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Clarke knew that it was going to be a good evening. She’d somehow managed to get out of work early, which had given her enough time to get home, shower, shave, get dressed and take the time to do her make up perfectly.
She was feeling great.
She was feeling hot.
Which, by all odds, should mean that she was feeling lucky, right?
Clarke was definitely feeling lucky. It had been a long while since she’d let someone into her bed. Unfortunately (not that Clarke considered it unfortunate), she didn’t just sleep with anyone. She liked forming emotional connections before taking that step.
She was heading to her fifth date with Finn. He was handsome, charming and made her laugh. That ticked all three of her boxes, really. Clarke wasn’t picky about her dates, but she was picky about who she took home. She had a good feeling about Finn. He was one of the nice guys that she’d been afraid had all but disappeared.
Clarke breathed in the summer evening air and smiled as she strolled along the Arkadia boardwalk. They had planned to meet at a little restaurant a little further down the promenade, but Clarke was early and so she relished the rare opportunity to take a relaxing walk in one of her favourite parts of the city.
“Watch it!”
The next thing Clarke knew, she had collided with someone moving a lot faster than her. The momentum was against her and her body spun around. Her face connected with a pole and exploded with pain. Her knees wobbled and she fell to the ground, totally dazed.
She hadn’t been paying attention, but she was on a boardwalk, a very wide boardwalk, which wasn’t all that busy.
Clarke groaned as pain brought her sharply back to reality.
What the actual fuck?
Anger overwhelming any pain that she was feeling, Clarke surged back onto her feet and glared at the person next to her.
“What the hell?” she snapped. “Are you blind?”
“Sorry, dude. I lost control of my manual,” came the calm reply. The girl had her head down as she inspected her skateboard.
There was a skatepark about twenty yards away so her assailant really had no business skating on the fucking boardwalk when there was a generously sized skatepark so close.
Clarke brushed her hair out of her face and gasped when the tips came away red. Gingerly, she touched two fingers to the bottom of her nose. They came away slick with blood.
“That’s one hell of a break, dude.”
“No thanks to you, asshole!” Clarke snapped.
The girl seemed to accept that her skateboard was in pristine condition – unlike Clarke’s face – and looked up.
Well, shit.
She was gorgeous. She was the most beautiful girl – woman – that Clarke had ever seen, which was going to make staying mad at her extremely difficult.
Clarke was also the most stubborn person on the planet. She still hadn’t forgiven Julie O’Brien for asking Raven to the Valentine’s Day Dance in freshman year.
“Holy shit,” she girl breathed, her eyes widening.
Clarke wished she hadn’t done that because it just made the green shade in them shimmer even more brightly. The sun was casting her in some kind of goddess-like glow.
It really wasn’t fair.
Her day had been going so well too.
“Thanks for fucking up my nose, asshole,” she seethed.
“Total accident, dude.”
“One, stop calling me dude because I am decidedly not a dude. Two, you have an entire skatepark to use right over there so why are you taking up space on the boardwalk and crashing into innocent people?”
“Uh, shit. Um, my bad, dude. I mean, not a dude.” She looked really flustered, which Clarke took delight in. Maybe partly because her cute little cheeks were flushed and it really only added to her appeal.
Dammit. Stop it, Griffin.
Clarke lifted her hand up to her nose again, but the girl reached out quickly and stopped her.
“You need to lay down.” Suddenly her voice was extremely calm.
“No, I don’t. I have to go to the clinic and get this fixed.” She sighed. “My date is gonna be so pissed.”
“Oh. You were on your way to a date?”
Clarke frowned, but the muscle movement hurt her nose. “Mind your own business much?”
“Sorry, trying to make small talk. Just lay down. I can fix you.”
Maybe she got a knock in the head too and is concussed.
“You honestly think that I’m going to let someone who’s clumsy enough to knock into the one person on a massive boardwalk try and fix me? No. My mom’s a doctor at the clinic. I’ll be fine.”
The girl’s eyes widened again. “Who’s your mom?”
Clarke was baffled. She suddenly realised the girl was still holding her wrist. She pulled it back. “I don’t care for whatever games you’re trying to play. Considering this is all your fault, you haven’t even said sorry.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said earnestly. “I really am. I just came off a really tough shift and skating helps me unwind. I guess I was too in my head.”
“Well, as far as excuses go, I don’t know you so you could be bullshitting me. I don’t really care about it, to be honest.” Clarke winced. The blood was starting to drip onto her blouse, turning the turquoise blue a dark purple.
“I really can help you. I’m a paramedic. I work out of the clinic.” The girl peered at her closer, causing Clarke to step back a bit. That was much closer than she was expecting.
Unfortunately, the low boardwalk wall was behind her and almost toppled her over again. Two hands gripped her waist and kept her steady. Clarke regained her bearings and looked up into curious eyes. Her breath caught when she realised just how close those eyes were.
“Let me help you,” she whispered.
Clarke swallowed and pushed the girl away. “I don’t know you and I’m not going to let someone I don’t know try and fix my nose.”
She nodded and dropped her arms. Clarke got a shiver. “At least let me take you to the clinic?”
“I know the way.”
“Please? This is my fault.”
“That much is true.”
“Okay. Just let me grab my stuff.”
Clarke sighed and rummaged around in her bag for her phone. She came across a pack of tissues.
Right. Should probably try and stop the bleeding.
She didn’t even want to think about how terrible she looked. She carefully dabbed at the bottom of her nose and was alarmed at how quickly her tissue soaked up the redness. Groaning in annoyance, she leaned forward, pressing the tissue lightly against her nostrils and using her thumb and index finger to press her nostrils together. She hoped that the bleeding would stop soon and she fished for her phone in her bag. Once she had it, she held it in front of her, out of the way of any possible blood drops and squinted as the sun made her screen very difficult to see. Luckily, Finn was in her recent calls list so she quickly hit redial.
She sat on the low wall behind her and waited for the call to connect.
“Hey, Princess.”
He’s lucky he’s cute and charming and sweet. I hate that nickname.
“Hey, Finn,” she answered, her voice coming out a little thick due to her nose filled with blood.
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound so good.”
“I was in a little…accident.” Putting it mildly. “Pretty sure my nose is broken.”
“Oh my God! Where are you?”
“I’m on the boardwalk, right next to the skatepark.”
“I’m two minutes away. I’ll be right there.”
He didn’t give Clarke a chance to respond before he hung up. She sighed again. It was sweet that he was so concerned. She just wasn’t sure that she wanted him to see her all bloodied up. She liked how he thought she was the sun and the moon and the stars. She liked that he thought she was perfect, infallible and pretty much the most amazing person ever to have existed.
It made her feel wonderful and she’d missed feeling wonderful. She was scared that this was going to destroy his idea of her.
Is that a bad thing, though? The boy has an unrealistic expectation of you.
Clarke rolled her eyes. She’d discussed her thoughts with her best friend the previous night and Raven was probably the bluntest person in Arkadia. She didn’t believe in bullshitting, which was one of the reasons they had clicked so quickly in middle school.
“Hey!”
Clarke rejoined reality and saw that the girl had taken off her cap and was in the process of tying her hair back. Clarke swallowed. She wasn’t ready to see the entirety of that beautiful mug. Just as well she was already sitting down.
The girl dropped down and opened a bag that Clarke hadn’t even realised was there. She’d been around enough hospitals and clinics to know a paramedic’s bag when she saw one. The girl pulled on some latex gloves and some non-alcohol antiseptic wipes. She stood up and smiled, nearly sending Clarke into cardiac arrest.
How can she be so beautiful? How? It’s not right. She’s supposed to be the worst person in the world for knocking into me and breaking my nose just before my date.
“Keep your head leaning forward for me?” the girl requested, standing upright and moving closer to Clarke.
Clarke obeyed and tried not to outwardly shiver when soft and steady hands moved the bloodied tissue away from her nose.
“It doesn’t look that bad at all,” the girl murmured. “Once we get you cleaned up, we can see the real damage.”
“And is that gonna be done here or at the clinic?” Clarke asked.
“I can clean it up now that the bleeding seems to have stopped, but I think it’ll be better if you have it x-rayed. Just to be safe.”
The girl met Clarke’s gaze and time seemed to slow down just then. They both blinked suddenly. The girl’s hands quickly went to work, dabbing away all the blood, but her eyes kept flitting back to Clarke’s.
“Clarke!”
The sound of Finn’s worried call finally broke the spell and Clarke turned her head away from the girl’s ministrations.
“Oh my God! What the hell happened?” he asked, his eyes darting all over Clarke. His hands cradled her face and he grimaced.
“I’m fine, Finn. It was just an accident.”
“So, it’s not fine! Your face!”
“Her face looks just fine to me,” the girl muttered. She’d been unceremoniously shoved out of the way when Finn had arrived.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the one who ran into her.”
“She’s also the one who’s helping me,” Clarke cut in before Finn could jump to conclusions. “Look, I’m going to the clinic. My mom will fix me.”
“She wouldn’t have to fix you if this,,,”
“This what?” the girl asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest.
Clarke barely managed to cover up a squeak because holy hell that was super hot.
Finn just glared at the girl, not paying attention to what his thumbs were doing. He liked caressing the balls of Clarke’s cheeks, only they were incredibly sensitive with a broken nose. Clarke yelped in pain.
“Shit, I’m sorry!” Finn’s attention was quickly turned back to Clarke and he dropped his hands. Some blood had dripped onto them and he looked at them in horror.
So he doesn’t like blood. One little mark against him. He’s still a good guy.
He swayed on his feet and Clarke rolled her eyes at the melodramatics. When Finn collapsed on the floor, both she and the girl just stared for about thirty seconds.
“Did he really just faint?” the girl asked incredulously.
“Uh…”
She chuckled, which made Clarke crack a small smile unwillingly. “Real trooper you got there.”
The smile turned into a frown. “Don’t judge him. You don’t even know him.”
The girl scoffed and stepped over him to tend to Clarke once more. She put her fingers on Clarke’s chin and tipped it up so that her head was leaning back again.
“He swooped in here wanting to be the hero, and promptly passed out as the sight of a few blood spots. This was after you told him you’d broken your nose. That tells me more than I need to know.”
“Yeah, well, no one asked you so why don’t you keep your opinions to yourself?”
The girl paused in her cleaning and sighed. “Very well.”
“You sound like a different person now. Initially, it was all ‘totally, dude’ and now you’re…”
“Normal? That’s what you were gonna say, right?”
Clarke averted her gaze to the brilliant blue sky.
“You don’t know me, either, Clarke,” she said quietly.
The silence stretched out between them. Clarke was embarrassed and she didn’t like saying sorry because she felt it made her look like a fool. Clarke was no fool, at least she liked to think she wasn’t.
But you did insult the girl who’s helping you.
I wouldn’t have needed help if she hadn’t rammed into me.
Oh, yeah. Bet you’d like that.
Clarke swallowed and pulled her face away as it flushed red. “I, uh, I’m pretty sure you have other things to do, people to run over and save so I’m just gonna head to the clinic now.” She stood up and grabbed her bag. “Uh, thanks.”
She quickly moved past the girl who was doing a number on her brain and berated herself for letting her emotions (and libido) get the better of her. She hadn’t felt such an instant attraction to someone in years.
“Clarke?”
She stopped and turned slowly.
The girl was looking pointedly at her date laying sprawled out on the floor.
She’d forgotten Finn.
Whoops.
“There is no way you can carry him,” the girl said, holding her hand up when Clarke started walking back. She grabbed something out of the side of her bag and held it under Finn’s nose.
Smelling salts.
He jerked awake, sitting up and looking around him in disorientation.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You fainted,” the girl stated, sounding smug.
Finn looked down at his hands again. The girl rolled her eyes and handed him an antiseptic wipe. “Maybe now you can actually help your girlfriend instead of being a total wuss.”
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
“I’m perfectly capable of helping my girlfriend.”
They spoke at the same time and Clarke suddenly wanted the world to swallow her whole. The smirk on the girl’s face was equally infuriating and sexy.
Goddamn libido!
“Let’s go, Clarke.” Finn threw the used antiseptic at the girl and stalked to where Clarke had been rooted for the entire exchange. His grip on her arm wasn’t tight, but it definitely was firmer than what she was used to with Finn.
“Are you okay?” Clarke found herself asking as they walked along the promenade to the clinic at the end of the long road.
“Yeah, that chick was just…”
“Just what?” Clarke asked, her defensive tone surprising both of them.
“Clarke, you don’t even know her!”
“She’s a paramedic who works out of the clinic. She was helping me.” Clarke jerked her arm out of Finn’s grip and continued walking at a quicker pace.
“I was helping you,” Finn insisted. “I came and found you.”
“After I called you,” Clarke countered. “And you didn’t do anything.”
She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly so irritated with him. She focussed on getting to the clinic and not on the green eyes she could almost feel still watching her. She ignored Finn grumbling to himself next to her. It occurred to her that he hadn’t bothered asking if she was okay. He hadn’t offered to take her bag or get her a fresh tissue or anything.
It made her wonder if his chivalry began and ended with their dates. Their text exchanges had been of a similar tone, though, so was she meeting the real Finn for the first time? Had he just been putting on a rouse?
“How much farther?” Finn asked.
Clarke stopped and took a deep breath. “Go home. It’s clear you don’t want to be here. I am terribly sorry that my bloody nose is unattractive to you.”
“What? No, Clarke, it’s just…”
“Just what, Finn?”
“I fucking hate blood, okay? It creeps me out.”
“Why do you hate blood?”
“Because it’s gross.”
“You do know that your body is filled with it, right?”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Of course I do. I’m not stupid.”
In her head, Raven was laughing. She was feeling wicked.
“And you do know that every woman expels that blood in a monthly cycle, right?”
Finn grimaced. “God, yes. That’s disgusting.”
“It allows us to have kids, you ungrateful ass. I don’t care if you don’t like it, but don’t make a big deal about something we have no control over.”
“What do you mean?”
Clarke blinked. “You’re joking, right?”
“About what?”
“Tell me, Finn, do you think that we – and by we, I mean the entire ovulating female population of the world – choose to bleed for four to seven days every month?”
“You don’t?”
“Wow.” Clarke immediately turned away from him and looked to cross the road.
“Wait, Clarke. Please, just wait.”
Clarke looked at him expectantly.
“Does this mean we’re not gonna have sex?”
When Clarke walked into the empty clinic sporting a bloody nose (that had thankfully stopped bleeding) and cradling her left hand, the receptionist gasped and stood up.
“Abby!” she screeched.
Clarke rolled her eyes. “Good evening, Harper. How are you doing?”
“Oh my God, oh my God. Are you okay?”
“Does it look like I’m okay?”
“Harper, what’s with all the-“ Abby cut herself off as she came out of her office. “Clarke!”
Within minutes, Clarke was seated on an exam room table, her mother inspecting her nose with torches and light touches.
“Does this hurt?”
“A little?”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“Six.”
“What about here?”
“Four.”
“Here?”
“Ow, fuck. That would be a nine, Mom.”
“Okay, I don’t think it’s broken, just severely knocked and bruised.”
Clarke sighed. “So I just have to wait for the swelling to go down?”
“Unfortunately.” Abby cupped her cheek gently. “Sorry, baby.”
“Eh.” Clarke shrugged. Her good day had turned to absolute shit. What more could go wrong?
“Did you fall on your hand?” Abby asked, inspecting the swelling on Clarke’s knuckles.
“No, I punched Finn.”
“What?” Abby, to her credit, tried to look shocked.
“You need to work on her poker face, Mom.”
“Well, I still think that you should give-“
“Okay, seriously, you’re becoming that annoying 90’s mom who’s hellbent on finding her daughter a partner. That’s my job, Mom, not yours. I choose who I want to date and I’m tired of you interfering.”
Abby sighed. “I understand, Clarke. I won’t pester you anymore. The only reason why I think you should give her a try is because I really think that you would be great together!”
Clarke lifted a shoulder. “If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet some other way.”
Abby squeezed her right hand and smiled. “Right, back to business. I think that you’re gonna need some strapping for this and a cold compress, just to bring down the swelling.”
“No x-ray?”
“No, I don’t think anything’s fractured or broken. You punched him the way your father taught you.”
Clarke smiled. “He was adamant that I knew how to protect myself.”
“I miss him,” Abby murmured.
“I know, Mom. Me too.”
The two women leaned their heads against each other as they took a moment to reminisce about the man that meant so much to them.
“Let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll grab dinner. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect, Mom.”
Half an hour, Clarke was feeling a lot better thanks to the pain meds her Mom had given her. She was feeling a little woozy considering that she hadn’t yet eaten, but she trusted her mom.
“I’m just gonna check all the rooms, sweetie. Are you okay to waiting by the front door?”
“Yep.”
Clarke steadfastly navigated herself to the front door, grinning proudly when she reached it without mishap.
“Hey.”
Clarke squealed and jumped, losing her balance. She felt two strong hands on her hips steadying her.
Wait a minute.
Clarke opened her eyes to see the girl from the skatepark smiling at her shyly. “You!” she exclaimed. “What in the why with the when?”
The girl chuckled and lightly squeezed Clarke’s hips. “She gave you the good stuff, huh?”
Clarke didn’t know what her brain was doing at that moment, but she did know that all her eyes could focus on where those luscious lips that she hadn’t given nearly enough mental praise to earlier.
“Why are you so pretty?” Clarke whined. “You make it very difficult.”
“What do I make difficult?”
“To be mad at you! I can’t be mad when you’re so pretty.”
“You think I’m pretty?” the girl stepped a little closer.
“Hello? I have eyes! Eyes that work! You didn’t hit my eyes so they work fine and they saw you and bam.”
“Bam?”
“Yes, bam.” Clarke narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Are you making fun of me?”
“I wouldn’t dare. I’ve seen you punch.”
Clarke stuck out her tongue. “He was an ass. He only wanted to sleep with me.”
“He’s a lucky guy.”
Clarke hit her shoulder. Wait, when did her hands get onto the girl’s shoulders? “He didn’t sleep with me, Paramedic Skater Girl. That’s reserved for special people.”
“Is a paramedic a special person?”
Clarke considered. It was a noble profession, to be sure.
“Clarke?”
She looked past the girl and grinned at her mom.
“Hi! This is the girl who hit me and fixed me.” Clarke giggled. “Hit me and fixed me.”
Abby moved closer and raised her eyebrow. “Really, Lexa?”
Clarke stopped laughing. “Who’s Lexa?”
The girl lifted one hand from Clarke’s hips. “I’m Lexa.”
Clarke knew that name. Why did she know that name? She gasped suddenly. “Wait, as in Lexa, the girl you’ve been trying to set me up with for months?” she asked her mom.
Abby nodded with a smile. “Looks like you didn’t need my help after all.”
“This is weird,” Clarke muttered.
“Kinda serendipitous, don’t you think?” Lexa asked.
Lexa. Damn, that was a good name. It suited her.
“I don’t think my face agrees with you.”
“Well, how about your heart? Even though I think your face is beautiful, I’m more interested in what your heart thinks.”
“Thinks about what?” Clarke asked quietly, her eyes locked onto Lexa’s once more.
“About me taking you out to dinner?”
“Uh…”
“She’d love to,” Abby cut in. “In fact, why don’t you take her to dinner right now?”
“Mom!”
“Clarke, would you like to have dinner with me?” Lexa asked, ignoring Abby.
“I…”
“If only to apologise for putting you through unnecessary pain,” Lexa added, lifting her eyebrows hopefully.
“Well, I suppose I could use an apology dinner,” Clarke eventually admitted. She was starved, after all.
Abby squealed, clapping her hands together. “This is going to be the best story to tell at your wedding.”
“Jesus, Mom, will you relax? It’s just dinner.”
“Yeah, who knows? She may detest me.”
As Lexa unlocked the front door of the clinic and held it open for Clarke, she couldn’t help but think that even if Lexa had some annoying habits, she’d probably never detest her.