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Clarke’s mind was buzzing as she paced back and forth across the living room of the apartment she shared with Octavia and Raven. She ran her hand through her messy hair, growing more and more impatient by the minute. “Refresh it again.”
“Clarke, babe, I’m refreshing it like every minute. You’ve gotta relax, they said you would hear by the end of the week and it’s only Friday morning. Plus, your pacing is kind of making me dizzy,” Lexa said from her spot on the couch, Clarke’s laptop resting on her legs.
Surprising Lexa, Clarke actually stopped pacing and turned towards her girlfriend. “Lex, this is serious! Getting this internship would be so great, I mean I would get to work at the Boston Children’s Museum. It’s one of the best children’s museums in the country and they’ve got an incredible visual arts program. If I get this internship I can basically work at any kid’s museum I want to after I graduate, I can’t relax Lexa!”
Lexa looked at her watch. “Okay, it’s 10:22 right now, you’ll know by 5 this afternoon. Give me your phone.”
“No way! I am so not giving you my phone. I need it to check my email!” Clarke said, one hand on her hip, the other gripping her phone tightly.
“Give me your phone, c’mon Clarke. You were tossing and turning all night last night. You’re driving yourself crazy.” Lexa closed Clarke’s laptop and set it on the coffee table, before she walked over to the blonde.
“I know what you’re doing, Lex,” Clarke said. “You’re not gonna be able to distract me with sex, even if it has worked before.”
Lexa laughed. “Clarke, that’s not what I’m trying to do, I promise.” She took the phone from Clarke’s hand and put it in her back pocket. “You’re exhausted, let’s just watch a movie or something, okay? You can check it again in an hour.”
“An hour?!”
“Yes, an hour. Now do you wanna watch something in here or in your room?”
Clarke sighed. “My room. If you’re gonna torture me by not letting me check my phone I’m at least getting cuddles out of it.” Clarke leaned in and grabbed Lexa’s hand, pulling her in for a kiss. With her other hand she tried to grab her phone from Lexa’s back pocket, but the brunette caught her.
“Nice try, Griffin, but that’s not gonna work,” Lexa said, her lips brushing against Clarke’s.
Clarke huffed, but pecked Lexa on the lips again. With their hands still intertwined she led them both to her bedroom, collapsing on her bed. Clarke stared at the ceiling which was littered with glow in the dark stars, trying to get the thoughts of missing the email that very second out of her mind.
Lexa smiled at the woman and grabbed the throw blanket from the chair in the corner of Clarke’s room. She climbed onto the already made bed and leaned back against the pillows. “C’mere,” Lexa said, holding her arms open. Clarke sighed, but complied, grabbing the remotes from her nightstand and climbing into Lexa’s arms, her head leaning against the brunette’s chest. Lexa pulled the blanket up to cover them both and took the remote from Clarke when she offered, turning on the TV.
“What do you wanna watch?” Lexa asked, opening up Netflix.
“You pick.” Clarke was running her hand along the outside of Lexa’s thigh gently before ghosting her fingers up the brunette’s hip.
Lexa began scrolling through the documentaries, ignoring Clarke’s attempts to distract her, before she found a couple of options. “Okay, what about this one?” Lexa asked.
Clarke looked up at the screen and was stunned with Lexa’s pick. “Babe, that’s about a serial killer, why would we watch that?”
“This is the one you wanted to watch a while ago but wouldn’t because it was nighttime and you said it was too freaky, but it’s the middle of the day now.”
“Why the hell would I want to watch that?” Clarke asked, having no recollection of ever suggesting anything like the movie on the screen.
“Remember, we watched the Halloween episode of American Horror Story because according to you after the second season all of the episodes sucked, but the Halloween episodes are usually good, except the third season, where the whole season was good but the Halloween episode-”
“The Halloween episode sucked,” Clarke shuddered. “That minotaur scene just freaks me out, okay? But how is that relevant?”
Lexa laughed, pulling out her phone and beginning to google something. “This season they had that murderer dinner and you were all excited because Lily Rabe was back for the episode and you thought she was really good in the episode even though she was ugly and then you started googling the real life person she played because you were curious.” Lexa held her phone in front of Clarke for her to look at, with a picture of the woman in question.
Clarke stopped tracing patterns on the brunette’s hip for a moment and looked at the phone, thinking. “Ohhh, yeah. I remember that now. She had all those weird tics and stuff, right? Cause I remember wondering what her deal was…”
“Exactly. This is the docu-” Lexa was cut off when Raven opened the door, leaning against the doorframe.
“You two are disgusting. You’re literally finishing each other's sentences. I think I’m gonna hurl,” Raven said disdainfully.
“Okay first of all, knock,” Clarke said. “We could’ve been having sex or something.”
“Trust me Griff, we all know when the two of you are getting down. You’re not subtle,” Raven said, winking dramatically.
“And second ,” the blonde said, making a point of ignoring Raven. “You’re just grumpy because you’re all heart-eyes over Octavia and she’s oblivious.”
“Raven has heart-eyes for Octavia? Babe, why didn’t you tell me? What the hell?” Lexa said, playfully slapping Clarke’s arm.
“Apparently Octavia’s not the only one who can’t see what’s right in front of them then,” Clarke said with a look up to her girlfriend.
“Would you two shut up!?” Raven said hurriedly, stepping away from the door frame and shutting the door behind her. “She just got home from her run, she’ll hear you!”
“Good, now get out and go tell her that so the two of you can fuck and let us watch our creepy documentary.” Clarke pointed at the door.
“Yeah, right, Clarke. We both know she’s straight,” Raven said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
Lexa looked at Clarke, then up at Raven. “Raven, she makes out with you way too much when she’s supposedly drunk to be totally straight.”
“Well even if she’s not straight she’s all heart-eyes over Lincoln, so it doesn’t matter,” Raven said, sighing. “Wait, shit! Oh my god, it’s Friday! Have you heard from the museum yet?”
Lexa gave Raven her best death glare, which quickly turned her expression from one of excitement to fear.
“Ugh, even Rae can’t wait. Give me my phone, Lexa,” Clarke said, snaking her hand around Lexa’s waist to try and grab her phone.
“Dammit Raven, I finally had her distracted.” Lexa huffed before she grabbed Clarke’s hand and returned it to its original place. “You’re not checking your phone. I told you, an hour.”
“Wchhchhhh,” Raven said, smirking. “You’re so whipped Griffin, it’s painful.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “You and your heart-eyes need to go tell O how you feel. And if you won’t do that, at least take them somewhere else. But I swear to god if you don’t grow a pair and tell her soon I’ll tell her for you. You’ve been like a kicked puppy for months. I love you dearly, but it’s just pathetic at this point.”
“Damn, Lexa, your girlfriend’s mean,” Raven said teasingly, before she turned and opened the door anyway. “Tell me when you hear from them, okay?”
“Of course, Rae. Please go talk to her?”
“Enjoy your movie,” Raven said quietly, closing Clarke’s bedroom door and padding down the hall.
Clarke sighed dejectedly. “I wish Octavia would either start dating Lincoln or Raven would just talk to her. Either way, then she could move on, y’know?”
“You don’t think Octavia likes her back?”
“I think O is afraid to like her back, but if she weren’t so scared, she’d realize she really does. But I don’t see her realizing it without someone telling her. She likes Lincoln, but he’s the safe option. They’re much better as friends,” Clarke said. “But I still wish I could help Ravene, I feel so useless.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Lexa said.
“Why?”
“Thanks for the faith, Clarke.” Lexa rolled her eyes. “But I’ll talk to her because I understand where she’s coming from. I mean it was what, like, a year and a half ago that I was on the same position”
Clarke smiled, toying with Lexa’s fingers. “You’re perfect babe.”
“No, I’m an idiot, but at least it means I can help a fellow idiot.”
“Well you’re a perfect idiot. Now c’mon, play the freaky murder movie,” Clarke said as she adjusted herself and snuggled closer into Lexa’s arms.
Given the horrible night of sleep the blonde had gotten, Lexa wasn’t surprised when less than 15 minutes into the movie Clarke’s eyes were closed and her breathing steady. Admittedly, the movie was rather disconcerting and she was watching it alone, so a few minutes after Clarke fell asleep, Lexa changed it to a documentary about Henry VIII, one that she had been wanting to watch, but which Clarke kept vetoing.
Eventually, Lexa checked her phone and saw that the blonde’s hour was up, but she couldn’t make herself wake the sleeping woman. Especially since based on the lack of notifications on Clarke’s phone, the email hadn’t arrived yet. She didn’t want to wake Clarke just for her to be disappointed, so she decided to let the blonde sleep, at least until the documentary was over, then she would let her check.
Lexa felt guilty keeping Clarke’s phone from her, but she knew it was for the best. Clarke had been driving herself crazy for days, waiting to hear back from the museum, and she was rightfully excited. Clarke was right when she said that getting the internship would mean that she could work where ever she wanted after graduation. Plus, Lexa knew that the Boston Children’s Museum was Clarke’s top choice, not only for internships but for where she wanted to work after graduation.
Most people thought it was rather odd that Clarke wanted to work at a children’s museum, but as soon as the blonde had admitted that to Lexa, it made total sense. It was the perfect job for Clarke - she loved her art, but she also loved science. Working at a place like the Boston Children’s Museum meant Clarke could combine her two passions in a way that could help kids, could make a difference in their lives. And with how good Clarke was with kids, thinking of her doing anything else was just wrong.
The brunette was almost asleep herself when Clarke’s phone pinged, waking Lexa up right away. She gently leaned over Clarke and grabbed the blonde’s phone, unlocking it swiftly and opening her mail app. If it was from the museum, she would wake her, if it was something else, she would let her sleep a bit more.
“Shit,” Lexa said. Waiting in Clarke’s inbox was one email from the internship director at the Boston Children’s Museum. This was it, what Clarke had been waiting weeks for, but Lexa almost couldn’t bring herself to wake Clarke. What if it was bad news? Clarke would be devastated, and it would break her heart. But, that wasn’t her decision to make, so she rested her hand on Clarke’s shoulder and shook her lightly. “Clarke, love, wake up.”
Clarke groaned and turned her head further into Lexa’s chest, clearly not happy that she was being woken up.
“C’mon sleepyhead, wake up,” Lexa said, running her fingers through Clarke’s hair. “Babe, the email came.”
Clarke shot up and leapt out of bed. “Say that again.”
“Say what?”
“What you just said. Say it again, I don’t believe you.” Clarke said, practically bouncing up and down.
“I said that the email came,” Lexa said, smiling widely. She offered Clarke’s phone to her, but Clarke made no move to take it.
“I can’t do it. You have to do it, I-I can’t do it.” Clarke’s voice was shaky and she had resumed her earlier pacing, much to Lexa’s displeasure. She hated seeing Clarke like this, so nervous, so afraid of what could come.
Lexa looked at Clarke. “Are you sure?”
“Just do it, Lex… Please?”
“C’mere,” Lexa said, holding her arms open for Clarke once again.
“You really think it’s gonna be that bad?” Clarke asked, nervously.
“No, no, of course not babe. I think it’s gonna be wonderful and I want you right here so I can kiss you because you got your dream internship,” Lexa said, smiling at Clarke genuinely.
Clarke looked doubtful, but obliged, climbing onto the bed and nestling her hips between her girlfriend's legs, resting her head over Lexa’s heart. “Your heart is racing.”
“I’m excited.” Lexa’s heart was racing for reasons other than her excitement for Clarke or her proximity to the blonde, but until Clarke read the email she had to keep that to herself.
“We don’t have anything to be excited about yet, just read the email?”
Lexa did as she was asked, pulling up the mail application on Clarke’s phone and clicking on the email.
“ Miss Griffin, we are pleased to inform you that after considering your application, your experience, and you enthusiasm we believe you would make a wonderful addition to our team. We would like to offer you the position of Fine Arts Education Intern for this upcoming summer ,” Lexa read. “Babe, you did it!”
Clarke didn’t respond, she was just sitting in Lexa’s lap, silently. Their position made it so Lexa couldn’t see Clarke’s face well, and so when she adjusted them to look at her girlfriend she was shocked to find a blank expression.
“Love, you got the internship... Why are you not excited right now?” Lexa asked, worried with Clarke’s seeming disinterest.
Clarke took her phone from Lexa’s hand and read the email again, skimming over the more technical details about hours and moving dates and whatnot before she finally reacted. Slowly she climbed out of Lexa’s arms and off the bed, looking at Lexa.
“Oh my god, I-I really did it, I got the internship, I can’t believe it, I can’t… I don’t…” Clarke trailed off, a smile slowly forming and warming up her entire body.
Lexa finally let go of a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding when Clarke smiled. “You really did, oh my god Clarke I’m so happy for you,” Lexa said, scrambling out of bed and pulling Clarke into a tight hug. “I knew you would get it, I knew it,” she said into Clarke’s hair. She pulled away from the hug and leaned in to kiss Clarke, but broke it off after only a few seconds when she felt a wetness on her own cheeks that could only mean that Clarke was crying.
“Babe, no, don’t cry, this is a good thing!” Lexa said, holding Clarke’s face in her hands and gently brushing the blonde’s hair behind her ear. “This is a fantastic thing Clarke, really.”
Clarke let out a sob and sunk to the floor, leaning her back against the side of her bed. At this point tears were steadily falling down her cheeks and she rested her head on her knees, unable to look at Lexa, who had moved to sit across from her.
“Clarke, please… Talk to me?” Lexa said, her heart breaking. Clarke was in pain and upset about something that she should be thrilled for, and Lexa didn’t know why and she didn’t know how to make it better. She heard Clarke sniffle, but the blonde didn’t look up, so Lexa grabbed the box of tissues from Clarke’s nightstand for the woman. It wasn’t until a tear of her own slid down her cheek that she realized she was crying too, and she felt horrible. “Cl-arke?” she asked softly, her voice cracking.
Clarke finally looked up, but seeing tears in Lexa’s eyes only brought more tears to her own. “Lex, baby, no don’t cry,” Clarke said, wiping a tear from Lexa’s cheek.
“Please tell me what’s wrong, Clarke,” Lexa begged. “Why are you upset?”
“I’m not upset, I- well, I am upset, but not really. I’m excited Lex, I’m so excited, but dammit I just really love you and your stupid face and it just hit me that this internship means I have to move to Boston and I don’t know what I’ll do without you for four months, I…” Clarke said, her stuttering cut off with a passionate kiss from Lexa.
“You’re insane, Clarke,” Lexa laughed between kisses. After a moment she bit Clarke’s lower lip and slowly pulled away. “I actually have a surprise for you,” Lexa said. She stood up and retrieved her phone from where it lay on the bed. She unlocked it and quickly scrolled through her emails. When she found the right one she handed the phone to Clarke gingerly.
“What is-?” Clarke began to ask, still sniffling.
“Just read it.”
Dear Miss Woods,
We are thrilled to be able to offer you an internship with our Advocacy Department this summer. We rarely see dedication such as yours to this work and we would be remiss to not offer you this this position. We feel that not only would you be able to learn a great deal working here, but that you would have an incredible amount to offer us and our program.
Clarke didn’t need to finish reading the email to know that it was an incredible opportunity for Lexa, especially with how highly they spoke of her in her email. “Lexa, why didn’t you tell me about this? I’ve been freaking out all this time and you had good news and you didn’t tell me!” Clarke said, sniffling.
“Clarke, scroll down to the bottom. Look where it’s from,” Lexa said.
Clarke did as she was asked and gasped when she saw the address. “Rosie’s Place, Boston, Massachusetts, oh my god, Lexa!” Clarke stood quickly looking down at her girlfriend who was smiling shyly from her spot on the floor. Clarke grabbed Lexa’s arm and pulled her up to stand, kissing her hungrily and leading her back to the bed. When the back of Lexa’s legs hit the side of the bed Lexa pulled Clarke downwards, still kissing her.
After a moment, Clarke pulled away, and hit Lexa on the arm playfully. “You’re such an asshole! You didn’t tell me you were applying for stuff in Boston and then you got an internship there and you still didn’t tell me? You’re the worst, I love you so much,” Clarke said, tears once again falling down her face. “I can’t believe- this, this means we get to be together this summer!” Clarke said, shaking Lexa’s arm for emphasis.
Lexa smiled brightly, unable to say anything. Eventually she just nodded.
“Well what will you do for the internship? It says “Advocacy Department” but I have no idea what that means…” Clarke admitted, eyes shiny with tears but still grinning like a fool.
“Well it’s a women’s shelter, the first one in the US actually. But what I’ll be doing is working with women who stay in the shelter or use their services when they’re in court, but only for smaller stuff, not anything like drug charges. So if they’ve been evicted or are dealing with custody issues, stuff like that. Basically I’m there to advocate for them and make sure they know their rights, but also to help them understand a lot of the legal stuff. Most of these women can’t afford attorneys so they’ve got overworked and underpaid public defenders who don’t actually care enough to explain anything that’s going on, so that’s why I’ll be there,” Lexa said, smiling.
Clarke was beaming with pride for her girlfriend. Not only had Lexa gotten what sounded like an incredible internship but it was an internship doing work in the exact field she wanted to go into. She would be doing something absolutely incredible for the community, something like this would look incredible on Lexa’s law school applications, and would it be a big help in getting the exact jobs she wanted.
“This is gonna be so great Lex, we can find a really cute apartment and go for walks in the Public Garden and ooooh- babe we can ride in one of those swan boats and we can go to Martha’s Vineyard for a weekend and we can visit Harvard Law so we can see where your smarty-pants self will be studying in a year and -” Clarke stopped talking, suddenly wide eyed. “I mean we don’t have to live together if you don’t want to, I’m so sorry, that was stupid of me to assume I just got caught up in the moment and-”
Smiling widely, Lexa cut Clarke off with a kiss. “Love, if we’re in the same city there’s no way in hell I’m not going to be living with you, if you’ll have me.”
“You’re so cute,” Clarke said, twirling a lock of Lexa’s hair around her finger. “And just think, no roommates means we can be as loud as we want.” Clarke smirked.
“You say that like you’re already not as loud as you want to be when we’re here, or at my place for that matter,” Lexa said playfully.
“Oh I can be louder,” Clarke said, slipping her hand under Lexa’s shirt and running her fingers along the underside of her bra. “And I know you can be too…”
“Is that a challenge?” Lexa asked. She knew Clarke was playing at her competitive side, but honestly Lexa was so happy and excited that she didn’t mind at all.
Clarke grabbed Lexa’s breast with one hand, the other making quick work of the hooks on the back of Lexa’s bra. “You tell me.”
Raven put her hand on Octavia’s shoulder and pushed her back slightly, breaking their kiss. “Octavia, are you sure you want to do this?” Raven asked, hesitantly.
“I’m sure,” Octavia said, nodding. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks, trying to talk myself out of it because you’re one of my best friends and I didn’t want to ruin that, but then we had that movie night last night and Clarke and Lexa were being all coupley and gross and you were staring at them like you wanted to kill them and at first I was too but then I, I dunno, I was only looking at you. When I went to bed the only thing I was thinking about was how how I - how we could have that, maybe, and then I basically just thought ‘fuck it’ because the risk was worth taking. I went running this morning because running always clears my head and I could barely sleep last night because I kept thinking about what would happen if you didn’t feel the same way, but logically I knew I couldn’t keep waiting, so I had to get those thoughts out of my head. And now we’re here and you, you feel the same way, so I am definitely sure.”
Raven blinked back tears she didn’t realize had formed before she stood from the couch and offered Octavia her hand.
“Are you sure?” Octavia asked the woman standing in front of her.
“I couldn’t be more sure.”
Octavia smiled, and grabbed Raven’s hand, following her to the hall and towards Raven’s bedroom, where it would be quieter (Octavia had lost the game of rock, paper, scissors to decide which of the two of them had to take the room with a wall and jack-and-jill bathroom that was shared with Clarke).
However, by the time they reached the start of the hallway they realized that there was no quiet to be had as Lexa moaned Clarke’s name much louder than she usually did (because yes, the two of them were, unfortunately, all too familiar with the noises that came from Clarke’s bedroom every night).
Raven stopped in front of Clarke’s bedroom door and Octavia looked at her quizzically. Raven pounded her fist on Clarke’s door and called out to the women in the room. “Congrats, Griffin!,” sending both Raven and Octavia into a fit of giggles.
“Fuck off, Raven-nnn!” Lexa called back, unintentionally turning Raven’s name into a moan as Clarke quickened the pace of her fingers inside of her.
Octavia smirked at Raven and held her hand up to stop Raven from saying anything. “Why would she do that when she can fuck me instead?” Octavia called, with a laugh, leaving Raven momentarily speechless. From behind the door the two women heard a thud and then a whine from Lexa before the door was whipped open, revealing Clarke in a hastily and poorly tied robe.
“I swear to god if this is a joke I’m going to kill both of you,” she growled.
Seeing Lexa, face flushed and barely covered with the blanket on top of the still made bed, Octavia waved. “Hey Lexa!” she said teasingly.
“You can fuck off too, Blake,” Lexa said, not at all amused with the antics of the two in the state she was in.
“Hello?” Clarke said impatiently.
Raven smiled. “Not a joke.”
“Well damn, we need to talk about this-” Clarke was cut off by Lexa.
“Clarke you can talk about this later! If you don’t close that door and get back here right fucking now I swear to god I will finish myself!” Lexa said.
Clarke looked between the two of them. “This isn’t over,” she said, before slamming the door in Raven and Octavia’s faces, ignoring their laughs and climbing back on top of Lexa. She grabbed the brunette’s hand and held it down by Lexa’s head, kissing her passionately.
“Mine,” Clarke said, teasing Lexa again instead of picking up where she’d left off. With Lexa whining beneath her Clarke smiled. “This is gonna be a great summer.”