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Clarke was losing interest, as the sheet of paper before her revealed, with its all too accurate doodles of the competitors before her. She was stuck in one of the broadcast booths, away from the noise and the action, but with one of the better views, providing emergency coverage of Ark University’s swim meet. Raven was sitting next to her, doing all the work, reading out names and teams and times, and Clarke was really there for moral support when Raven needed a breather.
She’d received a text last night, begging for her help, because Miller has the flu and has lost his voice, and can she please just come and help out? Raven hardly ever begged, so that was something, and she wasn’t a total failure of a friend; hence how she found herself in hour six of God knows how many.
It wasn’t a bad gig, as they went. Raven had asked her worse. But hour six. She had been there six hours, including the hour and a half Raven wanted for prep work before they even started! She was done. She had seen swim team after swim team, and dive after dive, and was anyone even listening anymore?
“I’m going to get a drink, do you want anything?” Raven asked, gently nudging Clarke’s arm as she scribbled the Ark University logo across her sheet.
“No thanks, I’m good.” Raven gave a nod and got up, reaching for her cane as she did so.
“Setlist is on for now, I should be back before it’s done, but if not, just reiterate who the team is, and read my notes.”
Clarke could do that. Putting her headphones back on, she listened to what those tuned in would hear, and watched and waited. She’d found that sitting there, with what felt like all the time in the world, allowed her to people watch.
The group of guys in the centre of the seating were secretly drinking and smuggling beer to other members of the crowd, Clarke noted at hour one; the banner third from the left on the top row was spelt wrong, and unfortunately measures to fix it hadn’t helped matters; the coaches seemed to treat this like it was the Olympics; and when had swim meets because a beacon for pretty people?
This was new information to her. No, seriously, where had all these stunning people been hiding on campus? Clarke felt like it was unfair to have so many pretty people in one room.
“Did you mess up?” Raven asked, coming back in, bottle of water in hand. She dumped her cane by her feet, and put her headphones on to hear what was on.
“Of course I didn’t, I’m a pro at this,” Clarke replied, rolling her eyes at yee of little faith. Raven simply smirked, enjoying the rise she was getting. “How much longer? I think the smell of Chlorine is melting my brain,” Clarke went on to say, leaning her face on her hands.
“Not long, we’re almost done. Now shush, some of us have to work.” Clarke didn’t get a chance to argue with that statement, because Raven was back, sprouting numbers and times, as if she was the pro at this stuff.
So, it was back to doodling, to occasionally watching the crowd, and to finding her own amusement. Clarke knew that she needed to be quiet, and she was, she was being quiet, she was minding her own business. But when the teams stopped, between races, and the crowd began to move, Raven muted the mic in front of her, and that was go.
Looking up, to people watch some more, and to admire the crowd, Clarke noted the doors opening at the side of the seating, and more folks piling in. That didn’t bode well for her trying to get out there any time soon.
And then, Aphrodite herself walked in, knocking all conscious thought from Clarke’s mind; walking with confidence, casually dressed, and to some she might blend in, but to Clarke, she stood out. She was...how? How was it that someone looked that good?
"Oh come on," Clarke groaned, "come on!" shaking her head, and pulling Raven’s attention to her.
"What's wrong? What’s happened?” she asked, looking from Clarke to the pool, trying to see if there was any reason for the outburst.
"Who is that?!” Clarke asked, pointing downward.
"Who?" Raven asked, frowning, looking down at the crowd below, scanning the swimmers by the pool again, and the coaches loitering around. Clarke wasn’t exactly pointing in a very specific place, so this felt like a needle in a haystack moment.
"Her! The goddess that just walked in the door. How did you miss her? She could stop traffic,” Clarke waxed, pointing again, before going on. “She is stunning. How? I feel personally victimised just being in her presence. She is stunning,” she said again, unable to stop.
Until Raven started laughing, that is.
"Clarke, your mic," she got out, between laughing, and that had Clarke looking away from the girl in the audience, and to Raven.
"What?"
"Your mic is still on," Raven explained, tears in her eyes, and that ridiculous grin on her lips.
"Noo, no, no, nooo!" Clarke slapped the mic button and pushed it across the desk, fast. "Please do not tell me that broadcasted?” she whispered to Raven, her hand over Raven’s mic now, too.
From Raven’s laughter, her cackles, yes, it was.
“Both mics are off, you don’t need to do that now,” Raven smiled, swatting Clarke’s hand away. “But to answer your question, your little freak out of that girl just went out, live, to how ever many listeners we have.”
“Nooo, Raven, seriously, noo,” Clarke whined, shaking her head, and Raven smirked.
“Sorry, Clarke, I can’t take that back for you. I thought you knew your mic was on.”
“Do you think I would have said all that if I had?” It was rhetorical, but Clarke was ready to whack Raven with the mic if she opened her mouth. “What the hell am I going to do?”
“Relax,” Raven tried, “It’ll blow over. No one listens to this shit anyway. You’re fine.”
Right. Okay. That was reassuring.
She was fine.
*0*0*
Clarke was not fine.
News had spread of her on air faux pas, and not only was the Ark Uni Radio Facebook page now swamped with messages about it, but the audio had been made into a shareable clip. It had racked up over ten thousand listens so far.
The main question surrounding all this; who was the girl Clarke was describing?
Comment sections were dedicated to ruling out who it couldn’t be, and trying to rule in who it could be. Clarke had also received hundreds of messages asking her to tell them who the girl was. Problem being, she had no idea who she was. She might not even have attended the Ark.
“So we know nothing about her?” Octavia asked, settling into the couch, plate of food in one hand, and drink in the other.
“Nope,” Raven called through, shortly following after with the same. “She wasn’t wearing school colours, or a school insignia.”
“Can’t we just put out an ad or something? Looking for hot girl in white tank top, black bra, and black jeans, who attended The Ark University swim meet on Saturday. Please call so our roommate can get over her embarrassment at calling you a goddess.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” Clarke asked, from her place on the floor, leaning back into one the seats, and knees against the coffee table.
“Yes,” Octavia replied, unfazed. “I think it would be a good idea.”
“Where would we post it?”
“Facebook? We could post the audio clip, put the details in, and see if anyone wants to come forward.”
“Why are we looking for this girl?” Clarke asked, ready to forget all about it.
“Why aren’t we?” Raven asked, pausing to swallow her bite of food. “Don’t you want to know who she is?”
“No!” she fired back, shaking head. “What happens once I know who she is? I end up meeting her? ‘Oh, hi, you don’t know me, but yes, I’m the one that told all of campus that you’re a goddess; how are you doing?’” Clarke sassed, earning eye rolls from both Octavia and Raven.
“It wouldn’t be like that,” Octavia said, looking to Raven, who was shaking her head, because yeah, it would be exactly like that.
“Whatever, this is hypothetical. Let’s leave it there, and pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Okay, if that’s what you want,” Raven said, watching Clarke carefully.
They’d leave it for now; they wouldn’t press and push, they’d just let the dust settle.
*0*0*
The dust didn’t get a chance to settle.
“You’ll never guess what happened,” Raven grinned, all too wickedly, announcing to the living room now that Clarke was home and settled.
It had been three days since their last conversation; with Clarke still licking her wounds, and Octavia and Raven tip toeing round her. But that was then, and this was now, with Raven grinning like a maniac.
Her grin really had Clarke on edge, and she took a seat, cautiously watching and waiting for more.
“What happened?”
“I found her,” Raven said, and that grin widening. That had to be a bad sign.
“You found her?” Octavia asked, replicating the grin.
“Found who?” Clarke asked, a heavy feeling in her stomach now.
“Goddess girl,” Octavia and Raven both said, at the same time, which was scary enough in itself.
“That is not how you’ve been referring to her, right?” Goddess girl? What was she, a superhero?
“How do you know it’s her?” The two of them completely ignored Clarke’s comment, and ploughed on.
“Her friend fessed her up. Remember Anya?” Raven explained, replying to Octavia.
“Scary Anya?” Clarke asked, frowning, because this couldn't be going in a good direction if Anya was involved.
“She’s not scary,” Raven replied, rolling her eyes. Of course she would say that, she slept with her.
“Little bit scary,” Octavia supplied, nodding at Clarke, because yes, that girl looked like she carried a machete under her leather jacket, and if she actually did, it wouldn’t be surprising.
“Anyway! I bumped into her at the library, and to cut a long story short, she knows the girl.”
“She’s lying. She’s just saying that to fuck with me,” Clarke fired in. Anya never liked her.
“She sent me her picture,” Raven grinned, waving her phone in her hand.
“Show me!” Octavia called, bouncing off the couch to see for herself.
“What? She what?”
“Yeah, Lexa, as she’s known, apparently doesn’t like being in the spotlight, so hasn’t come forward. But, Anya was there, and she even has pictures of the two of them at the swim meet. Which, leads me to this-” Raven unlocked her phone and brought up her photo album, clicking on the first picture, and there she was.
“Clarke, is that her? Is that the girl? Because holy hell, if it’s not, I need to start attending more swim meets. The crowd is-”
“That’s her,” Clarke admitted, biting her lip, now unsure what to do with this information.
Lexa. Her name was Lexa.
“Am I not the bestest friend ever?” Raven asked, ready to accept all the praise.
“Don’t get any ideas.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to meet her. I don’t.”
“Wait, what? You really don’t? You were serious about that?” Octavia asked, double checking.
“No, I really don’t. It’ll be weird and creepy and if she doesn’t want the attention then there’s no way meeting me is a good idea. You found her, you’ve seen her, let’s put this behind us, okay?”
It was hard to argue with Clarke’s reasoning, and as Octavia and Raven looked between each other, they admitted defeat. There was no point pushing this, it wouldn’t be fair to Clarke, or to this girl Lexa. While that wasn’t exactly what they wanted to hear, they let it go.
“Okay, we’ll drop it.”
“Thank you,” Clarke said, relieved, and okay, right decision to make.
And it was, for Clarke. As soon as they said they were going to leave it, she felt the tension in her shoulders ease away to nothing, and the beginning of the headache dissipate.
Lexa.
Her name was Lexa.
It might have well been Stranger, because Clarke had no intention of ever meeting her; and with Raven and Octavia on board, she didn’t have to worry about every crossing Lexa’s path.
*0*0*
Crossing someone’s path means walking in front of them, or coming across them; it does not mean walking into them. But that’s exactly what happened.
Raven had been invited to a party, and naturally Clarke and Octavia were going to come along, too. The whole thing was off campus, at some grad student’s house, and it reminded Clarke of her high school party days; drinking in someone's parents’ house while they were out of town. But, she was there, she had a drink in her hand, and as nights went, it wasn’t a bad one.
Of course, it was set to get worse, because that’s how Clarke’s life worked lately.
As she moved through the backyard, following after Octavia and Raven, she watched them disappear into the crowd. They were all going to the kitchen to get some more drinks, maybe see what food was available, so it wasn’t a problem being separated from them. She’d catch up.
In the move, stepping right to avoid that guy, slipping past that girl, and trying to squeeze through that group, Clarke misjudged, didn’t see her, and walked straight into another girl. She felt her elbow collide with them, heard the oof, at the same time, she felt the thump against her, the sharp burst of pain from the collision making her wince.
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Clarke said, the words flying out, reaching out, steadying the girl who was rubbing her side, having dropped her drink to the grass beneath them.
“No, don’t worry about it, I think that was me,” the girl replied, finally looking up, and-
“Oh,” Clarke suddenly said, swallowing the newly formed lump in her throat, as recognition crossed Lexa’s face.
“You,” Lexa said, a small smile tugging at her lips, and Clarke wanted to the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
“Me,” she murmured in reply, almost unheard from the sound of the music getting louder inside.
In Clarke’s defense, seeing Lexa in person was so much worse than seeing her from across the pool hall. At least then, she wasn’t able to smell her perfume, or see the exact colour of her eyes, or the smoothness of her lips, or-
Her words that day; the goddess that just walked in the door; she could stop traffic; she is stunning; I feel personally victimised just being in her presence; she is stunning; all of it rang true, even more so now than ever.
All Clarke could do was stare.
“Do I not live up to your first impression?” Lexa asked, having taken the staring as a bad sign.
“Pardon?” Clarke tried to push down all the feelings of embarrassment, and make it through the conversation without embarrassing herself any further.
“Could I really stop traffic, or…?” Feeling the heat on her cheeks once again, Clarke dropped her eyes to the ground and pushed her hair back.
“Yes, you could,” she replied, quietly, avoiding Lexa’s gaze. “Look, can we just forget about the live mic and everything? I’m sorry for dragging you into this. I didn’t know the mic was on and-”
“Relax, it’s not a big deal,” Lexa said, cutting in, and waving it off. “But personally victimised?” That made Clarke laugh, more so at herself than anything else.
“You’re very pretty, and I had sat there all day, looking at pretty people, and then you walked in and it was a moment of ‘wow’. Anyway, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to apologise for. It wasn’t terrible to hear,” she admitted, and Clarke found herself smiling again. “And hey, if it means anything, I think you could stop traffic, too.”
Oh.
“Goodbye, Clarke,” Lexa said, smiling, and moving back off through the crowd before she even had a moment to go over what had just happened.
Octavia found her a few moments later, handing her a drink and checking she was okay. It felt best not to mention Lexa, because she knew her friends, and as soon as they found out she was there, Clarke would never hear the end of it. So…
“Yeah, I’m great, just wanted the fresh air. Let’s go see Raven.” Octavia took her hand, and led her back into the house, where Clarke hated to admit, she looked around for Lexa.
She continued to do so the rest of the night, until the three of them fell into a cab and went home.
*0*0*
There was no point looking for Lexa elsewhere on campus, because Clarke had never seen her before, and the likelihood of seeing her now was slim to none. So she stopped. She stopped trying to spot her in the crowds, or between classes, or in classes like it would have been possible to ever miss her. She tried to stop. She stopped.
Lexa wasn’t going to magically appear, if she wanted to see Clarke, she would; that was the mantra she was telling herself, and as mantras went, it was a pretty good one.
Clarke had just finished grabbing coffee for the gang back at Monty’s place. They had a major study session on the go, and all wanted something stronger, and better tasting, than the stuff stocked in his cupboards. Since she had drawn the short straw, she was sent on the coffee run. That had made her groan and protest a little, but in the end, she’d grabbed her purse, car keys, and headed out.
Now; with the coffee in hand, settling in down on the passenger side floor so it didn’t fall while she was driving; there was no grumbling. And when she looked up, turning her car on and about to engage it into drive, hand about to take the handbrake off, Clarke felt as though the short straw might have been on her side.
No more grumbling.
There, about three feet in front of her car, stood Lexa. She was bundled up, warm in her coat, hands in her pockets, and chin almost covered by her scarf, but it was her alright. She was standing in front of Clarke’s car, and Clarke had never been more confused.
Rolling down the window, Clarke turned off the engine, but left the car on, and stuck her head out to see just what exactly was happening.
“What are you doing?” she called, a half smile on her lips, almost amused.
“Stopping traffic,” Lexa replied, then biting her lip, frowning a little, “sort of.” Yeah, one car didn’t count as traffic, but Clarke was delightfully amused now, so didn’t mind at all.
“Oh yeah? How’s that going for you?”
“Pretty easy, actually,” Lexa smiled.
“It’s harder when the cars are moving...and when there is more than one car.” Lexa let out a laugh, stepping forward, the same time Clarke turned the car off completely and got out.
Lexa came to stand in the space next to Clarke’s car, while she leant against the door, wondering, smiling, but wondering all the same what was going on.
“So, I appreciate the gesture, but..?” she began, and Lexa nodded, quick to answer.
“I wanted to get your attention.”
“Lexa, you walked into a packed room and I lost my shit; I think you have my attention,” Clarke admitted, laughing more at herself.
“Good,” Lexa said, standing up that little bit taller. “I want to ask you out. I mean, if you’re interested, I would like to ask you out. I am asking you out. This is me asking you out. So, Clarke, would you like to go out?” Now it was time for the heat to be on Lexa’s cheeks.
“If stopping traffic didn’t get my attention, that whole thing you did there definitely did.” Lexa laughed, shaking her head, and matched Clarke’s smile.
“You make me nervous. You’re stunning,” Lexa said, eyes fixed on Clarke’s.
“I think that’s my line.”
“I’m borrowing it.” Sharing another smile, Lexa licked her lips and tried again. “So, about that date?”
“I’d love to.” That earned her another beaming grin. “Though, I have one suggestion.”
“I’m listening,” Lexa said, turning serious.
“I think we should avoid any major traffic routes, because as you’ve shown today, your ability to stop traffic could be exceedingly disruptive-” Clarke teased.
“Shu--” Lexa laughed, cutting off the rest of her sentence telling Clarke to be quiet. “Am I going to regret doing that?”
“No,” Clarke replied, this time being the serious one.
“No?” Lexa repeated, watching as Clarke stepped closer, coming to stand right before her.
“It was endearing.”
“So was being called a goddess.” Now it was Lexa’s turn to tease.
Laughing, Clarke bit her lip and realised right there, she’d never shake off the live mic situation; especially not if Lexa had anything to do about it.
“You are, though, you know that right? You really are a goddess-” All Clarke was do was stick to her guns on this one, and given that it was the truth, she had no problem committing.
“Shut up, Clarke,” Lexa laughed, reaching out, hand on her neck, watching those eyes stare at her lips, before looking right back at her.
It was a smile with a kiss, the tugging of lips making it feel light, feel mesmerising; with the softness of the other’s lips more enticing after each kiss, and the smiles slipping back in, because this girl, she made them feel so good, so carefree, and Clarke was hooked. Lexa, too.
“If you tell anyone I stood in front of your car to stop traffic-” Lexa added, leaning her forehead against Clarke’s, pretending that the nipping cold wasn’t biting at her hands or cheeks.
“I’m going to tell everyone,” Clarke laughed, leaning in to kiss her again, to bask in the newness of it all.
Standing there, with the occasional brush of Lexa’s lips against her own, the gang’s coffee getting colder by the second, and with the weather making her regret not wearing a coat, Clarke couldn’t help but think her slip up on the live mic might just be the best thing that has ever happened to her.
Another kiss, and the potential of a date with Lexa, sealed the deal.
Definitely, it was her best screw up to date.
*0*0*