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T-Minus 27 Days.
“How do you know if you’ve gone too far because you think you love someone?” Lexa fell face first onto the couch and groaned.
Raven looked up from where she was reading at the counter in the kitchen. “Oh shit, don’t tell me, you met a pretty girl at a bar while you were drunk, you asked her to marry you, and she said yes?”
“No,” she groaned again. “That would be so much easier than the truth.”
She bookmarked her page and set the book aside. “Spill.”
Lexa launched into the story about how Clarke had approached her about going to her family reunion together at the end of June. Clarke needed a plus one to discourage her mother from trying to set her up with anyone, like her stepfather’s niece. While it was nice they were being somewhat forward thinking by setting her up with his niece and not his nephew, especially since he was ten years older than Clarke, the situation still wasn’t exactly desirable. So Clarke had asked Lexa to be her date to the reunion and then informed her that her mother thought they had been dating for over a year.
“It’ll be fun!” said Clarke when Lexa only stared at her in response to the request. “Raven will be there, you’ll get to dress up all fancy, and talk back to any bigot relatives. You can even be an asshole to my Aunt Linda, who everyone hates and is going to be the biggest grump there to get your frustrations out.”
“Clarke, this is the worst idea ever,” Lexa said finally. “We aren’t even together and we’ve only known each other for like eight months. The reunion is in twenty-eight days.”
“I know,” Clarke came to sit next to her on the couch, picking up the remote and switching off Lexa’s show despite her protests. “That’s why we have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I’m not saying yes to this.”
“But you aren’t saying no?”
Lexa rolled her eyes and stood up. “I’m not even going to answer that.” She started walking towards her room. She almost made it, too, until she thought of something. “Will there be an open bar at this reunion?”
“Yes.”
“Let me sleep on it.” She was going to say yes and she knew Clarke knew it too. She had roped Lexa into a number of things since she moved in with Lexa and Raven, this definitely being the most out there, and Lexa always found that she, in retrospect, actually enjoyed their adventures. No’s turned into maybe’s, maybe’s into yes’s, and the week before Christmas she found herself dancing with Clarke on top of a table at a party. She never did anything like that before she met Clarke.
A huge smile spread on Clarke’s face. She jumped up from the couch and ran to give Lexa a tight hug, who stood rigid until she let go. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lex! You have no idea what this means to me.”
“I am so going to regret this,” Lexa muttered under her breath.
Which is how she ended up face down on her couch at nine in the morning the next day, moaning and groaning to Raven while Clarke was in class. She was regretting it, hard.
Raven tapped her chin thoughtfully. “So let me get this straight: you, who have had a crush on Clarke pretty much since the day you met her, said yes to going to our family reunion as her fake date?”
“I am so screwed, aren’t I?”
“Not completely, no. It could be worse. Abby could have asked for proof of your relationship and called me before Clarke could get to you and you could tell me. You’re still ahead of the storm.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure if that’s reassuring or if it puts more pressure on the situation.”
“Just imagine if she had called me and I had no idea what was going on. How do you think that would have gone?”
Okay, she had a point there.
She could hear Raven climb down from the stool. Raven sat on the arm of the couch and looked down at her. “Look, Woods, my sister may not have thought this out, and you may have been too love sick to say no, but you’re in it now. You are not going to disappoint Mama G by telling her it was a lie.”
“You just want to see this crash and burn.”
“Maybe a little, but I also want you to get your head out of your ass and live a little for once. You spend way too much time holed up in this place doing homework and watching the same five squid documentaries over and over. Maybe you’ll even get so sick of Clarke just like everyone else has and get over her. That, or you two will finally get together. Either way I hope you get some closure. This will be good for you.”
Lexa face planted again. “I’m never coming to you for advice ever again.”
Why Raven would encourage Lexa to fake date her sister in the first place was lost on Lexa. She thought Raven’s older sibling instincts would kick in and she’d be disgusted, upset, and overprotective of her sister. She thought Raven would try to talk her out of it and Lexa wasn’t planning give her much of a fight. Instead, not only was Raven going along with Clarke’s plan, she was telling Lexa to actually date Clarke.
Some part of her was glad Raven had given her blessing. It would have been hell if she didn’t want the two of them getting involved. Lexa would have had to move to a different state, change her name, and make sure she never saw Clarke again. A ringing endorsement was definitely the best case scenario.
Clarke came home from work that night smiley and cheerful, Lexa could hear her in the kitchen with Raven as she reheated some take out. She waited patiently while Lexa finished her reading, probably only because her door was closed, but she intercepted Lexa on her way to the kitchen for a midnight snack.
They stood close in the cramped hallway, Clarke’s breath brushing Lexa’s bare shoulder in her tank top. She could smell her shampoo, lavender she knew from the bottle in the shower, and sighed in the way it mixed with the scent of her deodorant. It tangled to become a distinct Clarke smell that Lexa found herself getting lost in whenever she was near.
“How say you?” Clarke asked, her voice deep with an exaggerated accent.
This was her last chance to back out. Clarke’s bottom lip tucked between her teeth in a nervous pout, and Lexa suppressed a shudder. Judging from this moment alone, her crush would most certainly only amplify, not dampen, in the coming weeks as they got to know each other as well as a couple who has been together for a year would. Their chemistry as roommates seemed good so far, but roommates and girlfriends were two very different things. It could mess up the whole dynamic between the three of them in the apartment. Was Lexa ready to take that chance?
“Okay,” Lexa said. “Let’s do it.”
Her admission didn’t draw a vocal response, just Clarke’s eyes locking with hers and a grateful smile playing on her face. Lexa was rooted in place.
Raven appeared behind Clarke and Lexa started to feel cramped in the small space, the spell broken. She rolled her eyes. “Alright, now that we’ve all decided to scam our mother, can you please get out of the way? You’re blocking the bathroom and I’ve had to pee for the last like thirty minutes.”
+++++
T-Minus 25 Days.
Their first task of Saturday was to figure out their timeline. They had lost two days of prep time from Lexa’s deliberation, but Clarke wasn’t letting that stop her. She steamrolled through Lexa’s list of questions and was rapid firing through her own, barely giving Lexa the time to ask or answer anything fully. They only needed a rough outline to start with anyway, they could fill in the gaps as they went, but Lexa still wanted to spend a little more time getting down the basics of what being Clarke’s date to the event entailed.
Raven was no help, she came out of her room bleary-eyed at noon and immediately turned back around. A few minutes later she came out fully dressed and left the apartment. Nope, Lexa did not feel betrayed at all, not even when Clarke wiggled that much closer to her to show her the rough draft of the completed timeline.
“Okay, so we met at the rally for queer pride last year and started hanging out after meetings to make posters together,” Clarke recapped. “You were horrible at drawing but had some pretty good ideas for what they should say, and I offered to help.”
“When was that exactly? What date.”
She shrugged. “Sometime in May? If we’ve been dating for over a year—“
“We met in February,” Lexa said firmly. “Before the pride rally. We started dating during the planning period, so that could put our first date around—“ she calculated in her head—“March fourteenth. Pie Day. We still did posters together, and went to the rally together. And Pride, too, obviously. You moved in here on November third, almost seven months into our relationship. You wanted to move in earlier, but that was when your lease was up.”
“And what did we do for our one year anniversary?”
“Went to Crusty’s, the same pie shop where we went on our first date. What about for Valentine’s Day before that?”
“A romantic picnic at city hall’s amphitheater. That Count Basie cover band you like was playing.”
“Thanksgiving and Christmas?”
“I went home for family dinner with Raven, you stayed here and celebrated with Bellamy and Octavia. We didn’t think it was serious enough to bring you home to meet my family and you were scared of what they would think of you.” What did we do for spring break?”
“Stayed in mostly, and annoyed Raven. Went on a ghost tour, explored the city.”
Clarke cocked an eyebrow. “A ghost tour? Really?”
Lexa shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a believer.”
“Fine. I was absolutely terrified on that ghost tour and slept in your bed that night.”
“And why wouldn’t you? Are we the kind of couple that still sleeps separately? Especially if you’re already moved in.”
“Probably not. Yeah, there’s no way they’d believe that I voluntarily sleep on the couch even though I live with my girlfriend.”
My girlfriend. It wasn’t true, but Lexa’s heart fluttered anyway. “As your girlfriend, I would never let you,” she said.
“I appreciate that,” Clarke laughed.
“Alright, we’ve got most major holidays and events locked down. Next up is birthdays. I know yours is in October — “
“And yours is in July.”
“Which means we’ve each had one and mine is coming up again. Luckily it's not the twenty-sixth of this month, so we won’t be at your reunion trying to pretend we want to do something special for it.”
Clarke looked offended. “What if I wanted to do something special for it?”
“Why would you?” Lexa asked before she could stop herself.
“Well, okay, if it really means that much to you, we won’t do anything for your birthday. It’s not like me and Raven had this whole thing planned — “
“Clarke,” Lexa grabbed her hand and waited for Clarke to look at her. “We can do something special. I’m sorry if I sounded harsh, I just — Nobody’s really ever done anything like that for me before.”
There had been one foster parent who made it her mission to make every kid’s birthday one of the best days of their lives. But besides her, most places didn’t hold kids long enough or care enough to learn when their birthdays were.
“You don’t even know what we’ve got planned.” A slight blush crept onto Clarke’s face.
“I don’t need to. I just know it’ll be good. What did I give you for your birthday last year?”
Raven came home at eight and parked herself between them. “Are you idiots done for the day? I’m starving and it’s Lexa’s turn to cook for movie night.”
Clarke and Lexa agreed that they had made enough progress for the day, and Lexa got up to throw some food together. She saw Raven read over their notes so far, then turn to whisper with Clarke. They both glanced her way every so often and she quickly averted her eyes back to the food. Usually, the three of them turned up some music and danced around the kitchen while they waited for the food to be ready, but something about this Saturday was usual. Not soon enough, she brought three plates over to the couch and flicked on the TV. The other two seemed to be finished with their conversation, but Raven wore a displeased expression while Clarke looked satisfied.
Lexa cleared her throat. “What are we watching?” she asked.
“Alien,” said Raven, purposefully picking a movie Clarke would hate.
“Fuck you,” Clarke stuck her tongue out.
+++++
T-minus 10 Days.
Not long enough, in Lexa’s opinion. They had crafted a pretty detailed document chronicling their time together over the past year. It included dates big and small, birthdays, holidays, other miscellaneous events, gifts, food preferences, and so much more.
Finals for school came and went, and Lexa felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest the moment she recycled her flashcards. She traded them in for talking points from their timeline, flipping through them every night after the school year ended the second week of June. But she wasn’t going to have flashcards at the reunion and it was stressing her out.
Raven assured her it was going to be fine and periodically quizzed her, too.
Coming home: “True or false: Clarke broke her arm in third grade.”
“False, she broke her wrist not her arm, and luckily she’s left handed.”
Getting out of the shower: “True or false: The Griffins adopted me when I was thirteen.”
“True. You two played on the same soccer team together and they found out Clarke was hiding you in her room to avoid a shitty foster situation.”
Right before bed: “True or false: Clarke snores.”
“True and I can hear it from the living room. We don’t even have to sleep in the same bed to know that’s true.”
Clarke poked her head up over the back of the couch with narrowed eyes. “I resent that statement.”
“When are your birthdays?”
Clarke and Lexa both answered at the same time.
“October twenty-second—“
“July twenty-third.”
Raven tossed the flashcards on Lexa’s bed. “Yup, my job is done here. You’re going to pass with flying colors, both of you.”
Lexa wasn’t entirely convinced, but she and Clarke couldn’t play 20 Questions forever. They had other things to work on. Like holding hands and hugging.
Kissing.
Oh God, she would have to kiss Clarke in front of her relatives at some point and it had to look real. Her arms shouldn’t be awkward and she should know where to place her hands and — Lexa was getting ahead of herself. Maybe Clarke doesn’t want to kiss at all. To claim modesty and privacy in front of her relatives. No, that didn’t sound like Clarke. Lexa, perhaps, but Clarke would want to be loud and proud. She was bringing Lexa to stick it to them after all.
Two days later, she finally got the courage to sit next to Clarke while she was painting. Raven was out doing — whatever she did when she had time to kill before work, so they were alone in the apartment. Clarke rarely wore anything more than a tank top and sleep shorts when she worked, claiming she ran warm and she felt like her creativity was suffocating if she wore anything more. There was paint on her bare arms and thighs, and even some in her hair, but Clarke hardly seemed bothered by it. That was one of the things Lexa liked most about Clarke, her passion for her art and unabashed creative process. And she looked the most beautiful when she was covered in color, bottom lip tucked between her teeth in concentration, and her brows furrowed like she was trying to find the meaning in her own art. Lexa watched her for a little bit, lost in the colors and patterns.
“Did you want to talk to me about something?”
Lexa jumped in her chair, startled out of her trance. “Sort of? Not really talk, exactly... More like try something.”
Clarke immediately offered her spare palette. “I have another easel and canvas in Raven’s room if you want.”
“Oh, no, that’s not it,” Lexa shook her head. “But thank you.”
“Then what’s up?”
She closed her eyes and bit her lip. Friends kissed sometimes, it wasn’t a big deal. This wasn’t anything real anyway, just to make sure neither of them made a fool of themselves. Your request is valid, she told herself.
Without opening her eyes, she blurted, “I think we should kiss. To practice for the reunion.” She cracked one open to peer at Clarke.
“Oh.” Clarke looked surprised, as she should be. But then her expression softened and she put down her paints. “Lexa — Lexa look at me.”
She did.
“Do you want to? You’re right, we probably should. But only if you want to.”
“Do you?”
“I’m good with whatever you’re comfortable with. I can absolutely tell my family you’re a private person and they can fuck off if they even so much as look like they’re going to question it. We don’t even have to do it today. Plenty of time to work up to it if you do want to go through with it right now.” Clarke shuffled her feet on the footrest of her stool. She seemed just as nervous as Lexa was.
“No!” Lexa said, a bit more forceful than she needed to. “I mean — yeah we still have a few days but, how are we going to — it has to look natural at the party, right?”
“Y-yeah, okay.”
Neither of them moved for a moment. Then Clarke surged forward and their faces met, the opposite of graceful, their teeth clacking against each other just barely. She leaned back slightly to adjust and their next kiss was much more pleasant, a soft exchange of touch between them.
Lexa didn’t know when her eyelids fluttered shut, but when she reopened them, Clarke was sitting back on her stool, face flush and turned away. A smile played on her lips and she swiped her thumb over her bottom lip, a motion Lexa knew made her own face flush all the way up to the tips of her ears.
“That was, uh, definitely room for improvement. Need to work on the entry,” Lexa stammered. This only made the red travel down to Clarke’s chest and up to the tips of her ears as well.
“I’d like to see you do better.”
It was permission, an invitation to kiss her again. Lexa was a fool to even consider turning it down. Her stomach fluttered anxiously and she took a step closer to Clarke. She tentatively placed her hands on Clarke’s waist, sliding them to sling low around her hips, her eyes flitting from Clarke’s lips to her eyes and back down. “Is this okay?”
Clarke nuzzled their noses together. “Yeah,” she breathed.
Lexa eased into it, embracing the warmth of Clarke’s lips on hers, her breath caught in her throat. This was always how she imagined their first kiss. Clarke drawing her closer and deepening the kiss, one hand coming to cup her cheek. Honestly, it was a little hard to remember that this was all pretend as Lexa tried to pull back, only to get dragged in again. She smiled against her lips and tightened her grip on Clarke’s tank top.
+++++
T-Minus 9 Days.
“So,” Raven leaned against the door jam of Lexa’s room. “How was making out with Clarke?”
“How did you know?” Lexa was sprawled on her bed reading a book and she sat up, tucking her bookmark between the pages.
She laughed. “Come on. She’s my sister and you’re my best friend. I have a pair of working eyes that notice things.”
Lexa tried to suppress a grin. “It was nice, I suppose. We’re going to look authentic at the reunion.”
“You’re hopeless,” Raven rolled her eyes but smiled too. “I’m happy for you two. But you do know that I will kick your ass if you hurt her, right? You’re my best friend, but she’s my sister and blood, and blood is thicker than water.”
“Got it,” said Lexa. She held up her hands. “No hurting Clarke.”
“Good. Now get moving, she’s waiting for you.”
Lexa cocked her head questioningly. Nevertheless, she climbed off the bed and followed her best friend through the apartment. Clarke was out on the balcony, putting the finishing touches on what looked like a candle-lit picnic as the sun set behind the city skyline. As soon as she spotted them she straightened, smoothing her hands over the fabric of her sundress. Her hair glowed in the fading sunlight and her blue eyes shone bright against the pink and purple sky.
She slid open the balcony door for Lexa and held out her hand. Lexa placed her hand in hers and stepped outside, onto the blanket laid out on the balcony floor.
“Hey,” she said. “What is all this?”
“Well,” Clarke drew out the end of the word as she wrapped her arms around Lexa’s waist. “I thought we could have our first date.”
“Right now? I’m underdressed.” She was wearing a tank top and running shorts.
Clarke smiled and brought her in for a kiss. “You look perfect.”
They heard noises behind them and turned to see Raven pretending to gag.
“Disgusting,” she teased. “If you need me I’ll be in my room with my headphones on, music all the way up until tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks, Raven,” Lexa blushed, burying her face in Clarke’s neck. She smelled good, like sunshine and peaches, the perfect summer blend.
“Whatever. But Clarke?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t care if you’re my sister. I will kick your ass if you hurt Lexa. And you’re moving out as soon as possible so nobody gets sexiled the next time you two decide to pull something like this.”
“Love you too, sis.”