Another breath of the charcoal and cocoa bean blended scent of her favored 'warpaint' smeared over her eyes in her personal touch of game day attire with her captain's jersey shifts against her back and shoulders as she moved into a comfortable hunched position along the team courtside bench.
She drops her head; eyes closed as she quietly absorbs it all. Another of her more habitual routines was as she willed herself to relax amid the buzzing of the gym.
The always stale popcorn flavor on the air mingled with also never quite never-quite-gone smell of mingled body odors from years of hard-played games the gym had housed. The fresher scent of a new layer of floor cleaner. The sounds were much louder now she'd closed her eyes. The slowly building noise of the bleachers then the much closer sounds Lexa chose to focus on as she let her body relax a little more. The dribbled rhythm of several of her teammates passing a ball between themselves as they warmed up before the game. Occasionally the swishing of the net when a taken basket was sunk.
"Hey, unlucky 13 get your head in the game."
Lexa's hands immediately shot out, catching the oncoming ball midair.
Alex only smiled wider with a scoffed "Show off" as Lexa tossed the ball back to her making another sweeping glance towards the stands as she stood and stretched.
"Only for Clarke, Lex you know that." Lexa corrects in a tone only her smirking best friend could catch in the growing noise of the gym.
"She'll be here." Alex calms
"Just cause Maggie said…" Lexa begins to argue back as they trade passes to draw the least attention while they talk.
"Clarke said." Alex corrects shoving the ball back with more force than needed. "She told me herself she's coming tonight."
Lexa makes a quick glancing sweep of the stands but it's hopeless. "Let's just focus on the Ice Nation over there alright?" the teenager suggests meeting the glaring eyes of her opposing captain.
"The Ice Nation." Alex echoes with a laugh as she follows her grumpy captain back towards the rest of their gathering teammates.
Lexa's disappointment is chokingly palpable until she feels tugging on her jersey. "Maddie?" the team 'water master' grinning with a new kind of pride as she handed over a folded note before dashing back to her place beside the team cooler earning a pleased high five from her waiting older brother Aden who was manning the announcer's table.
"Lexa?" Gustus the acting assistant coach questions when his star player was suddenly jogging off the court like some happy puppy.
"Bathroom break." Lexa stammers crumpling the note in her palm.
"Me too." Alex decides after a pointed look from her best friend aside from her younger sister.
"It's about to be tip-off." Gus barks after her.
"Shaw's got this." Lexa called back tugging Alex with her as they weaved their way towards the already closed side door to the packed gym.
"Okay, okay, hey save some energy for the game, Commander." Alex chuckles jogging after Lexa's guiding steps down a few side hallways.
"Come on Danvers don't be like that." A shadowed voice pouts slipping out of the small gap in the door to the school's art room.
"Sawyer." Alex grins
"Miss me already?" Maggie asks with a laugh as Alex's arms warp around her in a tender hug.
"Maybe a little." Alex agrees with a sigh at the feel of Maggie's fingers sliding into her hair.
"Only a little huh?" Maggie says in a mock pout as they lean back in for a more proper greeting kiss.
The louder than needed clearing of a throat from the half-opened thought-darkened art room draws the lip-locked couple's attention.
"Right, right. Sorry." Maggie stammers though her hold against the front of Alex's jersey doesn't waver as she rolls them out of the range of the door. "Erm, go on ahead." She says in prodding.
The room itself was still dark when Lexa slipped inside starting only a little in surprise when the door was closed behind her.
"Lexa?"
At the hesitancy Lexa finds herself giggling "You were expecting someone else?" she asks the darkness.
The clicking of what was a small remote triggered the soft lighting in what had to be a hundred or so electrically controlled candles.
"No, but I also know how hard it is to get your attention before a big game." The candle lighter whispers now twisting the remote nervously between her fingers.
"Clarke." Lexa smiles "Wow." She adds in honest surprise as she drinks in the sight of her crush standing in front of her clade in paint-splattered jeans and a homemade copy of one of Lexa's game jerseys whilst being backlighted by simulated candlelight.
"Oh yeah, I uhh. I might have borrowed a little from your look Commander." The artist snickers alluding to the carefully smudged coloring under her eyes.
At this, Lexa rolls her eyes as she closes the distance between them on shaking legs, grateful for the offered distraction from the sheer awe that was in Lexa's opinion just Clarke being Clarke. "I'm not a raccoon." She defends in a low growl.
"Debatable." Clarke laughs feeling bold enough to tilt her chin up enough for their noses to brush against one another with their closeness as she slowly but deliberately backs 'The Great Commander' up until the slightly taller girl is pinned between Clarke's body and one of the art tables as they hold gazes in the room's low lighting.
"Just so we both know that." Lexa defends in a pout taking a chance in reaching out towards the giggling blonde she'd already fallen head over heels for drawing Clarke closer by the belt loops on her jeans.
"Noted." Clarke agrees wrapping her arms around Lexa's jersey clade shoulders. "but I also know its game day so I'll try not to hold you too much longer." She promises in a low voice.
At this, Lexa rests a finger against her artist's lips. "I'd gladly forfeit that game if you asked me to." She corrects "as for holding me." She trails off pressing herself closer into Clarke's tensive hold.
"Come to that dance with me." Clarke asks in a rush.
"You know one of the reasons aside from you know I really like when you watch me play in asking you to come tonight was because I was going to ask you out to that same dance after we won today, right?" Lexa tells her nudging her forehead to Clarke's in the flickering candle flames.
"I'm going to hold you to that but first just let me have this." Clarke complains with a playful shove against Lexa's shoulder. "and also a lot more of those candy-dipped pretzels. Those have really picked me up on days I can't catch one of your smiles between classes."
Lexa prays her blushing cheeks aren't noticeable in the semi darkness of the art room as she ducks her head mostly to keep from kissing that sweet smile on Clarke's lips. "I'm just glad you ended up liking those." She says with a giddy sigh. "Honestly you should have seen how crazy I went trying to come up with the best 'I like you, please at least notice me' gifts that wouldn't make me seem like some crazy stalker."
"Do you know how many shades of green I've gone thought trying to match the shade of your eyes?" Clarke questions "a heck of a lot and I still haven't found the right one." She answers before Lexa can think of a number other than a gaped "What?"
"Hate to interrupt what I'm hoping from the lack of blood splatter on the windows out here is a sweet moment between you two knuckle heads, but Lex and I are on a bit of a time crunch here." Alex calls in a whispered rasp from the hallway.
"You also might want to think of some way to cover up that love bite Mags gave you." Clarke calls back her tone playful as she grudgingly leads the basketball team captain back towards the art room door.
"What I have to let those jock jerks know she's taken right away, or I lose her." Maggie defends "wait how'd you know?"
"Cause I'd have done the same to Lexa if…."
"Don't tell me she turned you down." Maggie groans
"If she weren't on a time constraint and needed back in the gym soon." Clarke finishes thought her teeth.
"Then you can't hate me much for this." Lexa warns pulling Clarke back towards her pressing a soft kiss first to her lips then leaving a much more bruise threatening one against the artist's throat before trailing her lips with dusted kisses back towards Clarke's mouth for a less than innocent first kiss.