"What the fuck was that place?" Anya demanded, narrowing her eyes at Lexa. Her expression was all judgmental, and Lexa already knew what to expect from her friend.

"A warehouse or workshop or something. A bunch of people own it I guess, and they have it split up into rooms for each of them," Lexa explained, shrugging.

"They live there?"

Lexa shook her head. "No, I think they just hang out there. I don't really know. I was with a guy."

Anya feigned a gag as she drove, and Lexa groaned at the judgment that was already oozing out of her best friend. "What guy? That place makes me think of homeless guys with potbellies."

Lexa scoffed. "Well he didn't look like that," she muttered. "He was alright. Kinda taller, but not like tall. And he had kinda long brown hair and dark eyes."

"Sounds like one of those fake dreamy guys," Anya commented, unreadable as she stared at the road and drove back into town.

"Looks like one too," Lexa admitted. "I met him at The Bean."

"Seriously? You hooked up with a guy you met at a coffee shop an hour ago?" Anya demanded, narrowing her eyes again. "What has gotten into you, Lexa? You need to focus on school. You're starting to remind me of those girls we used to hate two years ago. Didn't we promise each other that getting into college was the goal before everything else?"

Lexa groaned. "I'm bored, Anya. I'm doing fine in school, I'm going to college, period. I already got a scholarship to Polis University, and I haven't even officially applied yet. I'm just tired of doing the same thing all of the time. And Finn was nice... I mean, he was. Until his friend came and busted into the room while we were making out and then he started acting like an ass."

Anya flashed her a side glance. "What's that look?"

"What look?"

"The look that took over your face when you mentioned Finn's friend," Anya said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Was he hotter or something?"

"He was a she, actually," Lexa stated, crossing her arms. "She was interesting. Kind of terrifying actually."

"How old were these people, by the way?" Anya asked. Her eyebrows were raised in concern, and Lexa knew that she already knew the answer to the question.

"Um. I don't know for sure."

"So give me a range?"

"Between twenty and twenty-five?" Lexa answered, wincing preemptively and for good reason, because Anya let out a frustrated groan as soon as the brunette had answered.

"Are you serious? Lexa, seriously. This summer you've gotten me really nervous. And your mom is worried about you too, you know? She keeps texting me, asking if you're with me or not, because apparently you keep leaving in the middle of the day and not telling her where you're going. And you don't answer her texts often enough," Anya stated, as if Lexa didn't already know that she was doing these things.

"I go to the same places every day," Lexa huffed out, her eyes narrowed now. "I go either to The Bean, or down to the lake with Luna, or I'm with you at your place. And she should know that."

"Well, she doesn't, because you don't answer her damn text messages, Lexa!"

"Would you please just drive? I didn't call you for judgment!"

"No, you didn't, but you called me because you can't call your mom, because then you'd have to tell her that your intention for this lovely Saturday afternoon was to go get laid by someone who is already legally an adult while you are still a minor!" Anya exclaimed angrily.

"I'm almost eighteen!" Lexa growled, shooting her best friend a glare. "And don't act like you've never been interested in older boys."

"Interested, sure. But I've never gone and had sex with one," Anya snapped. "Look, Lexa. I get it, you're bored because it's summer vacation and you're used to the same old same old. But the same old is what's going to get you into college and going to get you a decent life. Not to mention, you sleeping with that guy could've ruined his life if anyone had found out and reported it. Think about what you're doing, would you?"

Lexa lowered her gaze. "Alright, fine. Whatever. Can you please just take me home?"

Lexa did her best to lay low for the next few days, staying at home mostly, until her mom finally started to act less concerned around her. It was those eyes that frustrated her the most – the questioning look that was full of nervousness and fear, like her mom thought that she might explode. Lexa wasn't so sure what gave off that impression. She hadn't changed too much, at least she didn't like to think that she had.

But she knew, at the same time, that she had indeed changed a bit. She was tired of being the boring person that she always was. She didn't mind being educated and the fact that she did enjoy school and wanted to go to college, but she didn't have to be boring and smart. She could at least be smart and interesting, right?

It was Wednesday afternoon when she finally felt able to leave her house again without setting her mom off like an alarm. She even bothered to shoot her mom a text to let her know that she'd be at The Bean.

But that wasn't where she went – in fact, she took her car rather than just walking from her neighborhood to the town center like she usually did. She lived pretty close to the middle of town, yes, but the more grungy area of town was her favorite. It was the area of town nearer to Polis University, which was actually a decent school despite its location. Actually, Polis was generally considered to be a university town because of it. While the school and its campus was quite nice, as well as the dorms on its campus from what Lexa had heard, its direct surroundings were much more rundown and small, like the rest of the town.

Lexa loved it, though, and as she passed some old apartment buildings and small shops, her attention was finally caught on a place that interested her. It was a sketchy looking hair styling place – definitely not as nice and pretty looking as the one in town. It made Lexa grin, and found herself pulling her car into one of the parking spaces in front of it and hopping out of her car with her wallet in hand.

A girl with probably about twenty piercings and a couple of tattoos up and down her arms looked at her in amusement as she entered. "You in the wrong place, sweetie?"

"No. I'd like streaks, please."

The girl shrugged, and extended her hand to the brunette. "Fifty bucks if it's a natural color, seventy if it's not."

Lexa procured a fifty and a twenty from her wallet, handing it over to the hair stylist, who then nodded toward one of the seats in the little building. Lexa sat down in it and stared at herself in the mirror. She didn't think she looked seventeen – she hoped that she looked older. She wondered if purple streaks would make her look younger or older.

"What color?" the hair stylist asked.

"Purple."

"You sure about this, kid? You don't have a rich mom or dad sitting around somewhere who's gonna come hunt me down for messing with her precious daughter's hair?"

Lexa shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm sure about this."

"Whatever you say," the woman muttered, going into the back of the salon for a moment and returning with her supplies.

By the time Lexa left the place, with obvious purple strips streaking her hair, it was well into the evening. Around seven. She knew that she was hungry, but since she didn't want to spend the last of her allowance on a huge meal, considering that she'd just coughed up seventy dollars for a spontaneous hair change, she opted to go instead to The Bean. She drove directly there, rather than go home first and chance that her mom might be home. She'd rather wait at day or so before she let her mom catch a glimpse of her new hair. It might scare her less that way.

She walked into The Bean confidently and looked around the coffee shop. She caught sight of a lot of university kids, which was expected, as well a lot of high school kids chilling with their friends. She didn't see anyone she knew particularly well, so she decided that she'd sit by herself in the back table that she usually went to when she was by herself. First, though, she needed to order a drink.

She didn't usually come to The Bean at night, because coffee was generally more of a morning thing anyway, and so maybe that was why she'd never seen her here before. The blonde friend of Finn – Clarke – who apparently worked at the coffee shop that Lexa went to nearly every day.

"What can I get you?" Clarke asked, her blue eyes trained on the computer screen in front of her as she waited for an answer, rather than at the customer she'd be sure to recognize.

"Just a black coffee please," Lexa answered, wondering if Clarke would recognize her voice. The blonde did seem to, looking up with curiosity as she spoke.

"Well hello again."

"Hi," Lexa returned, wondering if Clarke would ask her what her name was. That's one of the things she'd been waiting for on Saturday, but it had never happened. She couldn't even remember if she'd told Finn her name.

"You have a name?" Clarke asked suddenly, before adding, "So I know who to call?"

"Uh," Lexa blinked, "Lexa."

"Alexa?" Clarke asked, looking confused, and Lexa realized her vocal mishap.

"No, sorry. Just Lexa."

Clarke smirked. "Well, Just Lexa, I'll get you your boring coffee."

"It's not boring," Lexa argued, narrowing her eyebrows.

"Mmhmm." Clarke hummed. She began making the coffee, and Lexa waited somewhat awkwardly with her cash in hand. A few moments later, Clarke had the coffee ready. "Dollar fifty," she said. Lexa nodded and handed her the cash and change in her hand.

"You didn't even have to call my name," Lexa commented, narrowing her eyes.

"Only because you got lucky and no one was in line behind you," Clarke justified, setting Lexa's receipt next to the drink.

Lexa rolled her eyes, taking both her coffee and receipt, and began to head off to her corner. She sat herself down at the back table and took a sip of her coffee, propping her legs up on the adjacent seat.

It was about fifteen minutes later when a wallet was suddenly being set down rather harshly in front of her, and Lexa jumped, taking a moment to realize that it was her wallet and that Clarke was setting it in front of her. "You left your wallet at the counter. Thought it was someone else's, but as I saw by the driver's license inside, it's yours." Lexa furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why Clarke sounded as harsh as she had on Saturday, when she was yelling at Finn. She found out only a moment later, when Clarke scoffed and asked, "You're seventeen? And you were going to sleep with Finn? What the fuck? Was there some manipulating or something I need to know about?"

Lexa was aware that she must've looked incredibly embarrassed for a moment, but she shook her head. "No, he didn't know."

"What?" Clarke demanded, her eyes wide. "You didn't tell him, who is obviously over eighteen, that you are a minor? And you were going to let him sleep with you?"

Lexa winced. "Um. Yeah."

Clarke was definitely not happy. "Look, Finn might be an asshole and I think he's an idiot for sleeping with so many randoms all the time – mostly because he really treats them all like trash, but I don't appreciate you not telling him that sleeping with you could've ended with him in jail. Got it?"

Lexa swallowed thickly. "Yeah, I've got it."

"Good."

Clarke turned and was back at the register in a moment, and Lexa let out a nervous breath that she hadn't realized she'd sucked in, let along been holding in. Clarke was actually pretty terrifying, and Lexa didn't really know how to react to it.

Mostly, though, she couldn't figure out why it made her cheeks warm and her entire body warm and aching for something that it totally shouldn't be.