Lexa had gone home at eleven that night, long after Netflix had finished playing their movie of choice and going on to play some random show. After their not very brief make out session, they'd settled into a cuddling position and tried to watch the show for a little while before Lexa realized that it was getting a bit late, and she was actually tired enough to fall asleep. To avoid falling asleep at Clarke's apartment, despite really wanting to give in and cuddle with the blonde all night, she'd forced herself to get up. Clarke had as well, since she was Lexa's ride, and their date had ended with a sweet goodbye kiss and the promise of a text in the morning.

Lexa had slept surprisingly peacefully despite having to be alone in her own bed, and her mother had already been asleep, so she'd escaped any questioning about the dorky smile stuck on her face. Clarke had the strangest effect on her, and Lexa loved it.

Sunday morning had been peaceful, and Lexa had slept in late and woken to a good morning text from Clarke, with a note that she would be helping her friend Monty move from his mom's place into his own apartment throughout the morning and would therefore be unavailable for a while. Lexa had replied, knowing that she wouldn't get an answer, and then decided that the next best thing to hanging out with Clarke or texting her was to go over to Anya's place. She was sure that her best friend wanted to pester her about the date anyway.

However, upon arriving at Anya's house after stopping and getting herself a brief lunch and some coffee, she found that Lincoln was also over at his parents' place.

He was the one to open the door, smiling and greeting her with a, "Hey, Lexa. I didn't know you and Anya had plans today, I thought I'd come over and catch up with her a bit since our parents are out."

"Oh, we didn't have plans," Lexa was quick to say, "and I can go if you want."

"No, join us," he invited warmly. Lincoln had always been like a brother to Lexa, even though she and Anya had both seen him much less since he'd started college three years ago.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were sprawled across the living room couches, catching up on life and snacking on some chips that Lincoln had brought out.

"So how's school been for you guys?" Lincoln asked, and Lexa looked to her best friend to answer first, just as her phone vibrated in her lap.

"I mean, senior year is kinda more difficult than normal, but –" Lexa tuned out Anya as she glanced down at her phone.

From Clarke – Finally free!

To Clarke – And you texted me in your first moment of freedom? I'm flattered. ;)

From Clarke – Actually I went pee first. Sorry. ;)

"Lexa?" Anya prompted her suddenly, drawing Lexa's attention away from her phone. "School?"

"Oh, yeah. It's been fine. I finally started my college application stuff last week," Lexa answered briefly.

"Are you only applying to Polis?"

Lexa shrugged. "I'll apply to a few places, but I'm probably going to go to Polis. Mom can afford it, and it's a pretty good school. Plus, they offered me a great scholarship if I get accepted, and I'm not really worried about that part."

"Well that's awesome," Lincoln agreed, nodding. "I think it'll be cool seeing you guys around campus for my last year of college next year. Kinda weird, though."

Anya snickered. "Well don't worry, we won't follow you around and try to hang out with all of your friends."

To Clarke – Oh damn. Bodily functions beat me :( I'm devastated.

Lincoln chuckled. "You probably won't have to make very many new friends, considering how many people from your school will end up going to Polis. Anyway, my friends aren't assholes, so I'm sure they wouldn't care if you did hang out with them. Some of them would probably try to hit on you, though." He made a face of disgust at that. "Ugh. How's that, by the way? Tear your attention away from school a little bit to get in on the relationship drama?"

"Not me," Anya answered, shrugging, before glancing over at Lexa with a question in her eyes. When she said nothing, Anya continued stalling while Lexa mulled over whether or not to mention to Lincoln who she was dating. He might know who Clarke was, and the thought made Lexa a little nervous. She was sure that there wouldn't be judgment from him – he was like her brother, after all – but he may also have a brotherly opinion that she wouldn't want to hear. "The only time I really go out besides to get coffee or a sandwich is when this one drags me out to one of those stupid parties."

Lexa rolled her eyes, prepared to do her best to use this opportunity to drive the conversation away from relationships, but Lincoln was suddenly speaking again. "Oh, speaking of parties. A friend of a friend is throwing a kinda small friend thing at the lake on Saturday. There's a big frat party happening on campus, so we're having a smaller version of the typical bonfires, just with friends. Well... sort of just friends. My friend Nathan invited me and said I could invite some people if I wanted. I invited Echo, and she invited your friend Luna, so I figured that you guys can come too if you want to."

"Sure," Anya answered, shrugging. "As long as Luna isn't in control of the evening, I'm on board. Lexa?"

"Yeah, sure," Lexa agreed, nodding. "You know who all's on the guest list so far?"

Lincoln shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure. But anyway, sorry, I interrupted before Lexa could talk about whether or not she's been in any sort of relationship lately." He grinned widely when Lexa groaned in frustration. "That must mean that there is something going on. I hope it's not some asshole like the guy you dated last year."

"Oh no," Lexa assured quickly, before realizing that she had basically just admitted to dating someone. Anya smirked at her, and she bit her lower lip as she tried to decide what to say. "Um. I'm sort of dating someone right now, but it's not really exclusive."

"The early stages," Lincoln commented, nodding. "Well, that's cool. Has he been best friend approved?" He smiled teasingly at Anya.

Lexa took in a deep breath, deciding that she had better do this now, rather than later. Lincoln and Clarke, as well as all of their friends, went to the same college, so he was bound to find out through a friend of someone's friend at some point. "Actually... I'm dating a girl, and no, Anya hasn't met her."

Lincoln's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he smiled anyway. "That's awesome. Why hasn't Anya met her yet, though? Don't you all go to school together?"

Anya smirked. "And this is where she tells you the interesting part, Linc. Get ready."

"Shut up," Lexa whined at her best friend, before rolling her eyes and biting her cheek nervously. "Um, she's kind of... in college. She's your age. Twenty-one."

Lincoln's eyebrows shot up suddenly. "Oh, wow. That's... interesting... When did you turn eighteen?"

"Three weeks from yesterday," Anya supplied.

"Wait, you're not eighteen yet?"

Lexa crossed her arms over her chest, feeling slightly self conscious. Her phone vibrated in her lap, and she glanced down at it subconsciously to see Clarke's name on her screen. "Ah, no," she answered, "but we're not... having sex. I mean, not yet. I mean, well, we won't before I turn eighteen."

Lincoln blinked. "Alright, but isn't the age gap kind of... hard? I feel like it would be difficult to like... find things in common with someone almost four years older than you."

"We haven't really had that problem," Lexa answered, shrugging. "And I mean... relationships aren't all about what you have in common, necessarily."

"That's true..." Lincoln nodded slowly, exchanging a glance with Anya, who shrugged. Lexa was pretty sure that her best friend had accepted it and moved on, but her brother seemed a bit more concerned. "So ah, do I know her?"

"Probably not," Lexa answered quickly, hoping to save herself from any weirder conversations.

"What's her name?"

Lexa sighed. "Clarke."

Lincoln raised his eyebrows. "Griffin?" Lexa nodded, biting the inside of her lip and hoping that whatever he was about to say wasn't something weird or bad. "Oh, yeah I think I've met her a couple of times. She's friends with some people that I'm friends with."

"Ah," Lexa said, not sure what else, if anything, she should say.

"Well... I mean, I guess that's cool. If you are both being... ya know, safe and legal... and if you both like each other, I guess you should just go for it," Lincoln stated finally. "Do many people know?"

"Some of her friends," Lexa answered, "and Anya and Luna and... you, now."

Anya shrugged. "I think that as long as she doesn't seem creepy when I meet her, and she doesn't somehow keep you from doing well in school, I'll approve."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Well thanks, Anya, your approval means everything to me. Now, uh, could we talk about something else? I think I've been on the spot enough for one day."

Laughing, Lincoln nodded and looked to Anya, asking her a question about her college application process, and Lexa let out a relaxed breath, leaning into the couch a bit. She picked up her phone again and opened her newest text from Clarke.

From Clarke – You were second to bodily functions though, so never fear ;) You busy?

To Clarke – You mean besides being at my best friend's house and getting grilled about my love life by her brother? Nope! Why?

From Clarke – Well doesn't that just sound exciting. Never mind about what I had in mind, I'm sure you don't wanna miss that ;) X

To Clarke – Clarke!

From Clarke – I'm working. I'm bored :(

To Clarke – Say no more ;)

"Well," Lexa said suddenly, surprising both Lincoln and Anya, "turns out that I have somewhere to be, so I'm going to let you guys have your sibling bonding time and whatnot. I'll see you Saturday, Lincoln! Bye, Anya!"

Anya smirked. "Sure, Lex. Have fun with Clarke." Lincoln chuckled as well, and Lexa gave them both her best glare.

"I will, thank you very much."

Only a handful of minutes after texting Lexa, Clarke saw the brunette coming into The Bean happily. "Hey there," Clarke called, quirking up an eyebrow, "you look like boring coffee type of girl. Can I get you one?"

"Hello to you, too," Lexa replied, smiling as she approached the counter. A few people were seated around the coffee shop. "Not so busy on Sunday afternoons?"

"Surprisingly," Clarke answered, in the process of getting Lexa coffee. "I'm starting to regret taking an extra shift today. I'd rather be painting. And I work or have class for basically every hour of the rest of this week."

"There's always next weekend," Lexa said lightly.

Clarke sighed. "Sunday maybe, and Saturday morning. Apparently I'm going to some mini bonfire thing at the lake on Saturday night. Which, by the way, if you wanted to come to so that I'm not bored out of my mind, you'd be welcome."

Lexa tilted her head a bit. "Wait, on Saturday, like a little friend of friends party thing?"

"Yeah," Clarke answered, furrowing her eyebrows a bit as she handed Lexa her coffee. The brunette took it, only to set it down and begin grabbing at her pockets for her wallet. "It's on the house, cutie."

Lexa blushed a little, but didn't argue as she picked up the coffee and took a sip of it happily. When she lowered the cup, she said, "I think I've actually already been invited to that 'mini bonfire' thing." Clarke raised an eyebrow, definitely confused now. "Anya's brother is this guy named Lincoln, and he's in his junior year of college right now. He got invited by someone named... Nathan? Apparently Luna got invited too, so he said me and Anya could come."

Clarke hummed thoughtfully. The idea of all of her friends being at the same party as Lexa and Lexa's friends – including her best friend's brotherLincoln, who Clarke was sure she'd met before – was kind of weird to her. At the same time, though, it was strangely pleasing to know that their lives were entangled in a way that wasn't just each other.

Somehow, in that moment, Clarke felt herself fall a little for the girl in front of her.

"Oh," she forced out past her thoughts, "well then looks like you'll be there anyway. I guess that means you can't turn me down now."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Like I would have. How much longer are you working for?"

"An hour or so," Clarke answered, frowning. "Could've been longer, but I'm just covering the half shift of some asshole who called in sick for just half of his shift. My boss sent me a frantic email late last night."

"An hour isn't too long," Lexa commented. She moved away from in front of the cash register, next to where people would wait for their drinks to be ready if it was early morning, when there were many customers and multiple baristas working. "Can't you go and paint when you're done?"

Clarke smiled. "Is that your low key way of getting to hang out with me for longer? Because we don't have to be at the warehouse to hang out."

"The warehouse is fun."

"It's also full of other people." Clarke raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what Bellamy got you a door for?"

Clarke laughed, shaking her head. "I think you just have a fetish with painting or being in an art studio or something."

"I don't think that's it," Lexa argued, though she let out a laugh of her own. "It's probably more about me liking to watch you when you're in your element."

"My element?"

"Yeah. It's cool to see you while you're making art and stuff. Plus, you always look super cute when you're in paint clothes with your hair up," Lexa insisted, smiling cheekily. Clarke felt a blush rise up to her cheeks and she smiled what she knew must be a dopey smile.

"Well, in that case," Clarke started, "I guess we can go to the warehouse when I get off."

Lexa grinned, and Clarke bit down on her lower lip to keep her smile from getting too wide. It was quite possible that Lexa was going to turn her into a pile of mush, and she honestly didn't even care.

A customer came into the coffee shop in that moment, and Lexa stood patiently sipping her own coffee as Clarke did her job. As she was handing the customer their coffee and receipt, something occurred to her. She looked curiously toward Lexa, who raised her eyebrows, expectant for a question. "Wait, you said Anya's older brother is Lincoln – as in Lincoln Tierra – right?"

Lexa nodded.

"And you texted before that Anya's older brother was questioning you about your love life... so does that mean that..."

"I told him about you and me dating?" Lexa finished, raising an eyebrow and receiving a nod from the blonde. "Ah, yeah. He was pretty chill, too, surprisingly. He's like a brother to me, so I kind of expected some long talking to or something."

Clarke let out a puff of air. "I think you and I have gotten enough 'long talking to's to last us for a long while."

"Agreed," the brunette agreed with a chuckle. "I guess it's a good thing that I told him, considering that we're both going to be at that party on Saturday."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm. I'm pretty positive that I couldn't be in the same place as you without being extremely obvious, if the last party that we were both at is any indication," Lexa stated firmly, and for some reason, that drew a smile onto Clarke's face.

"Well looks like I'll get to have a good weekend after all, then, despite the lack of painting," Clarke claimed, smiling brightly.

Business didn't pick up at all throughout Clarke's half shift, and when the guy she'd been half covering for finally rushed in, the two of them left eagerly and drove in their separate cars back to the warehouse. Clarke parked her car in its usual spot, and Lexa parked her next to it, and then they both clambered out and headed into the warehouse.

Bellamy was in his room, and glanced over her shoulder from where he was sitting at his desk when he heard people entering the building. "Hey, Clarke! Hey, Lexa."

"Hey," Clarke called back as Lexa flashed him a smile.

When they were in the art room, Clarke slid one of her extra paint shirts over the work shirt she was wearing and tied her hair up into a loose ponytail. She felt a bit self conscious as she did, since she now knew that Lexa thought she looked cute this way.

It was easy, the communication between them as Clarke painted and Lexa sat at the little table in the room, on her phone at the same time. It felt completely normal to have Lexa there with her, and Clarke smiled to herself as she realized that this was just another reaffirmation for what she'd realized earlier – she was definitely falling for this girl.