Later that night, Clarke would think back on dinner and wonder what was in Raven's water glass that made her keep choking on it.
(Much later, she'd think back on that dinner and literally smack herself in the forehead when she put it all together.)
When they pulled up, Clarke got out first. "Raven, come on!" she called. Raven got out of the car and blew out a breath as she pushed the car door shut. "I told you, my mom won't mind having one more person for dinner," said Clarke. "And she hasn't seen you much this year, so I'm sure she'll be happy to catch up a little."
"Cool," Raven mumbled, fidgeting with her keys as they walked up to the front door.
"What, no shots about my mom?" Clarke elbowed her in the ribs.
"Guess I'm growing up," Raven said.
"Mom!" called Clarke. "Are you home?" Abby came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Hi, Clar–" she started – and then she caught sight of Raven standing behind Clarke, and her hand automatically went to smooth her hair, her clothes. "Raven, hi," she said. "How – how are you?"
"Clarke invited me," Raven said quickly. "If it's too much trouble, I can–"
"No, please stay," Abby said. "You know you're always welcome here." Clarke saw Raven smile at that. "See?" she said. "I told you she'd be cool about it."
"I was just making linguine carbonara," Abby said. "Plenty to go around. Do you two want to set the table and fix drinks while I dish it up?"
The three of them got everything set on a small round table in the kitchen. As they settled in to eat, Clarke said, "When was the last time the three of us sat down for a meal together?"
"First time was after Jake, after my dad, before Finn," said Raven absently. Then she looked up at what Clarke imagined were twin expressions of shock on the Griffin women's faces. Clarke could see the moment when Raven realized she'd spoken out loud. Her cheeks flushed, and she stammered, "I mean – I remember the first time the three of us ate together, right here. And – I guess I just measure our lives by these big time stamps of tragedy, you know? But I didn't mean to…"
She trailed off, looking stricken. Clarke didn't know how to save the moment, so she was relieved when Abby gently placed a hand over Raven's and said, "Raven. It's okay."
Raven looked back at her for a long moment, then nodded. "I don't remember the last time, though," she said quietly. Abby released her hand, and Raven took a sip of her water.
"Speaking of Dad, why's his t-shirt on the couch?" Clarke said.
Raven choked on her water, and Clarke and Abby both reached to pat her on the back at the same time. "I'm fine," she gasped. "Went down the wrong pipe."
"I slept in it the other night," Abby said casually. "It's comfortable. Then I washed it with the rest of my laundry, which maybe I would have put away if I'd known we had company coming!" She said this last part with a pointed look at Clarke, who grinned sheepishly.
They all took a bite in silence. "This is good," said Raven, flashing a quick smile at Abby before looking back down at her plate.
"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Clarke said.
"I'm glad you both like it," said Abby. Then she looked at Raven. "This might be a little too serious for dinnertime conversation, but do you really measure our lives by moments of tragedy?" Raven looked back at her, and Abby gave a little shrug. "I'm curious. You got me thinking now."
Clarke said, "You know she'll be relentless. Just humor her so we can move on." Abby lightly kicked her under the table.
"Well," Raven began, "It's not like I dwell on the sad stuff all the time or anything. It's just that, when all of us get together…I don't know, I'm not explaining this well. Just seems like we've been through a lot, you know? More than our fair share. But then I think about how all those things that happened led us here, and…I don't know." She took another bite, obviously uncomfortable.
Clarke saw Abby's hand twitch as though she were about to comfort Raven again. But this time, Abby just looked at Raven with affection and said, "I think I understand."
Then she looked at both of them and said, more brightly, "What do you say we make some new memories? Raven's right – there's been more than enough tragedy in our lives. Five years from now, I want us to have some new time stamps!"
Clarke smiled and said, "Five years from now, we'll be like 'Remember that time blah blah blah that awesome thing happened?'"
"I'm in," said Raven, holding up her glass. They all clinked glasses and took a drink.
Raven said, "Speaking of happy things, how's Emily?"
Clarke's eyes shot up to meet Raven's. She couldn't tell if Raven was messing with her, trying to get her to reveal something embarrassing in front of her mom, or if she was just trying to switch the subject to something safer.
"She's…good," said Clarke, a little guardedly.
"When are you going to invite her over?" Abby said.
Now Clarke could see Raven's eyes sparkle as she took another sip of water, and she narrowed her own eyes in response. "Oh, sure," she said, "I'll just say, 'Hey Emily, you want to come over for a double date with Raven and my mom?'"
This time, Raven actually did an honest-to-goodness spit take, mostly in her own lap. "Clarke!" said Abby, as she hurried to the kitchen to get more napkins.
"Dude, what the hell?" hissed Clarke when Abby was in the kitchen.
"What?" said Raven. "I was just trying to change the subject!"
"Bullshit," said Clarke, laughing a little now. "You were totally messing with me so I'd say something about Emily in front of my mom!"
"Like what?" Raven grinned. "Like 'Oh, Emily is so soft and she smells so good…'"
"Shut up!" said Clarke. "When my mom gets back, we're changing the subject."
"Changing the subject to what?" Abby said, reappearing with a handful of napkins.
"Raven has a secret boyfriend!" Clarke blurted out.
Abby froze, half bent over Raven, napkins in hand. Ah, thought Clarke, looks like I'm not the only one she's protective of.
"Here, I can take those," Raven said hastily, reaching for the napkins and cleaning up the aftermath of her epic spit take. "And what Clarke meant to say," she continued as Abby sat back down, "was that the other night, I said something that made her assume that there's someone new in my life."
"Assume?" said Clarke. "Ha! You were glowing."
"Whatever," mumbled Raven. She was blushing now. Abby, meanwhile, had apparently gotten over her shock and was smiling to herself.
"Oh!" said Clarke. "Speaking of things that will probably embarrass Raven…" (here, she ignored her friend's warning look completely) "Guess who interviewed at Sinclair's Garage last weekend!"
Abby said, "Raven, did you really? That's wonderful!" She took Raven's hand again, then quickly released it and busied herself with picking up the wet napkins. Raven jumped up to help her, and they got in each other's way for a minute until Raven sat down again, lamely.
Abby threw the napkins away in the kitchen and then came back to the table. "So…?" she said, excitedly.
Raven said, "Yeah, Clarke talked me into it. Don't know where she gets her persuasiveness from." She grinned. "Actually, I didn't have a chance to tell Clarke this yet, but Sinclair called – I got the job!"
And for a minute, it was like old times – old, old times. And as Clarke jumped out of her chair to hug her friend, as Abby squeezed Raven's hand and beamed at her, Clarke thought that maybe this could be one of those moments they'd organize their memories around one day.
Then Raven's phone buzzed, and the moment passed.
"Sorry," she mumbled as she pulled her phone out to check it.
Clarke looked at Abby. It occurred to her that it had been a long time since she'd seen her mom smile like that. Then Abby's brows knitted together in concern, and Clarke realized she was looking at Raven.
"Is everything okay?" Abby said. Clarke looked at Raven now too. She was putting her phone away, visibly paler than she'd been a moment ago.
"Um, I'm fine," Raven said. "That was just…work. It's all good." She turned to Clarke, sighed, and said, "Weren't you going to ask your mom about that committee thing?"
"Oh yeah," said Clarke. "Mom – I heard that Bellamy quit the Safety Committee and that you guys are looking for another rep from Arkadia." She paused. "Would it be super weird if I volunteered?"
Abby thought about it for a moment, and then Raven jumped in. "What if you asked the other committee members to vote on it, and you abstained?"
Clarke looked at her in surprise. "Shut up, I know words like 'abstain,' I watch Law & Order," Raven grumbled.
"No, I just didn't know you were that interested," said Clarke.
"Neither did I," said Abby, smiling again. "And I think that sounds like a very reasonable plan. Clarke, I'll bring it up to the group at the next meeting and let you know. Okay?"
"Cool," said Clarke. "Now – unless Raven is planning on spitting in it, I'm about to destroy this linguine."
And it was the best dinner any of them had had in a long, long time.
Next chapter: Paige! Because it needs to be someone from PLL and I feel like she's up.