Work Text:
Clarke goes to the library to write an art history paper exactly once, because the floor below her dorm room is having some sort of party and even her noise cancelling headphones can’t help much against the thumping of the bass. But then she’s sees a girl, sitting a few tables away and typing with such force that Clarke thinks she might break her keyboard, wearing chunky headphones and surrounded by a sea of open books, and suddenly visiting the library becomes a more regular thing for her.
Clarke comes in Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and the occasional weekend and the girl’s always there. Sometimes she’s working on her laptop, sometimes she’s writing in a spiral bound notebook, or sometimes she’s flipping through books. But she always sits in the same place and she always looks gorgeous.
Her third week into her library trips Clarke is working on a particularly gruelling paper for her biology class when she glances up and makes eye contact with the gorgeous brunette, who offers her a sympathetic smile before turning her attention back to her laptop and Clarke almost melts.
“She’s just so pretty,” Clarke gushes to Wells one night when they’re hanging out in his room, “And smart from the look of the books she’s reading. I think she’s majoring in some sort of engineering, something STEM related.”
“You could always just go up and talk to her,” Wells says, stretching out to poke at Clarke with his foot, “You know, like a normal person, instead of just stalking her at the library.”
“Yeah, no,” Clarke says, hitting at his leg in retaliation, “I’m happy with watching her from afar.”
“It’s your life,” Wells says with a shrug, and they switch topics to his hot lab partner instead.
So Clarke sticks with watching the girl from across the library and sharing sympathetic smiles and commiserating looks with her when one of them seems to be suffering under their workload. And everything’s working out fine for Clarke until one day someone drops their stuff down at Clarke’s table and pulls out the chair opposite her.
“Hi,” The person says, and Clarke looks up to see the gorgeous brunette who usually sits a few tables away.
“Oh, hi,” Clarke says, trying to keep her composure.
“I’m Raven,” She says, offering a smile, “I hope you don’t mind, it’s just,” She jerks her head in the direction of her usual table, “It’s already occupied.”
Clarke glances over at the girl’s usual table to see a study group already taking up the space and looks back at Raven, returning the smile.
“Clarke, and it’s not a problem,” Clarke says, trying not to think about how she’s prettier up close.
They work in relative silence, both wearing their own sets of headphones as they type away at their laptops. They start packing up just before the library closes at ten and Raven stops her with a hand on her arm just as she goes to leave.
“Hey, I was wondering if you’d want to go get coffee sometime and talk?” She looks nervous, a change from her usual calm confidence, and Clarke can’t fathom why Raven would even entertain the idea that Clarke would say no.
“Yes,” Clarke says, biting her bottom lip when the answer escapes her mouth a little too quickly, “Yeah, I’d love to. Um, here,” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and unlocks it, “Add your number and I’ll let you know when I’m free?”
“Sure,” Raven says, and she’s smiling. Clarke thinks she looks so pretty when she smiles like that, wide and genuine. “I’m looking forward to it,” Raven tells Clarke before they part ways.
“Me too,” Clarke says, and she stands on the steps of the library and watches Raven disappear in the direction of the parking lot before she texts Wells. She fills him about what had happened and adds about ten heart emoji’s to the message before she hits send.