Clarke simply looked at it in confusion. "Fair enough, here." Anya wrapped Clarke's arm around Lexa's neck, both of them growing pink at the contact.

Lexa turned and began to take Clarke towards the locker room. "So why were you drawing me earlier?" Clarke blushed and moved her gaze to the ground. Lexa winced at how forward she had been, quickly trying to rectify the tension. "It was really good, I liked it."

Clarke smiled. Was this flirting? She had never had to work out a girls sexuality before, let alone try to figure out if she liked her as well. "It was for class, my teacher Kane has got us doing this 'people observations' project. I've been drawing strangers for days."

Lexa felt a pang of hurt rise in her chest from this. Suddenly she felt less special and began to question all the signs she thought pointed to Clarke maybe liking girls. "Oh, I uh, I see." Lexa opened the locker room door then moved to sit Clarke on a bench, running to get the first aid kit.

Clarke winced as Lexa pulled out the antiseptic wipes and Lexa chuckled to herself; amused by how amazingly low the girls pain threshold was. "Hey, it's not funny!" Clarke laid down on the bench; closing her eyes to try and ease the thumping at her temple.

"Here." Lexa lifted the girls head onto her lap so she would be more comfortable. Clarke didn't open her eyes but her face hardened, trying not to focus at the rush of warmth she felt between her legs at the brunette's touch. Lexa cringed; was this weird? She saw Clarke's jaw clench and worried she had been too intimate- assuming she felt uncomfortable from the sudden tension on her face. Lexa began sterilizing the wound; hoping to distract her from what she had just done.

Clarke winced again and inhaled a sharp breath as the wipe stung her skin. "Could you be a bit more gentle, it really hurts."

Lexa tried to muffle the laugh but failed as it brushed loudly past her lips. Clarke shot her a jokey, offended look. "I'm sorry, I will be more careful." Lexa tried not to worry Clark as she fumbled around in the bag bringing a towel to her face before pulling out a pack of butterfly stitches.

Clarke's eyes flew open at the sound of the packet tearing. "Woah what are you doing?"

Lexa bit her lip, suppressing the smile that grew on her face watching the girl's adorable panic taking over. "It's okay they're just butterfly stitches Clarke."

Clarke swallowed, Lexa had said her name and her mind wandered to what she'd sound like moaning it. Clarke quickly shook her head, dismissing the sensation that was growing within her. "Uh, I uh..." Clarke tried to process the other words that had come out of her mouth. "Stitches!? You're not a doctor!" Clarke sat up, worry in her face. She had seen Octavia do some pretty weird stuff- last summer she even pierced her own belly button using teething gel as a numbing agent- and she knew rugby players were tough, but this was gross.

Lexa quickly grabbed her arm before she could move away. "Hey, it's not gonna hurt, they are stick on ones Clarke."

Clarke felt the heat rush to her face as embarrassment coursed through her. Of course they were. Lexa's hand moved up her arm and to her face, pulling her slowly down towards her own. Clarke held her breath as she tried not to focus on how beautiful Lexa's lips were and how much she wished for them to be on her own. Lexa lent in and Clarke continued to hold her breath as thoughts sped through her mind; convincing herself this was going to happen.

Lexa raised her other hand to Clarke's face; Clarke unintentionally frowning as she applied the butterfly stitches to her head. "There," Lexa moved back before she made Clarke feel too uncomfortable. "you're good to go." She muttered before moving to place the first aid kit back. Clarke groaned slightly and threw her head back down on the bench; hoping to erase what just happened from her mind.

"Hey girls, guess who won?!" Octavia entered the room with the rest of her team, her arms raising up to the ceiling as she cockily strutted her way up to Clarke.

"How?" Lexa demanded, assuming some foul play must have been at work.

Anya sighed patting her teammate on the back. "Sometimes shit just happens."

Lexa and Anya burst out into laughter as they considered the fact they had actually lost to Octavia's thrown together team. "Don't get too happy Octavia; we'll be playing on the same team for the season remember."

Octavia laughed as she contemplated how quickly they'd be out of the league if they played as badly as they did tonight. "Oh dear." She sat Clarke up beside her and began running her fingers through her hair; knowing that this tended to calm her.

Lexa watched on, feeling jealousy flow through her as she saw Octavia and how intimate she was being with her friend. She forcefully grabbed her towel and hurried off to the showers, needing to get away.

"Where's she off to in such a hurry?" Anya asked; worried as to why her friend had left the way she did.

"Beats me." Octavia raised her shoulders.

"I should probably go check she's okay. You know how hard she finds it to lose, let alone to you guys!" Anya winked at Octavia who had plastered a sarcastic 'oh I'm so hurt' look across her face.

Lexa closed her eyes and felt the water cover her, washing away the pain she felt observing the blonde girl. Lexa had fallen for girls who were straight many times before, and it only ever ended in her winding up hurt. She let her mind drift as she washed her hair, thinking back to the moment she saw Clarke in the cafe; how beautiful she had looked with her pink cheeks. She shook her head- she would not let her mind go there. Lexa quickly washed the shampoo out then turned the shower off; wrapping a towel around herself before leaving the cubicle. She stopped immediately outside as Anya stood there waiting; a worried look on her face. "What's up with you this afternoon? Your head wasn't in the game earlier and then you storm off into the showers?"

Lexa rested her back against the wall and let herself crumple to the floor; pulling her knees towards her chest. "I like Clarke."

Anya breathed a sigh of relief before falling down next to her friend. "So, tell her?" She lightly nudged Lexa's shoulder with her own.

"It's not that simple and you know it." Lexa buried her face into her knees, grumbling. "She's probably straight anyway, I've rarely fallen for girls who turn out to be interested in girls. It's like that's my type. Ragingly heterosexual and unavailable."

Anya rubbed Lexa's back; she was right. She had seen it happen to her time and time again; Lexa would meet a girl, she'd fall for them, then they'd act like they couldn't get far enough away from her when they found out she was gay. "I can ask Octavia if you would like? Bring it up in conversation?"

Lexa groaned again. "It's fine, she'll be straight, the way she acted earlier when I was doing her stitches, it was just like she was thinking of an escape plan."

Anya shook her head. "I'm sure that's not the case," She jumped up, pulling at Lexa's arm until she stood. "now put a smile on that face because we need to go back in there so you can get changed; we're all going back to Octavia's for food."

Lexa moaned loudly. "Is Clarke gonna be there?"

Anya laughed. "I would assume so; she is her roommate after all."

Lexa's eyes widened. She couldn't do this. "I think I'm just gonna go back to our dorm room."

Anya quickly moved her head from side to side. "Nu uh, you're coming with me. End of."

Octavia turned to Clarke trying not to smile as she saw her eyes gleaming when Lexa walked in; her body adorned with a thin towel. "You should just ask her out."

Clarke slammed her locker shut and quickly pulled her black skinny jeans up. "No way, I doubt she's even into girls." Octavia smiled cockily; she knew something. "What?" Clarke took a large swig from her water bottle; she was intrigued as to what her friend was thinking about.

Octavia turned to make sure no one was near to listen into their conversation. "Lexa's gay Clarke." Clarke spat the water she was holding in her cheeks directly onto her friends face. "What the hell!"

Clarke pinned Octavia against the locker. "Do not mess with me O you know that's just cruel!"

Octavia laughed. "I would never joke about something like that you idiot. She came out last year; it was kind of the talk of the school for like a month."

Clarke's eyes lit up as something clicked. "Shes the sexy brunette that got caught making out with the cheerleader that time isn't she?"

Octavia simply beamed at Clarke, nodding enthusiastically. "Don't bring that up though, that girl turned out to be a total bitch, she told Lexa 'girls are just practice for the guys I'll be dating' then totally outed her to her friends."

Clarke felt suddenly very sad as she thought of this, rage building within her; wanting to defend the girl then wrap up with her in the safety of her duvet. "That's horrible."

Octavia patted the blonde on the shoulder. "So everyone's coming back to ours... Maybe you could show Lexa your room for a private drawing session?" Octavia waggled her brows at Clarke then gasped. "Oh my God it'd be like The L Word meets Titanic!"

Clarke wanted to frown but couldn't help but smile at the thought of that motion picture and nodded. "That would be epic, but no that's not going to happen. Octavia, I haven't even kissed a girl, I'm hardly gonna jump into bed with one the day I come out to you guys."

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "It could happen." She threw her kit bag over her arm before grabbing Clarke to head back to their room with the rest of the team.