Here's a new chapter! I'm not going to gove much away, but this is probably one of the best chapters I've written and is very important for this story!

Two: Coffee Talk

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

I groaned, sitting up in bed, trying not to wake the sleeping blonde.

"How the hell did you get into our apartment, O?" I moaned.

"Fuck Lexa. You guys gave me a spare key, remember?"

I winced. "If I remember correctly, we gave you that key in case of an emergency, not to barge in early in the morning."

She rolled her eyes. "You're a half hour late, Lexa. We were supposed to meet up at eight, and when you were a no-show, I though you died. So in my defense, it was an emergency. But now, Sexy Lexi, I see that you just slept in due to apparent late night sex with Griffin."

"Once, don't wake her up. And two, never call me that again."

"Fine." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Real mature, Octavia." I carefully climbed out of bed, rummaging through my bureau for some legit clothes.

"Nice underwear, Sexy Lexi."

"Octavia!" I growled. "Have you forgotten that I could kill you with my bare hands?"

She giggled, disappearing down the hall. I huffed, pulling on some dark wash skinny jeans and a thick maroon sweater. Mid-October in New England was not kind. I walked to the kitchen in my socks, pulling on my dark brown tall boots, leather gloves, and a black cap Kane—Clarke's step-father's mother Vera knitted for me. I met her a little over four years ago, and she's been very fond of me since. The feelings mutual, as I like to think of her as my own grandmother.

"How cold is it, O?"

"Brutal," she responded, a cookie in her mouth.

"Seriously? I don't go into you and Lincoln's apartment and eat your cookies!"

"No, you and Clarke just have sex on my counter."

I blushed furiously. "It was one time!"

"I can never un-see that, Lex. And Lincoln is scarred for life."

"It was forever ago!"

"It was last week!"

I growled at her, having no words to defend myself. She was right. So I walked out of my apartment and she chased after me, yelling to me to wait. I just smirked, quickening my speed. My long legs easily kept me ahead of her. "Alexandria Woods!"

Woods. It was still weird hearing that. When Clarke and I got serious, Anya ended up adopting me from the Griffins to avoid any legal issues. Because relatives having sex was frowned upon-potentially illegal. So Anya made us legally no longer related. It was hard, leaving Jake who I considered a father and moving in with Anya, but it made Clarke and my relationship easier. And we've been going strong since. We made it through testing, made it through college. Clarke, well, was still in med-school and had a part-time job working as an art teacher at a home for foster kids. I got a degree in psychology and had an office in town where I worked mostly as a therapist for troubled teens. Octavia was manager of a little coffee shop. She got a business degree-which surprised us all-and was on her way to owning the shop entirely. I worked at her shop part-time, mainly to help her out because the once small and slow shop was now booming with customers and she was struggling. Lincoln, who ended up being a part-time Literature professor at NYU, also works part-time to save his fiancé from losing her mind. Even Clarke, who almost always had her calendar full, helped out here and there. The four of us supported each other fully in whatever we could, from helping out Octavia's soon-to-be coffee shop to making Clarke dinner when he holed herself up studying for her next exam. That's what friends are for.

"Lexa!" Octavia caught up to me, grabbing my arm. I gave her a smile and she leaned into me. We could never stay mad, or even fake-mad, at each other. Much to Clarke's horror, we became the best of friends. Which was sometimes a very dangerous thing. The cold, brittle grass crunched under our feet as we walked to her shop. Yes, on this cold morning it'd probably be better to drive to the shop, but since neither of us trusted the New York traffic and since we were already late, we chose to walk the six blocks. We arrived within fifteen minutes-we really stepped up our pace when we started shivering uncontrollably.

"Heat!" I breathed out happily when we stepped into the warmth of the shop. We shed our ridiculous amount of layers and tied of little black aprons around our waists. Since Octavia was the manager and unofficial owner, my hours were very flexible thankfully. So nobody blinked an eye when we arrived late. We went straight to work. With a smile plastered on her face, Octavia relieved Echo from the cash register and began taking orders. I took the orders and made the coffees and hot cocoas and sandwiches and the pumpkin pies and the blueberry muffins.

"Oooh, lunch break, finally!" Octavia sighed loudly, throwing herself down in her little employee lounge couch. I stifled a laugh, carrying in our lunches, desserts, and drinks. "For you, a toasted turkey sandwich on wheat, a fresh-out-of-the-oven apple pie slice and yes it's a big slice, and a large cappuccino that's as sweet as can be."

She chuckled, taking them from me graciously. "Thank you, Lexa. You know me so well." I smiled, sitting across from her with my own lunch-toasted turkey sandwich, pumpkin pie, and a pumpkin latte. "And," she continued, "I know you very well. So…what's up?"

I frowned. "Nothing's wrong."

"Lexa…" she gave me a pointed look. "Something's been bugging you for month's honey. What is it? Yesterday I kicked your ass when we sparred-which never happens, Heda."

I huffed, giving in. I reached for my bag and pulled out a pouch, silently handing it to Octavia. With curiosity written all over her face, she opened the pouch and gasped. Slowly, she opened the velvet box and turned it to me. Diamond sparkled under the lights and I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

"Lex…you're planning on proposing?"

I shivered despite the warm temperature, nodding.

"Why are you so upset about this?"

"What if she says no?" I blurted out. "What if she doesn't want to spend forever with me?"

"Oh my God, are you hearing yourself?! You're Clarke and Lexa for Heaven's sake! That women is madly in love with you. The way she looks at you, the way she acts around you. It's like you/re the center of her universe. You two can't live without each other. Hell, even death couldn't keep the two of you apart! She'll say yes. She'll say yes a thousand times, she'll kiss you and won't stop until someone interrupts, and then you'll have the best sex ever and then you'll throw yourselves into major wedding planning where you friends and family will help with which will annoy the fuck out of you, but you won't care because you'll know that you two will be together forever as a married couple."

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"You're that sure?"

She gave me her million-dollar smile. "Hell yes!" she leapt over to my couch. "So…tell me when you're going to propose…"